Authors: Melissa Schroeder
Nico landed on top of Cordelia, who squeaked. She didn’t
truly struggle, but then he didn’t give her a chance to think. He only took a
moment to enjoy the way her soft curves felt against his body before he put his
plan into action. He captured her mouth in a long, wet kiss, enjoying the way
she moaned against his tongue. She had been a virgin the night before, but she
was definitely a passionate lover.
He forced himself to pull back and settle his weight on his
elbows. Her hair was fanned out over the bed, her skin rosy from her bath, her
lips swollen from his kisses. He had never been struck mute by a woman in all
his years, but one look at her and for a moment, he forgot his name. When he
met her gaze, he could only say one thing.
“You are beautiful.”
“You don’t have to say that, Nico.”
“No. I do. You are beautiful. You should see yourself.”
She started to look away, but he knew this was important. He
set his finger against her chin and gently turned her face. “You don’t believe
me?”
“I know my shortcomings. You don’t need to lie to me. We
will get on better that way.”
He could deny it—tell her just what he was feeling at the
moment. But he wasn’t sure exactly what he was feeling at the moment. Instead,
he would show her.
He kept his eyes open as he kissed her. Hers were impossibly
blue, as if they were endless. Then he pulled her bottom lip into his mouth,
grazing his teeth over it. She sucked in a breath then released it slowly. He
slipped off her to the side and tugged the wet fabric away from her.
“I must have done something right in my life,” he said
beneath his breath. He looked up at her, and she was watching him warily with a
hint of desire darkening her eyes. She was a woman who did not know her worth.
If Nico could, he would beat her father for his treatment of her.
Without breaking eye contact, he bent his head and took her
nipple into his mouth. She shuddered as he bit down gently. As he continued to
tease her, he slid his hand down her stomach to her sex. He first skimmed his
fingers along her slit, then slipped them between her folds. She was already
wet with desire, something he knew was just a primal reaction to him, her mate.
But he could not stop the way his heart reacted. Knowing she
wanted him as much as he wanted her was one of the greatest aphrodisiacs for
him. He kissed his way down her stomach. Her flesh was sweet, delectable. He
was not a man who had hidden his needs, but with Cordelia, she brought out
something in him. He did not know how to explain it to someone else. He just
needed her. Now.
As he settled between her legs, he enjoyed the musky scent
of her arousal. It called to him as no other had before. Already, his body was
ready, primed to take her again and again. But she needed him to be gentle.
With that in mind, he set his mouth against her sex.
The taste of her exploded across his tongue, and his
incisors throbbed with the need to feed. He did not require another feeding,
but he wanted that connection during their mating. It was too soon after last
night, but his body did not give a damn. He thrust his tongue into her. She
gasped and then moaned his name. She slipped her hands through his hair,
molding them to the back of his head. He teased the little bundle of nerves as
he slid his finger back into her sex. She jolted against him and moaned again.
He could taste her need, her passion, and it urged him to take her. Never had a
woman reacted to his lovemaking the way she did. Her reactions were so honest.
There was no coy gestures or practiced flirting. With Cordelia, she did not
hide her raw passion, and it fed his own.
He took her to the edge, but did not thrust her over into
her orgasm. Instead, he pulled back and moved up her body. He wanted to be
inside her when she gained her release.
Nico slipped off the bed and pulled off his pants. Then, he
climbed back on the bed, drawing himself up to his knees, pulling her hips up
and off the bed. His movements were rough and unrefined, but she did not seem
to care—nor did he.
"Cordelia."
She opened her eyes slowly, lazily, as if she would expend
too much energy by opening them. When she finally met his gaze, he thrust into
her. The moment her wet heat surrounded his cock, he almost lost it. There was
something about Cordelia, something that made him just want to lose himself
inside of her and stay there for days.
He wanted to go slowly, but found himself unable to control
his compulsion. Why would it be any different than their entire relationship?
He had never had any control around her, and for once in his five hundred
years, he did not give a bloody hell. He thrust into her again and again. He barely
registered that she wrapped her legs around his waist. It did not take long
before she was coming apart beneath him. The ripples of her release moved over
his member as he thrust into her faster and harder. When he could no longer
control himself, he let go. As he poured himself into her, he leaned down and
ravaged Cordelia’s lips.
Moments later, he collapsed on top of her. He knew it was
unrefined of him, but he could not seem to drum up the energy to move. He
expected complaints from her but instead, she wrapped her arms around him. For
the moment, he was happy, happier than he had ever been before in his life.
Finally, he could pull himself up and look down at her. The
sight had the air backing up in his lungs. Her hair was damp and even curlier,
her face flushed with exertion, and there was a small smile curving her lips.
He gave her a kiss, this one slow and almost sweet. Her
eyelids fluttered, then opened.
He forgot his name again. Then, he shook his head and rolled
them over on the bed, pulling her closer to him and covering them with a sheet.
“We truly shouldn’t lie about in bed,” she said with a
strange mixture of embarrassment and lazy sensuality.
He kissed her forehead. “We can do whatever we want. We’re
newlyweds.”
“Indeed.” Her voice was already fading. When he heard her
even breathing, he smiled…then followed her into sleep.
*
*
*
*
Cordelia lay in bed, feeling completely and absolutely
decadent. Her husband—and she would never get accustomed to using that word—was
feeding her fresh fruit. And she was naked. He’d put his pants on, probably for
her sake. She was too embarrassed to tell him that it was of no use. Now that
she had seen him completely nude in the daylight, she wasn’t so sure she would
be able to think of him any other way.
“What are you smiling about?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
He shook his head. “No, I know that look. You hide a lot
behind that sweet smile, but I know you have a devious mind.”
She blinked. “I do not.”
He chuckled. “Yes, you do. I have a feeling a great many
inappropriate things run through your head when you are at a function.”
She tried to remain aloof, but it was impossible. She could
not resist his grin. It made him appear younger than she had ever seen him.
Nico always seemed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders.
She smiled and shook her head. “As if you are any different.
You do not like it any more than I do. I am sure you think horrible things,
too.”
“I do, but I don’t try to hide it as you do.”
“That is true. In fact, I have a distinct feeling that there
are very few people who will attempt conversation with you when you don your
‘approach me and die’ look.”
His cheeks flushed, and she had the distinct feeling he was
blushing. “I tend to hate the city.”
“Indeed?” She cocked her head and studied him. He was
definitely embarrassed. “What are you doing here?”
“Fate?”
She laughed. “I don’t believe in fate.”
“I thought women always believed in things like that.”
She sighed. “Maybe some women, not me.”
Not after her childhood. No woman would believe in fate
after what she had endured. Her father and brother had stripped away any
fantasies she had about life in general—and especially men.
“Well, you should.”
She didn’t want to talk about it. Her family life mortified
her, and she hated Nico knowing that about her. Cordelia knew he did, but
admitting it to him face to face was a bit too much. “Normally, you are not in
town, but you are now. You said you don’t like it?”
He shook his head. “Too many people, too dirty. I prefer the
country and clean air.”
“And that is where we will be going this week?”
“No. I have business to attend to in town.”
She wanted to ask more, but she had a feeling that Nico did
not want to reveal more than that. She reached up to scratch an itch on her
neck, and her fingers moved over the two indentions she had found earlier.
“Nico, did you see this? I can’t tell what it is.”
If she hadn’t been paying attention so closely, she would
have missed the way he stiffened.
She dropped her hand and studied him. “Nico?”
“There is something I need to tell you.”
She said nothing, the warm, happy feelings dissolving at the
distant look on his face.
“There is a bit about my life that I have not told you.”
He did not continue. She shivered as a chill slunk down her
spine and into her soul. Was he a money lender? Or worse, a white slaver?
Inwardly she admonished herself. A man with a mother like
Adelaide Blackburn did not make money from the flesh trade.
“Go on.”
He sighed. “My family and I are not normal like you. Well,
you are like us, but you don’t realize it.”
Again she was struck into silence. She opened her mouth then
closed it. She could not seem to come up with a response to that.
He moved away from the bed and started to pace. “We…are not
entirely human.”
He hesitated again. Panic fluttered in her stomach. Cordelia
was not a patient woman, and now she was at her wit’s end. Not entirely human?
What the bloody hell was going on here?
“Just tell me,” she said.
“We’re a family of vampires.”
“Vampires?” she asked.
“Yes. I was drawn to you because you have the gene that
makes you a Carrier. I mean, that isn’t the only reason I’m attracted to you.
But, you are predestined to be married to a Born.”
She lifted her hand to feel the indentions on her neck.
“And those. I could not help myself. It is part of the
mating ritual. You will just have to accept it.”
She could not seem to follow the conversation which Nico
seemed to be having mainly with himself.
“Nico,” she said, moving to the edge of the bed. She grabbed
her robe and pulled it on, not taking her gaze from his pacing. “Nico.”
He stopped moving and looked at her.
“Tell me what you are going on about.”
“I’m a vampire, as is my father, and now that you have mated
with me, you will birth more.”
*
*
*
*
The Made looked out the window and took the information in.
In his youth he had been impulsive, reckless. Now, though, he listened to the
news that Nico Blackburn had married with ease.
Or, at least, he let those around him think so. Inside, he
raged.
It wasn’t enough that he had to be a success at everything,
now he had a Carrier for a wife, one that apparently came from strong stock.
Would the man’s luck never end?
“You should have taken him down when you had the chance,”
his mother said. He ignored her as he did most of her suggestions. One mistake he
would never make would be to listen to a woman. They were good for bearing
children and little else, just as his father had said. It was why his father
had never bonded to his mother.
“I have not had a chance. I can assure you if I had, I would
have driven a stake through his heart.”
She opened her mouth to speak again, and he shot her a look.
“I would suggest you find something to do. I am not in the mood to discuss any
of your ideas.”
She pursed her lips, a sure sign she was not happy with him.
Then, without a word, she left him alone.
He would have to find out if Nico bonded with his mate. If
he did, he would be as easy to kill as his brother…but he would make sure that
the bastard was there to watch her die.
Nico could not discern Cordelia’s reaction. She stared at
him, no expression on her face. For the longest of moments, he thought she
might faint.
“Vampire?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Yes.”
“You married me because I can birth vampires?” she asked.
“Yes.”
She started to back away from him. “And your parents are
vampires?”
Relief started to edge out his worry. She was starting to
understand. “Yes.”
He followed her steps, and she stopped by the door. “Stop
stalking me.”
“I am not stalking you. You are running away.”
She took another step then stopped. Her spine stiffened.
“You tell me you are a vampire and then expect me not to be afraid.”
He hated hearing her say she was afraid, but before he could
reassure her he would never harm her, there was a knock at the door.
“Go away,” he shouted at the same time she said, “Come in.”
The door opened, bumping Cordelia in the back. She pitched
forward, and Nico caught her to keep her from falling to the ground. He righted
her. Cordelia wrested her arm out of his hand and shot him a dirty look. His
mother poked her head through the opening.
His mother smiled at him reassuringly. “I see you told her.”
She looked at his mother. “Told me?”