“I’m serious. Although the major concern is that it not become public knowledge, and you are a journalist. That brings you extra scrutiny.”

“Whew! Okay. My lips are sealed. What happens if I bite you again? Do I become a vampire?”

“No, it’s little more complicated than that, and I like you the way you are. But . . .” He grew far too serious all over again. “If you continue to drink my blood, it will bind us together.”

She met his solemn gaze. “Like forever?”

“For as long as we choose to continue,” he amended. “But it will link your life to mine in a very direct way. The longer we’re together, the stronger the link, but even with what we’ve taken from each other already, I could find you almost anywhere. I knew you were at Pinto’s last night, because we got a tip. But once there, I could sense that you were alive and in that house. Now that my blood is inside you, I would no longer need help finding the house. I could track you from anywhere in the city.”

“So, we’re like, going steady?”

He laughed, and she reached up again to touch his cheek. “You should do that more often,” she said.

“Do what?”

“Laugh. It’s a good look on you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, but, Sidonie, this is serious. The more you drink my blood, the tighter it binds you to me. In the way of Vampire, we will be mated.”

She shrugged. “Okay. I’d rather have a diamond ring, but super healing is good, too.”

ADEN STUDIED Sidonie as she gave him a sweet smile, as if he hadn’t just told her she was chaining herself to him in the most visceral way imaginable. Their bodies would be linked. This wasn’t some romantic human ceremony with promises of love and devotion, this was blood calling to blood. If she stayed with him long enough, their very lives would be bound together. She would remain young as long as she drank his blood, but, by the same token, if he died . . .

Sid pushed against his weight, and he let her roll them over until she was lying on top of him. Propping her hands on his chest, she stretched up and began kissing his face all over, light touches of her lips on his mouth, his cheeks and forehead, his lowered eyelids one at a time.

“I love you, Aden,” she whispered, and his heart clenched as his arms closed around her. But she wasn’t finished. She slid from his embrace, dropping kisses along his jaw and neck, letting him feel the heat between her thighs as she slid downward. She kissed the pads of muscle over his chest, closing her mouth over one flat, male nipple and sucking it to hardness, then locking her teeth over it and biting gently.

His cock flexed hungrily at the feel of her mouth on him, but his gut tightened and he fought the urge to take control, to obey the hard-earned instinct screaming at him to throw her over and fuck her until she begged for release. He liked, he needed, to dominate his lovers.

“Aden.” Sidonie’s whisper cut into his thoughts, and he looked up to find her eyes wide with emotion and filled with tears. “I know what they did to you, baby, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Let me love you. Let me do this for you.”

Aden stared at her. He knew he was twisted, that his years as a slave had warped his sexual desires by forcing him to play the submissive when dominance had been bred into his DNA. Not even his vampire Mistress had ever forced him to submit like that. He hadn’t surrendered control over his body to anyone since the day he’d left Zaahira’s whorehouse in Morocco, and he wasn’t going to start now.

Except. This was Sidonie. She was his. And somehow he had also become hers.

Aden forced himself to relax, consciously releasing one muscle at a time. Tangling his fingers in the silky strands of Sidonie’s hair, he watched as she bent to her task once more, licking the skin over his abdomen and belly, her succulent mouth leaving soft, sucking kisses in a trail to his groin and lower. And there she paused, slender fingers wrapping around his straining cock, holding it like a thick stick of delicious candy as she stroked her tongue up one side and down the other, rolling her gaze up to be sure he was watching when she took only the tip of him into her mouth, working it like she would a kiss, her tongue twisting and dipping into the slit at its head.

Aden’s snarled demand for more became a groan of pleasure when she finally took him fully into her mouth, his erection stiffening even further as her lips closed around him, as her head dipped lower with every slow suck, until finally the tip of his cock hit the back of her throat. She hummed with pleasure, and the sound vibrated along the taut skin of his shaft like a tuning fork. It was everything he could do not to grab her head and fuck her delicious mouth, not to slam deep into her throat until he came hard and she was forced to swallow every drop. But more even than that, he wanted the hot, wet glove of her pussy. He wanted her legs around his waist, he wanted her bucking beneath him where she belonged.

“I want your pussy,” he growled and fisted his hand in her hair, forcing her to look at him.

She gave his cock a final, firm suck, then lifted her head slowly, her tongue gliding all the way up his shaft until she released him, her warm breath blowing across the wet head of his dick while her eyes met his. She licked her lips, savoring the taste of him with a wicked grin.

Aden reached for her, intending to roll her over and slam between her thighs until she screamed his name. But instead of submitting like a good girl, she braced her hands on his abs and slid up his body to straddle him once more, her pussy so hot it was like a fire against his groin. She raised herself enough to wrap her fingers around his cock, to position it between the swollen lips of her sex, and then she lowered herself slowly, surrounding his cock in the heat of her body, fucking him, mounting him.

Aden stiffened again, every muscle turned to steel, his fingers digging into her hips. But then Sidonie closed her eyes and began to rock her hips above him, swaying gently, his cock sliding in and out of her silky, wet pussy with every movement.

His fingers loosened their grip, one hand traveling up her smooth back and pulling her down until their mouths met in a slow, passionate kiss. He released her mouth gently, his teeth closing over her lower lip in a lingering bite as she struggled to catch her breath.

“Love you, habibi,” he murmured. Her blue eyes opened in surprise and filled with crystal tears.

“I love you, too,” she whispered. Then she sat up and began riding him harder, her hips flexing and rolling, full breasts swaying tantalizingly close before her hands came up to cup them and squeeze. Aden growled a protest at that, substituting his own fingers for hers, caressing the soft globes, pinching her nipples between thumb and forefinger, feeling a fierce satisfaction when her pussy clenched around his cock in response, when she cried out and her thighs clamped around his hips.

She raised her arms to cradle her head as she sought comfort for her growing hunger, as her moans grew in volume, becoming whimpers of need until Aden finally reached between her thighs and pressed his fingers against the swollen nub of her clit.

Her eyes flashed open, unseeing as she gave a wordless cry. Her movements became frantic, her fingers coming down to cover his as if to prevent him from lifting his hand, the swell of her breasts so enticingly erotic that Aden flexed his abs and sat up enough to take one tender globe into his mouth. Sucking until her nipple plumped like a ripe cherry, he bit down and drank in the honeyed taste of her blood, while her pussy spasmed around him, grabbing his cock like a hard fist.

Sidonie screamed as she came, leaning forward to dig her nails into his chest, her twisting hips grinding her sex against him until he could feel every convulsion of her pussy as her climax rippled along his cock. He rode out her orgasm, gritting his teeth, holding her as she shuddered in the aftermath, as she collapsed on top of him, her breasts crushed against his chest, her nipples rigid points that scraped his skin with every breath. And then he stroked a hand down her back and his fingers dipped into her tight, little asshole. He began thrusting up against her, fucking her with his cock as his fingers filled her ass, hearing her exhausted moans turn into blissful shouts as he slammed into her still-trembling pussy. Aden groaned as her sheath tightened around him yet again, as his own orgasm seized his body, his release roaring down his cock in a rush of heat, filling Sidonie as she writhed beneath him, her screams of climax meeting his roar of satisfaction as they fell together into ecstasy.

Aden wrapped his arms around Sidonie’s trembling body as he fell back onto the bed. His heart was slamming against his ribs, or maybe the pounding heart was hers. She was plastered against him so tightly, their sweaty bodies so close that even he couldn’t tell where one began and the other ended. Her breath was hot on his skin, her fingers stroking his chest lightly where they were trapped between them.

She sighed as he rolled her slightly to the side, permitting her to stretch her legs out from where they’d been wrapped around his hips. Aden glided a calming hand over her neck and shoulder, then pulled the sheet up to cover her before she could get chilled.

Sidonie made a soft noise and burrowed closer. And Aden felt . . . content. It was such a foreign emotion that he stopped to examine it. Sidonie had done this. Aden had believed himself free of the bonds of slavery long ago, but he’d been wrong. One last chain had remained, dug in so deeply that he hadn’t known it was there, warping him, keeping him a slave to their twisted desires.

He hugged her close, touching his lips to her tousled hair. Sidonie’s mouth curved into a smile that he felt against the bare skin of his chest, her body limp as she drifted half asleep.

He was wishing she could stay that way when his cell phone rang, vibrating across the side table like some over-caffeinated alien.

He reached out a long arm and snagged it. “Bastien? Give us an hour.”

Sidonie stirred enough to mumble, “What’s in an hour?”

“Sorry, habibi. That’s how long we have to shower and join the others. Come on.” He put his arms around her and climbed out of bed, setting her in front of him and making sure she was steady on her feet, before propelling her toward the bathroom with a possessive hand on her ass.