“Perhaps I was lonely,” he admitted. “Empty.” He let the pad of his finger follow the curve of Naya’s shoulder and the magic that dusted her skin scattered in its wake. “But not anymore, Naya. Now, I’m full. Complete.”
A sad smile curved her mouth. He brushed her bottom lip with his thumb, full, almost pouty and petal soft. “It can’t always be like this,” she said. Her gaze darted to the left before she looked at him once again. “There will always be obstacles, Ronan. My people. Yours. I have a feeling that non-vampire pairings aren’t the norm. Non-Bororo pairings sure as hell aren’t.”
Three vampire males spoke for an entire race at this point. And so far, the tetherings had been anything but normal. Ronan found no evidence of non-vampire matings in the Collective, but perhaps nature and evolution had compensated for the vampires’ near extinction.
“Mikhail and Claire will love you.” Claire shared Naya’s fiery spirit. Ronan had no doubt that the two would like each other. “Jenner too.” The male was like a brother to Ronan. He could have been tethered by a seaweed-covered sea nymph who had to live in a giant tank and Jenner would have approved. “They are my family. No one else matters.”
That was the truth. The rest of the world could go to hell. He didn’t give a good goddamn what anyone else thought. Even if Mikhail treated Ronan’s tether with disdain, he wouldn’t care. Naya belonged to him. And he was hers. There was no being, no force on this earth, that could break their bond.
And that included Siobhan.
“You’re my family, Naya. My tribe. My pod. My coven. Whatever you want to call it. I don’t give my vows lightly. And I’ve given mine to you.”
“And you gave it to Siobhan.”
“I did. For Mikhail.”
“You got in a little over your head, I’d say.” There was no more pity in her sympathetic tone.
“That’s an understatement. But I’d do it again,” he said.
“I know you don’t think so, but you’re a very selfless male, Ronan. You sacrificed your body for your king and your friend. You sacrificed your memory and possibly—” Naya broke off abruptly as though the words were too painful to say. “—your life to find your sister. You’re brave. A male worthy of admiration and love.”
“You make me sound like a saint.” He snorted. “Believe me, love, I’m not. I needed the codex. Ensuring that Mikhail’s mate bond with Claire was secure was worth the sacrifice, but it wasn’t selfless. I did it to be sure that Mikhail would give me his bite. That he’d uphold a centuries-long promise and turn me.”
“Why was there any question? You said vampires recognize the tether immediately.”
“Claire was human.”
Naya quirked a brow. “Was?”
Ronan smiled. “Mikhail turned her.”
“Ronan.” Fear soured Naya’s fresh rain scent. “I don’t want to be turned.”
His laughter echoed in the quiet room. “And I don’t want to turn you. Claire is an anomaly. She was rare as a human and is even more so as a vampire. Typically, only dhampirs can endure the transition. I have no intention of trying to make you anything other than what you already are.”
“A stubborn bruja with a laundry list of hang-ups and familial obligations with a penchant for violence?”
The air left his lungs in a rush. Gods, she was perfect. “Exactly.”
She rose up on an elbow and put her mouth to his. The kiss was slow, sensual, deliberate. Her tongue flicked out at the seam of his lips and Ronan opened up to her, reveling in her dewy sweet taste. Her lips wandered to the corner of his mouth, and she murmured, “I’m lost to you, Ronan. Addicted. I don’t have any control when it comes to you.” She kissed across his jaw and took his earlobe between her teeth. “Nothing else matters. No one else. The way you make me feel I can’t get enough. And it scares me.”
* * *
Naya’s palm wandered down Ronan’s chest and the flat plane of his stomach. The muscles contracted and rippled under her fingertips as she ventured lower. Every word she’d said was the truth. She needed to go and talk to Paul and Joaquin before the situation with Ronan got even more out of control, but for the life of her she couldn’t make herself leave his side. The magic generated by their coupling would wear off soon and his blood troth to Siobhan would remain intact. When would Naya get another chance to be with him like this?
If the magic overtook him, there wouldn’t ever be a chance.
I’ll have no choice but to kill him.