The Vampire Queen's Servant (56 page)

He's served you twice
before. He will not bear being parted from you a third time…

As she began to feel
lightheaded, she pulled out of the swirling depths of the memories. Putting her
fingers to his lips, she reached out to him with her mind.

Enough, love. That's plenty
. Though even to her, it felt like it would never be enough.

Jacob withdrew slowly, licking
her, holding his mouth over her, feeling the way the wound slowly closed
beneath his tongue. His hands slipped to her hips, anchoring her, and she
dropped her head on her shoulders, emitting a wild, low cry as the first crest
of the climax hit her like an unexpected rainstorm. His mouth was on her
breasts, and she saw a smear of her blood there. Catching his jaw, she sealed
her own mouth over his, pulling deep and hard, the same as he was doing to her.
Their minds revolved together as if dancing, all the pieces of one another
mixing up until she wasn't sure which memories were his and which ones were
hers.

She was giving him too much of
herself. The bad as well as the good were swirling in this cycle of energy, but
his mind reached through it all to reassure her.

I want it all, my lady.
Don't fear I can't handle it.

Thomas's words resounded in her
head.
Your soul mate
.

Catching two handfuls of her hair,
Jacob pressed his face into it, tangled her wrists in it, then his fingers with
hers, rolling them over so she was on her back again, staring at the sky and
the silhouette of his face over hers. His body pressed her to the earth,
stroking her even more deeply so she tilted up, opened to him even more. Her
body was shuddering with every wave of the orgasm and needing more, more, more…
His eyes were taking in everything, within and without them, trying to hold
onto this moment forever. But she knew its temporal nature was what gave it so
much sweetness. How could it become a memory to sustain her heart if it never
ended?

"Let go with me," she
rasped against his ear as she squeezed him within. And he did, holding closer
to her, his hips suddenly jerking, his thighs flexing, drawing her up with him
into another shuddering peak.

She felt everything he felt, the
sense of release on so many levels. And one of those levels startled her with
its intensity, so deep it clogged her throat with tears.

All of the worry and fears he'd
had, his doubts… he let them all go, his heart easing to the point the climax
was a true release, a purging. She felt a wave of relief from him as powerful
as exhaustion. She would not shut him out, would let him offer her every
resource he had to serve her.

Like a multidimensional collage,
she saw an ocean of overlapping memories, his lifelong quest to find his sense
of purpose, his resting place. The home where he was always meant to be. Her.

So worried about taking from him
what she shouldn't ask, she hadn't realized how much it would mean to him to
have her take the gift he'd been freely offering from the beginning.

There would be no more questions
for him, no matter where they went or what they had to do. And because she felt
the truth of that flood her with the power of his jetting seed, she felt her
heart ease as well. At least for now.

Damn if you weren't right in
the end, you wily old monk.

Reaching up, she touched her
servant's face in wonder.
I love you, Jacob Green
. Then she said it to
him, to prolong her joy in the fierce reaction that filled his expression.
"I love you." She managed a smile through tears. "But don't
expect that to change anything. Who you are, who I am. I won't be any easier to
live with."

He kissed the curve of her
mouth. Holding his lips there motionless for a long moment, he pressed his
forehead to hers, his eyes closed, hands framing her face. The night moved
around them and there was just this moment, the beat of his heart, the mingling
of their breaths.

When at last he raised his head,
he'd regained his composure. His blue eyes held a trace of the mischief she
knew so well, though his voice trembled. "My lady, I just received the
miracle of a lifetime. It's a greedy and unwise man that would ask for two,
particularly on the very same night."

As she thumped his chest with a
light fist, he caught her hand, but she sobered.

"I'm dying, Jacob,"
she said quietly, freeing herself to put her fingers to his lips so he wouldn't
interrupt her. "There's nothing you can do about that. Nothing that can
change it. What matters now is that I protect those who depend on me. Whenever
it comes to a choice between that and my personal well-being, you must promise
me you will always put the former first. Swear it."

His eyes held hers but he did
not speak. She pushed him off her. "Turn around."

When he obeyed, her fingers
traced the design, letting him feel it. From a distance, it appeared as a
sinuous prehistoric snake, but also like an etching of his spine, representing
his ability to move, to act, to think—all at her command.

As she held her touch there, she
waited.

"Your goals shall be mine,
my lady," he said at last. "Though I will strive to protect
you."

There was the Council Gathering
to face. Carnal. The end of her life and all she must do to prepare for it.
Tasks she must handle, using him to help her. She would have to be ruthless to
serve her duty, which meant if she had to be cruel to him, crueler than he'd
yet been able to imagine, she would be.

When he turned, took her beneath
him again, she saw him register her thoughts. His elbows pressed to the earth
on either side of her head, keeping her gazing up into his face.

"My love for you means
nothing in the world in which I must live. You understand that, Jacob?"

Jacob touched her face with his
free hand. Her mind was still open to him, whether she knew it or not, so he
felt her fears and worries, as well as her indomitable resolve. He matched it
with his own.

"It means everything to me,
my lady. That's all that matters. No matter what you need, I'll be at your
side."