Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
MAX
Waking up in my bed, with my swan relaxed at my side, is magical. Vampires don’t need much sleep, but her body is fully at ease, and her breathing, while typically slow, is steady.
I’ve been lying here watching her for twenty minutes. The curtains are drawn, but sunlight peeks around them as the harbinger of a new day.
If I could have had last night last forever, I would have.
At dinner, she told me more about her life as a swan, even sharing some of the torment Pierre Brochet put her through.
The more I hear about that vampire, the more I wish it had been me who had ended his miserable life.
Still, I suppose, he got what he deserved.
For a villain like him to be given a conscience and have to suffer the guilt of things that couldn't be changed must have been torment. Clearly, it was too much for him.
If I were a better man, I’d feel some remorse about him taking his own life, but I can’t find that within me.
Tilda stretches long. Her lithe body and cool skin presses to mine. As her lashes flutter open, she lays her arm over my waist. “You’re awake.”
“Mm-hmm. You were too beautiful to disturb.” I comb my fingers through her hair, where it lies at the curve over her ass.
“I can’t remember when I’ve slept so well or so long.” She glances at the window. She pulls herself to straddle my hips. “Did you know swans mate for life?”
Worrying that she might be sore from last night doesn’t stop my cock from coming to full morning wood status. She’s a vampire, I remind myself. They heal more quickly than humans or even Sasquatches. “Yes. Sasquatch can accept a life mate as well.” Heart pounding, I grip her thighs.
“What do you mean by ‘accept’ a mate?” She studies me.
“I wasn’t planning to have this conversation while naked.” Even so, I’m not missing an opportunity if that’s what she wants to talk about. I’m all for it.
She rocks so that my shaft splits her pussy lips, and she coats me with wet arousal. “Fuck, you’re so hard.” Closing her eyes, she gains composure, and when she looks at me again, she says, “But we are naked, and I want to know if you accept me or not.”
It’s madness to try to concentrate on anything but her body, but on the other hand, I want this woman in all ways. “When a Sasquatch activates the mating bond, it cannot be reversed. I didn’t want to presume anything and thought I’d wait to ask you if I’m what you want for the rest of our lives.”
Pupils wide, she’s like a worried doe staring down at me. “Is that what you want?”
“More than anything.” The space behind my heart opens like a flower. It pulses with a need to finalize this bond.
“It’s what I want too.” She blushes and rocks her hips.
“Are you certain, love? There’s no going back from a mating bond with a Sasquatch.” It’s taking a lot of my energy to hold the link back.
“I’ve never been more sure of anything, as long as you don’t mind that I’m more vampire than swan.”
Running my hands along her waist to the swell of her hips, I let them settle on her strong thighs.
“I don’t think that's true, but I love all the parts of you, Tilda.” The bond doesn’t care about my worries or doubts.
She’s agreed, and it’s what I want. A rush of energy flows from behind my heart, and it’s as if a string knots between her heart and mine.
With a shiver, she says, “I feel it.” She rides my cock harder and faster. “It feels like heaven to have you attached to me so…permanently.”
“I skim my hand over her hip and waist and cup her sweet tit before rolling her nipple between my fingers.
Arching her back, she rocks harder and moans. “Will you do something for me?”
“Anything.” My hips move of their own accord, unable to resist the delight of her wet slit.
With a wicked smile, she rises to her knees, which barely lifts her off my cock. Still, the loss of that sensation pushes a groan from me. She pops up to her feet. “I’m going to turn around, and you’re going to fuck me from behind. Okay?”
It’s impossible to form coherent words. I growl my ascent.
Tilda gets on her hands and knees, facing the bottom of the bed. Her ass is in the air, and her pussy glistens with desire that’s just for me. “Don’t think, Max. Just do what I say.”
There’s no need for her to put me in thrall.
Everything about my swan enthralls me. I kneel behind her, then have to lift her knees off the mattress to bring her in line with my cock.
Reaching back, I grab a large pillow and stuff it under her.
Lining myself up, I press the head of my cock inside her.
“Yes. I want all of you, Max.” She lowers to her elbows so her ass is higher.
One hand under her hip to keep her steady and the other wrapped in her thick blond hair, I bury myself to my balls in her perfect sheath. “Fuck.” My balls slap her flesh, and her juices coat every inch of me, as she’s dripping wet.
She tries to pull forward, but I hold her still. There’s no need to rush, and she feels so good. I want to relish every moment. Squirming, she makes the most deliciously needy noises that sound more like a cat than a swan. “Don’t tease me.”
I long to do exactly that, but my need is too great. I pull back and slam into her over and over again while she meets every thrust and calls my name. With the way her pussy is tightening, I’m not going to last long.
Reaching around, I slip my finger over her clit and caress the slick bud.
A long keen falls from Tilda’s lips as her body pulses around my shaft. She shakes and jerks back, then tips her hips to take me deeper.
Shivers run up my spine, and my balls tighten. My cock swells at the base. “Oh. My. Gods.”
Another orgasm grips her, and she screams. “What is that?”
I come in a rush of pleasure, filling her with my hot seed.
She tightens around me and arches her back. “Max?”
Another wave of pleasure, and I fill her again with cum. “It’s my knot.” I try to pull out, but we’re locked together as we both orgasm again.
Wrapping my arm around her waist, I ease us back and onto our sides. Never had I imagined this would happen with a vampire. “I’m sorry?”
She shivers and gasps for breath as her body pulses yet again. “For the knot or for giving me the best multiple orgasm of my life?”
I’d laugh if I wasn’t wracked with another orgasm. My cum seeps around the knot as her pussy overflows. Still, it won’t release us. “This has never happened to me before.”
“I didn’t know Sasquatch had knots.” Spine still rigid, she relaxes, and her pussy tightens and brings us both into another round of pleasure.
“Only with our fated mates and until now, as far as I know, only with other Sasquatch.” I kiss her head. “I didn’t think this was possible with you.”
“Will it happen every time?” There’s longing in her voice, and she wiggles her round ass.
The knot grows, and I come again. “Aaah. Love, don’t move or we’ll be like this all day.”
“I wouldn’t mind, except you’re going to have to eat at some point.” She settles into the mattress.
Reaching my wrist to her mouth, I ask, “Do you need to feed?”
She kisses the fur that covers my arm. “No. I had plenty last night.” Even so, she nicks my palm with her fang, sending more pleasure through me before licking the cut closed and making a sound that I equate to eating the best ice cream.
My knot releases, and we both let out a long sigh. “That was intense.”
“It was fantastic.” She snuggles back against me. “I’m covered in cum, and I’ve never felt better in my life.”
The moisture has not escaped my notice. She’s so full of my seed that it’s dripping from her and soaking my thighs and abdomen. Even the thought of how much of my cock, knot, and seed she took has me getting hard again. “I should remind us both that Ion said he’d be stopping by today.”
Pulling away with a moan, she sighs. “I guess we’d better get cleaned up and dressed.”
Every instinct in me demands I pull her back to me, and we start again until we’re both too exhausted to move. However, the idea of her grandsire showing up while we’re knotted together is enough to keep me from going through with it.
TILDA
Leaving that bed and Max with his magnificent cock might have been the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Still, we managed to pull ourselves together and shower separately. It doesn’t sound like much, but I wanted more, despite having had the greatest series of rapid-fire orgasms in history.
Sitting at the counter sipping wine, while Max eats a big plate of bacon, eggs, and fruit, I’m still turned on by the knotting and the fact that he chose me as his forever mate. I would choose him a thousand times to spend my life with. I never dreamed anyone would want me as I am.
He sniffs the air and growls. “Stop.”
I love that he can smell my arousal. “I don’t think I can. I’ve never wanted anyone like this.”
Letting out a long sigh, he closes his eyes. “You’re not alone, but I can hear tires on the drive, which likely means we’re about to have company.” Resigned, he finishes his plate of food.
Getting another glass from the cupboard, I place it on the counter, then walk to the front door as if this were my house.
I look back at my bigfoot and find him grinning at me.
“You look good in this house. Think about staying permanently, will you?”
“I’ll consider it.” My heart pounds twice, and my belly does a little somersault.
As I watch Ion, my many-times-over grandsire, step from his car, I can’t help but feel the wash of wonder flooding me.
I spent over seven years in the clutches of a manipulative monster who made me feel his affection, however forced, was all I was worthy of.
In the few months I’ve been in Harmony Glen, I have discovered the depth of his lies.
Mari is a loving sister, and her mate, Sam, is a protective brother.
Ion is a caring father figure. I turn back to the kitchen.
Then there is Max, a creature who loves me, all of me.
I never dreamed any of this was possible.
Ion’s tall, broad figure reaches the door.
The sun has gone behind the clouds, and he’s left his hood down, making the gray in his hair shine.
Despite his advanced age, he looks perhaps forty.
His smile reveals straight white teeth and long incisors.
Leaning in, he kisses my cheek. “Good morning, Tilda.”
“Hello, Ion. It’s nice of you to come over to see me.” I step back so he can enter the house.
He hesitates at the threshold and looks at Max across the room. “Max?”
“You are welcome always,” Max says.
I guess that wasn’t clear when Ion was here while I was unconscious. Perhaps Ion is just being polite.
With a nod, he comes inside. “I’m glad you’re looking so well.” He smiles at me.
“Thank you. Between your blood and Max’s, I’ve fully recovered from the boogeyman’s poison.” Returning to the kitchen, it’s natural for me to stand next to Max.
Max rests his palm at the small of my back. It’s comforting and possessive, but not in the same way Pierre controlled me. My Sasquatch only wants me to know he’s here for me, no matter what.
“Can I get you a glass of wine or coffee?” I ask.
Ion joins us, remaining on the opposite side of the island. “Coffee would be nice.”
Vampires are not affected by alcohol, and wine is one of the few human drinks we find delicious; coffee comes in a distant second.
Once I’ve poured his cup, he takes a sip.
Always direct, he puts the coffee down and meets my gaze.
“After Pierre Brochet made his choice, I didn’t return here directly. ”
Not sure where this is going, I wait. Ion returning to Harmony Glen had never been a given in my mind.
He could go anywhere in the world. I’m certain he has many vampires who are linked to him through his sire line.
Just because Mari and I are here never meant he would come to stay or even visit.
“We’re pleased you arrived when you did. ”
His smile is warm and charming. “I mean to say, I had an errand to do before I came back.”
“An errand to give Pierre a final resting place?” I’ve never had to bury anyone, but I imagine arrangements must be made.
With a shrug, he says, “Pierre’s ashes have been placed in my family mausoleum in Romania.”
“That was nice of you.” I can’t imagine Ion was proud to have such a fiend in his family tree, yet in death, he still honored him.
“I should have taken him in hand many hundreds of years ago.” His gaze grows distant for a moment, and then he looks into my eyes. “Once I left my ancestral home, I went to Germany, to the village where you were born, Tilda.”
The rolling hills and clear lakes flash through my mind. I can almost smell the grass and flowers as emotion wells up, and I have to dash away a tear. “Why?”
He reaches inside his hoodie and pulls out an envelope. “To find this.” He hands it to me.
My skin tingles as I touch the stiff cardboard. The sensation is at once foreign and familiar. A rush of adrenaline stirs my blood. “What is it?”
The pressure from Max’s hand increases, and he stands up straighter while his jaw tightens.
Voice calm, Ion looks from Max back to me. “It’s what you need, granddaughter. But perhaps we should go outside before you open it.”
Trusting Ion comes easily, and I immediately head for the back door. The gift in my hand seems to vibrate with life. The coming autumn brings a cool breeze that shimmers across the pond. The colors of the world appear brighter and more defined.
The sound of the back slider closing seems far away as I open the envelope. Within it is one pure white feather. It calls to me and shimmers as if it’s as excited to see me as I am to see it.