Page 186 of The Vampire's Bride

“Thank you for saving my family,” the innkeeper looks at the three of us. “Can I interest you in a couple of free rooms? It’s the least I can do after everything you’ve done.”

I glance at the other patrons, wondering if it is wise to remain here. But when the other patrons thank us as well, I realize these people don’t care about what I am. They’re just grateful that they were saved.

“We get a few of your kind that pass through from time to time,” the innkeeper adds. “I have a couple of rooms downstairs you can have, if you decide to stay.”

I glance at Juliet and Eben. They both nod.

“All right. We’ll take two rooms.”

Eben walks over to the carriage driver and kicks him to see if he’s awake. The man emits a low groan but his eyes remain closed. “Want me to take care of this one?” he asks.

I nod.

The Wolf-Shifter throws the man over his shoulder with ease and marches down the stairs. I don’t need to ask what he plans to do with him. Eben and I are of the same mind when it comes to foul men like this. They deserve nothing less than death.

While he’s gone, the innkeeper’s wife shows Juliet to our new accommodations and starts a fire in the hearth to warm our room while I move her trunks downstairs. I place a protective ward on the door and extend this magic to Eben’s chambers beside us as well.

When I go out to the carriage to retrieve my and Eben’s belongings, thunder cracks overhead and rain begins pouring from the sky. By the time I return to our room, I’m completely soaked through. Rainwater drips from my hair, tracing cold rivulets down my body.

I seal the door shut, and my breath catches as I turn and find Juliet directly behind me.

The soft glow of the firelight illuminates her lovely form. She’s dressed in only her nightshift, the silken fabric clinging to her every curve. It falls to her mid-thigh, leaving her long legs bare. Two slender straps rest on her shoulders. As she steps closer one of them slips, revealing an expanse of bare skin that makes my heart begin to beat even faster.

I want so much to hold her, but all my clothes are soaked from the rain. Quickly, I kick off my boots and remove my drenched cape. It drops to the floor with a wet thud. I fumble with the ties of my tunic, the wet fabric clinging stubbornly to my skin.

Juliet reaches up, her fingers brushing against mine as she helps. Need hums in my veins, each touch threatening to drive me mad. I have to grit my teeth as I resist the urge to pull her into my arms.

My nostrils flare as I draw her intoxicating scent deep into my lungs. My desire for her nearly overwhelming, consuming all rational thought.

When she finally pushes the tunic back from my shoulders and her delicate fingers graze my skin, I can’t hold back any longer. A low growl rumbles in my chest. “I can scent your need, my beautiful wife.”

Her lovely green eyes snap up to mine and it is my undoing. I lift her into my arms and crush my lips to hers as I spin us around, pressing her back against the door.

The darkness inside me delights in her delicious surrender as she wraps her legs around my waist and my mouth plunders hers.

I trail my lips down her neck, tasting the rain and the sweet salt of her skin. Her fingers tangle in my hair, tugging me back to her mouth, our kisses growing hungrier, more desperate. The storm still rages outside, but all I can focus on is Juliet in my arms, driving me to the edge of madness as her body molds to mine.

I press her harder against the door, gripping her thighs as I roll my hips against hers. Overwhelming need consumes me, and I’m lost, drowning in desire. I want to devour her, to claim every inch of her, to mark and reclaim her again so that everyone will know she is mine, just as I am and have always been hers.

CHAPTER 79

JULIET

As Valaric’s powerful body pins me against the door, his lips devouring mine with ravenous need, the broken threads of my past weave back together. He is mine and I am his.

“I thought I would go mad without you,” he whispers as he trails a line of suctioning kisses down my neck. “Your scent is intoxicating,” he growls low in his throat. “I long to taste you.”

My heart hammers as he walks us to the bed. He sets me on the edge of the mattress and drops to his knees. His hands skim up my thighs, and he follows them with his lips and his tongue as he pushes the hem of my dress up to my hips and parts my legs.

I gasp when he slices away my lace underwear. He wraps his strong hands around my thighs and fits himself between them.

“Mine,” he growls and then his mouth is on me, hot and insistent.

I cry out his name, arching against him as he swirls his tongue over the small bundle of nerves at the cleft. When hebegins a gentle suction I thread my fingers through his hair, begging him to never stop.

I dig my heels into his back as he continues to lave at the sensitive pearl of flesh. My entire body goes taut a moment before my release crashes through me.

I’m still coming down from my climax as he slips two fingers into my channel. I’m suspended on the brink of desire as his fangs pierce my inner thigh—a slight pinch of pain followed quickly by intense pleasure. Heat blooms deep within.

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