Chapter 56
AVA
“How was shopping?” Valen asks, following me into the bedroom where I hang the garment bag in the closet.
The three of us paid extra to have the seamstress alter the dresses to fit perfectly while we were there and then grabbed lunch while we waited.
Levi seems to have a fondness for Panda Express.
He ordered two full boxes of food and ate it all.
“It went well,” I say, shutting the closet door and carrying the other bag of goodies with me to the bathroom. “I like my dress.”
“I missed you,” he says in a low murmur.
I turn around.
He looks adorable. His eyes are full of yearning, and he has his lips puckered slightly in want of a kiss.
So like any good girlfriend, I shut the door in his face.
In my defense, it’s for a really good reason.
“Ava?” he huffs on the other side. The knob rattles. “Let me in.”
“Nope.” I set my bag down on the counter.
“You realize I could break down this door, right?” he asks as I turn the knob for the shower. It squeaks loudly. One of these days maybe I’ll remember to pick up some WD-40 from the store.
“I understand that, but you’re not going to do that because you’re not Zav.”
While the shower warms, I remove my clothes that smell of the food court and pin my hair up. It’s not hair wash day and I won’t risk getting it wet.
A thump sounds on the other side of the door, and I can only assume Valen has slid down to the floor.
I grin to myself at the silly vampire.
Once I’m freshly showered, I take my time drying my body off and slathering myself in lotion.
Slipping on a set of lingerie I snagged from the store, I assess my appearance in the mirror.
Valen might be stoic at times, but even he can’t resist this.
I spritz a small amount of perfume onto my neck and wrists before I open the door.
Valen immediately flops into the bathroom on his back with Pom Pom in his arms.
“Hi.” He blinks up at me. “Hi,” he repeats, more choked this time as he takes in what I’m wearing.
“Hello.” I nudge his shoulder with my toe.
Before I can comment on him lying on the floor, he sets Pom Pom down and hops up.
“Fuck, Ava.” He curves a hand around my hip. “Look at you.”
“You like?” I do a spin, letting him take in the lace and ribbons from all angles.
“Very much.”
Standing on my tiptoes, I wrap my arms around his neck. “It’s too bad I’ll only let my mate take it off me once the bond is complete.” His eyes narrow on me. “Please, Valen.” I press a hand to his cheek. “Please. I want you in every way. It’s time.”
A muscle in his jaw ticks. “The mating bond … this is forever—a bond stronger than marriage.”
I cock my head to the side. “And you think I don’t know that?
What I feel for you is unlike the love I’ve ever felt for another person.
And forgive me, but with the current uncertainty of things—whatever’s going on with these killings, and whatever monster it is that wants you—I just want to be yours in the way that matters to your kind most. I want our bond.
I want you. I’m never going to change my mind on that, Valen.
” I rub his cheek. “You are so special, and you don’t give yourself enough credit for that.
I love you. I want you. Please, make me your true mate. ”
“You drive a hard bargain,” he growls a moment before his lips descend on mine.
“Is that a yes?” I ask between kisses.
“Yes,” he groans, licking the sensitive skin of my neck.
“Is it going to hurt?” I ask.
“No.” His hair brushes against me and sends a shiver down my spine.
He lifts me easily in his arms, and a moment later my back is pressed against the bed.
“You drive a hard bargain.” He draws his finger around my nipple.
The mesh bra cups do little to hide the peaked buds. “And you don’t play fair.”
I smile up at him. “Playing fair doesn’t get me anywhere. Not when my mate is a stubborn vampire who thinks he knows best.”
He huffs a sigh. “You are something, Ava McGuire.”
“But I’m your something,” I argue back.
He chuckles. “That’s true, Starlight.” He brushes his nose against the curve of my neck. “Are you ready, my love?”
I nod, and a small gasp flies out of my lips when he bites my neck with a tenderness that doesn’t pierce my skin.
“Say it. I need to hear you say it.”
“I’m ready,” I gasp. “Make me yours.”
The bite of his teeth into my flesh has my fingers digging into his shoulder. I suddenly wonder why I didn’t make him take his shirt off first. I desperately want to feel his bare skin against my fingertips.
I feel the pull of my blood into his mouth, and it feels so fucking good.
“Valen,” I moan. My eyes flutter from the sensation.
He wrenches himself away, licking gently at the wound on my neck before kissing down my chest. “You have no fucking idea how divine you taste,” he purrs and drags his fangs along my breast. “I could taste you every day for the rest of my existence and never tire of the flavor.”
Valen pulls back to bite into his own wrist and offers me his blood.
Rising up to sit, I have a moment of hesitation, not because I don’t want this, but because I’m scared of how it might taste.
But when I wrap my lips around the wound he created, it doesn’t taste at all like what I expected.
He’s right. Divine is the only word to describe the flavor of him.
I’m not even a vampire, but the way his blood tastes is exquisite.
Back and forth we take blood from one another. With each lap of my tongue against his skin, I feel it—the bond becoming stronger. It’s like a physical thing between us, pulling us closer and closer, and when it snaps into place, I physically fall back onto the bed from the intensity of it.
I feel it. I feel him. It’s like he’s everywhere. I feel him inside me—his being. It’s like I’m no longer solely myself. I am him and he is me and we are one.
He smooths a strand of hair off my forehead.
“Are you okay?” he asks.
“Never been better.” I reach up, wrapping my hand around his neck and forcing him to meet my mouth in a soul-sealing kiss. God, I love this vampire.
He moans into my mouth, and I swallow the sound.
I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the way he makes me feel.
His fingers skim over my bare stomach and I shiver. His touch is gentle as it drifts lower until his fingers edge their way beneath my underwear.
I arch off the bed when his cool fingers rub against my aching, wet core. He slides one finger easily inside me and then another, pumping them gently.
“I love you,” he whispers, kissing the bite mark on my neck.
“I love you, too,” I whimper, biting my lip when he uses his thumb to rub my clit.
“Valen!” I cry out, fisting the sheets. In no time, my orgasm roars through me, and I thrash against the covers.
Valen might’ve been a virgin when we met, but he’s a quick learner.
He might know my body better than even I do.
He yanks my underwear fully off and rips my bra in half.
“I liked that!” I scold. “And it was expensive.”
“I’ll buy you a new one,” he croons before swirling his tongue around my nipple. I bow into him and whimper as he moves to give attention to my other breast.
“Why am I naked and you’re not?” I whine, sliding my hands beneath his shirt. “Take something off.”
He obliges by yanking the T-shirt over his head and throwing it. It hits the lamp, which crashes to the floor, but neither of us pays it much attention.
“I want to take things slow,” he murmurs against my lips when I fumble with his belt.
“And I don’t want slow,” I argue. “I want my mate to fuck me hard and fast. Please don’t make me beg.”
“Greedy little thing, aren’t you?” He nips my ear. “It’s truly unfair how pathetic I am when it comes to you. I can’t seem to deny you a single thing you want.”
In a speed that seems impossible, he rids himself of the rest of his clothes. Then he sinks inside me in one forceful movement.
My core flutters around him. Somehow, I’m already close to coming again.
“Is this what my girl wants?” he asks, voice gruff as he pounds into me.
“Yes,” I whimper. “I like it when you’re rough.”
“Fuck,” he drawls. He pulls out of me and flips me onto my stomach before yanking my hips into the air. He thrusts into me again from behind and fists my hair, tugging on the strands.
“Yes, yes, yes,” I chant.
His fingers dig into my hips, and I have little doubt I’ll find bruises tomorrow. “You take me so well.”
I whimper as he drives into me, and if it weren’t for the grip he has on me, I would collapse onto the mattress.
I cry out when his fingers find my clit. “Valen, I can’t … I can’t take it.”
His body covers mine and his mouth finds my ear. “You’ll take everything I give you and then some like the good girl you are.”
He slaps my ass, and a scream flies out of me. I grab the nearest pillow and bite down onto it.
The next time I reach the cusp of orgasm, he bites into my hip at the same time and sends me screaming into the void, the pain more pleasurable than anything. He’s right there with me, and as the last quakes of our orgasms begin to fade, he pulls me into his arms and holds me close.
“Mine,” he says possessively, kissing the bite on my neck.
“Yours,” I concur and pull his wrist and mimic him by placing a gentle kiss where his wound was. His is mostly faded, thanks to his fast healing.
I love this man—vampire, fallen angel, whatever you want to call him—more than I ever believed it was possible to love another.
It’s not just the mate bond that has me feeling that way.
It’s him. Valen represents everything good and right in the world.
He’s too pure, too special, to have endured the things he has.
I’m almost fully asleep when I hear him murmur, “Forever will never be enough time with you, but I’ll take everything I can get.”