32

MAEVE

HER words, the breathiness of her voice, undid something within me.

For years, I’d learned how to keep the monster at bay. Never had I thought I would be blessed with a mate; I thought my Sire had taken that from me during his years of torture. And yet the Goddess had blessed me with one.

With Ivy .

There was something so peaceful about having her in my arms, of feeling her soft, voluptuous flesh against my own. To know I could have her, could taste her, sent my beast into a spiral.

I did not want to hurt her, and that fear made me hesitate.

The same fear I’d been feeding since we bonded. What if I hurt her? What if I horrified her? It was one thing to be with her under the watchful gaze of her other mates. There, I’d been in control, because I knew Elias would tear me apart otherwise.

But we were alone in my office. And she was at my mercy.

Yet as she squirmed in my arms, her heavy breast begging for my mouth, while her wet pussy awaited my ministrations, I knew I could control the blood lust with her. My mate.

“You won’t hurt me,” she said, her voice almost a whisper. She glanced at me over her shoulder while taking my hand away from her wet panties. “You can’t. I know it.”

My dead heart stuttered a beat, slow and painful, as our eyes met. “I know I won’t hurt you,” I replied, giving her breast a gentle squeeze. “But I worry anyway.”

I couldn’t help but breathe in her scent again. The dark aroma of coffee and the sweetness of her coconut shampoo filling my lungs. I buried my face into the crook of her neck, smiling. “You are the most precious thing to me, Ivy , and I don’t know what I’d do with myself if I hurt you.”

Ivy shivered before letting go of my hand, allowing it to fall back to her panties. “I trust you fully, Maeve. I’ve never feared you, and I promise you now, I never will.”

I shuddered and cupped her wet pussy in the palm of my hand. I relished in the warmth of her body, the heat between her thighs. It was like a dream, having her now. Knowing soon, she would be spread out like a feast for me.

I nipped her neck, pulling back. “I want to feed from you as I fuck you,” I murmured, “and make you come on my fingers while I do.”

The bond between us burned, and her magic pulsated, begging to be released. Her arousal consumed me, bringing forth the beast of blood lust with a fiery need to claim her. The beast knew it needed to appease our mate. To give her what she needed.

She swallowed audibly and arched into my hand. “Please, Maeve.”

“You are so needy, a mhuirnín .” I teased her through her panties, feeling my own desire heighten as her arousal perfumed the air. Intoxicating wasn’t the right word.

And for the first time in years, I wanted it, too. I’d been starved before Ivy, and now, I knew she was the sustenance I needed.

Pressing down on her clit with my middle finger, I toyed with the nub as she made a whimpering sound. “Please,” she begged, writhing in my grip. “I can’t wait anymore, Maeve, please .”

I gave her hard nipple a pinch, and smiled at the yelp Ivy gave. “Go lie down and spread your legs for me. Show me my meal.”

My Queen scrambled from my grasp and did as she was told, taking her panties off in the process. I’d intended on tearing them off her, but I also knew she’d fought with Elias about doing the same.

She spared me a narrowed glance before shaking her head and swaying her full hips. “Beasts, all of you. I don’t know what it is with you guys and panty tearing, but unless you’re replacing them—”

“I promise to do worse if you don’t lay down.”

Ivy grinned, and my heart gave another stuttering beat as I watched her. It was sensual, the way she climbed onto the settee. Slow and deliberate, she lowered herself down onto the velvet, lying back against one of the cushions with her knees pressed together. Dark hair fanned around her; she looked delectable, perfect, and mine .

“Spread your legs for me,” I commanded, stepping up beside the chaise. I took in her milky flesh, the softness of her stomach and the wideness of her hips, the suppleness of her waist and the fullness of her breasts. “Hook one over the back of the lounge, a mhuirnín , and show me your pink pussy by dropping the other to the floor.”

Ivy’s eyes darkened as she followed my directions. She brought one leg up and hooked it over the back of the lounge. Then, with a deliberate slowness, she moved the other foot to the floor, opening herself wide for me.

I took in her silky core, the wetness already gathering at her entrance. “Beautiful,” I murmured, sucking in a breath. Her scent, thick with arousal, filled my lungs. “I’m going to taste you, Ivy, and you’re going to let me have all of you. Your pussy is mine.”

Ivy’s hooded eyes met mine, so I let the beast out.

I pounced, landing atop her wanting body, and claimed her mouth with my own. She made a soft sound in the back of her throat, but didn’t fight me. Not as my fangs scraped over her bottom lip, and not as my fingers circled her thick thigh, tugging her legs further apart.

Each kiss I trailed down her skin ignited a burning need in my chest, one I couldn’t ignore anymore. This moment was about us sharing an experience. She was giving me life, and for that, I would make her come and settle the magic building within her.

I captured one of her full breasts in my mouth and nipped at the bud of her nipple. Ivy made a mewling sound, her breaths sharp as she arched into my mouth.

“Shit, I don’t know what it is about you guys, but I could actually come from this,” she grunted, her back arching.

I hummed low in my throat as I toyed with her other nipple, pressing the soft peak between my fingers. “I could make you come like this,” I replied, letting the tips of my fangs scrape over her flesh. “But I would rather taste you when that happens.”

“Please, Maeve.” She writhed with my ministrations, each tweak earning me another soft sound.

Before she could find release, I continued my path down her supple body, kissing each silvery-pink stretch mark sliding up her stomach. I made sure each kiss was a promise, one I so desperately hoped she would return once she saw the destruction of my own body left by him .

Ivy squirmed until my lips closed around her clit. She breathed my name as I sucked the bud into my mouth, swirling my tongue around it, my name a prayer on her plump lips. Through the bond, I felt her need to come. Her release flooded my mouth, the taste of her better than any drop of blood before her.

She tangled her fingers in my hair as she rode my face, until she huffed a breath. When I looked up, her cheeks were pink. “Sorry, I know—”

“You did nothing wrong. But I’m still going to make you come again while I feed. Do you think you can do that?” I asked, trailing a finger over her swollen clit, circling the hooded bundle of nerves.

Ivy tugged her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded.

“Good.” I traced a light path down to her silky opening before sliding a single finger inside her. Her tight heat clamped around me, slick with her arousal. I pulled out and stared down at my glistening skin.

“I will fuck you with my fingers,” I stated, plunging the digit inside her once more. Ivy’s breathy moan was like a symphony to my ears, sparking that eternal beast in my chest. Steadily, I pumped into her, until she was ready to take a second finger. “As I fuck you, I will feed from you. Right here—” I nipped the supple skin of her thigh, earning me a louder moan than before. “Do you like that, a mhuirnín ?”

The sound of agreement she made, and the soft rock of her hips, triggered the beast.

My fingers curled inside her as I peppered kisses against the flesh of her inner thigh. Finally completing this step would change everything. To claim her in this way…I would no longer just be her loyal soldier, a body to sacrifice in order to keep her safe. She had claimed me with her magic.

And it was my turn to claim her, too.

For so long, I’d been trapped by the nightmares of my Sire, of his manipulations and the power he’d had over me. Claiming Ivy, taking this next step, would mean choosing to move on with her. Choosing her would mean leaving my Sire—my past—behind.

And that…that I was certain I could do.

With her scent overwhelming me and the thundering of her heart ringing in my ears, I couldn’t make myself wait.

The moment my fangs pierced her soft flesh the first time, I knew I would never be able to go back to drinking from another source again.

But doing so with the taste of her release on my tongue made it clear to me there could be no other blood for me. No other source of life. For she was all I needed.

Her blood had a fragrance, a potent flavour to it that was beyond description. Each pull sent me into a deeper spiral, spilling down my throat, filling me with a greed and hunger I’d never experienced before.

The first time had been rushed. A need for survival. A claiming for her.

The second, I’d been overcome with the mate bond. My need to prove I had the desire to be more.

This time was my claim. My promise to her.

The undoing of everything I’d worked to control.

I swiped my tongue over the bite marks as Ivy bucked. My thumb circled her clit, while I added a third inside her tightening entrance. Through the bond, she whispered my name.

You are doing so good, I said, drawing the blood slowly. Only a little more. Can you hold on for me?

Yes , she whispered, clenching, scraping her fingers through my hair. Make me come, Maeve. Please.

I claim you, Ivy Wilson. I claim you until we both return to Nyx. I claim you for the rest of eternity.

A warmth filled our bond as the words settled between us. I knew the moment I saw her I would never leave her side. Now, she knew it, too. Could be certain that I wouldn’t disappear on her.

Ivy tightened around my fingers, the only warning I had to pull my mouth from her thigh. The beast wanted me to brand her with my mark—with hundreds of them. So any who were graced with the sight of her flesh knew she was mine.

But I tore myself from her flesh and instead sucked her clit into my mouth. Her cries of release filled the office, shuddering down the bond as she clamped around me. Ivy arched her back, breasts swaying. Every part of her was a wonder to experience. And having her come to my bite made it better.

I fucked her through her climax, slowing my thrusts only until my name was a delirious murmur on her soft lips. Ivy’s chest rose and fell with heavy breaths, her eyes fluttering, and I didn’t blame her. For the first time in months, exhaustion touched the edges of my consciousness. It was the bone deep kind, something I so rarely experienced anymore. I almost welcomed it.

“ A mhuirnín , we should go to the bedroom,” I murmured, rising to hover above her. I brushed a tendril of hair from her face and took in her smile.

The venom from my bite, which wasn’t lethal, acted more like a drug to certain people. It shouldn’t have much of an effect on my mate, but I could almost feel it working through her system, uncoiling the tension in her body and allowing her to rest peacefully.

She groaned softly, and her eyes flickered open. The bond felt more settled and secure now, like the piece that had been missing when we’d completed it had finally fallen into place.

“Fine,” she grumbled. I helped her sit up, taking in each swell and curve of her body. The strength from her blood filled me, different to anything I’d tasted before. When I’d been freshly Changed, I had thought I was the strongest I could be.

But now as I helped her dress and pressed tender kisses to her throat, I realised how different it was to share blood with one’s true mate. Not the forced sharing my Sire had encouraged.

I shoved thoughts of him from my mind, and hoped throughout this all, she hadn’t caught on. Soon, I would tell her about him, but not after all of this. Not with my claim on her so fresh.

“Are you feeling alright?” I asked carefully.

Ivy tucked her hand into mine, and the feel of my ring—a ring that had once belonged to my mother—on her finger made my heart clench. I would tell her the truth behind the ring, eventually. It hadn’t even cost me a second thought, taking it out from where I’d hidden it years ago and giving it to her.

Perhaps that was when I realised she meant more to me than anyone before her. Maybe the magic binding us had been telling me something, and I’d been too foolish to understand it then.

But I did now.

“I feel okay,” she replied after a moment, blinking tiredly up at me. “Maybe groggier than before coming in here, but I feel more…connected to you, if that makes sense.”

“It does, a mhuirnín .” I brought her hand to my lips and offered her a smile. “I feel it too.”

Her smile turned into a grin, so bright the idea of breaking it, of hurting her, frightened me.

My body turned rigid as the door to the office opened; from scent, it was Adrian. There was uncertainty, and even maybe a trickle of fear, in his natural, minty aroma that made my stomach tighten uncomfortably.

The mage stopped short, his eyes flickering between us. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to disrupt…anything. I just woke up, and you were gone.”

He is worried about Ivy . I blew out a breath, but I couldn’t convince my body to relax. The blood lust might be quenched, but my beast was still close to the surface, as was the bond tying Ivy and I together. It tugged painfully in my chest, reaching for her, begging for more. But I pushed it further away as Adrian reached hesitantly for Ivy, his eyes shrouded with worry.

Ivy’s cheeks flushed red as she glanced at me. “Sorry. I couldn’t sleep, and I wanted to check on Maeve.”

The Prince’s brows furrowed, and he dropped his hand. “I won’t question that,” he murmured, meeting my stare. “You took care of her?”

“Of course,” I said, as Ivy leaned into my side. “There will be no more problems on my end.”

Ivy turned her face towards mine, and her lips formed a breathtaking smile. My heart hurt for a moment, as I considered all the pain I’d put her through since bonding.

Stop , she said, squeezing my hand. We’ve worked through it. That’s all that matters.

Adrian crossed his arms, but as I looked to him, he smiled. “I’m glad you two worked it out. I knew family unit date night would be a hit.”

I snorted, but Ivy’s features softened as she gave him a smile. “It really did help.” She looked between us, her eyes alight with more than just happiness; magic seemed to be dancing along her skin, like it had always known the truth, and was now excited that she realised it, too.

Adrian released a soft breath and strode up to her. I had to hold myself still as he leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

The primal feeling currently rushing through me was new, and I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Vampires, like shifters, could be overly protective of their mates, chosen or true.

The days after our mating had been difficult, especially because she had other mates to consider. And I hadn’t been in the position to finalise the claim.

But now I was ready. Ready for the next five-hundred years with her.

Ivy’s dark eyes found mine, so I brought her hand to my lips and pressed a kiss to her warm, living flesh. “Go rest, a mhuirnín . I promise I’m better now, and you have nothing to worry about with me.”

She opened her mouth, I suspected to argue, but Adrian was there, wrapping an arm around her waist and tenderly kissing her temple. “One day until the academy, Sweetheart. Why don’t we make breakfast for the kids?”

Ivy gave a resigned sigh before slipping from Adrian’s embrace to pull me into her arms. “There is still a lot to talk about,” she murmured, pulling away.

I nodded and cupped her cheek, still flushed from earlier. “I know. But we have a lifetime together, Ivy.”

She pressed her lips together but gave a single nod. “I still need to spend time with you before I leave tomorrow, same with Adrian and the kids. And please tell me next time you need to feed.”

“I promise.” My heart gave another stuttering beat when she joined Adrian. As he guided her out of the office, he spared me one last glance. As if he were thanking me for finally letting her in.

I will see you soon, Ivy said through the bond. No hiding now.

It would take time to give her every part of me. But for the first time in decades, I looked forward to finally allowing someone else into the darkness of my past.

I will never hide from you again, I replied. And I believed it.