What has happened? How much time has passed?
Zane’s mental voice sounded puzzled.
We woke up here—all of us.
The cavern was gone. The queen was gone. The time we lost has been nothing but a black hole in our minds, and we knew we had to wait here for our queen.
Somehow. I just didn’t realize it’d be you
. His fingers stroked my cheek, brushing away the tears.
Princess, what have you done?
What I had to do,
I told him.
And I regret nothing.
“Then sit, and tell us what happened,” he said, tugging me from his arms and gesturing at the empty throne nearby.
I swallowed hard, giving him an uncertain look. But this was the path I’d chosen, and his hand gripped mine with warmth and strength. I nodded and stepped forward, moving toward that throne. And then I sat and looked out at the crowd of vampires.
The chaos of their minds was still muted thanks to Zane’s possessive, blanketing thoughts, but I could feel them in my head. Some were nearly shrouded with darkness. Some still had a lot of light in them. And all of them were mine.
I was their queen.
I looked at Zane. He stood a step below the throne, deferring to me.
I held my hand out for his. We would do this together.
A faint smile touched his mouth and he moved forward, placing his hand in mine. Our fingers linking, I looked out on the crowd of vampires who watched me. Waiting. I was their queen, but I was an unknown ruler to them.
And I would be kind. And I would bring them back to the light.
I could do anything with Zane at my side.
“I should start at the beginning,” I said slowly. “And this begins over a year and a half ago, when the queen was destroyed…”
“And finally, get out of this business if you fall in love. Because at the end of the day, sometimes you’d like to have only one dick in your face. And it’s there because you want it there, not because the director thinks you need a pair of balls hanging over your nose as another guy hammers into your pink. Bottom line is—if you find a guy that’s worth it, give up the porn and keep him. Some men are worth a career-change. Mine is.”—
Porn Is Not Reality,
by Remy Summore
~*~
When my story was finished, the vampires introduced themselves to me, one by one. Some faces I recognized—and not in a good way. Some were new to me. Each one felt like a familiar twinge in my mind and I knew that given time, I’d be able to sort through the myriad cobwebs inside my head and touch upon each one’s mind individually. I could listen in on private conversations, or even take over their thoughts, pressing my will against theirs. And I knew that because of the tether, I would win any mental battle.
The latter thought made me shudder. I didn’t want to become like the old queen, treating them as puppets for my own amusement.
When the introductions were finished, I stood… and immediately wobbled. My body was exhausted.
Zane rushed to my side, sweeping me up before I could fall to the ground, and I was surprised to see the concern of several vampires as they hovered close by, ready to assist. The thought made me laugh, just a little.
I was the queen to the biggest set of immortal bad boys ever. They had to protect me with their lives, because it meant theirs. The laugh bubbled up in my throat, and continued even though I tried to stifle it. Immortal bad boys… with a mother-hen side to them. I continued to giggle.
“She’s tired,” Zane said to the others, gesturing that they should give me space. “I will see to her.”
Still they hesitated, and I knew what they were looking for. I waved a hand. “Go. Feed. Play nice.”
One by one, they scattered from the room. I could feel the muddled confusion of their thoughts, their grudging concern for me—and for themselves. This would be a new world order and they were unsure how to approach things.
It’d take some time for all of us to adjust. I knew that. Even so, there were some things that hadn’t changed. I leaned heavily against Zane, inhaling the delicious scent of him. His thoughts were a white light in my mind, a delicious teasing melody of affection that soothed my senses.
I didn’t protest when he carried me out of the throne room and back up the stairs of the mansion. Instead, I burrowed closer, my eyes closed in bliss. My Zane. Oh God, he was back. He was really, really back. Everything hadn’t been in vain. I could touch him again. Taste him. Feel his warm body against mine, his skin—
“Princess,” Zane said softly as he carried me. “Don’t cry.”
I wiped at my cheeks. I hadn’t realized I was crying again. I was just so emotional. For months and months I’d been dead, a walking zombie with no heart and no soul. Now everything was back.
And I was overwhelmed with joy. With love. With wonder.
I wrapped my arms around Zane’s neck and buried my face against his skin, inhaling deeply. I barely noticed when he kicked open a pair of double doors and laid me on an immense, opulent bed. My thoughts were full of him.
Until I slid over to the side on the satin sheets, that is. I sat up, frowning at the feel of the slick sheets against my skin. They were blood red, and I looked around. Everything in the room was
red
—from the walls to the enormous four-poster bed to the carpet. Ugh. It was like I’d been dropped into a giant bloody tomato. “The queen’s room?” I asked, sitting up in the bed and regarding the surroundings as Zane moved to close the double doors and give us some privacy.
“Guest room,” he said. “The queen took no room for herself. Nothing we had was off-limits to her. It was all hers.”
“Oh,” I said, frowning. Well, that would change. The vampires were individuals, not my toys to play with. “If I’m the new queen, does that mean I can redecorate?”
He nodded, moving back to the bedside and sitting on the edge next to me. “There’s enough money in the bank accounts to redecorate a dozen houses.”
Well, that’d be good. I’d call Remy after I’d settled in and see if she wanted to come play interior decorator for me.
Zane’s eyes flared with need as he stared down at me.
Oh, I wanted him
so
badly.
“I heard that,” he murmured with a smile, getting back to his feet. He dragged his duster off his shoulders and tossed it to the floor, then pulled off his shirt, exposing his chest, and letting his wings flare out behind him. My mind went blank. Entranced, I slid off the side of the bed and went to his side, running my hands along those chiseled abs, that delicious body. “God, I missed you,” I said in a voice gone hoarse with need.
His hands moved back to my face and he was cupping my jaw, angling my mouth toward his. His lips brushed against mine, his tongue flicking against my lips, and I moaned in desire.
“You’re going to have to stop crying at some point,” he said softly, and I felt his fingers brush away the wetness on my cheeks again.
“It’s been so long,” I whispered, aching with love for him. “I’ve missed you so much. You don’t know how much.”
“I’m so sorry, Princess,” he said, pressing light kisses to my damp cheeks. “I wish I could have been at your side to help you.”
“Getting you back was the only thing that made me keep going,” I said, my words a half sob. “I wasn’t about to spend the next four thousand years without you.”
He grinned and leaned in to kiss me again, his teeth grazing my lip. I could feel his hunger, his desire for me—and a cord of love that pulsed stronger with every heartbeat.
I had Zane back, and I was linked to him forevermore. As I pressed my forehead to his and drank him in, I sighed with pleasure and just let his thoughts roll through my mind like a dark wine.
His hands moved to my coat and he grinned. “This looks familiar.”
“I wore it every day so I’d remember you,” I said quietly. I didn’t mention the cigarettes. That seemed a little too needy.
He leaned in and gave me a light kiss. “My poor, sad princess.” His hand slid around my waist and I hissed as his hand came into contact with my spear wound. He stilled, and I felt the flash of alarm in his thoughts a moment before he spoke. “Jackie, what the hell is this?”
“Flesh wound?”
“Don’t quote Monty Python at me,” he said, and I felt the flash of anger in his mind. “Why are you hurt?” His hands skimmed over my shirt, then he pulled it up carefully, exposing the bandages. “You’re bleeding everywhere.”
“And it totally turns you on, right?” I teased, not caring that my wound hurt or that I was going to bleed all over this red, red room. I had Zane back.
I had him back! I was giddy with the thought, my hands looping around his neck and tugging him down for another kiss, bouncing with excitement against him.
“No wonder you’re so weak,” he said, detangling himself from my hands and going to pull the bandages off the wound carefully. “I’m going to kill Noah for letting you walk around with this kind of damage.”
My laughter died in my throat, and I put a hand over the bandages. “Noah didn’t help me.”
“That’s obvious,” Zane snarled, his concern for me a shot of lightning sparking through his mind. I could feel his worry and his anger at Noah… and a surge of jealousy.
He thought I’d been with Noah while he’d been gone, and he was furious that the Serim hadn’t taken care of me. I could feel it in his mind with absolute clarity—rage, bitter frustration, and a tinge of envy.
Suddenly everything made sense. I brushed my fingers over Zane’s cheek as he knelt in front of me, examining my wound. “Zane,” I said softly. “Noah didn’t help me. He didn’t touch me at all. No one did.”
He looked up at me, confusion etched in his dark gaze, his brows angry slashes. “What do you mean?”
I showed him the ring on my finger, the one I’d worn where most women wore their wedding bands. “I got a little help from an old friend.”
He took my hand, clasped it in his own. Stared at the ring.
Stayed true
…
to me? You didn’t have to
…
“I didn’t want anyone else but you,” I said softly. “The thought of touching someone else made me sick. I wanted to wait for you. I didn’t care how long it took.”
“Jackie,” he said softly, a wealth of emotion in his voice.
“Of course, the downside is that I haven’t been healing,” I said with a small shaky laugh. “No sex and all. The machine here feels a little run down at the moment.”
He pressed his mouth to my hand, shaking his head. “Jackie, I am… humbled.” I could feel it in his mind. Shock that I’d gone to such extremes and put myself at risk. If that ring had ever left my hand, I’d have died. Humility that I’d gone through so much to get him back. Anger at himself for being jealous of Noah. And a surge of fierce exultation that I’d stayed true to him.
I brushed my fingers over his cheek and then touched that floppy lock of black hair that fell across his forehead in a way that made me melt. “I love you,” I said simply. “Now and forever. When I said I loved you, I meant it with every fiber of my being. I’d wait for you until the end of time.”
He simply pressed a kiss to my hand again, and when he looked up at me, I saw the gleam of tears in his own eyes. “You are everything to me, Princess.”
“Then come and love me,” I said softly to him. “I’ve waited forever for you to touch me again.”
His fingers ripped the shorts from my legs, and I shivered at his strength. My panties followed in a flurry of fabric, and I barely noticed as his hands slid down my legs and removed my boots, kissing the cuts and bruises dotting my now bare legs. They didn’t matter. All that mattered was that we were together again.
He finished divesting me of my clothing, straightened the bandages on my waist, and then gently lifted me back onto the bed. I lay there, stretching with sensuous need, waiting for my lover.
Zane shucked his jeans, and I watched as they hit the wall opposite us, admired his beautiful, lean body, the jut of his cock. His thoughts were a balm over my own turbulent ones, his own singular need to have me drowning out all the others that clamored in the back of my mind.
I’d have to keep Zane at my side at all times to drown out the others, I decided, and liked that thought very much. Eternity together? I could
so
handle that.
To my surprise, Zane moved to the far side of the bed and slid in on the opposite side of me. He rolled me gently to my side, mindful of my wound, and spooned my body against his own. I felt the heat of his body against my own and my skin prickled with pleasure. One wing extended over the two of us, and as Zane began to lightly kiss my neck, I curled against him, feeling his skin press to my own. His erection was insistent against the cleft of my ass, but he wasn’t pressing me. He wanted to love me, first. Kiss me, hold me close.
He moved his arm to tuck me closer to him and eased it under my neck, his hand going to my breasts. His fingers grazed one of my nipples even as his mouth moved to nip at my earlobe.
I gasped in pleasure at the sensation, my hand covering his over my breast. “Zane,” I breathed, my voice catching in my throat. “Oh, Zane.”
“Don’t start crying again, Princess,” he warned with a nip at my neck. “You’ll kill my erection.”
I gave a small laugh at that, closing my eyes and enjoying the feel of him spooned up against me. His fingers teased my nipple to an aching peak, his mouth moving over my neck from behind me, teasing at my shoulder. He hadn’t bitten down—he was drawing out the pleasure. His other hand slid down my hip, brushing over my thigh. His cock dug into my side and I shifted, rubbing my skin against it in a way that made him groan with need.
I flexed a little at the stroke of his hands, shivering. My knees nudged apart, welcoming him to touch me where he pleased, and his knee pressed in between them, parting my legs from behind.
I gasped as his warm hand stroked over my sex. He stilled and I felt the flash of his concern in my mind. Was I hurting?
“I’m fine,” I assured him, and placed my hand there, over his, pushing his fingers through my slick folds. “Touch me.”
He growled low against my throat, his teeth nipping at my skin. I moaned and shivered against him, and when his fingers slid into my slick sex, I cried out his name.