Honeymoon Bite (Golden Vampire Legacy) (30 page)

“Your mother and I were fated lovers, for a short couple of days. I ran away afterwards, not knowing you had been conceived during our mating. I was married at the time to a human woman who needed me and whom I loved, although not in the same fating way. She was a good woman and didn’t deserve my indiscretion. It was confusing for me. I am truly sorry.”

The audience had hushed. Paolo hugged the boy on the lectern. The whole room could see the boy did not hesitate to hug Paolo back. Lucius closed his eyes. Paolo pulled away and put his hands on the sides of Lucius’s face. “I am ashamed of my actions, Lucius. I have caused pain and death. I have robbed you of a home and a father who loves you dearly. I ask your forgiveness. You are the only one I live for now, my son.”

Aurora stood up. “This changes nothing. How touching. This only goes to prove what a depraved family we have here before us. You will pronounce sentence now and wipe this man off the face of the earth. And as contributory, you should take the scum Paolo as well!” She pointed a red tipped long forefinger at Paolo.

The Council was clearly in disarray. It was obvious they did not know what to do. Praetor Artemis stood and addressed them, his hand remaining on Anne’s shoulder.

“Council, it appears we have two crimes here, but only one trial.” He leveled a glassy stare at Paolo. “And we have one crime of unspeakable cowardice, which will have its own punishment.”

At this, Paolo sadly nodded. He hugged Lucius again, who tried to steal a look at Marcus.

“Praetor. Explain,” Council Chairman requested.

“Is it not a crime to come between two fated mates?”

“It is,” Council Chairman replied.

“And I have been told Maya fed on this female as a mortal, draining her, actually set off to kill her after she heard from Marcus’s lips she was his fated female. This is part of the record. I wrote it so several months ago.”

“You are correct.”

“Maya knew the boy was not Marcus’s. She had felt the fating with Paolo. But, faced with a life of raising a child by herself and spending the rest of her life with a mate who refused her, she did only what she was trained to do.” Praetor gave a harsh look to Aurora, who stood immediately.

“He disrespects me and my family. The Council has spoken already and convicted this man by his own admission.”

“Silence,” the Chairman boomed.

Paolo looked at Laurel and Anne noted the two shared a nod and a smile. She wondered if this was true, and, if so, had Laurel known?

“I think we will have to adjourn so the Council can take this new finding under advisement,” the Chairman declared.

“Excuse me, Chairman,” Praetor began, “if I may perhaps speak for the entire Council in recommending Marcus Monteleone be exonerated, under the circumstances. I think these families have suffered enough.”

“Outrage!” Aurora screamed so loud it made Lucius jump and grab hold of Paolo.

Amid catcalls and shouts from the family members beside her, the Chairman raised his voice and commanded, “Have this woman removed from these halls!” Immediately, guards by the door forcibly picked her up, restraining her as she tried to scratch their eyes and kick them. Seeing Aurora contained seemed to calm Maya’s other family members. Before she was ushered out the door, Chairman stopped them.

“And, madam,” he said as he stood. “Let me declare to you that you are bridled from causing any harm to this man or this woman.” He pointed to Marcus and Anne. “Nor any member of their family.” He rubbed his fingers through the air in a sweeping gesture, addressing the general side of Marcus’s family.

“And if any member of
your
family, madame, is responsible for causing any harm to any member of this family, I will hold you, Aurora, responsible for it one hundred percent. Do I make myself clear?”

Everyone in the room looked at the red face of the Chairman.

“Do I make myself clear, ladies and gentlemen?” he shouted again.

At last, several of Maya’s family turned down their heads and nodded. Aurora’s chin stood upright in quiet defiance.

The Chairman pointed a finger at Aurora. “I can hold you until you agree. Your freedom is contingent on your vow.”

Aurora tore her arms from the guards. On her own, she nodded and whispered, “I agree.”

“Now, remove her.” The guards picked up the wild-eyed woman, who still spewed hatred towards the Chairman. But, she was led outside without further incident.

Marcus at last turned to look at Anne. Her heart was racing, the pulse in her veins quickening, unafraid to show her need of him. She saw him call to her in the ancient way her fated male would call to her, through his dark eyes that looked into her soul. From afar, he kissed her there.

The Chairman again addressed the crowd. “I thank you for your words, Praetor. And you, young son, your bravery is noted. Paolo, you have much to answer for, but I see your course is tracked. I wish I could physically punish you, if I could do it without hurting the boy. Your punishment is of a different nature, and I hope you pay the price forever. Please be seated.” As Paolo and the boy made their way back to their seats, Marcus stopped Lucius and gave him a hug the boy returned. Then Lucius kissed Marcus on the cheek, and smiled.

The Chairman looked at the other Council members, many of whom nodded in a silent agreement. “Marcus, please rise.”

He did. Anne wanted to run to his side, but held her spot between Laurel and Praetor. She leaned forward, placing her hands on the back of the seat in front of her, next to Paolo. She patted his back.

“Although I regret we cannot take back the pain that has been caused by this proceeding, I find that, in light of the fact that you did everything in your power to protect your fated female from her attacker, this homicide is justified.” When the shouts from the opposite side of the room died down, he continued. “I want to say we do not condone violence. This is never the solution to any problem, as I’m sure this illustrates. We should always seek to find another way. I am not sure in this case, though, it could be avoided. Marcus Monteleone, you are exonerated and are free to go.”

Shouts of joy rang through the room. Marcus’s family descended upon him. He was wet with tears, covered in lipstick, jostled with hugs and slaps on the back. His hair came untied and hung loose around his face. Anne stood back, but could see his eyes scanned above the crowd.

“Anne? Anne? I want to see Anne.”

Anne pushed her way through the crowd, who took no notice of her. She wedged herself between body after body until at last she broke through to the front of the circle of well-wishers surrounding him, and ran into his arms.

“At last. Forever and forever. We have forever now.”

She had no words and no tears left. She collapsed into the chest of the man who loved her with the intensity she loved him.

Chapter 26

They walked down the rows of green fruit that hung below slender vines. Anne looked out the Dry Creek Valley to the vineyards on the flats below, Marcus’s warm hand in hers. The green view took her breath away. She watched the vines grow in front of her eyes, the liquid from their fruit like the blood she and Marcus lived on. This place was her sanctuary. Her mortal life had ended on a cobblestone street so far away, but her new life had begun right here, at the place where Marcus had laid the blanket down when she tasted him for the first time. The time she’d felt the fating. And here again, her new life was starting again as she watched Marcus lay down the same blanket, stretch out the long lean length of his body, and call to her with his eyes.

Anne wore a peasant skirt and white top she had seen once on a gypsy dancer in Spain. It was comfortable in her present condition. Her enlarged belly needed room. She gave herself many lacy petticoats for Marcus to get lost in on his quest for her opening. They mussed his hair as he explored. He took his time, though, catching on the rhythm of the game, peeling back one layer at a time, as he brought her closer and closer to the familiar core of her passion.

She had decided not to make him work too hard and had not worn panties. When he found this, he dipped his tongue into the pool of her sex and, looking up to her eyes, whispered, “Thank you.”

Licking the sensitive fold next to the lips of her sex, he whispered a question he didn’t need to ask. The way she was splayed out for him should have told him the answer, but she loved hearing him beg for her anyway. She loved that he respected her body. Though he had the keys to every door in her heart and soul, he would always ask permission, never take what was not freely given.

“May I taste?”

“Please. You can have any part of me you wish to devour. Every part but the child I am carrying.”

He licked her again with a warm tongue, his touch, vibrating over her white skin as if to calm her flesh and prepare it for the bite. The punctures through her skin stung and then dulled into a sensual glow that radiated out from it, making the lips of her sex quiver and release its juice. Marcus suckled her blood, and then suckled the juice of her passion.

He was whispering secrets again to his child, to the womb inside her, making the child strong. He could hear his son’s strong heartbeat. The sound of his father’s voice quickened it, along with his mother’s.

Marcus raised himself up to take Anne’s lips that she parted for him. He moaned and gave her his hot breath.

“I am yours. Forever.” Marcus bit her earlobe.

“Yes, my love. And every cell in my body belongs to you.”

Long male fingers inched their way under her blouse, stopping only to squeeze the taut nipples and warm flesh of her breasts. He delicately raised the white blouse off her and sighed at the new red satin and lace bra he’d bought her. She knew he liked it when she dressed inappropriately for him. She even liked doing it in public, making his pants tent in front of lots of people, making him nail her in his mind against any available wall. She wanted to always have this effect on him, and she knew she would.

“Are you going to punish me for not wearing the matching panties you bought me?”

“Under the circumstances, this is a violation that deserves punishment, don’t you think?” He kissed her neck, then followed his lips with exploring fingers up and down her pulsing vein.

“I am truly sorry for my sins. But I fear the punishment will bring me too much pleasure.” She liked that he smiled and showed his white teeth, the tips of his fangs.

“Then you have no choice but to bring the executioner of this punishment into your body and show him. To be truly punished, he needs to know all things about you to exact his measure.”

“I hope his measure is lost inside me and never wants to return to his body again.”

“Ah, but only for the delicious bridle of it until it is free to exact its punishment again. The yearning is delicious.”

Anne loved the whispers they gave each other. She looked at the vines surrounding them. They knew. The grapes knew. They were indeed witnesses to their love for each other. Marcus’s maleness was so strong he could exact juice from the grapes at her sides. Everything in the world deferred to him.

She sat up, then helped him off with his shirt. She kissed his chest, working her tongue over his nipples. She bit him gently and took a drop. Her tongue wanted more. Her mouth ached for him as her sex dripped for him.

She unbuckled his jeans and helped slide them down his long legs. His erection was fully red and glistened in its velvet goodness in the afternoon sun. Anne covered him with her lips, working her tongue over his head, letting the warm shaft bulge further and throb for her.

One knee grazed his thigh. She dipped her sex and rubbed herself up and down on his flesh as she leaned into his chest and sucked on a nipple. Her round belly pressed against him and she watched his pleasure as she rubbed their offspring against his tanned abdomen. Then her knee reached over his other thigh so that her wet sex hung over his balls, his erection pressed against her and lost in her petticoats. She raised the lacy fabric so his cock could find its home, then looked at his dark eyes as she raised herself up. She set herself down upon his shaft in one long motion as his hands gently massaged her belly.

“Ah, this is how it is done, my son. This is how your fated female will make you feel,” Marcus whispered, and then looked at his wife.

There were no words for how Anne felt. His shaft thrust from below into her belly, reaching to touch all of her insides, seeking to create pleasure wherever it pressed. His cock was demanding and hard. She would remember this mating for centuries, this sunny summer day when she was large with his male child. Full circle in a life that started out mortal and became immortal, and in time, legendary.

Anne’s muscles began to twitch as she lowered herself down to his neck and claimed him in her orgasm. He did the same, claiming her with a new strength and urgency to shoot his seed she had not felt before. They were life force for each other as their bodies tangled in the mating where there wouldn’t be satisfaction, but a growing need for each other and the love they shared. They would bloom together. Not grow old. They would just grow.

And they would drink the wine of their love forever.

THE END

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