“We exchanged blood twice. Lifemates often exchange blood during lovemaking.”
“Am I like you? Is that why Josef was so certain I could shift into a different form?”
“Not yet. It takes three blood exchanges to convert a human. The human must be psychic. You are far more sensitive than most.”
“But that’s why you brought me here tonight. You intend to convert me to be like you are. That’s why you’re so troubled.”
“I wanted to wait, Antonietta. I wanted it to be your decision.”
“What changed your mind?” She stood up, drew the silk blouse over her head in one motion. There was curiosity in her voice but no real censure that he could detect. And no real fear. In fact, she seemed very sure of herself. She folded the blouse and set it on top of his jacket, facing him in her blue lace bra, long swirling skirt, and stocking feet.
Byron was distracted by her mild reaction. By her full breasts, a temptation in nearly transparent lace. He watched as she pulled the pins from her hair and shook the long rope free. Her breasts moved in invitation.
“Byron? What changed your mind? Why did you decide to bring me here tonight and convert me without my knowledge or consent?” Antonietta shimmied out of her long skirt and stood in her stockings and tiny thong.
It took him a moment to find his voice and sort out his thoughts in between the lust rising so sharply. “The jaguar this evening. I was not there to protect you. I gave you Celt, but it is not good enough to rely on the borzoi. I need to know you are completely safe.” Even to his own ears his voice sounded strangled. He held his breath as she peeled the nylon stockings from her legs.
“Why can’t you just stay with me at the palazzo?”
“We do not sleep in the same way. I would appear dead to the world and to you. If you woke and thought me dead to you, your grief could be life threatening. You had a small taste of it when Paul shot me. I am also very vulnerable during the daylight hours. I could not adequately protect you or myself at the palazzo.”
His heart nearly stopped when she turned her back on him, bent at the waist to step out of the small thong. He had no conscious thought of moving, but he found himself across the room, his hands smoothing her firm buttocks.
Antonietta rested both hands on the tile, pushing back against his hand, arching like a cat. “So you think converting me to what you are would make me safe from the jaguar?” His hands roamed over her body, slipped into secret hollows, turning her insides to a pool of lava.
Byron leaned forward to press a kiss in the small of her back. “I know you would be safe, Antonietta.”
There was absolute conviction in his voice, in his mind. His hand slipped between her thighs, urging her legs farther apart. His clothes rubbed against her sensitive skin. Antonietta obligingly widened her stance. “Do you like the taste of my blood?”
His entire body hardened, thickened, became painfully full. “You are trying to seduce me, Antonietta.”
“I’m so glad you noticed, Byron. I would hate to think you brought me here with only the intention of saving me from a wild cat.” She pushed back against him, rubbed her bottom with delicious slowness over the thick bulge in the front of his trousers. A soft moan of pleasure escaped as his finger found her feminine channel and pushed deep.
His teeth teased her buttocks, small, little nips, his tongue lapping gently.
“I want you to take my blood now, Byron. And I want to feel it this time.”
The husky note in her voice as she uttered the enticement was the most sexually exciting thing he’d ever experienced. Very slowly he withdrew his finger and straightened her, turning her to face him. “Do you mean it, Antonietta? You are not afraid?”
“I don’t want an exchange, only to see what it’s like. To be honest, the idea excites me, and I don’t know why. I should be grossed out. I was upset that Vlad gave you blood. I wanted to give it to you. I felt like I should be the one to give you whatever you needed.” Antonietta slid her hands under his shirt. “Get rid of your clothes. All of them. We really don’t need them, do we?”
“No.” Byron caught the back of her head and fastened his mouth to hers as he shed his clothes. They were skin to skin. He found he was ravenously hungry, his body tied up in knots. He fed on her mouth ruthlessly, Antonietta matching him heat for heat. Tongues tangled and dueled. Hands went everywhere, touching, exploring, claiming. Desperate for the feel and taste. On fire.
When his mouth left hers to trail kisses down her throat to her breast, she threw her head back, her body arching into his mouth eagerly. Byron knew he was on the edge of control, his incisors already lengthening, so he had to be careful as he suckled and teased her nipples into hard peaks. He kissed the swell of her breast, her collarbone, pressed a kiss into the hollow of her throat.
She caught fistfuls of his hair, breathless with need, with anticipation. Her body pulsed with hunger, with heat. His breath on her neck made her muscles clench in anticipation. Her breasts ached, her womb throbbed. His tongue touched her skin. His teeth scraped gently. Tenderly.
Byron shifted her into his arms. Held her body in the shelter and protection of his. “Antonietta. You are certain this is what you want? I can protect you from the experience if you are afraid.”
“Do I feel afraid? I need this as much as you need it. I ache for you, Byron. I think about you every minute I’m awake. I want to know everything about you. I want to see what my life would be like. You’re offering me things I can’t fully comprehend.” Her fists tightened in his long hair. Her entire body vibrated with sexual tension.
His teeth found her pulse, his tongue swirling over the spot so that she caught her breath. He found love welling up, swamping him, mixing with lust, with erotic hunger. “I love you.” He whispered the words to her and sank his teeth deep.
Antonietta cried out, her legs nearly giving out as white-hot pain whipped through her body, then gave way immediately to a burning pleasure. Byron’s mind was fully merged with hers, and she felt his reaction to her blood. The hot taste. Sating a hunger that was nearly impossible to sate. Lightning danced through their bloodstreams, long whips that crackled and sizzled and set them on fire. She held him possessively. She had to have him, had to feel his body beneath her fingertips. Had to have him buried deep inside her.
Do not. I am already at the end of my control.
He didn’t have to warn her; she knew. She didn’t want him in control. She wanted him to burn the way she was burning. She wanted him to need. To hunger. To be so aware of her that nothing else mattered. Her hands slid over his broad shoulders, mapped his chest, his belly. Found the thick length of his erection.
She felt the jolt go though his body, through hers, at the touch of her fingers. The intensity of his desire shook her. She stroked, massaged, teased, her fingers danced over the velvet head until she felt the fire roaring in his belly.
He swept his tongue over the pinpricks, caught her chin, and welded their mouths together. She tasted the hot, sweet spice of blood, the passion in his kiss. Then they were feeding off each other, so frantic to get close, Byron drove her backward against the wall, pinning her there, his hands everywhere. She curled one leg around his hip, fighting to align their bodies perfectly, fighting to get him inside of her.
There was never enough. The storm raged ferociously, wild and out of control and so hot they had to feed each other air. She wanted to share his skin. She needed him in her body. He had to touch every inch of her, hear her gasp, the soft little cry that escaped when his hands found every spot that sent her reeling with pleasure.
Outside the wind lashed the windows of the villa. Lightning streaked across the sky, and thunder cracked and boomed, shaking the earth. The dark sky lit up with fiery sparks, a shower of star gems, raining from the sky into the churning sea.