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Good. I shouldn’t be the only one suffering.
He entered the Central Tower through the main lobby, his steps slowing to take in the view. Arched stained-glass windows about three stories tall framed the entranceway. Dark gray columns reached up to the third-floor balconies with recessed lighting that lit up the white marble floors. The center was wide open all the way up to the roof a hundred floors above. Waist high balconies wrapped around every floor for the flying vampires to land on.
The sense of grandeur, whether viewed from the ground or high up, always stunned him for a heartbeat. Felix’s attention caught on the ivory fountain dominating the lobby. A statue of a female vampire with wings spread wide in flight and water streaming down her delicately raised hands rose from its center. He waited for the statue to come alive; the sculptor had given it so much movement. The light from the colorful stained-glass windows shone on the vampire and announced to the world that his kind no longer lived in darkness.
Perhaps vampires had moved into the light with the shield technology in Vegas, but Felix was still trapped in the shadows of the past.
His heart heavy, he took the elevator to his floor. He sensed Gabby in their rooms. When he entered on silent feet, she was staring with a faraway, longing look at the wall painted with friezes in the classical style of the Italian Renaissance.
Felix had requested their quarters to mirror the villa where she’d grown up. A small crystal chandelier hung from the high coffered ceiling, its thousand tiny bulbs casting soft shadows. Two thick carpets covered the oak floors while four intricately carved chairs surrounded a square table to the left, against the floor to ceiling windows with a view of the city.
A row of arches to the right formed a hallway that led to a door connecting to the next room. Felix watched, unmoving, as Gabby touched the rough surface of the wall.
Her homesickness seeped into him until he wished they were back on the Italian beaches. He’d never returned, not since she’d left. It had been too painful to visit the place where he’d been the happiest in his immortal life.
“Lost in the past,tesoro mio?”
Gabby whirled around, the sadness and longing gone, replaced with wariness. Yet, she couldn’t hide her erratic heartbeat from either of their hearings. “What are you doing here? How did you get in?”
He smiled, taking a little satisfaction in her shock. “It’s my room.”
“You’re wrong. This room is mine.”
He leaned against the door and crossed his legs, acting as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “I guess no one told you, but since we are mates, it’s only natural we share a room.”
“I refuse. No.”
The same violent power he’d sensed earlier flared to life as she stalked him, an invisible yet pulsating aura ready to strike. He hid his smile.
“Get out of my way,” Gabby hissed, baring her fangs.
His vampire howled with delight at the danger pouring off his mate. Her scent of lavender layered with viciousness turned him on more than it should. Felix couldn’t help but goad her, all his good intentions flying out the window. “Or what?”
Her arms blurred. With a flash of silver, she had a dagger against his throat. She leaned closer, her eyes red with wrath. “I will do it.”
He wrapped his fingers around her wrist, savoring the feel of her smooth skin. “Tsk, where are your manners? Your tutors taught you better than that, Lady Gabriella.”
“I was taught to kill a vampire on sight.”
He wondered what she’d do if he kissed her snarling mouth. He could never forget her upbringing. Fate was a cruel mistress. He had thought about seducing the young, innocent sister of Armando Padova, head of the Padovas, a vampire hunter family. It would be payback for the vampires her family had killed.
Until he’d met her.
Instead of killing him when she had the chance, she’d saved him.
“It’s too bad you didn’t listen.” He leaned forward until the dagger broke skin. His heart slammed against his ribs, his veins on fire, as he watched Gabby swallow as the scent of his blood pervaded the room.
Fury struggled with lust on her delicate features before she jumped away.
“Would it be so terrible to stay in the same room?” He had to believe the mating bond’s pull on her was as strong as it was on him.
“You know very well why I cannot stay with you.”
“Do I?”
Their gazes locked, her vulnerability spearing through his core, their raw hunger merging into one. Their needs for one another fused together and became a living, breathing energy, pulling them toward each other.
Felix’s breath left him in one long whoosh. He hadn’t meant to break through her mental shield, to connect them like this. For a moment, he lost himself to the need crawling through him, a savage beast that contained every dark and evil part of his nature, one that only yearned to be sated regardless of the consequences.
