“Oh, Nikolai, yes.”
Deep satisfaction pooled in his gut. The thought of her feeding from his vein seduced him with the rightness of the plan. “But I need you to hold on a moment longer, if you can, because you deserve a male doing his duty, shouldering his responsibilities. And I want to be that kind of a male, for you. So—” he lay on his back next to her, his marked hand settling on his chest “—it doesn’t have to be perfect, but if you could braid three of those into my hair…”
“You want me to do it?”
He looked at her and smiled. “Who else would I ask, my angel?”
“Okay,” she whispered. As her fingers grabbed and tugged thick strands of his hair, Nikolai closed his eyes and imagined all there was to come. Her mouth filled with the flavor of his blood. The consummation mark adding color to the black of their hands. Standing within a circle of his warriors and publicly claiming her, and being claimed in return. A new blooded family. Maybe even a newling, someday. She’d brought him back to life, and now she was giving him the world.
Trembling fingers stroked over his hair. “It’s done,” she said, voice tight with need. “What should I do with this one?” She held the last jewel between her fingers.
He drew her down for a single slow, deep kiss, then took the stone from her. “This one is going to bring you ease.” Placing a faceted edge against his throat, he pressed the jewel hard into his flesh until it felt the burn of the laceration, and then he scored a long line. Warm blood bloomed over his skin, pooled and ran down the side of his neck.
Her eyes went wide, her mouth dropped open. Her heartbeat thundered in the quiet of the room.
“What do you want, Katherine?” he said in a tight voice, his cock reawakening against his belly.
He didn’t have to ask twice.
She fell over him, her mouth finding and licking the crimson stream, her body writhing and shifting until she lay atop him.
Masculine satisfaction roared out of him, pounded through his dick, made his balls grow heavy with need. But this wasn’t just about him.
Nothing would be, ever again. Thank God.
For, he was meant to serve. And while, by lineage and all that was just in the world, he had a duty to serve as king and commander, by choice he would also serve his mate, his angel, his…love. Always and first, for however many nights he had left.
Her mouth sealed over the cut and sucked the lifeblood directly from his body. Five hundred years of living and fighting all came down to this moment, and he could wait no longer. Lifting his head, he struck his fangs into the soft tendon where neck met shoulder, and completed the bonded circle of blood between them.
The first swallow of her nectar brought her thoughts into his mind.
Oh, God, I love him I love him I love him.
The words reassembled him into a new male, a better male, her male, tonight and forever. Feasting on her blood, and feeling the connection cycling through and between them, Nikolai thought in reply, As I love you, Katherine. Now, take whatever you need, take everything, because we have all night, and I am yours. Forever.