Anyone else would step away from the fuming man in front of her. But she was unafraid. His anger was turned inward on himself, not on her. She knew this as if she'd felt his emotions herself.
She stood before him and curled both her hands gently around his fist, then tugged. He resisted only a second before allowing her to pull his fist to her own chest. She uncurled his tight fingers, then splayed his hand over her own heart. Sienna felt the self-loathing flowing through his veins. A pulse of fire swirled in her chest, beating like the hartstone did upon her awakening in the forest.
"You are no monster, my love. Even if one lives inside you. Let that guilt go." She pushed the fire from her chest and into his hand, up his arm, through his chest to wrap his heart and fill his body.
Nikolai's grim expression softened, and his eyes filled with wonder. He crushed her body to his. Hovering his lips over hers, he whispered in a shaking breath, "I have carried that sin on my soul all my life. Willingly." He brushed his lips against hers in reverence. "Then you come along, steal my heart, and wipe my slate clean in a single second. As if it were nothing at all." He slid his fingers along her nape, brushing his thumb along her jaw. "Wash it all away with one look, one touch." His words trembled. "How?" he demanded. "How do you do this?"
She brushed aside the blond lock of hair catching the firelight like a spark of fire. "There is no sin to wash away, Nikolai. The hartstone has shown me the truth. It only speaks the truth. You were not at fault. The soldiers, your elders were. You were a young vampire then. You didn't know their intentions. They tricked you and used you for sport."
"I could have stayed home and not gone with them that night. But my ego prodded me on when the senior officers chose me as their nighttime companion to venture into town."
She cupped his hand between both palms and pressed a tender kiss to his lips. "There was no intent. You made a mistake. And you've never made it again. You cannot go back and change that night, so let it go." She pressed her lips to his again, sliding her tongue in hesitantly. "You will never harm me. I know it as sure as I know you love me. As I love you. Let it go," she whispered ardently, then glided her tongue deeper, tasting the heady scent of man that was Nikolai. "Let me take it all away."
Her skin heated at once, tingling with the magic of the hartstone. Nikolai plundered her mouth, taking control with desperate hands and mouth. He skimmed his palms down her waist, over her hips to her thighs, inching up the fabric of her robe till he touched skin, easing his hands under to cup her bare cheeks.
"Up, sweetheart," he demanded against her mouth before slanting and going deeper.
She linked her arms around his neck and let him take her weight, wrapping her ankles behind him, one on the back of his thigh, the other higher at the small of his back. He carried her next to the fireplace and pressed her back to the wall.
"Nik-" She gasped when he squeezed her flesh hard and thrust his cock inside her with a heavy grunt.
She dropped her head back to the wall. He groaned, scraping his fangs along the tender skin just under her jaw but not biting, then trailed his tongue where his fangs had been, melting Sienna into a wanton, wild creature. This wasn't a slow burn or a tender coupling. It was raw and fierce, both of them staking their claim.
Sienna scraped her nails down his back, leaving welts in their wake.
Nikolai bit her hard and sucked and grunted with each pounding thrust inside her, squeezing her flesh tighter, sure to leave a mark. He captured her hands, laced his fingers with hers and pressed them against the wall, caging her in with his body, his heat, his force and power.
Releasing his hold on her neck, he locked on to her gaze, his eyes sparking like exploding stars as he embraced her in every possible way, caging her in till all she could see, think, or breathe was, "Nikolai."
Their breaths mingling, his voice ragged, he ground out, "I can't get enough, sweetheart. I want it all."
Arching her back and pressing her breasts against his chest, she relished the rough friction. She felt the fire within, her own magic simmer and burn, mingling with her passion.
"Then take it all," she said fiercely. "Let the beast go and take what you want."
His canines sharpened longer than she'd ever seen, but she wasn't afraid. Nikolai feared his beast would overrun him, but Sienna knew something he didn't. Despite his own misgivings and faults, he was a man of honor, a vampire with principle. In his right mind, he would have never harmed that woman so many years ago.