Then his head descended and he resumed kissing me.
Epilogue
The Future
Her fists in his hair became insistent.
He felt it, stopped feeding, lashed his tongue along the wound and gave his bride what she wanted.
He tipped his head back and looked at her.
She slid down, filling herself full of him, her eyelids heavy, Christ, so beautiful.
But her focus was all on him.
“This is our eternity,” she whispered and his arms, already wrapped around her, went so tight he felt it as the gentle wind of her breath stroked his face.
All he could see was her beautiful features. All he could feel was her body in his arms, her sex wrapped around his cock, her thighs pressed tight to his hips, her br**sts to his chest, her arms curved around his shoulders holding him close. All he could smell was the overpowering scent of her excitement. All he could taste on his tongue was her blood mingled with her skin and her pu**y. All he could hear was her heart beating, her excited breaths.
“This is our eternity,” he agreed quietly.
Her lids grew heavier even as she smiled an alluring smile.
“Give me beauty, my vampire,” she demanded.
Instantly, he flipped her to her back and gave into her demand.
* * * * *
Lucien’s eyes opened, the dream still on him. So real it was like it happened.
The moment his eyes opened, he felt Leah shift against him. His arm around her grew tighter. His other arm moved to circle her. She slid up his body and looked into his eyes.
Hers were wondrous, her lips parted.
Fucking hell, he loved that look.
But he knew.
He knew even before she whispered, “Darling, I just had the best dream.”
“This is our eternity,” he stated, his voice rough with sleep and her eyes got wider.
“You dreamed it too?” she asked.
Lucien nodded.
“Wow. Awesome,” she whispered.
He grinned thinking, sharing dreams like that with Leah, eternity, already sweet, just became sweeter.
Then his arms grew taut around her, he rolled her and continued living the dream.
* * * * *
Her scream still ringing around the room, Lucien stepped away while watching Katrina’s head drop.
“Now, you burn,” he said softly.
He watched her breathe, the effort visibly taxing and he did this for some time.
“You tried to teach me,” she whispered, hanging from her wrists pinned to the wall, her body limp, lifeless, nearly bloodless.
“It’s too late to tell me you’ve learned, Rina.” Lucien continued to speak soft.
To his shock, her sagging body slumped deeper.
He gave her time and, as he expected, she again spoke.
“I’m okay with this,” she went on in a whisper. “I couldn’t live without you.”
“I know,” he replied and watched her put extreme effort into lifting her eyes to him.
“Not at all,” she admitted. “Not even for a second.”
“I know,” he repeated.
“You love her?” she asked, the stamp of agony in her face twisting with new pain.
“Yes,” he answered shortly.
She’d endured enough. Now it was time for her pain to end. But just like Rina, she begged for more.
“I wanted you to love me like that,” she told him something he already knew.
Lucien made no reply.
“Why couldn’t you love me like that?” she asked.
“Rina, let Julian take you to the stake,” Lucien replied gently.
“Give me that before I die. Tell me why. Why couldn’t you love me like that?”
Lucien sighed then reminded her, “I’ve told you why.”
She smiled a humorless smile before she whispered, “I’ll listen now.”
He held her eyes.
Then he answered, “Because you wanted it so badly.”
“That’s not good?” she asked, genuinely perplexed.
Lucien shook his head. “The moment I understood Leah’s love for me caused her pain, I knew I had to let her go. Even knowing losing her I would lose everything. I was willing to sacrifice everything to ease her pain. And when I understood I loved her but if we stayed together our time would be short and end in tragedy, I understood this more completely. And I was determined to let her go to prolong her life in hopes, during it, she might find happiness. What you failed to learn is that true love is not selfish, Rina. It’s selfless.”
She gazed at him, even in her state the unhealthy, fevered, obsessive love she had for him burned in her eyes.
Quietly, he finished, “You never understood that.”
“No,” she whispered, “and I still don’t. Today, I die for my love for you, Lucien.”
“If it makes you feel better to believe that, Rina, then I’m pleased you do,” Lucien returned on a whisper.
She continued to gaze at him he knew in order to steal more of his time and attention.
But he was done.
He stepped away and jerked his chin at his son.
Julian moved forward.
Lucien didn’t watch as his son carried his ex-mate over his shoulder out of the room. Instead, he pulled out his phone and made three calls. Two were business. One was to Leah to tell her he’d be home soon.
She told him she was making her fried chicken.
This was something over the past week since they returned that he was growing accustomed to. A new nuance of his soon-to-be bride. She didn’t ask about the unpleasant business, simply waited for him to tell her if he so desired. But she was attuned to him. Now that he’d opened it to her, both of them could sense each other’s moods with an acuity that had nothing to do with body language, facial expressions or tone of voice. They tracked each other easily. So she knew when he had them and she made certain she did something, sometimes large, sometimes small, to make his unpleasant days end well.
He finished his call with Leah and moved outside. Bel was there. Stephanie. Rafe. Duncan. And Cristiano was there to represent The Council.
When Lucien arrived, Julian handed him the torch. Without delay, he threw it at the wood and kindling at Katrina’s feet.
And he gave her one last thing. Lucien held her eyes as she burned.
When she was no longer of this world, he left, leaving Cristiano to gather the ashes and scatter them to the winds.
* * * * *
Lucien sat back and yanked off the white gloves they’d asked him to wear before he handled the ancient parchments.
It was over a month after he’d found Leah. He was in the ancient city of Speranza in a windowless, air-controlled, intensely secured room in the basement The Dominion’s international headquarters.