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  Ely stood a few feet away, his eyes wide. “Shit … shit …” He kept saying the word over and over, then, “Mastyr, forgive me.”

  Zane nodded. “It’s okay. I apologize as well.”

  Ely slid his gaze to Olivia. “You’re a blood rose. I didn’t know. How could I have known?”

  “You couldn’t,” Zane said. “And this was my fault. I wasn’t thinking when I let you walk into the bar. It’s damn overwhelming.”

  “Yes. It is.” Ely remained wide-eyed, staring at Olivia once more.

  As with Zane, she felt his blood-needs like a constant pressure on her heart and once more she was laden with an extra supply, ready to serve. This part of her current condition she now understood extremely well; her job was to feed a mastyr vampire. From what she’d read online, until she was bonded to a mastyr, she would have this same experience no matter which man came at her; if he suffered from chronic blood starvation, she’d want to feed him. And feeding led to other things.

  Zane, she pathed, You need to get me out of here. Now. I’m kind of worked up and I need to be alone with you. The scent of him, those beachy grasses she smelled, had her sex going wild.

  He turned to her, meeting her gaze. You smell like cinnamon spice and I’m going to fuck you, Olivia.

  She nodded. Unh-huh. How about now? And the truth was, if he threw her down on the floor, even in front of all these people, she’d let him have his way. She was that far gone.

  I’m feeling it, too. Your scent has my blood pumping. Zane’s arm was a like a vise around her. He wasn’t letting her go anytime soon.

  When he led her outside, she felt him grow tense and understood the cause; dawn wasn’t far away now.

  His voice was rough as he called out to his Guardsmen to head home for the day. He thanked the troll in charge of clean up for his service, then, without another word, he took her into the night sky, flying at top speed.

  Not willing to take any chances, she covered herself and Zane with her cloaking frequency.

  Good idea. And I’m so sorry about the bar fight.

  She leaned into him, nuzzling his throat right over the dagger and drops of blood, and at the same time tasting what had flowed from the already-sealed-up punctures. She had both arms around his neck, holding him tight. I’m not sorry. I should be, but I’m not, only because we’re here now, in flight, together. And I want you.

  His grassy scent grew stronger, boiling inside her brain, making her mold her body to his as he flew.

  She stroked his erection through the leather of his pants and his scent thickened even more.

  Leaning into him, she licked his neck over and over, lapping at the blood on his skin. She’d pierced him in order to save his life. Now the flavor of his blood and the salty sweat of his skin caused her to clench deep inside her body.

  Zane was a very physical man, much like the shifters she’d observed. Maybe that was part of the reason she wanted to be so close to him. In an essential way, she liked the way he rolled.

  When he rose higher into the sky and the air grew chill, she realized he wasn’t heading back to his lighthouse home at all. Instead, he appeared to be taking her into the mountains.

  “Where are we going?”

  “I have a tree house complex.”

  “You do?” She’d never read anything about it online.

  “Ah, so you don’t know everything.”

  “This is the first I’ve heard of it,” she confessed. “Which is way cool.”

  “I’ve worked hard to keep it a secret.”

  She knew about treehouse complexes – again, the Nine Realms Internet rocked – but she’d never actually seen one before. They were essentially several rooms of a normal house broken up into forest-adapted spaces. The same type of complex could be found all over the mountainous realm of Ashleaf, but not so much in Swanicott.

  A few moments later, he began a descent, but she hardly paid any attention. She could feel his need, both for her blood and for sex, and her chest was even more laden, her body needy.

  She barely saw the tree house before he had her across the threshold of his bedroom and was sliding her sweater over her head. She worked herself out of her jeans as he got rid of his coat and shirt. He then sat down on a chair by the door and worked his boots and pants off.

  She stood naked, trembling with desire in the cool mountain air, as he set his boots aside. Her gaze travelled over the massive size of Zane’s shoulders and arms, the breadth of his chest and his lean, muscular legs. He was extremely well-defined in every part of his body.

  Once free of his pants, he sat down again, a wicked look in his eye. She smiled in response, dropped in front of him, and spread his knees.

  His cock was already erect. She dipped, and with one hand on his cock and another stroking him from his abdomen to his pecs, she went to work.

  She loved the feel of his cock in her mouth and the way he half-groaned, half-grunted as she began to suck. He shifted her hair aside and rubbed the nape of her neck. She felt up his pecs, which were thick with muscle.

  She left his cock to lick and bite her way up his stomach then squeezed his left pec and took as much of his flesh in her mouth as she could. She sucked hard, and he groaned some more.

  She fondled his cock at the same time, then repeated the process, wanting both his nipples to have equal attention.

  Her hips arched repeatedly while she played and sucked. She was about to climb on board, when he slid his arms under her ass and lifted her up, rising to his feet. Apparently, the man had ideas of his own.

  He carried her to his bed, and holding her steady with one arm, he flipped the covers back so that they rolled into a pile on the floor. He then tossed her on the bed face first, pulling her legs toward him until her hips hinged over the side of the bed and her feet were flat on the floor. He spread her legs wide and rubbed up and down her bottom, squeezing and pinching in much the same way she’d roughed up his chest.

  God, she loved it, loved that he wasn’t super gentle with her. The shifter part of her thought he was brilliant.

  When he dropped to his knees and began to lick her sex from behind, she moaned.

  Sprout fur for me, Olivia. I want more. Give me some right here.

  He licked on either side of her sex, giving her a hint. She groaned heavily as the fur released.

  He followed, nuzzling his way through the lines of fur. You smell unbelievable, shifter-woman, and your scent is making me hard.

  He held her hips with his hands and began to tongue fuck her, thrusting quickly.

  Howling, whimpering sounds poured out of her at the driving force of his tongue. He tugged on her hips at the same time, pulling her sex against his face. It all felt so good.

  I’m close, Zane. So close.

  He drove into her faster, grunting hard. Then come for me. Come now.

  Her body responded to his command and she flew over the edge, pleasure pulsing hard until she was screaming repeatedly. He kept plunging his tongue in and out, drawing her ecstasy on and on in fiery pulses until at last the wave passed and she fell lax against the sheet.

  That was wonderful.

  He rubbed the insides of her legs and ran his fingers through the fur she’d released for him. She pathed, I love that you’re into my shifter-ness.

  He nibbled all along her fur, then aloud said, “Can you give me some on your back, right down the center? I want more.”

  The pleasure of releasing an additional line of fur had her hips once more arching against the bed.

  He rose up slightly and dragged his cock over her sex, pushing against her just to tease, letting her feel what she wanted so badly.

  He then kissed his way up the strip of fur along her back, nuzzling and sniffing. Every few inches, he’d let out a heavy moan. “You don’t know what this smells like.” Then, “You have long legs, Olivia.”

  She arched the small of her back, forcing her buttocks up.

  “You’re presenting for me, aren’t yo
u?”

  She tipped her pelvis a few times, arch-and-tip, then repeat, letting him get a good look at her sex, her fur, all that she was as a woman.

  She wasn’t surprised when she felt the tip of his cock swirl at her very wet entrance. She moaned and cried out.

  “Is this what you want, Olivia? My cock … inside you … buried deep?”

  “Yes. Please, yes. I need you, Zane. Pierce me to the hilt.”

  He groaned and once more grabbed her hips in his hands. As he began to push, he swept his fingers up the fur along her back. Chills traveled down her spine and she clenched hard. She didn’t know why, but Zane touching her fur really worked her up. “Do it again. My God.”

  He stroked her fur over and over, more chills, more clenching. At the same time, he kept pushing his cock into her, bit by bit, reaching for the end of her. Then he drew back only to plunge back in. He set up a steady rhythm that had her breathing hard and clawing at the sheet.

  Just when she thought she couldn’t take much more, he pushed her hair away from the side of her neck.

  Oh God, he was going to bite her!

  She braced her head on her forearm to give him a good angle. She felt saliva on her neck and the sides of his fangs.

  The next moment, he nipped her good and settled in to suck.

  She groaned heavily.

  Your blood, Olivia. I feel a fire in me and I’m hard as hell.

  While he drank, he slowed the motion of his hips, which held her orgasm right at the tipping pint.

  Zane. I’m in agony. I need to come. But I love that you’re making me wait while you take my blood. It’s such a rush.

  He was breathing hard through his nose as he sucked and drank and pumped her low with his hips.

  She was overcome by all the different sensations. Then with one hand, he reached beneath her and began massaging her abdomen, pressing so that she could feel his cock even better.

  She made steady grunting noises that grew into a soft howl and increased in volume. The louder she howled, the faster his hips went.

  Suddenly, he left her throat and began to roar.

  Her release came, just as he began to orgasm. Only this was so different from anything she’d known. The sensation rolled on and on, of intense erotic pleasure pulsing repeatedly, flowing up her abdomen, forcing her to clench even harder.

  He slowed for a moment. “Holy fuck!” he shouted.

  She knew he was coming again as he grunted over her back. He pushed her hair aside. And just as she was coming down from one orgasm, he bit her hard, the way a shifter mate would, gripping her neck with his teeth to hold her in place.

  Her body exploded into another series of earth-shattering pulses that turned her shifter-like howls into very human screams of pleasure.

  She was flying, she was so caught up in the ecstasy, her was body trembling with passion. He drove in and out and a third roar left his lips, taking her orgasm farther and farther until at last the pulses slowed then stopped and she fell flat onto the mattress.

  Was she even conscious?

  He followed, lying on top of her, with their bodies still connected.

  She panted, gasping for air. Her eyes were shut. She kept watching all the stars spinning within her mind. She saw such beauty in that moment, and for the first time in her life felt truly engaged with the world around her, with life, and all because of Zane.

  Maybe being a blood rose wasn’t such a bad thing, after all.

  ~

  Zane lay replete and unable to move. Sure, he’d read about the blood rose phenomenon and he’d seen it in action when he’d watched Malik getting drawn beneath the undertow of his experience with Willow. However, Malik could have talked until he was blue in the face, but he could never have truly prepared Zane for what had just happened between himself and Olivia.

  Some things had to be experienced to be believed.

  What seemed the most astonishing was that he’d released his seed three times. He smiled. Was anything more masculine than a solid ejaculation? But to deliver three in a row?

  Hot damn, life was good.

  Fuck ‘good’; life was incredible.

  “Thank you, Olivia.”

  “Ditto.”

  “Am I heavy on you?”

  “Nope, but it helps to be part shifter; I’m stronger than if I were just human.”

  “I love lying here like this.”

  “Me, too.”

  He saw her fingers pulling at the sheet and covered her hand with his own, lacing his fingers with hers.

  Without warning, his eyes started to burn and his chest felt like his rib-cage was held in a powerful vise. He realized he hadn’t done this with a woman since his wife had died. Sure, he’d had sex, but this had felt more like … making love.

  He hadn’t wanted to get involved again. Hell, he’d made a commitment to stay away from any kind of serious relationship so long as the Invictus existed.

  Now here was Olivia, a blood rose, and she was in his tree house bed.

  He sighed heavily.

  Zane, what’s wrong? I don’t know if it’s a blood rose thing, or if it’s just us, but I’m feeling like you’re in some kind of pain?

  He drew out of her because, yeah, he was hurting. “I’ll be right back.” He went into the bathroom and grabbed a hand towel. He’d felt the gush as he’d withdrawn from her body.

  He returned and wiped her inner thighs then planted the towel between her legs. Even in that strange position, with her feet on the floor and her upper body lying flat, she seemed so comfortable in her own skin. Very shifter.

  She rolled and scooted, holding the towel in place, until she was lying on a pillow near the headboard. The scene was so homey that once more his throat felt like he was being strangled.

  He moved to the bottom of the bed and pulled up the covers. “You have to be worn to the bone.”

  “Mmm. Guess I am.” He tucked the quilt around her and she grabbed his arm. “You don’t want to talk?”

  He met her gaze and swallowed hard. “No.”

  “Did I do something wrong?”

  He shook his head briskly. “No, Sweet Goddess, no. You were perfect. You were amazing. It’s … other shit.”

  She nodded. “Okay.”

  He watched her eyelids droop, loving that she hadn’t pressured him to spill his guts. “Sleep now.”

  “I will.”

  He jerked his thumb in the direction of the bathroom. “I’m going to shower up.”

  She nodded, but already her eyes were closed as she adjusted the pillow beneath her head and punched it a couple of times.

  He returned to the bathroom and flipped on all three showerheads. But as soon as he stepped beneath the stream, his head bent and water flowing down his long hair, tears started and wouldn’t stop.

  For reasons he couldn’t explain, his thoughts had turned to Emily. His wife. Dead five years because he couldn’t protect her.

  Repressed grief burned through him and for the first time since he’d come home to find her gone, he let it burn.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Olivia didn’t wake up until late that afternoon. She checked her internal clock and realized she’d slept eleven hours.

  A wonderful aroma of meat cooking on an outdoor grill greeted her. Her stomach rumbled.

  Was Zane her kind of man, or what?

  She blinked against the fading light. But what was a vampire doing outdoors barbecuing at dusk? Maybe there was something she didn’t know about him after all. Huh.

  She turned on her back and saw that a tall stack of her clothes sat on small dresser outside the bathroom. It meant several things. First, that Zane had arranged to bring her clothes here, to what she knew to be a fairly remote mountain location. He’d also given someone permission to break into her house and rummage through her closet. But he’d been damn thoughtful in the process.

  She stretched as she rolled out of bed, feeling deliciously sore in well-used places. She hadn’t had this much
sex, all in the space of twenty-four hours, in a very long time.

  As soon as she was showered and dressed, she walked out onto the deck and saw that the tree house complex included at least five small dwellings, each with ramps leading to the next. The pitched roofs showed in patches through the almost bare deciduous trees and the occasional pine. Dark brown shingles covered the sides of each dwelling, broken up by a fair amount of windows.

  Situated at the highest point, the bedroom porch had a view that went on for miles. Because the porch faced east and the sun was almost down, the vista of several mountain ridges was cloaked in a deep purple haze.

  As she looked down, she could see the complex had been built on the side of a ravine. By the number of narrow trails along both sides of the stream below, all kinds of wildlife must congregate in the area.

  She sniffed the air, her shifter senses separating the many different smells. Zane appeared from the large house to the left, the biggest of all the treehouses. He bore two platters on one arm and two mugs hooked in his free hand.

  The coffee smelled like heaven.

  She met him halfway down the ramp and took the plates from him.

  “Thank you. I had the worst image of these fine steaks and eggs splattered over the walkway.”

  She lifted one of the plates to her nose and drank in the aroma. “And you charred them perfectly.” She smiled at him over her shoulder.

  He grinned. “Somehow, I knew that’s what you’d want, and the eggs are barely cooked.”

  “The shifter in me is starting to love you a lot, you know.” Maybe she shouldn’t have said those exact words, but what the hell, it was true. He seemed tuned into her species. “Oh, and thank you so much for having my clothes brought here.”

  When she settled into one of the two wood chairs on the porch, he put the mugs on the table between them and sat down. She passed his plate over. “I love it here,” she announced, unsure why she’d blurted it out.

  “I thought you might. This is a wild place, and very much like you.”

  “It’s my shifter-ness.”

  “And did I tell you how much I love that part of you?”

  “You’ve known me exactly one night and you already love something about me?”