“No, but she loves you as if she is…or was.She made mistakes with her own daughter, your mother, and she made it up with you.Nothing is stronger than a mother’s love, and it is the ultimate shield.It’s more powerful even than your love for Rogan and his love for you.”
I swallow.“I see.”
“I know you do, for you feel it for the child growing inside you.”She takes my hand, closes it around the bloodstone.“Keep it with you.Your grandmother’s love.It’s the best protection you’ll ever have.”
I close my eyes, see my grandmother in her garden.
And I remember her hands.Her voice.The way she loved me fiercely, without needing to understand the monster curled beneath my skin.That though my mother forsook me for the demon king, my grandmother always loved me without condition.
I cling to that.
I turn back to Alara, but she’s gone, vanished without even a trace of smoke.
I return to my bedroom.A rustling wind sweeps past my window, and I know.
I know it’s time.
I think about Richard—the man who became part of our lives uninvited, like a weed sprouting among flowers.Then I think about my mother—a woman caught in his poisonous web, and the person I could lose when I do what I must.A part of me aches at the thought, yet another resounds with my grandmother's wisdom.She bore her regrets and now she has passed them onto me in hopes that I might do better.
Rogan still sleeps.
I have to go.But first, I must feed.
“Rogan.”I shake him gently.
“Princess…” He opens his eyes once more.
“I need you.”
“Mmm….”
He pulls me on top of him and I sink down onto his cock.
My eyes spring open, my fangs extend, and I bite into his neck.His blood flows into my mouth and I drink with an urgency that scares me.Wild wolf, sexy man, dark elixir.The nectar feeds me, sustains me, strengthens me.All while I ride him, letting him fill me in every way he can.
“Fuck, princess,” he grits out.
It's not just hunger that fuels me tonight.It’s a voracious need to fuck Rogan hard and fast, to take his strength into me, to prepare for what lies ahead.The dark and intoxicating taste of him seeps into my veins, burning away all fear, all hesitation.
He would give me everything he could—his blood, his life—if it meant helping me fulfill my purpose.
I know he wants to go with me.
But he can’t.
This is my fight.
I ride him harder, and he grips my hips, thrusting into me with unbridled passion.
When I’ve drunk enough, I let go, close his wound.
He grabs my breasts, twists my nipples, until we’re both ready to jump over the edge.
We fly together, shouting, the whoosh of our blood flow the loudest it’s ever been.I soar, taking my wolf with me, vowing silently to both of us that this will not be the last time we’re together.
When we come down, we sink our sweaty bodies against each other, panting.
I roll over, and he touches my belly.