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“You have no idea how long I’ve waited to hear those words flow freely from your lips,” Julian said, ripping open his shirt and climbing over me. “When I thought I’d lost you again, I nearly threw myself into a volcano. That’s not an exaggeration,” he said at my expression. “I would do anything for you, Charlotte, even die.”
I knew that. Touching, though creepy as it was, it couldn’t replace the high strumming in my veins that came with the freedom of my admission. There was no one who could ever come close to Julian, the gorgeous man before me who felt so deeply, fought so hard to protect those in need, and loved me so fiercely. How could I have resisted a man like him falling at my feet for so long? My heart soared and my body hummed with heated desire. I needed to embrace him, breathe him in, hold him…touch him. And I couldn’t stand it a second longer.
“It’s a good thing you didn’t jump.” I lifted my palm to the large bulge in his pants and squeezed. “Or I couldn’t do that anymore.”
Julian ripped our clothes off in seconds and climbed back over me, kissing his way from my navel to my breasts where he sucked on my nipples until they were hard points.
“We should be figuring out how to deal with the general,” I gasped as he kissed up to my neck and rubbed his cock against the hungriest part of me.
“After,” he murmured in my ear then slid two fingers between us.
“Mmm,” I agreed, moving with him and guiding his mouth back to my throat.
“I hurt you,” he said, stopping just when I needed him to move faster.
“Not on purpose,” I said. “Bite me the right way now. To make it better.” I ground my hips, so he’d get my message loud and clear.
His fangs pricked lightly and then heaven welcomed me as he sank both teeth and cock inside of me at once. I groaned in ecstasy as he gave and took in a harmonious exchange. Nearly blinded by my building orgasm, I breathed over his ear, “I want to be with you forever. Make me a vampire.”
Julian was off me and at the foot of the bed in an instant.
“Come back,” I begged, reaching for him.
“You don’t mean that, Charlotte,” he said, eyes flashing red even as other parts of him seemed more than eager to oblige.
“I think I know exactly what I mean,” I said, rising onto my knees and moving toward him.
“You’ve never wanted—”
“That was the old me,” I interjected sharply. “The me that would sacrifice her own life. I’m not the same anymore, just like you aren’t who you were back then.”
I pressed my eyelids closed for a moment as I gathered my thoughts then opened them again. “Lydia wanted to turn me without the machine to prevent Silas from carrying out his plan. It was a good idea. She even suggested I take the cure if I didn’t like it. But I refused.”
“Then why would you ask it of me?” He leaned over me, desperation in his tone.
“Because I didn’t trust her to stop me from doing something I’d regret before I got a handle on things. But I trust you, Julian.” I reached up and cautiously tugged him down beside me. “And I would give almost anything not to have to deal with these abilities anymore. The knowledge of what others are willing to do to get ahold of them is horrid. But it’s more than that. I hate the powers themselves. I always have. Even now, something urgent and dark is tugging at my brain, fighting for attention that I don’t have the strength to give it.”
I couldn’t stop the sobbing from overtaking me yet again, but Julian cradled me to his chest, waiting for me to calm and continue with seemingly infinite patience.
“I don’t want to look at it,” I cried, beating my fists into his chest that felt more like cold, smooth cement than skin. “I’m human and I can’t keep this up all the time. It isn’t fair. I can only process so much.”
“My love.” He kissed the top of my head. “Don’t look at it if it hurts you. It’s okay not to listen all the time. It should be a choice, not a—”
A loud banging at the front door made me gasp and Julian tightened his hold on me.
“Who is it?” I asked him.
Cocking his head, he considered. “Whoever it is doesn’t have a scent. All I smell is you and the rest of your house. I will go look.”
“No,” I sniffed. “Mama’s home. She can check the wards, and if it’s someone she doesn’t want here, she can push them out with magic.”
“As I was saying then, you have these abilities, but perhaps they can be controlled be—”
The door banged so hard I thought it might bust in. Julian was off in a burst of wind, and by the time I pulled on a bathrobe and followed, he was standing before the open door in an extra pair of pants he kept here just in case, facing a crazed-looking Binx.
That explained the scent only being mine. I suspected for some time that the incubus smelled like whatever turned a person on. But…
“What’s wrong, Binx? And where are Mama and Em?” I spun in place, searching for the other occupants of the house who’d surely heard the commotion.
