Gideon had kept himself locked up just as tight all these years, decades.

Gideon. How she loved him, but was love enough?

She followed him back to the threshold of her mind. She felt him move out of her head and a wash of loneliness swept through her. He had left her and she was alone. She needed him so very much. Yet still she hesitated. Should she take this last step? Could she?

His hips slowed and his mind touched hers again.Do you love me, Elise?

Yes.

Do you trust me?

Yes, very much.

Then come with me. We can do this. Together, we can do this.

She drew in a breath through her nose, swallowed his exquisite nectar, met his hips with a thrust of her own and with all the courage she could muster, she crossed into his mind.

Silence first, a surprise.

Then she met him, the flavor of who he was, his memories, his life. She fell into him, a long, beautiful fall that felt like a cool breeze on a warm day.

She knew him and she loved him and she trusted him.

He was a man of honor and character and worth.

She saw him with his Militia Warrior brothers and felt the love he carried for them all. She saw him interact with Colonel Seriffe, always the professional, always putting forward the best interests of his men.

Then she saw him alone in this bedroom, at night, staring out the window, deep into the lights of the valley below. She felt the depth of his loneliness, a state he was unaware of, and in this moment she was grateful she’d crossed the barrier between them, for this was something she could soothe and fill, the depth of this need, unacknowledged for two centuries.

I love you, Gideon.

His draws on her neck ceased and she removed her fangs at the same time. He pulled back and looked at her. She was joined to him, mind to mind, and waiting, like standing on a precipice, high on a mountaintop and waiting to be swept away by the next errant wind.

The wind came, but instead of sweeping her off the mountain with Gideon, it caught her up in a rising spiral of sensation. She felt him, felt his body, felt his cock within her and the pleasure her body gave him.

“I can feel what it’s like for you to have me inside you.”

She nodded. “Ditto. It’s amazing.”

His hips moved again, faster and faster. She stayed within his mind; she felt his pleasure and hers.

When the orgasm came, it was doubled, tripled in intensity. She grabbed him around the neck with both arms and held on as he pumped into her. She could feel the sharp pleasure travel the length of his cock just as all that electric sensation, enhanced by the potions, pulled at her and brought her back arching.

She screamed and cried out.

The orgasm poured through him. Then her. Then him. Then her. She experienced it all.

And just when she thought it might be over, a new wave erupted for her, for him, and he shouted. “Shit. My wings.”

Her hands found his back. All the apertures of his wing-locks were weeping, which wasn’t new, but this time his muscles, the flesh supporting the apertures, had thickened, a lot. She figured out what was happening, so she moved her hands low onto his buttocks and stayed with him.

“Just let it go,” she whispered.

He met her gaze. “You sure?”

She smiled. “Hell, yeah. Release your wings and let it all go.”

“Hold on then.”

His hips moved faster with each thrust. He arched away from her and grunts left his mouth. She felt his wings begin to glide through his wing-locks. She felt the pleasure of it and cried out all over again.

His wings appeared and he jerked into her and that one solid movement brought her screaming and writhing once more. He pumped into her and shouted a series of curses as he moved and writhed and twisted and came a second time.

The orgasm went on and on, a kind of preternatural ecstasy that wouldn’t stop. His hips thrust and she knew he was still coming and her own pleasure seemed to be a mile long. He slid his arms around her waist, then maneuvered as he drove into her so that one arm surrounded her buttocks and kept her pinned to him while the other supported her back, because in the next moment his wings, which overlapped the space above the bed, had her airborne.

Another orgasm barreled down on her so that she was screaming into the ceiling once more, the sensation streaking through her body. He bucked and she felt him come. She moved with him and against him, until finally he slowed and the last bit of her pleasure eased into that loose, contented sensation.

She could feel his wings from within his body and each gentle flap as he sustained them in the air. She let her arms dangle at her sides, hanging down. Her fingertips grazed the sheet below and she laughed. “I love this new world.”

At that, he met her gaze, but his eyes weren’t exactly focused.

“You okay in there?” she asked.

He nodded and his smile had the look of someone who had been to the shores of heaven and was struggling to come back.

She was one with him, in the most incredible sense. Her mind flowed through his and suddenly the vision was on her but this time there was no countdown, just the future images of Gideon. She let them flow into his mind so that he could see them at the same time.

In the vision, he matched swords against Kerrick in training, and his movements equaled Kerrick, in speed and skill.

The battling stopped and Kerrick wiped his forehead and said, “Good. You’ve almost got it. Let’s try it again.”

And on it went, the battle training, sword to sword, the shrill sound of metal grating and clanging against metal.

The images flew. Kerrick worked Gideon hard until both men were sweating and struggling for air.

When the training session ended, Thorne approached both men. He clapped Gideon on the shoulder, nodding. “I’ve seen enough. Your speed almost matches Kerrick’s now, which is really saying something because no one is as fast Kerrick. You’ve made it, warrior. I’m going to ask Endelle to bring you into the ranks of the Warriors of the Blood.”

The vision faded. Elise blinked at Gideon and he frowned at her. “You saw that, right?” she asked.

He nodded, his wings flapping. “It was amazing.” He held her tight against him. “But damn, I really don’t want to leave the Militia Warriors.”

“The vision didn’t show what happened after Thorne made his pronouncement. Maybe that’s not even the issue, only that soon you’ll have their level of ability.”

“Maybe,” he said. “But I do have one question; what’s the time frame? Do you know?”

Elise shook her head. “Sorry. Haven’t got a clue.”

“Could be a fluke.”

“You mean a visionary gaffe?”

He chuckled. “Hell if I know.”

She reached up to him and kissed him. “Looks like Endelle wasn’t kidding when she said you were close to Warrior of the Blood status.”

“I guess not.” Then he smiled and his eyes had a distinct glimmer. “You know what all this increased power means, right?”

She lifted one of her dangling arms, and touched his cheek. Because of the two years she’d spent talking with him at the Blood and Bite and because she’d just been inside his mind, she knew exactly what this meant to him, that which was more important to him than anything in the world. “You’ll be able to make a difference in the war.”

“Yes.” He made the word long, like it had never had so much value than it did right now.

The rhythm of his wings slowed as he lowered her back onto the bed. When she felt the firmness of the mattress beneath her, only then did he remove his arms from around her, but at about the same time he collapsed on top of her and she loved it.

His wings settled in a soothing blanket over the bed. Covered by an angel, except he wasn’t an angel, he was just a man, a warrior, and, yes, a vampire. She slid her arms around his neck and kissed him over his vein.

And now she was a vampire, too.

She savored his contentment and released a deep sigh. They were still connected deep within, a symbol of the greater connection of their minds and souls. Tears, unbidden, began to flow and after she’d swiped several away, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

He lifted up to look into her eyes, his now etched with concern. She felt the tightening of his abdominal muscles, the strain of his brow, all that he was feeling as he tensed.

“I never thought to know love like this. I’m amazed, just amazed.”

His abdominals relaxed, his brow eased, and the muscles of his cheeks stretched as he smiled. “Me, neither.”

And that was the truth, their shared truth.

He kissed her and his kiss held the promise of a life together, a long life together. And love. Yes, a bounty of love.

The next morning, the first thing Gideon did, well, thesecond thing Gideon did, was to take Elise to see the White Lake Resort Colony.

The waters were manmade from the vast underground rivers that traveled beneath the Metro Phoenix area. The colony was fifteen miles long and stretched the entire length of the White Tanks. On either side of the lake, over a hundred hotels and gardens served the globe as one of the finest collection of resorts in the world.

She was properly awed and happy. He was stunned at how closely connected to her he was, that he could feel her external sensations, the warmth of the wrought-iron railing beneath her hands as she gazed down into the replica of the Vancouver Island Butchart Gardens, the way the breeze tickled the backs of her arms, and that as she shifted to look at him, a shiver passed over her shoulders and down her back. The answering scent of strawberries told the rest of the story.

He leaned down and kissed her. “I’m so grateful for you, Elise.”

She smiled and gave him an answering kiss. She turned and pressed up against him, planting her hand on his chest as she liked to do, rubbing her fingers back and forth. He could feel the softness of his T-shirt against her fingertips.

She leaned her head against his shoulder and he surrounded her with his arms. “I can’t believe there are so many extraordinary gardens.”

“At least a hundred.”

“Then it will take us some time to explore them all.” She shifted against him so that she could see down into the garden. She gave a little cry. “Look, a little girl just mounted her wings.” But a voice came over the outdoor speaker system at almost the exact same moment. “There is no mounting of wings in the garden. Will the Twoling’s mother please discipline the child?”