He stared at her, sure he was mistaken. His heart beat steadily, a sign that hers did the same, and her emotions felt stable, showing no trace of the distress he would expect her to feel if she feared there was no way out of the bond and she still wanted it broken.
Loren still couldn’t bring himself to believe what he had heard.
He shifted his hands to her face and held both of her cheeks, tilting her head back so he could peer into her eyes. He searched them but they revealed only positive feelings to him, and he couldn’t detect a lie in them.
Olivia grabbed his shoulders, tiptoed and kissed him again. He groaned and couldn’t help kissing her back for a handful of hard heartbeats before he got hold of himself and pushed her away again.
He had to be sure.
“Swear you are of sound mind and know what you are saying.” He clutched her face, his gaze searching hers for a flicker of doubt. “You are committing to centuries together. You are talking about completing a bond and making it unbreakable, Olivia.”
A touch of nerves entered her eyes and her heartbeat, and her fine eyebrows furrowed. “Are you trying to ruin the moment?”
He shook his head, meaning it with all of his heart. “No... but I must know that you understand what you are entering into.”
Olivia smiled and his breath caught in his throat. She settled her hands against his chest, her soft touch burning him through his armour, causing his pulse to quicken and his blood to heat.
“I know,” she whispered, sincerity and tenderness in her sweet voice. “I’m getting a future with the man I’ve fallen in love with.”
Loren knew that it took a lot for her to say those words after everything she had been through. He drew her into his arms and kissed her, and opened the portal to his rooms in the castle at the same time. Bleu would have to handle scouring the video footage with Kyter for a sign of his brother. His second in command would understand Loren’s need to leave with Olivia and complete their bond straight away, even if he would make a fuss about it later.
Olivia ran her hands over his shoulders and then his chest, causing his markings to trigger, heating his skin. She mewled and he obeyed her silent command, sending his armour away. The black scales swept over his body, cascading up his legs and torso and down his arms to the twin bands around his wrists.
She moaned then and her hands scorched him, blistering his skin and burning him with a desire to have her naked against him. He broke the kiss and hastily peeled her purple top up, pulling it off over her head and freeing her bare breasts. He groaned and tossed the garment onto the dark stone floor, and cupped her breasts, weighing each of them and thumbing her nipples.
Olivia loosed a low moan and arched into his caress, her eyes turning hooded and the connection between them speaking of her desire. She wanted him, and he ached for her, but he refused to rush this. This time when they made love, they would complete their bond, forming an eternal cycle between them, an unbreakable link.
He would take her blood and she would take his.
Loren groaned at that thought and kissed her again, devouring her mouth and aching to possess all of her. He had never been bitten before. No one had ever tasted his blood. The thought of Olivia taking it, becoming his first and his only, made him want to rush just as she did.
Olivia tangled her fingers in his hair, kissing him deeper, her soft tongue playing with his and teasing his lips. She flicked the tip over his canines and his fangs emerged, drawn out by her touch. She caressed them again, from root to pointed tip, driving him crazy with need. He wanted to bite her again, to sink his teeth into her sweet flesh and drink of her blood.
Loren swept her up into his arms, carried her to the bed in the middle of the room and kneeled on it. He laid her on the dark purple covers and kissed along her jaw to her throat, and followed the smooth column downwards, his lips brushing her flickering pulse. He growled, saliva pooling in his mouth at the thought of biting her, and forced himself to move onwards, trailing his lips over her collarbone. She arched her breasts towards him and he obeyed her again, kissing his way down to them and then swirling his tongue around her left nipple.
“Loren,” she husked and he sucked the puckered bead into his mouth
She cried out and grabbed his shoulders.
He groaned at the feel of her short nails digging into his flesh, clutching her to him, speaking of her need and how her desire already had her skirting the edge of madness. He rocked his hips, thrusting his hardening shaft against her thigh, and frowned when he encountered denim and not her soft warm skin.
Loren tore himself away from her breasts and kissed down her stomach, his desire to get her naked gaining a new reason behind it as he kissed and licked her supple flesh. He wanted to taste her again.