Authors: Maya DeLeina
“I am afraid that you are not feeling well and will need some much-needed rest so your body and mind can fully cover. Do you trust in what I am saying?”
“I do.”
“You must remain asleep for twenty hours, uninterrupted, to fully regenerate. When you wake, your mind will remember talking with Anya and Steffan and drinking wine into the wee hours of the morning. When you wake, Anya and Steffan will be waiting for you, with a nice meal prepared to nourish your body. When you wake, Chloe will be waiting anxiously for your call. Will you do as I say and recall as I planned?”
“Yes.”
“Good, Michelle. It’s time to start your sleep. Good night. Sleep well.”
Michelle closed her eyes and immediately produced a deep snore that echoed through the room.
“So you can induce a sleep command, but you can do nothing for the snore?”
“I do what I can. Come, my love, we have twenty hours.” Steffan walked to the door and held out his hand.
Chapter Nineteen
They walked hand in hand down the hallway, leaving behind Michelle to rest peacefully.
With every step, their gaze deepened on one another. Their awareness heightened on the profound passage on which they were about to embark. The intensity of the moment engulfed Anya. The rhythm of her heart intensified, filling her chest with a vibrating sensation, as if the reverberation of a marching band bass drum had just crossed her path.
Steffan pulled Anya close into his chest and let the rhythm and inflection of his breath calm her.
They stood in the middle of the catwalk, hovering at the top of the grand staircase. Steffan rested his gaze at the wall of glass that flanked the great room below, cradling Anya in his embrace. The falling rain obscured the sharpness of the sparkling lights of the city. The golden illumination blurred, as if in a sensual and romantic dreamscape.
“I love you, Anya,” Steffan whispered. “I’ve waited more than a mortal man’s eternity to find you. What you are about to give to me…” Steffan paused to catch his breath. “…is the most selfless act imaginable. I will spend the rest of our eternity showing you my gratefulness for your love and your devotion in every conceivable way.”
Anya’s muscles weakened with his words and started to quiver. Her fingers, toes, nose, and ears all tingled. Steffan released his embrace and let his gaze lay on the woman who was about to become his mate. Her eyes were glassy, and her bottom lip trembled in his evaluating stare.
“I’m not changing my mind, Steffan. I have no doubts,” Anya assured him. “This is what I want. This life with you is all I want.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “I’m just scared. I’m so very scared.”
Steffan moved in closer to Anya and gently cupped her face in his hands. “Of course. You are about to confront death. Fear is natural. For most of our kind, we never had time for this type of reflection…we never knew what was about to happen to us. For you, it’s different. You’ve had time to contemplate and face the choice of mortality in exchange for immortality.” Steffan kissed her on the forehead, holding her close. “I can only imagine the fear you have in you now, but I’m here to see you through this. I will not let you go. You will die, but I will ensure that my blood will have you born again.”
“I guess I keep thinking I have only this one life, one body, one voice, one heart. I am afraid of losing the unseen part of my living being. I’m afraid of losing my soul.”
“That is what you think, Anya? That you lose your soul? The soul is eternal. It’s the embodiment of you and only you. It’s undying. You don’t lose you. You still exist. It is our two souls that fated us as mates.”
Anya lifted to her tiptoes and kissed Steffan deeply. They explored each other’s depths with a powerful mix of emotions. Steffan laced his fingers with Anya’s as they separated from their passionate exchange.
“We’ll take it slow. We will only have one night quite like this, and I want to savor everything human about you for one last time.”
They made their way to the opposite end of the catwalk.
Beyond the double doors at the end of the hallway was the room in which Anya would face her death and birth. Her eyes filled with tears of excitement, love, and anxiety.
Steffan paused and turned around to face the catwalk. He closed his eyes for a moment in deep concentration.
Anya watched as the air in front of him vibrated and morphed in the stillness of the evening, a clear bending and weaving in the unseen space.
“Was that boundary?” she asked.
Steffan nodded in response and turned back around to the entrance of their master bedroom. “Go ahead, my love, open the doors.”
Anya pressed both hands against the doors and pushed her way through to the room. Red rose petals lay across the wooden floors, creating a meandering path in two directions—one to the bed, dressed in black, silk sheets. Red rose petals pooled in the middle of the bed as sheer, black fabric cascaded down from the canopy above. The other path wound around the corner to the master bath. Anya followed the petal path with Steffan at her heels.
“Steffan!” Anya exclaimed as she rounded the corner and let her eyes rest on the rose petals that floated in the bathtub. Anya walked to the elevated platform that sat centered in front of the expansive window and made her way up the stairs. The exotic wood floors at the top of the platform transitioned into black slate tile. Anya looked down at the large oval infinity-edge bathtub that sunk into the ground. Diffused light glowed in the water resembling a miniature swimming pool. Steffan’s private reserve wine and two glasses sat at the edge of the tub.
“Do you like your present?”
“So beautiful! When? How?” Anya said in utter shock, not forming complete thoughts or phrases as she walked back down the platform and settled next to Steffan.
“While you were recovering. Eilian and I just finished up the last of the details while you were with Michelle. Did you notice that somehow, you were drawn to the bath down the hall instead of our master?”
“Now that you mention it, yes!”
“Forgive me, but I placed a boundary around this area to keep it a secret.” Steffan reached for the hem of his black T-shirt and lifted it over his head. The sight of his bare chest, back, and arms flooded Anya with desire.
Steffan reached for the loops that hooked around Anya’s middle finger and undid each side. He slid her delicate shrug from her shoulders and let it drop carelessly to the floor.
His eyes were fixated on Anya’s, undeniable and powerful.
Steffan’s hands landed on each side of her hips, moving to the hem of her white tank top and lifting it up from her body as she raised her hands in the air. He tucked his fingers under her belt and into the waistband of her long skirt and slowly inched it down past her hips and to the floor.
Steffan stood back, removing his jeans, his gaze remaining fixated on Anya. She removed her bra and thong. She started to reach behind, planning to unhook her coin belt when Steffan stopped her in her tracks.
“No. Keep that on for a minute.”
Steffan slid his black briefs down his legs then leaned against the wall. He was rock hard. His hands engulfed his magnificent length and width, stroking up and down, rounding the tip at times. “Shake your hips for me.”
“I can’t dance, Steffan. It’s not good.”
“Anya, close your eyes.”
Anya closed her eyes as instructed.
“The music, listen to it with your soul.”
Anya concentrated on the eclectic flavor of the music that piped into the room. She let herself go, not concentrating on each individual instruments, but hearing the rhythm the fusion created.
“Now, imagine me under you, Anya. Move your hips as you would on top of me.”
Anya pictured Steffan’s masculine body under her, and her body exploded in undulating movements. Slowly, she circled her hips, her movements small. She tilted her head back, her breasts on full display. She circled her hips with a deeper movement, the coins echoing her progression.
Even with her eyes closed, she knew Steffan was standing in front of her, eyes wild with desire.
Anya pitched one of her legs forward, pointing her toe to the ground. Her hips changed course, moving back and forth, her abdomen rolling with the movement.
Suddenly,
Anya felt Steffan’s strong hands wrap around her hips.
Anya’s eyes flew open in surprise. “Steffan?”
“Yes?” Steffan whispered as he lifted her up, placing her feet back on the floor. Only this time, she was standing on the second step that led up to the tub.
“Hmm, are you compensating for height differential here?”
“Maybe.” Steffan stood tall, situated on the first step in front of Anya.
She gasped.
Steffan tucked his rock-hard length between her legs, sliding below her wetness.
“Oh my god!” Anya said breathlessly.
Steffan positioned Anya’s legs close together, squeezing him tighter between her thighs.
“Now, continue,” Steffan whispered softly.
Anya moved her hips back and forth as she held Steffan’s lustful gaze. She was dripping wet with desire. He was below her, sliding the length of his shaft just under her folds, teasing her with his veins and contours.
She begged for his entry.
“Not yet. Just concentrate on how my cock feels, delicately tracing your flesh,” he whispered.
Anya rested her forehead against Steffan.
She settled into her rhythmic hip movement, her thighs holding him securely in place. His hard and veiny cock rubbed against her pussy, soothing the naughty ache that throbbed insistently. Her pulse quickened and her breath grew deeper, faster, and hotter with each passing second. She was flowing like a river now, lacing him with her sweetness.
“Oh my god, Steffan!”
“That’s it, my love. Let yourself go.”
She could feel it. It was almost there. Her legs could barely keep her up. Her nipples were rock hard and sensitive. The friction grew to an all-out yearning, aching for a deep release. Her mound, swollen beyond compare, burned with desire. Before she knew it, it was here. “Steffan!”
Anya’s orgasm was intense, drifting in waves, dialing up deep, uncontrolled spasms, each one more intense than the other. She quaked as she held him tightly between her thighs, the shimming sound of her coin belt echoing her vibration.
“Did that feel good,
cariad
?”
“Good? It was…magnificent!”
* * * *
They wasted no time submerging their bodies deep in the bathtub, Anya settling in place between Steffan’s legs.
He reached for the wine and poured two glasses.
“Here, my love, drink,” he said, handing a glass to Anya.
The smell of white tea and jasmine filled the air as Steffan lathered a bath sponge and slowly washed Anya’s back. She closed her eyes and savored the wine as it slipped past her lips.
“Steffan, you will tell me how to do it right?”
“Drink from me?”
“Yes.”
“When the time comes, I think you will find your instincts will take over.”