He struggled to hide the tidal wave of smug contentment at the knowledge that nothing could alter the fact he was forever bound as her mate. He was supposed to be sympathetic, not smirking with satisfaction.
“Utterly and completely permanent,” he said, unable to halt the instinct to shift his hand and stroke his fingers down her cheek.
“But you just said that it changed nothing.”
“What I meant was that you are not bound to me.” His thumb brushed the corner of her mouth. “The ceremony has not been completed. Until you accept me as your mate and allow me to take your blood you’re still…”
“Unattached?”
Cezar smiled, grimly refusing to reveal the jagged flare of pain that raced through him. The dark ache beneath his contentment was something that he’d have to become accustomed to.
“Si.”
She lowered her thick lashes, almost as if she were trying to hide her inner emotions.
“We both know that’s not true,” she said, her voice so low that he wouldn’t have heard the words if he hadn’t been a vampire.
“What?”
“I’ve been very much attached for the past two centuries.”
A bolt of lightning shot through Cezar as he tugged her chin upward and studied her rueful expression.
“Anna?”
Her eyes narrowed, a dangerous glitter stirring to life in the hazel eyes.
“Don’t try to act surprised,” she accused him. “You’ve known since I followed you to Chicago that I never managed to forget you.”
Amazement at her blunt confession swiftly altered to something far more wicked. When he’d first brought Anna to this secluded room, he had felt nothing but concern as he had stripped off her clothing and tucked her beneath the covers. Then there had been the unpleasant task of revealing that he had mated her while she lay unconscious.
Now, however, his body refused to be denied any longer.
He didn’t know why she wasn’t ready to kill him for mating her against her will. Or why she was actually admitting that she didn’t hate him. All he knew was that they were alone in the bedroom and for the moment they were safe.
And most wonderful of all, she was already half naked.
What more could a hungry vampire desire?
Cupping her cheek, he allowed his free hand to drift lightly down her arm.
“I did suspect that there was more than a desire for answers that prompted your swift arrival,” he husked. “You, however, accused me of being arrogant.”
“You are.”
He laughed softly, bending his head to run his lips down the curve of her neck. “True enough.”
Her hands reached out to grasp his arms, as if her knees were suddenly weak. “But unfortunately, you were quite right,” she whispered, her neck arching in silent invitation.
Cezar shuddered, his body aching with the need to sink his teeth deep in her flesh and taste of her blood.
Dios, he hungered for her.
Attempting to avoid temptation, Cezar turned his attention to stroking his lips over every inch of her face.
“Why unfortunately?” he demanded, lingering a moment on the sensitive hollow beneath her ear.
She gave a tiny gasp, her nails digging through his shirt. “Because I was supposed to be able to get my answers and return to L.A. with you at last buried in the past where you belonged.”
“Never the past,” he rasped, scooping her into his arms and heading for the bed. “Our futures are forever entwined.”
Laying her down on the mattress, Cezar stilled as her hand lifted to gently touch his cheek.
“Forever? You promise?”
His heart squeezed at the vulnerability in her eyes. Like him she had been isolated and alone for too long. She no longer trusted that fate would not snatch away any chance for happiness.
“I will do everything in my power to keep you close to me, querida,” he rasped, joining her on the bed and pulling her into his arms. He wanted to swear that he would never let her go. That the mating would ensure they would never be parted again. But so long as the Oracles considered her one of their own, he couldn’t make such promises. “You are, and always will be, my mate.”
His words seemed to comfort her and the hazel eyes flashed with something that might have been pleasure as she reached up to wrap her arms around his neck.
“Does that mean you have to do everything I say?”
He gave the lobe of her ear a punishing nip. “I specifically said mate, not slave.”
She deliberately allowed her fingers to trail down his back. “A pity. I think you might enjoy obeying me on occasion.”
Cezar lifted his head to meet the sensuous gaze. His entire body hardened in reaction, the coldness that had held him captive since becoming a vampire melting beneath the heat of her searing hazel eyes.
“On occasion, eh?” he demanded, his voice already thick with need. “What sort of occasion?”
Her smile was slow and exquisitely wicked. “Like this occasion.”
His already hard erection gave a painful throb. Dios. He might be a five-century-old vampire, but this woman had the power to make him feel as if every touch, every searing sensation, was something that he had never, ever experienced before.
And perhaps it was.
Anna was his destined mate.
The one woman who was so intimately entwined with him that her slightest emotion, the very beat of her heart, was echoed in him.
Certainly he could feel her desire like a wave of longing that crashed through him with shocking force.
He groaned as he lowered his head to bury his face in her hair, filling himself with her delectable scent.
“I’m yours to command, querida,” he murmured.
Just for a moment she hesitated, and he smiled as he realized she was battling a flare of nerves. So far he had always taken control of their lovemaking. Now, she struggled to gather the courage to take matters in her own hands.
To take him into her hands.
He swallowed a low groan at the mere thought.
“Very well,” she at last managed to husk. “Roll on your back.”
Cezar readily followed her command, rolling until he was flat on his back. Anna paused another moment, then with a bold motion she sat up and before he could guess her intent, she was straddling his hips and gazing down at him with a tiny smile.
Cezar hissed, grasping the covers to prevent himself from jerking her downward and bringing a swift, explosive conclusion to the game.
If she was in the mood to play, then by God, they would play. And play. And play. And play.
Even if it killed him.