Dark Nights

Chapter Eight

Joie dreamt of a man with the face of an angel and the body of the devil. She could hear the sound of her heart beat drumming like thunder every moment of the dream—whether in fear or in exhilaration—she couldn’t tell. One moment she ran for her life, the next she was in his arms, kissing him over and over. Monsters ran through her dream, chasing her, tearing the flesh off of him. In the background her father watched with strange eyes, standing by, doing nothing, holding a glowing sphere in his hands. Beside him a great jungle cat covered in spots watched Traian hungrily and as one of the monsters tore at him, the cat leapt the distance, landing on his back and settling teeth around his head.

Joie rushed across an endless bridge of ice, driving a knife deep into the ribs of the cat in an effort to save Traian. The jaguar turned its head and looked at her. The amber eyes filled with hatred, slowly turned gentle, sorrowful. Joie blinked to bring the face into focus through unaccustomed tears. She gasped and backed away as blood ran down the side of the cat and pooled on the ground beneath it. She was looking directly into the face—the eyes—of her mother.

She fought her way out of the web of her dark dream, tears running down her face, her chest heavy and her heart beating wildly. She didn’t recognize the hotel, only the deep sense of dread and danger surrounding her and the gun in her hand. She was already tracking around the small room, seeking out an enemy.

“Romania,” she said aloud in the gathering darkness. “You’re in Romania with Jubal and Gabrielle and a man you might have made up.”

Traian emerged out of the darkness slowly, hands up, palms facing her. Darkness swirled around him, cloaking him one moment and then revealing his strong features the next. She slipped the gun beneath her pillow and sat up, tasting passion in her mouth. He could very well be a dream, a mere fantasy that her mind tricked her into believing was real.

“You’re already here.” Her gaze drifted over him slowly, inspecting him for damage. The raw wounds were nearly healed, an amazing feat considering what he’d looked like when he’d left in the early-morning hours. “You’re lucky I didn’t shoot you.” Defensively she put out her hand as if to ward him off.

He smiled at her and kept coming. “You would never make that mistake. You will always recognize me.”

Of course it was true. She had known the moment he moved that it was him. He took her breath away. It was so trite. So unlike her, but it was the stark truth. He came right up to the side of her bed, reached down, framed her face with both hands and kissed her. His mouth robbed her of all ability to breathe. She was not a woman to be intimated by a dominating male, nor did she ever feel small or fragile or even beautifully feminine, yet Traian managed to make her feel all those things.

Her reactions to him confused her more than the vampires, secret caves of mages, and his shifting shape. Her fingers curled in the thick silk of his hair. On him the long hair seemed natural, almost elegant, pulled back from his face and captured at the back of his neck with a thin cord. His chest was wide and thick, his arms enormously strong, his hips, encased in black trousers, narrow. She had a difficult time believing a man as attractive as Traian would want to be with her.

He laughed softly and ruffled her thick cap of hair. “I told you, a Carpathian cannot see any woman other than his lifemate—certainly not once he’s found her. I have heard there have been one or two throughout the centuries who were not quite right, but you have only to look into my mind to see what you mean to me. Lifemates cannot lie to one another.”

“I have morning mouth,” Joie said, wiping her hand across her lips, more to prevent more kissing than to cover her breath. More kissing was going to most assuredly lead to other things.

His smile lit his eyes. “It is evening.”

“Whatever. Still. I just woke up and unlike you, I have to brush my teeth to have fresh breath.”

“As far as I’m concerned, your breath is fresh. You taste like a mixture of honey and mint.” He flashed her a reassuring smile.

Traian realized she was very nervous. Joie seemed to be very confident, but he suspected she was confident in action rather than inaction. Deliberately he paced across the room to give her space, and toed a chair around to straddle it, knowing his height and shoulder width made her feel as if he was taking up the room.

“You had a nightmare.” He made it a statement.

Her gaze jumped to his face, a little wary. She nodded. “Yes.” She shrugged. “It was unsettling but hardly surprising. The things we witnessed last night were a lot to take in. Who knew there was an entire world of mythical beings living in the same world as us? You said you were traveling back to your homeland. Where have you spent all of your time?”

He knew she was searching for reassurance that they weren’t moving too fast, that the pull between them was real and not simply powerful chemistry. She needed a few seconds just to breathe. He refrained from pointing out that all she had to do was access his mind and she’d know everything about him she wanted to know. He would hold nothing back—good or bad, but she needed the breathing space and the humanness of speech.

“Centuries ago, my prince called the ancient hunters together and told us the war was coming and more vampires would roam the earth. It was our duty to rid the world of them. Those of us who agreed to go were sent to far-off places with little or no contact of our kind. I was assigned basically to cover India and outer regions such as Sri Lanka. It was a very extensive territory and not developed much. Wars occurred often among kingdoms trying to seize control.”

“Did you participate in the wars?”

Traian shook his head. “Very rarely. If I came across a woman or child being abused, I stepped in, but I had enough to do moving through such a large area trying to keep any vampire from establishing himself.”

“It’s hard to believe that vampires were in India.”

He smiled at her. “Think of the legends and myths you hear in every country around the world. You would be hard put to find a country that didn’t have some form of vampire firmly entrenched in the tales and lore recorded. And what of all the strange animals one hears of, the ones even now that have occasionally been captured on film but are always put down to a hoax, whether proved to be so or not. Even in the States there are strange sightings.”

Joie leaned toward him. He could see the open speculation in her eyes. She was an unusual woman in that she had a very open mind to anything others would never consider.

“Are you saying those strange animals are vampires?”

He shook his head. “No, but more than likely they are among the species still existing that are capable of shifting shape, and that includes the undead.”

Joie shoved a hand through her hair, drawing his attention to the cap of thick, dark strands. She looked a little disheveled, her large gray eyes still sleepy, her skin smooth, looking petal soft, her hair tousled. Need slammed into him before he could stop it, ran unchecked through his veins, the slow heat turning to flames.

“Tell me about India. I haven’t been there,” Joie admitted, oblivious to his growing hunger.

Traian drank her in. The sight of her, the scent of her brought him a peace he’d never known. He had risen, appreciating after centuries the richness of his homeland’s soil. He saw beauty in the land around him as if seeing with new eyes—and maybe he was. Colors were vivid, even scents seemed more pleasing. She was in the world. Joie.

“Tell me,” she repeated. “It’s important to me to know what your life has been and the influences on you. You see my family. But tell me of the early days in India.”

He was pleased she wanted to learn about him, but he had other much more pleasing ways to pass the time before the evening’s demands would be on them. He swallowed a small sigh and indulged her.

“India was forest and jungle when I first arrived there. I felt at home very quickly in that environment. I found myself spending quite a bit of time with elephants. Over time my emotions and memories faded, more so with each hunt and kill of the undead and for some reason, when I stayed around the elephants, I could tap into them. For many centuries they were content and peaceful, teaching me an acceptance of life, of the ways of the land shaping the future. They do not fight what they cannot control. Eventually many were harnessed into the service of man, and still, they lived their lives as patiently and as well as they could. Buddhism was very influential and I couldn’t help, at times, to compare the teachings, the quiet acceptance of life, the living in the moment, with the way the elephants lived their lives.”

He spread his hands out. “I have managed to shift into every animal I have come across and fooled the others of the species into believing I belonged, but not the elephants. They accepted my presence among them and as time went on, I believe they looked forward to my company, but they always knew I was not a true elephant. There is something very special about them.”

Joie frowned. “Traian, you’ve been all over the world and had experiences, watched the world change century after century. I have such a different background. How can someone like me hope to keep a man like you from being bored after a few days or weeks in my company?”

“Is that what worries you?” His voice was tender.

“Among a million other things,” she admitted. “Seriously, how could you possibly be happy with someone who has such little experience compared to you living centuries and seeing the world take shape? You’ve been here when there was barely a population and have lived through wars and plagues and things I can’t even imagine.”

Joie pushed strands of hair behind her ear and regarded him thoughtfully. “I was raised to be very independent. I think for myself and I’m a woman of action. Compared to the knowledge you have, I’m a child. Being with you, as tempting as it is to throw myself into your arms and just take whatever you’re offering to me, I’m afraid eventually I would lose who I am. I like making my own decisions, it’s who I am. I need to climb cliffs and find caves no one’s been in. I find satisfaction in my job.”

She thought herself safe sitting there on the bed, her body covered up by the man’s shirt that only managed to make her look sexier than ever. He shook his head. “I cannot believe you are worried you will lose yourself when you are with me. Joie, I want you the way you are, not changed into something else. You are a very intelligent woman. You are a warrior and I respect that, and your need for action. I also know that when you are working with anyone, whether you are climbing or going deep into a cave or protecting someone, if another person has more knowledge than you, your ego would never get into the way. You would listen. I trust you implicitly to do that.”

She pressed her lips together tightly.

“Do you think I will not listen to you? I have no knowledge of the way of families. Or friends. Or even the joys of using one’s skills in the way you climb a cliff. I want to learn all of those things. I will rely heavily on your expertise so that I fit smoothly into your world. I might know the ways of the vampire and how to shift, I might have seen history, but the things that are important to life—a wife, a child, family—those things I have no knowledge of. I hear your laughter, feel the closeness of your brother and sister and I want to feel that with them as well. I want Jubal to be my brother and Gabrielle to be my sister. I would like for your parents to think of me as a son. Only you can give me those things. Only you can teach me the right way to be part of something I have never had the chance to experience.”

Her eyelashes fanned her high cheekbones. Her tongue darted out and touched her lower lip. His heart shifted in his body. She had all the power and didn’t even realize it, believing he would grow bored with her.

“I observed history, I didn’t feel it. I saw the foreign lands and recognized they could be beautiful, but I saw them in shades of gray, without emotion, without color or feeling. I have facts at my disposal, millions of them, and I know war, but little else. I need you, Joie.”

Joie swallowed hard. He was breaking her heart. The stark, raw admission was brutally honest. She could feel his need and hunger beating at her. She had chosen service as her profession because it was inherent in her character to respond to the need of others, to protect them from harm. This man who seemed so completely invincible was exposing his deepest vulnerability to her.

More than that, she felt as if her entire life she’d been apart from others, standing to one side and not quite fitting in. With Traian, a being far removed from her understanding, another species, in his company, she felt as if she belonged. If she did this, if she stepped off the cliff and let herself fall with him, she knew she’d go all the way, heart and soul. There would be no turning back for her. He would be part of her, inside so deep she would never be able to get him out, even if he walked away from her.

She took a breath, her gaze moving over his face. Wonder. Magic. The combination was stamped into every angle and plane, the set of his shoulders and the defined muscle of his chest. It wasn’t just his physical beauty, the sheer athleticism of him, the power he exuded; the draw was in the single-minded focus he turned on her when he looked at her—as if she was the most beautiful, intriguing woman in the world. The only woman. And he needed her desperately.

He just sat across from her looking at her. Waiting. She moistened her lips. She had to get some distance to get some perspective. “I need to take a shower.”

“You do not have to. I can make you feel refreshed.”

Joie hastily shook her head. “I enjoy my showers. I like the feel of the water on my skin.”

“Is that an invitation?”

Was it? Had she chosen a shower because the thought of him naked was firmly entrenched in her mind? She didn’t know, but the erotic images playing through her mind faintly shocked her.

Joie stared at him, at the hard angles and planes of his face. At his dark, fathomless eyes. If the attraction between them was merely physical, Joie would have thrown him on the bed and ripped his clothes off right there. But he stirred unfamiliar feelings in her—deep and frightening feelings for a woman in charge of her own destiny. She was terribly susceptible and the plunge was going to be very long, the fall very hard, but it was beginning to look as if she wouldn’t be able to break his mesmerizing spell on her. She was certain she should try a little harder but . . .

With indecision written so clearly on Joie’s face, Traian felt as if his world was balanced on the point of a needle. He was afraid to move. Afraid to speak. He knew their joining was inevitable. He would have her. She was his. She belonged to him. But he still wanted it to be her decision. He wanted her to want him in the same way he wanted her.

“It’s a small shower stall,” she said in low, hesitant tone, still giving herself room to run.

“I have never taken a shower. I have never needed to, nor would I have been able to enjoy the sensation of water on my skin. I would very much like to do so with you.”

She put both trembling hands behind her back and he knew that she was afraid of the next step, but she took it because she was nothing if not courageous. She lifted her chin and smiled at him in invitation.

He didn’t wait for her to come to him; he took the few steps separating them and swept her up into his arms, cradling her close to his chest.

Joie smiled up at him. “This is becoming a habit.”

“I like keeping you close to me,” he admitted. He carried her through to the small bathroom and set her on her feet.

His hands dropped to the buttons of her shirt, his gaze holding hers captive. She moistened her lips and her heart sped up. He smiled at her in reassurance.

“You are very safe with me, Joie. Just breathe.”

He slipped each button out of the tiny hole, allowing her shirt to open all the way before he glanced down at the treasure he’d so carefully unwrapped. His breath caught in his throat. “You are so beautiful, Joie.” His hand skimmed down from her breast to her belly, down further to strip the panties from her.

He had no idea he would feel like this, emotion welling up so deep and strong, the intensity shaking him. It took a moment to remove his own clothes and step into the confines of the shower with her.

Steam fogged the clear glass of the shower door, and rose up to curl around the two bodies standing beneath the spray of hot water. Joie allowed the water to pour over her, drenching her hair and skin, washing the sleep from her body. The shower stall was small, forcing her into close contact with Traian. She thought she was completely prepared for the sight of his very masculine body, but found she could barely breathe. He was all defined muscle, his chest wide, his hips narrow. She dared not look below his waist. The man had no modesty when it came to his desires. And he desired her.

“Are you going to keep scooting back every time I get close to you?”

There was a hint of amusement in his voice. His tone was like velvet, sliding over her exposed skin, setting every nerve ending on alert.

Her mouth went dry. “It’s the only safe thing to do. Before I actually met you, I thought about having you all to myself, alone and naked and . . .” She trailed off a little desperately. The erotic fantasies were wonderful when he wasn’t standing in front of her, larger than life and still nearly a stranger. “Now I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do with you.”

“I distinctly remember you telling me you had lovers lined up,” he said, his hands framing her face, his thumb tilting her chin so that her gaze met his. “What were you planning to do with all of them?”

There was a little bite to his voice and his white teeth came together with a definite snap.

Joie tried not to let the sudden smile blossoming inside her show on her face. “You weren’t real. I could say anything.” It was impossible to look away from the dark intensity of his eyes, the hunger there. His emotions were as naked as his body. “I keep thinking this is happening too fast. I don’t really know you. How did you end up in my room? And how did I end up standing naked in the shower with you? I’m a private person, and not very trusting, yet here you are.”

It was all he could do not to kiss her. Traian knew he could easily sweep aside her every objection. The attraction between them was mutual. Electric. All-consuming. She would respond to him with the same fierce need he had for her if he kissed her, but she needed to come to terms with her decision.

“Joie.” He whispered her name, an ache in his voice. “If you want to talk about this, I suggest we get out of the shower and put the width of the room between us. We have been in each other’s minds for weeks. You know me. You know more about me than most people could learn in a lifetime. You know my character and what I stand for. And you know this is no passing fling. This is forever.”

“Forever.” She tasted the word. “That’s a long time, Traian.”

The water poured over her body and steam encircled them as she leaned into him so that the tips of her breasts pressed against his chest. She felt him hard and thick and heavy with a man’s need, a temptation and a pleading.

“Forever is quite tedious and endless without you. With you, forever is gone in moments.”

“You’re asking me to make a decision, the enormity of which I can’t possibly comprehend. I love my family, Traian. I really love them and would never be happy without them. I don’t really know what you’re asking of me, but I think it’s far more than I’ve comprehended.”

He bent his head to hers. Close. His mouth was inches from hers. “I know what I am asking of you, and I know you have reservations about your family. I do not want to go back to an existence without you. Spend your life with me, Joie,” Traian tempted softly. He feathered kisses down her face, over the corners of her mouth. His teeth tugged at her bottom lip. “Spend several lifetimes with me, an eternity. Be with me. Say you want me that much. Let me be part of your family.”

She looked up at him, at the intensity burning in his eyes. His emotion was so strong, so hot, it branded her, seared her all the way to her heart. Joie felt the pull of his need, of his loneliness. He was a dangerous predator, not quite human. Powerful beyond anything she had ever dreamed of. And sexy. Heart-stoppingly sexy. Her arms, of their own volition, were already sliding around his neck, her body molding itself to his.

“Can we be together, Traian? How? Tell me how.” Because she had been alone in the midst of a family she loved. Always surrounded by people, friends, family, she was always apart. She never knew why until she heard his voice. Something had been missing from deep inside her, some essential part of her.

Somehow, with Traian, she felt safe and at peace. She didn’t know why, she was a very independent and self-reliant person, but something in her kept demanding she search all four corners of the Earth, the highest peaks, the deepest caves, everywhere, although she had no idea what she was searching for until she’d found . . . him. Traian. He held the missing piece of her.

“It doesn’t make sense when you sleep beneath the ground and I can’t.”

“You can become as I am. You would still be Joie, still part of your family, but with the gifts and the vulnerabilities of my race. Or I can age as you age. My strength will weaken and I will be more vulnerable to our enemies. It is your happiness that counts, Joie. I want to be in your life always.”

Butterfly wings fluttered in the pit of her stomach. She felt she was on the edge of a great precipice. Joie tried to pull back before it was too late. The enormity of what he was offering was both frightening and exhilarating. He swamped her with his loneliness, with the intensity of her own feelings, so completely foreign to her. She tried to take refuge in humor. “I don’t even know if you’re good in bed.”

“I want you to acknowledge to me that you know what I am offering you.” His mouth skimmed over her face, tracing her high cheekbones, her chin, moved lower to find the pulse beating frantically in her neck. His warm breath bathed her in heat, a seductive temptation every bit as powerful as the feel of his body heavy with need.

She was in his mind, saw the choices clearly. His teeth sinking deep, making her his, bringing her into his world. Or Traian staying with her as if he were human, aging along with her, his great strength slowly fading, always vulnerable to enemies. Two choices. Two worlds. Only a heartbeat of time to choose.

She knew she needed to answer him not because he demanded it, but because the intensity of her feeling for him was so strong, she needed to settle her future in her own mind. His teeth nipped her skin, his tongue swirled over the tiny ache. She felt the throb in her deepest core, the clenching of muscles aching for relief.

“Joie.” He breathed her name again. “I will love you to the end of your days.”

The water poured over her, heightening her sensitivity to pleasure. She heard the honesty in his voice. The purity. Joie tilted her head to the side to give him better access, closed her eyes in anticipation. She was certain. She might not understand why it was right, but she had never been surer.

His teeth sank deep. White-hot pain pierced her body, giving way instantly to sheer ecstasy. Lightning flashed in her bloodstream, hot whips of pleasure tormenting her. Heat welled up, and threatened to consume her. She held him to her, closer, moving her body enticingly. It should have frightened her, the way he fed on her, devoured her with a hungry, craving lust more sexual than anything else.

Traian traced every line, and curve, every hollow, etching her body in his memory, wanting the moment to last several lifetimes. The rush hit him hard, a sexual hunger mixed with a dark craving nearly uncontrollable. For centuries his appetite had been insatiable, a terrible hunger that could never be assuaged, but now her blood satisfied his inhuman need. But his intense sensual need remained unappeased. He was hard and hot and heavy with desire. His tongue swept across the pinpricks on her skin. His lips traveled down to her breast. Ancient words beat in his head, words of a ritual imprinted on him before his birth. Once said, there was no going back. Traian and Joie would be bound for eternity.

The small sound escaping from her throat only urged him on. His tongue teased and danced over her taut nipple, caught the droplets of water as they beaded on her skin. “You are my lifemate. I claim you as my lifemate. I belong to you. I offer my life for you.” His hands shaped her body, slid up to cup her breasts.

His face was dark, his gaze intent as he looked into her eyes. Joie felt a strange wrenching in the vicinity of her heart. A part of her tasted fear, wanted to cry out for him to stop, but another part embraced his words, understood the importance of each promise uttered. Her hands slipped over his chest, and she leaned forward to taste his skin, her teeth nipping his chest, directly over his heart. She had never been a biter, but something urged her to sink her teeth deep, to connect them together. She swirled her tongue over his heavy muscles.

Joie was killing him with her innocent sensuality. His body hurt, a hard, painful ache; he was desperate for relief. “I give you my protection. I give you my allegiance. I give you my heart.” His hands tightened on her waist, holding her so tight he felt her soft body melting around his. “I give you my soul. I give you my body. I take into my keeping the same that is yours. Your life, happiness, and welfare will be cherished and placed above my own for all time. You are my lifemate, bound to me for all eternity and always in my care.”

The words spilled out of him, the Carpathian ritual marriage, as old as time. He felt thousands of tiny threads binding them together as they were meant to be joined.

He caught her chin in his hand, lifted her face to his, finding her lips almost blindly, wanting to devour her. She opened her mouth to him, melted into him. Traian caught her up in his arms, kissing her wildly, and carried her to the bed, cradling her in his lap so that his heavy erection pressed tightly against her buttocks. He whispered softly in his language, a strong command, even as his fingernail lengthened and he drew a line over his chest.

Joie kissed his throat, her lips drifting down his neck, unerringly finding his chest and the gash there. A hot flame burst inside him, a firestorm of emotion and sensation. The back of her head fit into his palm as he held her to him, encouraging her to make the exchange. Heat poured through his body. He burned for her, his body hard and painful with need, even as pleasure swept through him. Traian shifted, lowering Joie to the comforter, following her down so as not to break the connection between them. When he was certain she had taken enough for a true exchange, he whispered the command to halt and closed the wound himself. At once his mouth was on hers, stealing her breath, giving her his own.

Joie couldn’t remember how she ended up beneath him, his hips wedged between her legs. His hands were everywhere, stroking, caressing, inciting. There wasn’t an inch of her skin that he didn’t explore. She heard her own strangled cry as his fingers sank deep inside her, felt her muscles clench tightly around him. Ready. Waiting. Desperate for his invasion. Her fingers caught at his hips, pulling him to her in a frantic attempt to find relief. She had never wanted or needed anything more than to feel his body deep inside hers.

Traian, certain she was ready for him, pinned her hips and thrust into her in one long, deep stroke. She gasped with pleasure, arched upward toward him, meeting him thrust for thrust. He cried out, unable to stay silent as he surged into her. She was a silken glide of fire and velvet as her feminine sheath gripped him tightly.

Joie clung to him, unable to do much more than hold on, lifting her body eagerly to meet his as he drove harder and deeper, merging them together in a fiery tango that she wanted to go on forever. They were skin to skin. Their hearts beat with the same wild rhythm. The air crackled with electricity, and sparks leapt from nerve ending to nerve ending. The pressure built and built until she thought she might have to scream with the joy exploding through her.

He poured into her mind, filling every lonely place with—him. She felt the sensations in his body, the gathering of a great force, much like a volcano. Hot. Thick. An inferno of desire and hunger mixed with intense emotion and pure lust. He filled her with flames and heat, an outpouring of pressure building from his toes to the top of his head. At the same time, he felt her every reaction, the waves of pleasure swamping her, racing to overtake them both, consume them completely.

Joie cried his name, clutched his body tightly as they went over the cliff together, free-falling through space in wild exhilaration. She couldn’t catch her breath; her heart was pounding out of control. Little explosions continued, rocking her, so that her body refused to let his go, clamping down hard and holding him to her.

“I think I see fireworks,” she whispered into his chest.

He laughed softly. “I think we produced the fireworks.” He lay over her, his body pinning hers, locked tightly inside her while he kissed her slowly. Thoroughly. Leisurely. Savoring her. “Thank you for finding me, Joie.”

“My pleasure, Traian,” she answered. He was moving yet not moving, and each small shift sent ripples of aftershocks through her entire body. “I can hear our hearts beating. Really hear them, like pounding drums. And I can hear the blood moving through your veins. Is that normal? Because if it is, eww, ick, and yuck.”

He laughed softly, the sound vibrating through her entire body so that her muscles gripped even more tightly around him. “Think about turning the volume down. Our minds are very powerful. You can control the volume with a thought.” His teeth tugged at her lower lip “Think about it and you can hear a pin drop in the next room. But, if you want quiet, you simply turn the volume down.”

“I don’t feel that much different inside. I thought I would notice changes.”

“You haven’t gone through a conversion, Joie. It takes three blood exchanges. We have only exchanged one time.” He caught her firmly in his arms and rolled, taking her with him, so that she was straddling him.

He filled her completely, still hard and thick so that every movement sent pleasure dancing through her body. His hands cupped her breasts. “I want to look at you. I still have a difficult time believing I actually found you. That I am with you.”

Deliberately Joie moved, a long, slow glide up and down. She felt him shudder with pleasure and arched back, pushing her breasts into his hands, getting a better angle to take more of him deep inside her. “Why are you waiting, if we need three exchanges?”

He watched himself disappearing inside of her, slick and wet from her body. “I want to give your body time to adjust to the changes. It is not always easy.” He found it was difficult to get the words out, difficult to have a coherent thought when she was gripping him so strongly with her muscles, riding him harder and faster with long, deep strokes. Fire licked at his belly, flames erupted over his skin until the heat rushed to one central spot, collected there, and raged out of control.

He let the sexual ecstasy wash over him, through him, take possession of him, all the while watching the glide of her body, the way her muscles moved beneath her skin, the way her breasts pushed into his palms and her nipples teased and tempted him. The sheer enjoyment on her face. Her thoughts, completely taken up with giving them both pleasure, were enough to send him over the edge. He picked up the rhythm, thrusting upward, driving into her as she came down over him. Each stroke took his breath, took his heart. Her body caressed his—was wet and hot and tight and brought him to the brink, setting up an addiction that would never end. He would always want her again and again. He felt her muscles contract, grip, squeeze, and grip until they both went up in flames together.

Joie lay beside him, unable to move, wanting to laugh with joy. Her fingers found his, tangled, and held on. She believed in living life to the fullest, but she had always thought she would do so alone. For the first time in her life, she felt complete and utter satisfaction. Complete and utter peace.

“I feel exactly the same way,” Traian said. “I cannot help wondering—if you had been the Carpathian and I the human with a beloved family, would I have been as trusting as you have been? You cannot know what your faith and trust mean to me.”

Joie turned her head, a mischievous grin on her face. “I decided I liked flying and the shape-shifting would be cool. And if you do something so silly as to cheat on me or run off with someone else, I’m very good with a knife.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I thought you would be worried about giving up food. It does smell good. I have even sampled some from time to time.”

“No one said anything about giving up food.” She eyed him with suspicion. “There are certain things women can’t do without, Traian. Chocolate at certain times of the month is essential to health. Not necessarily my health, but the health of all males in the vicinity. I’m not giving up chocolate, not even for great sex.”

He propped himself up on one elbow, the pad of his finger tracing a circle around her breast. “Chocolate is that important, is it?”

“Essential. Absolutely essential. That’s nonnegotiable.”

“What kind of chocolate must you have?”

“Dark chocolate, of course. Is there any other kind?” He dipped his head to pull her breast into his mouth, suckling strongly just to feel her reaction. His tongue swirled over her nipple before he kissed her. His kiss was long and slow and thorough. When he lifted his head, he laughed softly at her expression. She stared up at him, bemused, one hand touching her lips in wonder where the taste of dark chocolate melting in her mouth was very real.

“How did you do that?”

“You need and I provide—that is how it works. I believe you wanted to see your brother and sister tonight.”

She allowed him to pull her up. “Anytime? You can do that anytime? Wow. I think I’m going to like this lifemate business.”

Traian laughed, hardly able to believe the happiness blossoming inside him. Hardly daring to believe Joie was real.