Inferno (36 page)

“Lucky for you. I doubt even a full-blooded
were
could have walked through that shield so easily. It was your mixed heritage that helped you again, I have no doubt.” Duncan nodded knowingly. “There’s only one thing that will make you even more powerful, although it will weaken you at times too. It’s a tradeoff.” Duncan shrugged.

“Turning me.” Megan supplied the topic that had been preying on her mind.

“Have you and Dante discussed it at all?”

“Not much. He says we have plenty of time to think things through.”

“And you do. There is no need to take this step hastily,” Duncan agreed. “You should think about the ramifications. You would be the first
were
bloodletter in centuries, Megan. No doubt both shifters and bloodletters would have something to say to you about it. Most would condemn you both for taking such a huge leap. Many would fear the kind of power you would have in such a state.”

“As long as our enemies fear me too, I have no problem with it.” Duncan laughed out loud at her challenging words. She snapped her teeth in a mocking snarl as she laughed along with him.

“Dante’s a lucky son of a gun.” Duncan smiled at her. “I like your style, Megan. You match him well.”

Megan woke Dante just before sunset. She hadn’t meant to disturb his sleep as she slid into bed beside him. She’d just wanted to be there when he woke, but he woke more easily and stayed awake during the daylight hours without the expected debilitating fatigue now that they’d joined.

He sent her a sexy smile as he tugged her in close to his warm, hard body.

“Now this is my idea of the perfect way to wake up.” He nuzzled her neck as she sank into his embrace.

“Guess you’ll have to keep me around for a while, then,” she quipped.

“For eternity.” He rolled with her in his arms until she lay under him, her legs spread and wrapped around his hips in blatant invitation.

“Do you really mean that?”

He stilled. “You mean that bit about eternity?”

Slowly, she nodded. “I love you, Dante. I don’t want a few decades with you. I want as long as possible.”

“Life—even immortal life—is uncertain. If Duncan’s right, we’ll be facing some fierce enemies in the near future. Would you really punish yourself by giving up the sun so soon? If we make it through the coming trial, there’s plenty of time to think about the rest of our years together.”

“True,” she allowed. “But all the sunshine in the world won’t mean diddly squat without you.”

“Oh, my love, you say the sweetest things.” He kissed her. “I never thought to have something so special with anyone. You’re a miracle, Megan.
My
miracle.”

“I feel the same.” She cupped his broad shoulders in his palms. “And since we agree on that, there’s one other thing I’d like to try.”

“What’s that?”

“I want you to open the channel between our minds. Completely.”
She spoke the daring words directly into his mind using the small trickle of communication he allowed except when they were in the throes of passion and he lost control. That was the only time the connection was fully open. She thought they should probably start experimenting more if they were ever going to share their minds fully, the way true mates were supposed to share.

“Are you certain?” Dante looked apprehensive. It was the first time she could ever recall seeing that expression on his face.

“Yes, my love. It’s time. I’ve already seen inside your memories when we lose control in passion. It’s time to start sharing other memories. Other thoughts. Other feelings.”

“Some of the things you’ll see in my mind might change your opinion of me.”

“Is that what you’re worried about?” She smiled at him and moved her hand to his cheek, stroking him with compassion. “You can forget it, Dante. I love you just as you are. Nothing I could learn from your memories would ever change that. All that you’ve done—all that’s led you to this point—that’s what made you who you are. The man I love. Nothing can alter my love for you.”

He kissed her, allowing the trickle in their minds to open more. She understood he would do this slowly and was glad of his consideration. It was a lot to get used to, but she wanted to do this for him. For
them
.

She pushed at his shoulder, wanting him to roll them over so she could be on top. He complied, and she straddled him as she undressed atop his muscular body. Her shirt went first, sailing off across the room as she flung it from her. Dante wore only soft pajama pants with a drawstring closure. She untied them and pushed them downward, laughing when he raised his hips to help, rocking her perch as well.

He kicked the pajamas off and away while his fingers toyed with her nipples. She pushed her own lounge pants and panties downward, readjusting over his thighs to accommodate their removal. He helped marginally, seeming to be more interested in her breasts than in actually helping her get naked.

“No, baby. I want you naked. I’m just a little…distracted at the moment.”
He raised his head, licking one nipple into his mouth. She felt the scratch of his fangs against her tender flesh. It didn’t hurt exactly. It tantalized.

She didn’t need preliminaries. She needed him. Now.

She was wet and ready for him, so she lifted up and placed his thick, hard cock inside, pushing downward inch by inch, savoring the feel of claiming him with her body. He was hers, and she was his.

“Oh, yeah.”
His voice rumbled through her mind. She could feel his pleasure at their joining, his desire, his passion. It matched her own.
“Ride me, baby. Show me what you want.”

“I only want you, Dante. Inside me. Biting me while I clench on you.”
The image her words spawned in their shared minds made them both gasp.

He moved from one breast to the other, sucking deep, making her move faster on him as her desire rose fast. Faster than ever as they shared their minds more fully. Her thighs worked as she slid up and down on his cock, grinding her hips in a way guaranteed to bring them both the ultimate pleasure.

He bit, striking without warning as he licked the soft skin above her nipple. He bit the fleshy part of her breast, making her jump, but not causing a great deal of pain. It was just a little bite, more of a nip, really. It made her sit up and take notice and brought her to a small climax as she rode him.

There was more to come. He swirled his tongue around the pinpricks in her skin, licking at her blood—playing, in a purely vampire way.

“Tease,”
she accused in their minds.

“Come down here and I’ll give you what you want. Naughty girl.”
His voice curled her toes, low, rumbly and intimate in their shared minds.

“Make me.”
The dare aroused them both.

Dante growled aloud as he rolled, pinning her beneath him, his cock spearing into her. He stilled, holding her gaze.

“Do you truly want this?”

The pathway between them was open more fully than it had ever been. She could feel he still held a little back. She was afraid, but she wanted it all. With him. For him. She gathered her courage. She could do this. She must do this. If she loved him enough—and she certainly did—she could be brave.

“Do it, Dante.”

He held her gaze as he let go of his conscious control over the flow of information from his mind to hers and back again. The floodgates opened and she was immediately immersed in his thoughts, knowing he was feeling the same kind of thing.

Her thoughts were magnified by their duality, reflected back at her from his mind. Dizziness assailed her for a moment, but Dante was there to steady her, to ground her, to be her anchor in times of peril.

“As you are for me, my love.”

Their thoughts were mingling, caressing each other from within the confines of their minds as their bodies stayed joined in the physical world. It was more intimate than she’d thought, and nothing to be feared.

It would take a lifetime to learn him. To see all that had made him who he was today.

Immersing herself in him, she finally understood that this new closeness wasn’t as scary as she’d thought. It was beautiful, in its way. Pure, good and as close as two people could get.

Only one thing could bring them closer, and she wanted it with all her heart. She saw how he wanted her to join him—to be willing to forsake the sun for him—to give herself into his keeping in all ways as he did for her.

But he would never ask.

“Is this why you held back? I mean, you didn’t mind that I was afraid of sharing our thoughts because you also wanted to hide how badly you wanted to turn me?” There was no accusation in her tone, merely curiosity and an undying love.

She felt his inner shame. “I would never ask it of you. It was to have been your choice to make.”

“You don’t need to ask.” She stroked his hair, holding his gaze as he hovered over her, their bodies still joined. “I want to give you this gift. This final thing that holds us apart. Any separation from you now is unbearable. I want to be with you always, Dante. For all time.”

“My love.” He was beyond words, easing down to kiss her sweetly, as if it was the first kiss of the rest of their lives.

He tried to hold still. She felt his inner struggle. Eventually, the emotions, the sensations, were too much. He began to stroke into her in long, satisfying sweeps that made them both moan.

Then even that wasn’t enough as he continued to devour her mouth with his. His tongue stabbed into her, mimicking his cock, digging into her, touching off little spasms within her core. She mewled in need, gasping as he released her mouth, his lips working their way to her throat with tiny, biting kisses.

She couldn’t wait any longer. Her body wanted to explode. Her mind was so intertwined with his, she didn’t know where she left off and he began. She felt his climax build and build until the pressure pounding through them both was unbearable. They needed release…but he needed one more thing.

He bit into her throat, accessing the vein. She felt it both physically and mentally, feeling it from his point of view as well as her own. The utter surrender, the complete claiming. The drain as he sucked on her blood and her psychic energy, replenished by his spike in power and strength as he fed from her and gave it all back.

She climaxed, but he needed the ultimate rush. He sealed the small wounds on her neck with his tongue and transformed one finger into a sharp claw, slicing deep into his chest. Blood welled up and his hunger became hers as he cradled her head and drew her mouth to his body.

The first coppery taste bathed her senses in his aura, his power, his indefinable essence. Never had she tasted something so heady and strong. She wanted more.

His hunger fed her new desires as she drank deeply from his life giving force. He climaxed as she sucked at his skin, sloppy in her haste, driven by needs she’d never known she had. She would never quite know if they were his needs now become hers, or if they’d been buried inside her all this time. It didn’t really matter.

All that mattered was this moment out of time. This spark of eternal life passing from him to her in the most beautiful, passionate and sacred way.

The sharing of blood. The sharing of life. The sharing of love.

Now and forever.

Despite making love all night and sleeping more deeply than she had in ages, Megan woke at her normal time in the afternoon of the next day. Dante rolled over when she left the bed, closer to the surface of sleep than he normally was at this hour. She thought nothing of it until she got to the kitchen.

Sunlight streamed in through the windows, making her squint. Aside from that small inconvenience, the sunlight felt good on the bare skin of her arms. Then she remembered. She was a vampire. Sunlight should burn—not feel pleasantly warm. Something very strange was going on here.

Duncan turned from the stove, as he had many times since she’d come to stay in Dante’s house.

When he saw her, the plate full of eggs slid out of his hand to crash on the floor in a million pieces. He didn’t even notice.

“Sweet, blessed Lady.” His voice was a whisper of shock, his eyes wide as he looked at her.

“He changed you last night, didn’t he?”

Mutely she nodded. She didn’t understand what was going on here and Duncan’s reaction had her worried. She clutched at her arms, rubbing one hand over her opposite forearm.

“And the sunlight here doesn’t bother you?”

“No.” After her eyes adjusted, she was okay.

Duncan considered her as if she were a germ under a microscope. “Are you hungry?” The question was so commonplace, it put her more at ease. “Now that you mention it. I could go for some steak and eggs.”

“Fascinating.” Duncan stepped over the shards of ceramic and globs of egg decorating the floor.

“Don’t you want blood?”

At mention of the word, fangs erupted in her watering mouth, but not just any blood would do.

She wanted Dante’s blood and his lovemaking. With her fangs also came a wave of lust for her mate. She didn’t want any other—not in any way. Only Dante.

“Not yours,” she answered Duncan’s question as he stood facing her. His gaze measured her, noting the slight bulge of her dainty fangs and following them as she spoke around her new dentition.

“Dante’s? You want Dante’s blood?”

“Yes!” The word was torn from her lips as her body heated.

A second later, the door behind her swung open and Dante’s arms came around her from behind, pulling her into the dark hallway. She turned willingly in his arms, sealing her lips to his as he kissed the breath from her body.

This
was what she craved. What she needed.

“I know,”
he answered in her mind.
“It’s what I need too. You. Only you, my love. Forever.”

***

Far away, a mage sat up straight in his chair.

“Poferov, the old fool, is dead,” the mage said to his companion.

“Are you certain?”

“I bespelled his familiar to send me an alarm should anything happen to Igor. He is dead. As is the snake.”

“It is a loss for our cause.”

“He can be replaced. I’m more concerned about how he was caught and who ended him. The first question could cause problems for us if he was betrayed from within.”