Authors: Caris Roane
Tags: #amulet series, #short story, #vampire romance, #vampirerotica, #amulet, #erotic romance, #fae romance, #novella, #paranormal romance
“Like a fist over me,” he reiterated. “Ah,
ma cherie
, we may never leave this bed.”
“I know.”
He moved faster.
The orgasm barreled down on her this time, stronger than before. The tendrils increased the muscular pulses until she screamed at the ceiling all over again and the pleasure kept rolling in strong waves, one orgasm after the next.
Gabriel shouted as he released into her, his pelvis slamming into her, drawing her pleasure out. He rocked into her, grunting with each thrust.
Finally, he began to settle and she relaxed against the sheets. She embraced him as he nuzzled her neck, his thick hair covering her arms.
“I love you so much,” he murmured.
What a miracle this was that love had found her again in such a surprising way, even with a vampire. She smiled and hugged him.
After a moment, he rose up to look at her, his expression serious. “I wish more than anything to keep you beside me throughout the day and to make love to you again. But I know you must take the amulet to your mother.”
Thea leaned up and kissed him. “You’re right, I must go, but I’m having the hardest time leaving you.”
“It is the binding.”
He dipped down, kissed her once, then withdrew from her body. “Go, Thea, your mother needs you and if it were not daylight outside, I would join you.”
She took a deep breath and forced herself to slide off the bed. She gathered up her clothes, cleaned up and once dressed, moved to the hall.
From the doorway, she turned and said, “As soon as I’m assured that my mother’s health is no longer in danger, I’ll return to you.”
“Go,” he whispered softly.
Thea left Gabriel’s compound, the amulet in hand. She made her way swiftly to her mother’s cottage and hurried to her bedside. She was asleep, or perhaps even in a coma, her complexion deathly pale. The witch, Sol-Brenna, sat in a chair on the opposite side of the bed, tears tracking down her cheeks.
Thea showed her the amulet.
“Oh, thank the goddess of life,” she whispered, wiping her eyes. She was a great beauty with thick red hair that hung in a mass of waves and curls to her waist.
“All will be well,” Thea assured her. She could sense the amulet reaching out to the illness that possessed her mother. Thea pressed the amulet into the palm of her mother’s hand and healing power flowed.
A moment later, her mother’s eyes opened and her fingers closed around the amulet. “Thea,” she whispered softly, turning toward her.
Thea smiled and she let out a deep breath. “I’m here.”
The healing worked swiftly so that by the noon hour, her mother was sitting up in bed and eating a bowl of potato-leek soup. Sol-Brenna had long since left and even Thea had enjoyed a bite to eat.
“Did you have much trouble getting the amulet from Master Gabriel?”
Thea could only smile. “Well, yes, a little trouble.”
Her mother tilted her head. “You seem different, my daughter.”
“I suppose I am.”
Thea then shared all that had happened overnight, from having gone to Gabriel in the first place, then the adventures in both Eligio’s castle and Drachyn’s feasting room. She had always been close to her parent, so she also told her about the binding.
Her mother didn’t speak for a long moment, then she smiled. “I won’t chide you about taking a vampire into your bed, not when I can tell that love has found you again. Only tell me that you’re happy.”
“More than I can say.” Thea sat down on the side of the bed and took her mother’s hand, the same one that had held the amulet. “I owe Gabriel everything, mama. Everything, including your life. Without him, I could never have gotten the amulet for you. But beyond that, I respect him and I know that he’s an honorable man. I love him with all my heart.”
Her mother nodded. “There is never just one perfect path in life. And though I would not have thought you would love a vampire, your obvious happiness eases any concerns I might have had.”
After another hour of sitting and chatting with her mother, Thea left to return to Gabriel’s bed.
*** *** ***
A week later, Gabriel supported Thea as she floated in the pool. He had brought her to Isabella Falls after all, in the warm southern shire of Eaglenton. He’d accomplished his primary goal: he’d been making love to her for hours.
Swimming in the cool waters was but a respite between.
She released a deep sigh.
“Content?” he asked.
“
Tres, tres,
content,” she said, laughing.
He moved her in a circle, his hands beneath her back, as she floated and trailed her fingers in the water.
“And you, my love?” she asked. “Are you content?”
“I like that you call my ‘my love’,
cherie
. And,
oui
, I am very content.”
At that she turned, sliding from his hands. She stood up in the water, which was only waist deep. He glanced down at her puckered nipples and the rivulets flowing over her bare skin. At the mere sight of her, even though he had released into her just a few minutes ago, the familiar binding tendrils began to move within his body. His arousal was swift.
She slid her arms around him. “I know when you said you intended to make love to me
all night,
I was pretty sure it was a lovely piece of exaggeration.” She reached low and stroked him. “But I’m beginning to think that the bonds we share won’t let us do anything else.”
“Do you object?”
She chuckled and kissed him, pressing her abdomen against his erection. “No, not at all but this is going to be one long wicked night.”
“
Oui, cherie
,” he said. “It certainly will be.”
He kissed her again until she moaned against his lips. Savoring the love that had come to him in the form of a woman, mostly human and a little fae, he thanked his forebears for creating the amulets of his world, which in turn had brought Thea to him.
He hoped he would always be worthy of Thea and swore by the ancient vampire lords that he would spend his life making sure that he was all that she desired him to be as a friend, as a lover, and as a bound mate, now and forever.
The End
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Caris Roane is the award-winning author of five published novels for St. Martin’s Press. She is also known under the pen name, Valerie King, having published almost fifty novels and novellas for Kensington Publishing.
The second installment of the World of the Amulet Series is DARK NIGHT and is currently scheduled as a summer 2012 release.
For more information about all things
Caris Roane,
please visit her website at:
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And finally, if you enjoy
sweet
Regency Romance or sensual Regency Historicals, you can learn more about Valerie King at:
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