“Oh, but he gets to drive it, does he?” I couldn’t help sounding like a petulant child.

Moss must’ve sensed the extent of my pining, because he smirked at me, the jerk. Darius had already opened the passenger door for me.

“What about all my stuff? Will we pick that up later?” I asked, sitting on the passenger seat. He’d used his vampire speed to get situated on the driver’s side. “And I need to leave an apology note for Callie and Dizzy.”

Darius threw it in gear, and the tires chirped as we launched forward.

“I’ve made preparations. The supplies will be brought to us. We’ll have to travel light.” Of course he had. Stupid question. “As far as the note, you can write it at the estate and have Moss deliver it. I have also arranged for unicorn blood. You can only take it a certain number of times before it will negatively affect you…”

His words drifted away as a need to have unicorn blood right then rose in me, the effect of taking it only once. I pushed it down, realizing he’d stopped talking. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. I’ll grow dependent on it, won’t I?” It was the most potent of drugs, capable of boosting energy and magical ability. It was also incredibly addictive for everyone other than vampires. The vampires protected the unicorns, whose blood they used in the serum to make new vampires—it was a symbiotic relationship.

“Not after you bond me. My blood will prevent the physical craving. You will be responsible for the mental craving, however. That will be mind over matter, as they say. I will work to take your mind off it.”

My body and face lit up with heat. I breathed out slowly, not trusting my voice.

A thrilling hour of very fast driving later, we turned into a small driveway and crept toward a massive plantation house with a walkway leading through huge oak trees weeping moss. We drove around the side to a much newer structure that had been built some ways from the main house.

“Is that a five-car garage?” I asked. “Why do you need all these cars, anyway? You’re driven around by Moss eight or nine times out of ten.”

“When I purchase collectible cars, I need somewhere outside of the city to store them until I can arrange for shipment to a milder location, weather-wise.”

“You have a lot of collectible cars, then?”

“Yes. I have a lot of collectible everything. Every one item that holds its value far outweighs the three or four that don’t.”

“That’s where your fortune comes from, then?” I waited until he parked in the empty garage before climbing out. He must’ve recently sent out a shipment.

“One of the many places. I have my hands in many pots, which ensures I will monetarily survive things like stock market crashes and great depressions. I also take care to establish the brightest of my children, setting them up for long-term success.”

“How does that help you?”

Darius guided me out of the garage by the small of my back before closing the door. The trees swayed in the gentle breeze as we made our way to the gorgeous three-story house. Butterflies surged in my stomach. I was actually doing this. I was tying myself to a vampire—this vampire—forever.

Shouldn’t I be scared or horrified instead of nervous?

“I get a percentage of my children’s earnings,” he said, rubbing my back. He probably noticed my stiff walking and constant fidgeting.

“Like a mob boss?”

He frowned at me. “I couldn’t say. I have not looked at a mob boss’s books.”

“So you get a percentage of that nice hotel in Seattle?”

“Yes. The idea is that we will put greater care and attention into training our children and helping them flourish if there is a financial benefit. This helps our whole faction.”

“And those who aren’t bright?”

“Survival of the fittest doesn’t just apply to humans. Dimwitted vampires rarely make it out of adolescence.”

“Ah.” I stepped onto the wide wraparound porch that looked perfectly restored.

He waved his hand to unlock the door, a vampire’s most useful party trick, before pushing it open and stepping back so I could enter. I breathed deeply, trying to still the tremors of my body as desire unfurled within my middle.

“When did you purchase this?” I asked, needing sound. Needing trivial conversation. Suddenly Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” had a whole different vibe.

“Some five years ago now.” He led me to the right, into a decent-sized sitting room—well, decent compared to his French Quarter house, huge compared to anywhere else. “This was the women’s drawing room after they’d eaten.” Back across the entryway we landed into another sitting room of a similar size. “The men’s, where they smoked and drank. Would you like to sit for a moment? Have a glass of wine?”

His hand curled around my side before applying pressure, pulling me nearer. I leaned against his hard body, soaking in his heat.

“If you’d like,” I said in a breathy whisper.

“Which room would you prefer?” He bent to me, running his lips across mine.

Electricity ran between us, spicy and hot. I opened my mouth to him. He teased my tongue with his and his taste exploded in my senses. The smell and feel of him sent shock waves of pleasure through my body. I moaned, clutching tightly.

He swooped me up into his arms before leaving the room, signaling the end of the tour. No more relaxing or getting used to the idea. It was happening, right now, and suddenly I couldn’t wait.

Chapter Ten

He carried me into a large room at the top of the stairs and put me down next to the bed. A beautiful silk chemise lay across the duvet. It tumbled to the ground in a shower of silk and lace when he pulled back the covers. No sooner had my feet hit the ground than my fingers were at his buttons. His hands tangled in my hair, stripped off my clothes. Urgency overcame me, dissipating my ability to feel nervous. I was nowhere near scared.

He threw me up onto the bed before crawling between my legs. “I love how you lose yourself to me, Reagan,” he murmured. I sighed in delight as his body entered mine. “But when the fear of death is upon you, remember that I would never hurt you. Remember to trust me.”

He began moving, slow and sensual, hitting all the glorious places within. His lips slid across mine, making my eyes flutter closed and my body coil with need. Together we moved, the sensations overwhelming.

“Here we go, my dearest. I love you.”

His bite made me suck air through my teeth. “Holy sh—” I arched back, lost to the feeling. No matter how many times I had felt this sensation, which was a great many at that point, it was always so fantastically overwhelming that I couldn’t think.

The draw on my neck had me wrapping my arms more tightly around his muscular shoulders. I squeezed his hips with my thighs, pulling to get him closer. Deeper. The bed thumped against the wall to his rhythm, fast now, my body so tight I couldn’t stand it.

A wave of pleasure washed over me, making me shake beneath him. He shuddered a moment later, but his mouth didn’t come away from my neck. Instead, he continued to suck, taking more.

Immediately, I began to build again, this situation having happened in the past. Those other times—three, he had said—he’d tried to pull back. Forced himself to slow. This time, though, his suction increased, if anything. Pulling with everything he had.

Another orgasm washed over me, dragging me under. I focused on that pull, on his hot mouth taking more from me. On his body still going, his shudder of release not stopping him. Another climax. Then another. They were coming right on top of each other now. I was probably screaming, or moaning like a banshee, but I couldn’t be bothered to care. Wave after glorious wave of pleasure pounded into me even as he did, each movement better than anything in the world. Vibrating through the fibers of my being.

Like a crack of lightning, a shock of fear hit me, so strong I stopped breathing. My ice magic flooded me, overriding the fog of pleasure and restoring my thoughts to crystal clarity. My fire swirled around it a moment later, the ink-in-water situation, mixed but not fused.

Air condensed around Darius, pulling him off my body. Fire swirled between us. Floated around the room. Frost coated the windows.