I lean back and pull her knees up, exposing more of her pussy for me to claim. Slamming into her produces a crescendo of moans that signal her oncoming eruption. I can’t help but smirk as she struggles to sit up, to protest, to seek a different position before she finally succumbs.
And then she comes.
She writhes as I steal her control, fervent pumps turning into a haze of thrusts that soon milk me for all I’m worth. I can barely hold myself up once I’ve deposited my load and I collapse onto the bed beside her, running my fingers through my curls and trying to figure out how to make her stay.
She can’t go back to Jasper. He doesn’t even love her.
But I love her.
I sit up and hover over her. “Will you feed?”
“W-w-what?” She can barely keep her eyes open. Her mouth slacks as her ragged breathing begins to level. “I don’t understand…”
“You’re pregnant. That means you carry my lifeforce now. If you feed, you can become a vampire.”
She blinks rapidly and then snaps to attention, focusing on me. “Why would you want that?”
“I figured you might want it considering your contract has come to an end.”
“But what about the baby?”
I perk up. “Whataboutthe baby?”
“I mean, it’s not even a baby yet technically speaking,” she whispers while tracing her stomach. “It’s just a collection of tissue and cells imbued with your lifeforce—and mine.”
“And?”
She breathes deeply. “And it makes me…” She’s hesitating.
What is she trying to tell me?
She looks into my eyes and blinks once, sort of lazily like she’s imagining a cozy winter day near the fireplace with hot tea and soft music. I can almost see the image in my head.
“It’s my choice, right?”
I nod. “Always. You’ll never have to worry about that.”
“And you won’t leave me?”
I bow my head reverently. “I would never dream of leaving you, Amber Alard. Not even if your ancestors came for my head.”
“They would never do that.”
“Isn’t that what we saw in your mind?” I can’t look at her just yet. I don’t want to face this. But I know wehaveto face this. “Your ancestors were crowding around that vampire.”
She hummed curiously and then she reached for me, taking my hand. “I don’t know what they were doing, Darius. I suppose we can always research that a lot more.”
“And what if we don’t like what we find?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” She sucks air between her teeth and then touches her stomach. “We should talk about Seline, too.”
I lift my head and observe her quietly.
She takes her time, tracing circles in her stomach while resting her head on a mountain of pillows that we managed to knock around the mattress. “You said you took care of her—I know you killed her, Darius. I know you had to do it. She was trying to kill your brother.”
My heart aches hearing those words. A horrible cloud of sensations wavers over my body, inspiring me to slip from the bed and pace toward the balcony door. I scrub the back of my scalp.
“Amber, I didn’t kill Seline,” I whisper carefully. “That was my brother. He defended himself when she attacked him in his chambers.”