Page 94 of Fated to the Vampire Prince
Chapter 45
Joindre
CLAIRE
In the heat of the moment, it took a second for me to process what he’d just said. His hands slid into my hair, holding me so tenderly.
“When a vampire takes his mate, they are married under the laws of the Blood Treaty,” Bastien said, kissing me again. “If we do this, you will be more than my mate. You’ll be…my wife.”
Married?
I’d be the wife of a man who commanded an army and lived in a snow-covered château in the wild mountains that separated the Unified Territories from the Lawless Lands. A man who’d kill for me. A man who’d do anything for me. But I thought he wasn’t allowed to do any of this with his sanguine partner. “Isn’t this forbidden?”
“Yes. Very,” he confirmed, trembling as he hovered over me. His hard length traced lines over me, a barely there movement that was impossible to ignore. “If we do this, it would have to stay a secret. There’s too much at stake now. Too much I need to do to make this world safefor you.”
He couldn’t give up his title, just as I couldn’t give up my mission. Both of us committed to other goals, but unable to deny what was right in front of us. His length stroked over me again, and I tipped my head back, circling my hips to feel more. He was so hard. So, very hard.
He pressed my hands into the bedsheets and laced our fingers together. “I know it’s hard to ignore the pull, the god’s know I’ve been fighting it, but we don’t need to do this. You don’t need to marry me.”
He sat back on his knees, dragging me up with him, relieving me of the feel of him against me and giving me a moment to think. I knew he was right. I shouldn’t do this. Not because I didn’t want to be with him, but because of the secrets dangling between us. He had no idea he was askingClaire Prideauxto be his wife, not an orphan girl.
If he knew that I was sent here by the woman who killed Temperance Kemp, the catalyst of tonight’s events, would he still want this? I wanted to believe the answer was yes but I wasn’t so sure. “Bastien, there are things you don’t know about me. Things I can’t tell you.”
He pressed his forehead against mine. Our breaths tangling in a jagged embrace. “I don’t give a damn. I love you, and I trust you. If you want this, then we’ll figure everything else out.”
It wasn’t perfect. It would never be perfect. Not until Mama’s choker was removed and this war was over. I swallowed hard, staring up at him and all his haunting beauty. I should say no, but I didn’t want to.
After tonight, after nearly dying for the second time in a month, after watching that blade to his throat, I knew there was no going back for me.
“I’m already yours,” I whispered. “I’ve been yours. Evenwhen I didn’t want to believe it. Even when I fought it. You’re the only thing that’s ever made sense.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, our bloodstones snapped together like two magnets joined by some supernatural force. There were no rings or vows. No priestess of the moon to bind our hands and speak the sacred spells. This was our ceremony, and I was proclaiming that I accepted his protection and love. That I wanted him, and only him. My darkness and his, twisting together forever.
“I am yours,” he gritted out. “I will always be yours. Every single piece of me.”
I smiled a real smile. And so did he. With my heart fully open to him for the first time, my hand came to rest on the swell of his chest as I gazed into the depths of his eyes. My thumb stroked a thick band of scar tissue that slashed across his muscle. If he was made for war, and I was made for him, what did that say about me? About who I really was?
So many questions, but the pull of desire in my core was undeniable. I wanted to be filled. To be satisfied. To know what it truly meant to be mated to him. Body and soul. To be joined as one.
His hands slid into my hair and tilted my face to deepen our kiss. Our tongues twining together in a seductive dance I’d never tire of. I gasped with pleasure as a sense of surety rocked through me. He lowered me back against the mattress and angled himself so he was pressing against me.Right there.
He kissed me once. Twice. Catching my lip and sucking gently. “We’ll start slow.”
I nodded, my breaths coming quicker as anticipation twisted inside me. His hands shook as he eased himself in, slightly parting me. A gasp caught in my throat as pain and pleasure rocketed through me. He was so thick. So hard. So big.Bastien held my gaze, both of us breathing heavily, as he slid himself deeper.
Tears burned in my eyes. A strangled cry tore from my throat. More from surprise than pain. He stilled, holding himself just inside me. “Do you want me to stop?”
I bit my lip and shook my head. “No. Keep going.”
Inch by inch, he sank into me. Giving me space to breathe as his thick length went deeper. So deep. As far as he could, burying himself inside me until there was no space between us. Then slowly, tortuously, he pulled himself out.
“You’re doing so good,” he said encouragingly.
I panted. Sweat beaded down my face.Then he did it again.Slowly in, letting me feel everything.Lights exploded behind my eyes as I cried out in the most deliciously satisfying pain I’d ever felt. My nails sank into his skin, needing to ground myself. My hips lifted, wanting more friction. Wanting more of him.
He opened our connection, allowing me to feel what he was feeling. The blinding passion, the lust, the pleasure, the need to take me hard and fast tempered by the fear he might hurt me. The endless love.
I felt it all.
