"See there?" he said, low. "As I said, I can overpower you, my lady, and I don't need greater physical strength to do it. I see your need for surrender, and I can bring you to that. It boils down to a willing choice."
The will. It was all about the will. He'd said that too, hadn't he? She had a formidable will, the will to live when she'd wanted to die, to rule when she'd only wanted to serve. Face to face with him, she felt the strength of a will as great as her own. Perhaps greater, because there was an incredible message pounding through those words. If she surrendered her will to his, his will would care for her. All she had to do was make the choice. Could she do it?
When she'd first become a spy, then later a vampire, then an overlord--hell, every challenge of her life--she'd learned to deal with those things by taking it minute by minute. Then hour by hour. Day by day. So maybe she needed to do the same here, starting from scratch.
Moment by moment.
His eyes were still locked on her face. Under that gaze, she shuddered once. Blinked. Her pulse hammering between arousal and terror, she did the unthinkable.
She lowered her eyes.
His fingers flexed on her in reaction. He stayed motionless for at least another dozen heartbeats, letting her feel the gravity of that decision, making sure of it. She wasn't sure of anything.
"There it is," he murmured. "That click. That first tiny sign that you think you can give me your trust. People think it's deference or subservience, and that's part of it, but as every creature in the wild knows, you don't take your eyes off of what you can't trust."
Her pulse elevated even more, and he must have detected it. "Easy, my lady. First the right kind of contact."
Wrapping his hand in her hair, he dropped his other one in between them, trailing his fingers down her upper abdomen, over the indentation of her navel. She licked her lips at the whisper of a touch over her mound and then a tiny sound of need came from her as he found her damp core. He stroked, teasing circles over her clit and the petals of her sex that had her hips lifting to his touch, her nerve endings catching fire.
He lifted his gaze to hers again, locked. "Come for me, Kaela," he said quietly, "and then you can take however much blood you need."
His hand on her hair tightened, pulling at the scalp, immobilizing her head, and his clever fingers began to knead and flick. That was all it took. The orgasm surged up against his touch, straining for release. She fought that wealth of feelings, even as he spoke against her ear.
"Come for me, Kaela. Trust me to take you where you need to go."
A climax. So straightforward, so easy, but it meant so much. She struggled against the flood of fear, the instinct to fight, but this time as that feeling rose, he anticipated her. He plunged his fingers into her fully, holding her up against the wall with his body weight while working her ruthlessly. He tilted his head once more, taking the artery farther from her greedy lips. As a moan broke from her lips, he chuckled, a faintly malicious sound that sent chills over her spine and made her whole body constrict. His hard eyes pinned her.
"Don't fuck with me, my lady. This blood comes with a price. Your obedience."
The words were like bullets, and they struck the target. Her body convulsed, arched, struggled, and the climax strangled its way past her reservations. She cried out, throwing her head back so it hit the stone wall. As she continued to writhe, he closed the distance between them again, cupping her skull to protect it and bringing his throat within reach again.
"Feed, Kaela. Take what you need."
"Give...I need to give what I need..."
He nodded against her temple, understanding her meaning in a way she wasn't sure she did herself. Even so, she bit into him with the manners of a starving wolf. His strong arm banded around her, holding her as she took the first sweet gulp.
A first step, he'd said. It was a hell of a first step, as precarious as stepping out on a ledge that might give way. For the first time in a long time, she had to remember when to stop, so she didn't drain him. She wanted to drain him. His biggest danger to her and to himself was that he made her forget he was mortal.
But he was right. Sometime during the past few pivotal moments she'd decided, whatever the consequences, she wanted those ten days. No price was too high. God help him, he'd made it clear he was willing to pay that same price, and she wanted what he could give her too much to deny herself.
Chapter Four
At length, his hold on her hair became a stroke. As she let her fangs retract, she licked him, swirls over heated male flesh. She nipped and suckled, her hands gliding over his chest, his biceps. She pushed back abruptly, overwhelmed by all of it.
"Easy, my lady."
As he let her down, she pushed away, needing the space. But she was swaying, turning. The world seemed topsy-turvy. When he tried to get close, she evaded him. Stumbled. A vampire never stumbled.
He stayed at a distance, probably to keep her from staggering in a different direction. She sank down to the floor, trying to get a grip on herself, but it felt like waves were crashing down on her. Each attempt to raise her head, gain control, was knocked asunder by the next wave of disbelief, of feelings that had been held back so long. He must think her a fool, a decades-old vampire cut adrift by simple submission. Yet it was a priceless gift she'd never thought she'd be given again, one that could tear her to pieces with its reality in a way that being deprived of it never had.
He came to her, stood beside her where she sat on the floor. As he touched her head, her eyes closed. He began to stroke again, exerting a gentle pressure so she gradually leaned in, until her head was against his knee. He was threading his fingers through her loose hair, combing it, tugging on it, outlining the curve of her ear, moving around to her jawline, making her lift her chin. Hooking his thumb in the collar, he traced her soft skin beneath it.
"That's it. Just give yourself to me, my lady."
"I'm afraid." Words she never, ever said, now spoken in dawn's semi-darkness to a fantasy, a mysterious stranger who would be her undoing. "I'm always afraid. And alone."
"You're not alone right now. Are you?"
"I don't know."
He knelt behind her, a man like the shelter of a tree. His arm slid around her waist, and his other hand moved from her jaw under her hair, to her nape. With more inexorable pressure, he began to bend her forward, moving with her.
She was disoriented enough to give him the control, to let him fold her the way he wished. He bent her over her knees, a fetal position that brought her forehead to the floor, his hips cupped over hers, his chest against her back. His arms slid free to circle her shoulders and head, his lips to her crown as he sheltered her like a cave over a hibernating animal, dark and hushed. The heat of him surrounded her, his breath on her hair, his heartbeat against her back.
With his blood inside her, his scent upon her, she let it happen. Her arms were folded at her sides, and she slid them forward so her fingertips touched his forearms, crossed over her head. She curled her hands over them, brought them in beneath her chin, pulling him in a tighter arc over her. He complied, adjusting so his arms were wrapped over her chest just below her throat. His head was tucked against hers, his mouth cruising along her throat.
"Do you want me inside you, Kaela?"
"Yes."
"Stay still then. Just like this."
Her fingers tightened on him. Yes, she wanted him inside her, but only if he didn't have to move from this position. His heated chuckle against her ear warmed the cold fear in her. "Figures a vampire would be a pushy sub." But he held onto her with one arm and somehow managed to free himself from his jeans with the other hand, opening them enough that he could guide himself to the slick heat between her folded legs. The press of his body brought her up a few inches off her heels, just enough that he could achieve the desired angle. He fitted the head of his cock there, broad and thick. She quivered, her labia spasming over him.
"Hot, wet and tight. Just the way I like a sweet, subm