“No, I believe it is a fool’s errand and I will not let you deliberately put yourself in danger.”
She smiled, not fooled for a moment.
“Justin has no claim on my affections,” she assured him softly, her fingers threading through his hair. “He offered me protection and that is all I ever desired from him.”
He studied her pale face, searching for…what?
Reassurance?
“You care for him?” he gritted.
“No.”
“Then why do you remain with him?”
Her fingers continued to stroke through his hair, no doubt sensing his unnerving vulnerability. Perhaps in a century or two he would be accustomed to his overwhelming need for this woman, but for tonight he was still raw from the aching desire to complete the bonding.
“Our arrangement was mutually beneficial. My talents offered Justin the means to acquire his magical collection and I was given a roof over my head and security from all but the most persistent demons.”
“I can offer you greater protection,” he said, infuriated at the mere thought of Juliet depending on another man. “Nothing would be allowed to harm you while you are in my care.”
She smiled wryly. “That I have never doubted.”
“Then why do you hesitate?”
She shrugged, the movement causing the robe to gape, offering a tantalizing glimpse of her naked br**sts. Victor swallowed a groan, his body fully aroused.
“At first I feared becoming another willing victim that you used and then tossed aside.”
“And now?”
She met his gaze squarely. “Now I fear becoming your puppet.”
Victor clenched his jaw, offended by her words despite the numerous women who had drifted in and out of his life. They had been mere dalliances.
Or dinner.
Juliet was the other half of his soul.
“Even if I wished such a ridiculous thing, I am not capable of enthralling you,” he informed her, his voice edged with a distinct chill.
She gave a sharp tug on his hair, a rueful amusement shimmering in her emerald eyes.
“No, but you are capable of insisting upon others obeying your every command.”
A portion of his pique was eased at her obvious teasing. “That is only because I know what is best for my people.”
“And your mate?”
“Of course.”
She rolled her eyes. “There, you have proven my point.”
Victor shifted so he could cup her face in his hand, knowing that while his instinct would be to protect his mate, he would have to learn not to ride roughshod over her.
“Juliet, if you wish me to admit that I am an overbearing brute who is accustomed to being obeyed, I will do so,” he said, giving a wry shake of his head. “I have been a clan chief for a number of centuries, while being a mate is all rather new.”
She stilled, studying his face with wide eyes. “What are you saying?”
“That your happiness is more important than my need to control you.”
“Then you will allow me to make my own decisions? Even if you do not agree with them?” She narrowed her eyes as he hesitated. “Victor?”
With a grim determination, Victor thrust aside centuries of absolute authority. To be mated meant compromise. Even if that compromise threatened to drive him to utter madness.
“Yes, but I hold the right to attempt to change your mind.”
Knowing just how difficult his concession had been, Juliet readily smiled, her hands drifting down his bare back in a sweet promise.
“Agreed.”
Shivering in ready response, he brushed his lips over the soft skin of her temple, sensing the rapid beat of her pulse. The hunger to taste her blood was near unbearable, but he ignored his ravaging thirst.
“I have conceded to your demands, little one. Now it is your turn.”
“Does this compromise include removing my robe?” she husked.
He chuckled. “It is my robe, although what is mine is now yours, and it most certainly is going to be removed.”
She allowed her nails to scrape lightly over his skin, the sensation sending pleasure jolting through him.
“So confident, my lord?”
He pressed a hard, hungry kiss on her lips before pulling back to regard her with a brooding gaze.
“Desperate. But that is not the compromise I speak of.”
“Then what do you desire of me?”
“I want you to leave Hawthorne,” he said, his voice revealing he was unwilling to bargain on this point. “Your place is in this lair with me.”
“But our bonding is not yet complete,” she said softly. “Would that not mean we were living in sin?”
He frowned at her foolish words. The connection between them was sacred.
“You are my mate.”
“But you are not yet my mate.”
A bleak, ruthless pain spread through his body. He had rarely given thought to taking a mate. Most vampires never encountered the one destined to make them whole. But on the few occasions he had considered the possibility, he had never envisioned binding himself to a woman who did not desire him in return.
“I see.”
She bit her lower lip at his frigid tone, her expression rueful.
“I do not think that you do, Victor, and it’s no wonder. I am making a complete muddle of this.”
“Of your wish to return to Hawthorne?”
“Of my very awkward proposal.”
“Proposal?”
She licked her lips, the nervous gesture astonishingly charming.
“Victor, would you be my mate?”
A wary hope replaced the icy chill of rejection, although he was careful to hide it behind a scowl. He might be mated, but that did not mean he had lost all pride.
“Juliet?”
Her breath caught, a hint of distress marring her beautiful face. “What? Did I do something wrong? Are women not allowed to—”
He captured her lips in a kiss of urgent longing, allowing her to feel just how desperately he wanted to complete their bonding.
“You are certain?” he muttered between frenzied kisses. “The mating is irrevocable.”
Her hands moved in a restless path up and down his back, each caress sending sizzling sparks of heat through his body.
“This mating has been irrevocable from the beginning,” she muttered.
“Thank the gods.” Kissing a path along her jaw, he paused to revel in the poignant scent of peaches and willing woman. “I did not believe you would ever come to your senses.”
She chuckled. “There are many who would claim I have lost them completely.”