Desire the Night(57)
The ceremony was traditional, yet Kay was sure she had never heard more beautiful words in her life as she promised to be Gideon’s lawfully wedded wife, to love him for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, for as long as she lived.
She felt a moment of regret when it came time to exchange rings, because they didn’t have any. But, to her surprise, Gideon pulled a thick gold band from his pants’ pocket and slipped it on her finger.
A moment later, she was his lawfully wedded wife, for better or worse.
Murmuring, “I’ll love you forever,” he drew her into his embrace and kissed her, a long, lingering kiss filled with the promise of eternity.
Swinging Kay into his arms, Gideon unlocked the door to their hotel suite and carried her over the threshold.
“Alone at last,” he murmured as he slowly lowered her feet to the floor. His body reacted as expected at her nearness. “So, Mrs. Marquet,” he drawled. “What would you like to do now?”
“Gosh, I don’t know,” she said, trying not to laugh. “Maybe paint my nails or wash my hair?”
He lifted one brow, his hands sliding up and down her sides, his palms skimming her breasts. “Now, tell me what you really want, wife.”
“You,” she said, all humor gone. “Here, now. Inside me.”
“No sooner said than done,” he replied, and in an instant, she was lying in bed beside him, with nothing between them but desire as he kissed and caressed every inch of her, from the top of her head to the soles of her feet.
She moaned in an agony of wanting, sighed as he rose over her, his dark eyes alight with an inner fire as his body blended into hers, two incomplete halves now and forever one.
Just when she thought it couldn’t get any better, she felt his fangs at her throat. A mere taste was all he took and yet it amplified her pleasure a hundredfold. Each touch was like silken fire on her skin, each caress unlike any that had come before. She knew what he wanted, what he needed, even as he knew how to please her. Each kiss, each bold stroke carried her past pleasure, past bliss, to nirvana. She held him close, closer, her nails raking his back.
She cried his name as ripples of ecstasy shuddered through her, leaving her sated and spent and complete as never before.
Holding Kay against him, Gideon rolled onto his side, carrying her with him, holding her close while their breathing returned to normal and their bodies cooled. He had been alone for centuries but now, seeing the love in Kay’s eyes, he knew that whatever the future held for the two of them, he would never be alone again.
* * *
Chapter 25
Jaw clenched, his thoughts churning with malice, Victor Rinaldi paced up and down the length of the driveway. Try as they might, threaten as they would, the witch refused to tell him or his father why she had been in the compound, who had taken Kiya, or where they might have gone.
Kiya. Damn the girl. She was more trouble than she was worth. Almost. If she wasn’t an integral part of his plans, he would consider himself well rid of her. But marrying the Shadow Pack heir was the only way to assure a lasting bond between the two packs. The only way he could one day take over leadership of Alissano’s pack, and his own, as well.
He slammed his fist against a tree. He was tired of being a civilized werewolf, tired of hiding his true nature, tired of pretending he was content to hunt rabbits and deer when he hungered for human flesh, thirsted for human blood.
The Alpha of the Shadow Pack and his own Alpha had grown soft, almost as if they had forgotten that werewolves were superior to all other forms of life. In the old days, werewolves had been feared, and rightly so. The ancients had sacrificed their young to his kind—the loss of a few to save the many. But in this time and place, humankind no longer believed in the supernatural. Of course, the fault didn’t just lie with the werewolves. Vampires and witches had also disguised their true natures, walking undetected among mortals, lulling humankind into a false sense of security.
He had never understood why. There wasn’t a werewolf, vampire, or a witch alive who wasn’t smarter, faster, or more powerful than any human who had ever walked the earth, and yet the whole supernatural community pretended to be what they weren’t.
But he intended to change all that. It would take a little time, a little patience, and a good deal of planning, but he would do it, or die trying. Once Kiya was his wife and her pack had accepted him as one of their own, he would arrange for her and her father to meet with an unfortunate, fatal accident, at which time he would step in and assume the role of Alpha. And then, after a suitable amount of time, he would dispatch his own father and in so doing, become Alpha of both packs. United under one leader, they would be invincible. Other packs would follow his lead and his kind would take their rightful place in the world.