“Romance? We are definitely, absolutely not having a romance.” She looked panic-stricken.
This time he couldn’t resist. He leaned down and kissed her very gently. His lips lingered over hers, teased, feather-light for just a moment or two. Not long enough to get him slapped, just long enough for her eyes to go dreamy again. “What are we having?” There was amusement in his voice.
She looked confused, staring up at him with a kind of hunted look that made him gather her closer. “Just say the dumb words, Nicolae. Let’s see if it works.”
“Well then, if you insist, I can do no other.” He was very obliging. “But I must insist on a little romance.”
Destiny narrowed her gaze. “I’m not always going to be lying here helpless,” she warned.
“I should hope not. Once was enough to give me heart trouble.” His hands stroked her face, caressed the jagged tears in her throat. His voice was so tender, it sent liquid heat coursing through her body and little butterflies winging in the pit of her stomach.
His arms gathered her even closer, cradling her in his lap. She closed her eyes as his face came closer, as his breath warmed the cold of her skin. Destiny felt her body turn to liquid heat. That warm breath felt like something she’d never thought she would find, not even if she lived for centuries. His lips were velvet soft, feathering down her cheek to the corner of her mouth. She felt tears burning behind her eyes. He was stealing her heart, and he wasn’t stopping there. Her soul was craving him. Truly craving him. She hadn’t thought she would ever have anything worthwhile for herself.
Destiny. Her name shimmered in her mind. The way he said it was musical. He always made her feel beautiful even though she knew she wasn’t. But he made her believe, whenever he was with her, or when he was speaking to her, that she was beautiful and worthwhile. That she could dream and hope. That she could belong. That someone saw her as a woman and not a monster.
Her hands were shaking as she placed her palms against his chest to push him away. She couldn’t handle this. She couldn’t be with people after being alone for so long. She couldn’t do it. But her hands just lay there helplessly. Her fingers curled into the silk of his shirt.
For a moment his breath caught in his throat. She was giving herself into his keeping without a thought for herself. Nicolae felt humbled by her generosity. “I am not people, little one, I am Nicolae, and I belong with you. You have been sharing your life with me for many years now.” The kisses trailed to her ear. “I claim you as my lifemate.” His teeth teased her ear-lobe, sent a shiver through her body, heated her bloodstream. Left her breathless. Without words to protest. “I belong to you.”
Destiny’s stomach somersaulted. Nicolae did belong to her. She knew he belonged to her. He was her sanity. Her savior. His mouth slid along her neck, gently, tenderly, to linger over the vicious wounds in her throat. “I offer my life for you. I give you my protection, my allegiance, my heart, my soul and my body. I take into my keeping the same that is yours.”
She felt it, the difference inside her, the sudden wrenching deep within, turning, forming, completing something that had long been torn in two. Fear shook her, but she still didn’t push at his chest or loosen her hold on his shirt. She clung to him instead, digging her fingers into his shirt, holding him close to her.
“Your life, happiness and welfare will be cherished and placed above my own for all time. You are my lifemate, bound to me for all eternity and always in my care.”
His lips settled on hers, robbed her of air, gave her his own breath. Took her heart and gave her his. His mind settled into her mind. His teeth teased her bottom lip until she opened to him. Yearned for him. His tongue swept inside the sweet recesses of her mouth, teased hers into an erotic duel. He gave her no time to feel the ties strengthening between them, drawing them closer so that they became one soul. Two halves of the same whole. It would only panic her.