Page 6 of Heir of Blood and Moonlight

I lowered my arms as my rescuer stood beside my bed, his chest rising and falling from the exertion of the fight. His eyes glowed silver in the darkness.

“My queen,” he said, his voice rough from the exertion. He bowed his head, but those luminous silver eyes remained locked on me.

I held out one hand to him, unable to stop myself. “Come here,” I said, my voice unexpectedly sultry. “I need you.”

A low, knowing laugh rumbled in his chest, and he eased down to sit on the edge of the bed, placing his hand in mine.

I pulled him closer, and he crawled onto the mattress. I parted my knees so he could position himself between my legs.

“Come here,” I repeated, raising my arms and sliding my hands over his shoulders. I drew him nearer still and traced my nose along the column of his throat. The subdued scent of his rich blood called to me.

His hands bracketed my waist and glided higher under my T-shirt to tease the underside of my breasts. His touch was pure pleasure, and our union would make me powerful.

An inferno blossomed in my core as I grazed my teeth over the pulsing line of his jugular vein. He tugged my sleep pants down, and I lifted my butt off the mattress so he could pull my pants and underwear lower. A moment later, I felt him, hot and hard, pressing into my slick entrance.

I shifted my hips and bit down on his neck at the same time. He thrust forward, filling me as my teeth broke through his skin and blood like the darkest, richest chocolate coated my tongue. I drank from him greedily, taking what I needed. His blood. His body. His life force. His power.

He wasmine.

4

“Sophie.”

My eyes snapped open. I lay on my back in bed, my heart pounding but unable to move. There was a chill in the air, like I had left the window open, and goosebumps covered my skin.

I could still feel him, the vampire with the glowing silver eyes. My nerves buzzed with the ghost of his touch, my core throbbed with a needy ache, and my salivary glands tingled. I could taste him on my tongue, like chocolate and spices, sinfully rich and decadent.

“Sophie.”

I swallowed roughly. Someone was here with me. In my bed. Not the man—the vampire—because he wasn’t real. Because both he and the shifter assassin had been a dream.

But I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even turn my head to see who had said my name.

Deep down I knew. I recognized the voice. It belonged to my sister, Amaya. My sister, who I had watched die.

“Luna Sofia!”

That name. Nobody had called me by that name for decades. Not since Javier vanished.

I squeezed my eyelids shut, and tears leaked out from the corners of my eyes, trailing down my temples. I tried to ask the haunting specter of my sister what she wanted, but all that came out was a weak whine. I didn’t have enough control over my lips or tongue to form actual words.

“You’re in danger, Soph,” my dead sister said. “They’ve found you. You can’t stay here.” Her voice grew more urgent with each instruction. “Find Gavin, the vampire with the silver eyes. Only he can protect you now.”

I whimpered and wiggled my fingers, fighting the paralysis. I clenched my hands into fists and slowly, with great effort, turned my head atop the pillow.

My sister crouched beside me on the bed, luminous and ethereal. She was so young. Little more than a child. In my memory, she seemed so much older.

“Amaya?” I murmured.

She leaned in until her ghostly visage was mere inches from mine. “Find him, little sister. Find Gavin!”

A low growl rumbled from the foot of the bed, and my already racing heart stumbled, then beat even faster. For a moment, I thought it was the shifter. The assassin. But that had been a nightmare that turned into something far sweeter, while this was real.

With great effort, I raised my head enough to peer toward the end of the bed. A lithe feline form stalked painstakingly slowly up the mattress, following the length of my legs. Sombra, my stray-turned-house-cat. The panic tightening my chest eased slightly at seeing him.

Sombra crept higher, his low growl shaking the bed. He hissed at my sister.

“Find him!” Amaya urged. And then she stuck her tongue out at the cat.

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