The coldness in his voice pulled at his mind in a way he’d never imagined when he’d taken on this task of marriage. Or was it the strange wine and ritual that caused this? Was a promise of abilities and eternity worth this? Damn, he scratched at the door like a dog! Not like the magical creature he was promised to be.
Hudson had grown more powerful since he’d given his blood away and drunk from the gold goblet, that was for certain, but something darker than he thought possible pulled at him. He wanted what Madoc and his brothers took for granted.
Knowledge beyond what any human could imagine. To perfect oneself over the decades. To be immortal and to make others so too. He would never lose another person he loved. No mortal illness would touch him or his family again. There had to be a way to achieve his goal. There had to be something more than this base, primal urge to destroy those he wished to become a part of.
“I do not have the time or patience for this.” Hudson’s cheek twitched. “Either you watch her no matter what she does and report back to me or…” Cold, invisible fingers wrapped about his throat and thrust his chin higher. The dark presence seeped deeper into his soul. He clenched his teeth.
“Do what I say, or your usefulness has ended.” The dark voice echoed in his mind.
He reached his hand out toward the bath doorknob without glancing back into the room. He would take her.
“No, Your Grace. I will do as requested.” A bird flapped its wings and flew up to the small oval window that separated his wife’s dressing chamber from her bedchamber.
Hudson spun about to find that the room remained empty and the same shadows captured his mind. He turned back and stared at the bird. Where had that come from? He dropped to his knees and ran his hands through his hair. He went mad, worse than mad. He had unraveled everything his family had worked so hard to achieve.
Laura…
Tears pricked his eyes and disappeared. He gritted his teeth. Had his goal taken his grief for his true love from him? The urge to conquer this otherworldly desire gripped him, then shattered.
He had to take the Zir on face-to-face and learn by force how to become one of their kind. But he couldn’t; he had made a deal—and as powerful as he was, he was still human, for now. No match in a challenge with a creature from the dawn of time.
Jordan’s beauty flinched, and a nervous giggle floated past her delicate lips. He stared down at her. “I have not had the pleasure of your Christian name.”
“Celeste.”
He ran a finger down her cheek. “Caelestis. Heavenly, divine. Your name suits you.”
Celeste shifted against him, spreading her legs slightly. The heat of her opening cupped the head of his cock.
His mind fogged, and the pulse of her dripped in a steady stream down onto his shaft, attempting to capture his mind. He groaned. Who was he trying to fool? She had captured his soul.
“Oh.” She bit her lip and closed her eyes.
He slipped his fingers to her wrist—the same one from which he had taken the bracelet, his death treasure—and raised it up above her head. Her body elongated before him, and she wrapped her legs up and about his hips.
“Celeste,” he breathed out through clenched teeth. He flexed his hips, and the tip of his cock pressed against her opening, stretching her flesh.
She squeezed her eyes shut and tossed her head to the left. His bite mark on her neck glowed golden.
He leaned in and licked the puncture. “I have waited a long time for you.”
Her entire body arched into him, and she cried out, the flesh of her womb pulsing with a release of wetness. That was unexpected.
She wanted him to claim her even when her mind swirled with what this all meant. He wanted to savor her, no matter how rushed the evening was, but slow would wait. There was no time, and their need to join was destined in the stars. He would take her now without restraint.
She gazed at him though lust-heavy eyes that begged him to join with her and create their pleasure.
He thrust forward. Her tight, wet flesh stretched and encased his hardness.
She cried out behind clenched lips. Her body shook against his.
He moved his hips forward and back. With each stroke into her, his humanity cascaded away. He growled and bit her salty flesh, dragging his teeth along her neck and shoulder, tasting her sweet blood.
He grabbed at her hips and demanded her body to mold to their pleasure. She was designed for him. He would take her any way he wished. Reaching up, he dragged her wrists farther up the wall and anchored her with one hand.
As she stretched before him, her sheath about his thickness clenched, grasping his crown. Tingling waves rippled into his sac. His hips rocked faster. The sloppy sound of his thrusts into her hot core shot pin-like prickles straight to the arches of his feet.