Page 64 of Queen of Vampire Hearts

Fuck, I’d totally forgotten about the bounty. Phoebe distracted me so much I couldn’t think straight. When I thought back on the night in Tír nAill, I didn’t think about meeting with Erik. I thought about her scream of pleasure and the taste of her lips.

“And?” I asked, waving the wolf on imperially.

“It’s Phoebe,” Erik whispered, his voice breaking.

“What is?” The hair on my arms stood on end, a shiver shooting down my spine. My mind was recoiling. I couldn’t be one of the bounty hunters she so dreaded. I couldn’t be the source of her nightmares, the reason she ran.

“The bounty. It’s her,” Erik answered, paling even more.

I jumped up, grabbing him by the shoulders, shaking him. Desperation was an icy dagger in my gut, twisting. “Please tell me you didn’t take the bounty.”

Magical bounties were utterly binding. There were no exceptions, not even mates. If the Witches Council requested I hand over Phoebe, I wasn’t sure what the mystical contract would make me do. I had to tell her. I had to explain. Would she listen? Or would she run?I just felt the bridge of trust growing between us, a major milestone when she confessed her past to me. But this would destroy us.

“I’m so fucking sorry, I-I didn’t know,” Erik muttered. I knew the wolf was fond of Phoebe. She had awaywith people. Erik had searched for his queen for over a thousand years. I knew he understood the gravity, but it didn’t do anything to change the truth.

I paced back and forth, my mind turning over repeatedly. The ragged edge of madness taunted me. What if Phoebe ran? She hadn’t asked me to claim her. What if this was what pushed her away forever? My stomach rolled at the thought.

“I have to talk to her, have to explain,” I muttered, having trouble controlling my chaotic thoughts. My mind was a maze of half-formed expressions and impressions. I couldn’t get a grip on any of them. Everything slipped through my fingers like a silk cascade, my mother, Cassandra, Phoebe.

“I’m going to search for something to get us out of this. I swear to you,” Erik vowed, but his voice was barely audible over the rushing in my ears.

I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t respond. I released Erik, staggering to find Phoebe to fumble my way through an explanation. Am I just another vampire betraying her, another person turning their back on her?

I knocked on our bedroom door before pushing it open. “Phoebe?”

The breath left my lungs on a hiss, all the blood rushing from my brain to my cock. She was my every fantasy made flesh. She was bent over at the waist, tying on sky-high heels. The midnight corset she was wearing barely contained her breasts, the luscious orbs threatening to spill out. I struggled to remember why I had rushed up here.

Phoebe straightened, glancing over at me. Her eyes were hooded and almost glowing with desire. She raised a single brow at the erection outlined in my jeans. She wasn’t wearing panties, just garters hooked into the corset, leaving little straps down her thighs and ass. I wanted to snap those little elastic bands so she would feel me for days.Any logical thought went out the window. Anything I could have said, needed to say, devolved intomine.

I bolted forward, grasping her hips and groaning at the sight of her curves tied up in such a delicious package. My brain was blank, driven by desire and instinct for her. Everything since I’d first turned to see her in Tír nAill, had led to this point.

I was so mentally fogged with desire that she had to repeat herself twice before I understood.

“I want you to claim me.”

They were words from a dream. I shook my head, trying to clear the fog in my mind. Was I hallucinating, or had she said she wanted me to claim her?

“Are you sure?” I croaked. The idea of sliding into her, making her mine in truth, was a dream I barely dared believe could be true. My life before her had been lonely, empty, shallow, and cold. Spending a day spooning her, watching a show about avampire slayer,brought me more satisfaction than any erotic encounter in my past.

She bit her lip in that maddening way, making my cock pulse with need. “I’m sure. I—I trust you.”

Those were powerful words for her. She’d been betrayed by her first love and her own people, and trust was a massive step for her. I couldn’t wait any longer, but didn’t I need to tell her something?

I snapped the garter that lay over her ass. Phoebe jumped, and her eyes went heavy with desire. “I like you in this. My wicked queen,” I growled, snapping the other garter, the sound of it hitting her flesh loud in the room.

I grabbed her hair, clutching it in my fist before claiming her mouth. Our teeth clashed with a frantic need for each other, our tongues dueling. My hands traced her bodice before I grabbed her hips, forcing her to jump and lock her legs around my waist. Her heels dug into my back as if she were spurring me on, but I needed no prodding. Our kiss became more desperate, ragged, punctuated by pants. We landed on the bed with me over her, almost crushing her.

“Must get you ready...” I muttered, barely able to marshal a coherent thought.

Thank the gods she had the foresight to forego panties, leaving nothing between us. My hand trailed down her front, snapping both garters again. I dipped my fingers between her thighs, unable to hold back a low moan. “You get so wet for me. You love to come.”

I teased her clit, rubbing it languorously and unhurried, though everything in me was clamoring to be inside her. The mad side of me wanted to fuck her into the next century. The need howled at me to take her. It demanded that she could quiet the madness, but I would not hurt her.I was bigger than most, and I would take everything she had to give. I needed her dripping for me.

I slipped a single finger inside her and felt her clamp down hard. “Your greedy little pussy wants me to fill it?” Slowly, I picked up the pace, my finger ducking in and out. She squirmed, trying to get more of me. I was finally going to be inside her.

“I need you, baby. Please. No more waiting,” she whimpered.

She wiggled on my finger, and I added another, widening them, preparing her. I was finally going to be inside my mate.Some part of my mind was waiting for the other shoe to drop, for something to rip her from my grasp. She was so slick, but tight. She needed to be out of her mind with desire for me to fuck her without causing her pain.

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