Chapter 18 Maeve #2
I sighed as he nudged a fingertip at my entrance, the skin there tight and sensitive. He didn’t go all the way in, just applied pressure to the edges, and I moaned as I tightened my grip on his hair.
Never before.
My body hadn’t responded this way to a man ever, and I’d never wanted like I wanted now. His tongue lapped against me when he released me from his mouth, and I moved, setting the rhythm I liked.
Replacing his tongue with his finger for a moment, he looked up at me. “More?”
“Fuck, yes,” I whispered as I continued to move against him, showing him what I wanted. Light and delicate worked for me, but every so often I teased myself as I pressed harder against his friction and drew away again.
Don’t stop…don’t stop.. don’t stop… The chant started in my head but didn’t make it past my lips. Instead, I closed my eyes and hid from him, refusing to show him all of me as the familiar sensation of my muscles tightening began to work through my whole body.
I’d done this to myself, many times, but never shared it with anyone, and no one else had ever been in control like now. I drew a deep breath. And this was so much better.
One last flick of his tongue released me, fire sizzling on each of my nerves, my core pulsing, wanting, needy.
I mumbled incoherently as he resumed his lapping, drawing out each throb of my orgasm until my fingers cramped into claws and each new spasm was another shockwave of pleasure.
He pressed a final kiss to the inside of my thigh, and I jolted at the touch of one of his fangs resting against my skin. The sudden danger was heady, and I fought the urge to press against his head so he’d puncture me.
“Sorry,” he whispered, his voice thicker than usual, and the mattress moved as he slid his way up to lie beside me, gathering me in his arms and pulling me close to his chest. He drew in deep breaths.
“Are you okay?” I tilted my head to look at him, able to make out the shape of his nose and jaw, and the gleam of his eyes as he watched me.
“Oui.” But it seemed to be an effort for him to bring his breathing back under control.
“That was pretty amazing.” I spoke without thought but credit where credit was due.
“Only pretty amazing?” Although his tone was joking, he paused at the end of his question like my response mattered, and I ducked my head to hide my grin.
The fragile male ego transferred into vampires, too.
“Very amazing,” I assured him, and I added a reassuring pat to his chest.
My body still sparked with tiny, satisfied pulses, and I almost hummed my pleasure.
“I wouldn’t hurt you.” He dropped a kiss into my hair. “Jamais.”
Never.
“Jamais de ma vie.”
Never in his life. I pressed closer to him. “I know that.”
“But I have hurt people.” He swallowed. “Women.” Regret laced his tone.
“I know.” I couldn’t soften it. I did know. Ciara had made sure I knew. “I know you did.”
He sighed. “So much waste.”
“But why?”
“Why?” He sounded genuinely perplexed, and he tightened his hold.
“Why did you do it?” Maybe it was a dumb question.
Why did vampires ever kill? “Instinct? Blood?” I shuddered a little.
“Frenzy?” It was a term I’d often used in my blog, when nothing else described the scale of what I knew was a paranormal creature attack but authorities provided a mundane answer for.
His chest moved up and down as he gave a big sigh. A world of hurt and regret lived in that sound. “All of the above.”
I waited. He didn’t seem finished. More like he was finding his way to the right answer.
“And… cure.”
The things he and Ciara had mentioned and told me started to filter back. It was like, while I was with him, nothing bad existed. He was simply Francois. Not a mad prince. “Your cure.”
He accompanied his sigh with a nod, this time. “My cure.”
I stared into the dark, waiting. It was probably the story I’d most wanted to know, ever, and over the years there had been many stories I’d been desperate to discover, but none seemed as important as this one.
None as private and personal, either.
“I always thought…” It was as if he’d begun speaking without considering his words because he halted almost immediately. “My father had always been eccentric. I believed his stasis was further evidence of an incurable madness.”
His voice dropped, becoming almost conspiratorial.
“But perhaps now that was just the natural strain of being away from his…brethren. I don’t know what they are as a group,” he confided.
“Brethren is as good a name to describe the Ancients as any. They seem to function as one, on some sort of level. I believe the health of the whole is dependent on their connection and my father suffered from his own self-imposed absence for many years. I thought the madness was coming for me,” he whispered.
I tightened my hold on him just a little, offering comfort the only way I could as I pressed closer.
“I took the blood to save myself. I went to a witch to help me. The family witch. I tried a little of the poison as the cure. I knew she was dosing me extra. By that time, I didn’t care.
I don’t know what came first. Was I already mad or was it the dead man’s blood?
I craved more so I took more. It helped.
” He looked at me. “But it didn’t help at all, did it? ”
“No, it didn’t help.” I kept my voice gentle, but it would do me no good to lie to him. And this huge creature was so gently with me, I wasn’t scared to tell him the truth. “Why do I feel this way?” I didn’t understand. Why wasn’t I scared?
“Feel what way?” I had his whole attention.
“I’m not…” I tapped the tip of my forefinger against his chest as I thought.
“I’m not scared of you or of telling you things.
I want to share with you and share myself with you in a way I’ve never shared with anyone else.
” I shook my head as I considered the men I’d known in the past. “It doesn’t really make sense. It’s not logical.”
Although since when the hell had my life made any kind of logical sense? The majority of people would believe I spent it chasing shadows and fairy stories.
Francis’s chuckle was a low rumble in his chest. “It’s the mate bond.”
That word again. “Tell me about it…being mates?”
I thought he wouldn’t. He was quiet for such a long time before he spoke.
“It sounds like a cliché,” he said. “I’ve searched for my mate—for you—for so long.
And I hate that it comes out sounding that way because it sounds almost as if the idea of the mate bond cheapens you in some way—like I would have been happy with just anyone.
But that isn’t it. You’re my other half.
My soul. The part of me that has always been missing. ”
I swallowed. Those were big declarations, but they almost made sense. The way Francois affected me was like something clicking into place. “But now what?”
He swallowed. “That’s the question. You know the women you met earlier?”
I nodded, my cheek rubbing over his clothes.
“They were all human. But vampires turn their mates to solidify the bond. It’s one of the greatest honors for a male vampire.”
I nodded again before I processed his words. “Wait. What? I mean, I know the king’s wife—”
“Mate,” he interjected.
“And Ciara, but she was a shifter. She was already halfway there…” That made sense. She was already in the supernatural world. Becoming a vampire wasn’t such a huge step. “I’d stop being human.”
“Oui.” He nodded. “But you’d be vampire and you’d be mine. Immortal with me.”
My breath hitched. Something in those words… they were laced with temptation. “How? Do you bite me?” The thought should have horrified me.
But instead, it aroused me.
“Oui. And you bite me, mon ange. We share blood. We each become of the other.”
I blew out a small sigh, waiting for horror and disgust to hit me, but neither came. The idea that I could belong to someone lifted me, lightening my chest as if I’d carried a weight there always.
“Maeve?” Already, he seemed attuned to each tiny change in my mood.
“I’m just thinking. I’ve never belonged anywhere before. I didn’t exactly fit in growing up. I was too weird and believed in too many things.”
“What things?”
“Vampires, shifters, fae. Those things. You, I suppose.”
He laughed. “Mon ange, you don’t believe in nearly enough. I can show you so much more.”
I nearly purred at the promise his words held. He’d just offered to open up the entire world for me. “I think I should do it.”
He twisted a little, facing me, his palms curved to my cheeks as he spoke again.
“It’s not a decision to take lightly. It’s permanent, and there are risks.
Not every human reacts well to vampire blood or to their body undergoing the change.
I’ve…I’ve seen their deaths in my lifetimes.
I’ve seen vampires lose their mates that way. ”
“You won’t lose me.” I yawned after I spoke, spoiling the conviction in my words.
“Sleep, mon ange. Sleep, and we can discuss it more after you wake.”
I nodded and made myself comfortable against him, allowing my eyes to close, my mind already exploring all of the things an immortal life could offer. And with Francois by my side forever, what couldn’t I achieve?
A small smile captured my lips as I thought of him.