"I understand."
"You do not, but you must trust that I will keep you from harm."
Touched by the depth of his caring, she laid her hand upon his forearm. "However irrational, I do."
Aedan drew her hand within his and pressed a kiss upon her palm, humbled to have found this amazing woman, one he wanted forever. " "Tis not irrational."
"Is it not? All my life I have been told tales of vampires" viciousness, of their killing people in cold blood without thought. Yet, with you I find trust." She paused, her eyes searching his as understanding dawned. "But because you can read my mind you already know that, do you not?"
He stroked his thumb across her lower lip, wanting her, needing her forever. "Aye. "
If he could read her mind, was there more that he could sense or know about her that he hadn"t revealed?
At her thought, he released her, turned and scoured the darkened woods. Judging from the stiffness of his body, he was upset.
Rowan"s unease grew. "Aedan, what are you keeping from me?"
Silence.
"Aedan."
He turned, his face taut, his eyes torn between happiness and regret. "I want you."
Need infused her, a yearning so desperate she caught her breath.
His nostrils flared.
Pleasure shot through her. He was not immune to her either.
"Nay, I am far from immune. I want you overmuch."
"Never before have I wanted a man." Heat warmed her cheeks. "Never have I lain with a man. But against all that I have been taught, against my beliefs, I want you."
"Rowan."
At the desire that roughened his voice, heat built within her. "Tell me."
He muttered a curse. "Never did I believe I would find you."
"Find me?" She frowned. "We have never met."
He gave a cold laugh void of amus.e.m.e.nt. "We have not, but our blood recognizes the other."
"You are not making any sense."
On a shaky exhale, his eyes held hers, a silent plea within. "Rowan, you are my mate."
Chapter Three.
Against the backdrop of the night, shock veiled Rowan"s face. "I am your mate? Impossible."
Hurt tore through Aedan at her disbelief, but had not his surprise at the discovery been as great? "Rowan, neither you nor I were given a choice. Our bond is a gift of nature neither of us can change."
"I ..."
Bed.a.m.ned. "Did you not say but moments ago that you want me?"
Her body trembling, she tried to step back.
Aedan held her, needed her to accept the attraction between them, one as natural as his next breath. "I am going to kiss you-unless you bid me to stop."
Eyes wide and unsure, she watched him.
However much she struggled to accept the fact, beneath her nervousness he saw need. He lowered his mouth to a whisper above hers.
"Order me to stop," he said as her scent infused his every breath, driving him insane, "before I touch you, before I taste you everywhere."
Her body shuddered against his. "I cannot."
On a groan he claimed her lips, hot, hard, demanding her response. Her actions would acknowledge what she refused to say.
"Aedan," she moaned as she returned his kiss, her own blistering hot.
His tongue slid between her lips, teasing, tasting, seducing her until her body melded against his. On a soft growl, he backed her against the cave wall and pressed his full length against her, wanting her to feel every inch of his need.
He lifted his head. "I am going to make love to you. Here. With naught between us but the stars and the night."
Another tremor whipped through Rowan. Until Aedan she had never known someone who made her want, who made her feel as a woman desired. Now, she did.
And he was a vampire.
However frightening the thought, she accepted it.
But, he believed her a woman with whom he shared a lifelong bond. How she wished such a connection could exist between them. But she was human, while he was a vampire. She could not ponder the differences between them now. This stunning vampire, a man who sought to protect her, who found her beautiful and engaging, wanted her. However wrong, she wanted him as well.
Her lower lip trembled. "I need you."
"Aye," he said on a rough whisper, "I will fulfill each fantasy and more."
A cool breeze tumbled over her body. Rowan gasped. "I am naked."
"Aye. A vampire"s speed has many a use." He slid his lips against the sensitive skin at her neck. "Worry not, I will nae rush the lovemaking."
The sultry promise in his voice left her breathless. How could he move her to such depths? How could he make her want him so much? If nothing else, she understood that he was a man of his word, one she found herself needing more than she could explain.
Rowan laid her hand upon his heart. "Aedan, make love to me."
Hands, tender and gentle, slid up her flesh to cup her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "Only to you-forevermore. With a heated look, he lowered his head and drew a sensitive tip into his mouth, suckled.
Sensation poured through her as he teased, tasted until her mind blurred with desire.
"Aye, la.s.s," he said, kneeling before her, " "tis pleasure you feel, pleasure only I shall ever bring you."
His hands skimmed over her, and she struggled to speak.
"Feel me touch you," he whispered.
His fingers splayed her most private place, and cold air brushed against her. She gasped. "I-"
"Watch me," he said, hunger burning in his eyes, his mouth but a breath away from her, "while I taste you."
Merciful Mary! Should she allow this?
"Should you?" he asked as his finger slid deep within her. A groan echoed within his throat, and his gaze darkened. "You are so wet," he said, slowly withdrawing his finger. "Tell me, should you allow this?"
Her every fiber hummed. The air around her pulsed with a scorching heat. "Yes." Would she now be d.a.m.ned?
"Nay, never will you be d.a.m.ned." With a smile, he leaned forward, drew his tongue across her slickness, tasted her essence.
As with her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, he savored, his mouth a sweet torment. Her body trembled with each stroke of his tongue. Her mind blurred with emotion, a frenzy that devoured her until all she could do was feel.
"Now," he whispered as his lips pressed against her sensitive wetness, "let yourself go."
A slow tremor wove through Rowan before waves of heat swamped her. "Aedan!"
"Come for me."
Another burst of energy tore through her; her body stiffened, then soared. Colors exploded in her mind.
Her cries of pleasure fueled Aedan as he took, tasted, and cherished her release. Never had he met a woman so sensitive. Her eyes glazed with pa.s.sion, and he watched her again spill over the edge. Satisfied, he swept her into his arms.
"Wh-What are you doing?" Her question stumbled out in a sated whisper.
"Making love to you."
A frown furrowed her brow. "I thought you already did."
He nuzzled her neck as he strode into the blackness of the cave, laying her upon a cloth he"d spread out earlier. "That was but the beginning."
"The beginning?" Rowan sighed, a satisfied glow upon her face. "Will I die?"
"Aye." He winked. "With pleasure."
"I think mayhap you are a wee bit arrogant."
"Aye," he said as he rested his body atop hers, his full length flush against her sensitive wetness, "very much so when it comes to you." He pressed his brow against hers.
"What?" she asked.
"The first time, "twill hurt."
A smile filled with pleasure and sincerity touched her face. "As I have heard, the pain will last but a short while; then there will be naught but pleasure."
"La.s.s, I believe those are supposed to be my words to offer comfort to you."
She arched a playful brow. "I am a healer."
Need surged through him. "So you are." He slid against her swollen wetness and groaned. "When I take you, we will be joined by yet another bond forever."
"A bond I will cherish," she murmured, her mind overwhelmed with the wonders of her feelings.
Her response left him humbled, thankful for the gift of her being. Aedan drove deep, and Rowan cried out, the streak of pain shattering the warmth of her gaze, tearing him apart. Beneath him, Rowan"s body began to glitter. Stunned, Aedan stilled. The ancient tale was well known. When one of the fey lost her virginity, her skin glittered.
Rowan was a fairy?
Impossible.
He"d scanned her thoughts. She had been raised in the Highlands by the humans.
The twinkles of light coating her body grew brighter.
Panicking, he scoured her mind. Naught. Aedan started to withdraw from her thoughts, but a dark shadow locked deep inside caught his attention. He wove through the matrix.
By the sword"s blade, "twas true!
"Aedan?" Rowan said, her voice unsure.
He tried to focus as his mind fought to understand. A fairy. Which explained her healing abilities, those natural to the fey, and why the Scots who chased her believed her a witch. How could she not know, not have any inkling of such life-altering information? He again scoured her mind for answers, found naught but innocence of the fact.
As if her knowledge of her heritage changed anything? Ancient laws forbid a vampire from changing a fairy into a vampire. Though the fey"s magic was strong, it was unknown if a fairy could survive the transition.
Neither was the threat to her life alone. Regardless of whether she was destined to be with him for life, if he dared try and convert her, the agony she would experience during the transition would be sensed by Ysenda, Queen of the Otherworld, whose retribution was foretold to be quick.
And lethal.
"Aedan, is something wrong?" Rowan asked, her voice anxious.
Wrong? Indeed. She was his mate. But to change her into a vampire was forbidden, and doing so now could invite death. "You are-were a virgin," he said, trying to absorb the enormity of the revelation.
A tentative smile widened her lips. "My body is adjusting."
"Indeed," he said on a groan. What should he do?