“Later.” Victor easily dismissed his need for blood. At the moment his only thought was to get Juliet to the safety of his lair. “Return us to my estate.”
“At once.”
With a blur of motion, Johan pulled open the carriage door, waiting for Victor to settle on the leather cushion before slamming the door shut and returning to his seat atop the carriage. Then with a mental command he had the horse racing through the narrow streets with a reckless indifference to the occasional vehicles or even pedestrians that crossed their path.
Within a half hour they were wheeling up the long drive to his isolated mansion. As they pulled up to the wide veranda, Victor did not wait for the carriage to come to a halt, simply opening the door and leaping onto the flagstone courtyard. With the same impatience, he charged up the stairs, fully prepared for a uniformed servant to tug open the wide double doors.
“Uriel,” he called, crossing the marble foyer and heading toward the private rooms at the back of the mansion.
With commendable speed the angelic vampire appeared at Victor’s side, his brows arching as he caught sight of Juliet in his arms.
“Do you wish me to call for a human healer?”
Pausing before the door at the end of the corridor, Victor released a trickle of power to open the heavy locks. No one, not even his servants, was allowed in his personal lair without his permission.
“Not yet.”
He glanced down at Juliet, a frustrated fury racing through him at the tumble of fiery curls that were in such contrast to her ashen face and the bruises already visible beneath her closed eyes. She looked like a crushed flower, he painfully acknowledged before viciously pushing the thought away.
No. She was merely exhausted. He would accept nothing else.
“You have food prepared?” he growled.
“Yes, the”—Uriel stumbled over the unfamiliar word. It had been several centuries since the vampire had eaten solid food—“chef was most uncooperative, complaining at being taken from his bed and then insisting the markets were closed and he could not discover the necessary ingredients to prepare a meal.”
“I assume you managed to convince him to comply with your request?”
“Certainly. He promised a seven-course meal would be awaiting your approval.”
“Ensure he keeps it warm until Juliet recovers.”
Uriel gave a dip of the head. “The guests have been removed from the property and the upper chambers have been prepared for the female.”
Victor’s arms tightened. “The female will remain with me.”
A rare shock rippled over Uriel’s face. “But…”
“You have something to say, Uriel?”
“It will soon be dawn.”
“I am well aware of the time.”
Uriel’s gaze shifted to the woman in his arms. “Then you are taking the woman to your lair? Your private lair?”
Victor’s lips twisted; he did not entirely blame his young servant. He had never, in all his countless years, allowed a female to enter his lair.
“Your swift grasp of the situation is what I have always admired most about you, Uriel,” he said dryly, stepping into the small, conspicuously plain room. “Be certain we are not disturbed.”
Expecting his command to be obeyed, Victor slammed shut the door and crossed the floor to pull the lever hidden behind a particularly ugly oil portrait. Silently the paneling slid aside to reveal stone steps that led to the deep chambers beneath.
Passing through several more heavy doors, Victor at last reached his private resting place, crossing the barren room to lay Juliet on his bed.
On the point of covering her with a thick fur blanket to ward off the chill of being so deeply underground, Victor slowly froze, dumbfounded by the sensations that were quietly settling in the center of his heart. Sensations that he had barely noticed in his frantic haste to get Juliet to safety.
Now he couldn’t deny the shocking truth.
He could actually feel Juliet.
Not just as a vampire conscious of another creature in his lair. Or with the awareness of a man near a beautiful woman.
But deep inside him.
Barely aware he was moving, Victor leaned down and with a jerk he had ripped open the sleeve of her loose linen smock.
“Bloody hell.”
Victor allowed his gaze to study the intricate crimson tattoo that was forming beneath the inner skin of Juliet’s forearm. A tattoo that was unmistakably the mark of his bonding.
He was mated.
To Juliet.
Irrevocably and eternally.
Chapter Five
Juliet opened her eyes. It was odd. One moment she had been deeply asleep, and the next she was wide awake, her heart pounding with fear.
With a small gasp she abruptly sat upright, anxiously glancing about the unfamiliar surroundings. She was not reassured by the stone walls that were covered by ancient tapestries or the heavy wooden furnishings that spoke of a splendid but barbaric past. Only the vast fireplace that was blazing with cheerful flames offered a hint of welcome.
“Victor?” she breathed.
There was a cool rush of air, then Victor was at her side, his raven hair left loose to frame his pale, perfect face and his muscular body covered by a brocade robe.
Juliet shivered, a strange yearning stirring in the pit of her stomach. Stripped of his elegant attire that added a layer of civilization, the vampire was savagely, irresistibly beautiful.
“I am here.” Settling next to her on the wide bed, Victor held out a crystal glass. “Mulled wine, little one?”
“Thank you.” She was relieved to discover her hand did not shake as she reached to take the goblet and sipped the warm wine. It was perfect. Spiced just as she liked it, with only the faintest hint of cinnamon. She cleared her throat. “Where are we?”
“My private lair.” A smile curved his lips, but his eyes were watchful, predatory. “Dinner will be served whenever you wish.”
Juliet blinked in surprise. Not only at the notion that Victor would consider she would be hungry when she awoke, but that he would bring her to his lair.
It was…inconceivable.
And strangely exciting.
She licked her dry lips, her heart leaping as his gaze dropped to watch the nervous gesture.
“How long have I been asleep?”
“Several hours.” His brows drew together in a sudden frown. “You risked far too much by creating a portal. You might have killed yourself by calling on so much power with no training.”
She drank her wine, ruefully accepting she was a fool if she’d expected gratitude for saving this vampire’s life.