Night's Master (Children of The Night 3)

“I guess we'll find out.”

“Maybe so. Just don't let her get away from you. Every fledgling reacts differently to being turned.”

“This just keeps getting better and better,” Cagin muttered.

“If it goes sour,” Rafe said, “just remember it was your idea.”

“Right.”

The two men regarded each other for a moment, then Rafe started to turn away from the sofa.

I hurried back to the bedroom as fast as my legs would carry me. Diving into the bed, I pulled the covers over my head and pretended to be asleep.

I heard the soft click as Rafe closed and locked the door. I could feel him standing there, staring down at me.

He pulled the covers back on his side of the bed. “I know you're awake.”

Blowing out a breath of exasperation, I sat up. “Is Susie going to be all right?”

“I don't know. I hope so.”

“Your face…”

“Pretty bad, I guess.”

“No. It's…I…” In the light of the candles, I could see that the ugly burns were almost gone. Only a rough redness remained in the worst places. The rest of his face was healed, as if he'd never been hurt.

He rubbed his hand over his cheek. “I told you it would heal.”

“You said days, maybe weeks.”

He shrugged.

“It was the blood, wasn't it?”

“Yeah.”

“Was it mine? Or Susie's?”

He slid into bed and pulled me down beside him. “Yours, of course.”

I snuggled against him, my head resting on his shoulder. “This is getting to be a habit, our sleeping together.”

“I'd like to do more than sleep,” he muttered.

“I know.” I couldn't help but admire his restraint, couldn't help but wonder how much longer it would last. For that matter, I was beginning to wonder who I was saving myself for. I wanted Rafe, no one but Rafe. Loved him as I had never loved anyone else. Did it really matter that he was a Vampire? As for getting married, for couples like us, it was against the law. What if we made our own vows? What if I promised to love him, and only him, for as long as I lived?

As long as I lived…I looked up to find Rafe watching me intently.

“Will you?” he asked, and I knew that he had been reading my mind again. This time I didn't care.

My heart seemed to skip a beat. “Yes.”

He turned onto his side, so that we were facing each other, and then he clasped my right hand in his. “I promise to love you and protect you for as long as you live. I will give myself to you and none other. I will cherish you in this life and the next.”

Blinking back my tears, I said, “I promise I will love you and only you for as long as I live. I will give myself to you, only you, and stand by your side, for now and forever.”

“Then I take you as my wife, to love and to cherish, from this night forward.”

“And I take you as my husband, to love and to cherish, from this night forward.”

Murmuring my name, he drew me into his arms and kissed me. Sighing with sweet surrender, I closed my eyes and gave myself into his keeping.

His lips moved over mine, gently, almost reverently. I basked in his touch, surprised when bare skin met bare skin.

“Better?” he asked.

“Much better.” I didn't ask how he had managed to free us from our clothing. It was a night made for magic, and it was all around us. Flames crackled in the hearth. The scent of roses filled the air, music played ever so softly in the background, or maybe it was all in my mind. I didn't know and I didn't care. All I knew was that I was in Rafe's arms, his body pressed close to mine. His hands caressed me, his lips adored me, his touch lit a fire deep inside of me that only he could quench.

Curious and eager, I explored the taut lines of Rafe's body, marveling at the hardness of his biceps, his six-pack abs, the width of his shoulders, the feel of his skin beneath my fingertips and my tongue, the sheer masculine beauty of his face and form.

When I was desperate for him to take me, when I thought I would surely go up in flames if he didn't possess me, he rose over me, his dark eyes burning with desire as his sweat-slick body merged with mine, and I knew I had been waiting for this moment since the night we met.

Heat exploded deep within me. I clung to his shoulders, my hips rising to welcome him. I felt his tongue lave the skin alongside my neck, waited impatiently for the prick of his fangs. I cried his name as wave after delicious wave of pleasure washed over me.

And then I was floating, drifting lazily on a tranquil sea of afterglow. Whispering Rafe's name, I opened my eyes, startled to realize that we really were floating, about a foot off the mattress.

His lips nuzzled my ear. “It's all right, don't be afraid.”

My hands tightened on his shoulders. I wasn't afraid of falling. After all, there was a mattress right below me. I wasn't afraid of Rafe, either, not really, but sometimes the reality of his Supernatural powers was a little overwhelming.

“You know, you really are the most amazing man,” I murmured, smiling.

“Honey, you don't know the half of it,” he said, and then he kissed me again, and nothing else mattered. I loved him, adored him, wanted only him, in bed, over the bed, under the bed, it didn't matter, as long as we were together.

Slowly, we drifted back down to the mattress. We lay there, locked in each other's arms, while our breathing returned to normal and the sweat cooled on our skin.

Rafe ran his fingertips over my brow and down my cheek. “Regrets?”

“Of course not. Why would you even ask?”

“I was afraid I might disappoint you.”

“You, afraid? I don't believe it! You're the most confident man I've ever known. I've never seen you the least bit unsettled.”

He grunted softly. “I was plenty unsettled in that cage.”

“We all were. What's going to happen now? Do you think Edna and Pearl will come looking for us again? I can't believe they're hunters.”

“It's a stretch, isn't it? As for whether they'll come after us again, I'll take care of that.”

“You're not going to kill them?” Even after what they had tried to do, I couldn't stand the thought of Rafe hurting them.

“If I have to.”

“Rafe, no…”

“I'm going to try something else first, but if it doesn't work…” He let the sentence hang, unfinished.

I knew what he was saying, and what he wasn't saying. Edna and Pearl posed too big a threat to the Supernatural community. They had to be stopped, one way or another.