Chapter Sixteen

Silas waited for her nod, her consent, and then lowered his open wrist to her lips. She lacked the fangs of a vampire, but she drank deeply. His arm around her back steadied her and slowly, new strength flooded her veins.

Esmae blacked out.

When she awoke, the three moons glowed overhead. Esmae's awareness came back slowly until all her attention was on the ache in her neck. A burning sensation in her throat. Fire engulfed her, painful, so painful—

"Drink, my love. You need more blood now that you' ve turned."

Him . He was in front of her. Silas's scent had taken on new layers, familiar yet so much more potent. It steadied her. He bent his neck to her and, on instinct, she dove for his carotid artery and plunged her fangs in.

Divine .

His blood flowed inside her mouth. Esmae swallowed with greedy gulps, her fingers digging into Silas's shoulders as if to keep him from moving away. The vampire made no such move. His hands gently held her in place, guiding her. She drank deeply. A primal part of her brain was in control, knowing only all-consuming sensations. Need. Want. Him. Mine.

She'd thought she'd felt connected when he drank from her before, but it didn't hold a candle to the soul-deep bond she felt as he fed her his life force. Eventually, she drank enough that the haze parted, and she regained control of herself. Reluctantly, she pulled back.

His neck was a bloody, ravaged mess. Esmae startled at the sight. She hadn't looked anything like that when Silas had taken her blood. Oh gods, had she done it wrong ?

"Did I hurt you?" she asked, panicked, even as she eyed the lingering drops.

Silas smirked. "Only one part of my body aches right now."

He guided her palm to the ache. She gasped. He was thick and hard under her hand. It seems the bite affected vampires as well as humans.

Silas pulled her in for a kiss. It was every bit as claiming as the bite she'd just given him.

Mine , it said. My mate .

She nicked his tongue with her fangs, and the kiss deepened to a feral, bloody thing. Silas returned the favor, piercing her tongue with his fang. He rolled her onto her back, gently resting her on the grass even as the kiss remained bruising. Both their bodies were bare, his clothes gone in the transformation, hers burnt to cinders.

Good. Because all at once, her body was filled with another need. Not for blood, but for something every bit as essential for survival. Silas .

"I need you," she rasped against his lips.

"You'll have me," he promised. "Forever. "

Silas didn't make her wait. He positioned himself at her entrance, and Esmae hooked her legs around his hips, guiding him in. She was so wet, so needful. He plunged inside her in a single thrust. The sudden fullness was delightful .

"That's it, love. You take me so well," Silas praised.

"More," she gasped.

Silas obeyed, rocking his hips forward and back as the pleasure built in her core. Her body felt primed from the bite—it wasn't just the person who was bit who was affected, apparently.

She came quickly, her orgasm washing over her all at once. Every part of her body was alight and more sensitive than it had ever been. But Silas didn't stop. "Too much." The words came out as a moan that belied their sincerity.

Silas chuckled darkly. "What kind of male would I be to only make my mate come once?"

He dipped his fingers lower, teasing her clit while his other palm roughly kneaded her breast. She arched against him.

Eventually, they settled onto the grass, sated at last. They were no longer in the scorched field where she'd met Jared, but the setting was one Esmae innately recognized. The stars glittered overhead, though she no longer needed their light to see in the darkness, not with her vampire vision. The change was surprisingly comfortable. Sure, there would be a learning curve, but being here, next to Silas, felt like the most natural thing in the world. Like she'd always been meant to take this path.

"Why here?" she asked.

"I wanted you to wake in a place that was familiar. This is the hill you described, is it not?"

The one she'd told him she would go to when she wanted to daydream of a better life. "How did you know?"

Silas pointed to the river. "This seemed like the perfect spot for an adventurer to plan her maiden voyage."

She grinned, curling into the crook of his arm. Her body temperature had cooled—not to ice, but to a vampire's colder levels. Silas, however, was even warmer than a human. "A dragon, huh?"

"I thought that part of me was lost forever," Silas confessed. "For centuries, I was ruled by my vampire nature. But seeing you in danger awakened my protective instincts, breaking the restraints that turning had put on me."

"We saved each other," she murmured.

"We always will, my love."

They stayed like that for a long time, a tangle of limbs under the night sky. "I suppose this means we have forever, then."

"We do. We'll have enough adventures for many lifetimes," Silas promised.

One side of her lips curled up into a smile. "Where do you suppose we should go first, then?"

Silas pressed his lips to her head. "Anywhere you wish, as long as I'm with you."