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Darius lifted his touch from her body. After a couple of long seconds, Mara twisted to look back at him. “Hands down, Little girl. I want to listen to your excitement. I need to hear your sweet reactions.”

She nodded and pulled her palms away from her mouth. Immediately, he rewarded her with firm, intimate spanks and brushed his fingertip over her clit. He continued with both as she showered sweet reactions down toward the carpet as he treasured her sharing her arousal with him. When she froze and held her breath, Darius pinched her clit as he delivered a hard smack.

“Daddy!” she screamed into the room as her head came up.

“Such a good Little girl. I predict I will need to reward your behavior often,” he spoke softly as he rubbed the pinkness on her lightly punished bottom. Only one handprint blazed a bit redder than a blush.

When her breathing slowed, Darius lifted her into his arms, rocking her softly from side to side as she recovered fully. Draped against his chest, she sighed happily. He kissed the top of her head. Joy filled his heart at holding his mate. She was a treasure he’d protect with everything he was.

After feeding and bathing his mate, Darius had relented and taken her to her apartment to pack some clothes and her makeup. Thankfully, Donovan had free time to check out her place before they arrived to make sure the area was safe. He’d remained close and on alert while they’d gathered things for Mara to stay with Darius—in her mind for a few days, in his forever. Then, Darius had driven to retrieve Mara’s SUV, watched over by Bram through cameras he’d aimed at her vehicle.

Before their arrival, the tech guy had personally located the car on the street and scanned the chassis efficiently. Bram had reported finding and removing two tracers. One from under the front wheel cover and the other from the rear windshield wiper. Thinking quickly, Bram had tossed both into the back of a pickup truck driven by an older man. When Bram informed Darius of his actions, fury challenged Darius’s ironclad control. Who dared target his mate?

By the time Mara jumped in behind the wheel, Darius hoped whoever was tracking her thought she was on the other side of town. She followed Darius home with the navigation playing on the screen of her phone. Darius had entered his contact information in her address book, in case they got separated in traffic. Thankfully, the number of cars on the roads on Saturday in the early afternoon hadn’t posed a problem. He hadn’t noted anyone following them.

He carried two suitcases stuffed with her clothing inside as she hurried behind him.

“I really don’t need all that. Your staff is going to get the idea that I’m moving in,” she said, cradling a tote bag close to her side.

“You are moving in, Zoí mou. They would be right. Plus, I think they like you better than me now. They’d keep you and kick me out.”

Delighted giggles bubbled from his mate, making Darius smile. He hadn’t grinned so much in years. His staff was delighted to discover he’d found his mate. Many of their families had worked for him for multiple generations.

“Has your housekeeper ever heard you laugh? She rushed in to use the Heimlich maneuver on you,” Mara said, holding her aching sides.

“I’ve laughed before,” Darius said, even as he ran through the last few years. Definitely all work and no fun had made him a very serious vampire. He’d stopped dating almost ten years ago and had dedicated himself to working and making money for both himself and the clan.

“Right.” Mara gave him a sideways glance before dissolving into giggles again.

Darius gave up and chuckled. “You do bring life back into my home.” He carried her suitcases upstairs, heading for his bedroom as she hurried after him.

Before he could set a case down to open the door, she asked, “Should I settle into a guest room?”

“Only if you want to walk naked across the hallway. You will sleep with me, Little girl.”

She looked back and forth between the doors. A vacuum roared into action at the end of the hallway as she debated. “We’ll stay with you.”

“Good idea. We?” he asked as she followed him into his room and placed the suitcases on the bed.”

“I snuck Sparkle into my suitcase when you weren’t looking.”

“That’s good. Let me guess. Is Sparkle a lightning bug?”

“No, Daddy. Sparkle is a unicorn.”

“A glittery one?”

“Um?” She hesitated for a second before unzipping one case and pulling out her stuffie. “This is Sparkle.” The well-loved unicorn looked at him suspiciously.

“Hello, Sparkle. I’m very glad to meet you.” Darius reached out to carefully shake the stuffie’s right front hoof.

“Ooh! Good job, Daddy. Sparkle hates people who mess with his horn. Don’t be sad if Sparkle is a bit standoffish at first. He doesn’t meet a lot of new people.”

“I’ll do my best to win him over then,” Darius promised and earned a wide, approving smile from his Little girl. He waved a hand at her suitcases, “My housekeeper, Lucy, will unpack for you while we’re at Nightfall.”

“Oh, I don’t want her to have to wait on me.”

“That’s part of her job, Mara. She’s pleased to assist you as well. Before we leave, would you like to take Sparkle with us or would you like to tuck Sparkle into bed?”