She was, without a doubt, the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen in nearly a millennium.
“Help me, please,” she panted as she glanced over her shoulder. I took a deep breath, and that’s when I smelled it. She’d been touched by a nightwalker, and my instinct said that was who she was running from. I opened the door wider and stepped back, allowing her to enter. She hesitated for a beat but looked up into my face and stepped into my lair.
Lair? That was an odd turn of phrase, I thought. I must not have slept well.
I glanced outside, and my enhanced night vision picked up movement in the hedges between my garden and the neighbors’. No nightwalker would dare breach my property unless they had a death wish, but I was furious to have them lurking around. I slammed the door shut and turned to see the girl staring at me with wide eyes and biting her plump bottom lip. “You’re safe here,” I assured her gently.
She nervously brushed her hair over her shoulder and glanced at the door once more. The dim lights from the sconces lining the wall made the large diamond ring on her finger twinkle and momentarily distracted me from the familiar birthmark on her neck. The vampire she was destined for was probably the one who had slid that ring onto her finger while he waited for the right time to sink his fangs into her neck. Disappointment sliced through me at the knowledge that she belonged to someone else. Even though it wasn’t like I could keep her happy if she didn’t. I imagined that a woman wouldn’t want to stay with a man who would never physically desire her. I shook off the ridiculous thoughts and focused my attention on the matter at hand.
“What if he comes for me?” Her voice wavered, and she clasped her hands tightly in front of her.
I looked her in the eyes so she would have no doubt of my sincerity. “No one will get to you while you are under my protection.” She looked slightly relieved, and I felt the need to soothe her completely. “What is your name?”
“Thana,” she whispered. Gorgeous.
“I’m Kieran. How about I make you some tea, and you can tell me what has you so frightened?” She nodded, but her fingers continued to twist together, so I reached out to untangle them.
The second our skin touched, my body came to life with a bolt of electricity as though I’d been struck by lightning. “Fuck,” I muttered right before my breath got caught in my lungs. Arousal spread through me like a wildfire in a prairie, causing my cock to swell and harden, the girth threatening to rip through the jeans I’d pulled on when I’d gotten out of bed.
Feelings of joy and utter bliss were also coursing through me. Not only at the knowledge that I’d found my consort, but because it was this woman in front of me. Somehow, my brain had desired Thana even before my body had the ability.
My fingers itched to glide along her silky skin and touch her everywhere, my tongue tingled with the same desire, and my mouth watered at the thought of tasting her. The smell of her blood was so sweet, my fangs ached with the desire to sink into her neck, just as my cock ached to drive into her pussy. It took every shred of my control not to grab her and teleport straight to our bedroom and fuck her until she was tied to me in every way possible.
I needed to approach this carefully. Thana was human, and I didn’t want to send her running, especially since danger was clearly already stalking her.
Taking a deep breath, I tried to ignore these new, intense sensations filling me and tell my body to be patient. I laced our fingers together and smiled tenderly. “Come with me, baby.”
Thana allowed me to guide her down the hall and through the house into the large open kitchen. Gasping, she released my hand to spin in a circle. “Your house is amazing. But this is the most incredible kitchen I’ve ever seen!”
I smiled at her reaction, happy she liked her new home. “Do you cook?” I asked as I went about making her some tea. I glanced at her, and it struck me how young she was. She couldn’t be more than twenty, which made me feel even more ancient. I would eternally look as though I was in my early thirties, but that didn’t take away the years between us. Not that it mattered. She was mine, and I would never let her go.
“I love to cook, but my aunt prefers to use my money to have a chef.”
My brows rose as I turned to face Thana with a steaming mug. “Pardon?”