He had been a warrior his entire life. A hunter that took what was offered and damn the consequences (at least until the Oracles had nailed his ass to the wall). And what he wanted was Anna Randal.

Now.

Forcing away what little conscience he possessed, Cezar opened his mouth and with one smooth strike he buried his fangs deep into her neck.

Anna jerked and then moaned, her nails digging deep into his flesh. The tiny pain only increased his pleasure as the sweet, potent taste of her blood slid down his throat.

Drowning in the pleasure, Cezar continued to suck, his hands smoothing down the back of her legs to part them and then, with one powerful motion, lifted her off her feet. Quick to understand, Anna readily wrapped her legs around his waist.

Cezar pulled back to meet her eyes as he slowly, steadily slid her onto his erection.

A shout was wrenched from both their throats when he was at last buried as far as he could go, her moist flesh pulsing around him in the most intimate caress imaginable.

For a moment Cezar held perfectly still, simply absorbing the sensation of being one with this woman. He was man enough to have missed sex over the years. To have rued the impotency that the Oracles had inflicted.

But right now he knew that any sex he might have indulged in with other women, even the most skilled lover, would have been nothing more than a shallow imitation of this. A worthless release that would have left him empty.

This was what he had longed for. The only thing that could truly touch his cold heart.

Anna wrapped her arms around his shoulders and Cezar’s illusion of control shattered. The smell, the heat, the taste, the very essence of her was flooding through his body and he wasn’t going to be able to make this last near long enough.

Pressing her against the wall, he plunged his fangs back into her neck as he drank deep of her blood, his hips pumping in a steady rhythm.

“Cezar,” she cried softly, her head lowering and her teeth sinking into his shoulder.

The feel of her bite, even if her teeth didn’t pierce his skin, was enough to send a jolt of shock through Cezar’s body. Dios. Nothing had felt so good before.

Withdrawing his fangs before he drank too deeply, he tilted his head back and roared as he felt her climax clench around his arousal, clenching and stroking him over the edge.

Sweet ecstasy spread through his body, prolonging the violent orgasm. He muttered soft words beneath his breath as he slowed his thrusts. Words of soft pleasure, and pledges to protect her for all eternity.

When he was at last capable of clearing his thoughts he gently carried his beautiful lover into the bathroom and set her in the hot tub. His fingers trailed over her face, covered in a light sheen of perspiration.

He waited for her to speak, or at least lift her lashes to meet his gaze. When she kept them stubbornly lowered, he gave a low chuckle and climbed into the tub with her.

“Anna, you will have to look at me eventually,” he murmured, his arms wrapping about her to pull her close. “At least tell me that you’re okay.”

Her lashes lifted, but her gaze drifted over the bathroom rather than meeting his eyes. Not that he could entirely blame her. With Viper’s usual over-the-top style, the room was an explosion of ivory and gilt, with flying cupids painted across the ceiling.

At last her gaze halted on the marble statues that were set in alcoves and carved to represent entwined couples in various stages of intimacy.

They were exquisite works of art that were realistic enough to bring a slight blush to her cheeks.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” she at last muttered.

He ran his fingers through her tangled hair, sensing her muscles ease as the hot water bubbled around them.

“You might feel weak for a few hours. I did, after all, take your blood. When I call for your food I will ask that they send you orange juice as well.”

“I don’t feel weak.”

“Good.” Dipping his head, he brushed his lips over her temple. The taste of figs and warm delicious woman instantly stirred his senses, hardening him with a speed that was shocking even for him. Of course, he had just filled himself with one of the most powerful essences that a vampire could hope to taste. He would be buzzing for hours. “Although, it’s not really surprising. You have the blood of ancients coursing through your body.”

Her hazel gaze turned toward him, a hint of puzzlement in the golden green depths.

“What does that mean?”

He trailed the back of his fingers down her cheek. “Your blood is more potent than the average human. You’re capable of losing far more without being affected, and perhaps more importantly, I need only take a small amount to satisfy my needs.”

“So you’re…satisfied?”

Cezar choked as he tried to swallow his burst of laughter. Couldn’t she feel his sated pleasure? It filled the entire room.

Then he realized that she was thinking of her ridiculous assumption that he would join the other vampires in the building to relieve his hunger with the waiting fairies.

Hell, he would rather wait another two hundred years than soil himself with anyone but Anna Randal.

“Utterly, blissfully, completely satisfied,” he murmured, his fingers touching the tiny puncture marks on her neck. The sight of them made something deep inside him growl with possessive approval. This was how she was supposed to look. Tousled, well-loved, and carrying his mark for all to see. “Although I’m a vampire, so I’m always ready for another round of satisfaction whenever you want.” The hazel eyes briefly darkened with an answering heat before she abruptly ducked her head to allow her heavy honey hair to form a curtain between them. A sudden chill marred his sense of absolute peace. “Anna?”

“What?”

“Do you regret what happened between us?”

There was the sort of silence that could never be good. “I suppose not.”

“Hardly a ringing endorsement,” he said harshly, trying to squelch his flare of anger. Dios, what they had just shared had been earth-shattering. It was the sort of thing that could tremble through universes and alter destiny. And she supposed she didn’t regret it? “In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever been so damned by such faint praise.”

She attempted to scoot away from him. “What do you want?”

His arms tightened, keeping her firmly anchored to his side. “A bit of honesty would be nice.”

“Fine.” Her head lifted and she stabbed him with a glittering gaze. “The truth is that a part of me thinks that I should regret what happened, but the rest is utterly, blissfully, completely satisfied. Happy now?”

A slow, wicked smile curved his lips. “I’m getting there.”

She blew out a disgruntled sigh. “You don’t have to look so smug.”

Cezar allowed his fingers to drift beneath the bubbling water, his mind already filled with images of Anna straddling him as she rode him into bliss.

“I would look a lot more smug if you would…”

Before Cezar could finish his delicious suggestion, his head was slammed into the edge of the hot tub. His eyes squeezed shut as darkness surrounded him and then the sound of a familiar, rasping voice echoed through his mind.

Chapter 10

Anna felt as if she were floating.

Okay, she actually was floating in the deep, deliciously warm water. But it was more than that. It was as if her entire body had become a boneless mass of sated pleasure.

It was a sensation she hadn’t felt for two centuries and while she hadn’t lied to Cezar when she said that she should regret what had just happened between them, she just couldn’t stir up the least hint of remorse.

God…it had been fantastic.

The feel of him moving deep inside her at the same time he was taking her blood was an experience that went way beyond mere sex.

They had been connected so deeply that it had been as if they had been as one. Two halves that were only complete when they were together.

A terrifying thought.

But not as terrifying as the sight of the powerful vampire suddenly bowing backwards, his head smacking against the edge of the hot tub and his eyes squeezing shut as if he were in acute pain.

“Cezar?” She gripped his beautiful face in her hands, her heart halting in fear. Was he under some kind of attack? Some vampire thing that she couldn’t see or sense? Or could he be sick? “Dear God…Cezar.” She crawled onto his lap, her powers swirling through the room. Not that she noticed the heavy statues that tumbled and shattered beneath the force, or the pictures that crashed to the floor. Her attention was focused on Cezar as his face contorted with a flare of agony. “What’s wrong?”

After what seemed to be an eternity, Cezar slowly relaxed, his eyes fluttering open to regard her with a blank gaze.

“Anna?”

“Yes. Are you hurt? Do you need Viper?”

He lifted a hand to touch the back of his head, the dark eyes clearing as he surfaced from the strange power that had held him in thrall.

“Nothing more than a cracked skull and a raging frustration,” he muttered, his dark gaze skimming down her naked body still straddling his waist. “Typical of the Oracles.”