Chapter 31

Warm hands smoothed over my body, touching me everywhere and making my back arch at the delicious feelings they invoked. I reached down to grab the back of Valen’s head as his tongue swiped over first one hard nipple and then the other. Before I could catch my breath, he was returning to the first one and sucking it deep into his mouth. Zings of electricity shot through my body as the sensations quickly overwhelmed me.

Valen began kissing down my stomach, briefly hovering over my ribs. I glanced down to see the bruise was entirely gone and realized that I didn’t feel any pain. “I’m okay,” I whispered as I ran my fingers through his hair.

“I never want to see you hurt again,” he replied gruffly.

He continued on his journey down my body. “What are you doing, Valen?” I moaned as he took a long swipe up my center with his tongue.

“Reminding you.”

I gasped as he plunged a finger inside me, then shivered at the sensation of him rubbing along my g-spot. I was already on the verge of an explosive orgasm. One good lick of my clit would probably send me over the edge. “Remind me of what?” I asked breathlessly once I was able to get my tongue to work again.

He climbed back up my body to hover over me. “Why I am the perfect mate for you.” At his words, he plunged inside of me, his thick cock filling me up to just shy of painful. After several thrusts where I was already calling his name, not knowing if I wanted him to slow down or go even faster, he pulled out completely.

“No!” I wailed in denial.

He grabbed my hips and flipped me over onto my belly before I could blink. “Don’t worry, Mate, I’m not stopping. Ever.” At his words, he drove back in and began to pound into me ruthlessly. I put my head down into the pillow to muffle my screams, just then remembering that we were in a hotel and the people next to us could likely hear everything.

“Your body was made for me,” he growled as he took a handful of my hair and pulled until my neck was bent back. “I’m going to spend the next thousand years proving it to you every single day.” Then he slid a hand under my belly and lifted my hips. The new angle had me seeing stars as the sensation of having my hair pulled made me even wetter. “Mine!”

I began chanting his name like a prayer as he took me hard and fast. I cracked my eyes open to see his wings were out and caging me in. His shadows were dancing around the two of us, licking at my skin and making goosebumps erupt over my body. There was no holding back my scream as he dropped his hold on my hair and leaned over to bite into the place where my neck met my shoulder.

He released my flesh with a growl and a lick. “I will spend the rest of my existence showing you what you mean to me.”

“Valen, please…” I couldn’t finish my words as my orgasm started barreling towards me. And then I was there. All thought flew from my brain as I became nothing but sensation. My world narrowed until the only thing that existed in it was Valen and the pleasure he had wrung out of me.

I was vaguely aware of Valen’s body stiffening over mine a second before his cock thickened and then began to pulse inside of me. The grunt he made as he released was guttural, making his chest vibrate against my back. I lay there panting while my body trembled with aftershocks.

“I fucking love you, Kallista.”

I gasped so hard at his words that I began to cough as I inhaled my own saliva. I heard Valen hiss as my movements forced him from my body. He gently flipped me over and swept my hair out of my face as I stared wide-eyed up at him. The look in his eyes had my mouth snapping shut. There was a softness to his features as he smiled down at me in what I could only describe as adoration.

“From the moment I became aware that you existed, I was so scared of what you would do to me.” He ran a finger over my cheekbone as he took in every feature of my face. “You were going to change everything, and I wasn’t ready to accept that my existence could be changed for the better. Then I met you, and you took my breath away with your beauty, even as you shook with fear. When I got to know you better, you showed me the beauty of your heart.” He smiled down at me as a tear escaped and soaked into the hair at my temple. “I haven’t witnessed much beauty in my very long existence.

“I should be surprised at how quickly I have come to crave your presence, but how could I not? When we cemented our bond, though, is when my heart knew yours. Losing you was enough to make me lose my mind. It made me accept what my heart had already known.” He thumbed my tears away and bent to kiss my trembling lips softly. “It only took me a day to fall in love with you.”

There was no way for me to speak. I was so overwhelmed as every word he said broke my chest wide open while healing me at the same time. I hadn’t realized that there was a part of me that I was holding back from my mate until he said the words that I needed to hear. Valen telling me that he thought I was beautiful inside and out was healing all the jagged edges of my broken spirit. Each crack I’d suffered through the years of neglect and pain were being filled with his love.

“Valen,” I choked out brokenly through my tears.

“Shh. I didn’t say it for you to say it back. I can see what you feel for me in your eyes. If you need more time, I can wait, but I’ll be waiting while still loving you. Thank you for being my mate. I know we didn’t have a choice. But if I did, I would still choose you. Every time.”

All I could do was blink up at him, wishing I had the words to say but trusting him to know. I would tell him when I could because I did love him. I knew it when we mated; I just didn’t let my heart accept it then. But now? There was no barrier left between my heart and mind any longer. He had thoroughly torn down that wall. I just closed my eyes and let myself be filled with the warm glow that was all him.

After several long minutes, I opened my eyes to see him looking more content than I had ever seen him before, as if he felt as whole as I did.

“Valen? I-” I bit my lip, wanting to ask my question but worried that it would hurt him if I did.

“Ask me whatever it is on your mind, baby,” he said softly.

“That man, that vampire that took me. He said some things. I was curious about them, but I don’t want you to think I am judging you.”

His expression grew wary but not guarded, as if he already knew what I wanted to ask. He didn’t say a word; just nodded at me.

“The illnesses throughout history… the plagues and stuff… he said that you were responsible for them.” It wasn’t a question, really, but he knew what I was asking. It wouldn’t change how I felt about him, regardless of his answer.

He sighed and rolled to his back and pulled me firmly into his side. I laid my head on his shoulder and drew circles on his chest with my fingertip, relishing the warm feel of his skin.

“I honestly don’t know if I was directly responsible for them,” he admitted. “It’s something that I have struggled with since the first time I came upon a village that was suffering. I don’t think I could have been, considering most of the time, they were already sick when I arrived. But it never left my mind that it was something I was capable of. It was the largest reason why, for most of my life, I chose to stay away from all humans. When I did spend any length of time around them, I did my best to control my ability from causing that kind of harm.”

“He said you would walk through the villages that were dying.”

The sound he made in his chest was one of anguish, and I placed my palm flat over his thudding heart in an effort to offer him comfort. “I did it as a reminder to myself, to remember why I needed to stay away. Seeing those innocent children suffer, all those families…” He cut himself off as if the memories were too hard for him to bear.

“I don’t think you were responsible for them,” I whispered, feeling it in my soul.

“We’ll never know,” he rasped out.

“Maybe not,” I allowed, “but even if you had, it wouldn’t have been your fault. But, Valen, the way you mourned over strangers, the way you still mourn their losses, you aren’t the monster you think you are. And you said that you are in full control now. You’ll never have to live with that kind of fear ever again.”

“Thanks to you.”

I shook my head, then pushed myself up on my elbow so I could peer down into his eyes. “No, Valen, not me. But I will agree that together, we are stronger.” I swallowed then, and forced myself to continue past the last bit of my fear of rejection. “I’m glad you’re my mate. And I need you to know that I love you, too. I guess my human half is telling me it’s too soon, but the other half of me knows that it’s fated and it’s real.”

Before I could say another word, Valen pushed up, rolling me onto my back again, and kissed me breathless. No more words needed to be said between us. We let our bodies and hearts do all the speaking that needed to be said. We moved together, our only sounds were the ones of passion.

When the knock on the door came, telling us it was time to head back to the airplane, we were dressed and holding onto each other, just relishing being in each other’s arms.