Chapter 6 #2
“Nikolai, what does it matter? You should let me go,” she whispers.
“You’re a good king. Everyone says so. Mrs. Vasek tears up when she talks about you.
The scholarships, the raises, the way you treat the staff like people.
Your kingdom loves you. You can’t throw that away for a maid with student debt and a crazy brother. ”
I crook an eyebrow? “Crazy brother?”
She sighs. “I’ll explain more later, but it has to do with my fake spying. The most important thing right now is your kingdom and your subjects, the Krovenians.”
“And what about what I want?”
She shakes her head. “What you want could destroy everything and I won’t be a part of hurting so many people.”
I reach out and cup her face in my hands. She goes still, her eyes widening.
“Claire, you’re the female my Blood Calling chose. You’re the only person who’s ever made me feel anything in thirty-two years of existence. I didn’t ask for this,” I continue, stroking my thumbs across her cheekbones. “Neither did you. But it’s happening. And I’m tired of fighting it.”
“Nikolai...”
“I’m tired of being cruel when all I want is to be close to you. I’m tired of criticizing your dusting when I should be telling you how beautiful you are. I’m tired of pushing you away when every part of me wants to pull you closer.”
A tear slides down her cheek, caught by my thumb.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I choose you.” I hold her gaze. “If you’ll have me.”
“But first, before anything else is said between us, I need to explain to you more about what you heard us saying about the Blood Calling and what it means to be my mate. I need you to choose, knowing everything. As a human, it is even more important you understand what you’d be getting yourself into, because this is a decision that will be life long. ”
She nods slowly. “Okay.”
I take a breath. “If we truly mate I’ll bite you during sex and, mark your throat and drink your blood.
” I watch her face carefully for any sign of fear or disgust. I see neither.
“That’s how Krovenians claim their mates.
We become permanently bonded through the mark and exchange of blood.
I will be physically imprinted on you. There’s no divorce in my world, Claire. No going back.”
“I understand.”
“And when we mate, I’ll be highly potent. More than any human male. You will become pregnant after the first time we have sex.” I pause to let that sink in. “No human birth control will prevent it. The Blood Calling ensures conception.”
Her eyes widen slightly, but she doesn’t look away.
“Are you ready to become a mother?” I ask. “To carry half-Krovenian children? To raise them here, in Krovenia, with me?”
“Children?” A small smile tugs at her lips. “Plural?”
“Blood Calling matings are... fertile.”
“How many are we talking?”
I clear my throat. “I don’t know exactly. Several, likely, over the years. Krovenian families tend to be large.”
She’s quiet for a moment, and I can’t read her expression. “I’ve always wanted a big family,” she finally admits.
“You’d have to live here in Krovenia forever. You couldn’t return to your human life. Your family—”
“Eh, my only family left is my older brother, Derek, who thinks you’re a criminal mastermind.” She almost laughs. “I think I’ll manage.”
“Our children would be half-blood. They likely couldn’t inherit the throne. The succession would pass to Viktor and his line. And our children might face prejudice from those who wanted a ‘pure’ heir.”
“Would you love them?”
The question catches me off guard. “What?”
“Our children.” Her eyes search mine. “Would you love them even though they’re half-human?”
The answer comes without hesitation. “They would be ours, Claire. Part of you and part of me. I would love them fiercely.”
Her face brightens, and it’s like the sun coming out after the storm. “Then that’s what matters.”
“Claire, there’s still the Council. The possibility of exile. Of losing my crown—”
“I know.” She’s almost laughing now, through her tears.
“I heard the whole conversation, remember? I know the risks and what I’d be giving up and what you’d be giving up.
It sounds like we’d stay if your subjects agree we can stay, or we’ll leave if they don’t like us together.
All that would matter to me is that we’re together and no one is dying in a stupid, unnecessary, succession war.
” She reaches out and takes my hand. “But I have conditions too.”
I blink. “Conditions?”
She grins. “Oh yes, if I’m going to be your mate — your queen — I get to make some demands.”
My lips twitch. This woman. “Tell me.”
“First, I need to be able to finish my Master’s Degree in Literature and I’m okay if that has to be done online. Can you handle me still taking classes?”
“Yes, I can.”
“Second, I need to contact my troubled brother and let him know I’m marrying the Vampire King. This might not go well because he’s unfortunately swept up into conspiracy theories but I’m hoping you can help me to help him and find his way out and back into the light.”
“Of course. I will bring my brothers and Maxim into this and we will take care of it together.”
“Okay, and third, I need to be able to have the occasional human friends come to visit me.”
“This is acceptable.” I’m definitely smiling now. “Anything else?”
“I reserve the right to add more conditions later.”
“Granted.”
“And lastly...” She pauses, suddenly shy. “Do you love me?”
The question hangs in the air between us.
“I think I’ve loved you since you called me an asshole,” I admit. “I just didn’t know what it was.”
She lets out a charming snort-laugh. “Well, I’ve loved you since I was fourteen. I just didn’t think it would ever be real. I know it’s fast and crazy and we barely know each other, but I love you.”
Warmth spreads across my chest. “I love you too, Claire.”
She pulls me closer, until our foreheads touch.
I swallow hard, my throat tight. “Do you choose me, Claire? Knowing everything? The pregnancy, the bond, the politics, all of it?”
“I choose you.”
“Even if it means giving up your world?”
“You are my world.” She closes the distance between us and presses her lips to mine.
I experience the first kiss of my life. Her lips are soft, tentative at first, and I let her lead.
She shows me how this is done. But then her hands slide up my chest, her fingers curling into the fabric of my shirt, and she makes a small sound in the back of her throat and something in me snaps.
I pull her into my lap, cradling her against me, and kiss her like I’ve been dying to kiss her since the moment she walked into my study. My hands tangle in her damp hair. Her arms wrap around my neck.
I have no idea what I’m doing, running on instinct alone. But instinct seems to be enough because Claire moans against my mouth and presses closer, her fingers tugging at my hair.
My fangs extend fully. I can’t stop them.
Three days of fighting this, of pushing her away, of lying awake hard and aching, it all crashes through me at once.
I deepen the kiss, my tongue sliding against hers, and the taste of her floods my senses.
The moment her taste enters my bloodstream, heat rushes through my veins.
My shaft throbs in my pants. My hands grip her hips, pulling her flush against me, and I know she can feel how hard I am beneath her. I don’t care. I want her to feel it.
“Nikolai,” she gasps against my lips.
I growl and kiss down her jaw to her throat. My fangs ache with the need to bite.
Not yet. Not yet.
My mouth moves back to hers, kissing her deeper, harder. Her fingers dig into my shoulders and when her hips shift against mine.
I crowd Claire backward until she’s lying beneath me, on the rug in front of the fire and I’m above her, our bodies pressed together.
The shirt she’s wearing — my shirt — has ridden up her thighs.
I can see so much of her silken skin in the firelight.
If she moves a millimeter, I’ll see her naked pussy.
“We should stop,” I manage to growl. “If we keep going—”