However, not tonight.As his gaze held her, his fangs had not so much as quivered in preparation for lowering, and his cock was only semi-erect because of the golden-brown beauty lying in repose on his bed.The taste of her sweet, spicy blood was still on his tongue, and he hungered for no other.
“Why are you here, Maeve?Did I call for you?”He knew why she was here, but he still enjoyed toying with the prime even if he didn’t want toscenewith her that night.
“Mar—” Apparently, unprepared for the need to explain herself, she pressed her small, blush-red lips together and swallowed before trying again.“Marceline sent me.She said you would need me after your journey, Sire.”
“As lovely as you are, pet.I will not be playing tonight.”
Her face became crestfallen.Even though he’d never entertained Maeve with his dark desires before, primes gossiped between each other, and he was sure she was aware of not only the pain he enjoyed wielding but the exhaustive level of pleasure he doled out as well.Because of vampire serum, primes’ lust remained at a high level, and their human body craved satisfaction.
Amaros was sure Marceline had probably pulled the redhead from the games that night to ensure she was fresh, garbed, and ready to be caught in his wicked web.He didn’t see that as his problem, and if he turned Maeve away, another vampire might still take her to bed for the day.
“Oh...”She took a step back, prepared to leave.“Then may I bid you a good—”
“I do need you to do something for me?”
Her face perked up.“How may I serve you, Sire?”
“Blood.”When she stepped forward and began to tilt her head to avail the bare, tender column of her throat to him, he continued, “Bring me a carafe of blood every hour until nightfall.”
She covered her disappointment with a smile.“I’ll see it done.”
“Before the first one, I need an empty basin,” he added.
“Anything else, Sire?”The shadows of lust still hadn’t left the redhead’s gaze, but she knew better than to press him on something he’d already denied.
“No.”With that, he closed the door, not watching her walk away but knowing she would scurry to do his bidding.
He wasted no time returning to Michaela.This time, he didn’t sit but stared down at her, watching and taking in her beauty.She was still bare.He could have pulled a sheet over her body, but vampires didn’t own a modest bone, and Michaela, in her state, could not feel hot or cold.
How have I been so blessed to receive such a gift from the Great Spirit?As if Michaela wasn’t treasure enough, children were included.His chest swelled a little with a foreign warmth.It had been centuries since he’d connected to anyone on such a personal level.Besides the primes he had turned, no one had ever been under his care in the way the children would be once they were born.
Children.It had been so long since he’d been around little, growing, maturing vampires, and then only briefly when visiting Kenia in Cairo in 1503.She and her mate, Amdis, had a three-year-old; however, Jezebel, that small child who had become the ruler over Egypt, Kenia giving her child part of her massive continent.With the disasters of the Great Catastrophes, that child now sat on his council.
A bit of trepidation vibrated through his core, something he would never admit to anyone.Still, he was bold and strong in his confidence as a ruler, leading powerful vampires and prime through wars and organizing a stable new society and way of life.However, being a father, he’d only thought of it abstractly in the back of his mind.After the catastrophes, he hadn’t even believed he would leave the world ever discovering his true mate, so a child never seemed a real possibility.Now, he would be responsible for three of them.
With Michaela by my side.
Knock.Knock.
As he figured, Maeve would rush to handle his bidding.At the door, he only opened it enough to take the large steel bowl from the prime.Who he noticed had changed from the naughty garb to something probably more to her taste: a silk blouse, dark, ruffled, knee-length skirt, and flats on her feet.“The blood in forty-six minutes.”
“Yes, Sire.”She bowed her head.
When he shut the door this time, he headed toward his en-suite bathroom.Once there, he crossed to the bathtub and set the empty bowl below the faucet.After choosing a bottle of fresh scented body wash from the collection along the side of the tub, he took the time to squeeze a heavy amount into the basin.Setting the bottle down, he leaned over, adjusted the water to warm, and allowed it to begin to fill the bowl.
The sound of running water filled the room as he entered the linen closet for a fresh cloth and a few towels.Even though he loved water, he didn’t have plans to sleep in a wet bed.When he returned to the tub and noticed sudsy water filling the basin past the halfway level, Amaros turned off the faucet.He retrieved the bowl and left the bathroom.
At the bed, he set down some of the items at the foot before he carried the three towels with him.It took him only a moment to gently maneuver the towels beneath her form since, in her state, her body was pliable.She was in between death and life as her body changed, but in this state rigor mortis would not set in.However, once Michaela reached the next stage, she would die if she was not supplied with the blood to complete her transformation.
He would not allow that to happen.He would not leave her side because the change could happen in two or three days.He’d once heard it taking a week.However, he hoped that wouldn’t happen to Michaela.Amaros had no idea if the babies would last that long in such a state.In the next minute, his heartbeat was almost painful with the thought they’d lose the children.
Not being a vampire who had ever lived in fear, Amaros shook the morbid thoughts away and went to sit at the end of the bed, where he began washing his angel’s filthy feet.He noticed her pitiful job of protecting her feet from collecting not only layers of dirt and grime but also cuts and bruises.However, the sight of them didn’t concern him.When Michaela's change was complete, those minor abrasions would disappear instantly.
Methodically, he continued using the soapy cloth to scrub away the dirt coating her body, evidence of her long travel as he moved from her feet to her legs.Each time he wrung out the cloth, the clear water darkened.When he got to her thighs, he returned to the bathroom to dispose of the dirty water for fresh suds.He knew it would take him multiple trips to see this job done right and completely, and he could have easily assigned the tedious task to Maeve or another prime as he sat and watched, but Michaela was his.His mate, his responsibility.
His secret.
Amaros’s fastidiousness had no bounds.He didn’t leave a single area of her body unwashed, even taking the time to part her thighs and handle every part of her folds.Even though he groaned every second, he was stroking along her lovely, mouthwatering sex and the furrowed skin of her ass.
