13. Zachariah

CHAPTER 13

Zachariah

T alia's family home looks almost identical to how it looked centuries ago when I first met her.

Bathed in silvery moonlight, the air tinged with a chill that only comes with November in Edgemont, it looks every bit the supposedly haunted estate the Historical Society is presenting it to be.

I walk on Talia's right, the two of us staying at the back of the small crowd of twenty or so humans who are being led by a guide up the long gravel driveway.

The formal Italian gardens have half gone to sleep thanks to autumn's chill, but there are still a few rose bushes and winter flowers blooming in the dark. My chest tightens, a prick of nostalgia twisting there as I remember a wrought iron bench and long conversations with Talia dressed in elegant gowns as we'd end our evenings there and talk until dawn threatened to break the sky.

"As you can see, this beautifully and elegantly built home belonged to the famous benefactors, one of the founding families of Edgemont, the Ashcrofts," the guide says as he leads us up the drive and beneath the sandstone pillared archway to the main entrance of the home.

I lean down slightly to whisper in Talia's ear as the guide continues explaining history that I've known for far longer than he has. "This was the site of our first kiss," I say, motioning to the pillar on the left. I reach down, pulling her wrist to my lips and planting a kiss there, relishing Talia's soft smile as we follow the group inside.

"I remember how terrified I was of you the first time I met you," she whispers back as the guide pauses the group in the grand entryway, the ancient and slightly sweet smell of a home well preserved over the centuries swarming us.

I furrow my brow. "Did I do something to make you fear me?"

Talia shakes her head. "I was more afraid of the stories my father told me about you. The legend surrounding your hunter status." She chuckles softly. "And you were just a young thing back then, with barely even half the arsenal you have now. That was intimidating enough, let alone the fact that my father had chosen you for me, and fate agreed. It was a lot to take in."

The guide presses on, leading us to the right where the formal sitting room waits.

"I won your heart on my own," I say. "And you stole mine the second you opened your mouth. Fate and your father had nothing to do with those two things."

Talia smiles up at me, those lilac eyes vulnerable as they meet mine. "Well," she says, pairing it with a little shrug. "I'm not afraid of you anymore."

Her smile turns sharp and devious, spiking heat straight through my veins. It was no secret I couldn't get enough of this female, but we were on a mission, so I did my best to keep my hands to myself.

"The Ashcrofts hired European artisans to build the estate we're standing in now," the guide continues as the group looks over the portion of the sitting room we're allowed to stand in— the rest of it sectioned off by velvet ropes—furniture and trinkets from centuries ago on display on the other side. "All of these are original furnishings," the guide says, motioning to the fabric-covered couches, floral prints, and embroidered gold. "And it's said, at least by a few of our night keepers, that Lady Ashcroft herself can be found sitting in this very chair, an ethereal figure who longs to remain in her home."

Talia snorts, barely covering up her laugh.

The guide spots her in the crowd, tilting his head as he continues with the tour, leading us out of the sitting room and through the kitchen, then on to the formal dining room, and the morning room next to it.

"And this is the morning room," he says. "This is likely where Lady Ashcroft and Sir Ashcroft took their morning breakfast, along with their daughter when she was born."

"Actually," Talia speaks up, and I do my best not to cringe. "The morning room was used as school room, not a breakfast spot."

The guide seems taken aback, then smiles almost pitifully at Talia. "I'm not sure where you heard that information," he says. "But girls weren't educated in the fifteen hundreds. Unfortunately."

"Tell that to my mother," Talia mumbles under her breath, but the guide continues on, leading us through other various rooms in the estate.

"This is another spot where our night keepers claim they've seen an apparition, this one a masculine figure that could be Sir Ashcroft himself." He points to a long hallway that leads to several bedrooms, those sections roped off and closed to the public.

Talia laughs, and I see her fingers flick just slightly?—

A stack of books topples over behind the group whose focus is on the opposite hallway. The humans jump, gasping as they look to the guide and back to the pile of books now on the floor, which had been resting upon a Victorian desk tucked against the wall in a roped-off section of an open study.

The guide goes a few shades paler but clears his throat and smiles. "That was once Sir Ashcroft's study," he says, pointing to the open door, the humans now crowding around it, desperate for a look inside. "We have it sectioned off because there's a lot of paranormal activity reported there."

"Clearly," Talia says, doing everything but roll her eyes.

"You have to stop," I say, trying to sound stern but unable to hide the amusement in my tone.

The tour continues, and Talia does no such thing, using her powers to sway an ancient chandelier or flicker a lamp anytime we enter a new room. The poor group of humans is abuzz with excitement and anxiety as the tour guide brings us back to the main entryway, explaining that we're allowed thirty minutes of solo exploring time, adding further rules about what is off limits.

The group of humans break off to explore the grand estate, and the second all eyes are preoccupied, Talia grabs my hand and leads me down a long hallway, climbing over the velvet rope and grinning at me mischievously as she heads toward what I know used to be her room.

Not that I'd ever been allowed in it back then, but I may have slipped her notes through her window a time or two.

"Now this is the site of my first fantasy of you," Talia says as she tugs me into her room, closing the door and locking it behind her.

The room is befitting of any noble vampire daughter, complete with a marble desk, lush golden carpets, an elaborate four-poster bed that had been custom made, the bedding of the time period still situated perfectly atop it.

Lush velvet curtains hug the grand windows across the room that overlook the gardens, and I can't help but smile at the spot where I used to meet her and pass her my letters before dawn would separate us.

Life had seemed so much simpler then, a clear path with a happy future laid out before us.

And now?

Now I lived a great unknown of my own making. But she was here and she was smiling at me, and that's all I can ask for.

"Right there," she continues, pointing at the bed. "Oh, how I dreamed of the day we'd be married and allowed to fully submit to our cravings and needs," she continues, her eyes whimsical as she looks at that bed. "Want to make that come true?" she teases, the look she gives me pure mischief.

Just the insinuation of it has my cock hardening beneath the leathers I wear, and I look from her to the bed and back again, calculating.

"I fear if I took you there right now, we'd break that piece of history," I say.

She sticks out her bottom lip in a fake pout, walking backward and away from me, eyes hooded with lust as her spine hits the wall. She taps it a few times with her palm. "This is a very sturdy wall," she says, her tongue darting out to wet her lips.

In a heartbeat, I'm there, my hand tunneling into her hair to tip her head back as I slant my mouth over her ears. Her lips part, letting me in as I slide my tongue against hers, taking her mouth in sipping kisses as she fists my shirt to draw me closer.

"Tell me more about this fantasy," I say between kisses, moving my lips from her mouth to the line of her jaw to her neck, relishing the way she goes pliant beneath my touch.

"You'd sneak through my window," she says, slightly breathless. "Not caring we were yet to be married."

I look up at her from where I've bent down to kiss her chest, her breasts just peeking out of the long sleeve thermal she wears. "What an improper little thing you were," I tease, sinking lower, dropping to my knees. I hook my fingers into the band of her pants and drag them gently down her legs, removing her boots at the same time, leaving her in just the dark purple lace covering her.

"You make sure that door is locked," I demand, eying the door not far from us. Sure, this place is off limits, but if we snuck down here, who's to say that a few daring and brave humans wouldn't do the same?

With a flick of her fingers, the ancient lock groans as she ensures it's sealed, her eyes flaring wide as she looks down at me where my mouth hovers just above the lace covering her.

"Tell me more," I say, massaging her thighs, shifting them wider so I can trail my fingers in a featherlight touch over the lace, lava shooting through my veins as she arches into the too-light touch.

"You'd kiss me," she says, her voice shaken. "You'd kiss me without fear of being seen. And the kiss wasn't chaste."

"Mmmmm," I mumble as I drag my lips just above the lace, where I've pushed up her shirt to kiss her hips. I glide my free hand up higher, toying with her breasts, pinching her nipples as she gasps. "And then what did we do?"

Talia sighs as I continue to kiss and tease her, her hips pressing off the wall and closer to my face on instinct. "I didn't know much back then," she admits. "But I imagined your hands on me, with no fabric as a barrier."

"Like this?" I glide my fingers over her stomach, around the small of her back and over the globes of her ass."

"Yes," she breathes the word.

"What about this?" I drag a finger over the lace, pulling it down to her ankles, and she quickly steps out of it. I dip my head between her thighs, releasing a hot breath over her stunning heat.

A small whimper escapes her throat. "I didn't know to imagine such things."

I glance up at her, grinning at the way her lilac eyes are completely lust-riddled as she looks down at me, and I feel like the luckiest vampire in the world that this powerful, stunning creature is looking at me like that.

I massage her thighs, gently guiding them apart as I keep my eyes on her and lean in, licking through her slit in one long lap.

She gasps, her fingers flying to my hair and tangling there.

" I fantasized about it," I say, my words vibrating against her flesh. "You have no idea how many times I dreamed of sinking my face between your thighs and gorging myself on your flavor."

I don't give her time to respond before leaning in and licking her again. Her flavor hits my tongue in an explosion of delight, a heady mixture of sweet and salty, the scent of her making me rock hard to the point of aching.

But this isn't about me. This is about her. This is about showing her that I could spend my life happily on my knees for her if she'd only allow me to.

"Z," she gasps as I eat at her with more tenacity, shifting one of her legs over my shoulder, holding her steady with one hand as I tease her with the other, using my fingers and tongue to turn her into a panting mess.

"Z," she says again as I pump two fingers into her hot, wet pussy, using the tip of my tongue to tease the swollen bud that's begging for more attention.

My pulse thrums beneath my skin, my instincts soaring, begging me to sink my distended fangs into the soft flesh of her thigh and drink my fill, sealing our bond in the ways I always dreamed about.

I lock those instincts down, focusing on her pleasure, her body, and the way it responds to my touch, my words.

I curl those fingers inside her, glancing up to see her head thrown back against the wall, lips parted, and eyes clenched on the cusp of pleasure.

It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life, and I want to see it every night for the rest of my existence.

I dip my head back between her thighs, sucking that swollen bud into my mouth hard and forceful as I curl my fingers, relishing the way she clamps down around them, her fingers tightening in my hair as she gasps with her release.

I gently pull my fingers out, replacing them with my tongue. Her flavor floods my tongue, and I lap her up, taking one orgasm right to the next until she's limp against me.

Once I've worked her down, I carefully help her back into her lace and leather, putting each boot back on her feet before standing.

Her skin is flush with that post-orgasm glow, her eyes liquid as she smiles up at me. "That certainly never happened in my fantasy," she says. "But it's absolutely going into my fantasy lineup now."

I arch your brow at her. "Oh? And just how many of these fantasies of yours am I starring in?"

She bites back her smile. "I don't think your ego could handle it if I told you how many."

"I assure you it would do nothing but good for me."

She shakes her head. "Zachariah, I never thought I'd see the night that you would let sex distract you from a mission."

Her words bring me back to reality, where we're on a mission set forth by our king. I have a moment to explore the tiny amount of guilt I feel before it's rushed away by the connection I feel with Talia.

I dip down and kiss her quickly, loving that she lets me in, that she whimpers at the taste of herself on my tongue. "I can't be held responsible for how irresistible I find you," I say. "How desperate I am for my mate."

Talia holds my gaze, her playful features shifting to something more serious, something more guarded and just this side of scared.

It eats away inside me, and just as I'm about to kiss her again, she dances away.

"Still, I can't be a bad influence on you," she says, completely ignoring my declaration as she heads toward the window across the room.

"My mother used to covet her jar of enchanted herbs," sha says, sliding her fingers over a small bench beneath it, tugging it up, unleashing modern coats of paint that crumble in little chips on the floor. "And when death was about to take her, I took the jar and brought it here just in case it was as valuable as she always said. Probably the one thing I've ever done right in her eyes, not that she knew of it." She reaches into a secret, hidden compartment beneath it, pulling out a porcelain jar decorated with purple flowers that's ambered with age.

She holds up the jar triumphantly, wiggling it at me. "Got it," she says, heading toward the door, unlocking it with her power before she even reaches the handle. She turns to look up at me. "Mission complete," she says. "Why don't you wend us back to the residence. I'd hate to get caught returning to the group from a forbidden area. Jail time is the last thing either you or I need," she teases.

I wrap my arms around her, laughing softly and folding my power around us both. As I wend us back to the residence, I do my best to not tell her that the idea of her and I alone in a cell with no distractions and no escape from the truths we need to lay bare is exactly what we need.