Surrendering(61)

Fact: She was adopted.

Fact: She was a rare dreamwalker.

Fact: She had vampire DNA.

Fact: Vampires were real. (And man, were they easy on the eyes.)

Fact: One of those smokin’ hot vampires belonged to her. To her.

Fact: Her life was forever changed.

She had a feeling the fact-finding wasn’t over yet either. Over the last few days as she’d thought about her parents, they’d been nothing but loving toward her, but truth be told, she never really felt like part of the family. She always felt like an outcast, and she thought it was just because of her dreams. Now she wondered if it was because she wasn’t their biological child.

She was an only child and when she asked her parents why they didn’t have any more children, her mother said it was because she’d tried, but couldn’t have any more. They told her they were happy God had at least given them her. She knew they loved her greatly. It was apparent they had sacrificed much to have her.

Both of her parents were only children as well, so she had no aunts and uncles and her dad’s parents had died before she was born. Her mother’s father had passed away when she was too young to remember him. Her maternal grandmother had Alzheimer’s and was in a nursing home for the last several years. Even before that, they didn’t see much of her.

She’d never realized she was different than most people, until she was in first grade. Her best friend, Ellie, was talking about Christmas and how her whole family was coming into town. Aunts. Uncles. Cousins. She didn’t know what any of those were, so when she got home from school that day, she asked her mom why her aunts, uncles and cousins couldn’t come for Christmas too.

When her mother explained it to her, even at the tender age of six, she’d felt gipped. Robbed. Sad.

She glanced up at Dev, sitting so regally behind his desk, looking so much like the lord he was, and she unexpectedly realized that since she’d met him, all of those feelings of emptiness and loneliness had vanished, and were replaced with belonging. He was her soul mate. The infamous words of Jerry McGuire, ‘you complete me’, ran through her head.

Dev would barely let her out of his sight for a single moment since he’d rescued her from certain kidnapping. Again. When they were together, he constantly touched her, like he couldn’t stand to part his skin from hers. A kiss on her temple. A hand on her knee or the small of her back. He even held her hand, which she thought was the sweetest thing ever. She didn’t think hand holding fit at all with his commanding, domineering persona, but he didn’t seem to care.

She was falling more in love with him each day. If she was honest with herself, she’d completely fallen. He enthralled her. And each day that went by she could envision herself as part of his world—by his side. That he didn’t pressure her to bond was probably the biggest gift he could have given her and she loved him that much more for it, because she knew he would have bonded her days ago, without question. She needed this time to process everything and was grateful for his compassion.

He had been patient, gentle, soft and loving.

And a big tease. A few times during the day, he’d press her up against the wall with his mouth-watering, sexy body and pillage her mouth, mimicking the same motion with the throbbing hardness between his legs. He had her so worked up just an hour ago she’d practically begged him to take her on the spot, not caring if anyone else happened upon them. The quick orgasm he gave her helped to take the edge off, but she was far from satisfied.

Just thinking about it caused her body to heat and her core to ache. She’d changed her underwear more times in the last week than she did in a normal month. At this rate, she’d need to invest in some new ones. Dev would like that.

At that moment, Dev’s eyes connected with hers and a slow, knowing smile spread across his sinfully gorgeous face.

“Just take care of it. I’ll call you tomorrow.” He hung up the phone, stood, and began slowly sauntering toward her. He was so beautiful it hurt to look at him sometimes. She still had a hard time wrapping her mind around the fact that he wanted her.

“It’s time.” Knowing exactly what he was referring to, she nodded, her eyes never leaving his. She was having a hard time getting used to the fact that he could hear her thoughts sometimes. He explained that was also atypical before mating.

But he was right. It was time. She wanted to be his. Forever.

“Forever. You’re mine forever,” he demanded.

She nodded again. Apparently the ability to use the English language had wholly escaped her. As he approached the couch on which she sat, she had to crane her neck to keep his gaze. She couldn’t bear to look away.