Epilogue
Adrenaline hummed through my veins as I stood in front of the large mirror in our dressing room.
I was not as different as I feared. My skin was a bit smoother, my hair a little more luminescent, but I still looked like me.
The dress I wore was beautiful but understated with its deep blue velvet and tapered sleeves—the kind of garment I’d dreamed of wearing as a young girl and feared as a grown woman.
Hands slid around my waist as Eamon moved into view. His hair was free and waving around his face. One lock slipped over my bare shoulder as he pressed a kiss to my throat.
“Tell me why you are nervous, my heart,” he murmured into my skin, palms smoothing against the bodice of the gown.
That was one of the things about our mating bond I had not been ready for but also hadn’t known I’d craved.
There were no secrets from Eamon, and after a lifetime of silence it was a relief.
We’d spent the first night of my transformation within the ruined castle he used for his daytime rest, allowing me time to come to terms with this new part of my life.
But to stay away any longer would be selfish when I knew Lilith and Noah were as desperate for my return as I was to see them.
“Will they be angry with me?”
Eamon lifted his head to find my gaze in the mirror, his brows drawing together in the perfect expression of confusion. “Why would anyone be angry with you?”
I’d seen Noah’s anger through Eamon’s memories, the heartbreaking way he’d fought for me in those moments when I could not. “Because I am what I always said I would not be. I made a different choice.”
My mate pressed a kiss to my temple, one hand sliding up my spine. “It is your choice to make and no other’s. If they are angry then that is their choice, do you understand me?”
I nodded. My throat ached for more than just blood as we gazed into each other’s eyes. There was such an outpouring of love within our bond it made my knees weak.
“I love you,” I breathed.
He turned me to face him, palm sliding up to hold my throat. “And I love you, little bird.”
I rose to my tiptoes to brush my mouth against his, shivering at his soft moan vibrating across my skin.
His firm length pressed against my belly when I leaned into him and I smiled into the kiss, feeling through the bond he was trying to hide his interest. I drew away, loving when he chased to nip at my bottom lip.
He tried to grab for me again, but I took a step back so his fingertips only grazed the dip of my waist.
The gold of his eyes sparked with heat as I lowered to my knees before him, sliding my palms up the fine fabric of his trousers. There was no hiding his interest now, not with the way his cock pressed against the placket. He reached out to touch my jaw, tilting my chin up toward him.
“Tell me what you want, little bird”—he ran his thumb across my bottom lip—“and you know I’ll give it to you.”
I licked the tip of his thumb, heat pooling in my core at the sight of his lips curving into a seductive smile when I sucked his thumb into my mouth. His fingertips stroked my cheekbone as I swirled my tongue, hollowing my cheeks and bobbing my head in an imitation of what I wanted.
“You want me to fuck this mouth?” he asked softly.
But through the bond there was another question, one that could not quite be put into words.
There was worry over my anxiety, his concern that perhaps he had pushed me to return home before I was ready.
He wanted this, and if it would allow me a moment of peace within the storm he would give it to me, but only if it was what I wanted.
I nodded around his hand, pushing my reassurance through the bond. This was what I wanted and what I needed.
Eamon rumbled low in his chest, pulled his thumb from my mouth and dragged down my bottom lip to expose my teeth before he slid his hand through my hair, leaving a trail of saliva over my jaw. “Then take it out, my love, and take what you need.”
I greedily opened the placket of his trousers and drew out his heavy cock, already glistening with need.
I leaned forward, lapping at the tip, shivering at the taste before I closed my lips over the crown and sucked.
His hand tightened in my hair and I could feel the hold he had on his control through our connection.
I pressed my thighs together tightly, wanting to see that control break, to witness Eamon lost in the throes of his need.
Slowly, I drew more of him in, desire pooling in my core from his next moan.
His hips jerked ever so slightly and I followed the small hint, bobbing and sucking, massaging the bottom of his cock with my tongue.
“Adrienne…fuck.”
My attention flicked up toward his face.
Eamon’s head was tilted to the side, mouth half open, citrine eyes blazing gold.
I relaxed into the hold he had on my hair, my hands dropping from his hips to my lap.
His free hand stroked my cheek, no doubt feeling the curve of himself pushing against my lips.
“I could spend a millennium right here with you,” he panted as he pumped his hips, testing the boundaries of how deep I could take him. “Eternity wrapped—fuck—in your heat, in your body that has been…the only thing that truly feels like—like home.”
My answering moan had his eyes rolling back in his head.
This was what I wanted: Eamon undone above me, blood sweat glistening on his brow as he fucked my mouth.
But when I felt his pleasure tighten through the bond, he pulled me off his length and lifted me to my feet.
I opened my mouth in protest before he spun me.
“Put your hands on the mirror,” he commanded, dragging up my skirts until the lace I wore was exposed. His fingers curled around the fabric, knuckles dragging over my clit, making me shudder while they ripped. Before I could take my next breath, he slammed into me, sheathing himself to the hilt.
I cried out, head tipping back, dizzy with pleasure. His hand came around to bracket my throat, dragging my chin down.
“Look,” he panted, pointing my face toward the mirror. “See what you do to me.”
If I’d thought Eamon was undone before, it was nothing compared to now.
His eyes glowed, fangs sharp and gleaming in the candlelight, the undone laces of his tunic swaying with each punishing thrust. Every so often his attention dipped to where we were joined and he pushed the image to me through the bond.
“See how perfectly you take me? My perfect, perfect mate.” I moaned again as his eyes found mine in our reflection. “Touch yourself, my love, come with me. I need you.”
I reached beneath the fabric of my skirts, pressing my fingers to my clit.
Stars burst behind my eyes as a sudden orgasm overwhelmed me.
His name fell from my lips as I shattered around him, his own release pumping in time with my heart.
Eamon kissed me as our bodies stilled, then pulled my hand from between my thighs and bent my arm so he could suck my release from my fingertips.
“All will be well,” he promised, “because I am with you.”
The little street where I’d spent so much of my time when I first moved to the inner city was quiet as we approached.
We’d taken a stroll through the Souzterain, Eamon pointing out the changes that had already been made—old stalls restored to their original locations from before the Covenant’s decrees had changed everything.
I’d wanted to ask about Risqeu, but I held my tongue, knowing whatever would happen with the business was Lilith’s news to share.
“Callum bought the townhome, didn’t he?” I asked as we approached the old Searah home.
Eamon hummed, a soft smile curling his lips.
“I believe a week after he first saw Lilith the night of Jules’ pyre he found the owner.
It took a while for all the paperwork to be complete, seeing as it had to pass through many different channels in order to keep Mael from finding out, though I offered to buy it for him.
Once it was done, he set about to restoring the home to what it had once been.
” He traced the antique brass knocker hung on the door.
“Mateo and I assisted, but it was all him.”
He knocked twice. Nerves flapped in my stomach and I stepped a little closer into his side. My mate tucked me tighter beneath his arm, pressing a kiss to my brow.
There is nothing to fear, my heart, he reassured through the bond.
The door was wrenched open a moment later. Before I could do so much as take a breath, I was yanked from beneath Eamon’s arm and into an embrace. I didn’t need to see who it was; Lilith’s hair half choked me as she squeezed tight, sobbing with relief.
I held her just as close, marveling at how it felt as if nothing and yet everything had changed. There was a low voice nearby and I registered another presence sliding up beside her.
“You’re suffocating her, darling,” Callum murmured.
“She’s immortal, she doesn’t need air anymore,” Lilith countered, voice raw with tears.
I spluttered a bit as I tried to get her hair out of my mouth. “But…I still enjoy it.”
A mixture of laughter trickled in from many different voices within the house as she eventually loosened her hold. I braced myself to see some difference in her, but just as I’d seen in the mirror that I was still myself, she was still my Lilith, just with those small telltale vampire differences.
“Your eyes are strange,” I noted, realizing they had the same swirling quality as Eamon’s.
She nodded. “Seth was generous enough to give me his blood when I was first made. It eased the pain of the transformation. He seems to be the only one we can drink from besides our bonded.”
My brows drew together. “There was pain?”
Eamon pressed a hand against my lower back, urging me inside. “Let’s go inside, my love.”