Chapter 20
Colette
“How much do you know about vampire families and traditions?” Archer asks me.
“Basically nothing. You are a secretive bunch.”
He nods. “When vampires are born, their parents arrange their futures to benefit the vampire families’ network of wealth and strong bloodlines. The elder vampires are obsessed with continuing to produce powerful offspring.”
I want to ask if the fact that his father was a goblin affected this, but I give him the space to talk like he did for me earlier.
“My mother was, well, is a force in the community. I haven’t seen her in years. She left us.”
“I’m so sorry.”
Archer sets a hand on my knee and gives me a sweet smile. “Thank you. It hurt me as a child, but as an adult, I know it was one of the best things that could have happened to me. She wasn’t really a mother. She was a commander. Cold, calculating. And she…”
He swallows and looks at our feet on the floor. A strip of sunlight pours from the window and dances across the toes of our boots.
“Colette, when I was just nine years old, my mother betrothed me to a vampire named Valeria.”
My body locks up. My mate mark turns to ice. I process what he says, repeating the phrase in my head three times before I realize Archer has taken my hand and is asking me if I’m all right.
“I’m definitely not all right.”
“Good!”
I stare at him, confounded.
He shakes his head. “No, that’s not what I meant. I just meant it’s good that you are feeling something unhappy and owning it.”
“Archer.”
“Yes, of course. Details. Valeria is like a younger version of my mother.”
“Not a sweetie, huh?” I laugh weakly.
“Her type is the very reason folks should always be wary around vampires. She’s dangerous. Unfeeling. I have no emotions toward her besides disgust and a pretty heavy dollop of fear.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “I cannot imagine you being afraid.”
“No?”
“You’re so strong. And confident.”
“Confidently afraid, I’m afraid.”
I chuckle sadly. “What does this betrothal mean then? If you don’t accept it, then nothing happens, right?”
His lips pull away from his teeth and his fangs catch the sunlight for a second. “Three years ago, Valeria visited me in Honey Sands. She told me she was ready to mate when I was. Like it was a done deal. I told her that I had no intention of being mated to her in any way, shape, or form.”
I am gripping the fabric of my dress so hard that it’s bunching out over my laces. “What did she say?”
“That she would wait and wear me down. That the bloodlines are what matter, not our feelings.”
“Lovely,” I say wryly.
“Ugh. Yes, such a sweetheart. But she stayed in town for a week after that conversation, stalking me and generally making everyone I knew nervous. She vaguely threatened me, saying that if I needed more than just time, she would discover what would influence me. She hinted at hurting my siblings. I had a witch from Kingstown make this necklace to deflect her attention.”
Ah, so that’s why he wears it nonstop.
“And your mother was all right with how Valeria treated you? With her threatening your brothers?”
“My mother never cared about my siblings because they came out mostly goblin with no vampiric traits.”
“Ah.”
Poor Archer. His family sounds like a real mess. Mine isn’t perfect by any means, but at least we love one another.
“I’ve kept my distance from Valeria, of course. I caught wind of her moving to Kingstown, but I haven’t seen her. I sometimes wonder if she is watching me though. I am probably imagining that. It’s possible she’s dropped the idea of our mating.”
“Is this why you held back on getting close to me?”
“Aye. And I still worry. But Grumlin talked me into pushing past my fear.”
“Grumlin?”
“He’s a big proponent of love, it seems.”
Love? My smile feels like it’s going to burst from my face. “Love.”
Archer goes to the floor, kneeling and looking into my eyes like I’m the center of his universe. I am melting. He takes my hands again and smoothes my knuckles with his thumbs, which turns me on far more than such a simple gesture should.
“Grumlin assured me that if Valeria became a problem, he and the rest of the town would defend us. He isn’t afraid of her. I am hoping it’s because he knows how strong this town, and specifically Tully, are. Maybe it’s madness. Probably is, but Colette…”
“Yes?”
“I love you, Colette Amelot. I can’t deny it any longer. But if you don’t want to risk a confrontation with a dangerous vampire female for me, let alone the dangers in loving me, I understand, and I’ll leave after Snowlight.”
My heart is glowing. It’s so warm and bright that I feel as if I swallowed the sun. I take his face in my hands. His jaw is sharp, and his skin is cool to the touch.
“Archer, I love you, and no one is going to come between us if I can help it.”
His eyes shutter for a moment, then he gazes at me, eyes like banked coals. He sweeps me up and into bed and is suddenly over me.
“We will need to go very slowly. I haven’t been intimate with anyone in years and it’s not easy to be careful.” The tip of his tongue touches a fang. He’s talking about the vampire side of him.
“Slow is perfect.”
He supports himself on one elbow as he draws a fang down my throat to my collarbone. He kisses me there and I shudder with want.
Lifting himself, he gazes at me and his dark eyebrows pull together.
“I think I’ve loved you from the moment you jumped on me surrounded by baked goods,” he whispers, tickling my skin.
A laugh bubbles out of me and he smiles against my forehead. I’ve never been so happy.
Moving down my body, he drops kisses over my breasts through the fabric.
His hands slide down my thighs, then up under my dress.
His fingers make quick work of my stockings.
I lift my bottom and he works my lacy underthings off.
Throwing them across the room, he slowly moves so that he is poised beneath my dress.
My legs tremble. Archer licks his way from the inside of my knee to the center of my heat, and I’m shaking even more as he swipes his tongue upward once firmly.
It’s the most sensual feeling I’ve ever experienced.
I tangle my hands in his long, black hair, and my hips rise to meet his mouth more completely.
His tongue flicks over my most sensitive place. Pleasure courses through my blood.
He pauses in his work and looks at me over the rumpled mess of my dress’s layers. His eyes are different somehow. Darker. And that expression…
“Archer?”
“It’s all right,” he says with a purr. “You’re just making me Hungry in every way.”
“Do you want to, um…” I don’t know how to broach the idea of him biting me. My body pulses with want. “I am very open to whatever you’d like to try.”
“It can be dangerous.”
“I trust you.”
His smile is wicked, but somehow also sweet. I don’t feel frightened of him—only aware that he is a creature that could best me in any fight. But I told the truth. I do trust him.
He eases his way up my body, then pulls me into a sitting position with his stomach to my back. His erection is hard and long against me, and I reach back between us to stroke him over his trousers. He moans into my hair, then his hand snakes around my head to snag my jaw firmly.
“You’re certain?” he asks. “You can tell me to fuck off at any moment.”
“No, I want this, Archer. I want to feel what it is to love you as both vampire and goblin. As you, in your true state.”
“You’re wonderful,” he purrs against my temple. “You know that?”
My only answer is a quiet moan because he is setting his fangs against my throat, just under my jaw.
His tongue dances over my skin, and a tingling not unlike my mate mark spreads over me.
It’s like all of my nerve endings are awake now and somehow feeling pleasure just from this.
We haven’t even started yet, and I’m already about to climax.
“Wh-what is that sensation?”
“It’s a vampire Lure. A chemical I can release at will and apply to my victims before biting.”
“Or your lovers.”
“Aye. That too because Tasting someone is the most intimate thing a vampire can do. I’ve never done this. I’ve only hunted for sustenance. I’ve not Tasted a person.”
“So they are different, um, functions?” I say, my voice painfully breathy. My heartbeat pulses hard in my throat, my chest, and in my core. I want him to bite me now. To fill me up. To touch me in any and every way. Sweat beads along the neckline of my dress.
“Completely different.”
“Do you trust me enough to do this with me? Are you sure?”
His fingers squeeze me slightly and his nose touches my throat, his breath tickling me. “Of course. Why do you ask?”
“Because,” I pant out, “I can show you something that will prove my feelings for you.”
He leans around to look me in the eye. I keep my gaze locked on his as I unlace the top half of my corset. I pull my dress down to expose my breasts and the mate mark.
His lips part, and his eyes widen as he studies the symbolic heart shape of the mate mark and the stars and ink splotches that decorate the edges.
He looks at me again. “Stars and ink. You are marked for me?”
“I am.”
“I haven’t…” he starts, but then he freezes and a shiver runs through him. He pulls away a fraction and turns me around. Yanking down the front of his shirt, he says something so quickly that I can’t catch the words.
And there it is beside his gold and ruby necklace. A mate mark.
His pale chest, lined with lean, powerful muscle, boasts a heart like mine, but his is laced in small, simple images—a cat’s paw, a quill, an acorn, and flames.
I laugh, joyful tears pricking at my eyes. “The magic knows I’m chaos. Happy chaos.”
Archer takes my hand and presses it to his mate mark. The power of the mark gently heats my palm. He lifts my hand and kisses it, then slowly adjusts our position so my back is against his chest once more. His fangs poise, ready, on the side of my neck.
“Colette? You’re sure you want this?”
“Yes, Archer. I do. I want you in every way I can I have you.”
He licks my skin, and pleasure dances down my body from the contact point.
His fangs are a quick pinch, then desire explodes through my blood.
My head falls back against his broad chest, his necklace is cold against my upper back, and the mate mark is hot.
The scent of him is everywhere. I’m absolutely soaked for him.
I take his hand even as he sucks blood from me in a gentle, sensuous rhythm.
“Touch me, Archer. Please.”
I pull his hand down and press his fingers against me under my dress. The dress I wish we had ripped off earlier. His fingers slide into my heat and my body is already trying to squeeze against him. I need friction. Now.
“Please, more. Faster.”
He pauses in sipping and his hand stills. Without breaking his hold on my neck, he slightly shakes his head.
He has to go slowly to keep from losing control.
Right. But my lust-addled mind doesn’t care if he murders me twice as long as he gives me the touch I need.
He moves his palm against my clit and eases two fingers inside me.
I moan and rise up, unable to control myself.
I’m so close already. So very close to the edge of pleasure. To the peak.
His cock is huge and rock-hard behind me.
I reach around, tug his trousers down, and grasp him.
He moans and takes a deep pull at my neck.
His fingers shift higher, then lower, and I rub myself against him, still holding his cock.
The desire, the amazing sensation is too much, and I am breaking apart, shattering on his hand with the feel of his hot mouth on my neck and his hardness in my hand.
“Archer! Yes!”
My world blurs, and I’m coming so hard I can’t breathe. I feel light-headed. He is rubbing his cock against my back and drinking faster, and then his lips pull away as we grind against one another and he lets out a growl and I feel the heat of his come through our clothing, all along my back.
“Colette,” he rasps out as his head falls against my shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
He eases me to my stomach and works my clothing free while I lie there limp and happier than I’ve ever been.
“Are you all right?” he asks, his voice tight now.
I turn my head and lift myself up so he can free me of my corset. He pulls my dress off with graceful movements.
“I’m wonderful.”
“Not too lightheaded? Who is the mayor? What is your best friend’s middle name?”
I laugh. “Rustion. And Lysandra doesn’t have a middle name.”
“Good. Good.” His face is flushed more than I’ve ever seen it and he’s stripping off his trousers. His shirt is already gone and I wonder when that happened.
I exhale and roll to my back while he cleans himself with one of the washing linens I keep at the stand in the corner near the water pitcher and bowl.
His necklace swings across the mate mark and the muscles in his forearms and biceps shift as he moves.
He is so incredibly handsome. This male who loves the shadows is somehow the perfect fit for me, the one who adores the sun.
Perhaps that’s why we are an ideal match. We are a balance for one another.
“I can’t believe we are fated mates.”
“Me either,” he says, his eyebrows lifting and a wry but somehow also sweet grin tugging at his red lips. “I never would have called that one.”
“You look happy.”
He climbs into bed and pulls me close. I nuzzle into his chest and inhale deeply. He smells wonderful.
“I am happy, my sunlight.”
I smile against his warm skin. “Are you always this warm after drinking or is this the lovemaking part?”
“That was an appetizer. Once you’re ready, I will show you some proper lovemaking.”
I wiggle in his arms and grin. “Ooo, yes. I’m ready when you are.”
“And you’re certain I didn’t Taste you too deeply? Be painfully honest. I need to know. I nearly lost myself at the end there.”
“I felt that and I was a bit lightheaded, but I don’t think it was due to the fangs and their work.”
He huffs a laugh into my hair and hugs me tightly. I can feel that his body is ready for another round.
“I will always be pulling you into parties around here, you know. Oh, will you move to Leafshire Cove?”
“I’ll do whatever you wish. I have no real ties to Honey Sands. Nothing that would keep me from your side. And I have friends here now. A chosen family, I hope.”
“You do.”
“I will go to parties for you, my sunlight, but only if you permit me a corner table and an early bedtime.”
I chuckle. “Done.”
“And I will tug you into the shadows with me. To talk deeply and occasionally bemoan the state of the kingdom.”
“Of course. It will only make the parties that much more of a relief!”
He pinches me lightly and nips at my ear. “Brat.”