her body with his. He frowned and got a strange look of concern on his face. He brought his hand to her
face and gently traced her lips with his thumb. His eyes were so full of love for her that it stole her breath
away. “Do not fear me, little one. You are the most important person in my life. You are the other half
that makes me whole.”
Framing his face with her hands, she nodded. “I am not afraid.” His shaft remained hot and hard
against her. She raised her back and circled his neck with her arms and pulled him down to her as she
locked her ankles behind his hips to better accept him. It was more than choosing to spend this one
lifetime with her. He acted as if his very life depended on it.
He lowered his body and nuzzled her neck. “You were afraid. And it isn’t an act. My life depends on
spending eternity with you,” he whispered in a low, gravelly voice against her ear as he slowly pushed
into her and stretched the walls of her body. “It feels so good to be inside you,” he uttered in a half-
breathless guttural groan of rapture. “Your blazing, tight, silky core is my sanctuary. I never want to
leave.”
He continued a slow, steady pace burying his hard shaft to the hilt and pulling it out until only the
broad head remained in her. Eyes fluttered and closed in ecstasy. He heard and felt her sexy
incomprehensible mews in his soul. Lifting her hips, never missing a beat, she met every thrust. Her
receptive body was so hot, tight and wet. Drinking from the sweetness of her soft lips, he absorbed her
essence into every single fiber of his being as they maintained the glorious rhythm.
He was completely focused on her and the carnal pleasure their bodies were creating. He increased
the tempo. Her response increased his tension. She met his thrusts and matched them so that they
continued moving together in perfect synchronization. Pressure built in him until a violent rush of primal
needs incited the darkest, most dominate portion of his nature.
She knew that he was holding back. His muscles tensed under her fingers with the effort it took to
avoid being too rough with her. Perhaps she should’ve been afraid of what could happen if he lost control.
He was a many times physically stronger than the average man. His powers and abilities were much more
than incredible. She would never wrap her head around the things he could do with nothing more than a
thought or a careless wave of his hand.
And yet, he acted as if she’d placed him, a helpless victim, under a spell. It thrilled her to know he
would never get enough of her. Laughing softly, she smiled against his shoulder as she rocked her hips to
move with him. Then, surprising herself, she bit his shoulder with as much force as she deemed necessary
to get his attention. “You don’t need to be so careful with me.” He growled, but rather than it being a
warning, it was sound of pleasure. It wasn’t merely a gut feeling or instinct. It was quite apparent for his
erection hardened and swelled even more.
Insurmountable savage lust unlike anything he’d ever encountered ripped his control away. Driven
by fate’s inescapable influence he let his passion loose on her. He took possession of her, his eternal mate,
as he was meant to take her. He rammed his cock into her. Moving faster, harder, deeper he surged into
her again and again. Nearly maddened by pleasure he refused to relent. He barely had the presence of
mind to stay merged with her, to make certain she was savoring the same intense erotic pleasure as he
continued the furious pace.
She screamed his name as the air burst from her lungs. She fought to catch her breath as he slammed
his huge, hot, iron-hard shaft into her body again and again. His lean hips and long, muscular thighs were
so physically powerful that she could no longer match his pace. She struggled to keep her legs wrapped
around his hips and hold onto his solid muscles of his biceps. She clutched onto him as firmly as possible,
but her fingers and legs kept slipping away from his heated sweaty flesh.
He stopped. In protest she groaned as she twisted and squirmed against him. “Keep going, don’t you
dare stop!”
“I need to come deep inside you. I am going to fill you with my cock fully. I’m going to make you
come until you bring me with you.” He repositioned her thighs against her stomach. She felt more open
and vulnerable to him. Rotating his hips, he started out moving slowly impaling her body and pulling out.
Bit by bit he increased the momentum and depth until driving hips depicted the brutal vigor of his zeal.
He was so large that she felt small and tight, her body forced to stretch to take him. He pounded into
her. The deeper penetration was exceptionally exciting. He propelled thick hardness into her over and
over again until she writhed beneath him and cried out in blissful revelry.
Harder and faster, each deep penetrating plunge brought her closer to erupting, to bursting into
voracious flames of absolute euphoria. His wild, fierce dominating method of taking possession of her
drew her into an incredible flame of passion. He was adding fuel, increasing the temperature, bringing her
with him to the final blast of ecstasy. Gasping, nearly choking on her own breath, she recognized the
pleasurable vibrations darting through her, but she realized it was building up to a zenith inconceivably
more potent and invigorating than any other. At that instant an intense, magnificent, tightening strain
claimed her. Her body and soul shattered. The sound of his harsh groan of masculine enjoyment increased
the outstanding shuddering, clenching spasms of intolerable pleasure that sent her soaring. Taking her
higher he plunged deep inside her one last time, and then his muscular frame trembled against her body as
his hot seed streamed into her.
He had never even dreamed of experiencing such a long, hot release. The way she gave herself to his
vigorous pounding amazed him. She embraced the fiery friction his efforts created just as greedily as her
sheath squeezed the hell out of him. Her whimpers and cries of utter delight as she neared her climax had
him biting back his own. His balls ached. His cock was on fire. He was damn close to erupting, to
spewing his seed deep inside her.
Just in the nick of time her inner muscles began to violently convulse around him. He thrust a few
more times as her body clamped down around him, and then he slammed into her hard one last time as
she took him with him. Her body milking his hot seed until she’d forced every drop of it from his body.
To avoid crushing her he supported his weight on his elbows as he rested his face between her neck and
shoulder. They were both overheated and panted heavily as her body continued to convulse with
aftershocks for several seconds.
When her body stopped shuddering she lowered her legs, and then started to affectionately massage
his scalp with her fingers. “I love you, Nikolas.” Her voice was a sexy breathless purr.
He lifted his head and feathered kisses across her shoulder and up her neck. “I love you, Brianna,” he
whispered in her ear. “That was phenomenal.”
“I agree,” she laughed softly, as she ran her nails down the back of his neck.
Her laughter seemed to vibrate in his still hard cock. Right away it made him grow more swollen and
stiff with desire. He raised his head and pressed his lips to hers. They a shared a long-lasting, soul
touching tender kiss as he slowly rocked his hips. He deliberately maintained a leisurely rousing pace
with rotating movements to urge her on. She immediately began to wriggle and arch her hips to join him.
As the intensity of their kiss increased he was completely overcome by the instinctive need to strengthen
and complete their mate bond by giving his eternal breath to her. He started to draw her mortal breath
from her lungs.
Obviously distressed she started to squirm and tried to push him away. The awareness of the mistake
he had just made slammed into him. He yanked himself from her body and jumped out of the bed. He
could not risk the danger she would be in if he bound her to him. He got up and paced the floor. He
stopped and looked at her anxious gaze locked him. He was so full of anger, of rage. “Why? I brought
you here to watch over you, to take care of you because the alcohol you consumed made you so ill. Why
would you use my attempt to keep you safe, to care for you against me?”
Her eyes rounded as she opened her mouth as if to respond. He turned away from her and began to
pace again. He had to straighten out the mess he had made. “This is what you wanted? You hoped to
punish me by…why did you entice me to do what you know I didn’t want to do? Why didn’t you stop
me, Brianna?” He pointed at the bed. “I have never made a more terrible mistake. In all my existence I
have never been so betrayed!”
He felt her pain. He had ripped her heart from her chest, but he was not done. “I won’t allow you to
betray me again. I won’t risk you doing…I will not allow this to happen again. I can’t…I will find a way
to stay away from you.”
He yanked his mind from her and shoved her out of his. With a wave of his hand, he removed her
from his bed and sent her to her home.
~Two~
THE PLAN TO keep her close as he removed the alcohol from her body seemed harmless, but it would
not have mattered if he thought otherwise. What choice did he have? He could not leave her while she
was so ill and suffering from intoxication. How was he to know she would use his attempt to take care of
her against him?
Surely she finally got a good look at the darkness that he had been fighting to protect her from for so
long. When he accused her of betraying him and yelled at her he was so blinded by self-hatred that the
pain in her eyes could not even stop him from lashing out at her.
He had managed to stay out of her head for two very long weeks. She was a mortal with a short life
span. After living so many lifetimes the remainder of her life was fleeting moment to him. He could
continue on for that long. There was no reason to allow the past to repeat itself. The powers in the
necklace would protect her and alert him of any danger. This is how it should have been. He should have
avoided all contact with her. There was no reason to be near her. He could easily watch over from afar.
He had endured many lifetimes, but he had never truly wanted to live one for himself until he met
her. He had waged countless wars. Many were never his to fight, but he accepted his role as warrior
perfectly created to engage in and be victorious in battles against forces of darkness that threaten to wipe-
out his kind and to protect those that were not strong enough to protect themselves; such as humans.
The days and nights had turned into a bleak and lonely void of meaninglessness until the first time
his mate, Brianna Larkin, took his hand and trusted him to walk her safely out of a burning building.
From that moment on, each day should have become an exhilarating adventure he could not wait to
experience with her, but he could not embrace their union. It was too late for him. With age came ultimate
power. It had stained his soul with utter darkness. He would eventually crush and destroy her if he
allowed himself to get too close to her. Despite his enormous might and power, he was unable to
summons the strength to remain too far away from her for any length of time.
His sexual hunger had remained as deceptively silent and still as a dormant volcano for a long time,
but she had roused it and the pressure building up had become insurmountable. The excitement that
surged through him whenever he heard her sweet voice or felt her touch had become a vicious and cruel
form of suffering that he could not escape. His body was constantly on fire, burning up with a volatile
combination of love and lust pushing him to the brink of insanity.
So there he stood, high on top of a cliff at the northwest border of his property in Astoria, Oregon,
staring down at the waves for hours so full of self-hatred for hurting her. He couldn’t imagine what she
thought when he sent her away from him. No matter the attempt he couldn’t make sense of all that had
brought him to this moment of his existence.
Even after Haden, his younger brother, had claimed his mate, Caylee, the thought of one day finding
his own mate had never entered Nikolas’ mind. He had given up all hope so long ago that he could not
recall the exact moment it had happened or what had caused it, but he remembered coming to the
conclusion that he had failed to find her during her lifetime.
Being a ten thousand your old immortal, his life had become a never-ending ride of ups and downs.
For many centuries he had yearned to simply jump off of it, but he felt obligated to remain until Haden
secured his eternal union with his mate. The instant his brother showed up with Caylee that is exactly
Feeling as though a terrible burden had been lifted from his shoulders, he went out to meet them as
they made their way along the path that led from the main road to his home. He knew tainted vampires
had followed them and waited at edge of his property, because they could not pass through his safeguards.
He remembered thinking that it was odd for his brother to tolerate or ignore their presence. He had an
extremely short fuse and unstable temper. He simply was not the type to allow anything to hunt him, but
believing he was understandably distracted by the sorted emotions of finally allowing himself to claim his
one true love he shrugged off its importance.
Within minutes of their visit he learned that he was not free to take his leave just yet. Haden was
dragging his feet in the worst possible way. He had not yet preformed the essential act of taking her last
mortal breath and replacing it with his eternal breath. He had allowed fear of her inability to have
complete faith in his love for her to develop and grow in him for she had had a loveless and violent past.
He understood his brother’s hesitation. If she didn’t trust him the ritual would kill her, but leaving her in a
weak mortal state was just as dangerous.
Making matters worse, Caylee was being hunted by a corrupt vampire that appeared to be getting
help from another powerful demon, Demetri Demidov. At first, despite the fact that the vampire had used
ancient spells to create a human warrior rising to attack Haden and Caylee, Nikolas rejected the idea of
Demetri giving any sort of aid to such a vile creature. Besides, being the same age it allowed him to get
to know the other demon well enough that the thought of him doing anything to harm a woman was
laughable.
Intending to confirm that it was a different demon helping the vampire, Nikolas used his mind to
reach out to Demetri. This caused suspicion
to rise and he failed to respond. In the past there had been
times when demons joined with vampires, but he could not see Demetri carrying out such a heinous,
treasonous exploit against his kind and humanity. Regardless of his inability to believe it, the severity of
the situation was too alarming to ignore, so he immediately set out to find and confront him.
Nikolas would never forget a single moment of that encounter with Demetri, but what he
remembered most was his deep sense of fear. It affected his body. He had never experienced anything
comparable to it before. His blood pressure elevated and despite his best effort he could not get it under
control. He figured it had to be the work of an incantation, but he quickly discovered that it was
something else. No doubt that fear was the reason every word of their conversation that night was
replayed over and over again in his mind.
“Tell me why you’re helping a vampire hunt my brother’s mate.”
“Your brother is an idiot. Haden left her to suffer for years. He doesn’t value her life as he should.
Some demons must first lose their mates before they learn to value them. He needs to learn a lesson. If it’s
her life, it’s her life. It would be no real loss in the grand scheme of things. She’s a weak, wretched
human. Even now, he fails to take care of her. He has no right to leave her vulnerable because of his
pathetic insecurities.”
“You cannot truly believe that my sister is vulnerable.” Nikolas laughed, but there was no humor in
it. “We’ve known each other for a very long time. I’ve considered you my closest friend for more than ten
thousand years, but since you’re planning to harm my brother’s mate you’ve become my greatest enemy.”
“Fantastic.” Demetri grinned and nodded. “I would expect no less from you. I hope you expect no
less from me.” He took a deep breath and released it with a long sigh. “Fear is an interesting emotion, is
it not? Tell me, what does it feel like to sense a woman’s fear? Does it make your heart feel as if it might
pound right out of your chest?” Narrowing his eyes, he smiled. “To be honest, I admire her. Imagine
being so weak and walking into a place like this hoping to save another person. Oh yes, for all of her