Consort

Chapter One

November Eve…and I had to steal myself a consort.

Golden light edged my body as I stood before the long, gilded mirror. I spread a palm over the wrinkles marring the smooth run of the sheer silk gown. A wry smile pulled at my mouth. The practically transparent black silk revealed curves and planes of very bare skin. The gown left very little to the imagination, just as it was meant to. I straightened my shoulders and lifted my chin. Being a reiver, the fertile daughter of a queen, it was my time to hunt down a mate. Any way I could.

“The Queen has opened the Hunt Ball. She looked grim.” My brother’s face appeared over my shoulder and he grinned at me, his dark eyes shining. “So are you ready to terrify the assembled horde? Have every half-decent vampire falling to his knees and declaring his complete devotion?”

“Kester…” I hitched my bare shoulder and dislodged his heavy chin. He smirked at me and flopped onto the chaise lounge placed beneath the high, shuttered window. The leather stretched tight over its cushions creaked as he stretched out his legs. “I know Zara hunts tonight as well. I’ll be lucky if I get within ten yards of any man.”

“Zara.” He rolled his eyes. “No competition for you.”

I bit back sour words. Kester was trying to be a good brother and I appreciated it. But we both knew that I, as the last daughter of a minor, provincial queen, was no match for the first daughter, the only daughter of the ruling Queen. Hell, my choice was even unimportant to my own family. Only Kester had accompanied me on this crucial night.

Zara would have the pick of the men. Well, the pick, with one very important exception. “Is Jager here?”

Kester blinked. “Jager, Zara’s brother, Jager?”

I smoothed my hand over my dark hair. “Why shouldn’t I aim for him?”

Kester bolted upright, his pretence of relaxation gone. His gaze fixed on mine through the mirror. “Because you only have tonight, Tate. You waste it chasing an impossible mark like Jager and by sunup you’ll be nothing more than his slave escravo.” His mouth thinned and I knew a speech was coming. “Don’t play with your future. Trap a minor tanao. A man just turned by an inconsequential queen, still full of the fire of his newly awakened beast, but with no strength of will. Make sure that by dawn you’re safe and ready to build your own colony.”

I twitched a smile, wanting to lift the seriousness from his dark gaze. It had been a joke. Really. It had. Jager was the first, natural son of the ruling Queen. He was so far beyond me it just wasn’t funny. “We should have no ambition?”

“We should try to maintain the position we have and not end up his slave.”

I rolled my eyes. “Kester, it’s a joke. As if I could get within fifteen yards of Jager.” Holding up my hand, I offered the spectacle of swearing an oath. “I promise I will find myself some lackluster tanao, a man barely turned and out of the ground. More plucked vegetable than vampire.” And if I was being honest, I couldn’t expect much more than that. “Is that acceptable to you?”

My gaze flicked around the sumptuous room, the gold-pressed wallpaper, gilt fittings, the heavy swathes of blood-red velvet. A huge, ebony four-poster bed dominated the room, with its profusion of satin, fur and silk. Ambition got a room such as this—complete vampire overkill. Ancient power and wealth oozed through the air. “I have to admit, the power of being a major queen would be tempting.” I looked up, wincing at the encrusted chandelier fixed to the ornate ceiling. It groaned with the weight of crystal and enough wattage to light a small town. “Though I do doubt I could live with the interior design.”

Kester snorted. “You’ll make a fine queen.” He stood and placed warm hands on my shoulders. I patted his fingers. “Just don’t waste the few precious hours you have chasing the impossible. Jager is the Queen’s right arm. He’ll never give up that power.”

“I know.” I held back a sigh. The clock on the marble mantelpiece, more gold filigree than actual substance, chimed the hour in liquid tones. Eight o’clock. Only ten hours in which to prove myself capable of founding a new colony, of starting to build my own court. I would rule them, but Jager’s mother, the ruling Queen, would rule me.

Vampire numbers were small, only running to the thousands. And we kept it that way with the reiver, with the ritual of the hunting queen. A queen who survived the ritual—a rare feat, our males are obstinate—was allowed only three daughters and her share of turning human males into tanao and females into trabal to fill her small court. We didn’t need a population explosion. Humans were barely aware we existed and the plan was to keep it that way. It was safer for everyone, vampires and humans alike. A hand of iron needed to rule the beast at our heart, so only the strongest women became queens.

I had to believe I had that strength because as success brought great power, even for a provincial queen—failure meant a life of servitude to the man I failed to turn to my mate. I met my brother’s concerned gaze in the mirror and tried not to dwell on the latter. “It’s time to go down.”

Kester pulled his hands free and offered his arm. My fingers slid over the soft fabric of his sleeve and the knot in my stomach tightened. Almost every queen, her children and her tanao and trabal from five continents were gathered in the great hall to see in our new year…and to offer a large selection of candidates for two hunting reivers.

My bare feet padded silently over the thick, cool carpet. Bare, so that I could chase down my quarry with ease. Kester pulled open one of the high doors, the wood dragging through the thick pile. I would have to do an inordinate amount of running, mainly as most of the men would be hounding Zara around her ancestral home.

With the exception of one man.

We walked in silence along the corridor, my feet smacking against the dark oak floor. It had been a joke. If I chased Jager then I would be escravo, no more than his slave, beholden to him for the rest of my life. He had a clutch of former reivers, evidence that he couldn’t be caught. And yet…

I wanted to ignore the feeling, tried to push it back down into the dark recesses where it belonged, but it surfaced again. I’d met Jager once, when my second sister hunted. I was just old enough to attend and had been in awe of the glamour of so many gathered queens and their minions. And then there’d been him.

Tall, lithe, with the devastating beauty all our males hold, every eye in the great hall had focused on him and the ruling Queen. My gaze had skirted over her, an ancient vampire, whom even the blood of her tanao couldn’t keep young anymore. I’d tried to hold my gaze on her grayed, lined skin but something in Jager tugged at me.

My gaze seared over his dark perfection and my heart thudded. I stood beside my mother, rooted to the floor, and a fierce animal hunger surged through every muscle and bone. He glanced at me as he swept past, his mother’s gnarled hand gripping his arm. Eyes darker than the deepest shadow cut deep into my flesh. Something in his gaze touched my beast and the first flicker of a growl broke from my lips. His mouth twitched, mocking me…and then he was gone, lost in the enveloping crowd.

Thoughts of him roused my beast, the predator at the heart of a vampire. No doubt every hunting female reacted to his power and beauty in the same way. I had to deny my beast her need and settle for a less appetizing mate.

Kester and I followed the curve of the stairs down to the grand hall. The ceremony to open the Hunting Ball had gone ahead without me. The Queen didn’t want me upstaging her daughter, after all. That was fine by me. Already guests mingled in the antechamber leading through to the hall. Eyes flicked up, skirted over my body, found my face and then dropped away. I wasn’t the reiver they wanted.

My brother placed his hands over my fingers and squeezed. “Remember, don’t let your beast rule you. Tonight is about strategy as much as it’s about finding a man so the beast can play.”

“I know, Kester,” I murmured and tried not to let the image of my beast sporting with Jager drive sense from my brain. “I plan to find a nice tanao, preferably lame and not too bright, whack him over the head with my scent and have the Queen grant me my province.”

His dark eyes narrowed. “Funny, Tate.”

“Are you going to be careful too? Zara may set her beast on you.”

“I don’t think the illustrious Zara will have any interest in me.” Kester snagged a long-stemmed glass from a waiter and passed it to me before he grabbed one for himself. “A minor queen’s third son?” He smirked at me. “I’m not a catch.”

I took a cautious sip of the clear liquid. The sharp burst against the back of my mouth had me gasping and fire flaring through my blood. “Essence.” The word was little more than a hiss. “Her Majesty is sparing little expense tonight.”

Kester shrugged. “Her only daughter is hunting.”

“And you’ll be what…?” I knew exactly what he’d be doing. He was right, Zara would have no interest in him, so he would drink and fuck the new year in. “Busy?”

His smirk deepened. “Maybe.”

“I hate you.”

“Next year you can cavort with the rest of us. There won’t be another reiver for at least a decade.” He deliberately dropped his arm and stepped back from me. “Time for you to shine, Tate.” A smile pulled at his mouth, but his dark eyes grew serious. “I still want to have a twin in the morning, one I can talk to freely and not have to bribe a certain first son for the privilege.”

“I promise, some nice little tanao as my insipid new husband.”

“Good.” He waved his hand to the open doors leading into the grand hall. “Enjoy.”

“The next reiver? I’m going to put in a good word for you.”

“No one will catch me.”

“Keep a hold of that confidence.” I patted his cheek. “Remember it when a queen has you on your knees.”

I turned from my brother and willed myself to enter the circular hall. More crystal and blood-red heavy fabric swathed the room, golden light spilling down on the assembled guests. Already, the crowd thinned, guests drifting off to find other entertainment…and to make themselves available to Zara. I lifted my chin as eyes drifted over me and slipped away with disinterest. I was the daughter of a minor queen, who would only snag a minor mate. No one at the illustrious gathering needed to curry favor with me.

People parted, not from respect, but from the strong desire for me to have no contact with them. It pulsed through the air, amplified by the amount of essence consumed. I took another sip, letting the fiery liquid simmer and evaporate on my tongue. The Queen was rumored to have herds of the milkable humans, that her tanao governed unsuspecting towns and drained the population. A human could produce only a few drops of essence, a piece of their soul, and stay healthy and sane. I took another sip, fire flickering through my veins, and I had to wonder whether she’d decimated those towns for this November Eve celebration.

I moved through the crowd until I found myself in the shadows of an alcove. Curving around to my left were the arched glass doors leading out onto the terrace. The glass reflected the sparkle of the lights, the brilliance of too much jewelry. I leaned against the cool silk lining the walls and let out a slow breath.

I should’ve made a list, picked out the men most likely to fall before a minor queen. But I hadn’t. An idiot part of me didn’t want to be practical. It wanted… I froze. There he was. Jager. I forced breath in and out of my body and pressed my tongue against the sudden prick of my fangs.

He stood with the Queen, his expression serious. He hadn’t changed in the decade since I’d first growled at him. Standing a full head taller than the tanao surrounding him, golden light edged his carved features, shimmering against his black hair. He still held the incredible and powerful beauty that had my breath tight in my chest. I willed back the insistent curve of my fangs, but my beast had a mind of her own. She wanted the innate power that flowed from Jager, wanted to sink her teeth into his heart and mix his power with hers, bind him to her down through eternity. A growl reverberated, but luckily the shadows hid me and the sound lost strength in the noise of the room.

I forced myself to focus on his mother to kill the need I had to jump him. A small, bowed woman with her fingers dug like claws into her son’s arm. The thin circlet of gold, the ruling Queen’s crown, twined through the heavy piles of her blonde hair. Her face seemed paler than I remembered, more lined, and tiredness hung on her. Her age was a jolt of reality. I needed it. Jager was her strength now. He would never kneel before another.

I willed my gaze to the gaggle of women standing behind Jager. Clad in silver silk and standing with dignified calm, their heavy silver collars gleamed. Jager’s escravo, former reivers foolish enough to try to make such a powerful man their mate. They’d become his playthings, condemned to be used as he saw fit. And they were condemned to wear silver as a sign that they would never burn it from their skin—the true mark of a queen being the ability to burn silver to black ash. There was no lower degradation for us. And it would be a fate that awaited me. No, I wouldn’t be stupid enough to—

Eyes darker than shadow held mine. All of my previous logic vanished. Heat flared through me, hotter than the lingering burn of essence. My beast growled and the corresponding gleam in Jager’s gaze almost had me pushing away from the wall and closing the distance between us. But I willed my bare feet still and dug my toes into the warm wood. I made my smile arch, fangs catching sharp on my lips, and Jager’s eyes narrowed.

I ignored the thrum in my blood, the wet ache between my thighs. Anger bubbled under my thoughts, evidence that my beast was not happy with the decision to turn down Jager’s challenge. And the bastard had challenged me.

Did he want to add to his collection? He already had seven women bound to him.

I put my glass on a cloth-covered table. Drinking more essence would only set my beast free, and I wanted that like I needed a hole in the head. I snagged canapés from the table, needing to dull the fire scorching through my gut and taking the edge off my primitive hunger.

I would try my luck in the darkened corridors winding through the great house.

The anger eased and anticipation bloomed heat in my chest. Yes, my beast was appeased with the thought of the hunt, of scenting prey in the darkness. More guests parted before me, some of them scrambling back, fear streaming off them. I twitched a smile and more than one tanao flinched. They’d picked up my scent, the soft, seductive spice of a fertile female, one on the hunt and planning to bring a man to his knees before her.

A queen glared at me, fangs sliding quick, defensive of her brood of young, fresh tanao. None of the ones remaining in the grand hall had any fear from me. Every male who could was out to find Zara. With one exception. And that exception had my skin prickling. Damn it, I could feel the hot slide of his gaze down my back and it had me wet. Spice-laden scent drifted around me, a heady aroma that burned power through my blood.

I pulled in a deep breath and stopped at the dark doorway leading into the interior of the great house. My hand gripped the doorjamb. I was a queen, designed to build a new colony around me, turn deserving humans from food to the ever-living. A queen needed a mate to father her daughters, to bring order to her household.

I glanced behind me. The room had dropped to silence, all attention focused on me. A smile curved my mouth, fangs digging at my lips. It was a smile meant to taunt one man, a man not worthy of me. But Jager no longer stood beside the Queen.

My smile deepened. Fire raced through my body. His disappearance could only mean one thing. He still meant to challenge me and a delicious growl escaped my lips.

Yes, Jager, like all the others who wanted to be prey that night, had left the hall.

Chapter Two

I moved on instinct, melting from shadow to shadow. Maybe I would find Jager, maybe I wouldn’t. The first male I found would be my prey. The little voice in the back of my head, the sane one, said leaving it to fate was insane, that I had to run like hell if I scented Jager.

But I couldn’t make that promise. A vampire lived by fate Thousands of years ago, fate had swept a virulent disease through a remote island far north of Scotland, changing, mutating the inhabitants. The small band of survivors had found themselves ageless, almost immortal and with a craving for the blood and souls of humans. Fate had been good to us—

There. The scent of a male.

I stopped and willed my beast silent, needing to focus. Cool air washed over me, prickling my skin. Behind the closed doors lining the wide corridor, the hurried beat of too many hearts, soft groans and the wet slap of bodies had my breath short. Some had already found partners to see in the new year.

I swallowed, the pulse of sex finding the beat under my own skin. Crushing my eyes shut, I denied the memories filling my thoughts, of the wild release of November Eve. Of my first new year, when two strangers had initiated me into the celebration. I failed as the memory of entering a darkened room, heavy with the scent of desire, swept through me. Strong hands slid, slipped over my body, pulling free my clothes. In the endless hours before dawn, I’d became lost to the heat, the ecstasy of so many fingers, mouths, cocks caressing, sucking, penetrating my flesh—

I scrubbed a hand over my hot face, fire stirring my beast with the ache to fuck. Damn it, I had to focus on the male’s scent, find him and fuck him into submission.

“So this is what you like.” A long male body pressed hot against mine. Large hands caught my fingers and lifted them, pinning them to the silk-covered wall. I groaned at the press of my breasts into a hard, muscled chest. How the hell had I missed him? “To lurk and listen.”

“Jager…” His name was a sigh, of bitterness or relief, I didn’t know. “Kneel.”

His laughter rumbled. “Are you serious, Tate?” His mouth hovered over mine, his breath sweet and hot. I ached to close that short distance and taste him. “Do you really think I’m that easy?”

I lifted my focus from the insane temptation of his mouth to his eyes. “Yes,” I said.

The corners crinkled and a spark of amusement gleamed. “I’ll enjoy sliding the silver collar around your neck. Then I’ll push you down onto your knees and fuck your mouth.” His solid erection rubbed against my abdomen and I tried to ignore the pulse of need, thick and heavy, low in my belly. “Deny that’s got you wet, Tate.”

“Deny you don’t want to taste me.”

He caught my wrists in one hand, the other free to explore the length of my body. His thumb brushed against a pebbled nipple and I hissed. Dropping his hand lower, he started to bunch the silk of my dress. He exposed my thigh, my hip and his fingers slid across my belly. Muscles shivered under the slow brush, the light scrape of his nails under my navel.

I sucked in a breath, my gaze fixed on his. Heat flared in the darkness of his eyes, promising power and wickedness. His thumb pressed lower, lower until he teased my clitoris. I gasped and Jager’s mouth covered mine, his tongue hot, sweet and I arched my hips into his clever fingers. He tasted…addictive. The first kiss deepened, melted into another and I moaned. I needed to fuck him against the wall and then he would fall to his knees and that oh-so-talented mouth would find me—

He pulled back, and his hot whisper brushed my ear. “When you’re my escravo, nothing about you will be denied to me.”

The words jolted sense back into my brain. I licked my lips and gave him a wry smile, ignoring the growl of my beast that wanted Jager buried deep, deep inside my body. “Of course, you’re making the assumption that I plan to hunt you.”

“Aren’t you doing that right now?”

My smile grew. “I was happily listening to an orgy. You pinned me to the wall, Jager.” He stilled. I had him. I’d made no move on him. I, as the hunting queen, was the one who had to initiate contact. “A little too eager to fuck me, perhaps?”

His hands slid away and he stepped back. The loss of his warmth almost had me shivering but I kept the smile on my face. Quick fingers smoothed down the front of my gown.

“Thank you for firing my blood. I’m sure my mate will appreciate it.”

His mouth thinned and his hands balled into fists. I had to wonder whether this was the first mistake he had ever made. And in front of a lowly reiver, too. I patted his cheek, his skin smooth and warm under my fingers. “Better luck with the next reiver.”

“I still have time. We’ll see how long you can resist me.”

I laughed. “Arrogant much?” I lifted an eyebrow. “But then the same could be said of me.” I glanced down at the thick erection straining against his trousers. “Something’s got you hard.” I flicked a hand back down the darkened corridor. “Go and play with your escravo, Jager. They may have a use for you.” Fury pulsed off him and my beast delighted in it. My grin widened. “Go on, run along now.”

The sudden slide of his fangs gleamed in the low light. My pulse jumped and the soft spice of my scent spiraled through the cool air. Jager’s hard chest lifted as he drew in a deep breath. “Run,” he muttered, his low voice no more than a growl.

“I’m the hunter here, Jager. And I choose not to hunt you.”

Shadows melted and in a single heartbeat he pinned me to the wall again, his fingers tight bands around my wrists. My heart missed a beat. Damn, he was fast. His mouth hovered over my neck, the nearness of his fangs to a major artery pounding hot need through my body. “I’ll have you right here, sour your sweet body so any other male will think it an offense to fall before you.” His tongue teased my skin, tracing the quick beat of my blood. “Tell me you don’t want me to fuck you. That you don’t want to be mine.”

Mine. My beast reared and I had to wrap an iron will around it, stop it from hooking my leg around his and rubbing myself against his erection. Mine… “You want me? Get down on your knees.” I shoved against him and wrested myself free. I was a bloody queen—no man threatened me. “Well?”

Jager ran his tongue over his fangs and they slid back into his mouth. He gave me a tight smile. “I’m the natural first son of the Queen. Do you really think you’re worthy of me?”

The base vampire in me wanted to rise to the challenge, declare I was and throw him hard against the wall. But I had more sense than that. I had to hunt a man I could conquer, after all. “Trying to impress me, Jager?” I closed the distance between us and ran a light finger over his lower lip. The remembered taste of him burned on my tongue hotter than essence. My head tilted. “Beg…and I’ll hunt you.”

Jager stepped back from me, his eyes glittering.

I wet my lips and found him watching the deliberate slide of my tongue. “Then down through the centuries you’ll always wonder, won’t you?” My scent drifted through the air, wrapping around us, and Jager pulled it into his body with every deepening breath. “Wonder how wet and tight and sweet I am. How it would feel to fuck me ’til I screamed.” My smile curved. “Because you will wonder…but of course you’ll have your escravo, so compliant, so happy to please.” I backed away, every inch a labor as my beast fought me. “Only my mate and favored tanao will know what you never will.”

His mouth had thinned again. “By dawn, you’ll be one of those compliant women.”

More steps separated us and already I was losing him to the gloom of the corridor. His scent still tugged at me but I fought it. “And yet you don’t sound so confident of that.” I waggled my fingers in a short, sarcastic wave. “November Eve is a time of release, Jager. A time to have fun, to revel.” I smirked at him. “And I know I will.”

Turning, I sprinted down the long corridor. Through the soft moans drifting beyond closed doors, I heard a distinctive low growl. I couldn’t help the grin.

Kester would kill me. I’d started to hunt Jager.

The corridor, after more twists and turns, fed into the summerhouse. Glass stretched around me, exposing the room to the silver gleam of the moon and thick star shine. Heavy palm trees stretched up to the sloped roof, brushing thick fronds against the sheets of glass. The soft swish of the leaves drifted over me. Warm, damp air, thick with life-energy, slid heavy into my lungs and brought with it the scent of a male. Not Jager, but a cool, light aroma, with just a hint of decadence. Something about it seemed familiar and my beast growled. The sound echoed and the scent changed, grew sharp, and through the darkness, his heartbeat quickened.

“You’re not Zara.” A British accent and he had the earthy touch of a tanao. “So, good evening, Lady Tate.”

A smile pulled at my mouth and I padded over the cool tiles. “Well, you have the advantage on me.” I directed my voice to the far corner, where a profusion of exotic climbers still hung heavy with night-dark flowers. “You are?”

“Neron, Seventh Risen to Her Majesty, Queen Ionna.”

So, one of the Queen’s early tanao, around when Zara was born…and reluctant to have her find him. I brushed past a twisting vine, my eyes growing used to the gloom. The tanao’s heat and heart pulsed through the life-energy of the plants. “What’s of interest here, Neron?”

“Before I became ever-living, I was a plantsman. This summerhouse is my creation. The Queen finds it therapeutic.”

Affection warmed his voice. A shaft of moonlight cut through the roof, slicing the dense knot of vegetation and I could just make out a blond head. Light edged his smooth features. The Queen had created a man of carved classical beauty in turning Neron, evidence of her early power. “So you’re hiding?”

“Essence gives me heartburn. I prefer this.” He lifted a small cup, took a sip from it and sighed. “Wormwood tea. Drunk here, surrounded by all this pure life-energy.” He grinned and the gesture was infectious. “Invigorating.” He lifted a pale eyebrow. “Want some?”

The bitter scent drifted through the heat and something in it lifted my heart, had it beating harder. I gave him a rueful smile. “I have to have a clear head.”

Neron watched me over his little cup, his blue eyes gleaming. He drained his tea and shook the dregs over the nearest plant container. “Yes, you do. I smell Jager on you. Be careful, Lady. He’s played and caught too many reivers.”

He stepped out from the swathe of thick planting. Neron stopped and a curious smile curved his mouth. The sudden gleam of fangs against his pale lips caused a hitch in my chest. Liquid fire surged through my veins and the warm air heated my scent.

“But I can see why he wants to play. Your spice burns the blood.”

Oh, if Jager hadn’t slid under my skin, then Neron with his pale perfection would have been worthy of the hunt. My skin prickled and something in Neron’s gaze, a wry humor, put a deliberate sway to my hips as I moved forward. Then I felt it. The other heart beating out of rhythm with ours, a heart I knew. I lifted an eyebrow. Neron had a wicked streak I liked. “I could make it hotter.”

“Neron, leave now.” Jager’s rough order rolled over me.

He gave a short nod. Neron was the Queen’s tanao and had to obey her son. He stopped beside me and gave a deep bow. “An honor to meet you again, Lady Tate.”

I let out a slow deliberate sigh, my gaze flitting over Neron’s blond perfection. Jager’s heartbeat thickened. Good. He had to learn who was in command. “My only regret is that we were so rudely interrupted.”

Neron’s eyes glittered and the beginning of a smirk cut his mouth. “Indeed, Lady.”

“I said out.” Jager’s command came with an undercurrent of his beast. “Now.”

Neron bowed to me, bowed to Jager from where he stood in the open archway and left the summerhouse.

I glared at Jager. “So you plan for me to be the first queen to be neither escravo nor mated by dawn?” Smoothing a hand down over my hair, I turned to a smaller door opening out into a narrow, arched corridor. Chill air washed through the sheer silk of my gown and I held down a shiver. The odor of several males twisted around me, younger vampires only decades since their queens turned them. Nothing like the ancient power of Jager, but their fresh, keen strength whipped through my blood. Any other November Eve, I would have found them and thoroughly enjoyed them.

Jager stalked me, catching up with my fast pace. His boots echoed over the old, damp stone. “Don’t worry, Tate, you’ll be escravo. My escravo.”

My laughter rang around the stone walls. “I’m on the scent of three fresh, young tanao. I’m sure they’d be eager to please and welcome the prestige of being a queen’s consort.”

“This is all hot air.” Jager’s soft, deep voice flowed through the silence of the stone corridor. “You’re hunting me, Tate. No boy with the grave-soil still clinging to his skin would satisfy you.”

“I’m hunting you?” I glanced back. The hot glare of a spotlight washing white light over his features, created a stark, shadowed mask of his face. “Do people usually hunt by walking away from their prey…at high speed?” I smirked at him. “You, I have no interest in. Too old, too hidebound,” my smirk grew, “too used to being your mother’s lapdog.”

He growled, the white gleam of his fangs making my gut tight. No one had the right to be that beautiful, and the primitive part of me, my beast, demanded I stop right there and jump him.

“Lapdog?”

I stopped and turned. The fury rolled off him, a thick wave of anger that surged through me. I willed control and kept the sharp grin on my face. “Aren’t you?” His dark eyes gleamed with fire and a hint of his primitive self watched me. I felt it. The heat of the beast at his heart, glorious, ancient. My own beast ached to growl, to sink sharp fangs into his heart and make Jager ours.

I soothed it with promises. Brute force wouldn’t win a man like Jager. He had to be played, as he planned to play me. The rewards if we won almost had the beast purring. But the danger if we lost terrified me.

Tilting my head, I softened my smile and saw the mistrust flitter across his features. “Now, run along, Jager. I’m sure there must be something in ancient lore about hounding a reiver like this.”

“You touched me.” The distance between us vanished and his body heat swept over me. He took my hand and pressed my right index finger to his lips, the contact running a shock under my skin. His mouth curved into a smile and satisfaction swept off him. “Feel that connection? You marked me, Tate.”

I traced the edge of my thumbnail under his lip. My heart thudded as my mind raced. Already, Jager had backed me against the cool stone of the corridor wall. His height blocked one of the spotlights, throwing his face into heavy shadow. His heat and scent wrapped around me and I tried to ignore the sudden rush of need that had my nipples hard and aching. “Hardly a mark,” I said, very aware of how close his mouth was to mine. I wet my lips and the soft liquid growl escaping him pulsed need low in my belly. His erection pressed hard against my abdomen. “More of a smudge. You’re grabbing at any excuse, aren’t you?”

“Bluff all you want, Tate.”

Heavy hands slid over my hips to pull slowly, inch by inch, the silk of my gown up over my buttocks. The constant brush of light fingers against my ass, the rush of cool silk against my skin and Jager, holding my gaze with a promise of such wickedness… My heart thudded and the ache intensified. I wanted him. And he knew it.

“Let me have you.” The soft words brushed against my lips and my body melted under him. Clever fingers caressed my skin, sketching lazy patterns, edging over each cheek. They slid further, slipping and playing with the damp curls between my thighs. Slow strokes and the tip of his finger pressed, pushed… I gasped as he sank into my tight, hot flesh. His finger stilled. “Let me in and I promise, I promise you such pleasure. An eternity of pleasure.”

He pressed little kisses over my jaw, edging down over my neck to the pulsing artery just below my ear. Fangs pushed against my skin, hard, sharp, pinpoints of assured ecstasy. So simple just to give in. My power as a queen, the heavy burden of it, I could let it all devolve to him and have no fears ever again.

Thoughts of Jager blanketed me, the surge of him in my mind, my flesh, all consuming. Two natural-born vampires… The sex would be incredible. I tugged at his belt, buttons, my fingers finding the solid heat of his cock. Jager’s head jerked up. He bit and laved his healing tongue over my throat, jaw, lips, my mind dizzy from the burning points of bliss. He stared at me, the beast in his eyes flared, and I circled my thumb over the sensitive head of his cock.

His arms tightened, trapping me against his body. “Say you want me, Tate.”

It would be so easy to fall under his spell, and it was a spell. A heady magic that had trapped seven women down through the centuries. Seven. My beast railed against that. Share my conquest with other women? I didn’t share. I was a queen.

My gripping fingers slid down and then up and Jager started to pump into my hand. He growled, the soft, skin-tingling sound brushing warm over my lips. Jager buried his face in my neck, fangs almost, almost breaking the skin. His fingers stretched and pushed, eased deeper into my flesh. In and out, mirroring the slide of my palm over his cock. I crushed my eyes shut against the tight knot of desire in my belly, the hollow ache of my flesh, the need I had to shift my hips and sink onto Jager’s thick cock and ride him ’til I screamed. My beast growled, the escaping sound pushing Jager’s fingers deeper, his thigh shoving up hard against my pubic bone.

I could ride him and find complete bliss—just like all the others.

The beast within wrapped around my conscious thoughts. We hunted for ourselves, not to share Jager with weak-willed women. The growl I released then stilled him, a snarl of possession, of power. “Kneel.”

“No.”

I pulled my hand away from his cock and wiped my palm and fingers on the tail of his shirt. Pushing out, I loosened his arms and his fingers slid from my wet flesh. I stepped away from him, and eased my silk gown back over my exposed skin. My beast sat low in my soul, feeling nothing but pity for Jager, and I let that feeling show as I glanced over his disheveled clothes. He tucked his damp shirt back into his trousers and resettled the smooth material of his jacket over his shoulders.

I lifted my chin. “I release you from the mark.”

“You can’t do that, Tate.”

“I can do anything I bloody well like, I’m a queen.” And I turned from him. The air still burned with the scent of desire, need, and drawing it into my lungs, I wanted nothing more than to fuck Jager. But my beast and I were in agreement. Jager could fuck himself before he fucked us.

“You will kneel before me.” His voice echoed over the stone walls, raw, hard and the ache to taste his power burned through me. I resisted. “This isn’t over. Before dawn, I will have you.”

Chapter Three

The fresh scent of the young tanao broke through, whipping with it cool, damp air. The Queen’s country house had an extensive network of cellars, where the youngest turned would gather. They still needed contact with earth, stone and the comfort of darkness. I would find a young consort, one eager to please me.

Behind me, Jager’s measured footsteps echoed over the walls.

I stopped and glared at him. “You’re dismissed, Jager.”

His brief burst of laughter prickled over my skin. “That’s not how it works, Tate. You’ve marked the male you intend to hunt. You can’t hunt another.”

“Watch me.”

Jager gripped my arm, fingers digging into muscle. Shadow lay heavy over his face, but I couldn’t mistake the pulse of anger surging through him. My beast unfurled. She liked the taste of his fury. “You can’t hunt another.”

“And I told you. I’m a queen.” I wrenched my arm free. “Now, it’s been fun, but you want another slave. So wait ten years for the next reiver.”

He cursed and a muscle jumped in his jaw…but then an eerie calm broke his anger. “Our Queen has ordered this.”

My stomach dropped and I stared at him. The five quiet words punctured me. He’d been ordered to make me his escravo. His fingers slid from my arm and I fought the urge to wrap my arms around my body, protecting me from the unexpected pain cramping my gut. It hurt. To him I was an order to be obeyed. Nothing more.

My beast flared and the anger and indignation burst through me. Heat surged through my muscles and with it the desperate urge to run. Run, hide, scream into the darkness about how unfair it was, but I had to obey the Queen. We all did.

I gripped the wild, petulant emotions that filled me. They couldn’t rule me. Whatever I became after, at that moment I had the pride and dignity of a queen. I let out a slow breath and a smile tugged at my mouth. Seemed I still had the need to be sarcastic, though. “Jager, the obedient son.”

His jaw muscles tightened. “Every one of us is bound to the Queen and must obey her in all things.”

“Even who you fuck? So this is what you do? Enslave queens because your mother said so?”

“No.” His heart thudded slow and I felt the weight of his lie lifting from him. “I wanted my escravo, needed to have them subservient to me.”

I’d thought his previous words had cut deep, but his dismissal, his rejection, twisted a knife in my gut. “This must be torture.” I couldn’t keep the sarcasm from my voice. I’d marked a man who didn’t even think me worthy of being his slave. I wanted my beast to growl, to fight, to give me something other than the agony of my humiliation, but he’d wounded her too. She was a knot of pain deep in my soul. Bastard.

I lifted my shoulders. I could never turn this man. He would never kneel at my feet. “Why?” I smoothed a palm over my hair, but the gesture didn’t calm me. “Why did the Queen order this?” I had to know. None of us could disobey her will. Well, we could, but a vampire wouldn’t live long after.

Jager let out a slow breath. He glanced behind me, his eyes narrowing. “Not here.”

“Why?”

“Because I won’t discuss state business in a tunnel.” He stood back and waved his hand back toward the summerhouse. “After you, Tate.”

I willed myself to walk past him and retrace my steps to the summerhouse. “I suppose I’ve saved myself some humiliation. If I’d given in, become your escravo at the first touch, then I’m sure you’d have shoved this as well as your dick into my face.”

“You would never have known.”

I snorted. “And that’s supposed to make it better?”

The warm scented air of the summerhouse drifted through the cold bite of the stone corridor. It had been only minutes since I’d flirted with Neron and felt the power of being a hunting queen. Now I was under orders to be Jager’s unwanted slave. His hand brushing my spine jolted me forward into the glass summerhouse. “Where are we going?”

“My apartments.”

“And we still have to…” I waved my hand vaguely, brushing over the feathered fronds of a low palm. Something that had always crept out from my most secret desires had suddenly become a reality, but the thought of sex with Jager had my stomach cramping.

His fingers teased a slow path up my spine and I hated that a rush of heat fired under my skin. My beast wanted something out of our humiliation. “We must seal the bond, Tate.”

“Whether I want to or not?”

“Oh, you want me.”

The promise in his voice washed bittersweet through me. And I couldn’t deny my primitive half still ached for him. His hot hand on my lower back burned through the thin silk to my skin. I swallowed, unable to stop the ache tight in my flesh at just that simple touch. The man had made me insane for too many years.

Jager leaned in close, his breath brushing my ear. Goose bumps flashed over my skin. “And you’ll have me. All of me. I promise you.”

The doors to the royal apartment opened before us, ancient hinges creaking as the ebony wood swept over gilded tiles. The Queen’s inner sanctum, a place where only her children and favored tanao lived, stretched out before me. A great domed atrium with more double doors leading off them. My heart thudded. How had I got myself into this? But I hadn’t, had I? Queen Ionna had sent her son after me. Even if I’d had no interest in him, Jager would’ve hunted me down.

“Fast work.”

I froze at the soft, cultured voice and the humor that undercut it. Zara, his sister. I didn’t turn around, but stood with Jager’s hand stinging the base of my spine. She knew what her brother had to do, and thought it funny.

“Gloating doesn’t become you,” Jager said.

Zara glided in front of me, her silk gown caressing the gilt tiles. Tall and dark, she almost held the same incredible beauty as her brother. Almost. Something around her mouth and jaw appeared oddly sharper, increasing as she gave me a smirk. “I’m just congratulating you, Jager.” She tilted her head, her long hair tumbling over her shoulder. Her dark gaze flitted over me, bright, condescending. My beast uncurled, licks of her anger firing my skin. I wasn’t escravo just yet. “Though there’s still a burn to her. Tut, tut, Jager. You haven’t fully tamed her beast.”

“Zara, shouldn’t you be hunting?” He sounded calm but the hard press of his fingers against my spine screamed his tension. “You need to find someone worthy.”

“There are several.” She glided behind us on silent feet, her lush body moving with liquid grace beneath her sheer gown. “They’re making it too easy, which is no fun at all. I may go for one of the old ruling house. They’ve always hated us. Should be more of a challenge.”

I glanced at Jager and found his mouth thinned and a hard light in his dark eyes. “Don’t fuck this up, Zara.”

Zara’s pulse jumped at her throat and anger rolled from her. “You’re the weak link in this plan—”

“Zara…” Jager growled her name, fury licking under his words. My skin prickled and for a quick instant even his sister stayed quiet. “Go hunt.”

“And you, do your duty.”

The sharp reproof in her voice cut through me. Was I his duty? The reiver he had to turn to an escravo on the orders of his mother. For what reason? So that his sister would have the single glory of facing the sun as it crawled over the horizon, standing alone to receive her new province from her mother?

“Tate.”

Jager’s firm touch at my lower back had me stumbling forward across the atrium. Zara had gone, drifting back down the long gallery and away from the royal apartments.

“Am I your duty?”

More heavy doors opened, swinging back against pale, silk-lined walls. They closed behind us with a soft whoosh of air. Jager, too, let out a slow breath. He shrugged out of his jacket and padded over the thick carpet to the circular sitting room at the end of the short corridor. No thick velvet or heavy, baroque furniture for him. Soft golden light splashed over sleek dark furniture and I watched as Jager threw his jacket over a long couch.

“You’re my duty,” he said.

And that broke my thoughts on his taste in interior design. He tugged his tie loose. I tried not to think about what would happen now, what had to happen by order of the Queen… Naturally, I failed. Jager exuded sex and power and I couldn’t ignore that combination.

He popped his cufflinks and rolled white sleeves up his forearms. The simple sight of his flesh had a warmth sinking low into my belly and my beast wanted more. Jager looked up, his dark eyes narrowing. My scent softened the sterile air. “Despite everything, you still want me.”

No gloating tainted his voice and that made it worse. It would be easier to hate him, but it would be ridiculous to deny the need I had to get him naked. I shrugged. “Yes.”

A brief smile tugged at his mouth. Something in it, an intimacy, a connection between us, kicked my gut.

“Nothing if not honest, Tate.” The smile faded, his expression sobering. “And I should be just as honest.” His shoulders straightened. “The Queen walks at dawn.”

I flopped onto the neared chair and stared at him. Clutching my hand to my chest, panicked, my heart pounded under my tight fist. As a vampire neared the end of life the tolerance to the sun faded, becoming as fatal even to the natural-born as those freshly turned. I knew that even the ever-living died. Was Queen Ioanna really that old, that fragile? “She walks?” More thoughts flared. “And she only walks at a time a reiver hunts…” I closed my eyes, “as the crown passes on to that new queen.”

“My mother wants Zara to follow her. And a Queen’s word is law.”

I bit my lip. Yes, they had never meant for me to be a queen. If the ruling Queen died and more than one reiver hunted, then it forced a duel. “You didn’t want me fighting Zara.” A bitter laugh escaped me. “It would hardly have been a contest, you know, Jager. You could’ve saved yourself the effort of…” I waved a vague hand at him, “of this.”

“Your mother rules a tiny province, but it’s still on this island. An innate power is implied for any that rule here, you know that.” His mouth pulled into a grimace. “Whether it’s true or not.” He loosened his tie further, pulling it free of his collar and threw it over his jacket. His fingers moved to the buttons on his shirt. “You had a right to try for the throne.”

I stared at him, working his words through my brain. “Was there an insult in there somewhere?”

“Would I insult you, Tate?”

But my reply dried in my mouth. He’d slid free the last of the buttons and pulled the shirt from his back. Jager’s naked chest—something I’d only imagined. His skin gleamed as smooth and clear as honey and my beast ached to lick, to taste him. In a blink, a speed that surprised even me, I stood in front of him.

Would he be worth it? Giving it all up and sharing him? My stomach knotted at that thought. Sharing him, when he should have been my mate, meant only for me.

A trembling finger traced the defined muscles of his abdomen, the touch light but intoxicating. He twitched under my caress and I couldn’t help the growing smile. My beast released the softest growl. We both wanted him, however we could get him. I lifted my gaze to his and found the heat of his beast staring back at me. It had me swaying into him, the sheer, warm silk of my gown the only barrier. His hands slid hot down my back, and my chest hitched, need pooling low in my belly. “I want to lick you. Bite. Taste you.”

“Tate…”

“What?” I licked a slow path along his collarbone and he hissed. Jager tasted salt-sweet, a mixture that had my fingers inching around his waist, stroking over his hot skin. “I will be yours.” My admission broke an unexpected growl against his chest. Anger or satisfaction, I didn’t know. Maybe both. Open-mouthed kisses trailed down over the solid muscle of his pectoral, my teeth tugging at his nipple. Fangs pricked him and Jager’s moan had my nails digging into his back. “All yours.”

His hand fisted in my hair, holding my head at his nipple. I broke skin and lapped at the little beads of blood staining his chest. He tasted—I had to will myself not to sink my fangs deep and drink him—because he tasted, sweet, hot, like sparks of fire on my eager tongue. I groaned, wanting him horizontal and completely naked. “A bed. I need you on a bed. Right now.”

“Tate…”

I tore my mouth from his skin, blood slicking my lips, my tongue. “A bed, Jager. I—”

His mouth covered mine, the fierce kiss robbing me of all thought. He lifted me, hands firm under my thighs and, with my gown shoved up to my hips, I wrapped my legs around him, my arms linked behind his neck. His hot skin pressed against mine and I gripped him. Hard.

He broke away. “A bed?”

I ran my tongue over his lip, tasting the fading memory of the fire in his blood. “Big square thing? Mattress, sheets, pillows? Enough room to fuck you on?”

“I think I have one of those.” He strode back along the short corridor, more doors opening quietly over thick carpet. Soft lights flickered on, revealing a curved room dominated by a large four-poster bed. Jager turned toward it and the doors to the bedroom closed with a soft click.

“No expense spared.”

He laughed, the sound a soft rumble against my breasts. “We incorporated human technology into the house. They provide for us in so many ways.”

I bit back a smile. Damn it, I didn’t want to like Jager, not now. “You haven’t broken the law, have you, Jager? Slept with what you ate?”

He lifted a dark eyebrow. “Sleep? No.”

A laugh escaped me. “The Queen’s son fucked food? Oh dear.”

Jager tried to keep his face straight but his mouth twitched. “They have no stamina. One little bite undoes them.” His teeth pierced the vein below my ear, pinpricks of sharp pleasure that had me gasping. I clung to him, willing him to draw blood, needing him to pull me into his body. He licked over the wound, easing the flow of blood into a slow, pulsing release. The curl, the lap of his hot tongue beat with my blood, sank through me, my thoughts dizzying.

I melted, and all too easily he eased me down onto the bed, his mouth never leaving my neck. He pressed his solid muscles against my body, his arms straining as he lifted his torso. His silky hair brushed my face and the rhythmic lap of his tongue beat an increasing ache through my body. No other man had ever bitten me and turned me into a boneless mass of need. Yes, a human would never survive him. I began to doubt that I would. “Jager…please.”

“You taste…” The soft groan of pleasure had my flesh tight. “I could spend the rest of my life eating and fucking you.”

My beast growled and I arched my hips, pushing against his erection. “You’re only eating.”

Jager’s laughter brushed warm breath over my wet skin. “Very true.” His tongue pressed against my neck, curling, before he lapped again. He let out a slow, satisfied sigh. “Get me naked.”

My hands moved without thought, pulling at the buckle and buttons of his trousers. I stopped and my beast hissed at me. “Please,” I murmured. “Say please.”

“Tate…”

I pulled at my gown, tugging it free of him and eased it up over my abdomen. My hand slid across my belly, knuckles brushing against the tight muscles of his stomach. I tapped my fingers against my mons, the tips flicking at his skin. “I’m wet, Jager.” I slid down, my fingertips playing just above my clitoris. I dipped, circling and the sudden touch swept an unexpected charge through me. My hips bucked, pushing me deliciously against his body and pressing my fingers harder, deeper. I groaned. “So very wet.”

Jager’s tongue had stilled on my neck, his breathing ragged. “No games, Tate.”

The rough command in his voice had my slick fingers rubbing fast. I arched against him, the back of my hand stroking low over his abdomen, teasing as I brushed his straining erection. My breath came short, my heart beating out rapid thuds. The first tendrils of orgasm coiled low in my belly. “I’m not playing.” My fingers burrowed deeper into my flesh, aching to satisfy my need. “And since you won’t—”

“Please.”

He ground out the word against my neck, his fangs pricking me and forcing a cry against the sudden rush of heat. But my hands flew. The belt buckle, the buttons and a quick scrabble to push down the thick fabric…until my wet fingers gripped him. Jager groaned and pumped into my hand.

With a final long lick, he closed the wounds on my neck. The liquid fire in my blood ebbed, but only for a moment. His mouth covered mine, the copper tang of my blood warm on his tongue. A hand wrapped around mine, easing his cock down over my flesh, pressing, pushing, until with a groan, he sank into me.

I shifted my hips, urging him deeper. His mouth broke from mine, his lips finding the pulse in my neck. The heat, the solid muscle surrounding, holding me, had my heart pounding. I traced my fingers down the hollow of his spine, to tease the cleft of his buttocks. “See where saying please will get you?”

He smirked against my skin. “It just became my favorite word.”

Jager rolled his hips and sensation buffeted me, the fire licking again, low in my abdomen. He drew away and slid back, so slowly that it had me gasping. Damn him. I needed the release, could taste it, the burning ache of it, he just needed to…

“Your turn to say it.”

I didn’t hesitate, my beast wouldn’t let me. “Please…”

“Good.” The word was almost a growl and had my pelvis lifting up to meet his next thrust. “You’ll be mine, Tate.”

I met him again. He could think that, say that—I really didn’t care. I, my beast, wanted him now, hard inside me, fucking me ’til I screamed. “More.” I tilted my hips and locked my legs around him. My hands grabbed hold of muscled cheeks, urging him to thrust harder, faster. “Now.”

He glared at me, his beast looking into mine, fire lurking in the depths of his dark eyes. “Is that what you want?”

I dug my nails into his cheeks, jerking him forward. “Would please help?”

The beast in him snarled and my own answered, fire and heat scorching between us. My fangs slid down to press against the edges of my lips. Soon primitive desire would overtake us both in a raw, inevitable surge.

Jager loomed over me, burying himself deep. “You’ll scream for me.”

My teeth pricked the muscle below his collarbone, drawing a trickle of dark blood. I lapped and licked, pulling him into me, my mouth fastened to his skin. Jager groaned, thrusting hard into my body. Fire swept over my skin, hot, searing.

I arched, holding him deeper, unable to deny the surge of my beast, of his as he slammed back into my body again and again. The liquid fire of his blood beat within my veins, coalescing with the building heat of my orgasm.

I fought the rise, the ache in my flesh, the flare of my release. Too soon. I wanted, needed the power of it to hold me, feed me, but the addictive taste of his blood, the strength of his body surrounding me, within me pushed at the coiling heat low in my belly. I clung to him, drinking him, wanting, needing—

A wave of molten heat crashed over my body, ripping my mouth from his skin as I screamed out my release. Jager bit deep into my shoulder, the sensation smashing another orgasm over my trembling body. His muffled cry burned hot against my skin and the tight grip on my body eased, softened. His slow feed, a gentle, exquisite pulse of my blood into him had my head falling back into the soft pillows, hands softening against his hot, damp skin.

I ran trembling fingers through his thick, dark hair. “Jager…” I swallowed as my voice cracked on his name. “I have to…y’know.” My other hand traced over his ribs and I couldn’t say the word. My life as a queen was over. I had to surrender my power to him, kneel before him and take him into my mouth.

Closing my eyes, I let out a slow breath. His tongue laved over the bite marks on my shoulder, healing the wounds. He eased the damp silk from my skin, his clever hands teasing over my ribs, breasts, shooting little aftershocks through my flesh. There was the soft rustle of his own remaining clothes and then he pulled me into his arms, his thigh pushing between mine.

“We sleep,” Jager murmured, tugging warm, soft blankets over our nakedness, and his breath brushed against my temple. “I’ll fuck your mouth later.”

“Make it sound like a chore, why don’t you?”

His mouth curved against my temple. “Nothing about you is a chore, Tate.”

My stomach tightened. Damn it, I didn’t want to like him, but that had sounded like affection in his voice. My sated beast grumbled and I couldn’t deny that the sudden ache in my chest tasted like regret. “Is this what we’ll be like now? With me just one of eight easy fucks?”

“Tate…”

His arms tightened around me, but the offer of comfort only reminded me that I would simply be one of numerous bodies he enjoyed. “Don’t make me watch.” The lump in my throat hurt and my beast flickered at the pain cramping my chest. “Don’t…don’t make me join in.”

Jager pressed his lips to my forehead and the possessive stroke of his hands over my body eased the strain. “From now on, only I will see or touch you, I promise.”

My humor reasserted itself out of self-preservation. “Going to lock me in a box?”

His soft laughter brushed over my damp skin. “Don’t give me ideas, Tate. You’re mine now.” Jager’s large hand slipped over my waist to grip my hip. He pulled me tight against the heat, the strength of his body. His scent threaded through me—spice, sex and the tantalizing hint of the fiery taste of his blood. “So sleep,” he murmured.

A slow sigh escaped me. He’d put off my final capitulation to him. I wanted to be grateful, but he was only putting off the inevitable. “Happy November Eve, Jager.”

“It’s not over yet.”

His words followed me uneasily down into a dreamless sleep.

Chapter Four

I awoke to soft lamplight and a hot mouth on my breast. Jager’s hand slipped over the curve of my belly, stole across the crease of my thigh to dip and find my clitoris. I gasped, twisting my hips against the sudden onslaught.

“Finally, you’re awake,” he murmured, his teeth grazing the delicate underside of my breast. “I had to go ahead and start without you.”

A snort of laughter escaped me. Jager had never looked like a man with a sense of humor. “That’s fine if you want to lick a little further down too…”

He looked up, his beast molten fire in his eyes. “After I’ve fucked your mouth.”

The words were almost a growl. His tongue teased its way down over my stomach, circling my navel as his fingers stroked through my slick flesh. My hand fisted in his hair and everything in me ached to push him down farther, for his mouth, tongue, teeth to be buried between my thighs.

“You ache for it, don’t you?” Jager’s breath stirred the skin below my navel, so close that I could imagine him sinking lower, lower. “You want my hands on your thighs, gripping you, holding you wide open so that my tongue can trace down, curl and lick and lap at you. For me to prick at your skin and drink you…”

His words spread molten fire under my skin, his strong hands brushing over my parted thighs, thumbs pressing into soft flesh. I imagined him there, visualized it, and the image of him became so sharp in my mind I could almost see the dark silk of his hair, feel it cool against my damp body. He would lap and lick me, curling his hot tongue to tease my clitoris, his teeth burning points of ecstasy in my skin.

I arched under him, but his hands held me firm, and his mouth didn’t move from low on my abdomen, his lips burning so tantalizingly close, but so far from where I ached for him to be.

Jager’s strong hands held me down, gripped me as the fiery need for me to have him, have the power of him bow to me raged. My beast wanted it, demanded it. “Jager…” His name was practically a snarl and the prick of his teeth pierced the softness of my belly. The tension thickened, my beast roaring to the surface. I was a queen, I deserved a vampire such as Jager, an intoxicating riot of power and beauty.

His ragged breaths burned against my damp skin. I clung to the image of him, between my thighs, feeding the need of my beast with it.

Then Jager stoked the fire in my veins. “Feel me there, Tate. My tongue, hot and deep inside you. You’d taste sweet, succulent. Honey and fire on my tongue. My power…” His hands gripped my thighs hard enough to bruise. I didn’t care. His power, all that was his would be mine down through eternity. He would be mine. His raw whisper burned against my belly. “My beast would serve you. Only you. Then…then I’d bury my face and eat you ’til you screamed. Making me yours.”

His final words hit me. Yours. Mine, forever.

My spine arched and orgasm smashed over me. I think I screamed, the sound echoing with the roar of my beast. I lost my body in the riot of blinding fire, but there on the edge of my awareness was Jager, his flesh hot against mine, his mouth, his tongue pulling my blood into him. Yes, mine. Forever.

Another crash of flame leapt through my body. I lost all senses, time, everything but the rhythmic lap of Jager’s tongue. Slowly, so slowly I came back to myself and wiped at the tracks of tears staining my face. The bittersweet knowledge that he would never belong to me stabbed a sharp edge into the glory of my release. I sank to the mattress and ran trembling fingers though my damp hair. It’d seemed incredibly real, but it wasn’t. His words were just a game. I pushed down the hurt lying thick in my soul. Maybe I could pretend that wasn’t real either. “You’re evil,” I muttered.

He paused and then grinned against my abdomen. “I know.” His lips, his tongue brushed over my stomach in thorough exploration. “And I will do that.” His gaze flicked up, and dark eyes speared me. “After I fuck your mouth.”

I swallowed. The time had come for me to give up my power to him as ordered by his mother, the Queen. I had to remind myself of that, because I wanted nothing more than to shove my fists into his hair and thrust his head down. I wanted his power. I wanted him as my mate.

Jager’s gaze dropped as his mouth sank once more over my breast. He teased the hard nipple. “But first…” His mouth pulled away from my breast with a pop and with easy strength, he rolled me onto my stomach. “I want something else from you.”

I yelped as his teeth sank into my backside.

“There’s not an inch of you that I don’t want to bite,” he murmured, his tongue licking over the wound. His fingers slid between my legs, tracing in a slow slide over my labia, up, up until he paused at my puckered hole. He teased it and my hips bucked. I pushed back and his finger breached the hole, pushing in and pulling out in a slow rhythm.

Tension coiled tight in my belly and I bit down on a soft growl. My beast wanted him to fuck me again. “More.”

“Remember who rules here, Tate.” His fingers stilled, but I pushed back, driving him deep. I groaned.

“Until I kneel.” I shifted my hips and felt the press of another of Jager’s fingers. I caught my hands in my hair and I couldn’t help the soft moan. “Or better yet, you do, neither of us—” His fingers scissored and all ability to speak deserted me.

Jager knelt up behind me, his hot thighs pressing against mine. His fingers stretched and worked me, heat burning deep in my belly. Need gripped me. I wanted him buried inside, pounding against me, hard, the slap of our bodies and satisfied grunts and moans our only sounds.

Jager pulled his fingers free and I cried out at the loss.

“This is better.”

The blunt head of his slicked cock pushed against my ass, Jager pressing it into my stretched hole. He was big. Far too big and my beast ached for him. Heat and fire-edged pain ran through my nerves. My beast growled and jerked my hips back.

I gasped and we both stilled, letting my body grow used to the full length of him buried in my ass. His large hands trembled before he took a tight grip on my hips.

He pulled back, slow, and I almost bit through my lip at the raw sensation, the incredible mix of pain and burning pleasure. His fingertips dug into my abdomen and his low growl had my nipples hard and aching. “More,” I said and his growl deepened.

He slammed into me and my spine arched.

“Faster.”

The flick of his fury echoed in the low snarl that escaped him. His beast had him, controlled him as he pounded into my willing flesh. I met him stroke for stroke, the fire, the urgency gripping me. He buried a hand between my legs, filling me, fingers stroking, fucking and my beast arched my back, shoving me back hard—

Orgasm shattered me, the roar of my beast echoing around the room, mixing with Jager’s sudden snarling release. I wilted to the bed, half dragging him with me, and tried to remember how to breathe. Jager pulled free of my body and drew me back against his damp chest. My legs still trembled and my backside throbbed, but I didn’t care as my beast sank happily down into my soul.

Jager pressed a kiss to my damp hair and his hand cupped my breast, fingers playing idly over my tight nipple. Aftershocks coursed under my skin at his touch.

“It’s not long before dawn, Tate,” he murmured against my ear, skin prickling at the brush of his warm breath. Jager slid his hand from the slow and easy caress of my breast to trace a gentle line along my ribs, waist and hips. “We must make you my escravo.”

Something in his voice pushed cold under my skin. I closed my eyes and fought the sudden cramp in my gut. He had kept his promise of pleasuring me, but that was as far as he wanted it to go. Jager didn’t want another escravo. Hell, he had seven women already, quite prepared to do his slightest bidding, women he had chosen. I’d been foisted on him by the machinations of his mother.

I let out a slow breath. And I would have him in my bed only when he saw fit. No, neither of us wanted this. “I could run, Jager. Hide. You could say overenthusiastic sex on your part drained me beyond endurance, which wouldn’t do your reputation any harm—”

His hand had stilled on my hip, his fingers digging into soft flesh. “You want people to think that I killed you?”

I ignored the undercurrent of anger in his voice. “Wouldn’t that be easier for everyone? Zara has no contest for the ruling throne. You don’t have yet another slave you don’t want and I get…”

“What?”

Not to see you pick a woman every night that isn’t me. But the truth went unsaid. “I’ll be free, Jager. I’ll get my freedom.”

“You know neither of us can do that. If we don’t obey the Queen,” his fingers loosened on my hip and began to caress me with long, easy strokes, “then we have no honor.”

I closed my eyes and let his gentle touch soothe me. “I could live with that.”

Jager pressed his mouth to my shoulder and I felt his smile. “Queens are often a law to themselves.”

My gut didn’t cramp as I murmured, “Time for me to give that up.” I pulled free of him and slid off the bed. A smile pulled at my mouth and the unexpected ease of what I was about to do surprised me. Finally making the decision eased my regret. My gaze slid over his perfection, golden lamplight shadowing his honey skin. “You should wash.”

“We both should.” In one fluid movement, he was off the bed, gripping my hand and tugging me toward the bathroom.

Lights flickered on as he padded into the room, brilliant spots of light sliding over pale terracotta walls. He pulled me toward a curve of wall, the slap of his bare feet echoing around the room. I glanced out of the large window. It looked onto parkland, rolling grass stretching up into a dark forest with the sky losing the deep black of night. Already the stars were fading. Dawn was almost with us.

The splash of water snapped through the first stirrings of panic. Jager stood under a stream of hot water, jets caressing, flowing over every inch of his sculpted body.

My beast growled and I had to agree. He was beautiful. I stepped onto the cushioned floor of the shower, splaying a hand against his chest and watching water cascade over my fingers. I traced the hair flattening to his pectorals and the line of it growing down his abdomen. I pressed my mouth to his nipple, tasting skin and hot water as the shower plastered my hair to my head.

“Washing first,” Jager said, squeezing a cold line of lotion across my shoulders.

I shivered and glanced up, slicking up against him as he rubbed a warm hand down my spine to the curve of my ass. “Are you saying I smell?”

He smirked. “Well, someone had to tell you.”

I pinched him and he yelped, managing to look indignant and shocked. Obviously, no one had ever pinched the Queen’s son before. I grabbed the soap and squirted it over his stomach, lathering his chest, stomach and sliding my hand down to grip his semi-hard cock.

“Tate…”

His growl curled under my skin and it seemed the most natural thing to drop to my knees. I tried not to think about the padding that cushioned the floor, whether it was by design to accommodate a captured reiver…

I slid my palms up the solid muscle of his thighs, his erection so close to my mouth, the urge to flick out my tongue filled me.

“Tate…” He brushed at my soaked hair, pushing it back from my face. His fingers stroked my cheek, his hand trembling. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want you like this. I wanted—”

I licked the underside of his cock and broke his words. I didn’t need his explanations. With the rising of the sun, I began a new life, just not the one I’d been expecting. Licking at the sensitive head, I sucked him into my mouth, my tongue teasing, sliding, curling. Jager groaned, the muscles in his thighs tensing under my fingers.

Water splashed over my face, ran slick against his skin. He tasted of soap, skin and the first hint of pre-cum, salt-sweet on my tongue. My nails edged over his skin, tracing the crease of his thigh. Jager’s hand caught in the tangled strands of my hair. Over the constant rush of water, his soft, uncontrolled moans had my heart thudding. My thumb tip eased over his balls and his fingers clenched.

I took him deeper and his low groan throbbed through me. His hips shifting involuntarily, he thrust into my mouth. My gaze flicked up and through the fall of water, I caught his smoke-dark eyes. Passion edged with pain burned there. He crushed his eyes shut and lifted his jaw, the muscles tight. “Finish it,” he muttered and thrust again.

Surprise had me grabbing his buttocks, meeting his thrusts, taking him deeper. My tongue caught the sensitive head as he drew back, teasing, catching the drops of cum, wanting him now and always. My teeth grazed his skin, drawing beads of his fire-rich blood into my body.

My fingers flexed around his buttocks as the incredible tastes of him mixed within me, burning need down to my core. Taking him into my mouth marked my slavery. The rising sun would seal it. But in that moment, I didn’t, couldn’t care. With my body on fire, water rushing hot over my skin and Jager’s cock filling my mouth, I could live with his domination.

I pushed myself against his thighs, wanting him, wanting him to come inside me. I would be his, whatever way he would take me, I would be his.

“Tate!” The half-growl that came with my name burned fire up through my body, dazzling light and heat in a brief explosion behind my eyes. I gasped, desperate not to bury my fangs and drain him…

And then he came. I swallowed, sucked, licked and finally pulled my mouth free of him, and found Jager dragging me up, holding me in tight, fierce arms, his face pressed into my neck. I couldn’t catch his fast murmured words. I just clung to him. The press of his hot flesh had me sighing.

“I’m sorry, Tate.” Jager pulled back, his hands framing my face. “I didn’t want this. I wanted…” His mouth found mine, hungry and consuming. Breaking free, his forehead rested against me. “I wanted you.”

A smile curved my mouth. My beast curled happy and sated deep in my soul. I really didn’t feel all that different. Maybe…maybe I could live with it. “You have me, Jager.”

“No, I haven’t. I wanted you to be my queen, Tate.”

A stone lodged in my chest and the fiery lick of anger from my beast told me I’d just disturbed its happy, satiated state. “You…?”

“Zara said it. I was the weak point in their plan.” He let out a slow, hot sigh, rivulets of water coursing his face. “I would’ve knelt down to you in the hall and taken you as my queen.”

The pain in my chest bound tighter. Damn it, how could it hurt more than thinking he didn’t want me? My throat ached. In a time that could be counted in minutes, the sun would’ve sealed our union and our future stretched out. A province, tanao, children, daughters. I crushed my eyes shut, bleeding tears into the flow of water. Jager would have given me daughters…

“Tate…”

I wanted to hate him, punch him, make him hurt as I did but it would be pointless. Nothing I did would change my fate. “The sun will take away the regret for you.” I ran my thumb along his bottom lip. “Maybe for both of us.”

“I…”

He wanted to apologize again, but the hard press of my thumb stopped him. “I can feel the pull of the sun, Jager.” I stepped back from him, out of the hot jets of water. Cold air robbed me of heat and I shivered. “Time to welcome the new year.”

Chapter Five

I grabbed a couple of towels on my way out of the bathroom. Stalking across the bedroom, I struggled to wrap one around my body, but only succeeded in tangling myself up in the soft, white material. I swore and lashed the bloody things to the floor, kicking them for good measure.

The towels landed with a soft thump on the tangled sheets of the bed.

Warm, damp hands landed on my shoulders and I jumped. “Those evil towels,” he murmured. He wrapped a soft towel around my back, tucking it under my arms and over my breasts. His hands slid down, gently rubbing the towel against my wet skin.

Tears leaked again. Damn him. I didn’t want his humor or his kindness. Affection from Jager made everything worse. “Is this what you do when you’re with your escravo? Treat each fallen queen as if she still has some remnant of her power?”

Jager pressed his lips to my shoulder, the light prick of his teeth pulsing fresh need through my veins. His tongue curled over the shallow wound. He sighed. “I freed them. My new year’s gift to them and to you.”

“You freed them?” My heart twisted and the bloody man had me crying again. “Really?”

Jager turned me to him, his hand smoothing the towel soft down my spine. His gaze fixed on my mouth and a muscle jumped in his jaw. “We’ll never have the bliss of children, Tate.” His hand stilled and his gaze flicked up, the shine to his eyes telling of his own pain. He let out a slow breath and began a slow stroke over my waist, my hip. “And I will always curse my mother and Zara for robbing us of that but I can make it, and keep it, just…us.”

I wanted to believe that. Everything in me, my beast included, didn’t want to share Jager with anyone else. Then reality reasserted itself. “Until the new Queen orders you to remove the threat of yet another reiver.”

“Sons deal with that threat, not brothers.”

“That’s not the law, Jager.”

The fire of his beast flickered in his stern gaze and my own beast stretched in my gut, reminding me why I’d hunted him in the first place. Strength of will surged around him. “It will be.”

A smile twitched across my mouth. “You’re sure you can force the Queen into doing what you want?”

Jager snorted. “Zara isn’t strong. Not as strong as the Queen should be.” His hand framed my jaw, his thumb playing with my lip. “Not like you.” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “My mother has done all of our race a disservice by denying you.”

“Flattery?”

“Maybe…” But the hardness to his face, the barest touch of a smile on his mouth said that he wasn’t humoring me. He stepped back. “As you said, it’s time to welcome the new year.”

I snatched up one of the towels on the bed and rubbed it hard over my hair. The pain diverted me. I padded to the window to stare down to the lawns, lit now by the soft, golden glow of lamplight. Already servants scurried to arrange the platform for the dignitaries, for the Queen and the hunting reiver.

A smile quirked my mouth. Everyone would witness my humiliation. My hands stopped and I let the towel drop to the floor. Kester would see me standing before practically every queen in the world, clad in submissive silver.

“Tate, you have to dress.”

The towel wrapped around my body joined the first one on the floor. I turned. Jager laid my costume across the end of the bed, the rustle of soft cloth, the clink of the linking chains suddenly too loud in the room. “None of it feels quite real.”

“I know,” he said, looking up from fastening the buttons on his shirt. He tucked the tails into his trousers and quickly knotted his tie. “Ten years ago I didn’t plan on facing the dawn like this.”

I picked up the costume, rubbing rough-napped fingers over the impossibly smooth material. “Ten years?”

“A young vampire, only just eligible to attend, growled at me, beast-fire in her eyes.”

Puzzled, I glanced up from trying to crawl into the chained contraption. A smile tugged at his mouth. “Me?”

“You.”

“Really?” It made struggling into the stupid costume easier. Jager stepped forward and helped to adjust the thin slivers of fabric over my breasts, untangling the chains that felt ice cold against my exposed skin. “Nice to know I made an impression.”

“I planned more.” His finger traced a path over my stomach, warming my skin and negating the freezing links of silver. “And for an all too brief time, I had you.” His dark eyes shone and I beat down the insane need I had to jump him again. “You seemed intent to enjoy your first November Eve celebration. But then so did I and one of my mother’s tanao.” His smile turned wicked and my stomach dropped. Damn it, I’d already had him and not known? How unfair was that? And that wild first new year had been him? “We masked our scents—the Queen’s son must always be discreet.” He teased a finger across the curve of my belly. “It was fortunate that I didn’t feed from you then. I would’ve found that nice lockable box you suggested and kept you in it.” He lifted an eyebrow. “What?”

“All this time, I’ve wondered about you. I’m annoyed that I already bloody knew!”

Jager’s soft laughter tightened the knot in my stomach. “I know,” he said.

I smacked his arm and he winced. My eyes narrowed. “Was the other man Neron?”

The hand idly stroking my stomach stopped. “Why?”

I smirked. “Yes, I thought he seemed…familiar.” I moved to the table and long mirror set in front of the windows. Yet more of my costume sat on the polished surface of the table. “Shame I didn’t get to see you.” I smiled at him through the mirror, my beast enjoying the swift rise of anger in his gaze. The silver-edged hair band burned cold against my fingers. Taking a brush, I dragged it through the tangles. “Especially Neron.”

Jager stood behind me, his hands brushing over my shoulders, warming the cold bite of silver. “I’m afraid he’ll become Zara’s when the sun rises.”

“That’s a waste and a shame,” I said as I worked more silver bands and pins into my hair, flattening it to my skull. I picked up a pot, dipping my finger in to coat my eyes in sparkling silver. When I’d finished, the chill sheen of cosmetics gleamed against my skin and I stared in the mirror at a stranger.

Jager’s fingers cupped my shoulders. “I know I shouldn’t say this…but you look stunning, Tate.”

I gripped his fingers, wanting to draw warmth from him as the excess of silver on my body leached it away. “Time to go, Jager.”

“One final piece,” he said, placing a torc around my neck to lie flat against my breastbone. A series of locks clicked into place and I shivered. In the light of the sun, the locks would meld together and only my master, only Jager could remove the symbol of my slavery. “Here.” He shook back his loose cuff and exposed his strong wrist. “That much silver? Your veins are ice. So feed.”

I pushed the thick sleeve back and lifted his wrist to my mouth. Watching him through the mirror, I let my teeth pierce his flesh, blood beading his skin. The scent of him mixing with the fire of his rich blood had my heart thudding. I curled my tongue, taking quick, neat licks. Jager hissed and his other hand gripped my waist, fingers digging into bare skin.

Fire burned fast through my chest, stomach, limbs, fighting the freezing effects of the silver. The heat I’d grown to need, to kiss and lick and ride Jager, throbbed low in my belly.

A wicked smile pulled at his mouth. “And there’s no time for that, Tate.” He let out a tight breath and his fingers slid across my stomach to play just above where I ached for him. Bastard. His mouth parted and his tongue teased his prominent fangs. “Much as I would like to bend you across this table.”

I took a final long lap at his wrist, putting it from me before I gave in to the urge to let him.

He fixed cufflinks and swung his jacket onto his back, pushing his arms through. He offered his hand. “Shall we?”

I slipped my hand into his, the warm, tight grip of his fingers keeping back the cold bite of silver. “Shouldn’t I be walking behind you?”

“Yes.”

The doors to the bedroom opened onto the corridor beyond. “Am I going to?”

“No.”

I blew out a slow breath and a smile lurked on my mouth. “All right.”

Jager led the way out of his apartment and into the great circular room beyond. He turned to another set of doors. They opened onto a brightly lit stairwell, leading down at least four levels. “The secret staircase out to the gardens,” he said, his shoes clicking against the twisting, marble steps.

I padded quickly beside him, my bare feet chilled.

My heart thudded. I was Jager’s escravo, his slave. Everyone would see that, treat me as little more than chattel with legs.

“Tate, relax,” he murmured, giving my fingers a quick squeeze. “This will soon be over, and then you’ll never wear silver again. I promise.”

I willed down the tight knot of nerves. Jager was a man of his word. I knew that too well. The knowledge that I was still the daughter of a queen, for however short a time, helped to ease the tension. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, an arched wooden door the only exit. I lifted my chin and steeled myself for what was to come.

Jager pressed a gentle kiss to my lips, sharing the cold burn of the silver coating my mouth. “Ready?”

My spine straightened and I ignored the sudden twist of shame in my gut. I was his slave, but that put me in Jager’s bed. The remembered taste of his blood, the heat of his skin, the press of his mouth… Silver tingled against my suddenly hot flesh. Yes, I could live with the humiliation, live with it and have a happy smirk on my face. “I’m ready.”

A smile eased over his mouth and I had to pull in the urge to sink my teeth into his full lower lip and taste him. “You’re the most unsubservient slave they’re ever going to see.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “Worried?”

“Proud,” he said and pulled open the door. Cool air washed over my bare skin and I held down a shiver, though goose bumps ran riot.

Lamps swayed in the breezes, pooling golden light over the trampled grass, and row after row of seating set before the royal dais. Jager’s seven escravo already stood at its base, their silver costumes glittering in the flickering light. Their unnatural calm irritated me. Was that who I would become in the end? All the fire of my beast extinguished.

I willed down the pain in my gut and pulled my eyes away. Some of the younger tanao gathered under the sheltered areas, seeking protection from the sun’s rays when it rose. Eyes flicked to me. Most males dreamed of owning escravo and more than one young vampire blinked. The hot prick of want itched against my skin.

Jager growled, the sound carrying on the dark air.

Suddenly the flattened grass seemed of vital interest to the small knot of men and I didn’t hold down my little smirk. “You’re scaring the children.”

“The children don’t get to think those thoughts about you.”

“Only you do?”

The fire of his beast lit his eyes and the breath hitched in my chest. “Do you want the fresh scent of the grave on your skin? Or my scent?”

I rubbed at the silk of his dark tie before my gaze lifted. His angry tension had my beast whispering soft growls of need. “Youth has its attractions…”

The lick of fury had an undercurrent of amusement and the corners of his eyes crinkled with humor. “The sun isn’t going to change you, is it?”

“Would you want it to?”

Jager followed the worn path and his dark gaze slid to me. “Ask me that in a hundred years.”

I snorted. “So soon?”

Jager’s gaze narrowed, but he stayed silent.

The breeze freshened, promising another cold, early winter day. My bare feet cracked over frosted grass and I held down a wince. I wanted the ceremony over and done with so that I could crawl back into a warm bed, preferably with a certain naked vampire.

“Tate!”

Jager’s hand tightened around mine, his sudden reflex half tugging me behind him, but I fought it. I willed my toes to dig into the cold earth. “No,” I muttered. “I need to see him.”

Kester pushed aside the final chair and stood before me, breathing hard. His hand lifted, but the soft growl from Jager had his fingers curling away. The pain in my brother’s eyes twisted my stomach into a tight knot. A muscle jumped in his tight jaw but he straightened his shoulders and held Jager’s gaze. “May I talk with my sister?”

Jager gave a brief nod.

Their short exchange pierced me and the sudden weight and icy burn of the silver pressed heavy. I was a slave, chattel. Jager controlled my life, how I dressed, who I spoke to, saw. My gut cramped. Tradition broke an escravo from her family, tied her completely to her master. I’d not only lost the dignity and fire of being a queen. I’d lost who I was. I’d lost everything.

Chapter Six

“Tate?”

Kester’s voice broke through my sudden burst of self-pity. I willed down the tears that burned me and lifted my chin. I stepped closer, ignoring the tighter grip of Jager’s hand around mine. “I had to obey, Kester. I’m sorry.”

“Obey him?” His finger traced over my cheek, wincing at the silver powder staining my skin. “Tate…”

“Not him.” I couldn’t help it. My gaze slid to the dais curving before the rows of chairs and fixed on the golden throne set beneath an ornate canopy.

Kester’s gaze followed and heat flushed his cheeks. “That is…” He gritted his teeth, biting off the rest of the words, bound like all of us to obey Queen Ionna. He glared at Jager. “You too?”

Jager nodded as his hand squeezed mine. “Me too,” he said.

Kester swore under his breath, something long, harsh and convoluted in five languages. “This isn’t right. Others…aren’t meant to decide something as important as how you find a mate.” He blew out a heated breath and stepped back from me. A wry smile pulled at his mouth and his dark eyes gleamed. It was an act, I could feel the tension still gripping him, but I wanted to hug my brother. “I can’t believe the sun will change you.”

“Neither can I,” Jager murmured. He stared up into the lightening sky. “We need to go, Tate.”

Kester rubbed at his clean-shaven jaw. He tried to smile but didn’t quite pull it off. “May fate grant you happiness.”

The ancient blessing tightened my gut. I tried to thank him, but the words wouldn’t come. My mouth twitched, forming as strained a smile as his own. I stumbled after Jager. Seconds dragged and it became less raw to take a final glance at my brother as he tried to keep the pain of loss from his face.

“I won’t make you break contact with your family.”

The pain in my chest eased. “Thank you,” I murmured.

“In every way I can make it, you’re my consort, Tate, not my slave.” Dark eyes held me and I wanted to believe him. His hand framed my jaw, the heat of his palm warming through the dusting of silver coating my face. “Sunlight may fuse the silver, may change you, but I need you to know this.”

What was he saying? Hope warmed me for my future with a man who had managed to worm his way under my skin. Feelings swamped me, and with them one feeling I never really expected. “Jager…”

“Well done, brother dear.” Zara’s cool voice iced the cold cut of silver over my skin, shriveling the heat of Jager’s touch. “I knew I could rely on you.”

His sister’s white silk gown rippled against her lush body and the satisfied smile on her face irked my beast. I held down a growl. The vampire standing behind her was a natural-born son of one of the European queens. Yes, she’d hunted from the line that hated her. Not exactly wise, but a queen always needed a challenge. Zara had his hand gripped hard, her knuckles white. From his tight expression, her grip probably kept him from bolting. She’d obviously grown bored with the men tripping over themselves to impress her. But Soren? His loathing was almost tangible.

“This is the last order you’ll give me, Zara,” Jager muttered, edging around her and continuing the long walk to the wide, curved dais.

Her dark gaze flicked over me, smug, superior. “I think it’ll be the first of many.”

Jager laughed, but his expression turned hard. “I told you gloating doesn’t become you. Queens don’t gloat.” He stopped at the foot of a small series of steps leading up to the platform. His voice dropped to a rough whisper. “Remember how fortunate you are today, Zara. Remember it for the rest of your reign.” He paused and his beast burned in his face. “Because if I could, I would rip it all from you. Right now. In front of everyone. So, no, sister dear, I will not follow any more of your orders.”

I followed him up the stairs, glancing back at the silent Zara. Her face had flushed and her jaw tensed. Uncertainty had replaced the sense of smugness.

“Jager?” I squeezed his hand, wanting to ease the burn of fury in his face. “If she listens she’ll be a better Queen.”

“I’m male, Tate.” He stopped beside the ornate throne dominating the center of the platform. Light flickered over its carved gold and blood-red cushions. “Queens do not listen to us.”

“True.”

He glared at me. “You’re not helping.”

I shrugged. “Was I supposed to?”

“You’re immune to silver, aren’t you?” His finger traced hot above the cold curve of the torc he’d put around my neck. “Anyone else wearing this much can barely speak.”

I bit back a smile. “I think hot thoughts.”

The flare of his beast in his eyes, like a drop of molten gold, had those thoughts searing through my brain. My beast growled, the flicker of sound igniting a hot rush through my flesh. I stepped closer, almost brushing against the smooth fabric of his jacket.

“How hot?” His raw whisper had my breath short.

My body swayed into his, Jager’s hand skirting over the bared skin on my hip. “Should I show you?”

A polite cough broke the moment. Unwilling, I took a step back, cold air washing away the warmth of Jager’s body.

Neron gave me a smooth smile. He straightened the hem of his jacket and there was that glitter in his pale eyes. The “I know something you don’t know” look. Only I did. Neron lifted an eyebrow and the corners of his smile twitched. He fixed his attention on Jager. “The Queen is almost ready. She wants to know that everything is prepared. Is it?”

Jager gave a short nod. He glanced to the women standing in a line below us, their silver-pinned hair gleaming. “I gave the command for the escravo torcs to unlock last night. Sunlight hitting them will release them from their service. Zara,” his eyes slid to the end of the dais, where his sister stood with Soren, that vampire’s face still locked into an expression of disgust, “has made her choice. Such as it is.” He paused and that muscle jumped in his jaw again. “And of course, I followed my duty and made Tate my escravo.”

Neron let out a slow breath and he winced. “I know you don’t believe it, but I tried to convince her not to do this, Jager.”

“She wants direct female succession. Her daughter, not a stranger fate chooses.” Jager adjusted the knot of his tie and straightened. “And who are we to argue with that?”

A hush fell over the gathered crowd and, with open braziers lighting her way, the Queen led the procession to the dais down the carpeted center aisle. Her stiff, satin gown gleamed, gold thread and encrusted jewels glittered in the flickering light, contrasting with her pale, almost fragile face.

In a rippled wave, the crowds stood. The gnarled old woman, her back hunched and a jeweled cane stabbing into the blood-red silken carpet, dragged her slippered feet toward the curved dais. I focused on the old vampire and my beast shifted restlessly. The ancient crone had ordered my slavery…

“Tate.” Jager’s hand gripped mine, his thumb running soothing patterns against my skin. “Stay calm.”

Something easy for him to say. He didn’t have his brother somewhere in the crowd of hundreds. Not that I’d looked for Kester again. I would have to hold his gaze and bear the heavy weight of his disappointment and loss. I straightened my spine and silver tinkled. I had to deal with one thing at a time. Right then, I had to make ready for the Queen and kneeling before the woman who had destroyed me.

Neron moved to my side and Jager’s hand tightened around mine. “What have you done, Jager?” Neron’s voice was no more than a rough whisper. He stared down at me and fire flickered in his pale eyes. “Her beast is raging.”

“I did all that I was asked,” Jager muttered. “Can I help it if Tate’s immune to silver?”

“Immune?” Neron’s finger traced along my bare shoulder, the warmth of his touch burning away the chill where the metal touched my flesh. For a brief moment, his beast blazed in his eyes, a riot of hot, white flame. I bit back the need to growl. Damn, he was pretty…and he had been the other man from that first November Eve celebration. The memory of that night burned under my skin. “Really?” he asked.

“Neron…” The raw threat in Jager’s voice curled tension tight in my stomach and my beast stretched, wanting these men to fight over me. “She’s my escravo.”

Neron hadn’t looked away from me and I found myself riveted to the fire in his eyes, even as Jager, a man I more than cared for, held tight to my hand. I couldn’t help it. What was wrong with me? “Is she now?”

I willed my gaze down, fixing on the carpet-covered boards. Soil and grass littered the blood-red carpet, one of my muddied prints staining the tightly woven silk. I winced. But it kept me distracted from thoughts on the Queen’s seventh tanao. Neron played his own games and I had to concentrate. The Queen had reached the edge of the dais. Her mate and her first tanao offered their arms as she stopped at the steps. She shuffled up each long stair, her focus only on the next tread.

Zara gave her mother a low bow, half dragging Soren into following her action. “Majesty.”

The Queen looked up and a smile cut across her wizened lips. A gnarled hand reached out to pat her daughter’s head. Dark eyes crawled over Zara’s new mate. “Don’t spare the rod with this one, Zara,” she muttered, her voice sharp, brittle. “You’ve captured a handful.”

“Yes, Majesty.”

The Queen shuffled forward, her gown rustling and scratching over the thin carpet lining the way to the throne. Jager’s hand slipped from mine and slid up to my shoulder. He leaned in close, his breath stirring my skin. “Kneel, please, Tate.”

My stomach knotted but I obeyed, dropping down onto my knees. The carpet cushioned me and I bent my head, exposing my neck. I breathed in and out, slow, steady. I was escravo. Was this how they felt in the beginning before the unnatural calm took them? Knotted up with tension at the need to obey, to be seen to obey. But if Neron had sensed the primitive vampire raging within me, then the Queen would and my death would undoubtedly follow. I focused again on the silk weave of the carpet and on my footprint ruining its perfection.

“Jager.” The Queen’s brittle voice cracked on his name. “You will support your sister.”

“Majesty.”

The word was short and as obedient as my bowed head. I expected nothing less.

My gaze slid sideways, careful to keep my neck exposed. The Queen expected nothing less from him either, his mother not sparing me a glance as she shuffled past us to the ornate throne. With a guttural sigh, she sank into the thick cushions, her cane stabbing into the dais. In years past, a heavy canopy had shielded her, but now her mate and her first tanao drew it back and the throne stood exposed.

“I waited too long,” Queen Ionna murmured. Her fingers flexed around the pommel of the cane. “But a daughter came so late to me…”

Her mate, Anlan, lightly touched her hand. “Majesty?”

“You only gave me two children, Anlan. Think on that in the year you have until the sun claims you too. Tradition rewards us all.” Her smile was thin and a waspish edge lined her voice. She lifted her chin. “Neron!” The crotchety tone rose. “How long?”

Neron paused and I counted the passing seconds in my slowed heartbeats. “Your timing, as always, is perfect, Majesty. Less than two minutes.”

The Queen’s gnarled fingers tightened around the pommel. Her time had almost come to its end…and then her fingers loosened and the old woman pushed herself to her feet. My gut tightened. She’d remembered who and what she was, I felt it. My throat tightened, unexpectedly. The Queen had condemned me, ordered my slavery, but she was also my ruler, had been for too many centuries.

Honoring our ruling Queen had been bred into us for too long. And now one of the longest lived of our race was about to face the sun.

The crowd had dropped to silence and the nervousness gripping me held them too. Already the gray light of dawn crept over the sky, the stars fading to nothing. My gaze flicked to the rows of people and the long, carpeted avenue left empty. The sun would pull itself over the flat horizon, a long shaft of light would flash over the bare grass and woven silk and take the Queen.

She waved a finger at Zara, who strode across the dais, Soren in tow. Her father stepped forward and pulled Soren back to stand beside him. Zara took her place at her mother’s right hand.

“My time is at an end.” The Queen’s voice pulsed with strength, but the cost on her was great as her hand clenched her cane and her chest heaved. She lifted the thin coronet from her hair and held it on a trembling palm. A heartbeat later, she gave it to her daughter, who pushed the circlet of gold over her dark hair. “Honor your new ruling Queen as you have given your supreme devotion to me.”

The crowd shifted, murmurs carrying on the still, cold air. I held my breath and my attention fixed on the horizon. Jager had promised me everything, but I was escravo and wore the silver torc of my enslavement. The sun would change me—my gut cramped—change him. How long would his promises last after the sun rose?

My heart thudded and I watched the first gleam of the winter sun pull free.

I crushed my eyes shut. Light, light seemed to be everywhere, hot against my skin, somehow burning beneath the silver coating my body. I gritted my teeth against the swell of pain, wrapped myself in protection around my beast as she wanted to howl out her agony. We had become escravo.

I willed my eyes open. I might be a slave, but I would not be weak.

The Queen had vanished. Only the stain of dust lay heavy on the silk carpet. She was gone and Zara stood as the new Queen.

It was over.

And then my silver torc, tarnished black, slid from my neck and hit the floor with a dull thud.

Chapter Seven

“What the—” Jager yanked me to my feet. The rest of my costume fell from me in a rush of ash and charred metal. He shrugged out of his jacket and wrapped it around my sudden nakedness. He lifted my chin, made me look at him. Panic edged his gaze and that had my stomach cramping. “Tate?”

“Jager?”

The low threat in his father’s voice chilled me and I wrapped Jager’s coat tight around my body. What the hell was going on? Why had the silver just…burned away…from my flesh?

His father continued in a rushed, tight whisper. Dark eyes flicked over me. “You disobeyed the Queen’s order. She’s not escravo.”

Jager shook his head. “I did everything asked of me—”

The beast flared in his father’s eyes. “You idiot. She’s still a queen.”

Jager took a step back, his hand closing around my arm and pulling me with him. “Impossible. I did everything…”

His voice faded and everything around me, Zara’s opening speech, the growing murmurs of the crowd, all fell to silence. Anlan and Jager argued, his father’s face shining with the fury of his beast. Zara stood straight, her shoulders back, presumably oblivious to the heated fight raging behind her. All had turned into an unnatural and eerie haze. Only the solid thump of my heart echoed over-loud in my ears. Anlan said I was still a queen, which meant Jager was my mate. I was a queen, with all the honor that came with it, a province, tanao, children… My heart contracted and I ran a trembling hand over my face, fingers chilled against suddenly hot cheeks. I would have children—

“A duel!”

The voice snapped through me. Kester. My brother’s demand rose loud above the unsettled mutterings of the watching crowd.

“Tate burned silver. She’s proven herself a queen. Zara must duel for the right to rule us.”

Zara snorted. “That is ridiculous. She’s my brother’s escravo…”

She turned her head and then her whole body to face me. Her eyes fixed on mine. I held her gaze and my beast stretched and rose through me. The softest growl escaped my lips. Zara gave a responding snarl and we both recognized the challenge. I pulled myself free of Jager’s grip and padded toward my rival.

“Tate!” Jager shouted after me but I ignored him.

My beast had me and nothing mattered but staking my claim on the throne. Zara’s dark eyes narrowed. Her hands balled into fists. “What did you do to my brother?” Her voice had a hard edge of anger…and maybe doubt?

That thought had a smile tugging at my mouth. Zara, who’d had everything handed to her, doubted that she had power over me. “Shouldn’t that be what didn’t he do to me?”

“Funny,” she muttered. “You won’t survive this, Tate.”

The smile on my mouth grew and my beast enjoyed the edge of unease that crept into her face. “I survived becoming an escravo. Who knows what I’m capable of?”

Heavy hands landed on my shoulders. Jager’s fingers curled into the thick fabric of the jacket. “We need to make this official, Tate. There are rituals, rules—”

“My beast won’t wait.” Zara’s voice reverberated with the power of the primitive vampire at her core. “Give her your shirt. Then we duel.” Fire sparked in her dark eyes. “I’ll bury you together. A fitting reward for your betrayal.”

“Melodrama?” A smile lurked in his voice and my own mouth twitched. “Fate is favoring Tate. Or hadn’t you noticed?”

“We’ll see.” Zara straightened her shoulders. “Do you agree to the waiving of all ritual and we take the fight over there?” She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder to the dark line of the wood. “Only the victor walks away.”

My beast pushed heavy against my chest. Yes, she wanted to finish it. “Let fate decide.”

Jager’s fingers dug into my shoulders. “Then turn around.” His voice whispered soft against my ear and warmth rushed under my skin. And there was my incentive to fight—my need for Jager. His hands slid from my shoulders and I turned around. Already he’d undone his tie and two buttons, exposing the firm, smooth skin I’d sunk my teeth into only hours before. His gaze gripped me, heat lurking in the darkness. Another button slipped free.

“Want me to take you right here?” My low whisper had the heat flaring.

“Tempting.” He lifted an eyebrow and his eyes sparked. “Think we can get away with it?” I bit back laughter and pressed a cold palm to his abdomen. He hissed. “Though I think freezing fingers should be banned.”

Neron stood behind me, gripped the collar of the jacket I wore and pulled it back from my back. His fingertips brushed warm down my spine, raising goose bumps and sinking a droplet of pure heat low into my pelvis. From Jager’s expression, he was very aware of what his mother’s seventh tanao was doing.

Jager shrugged out of his shirt and pulled me toward him, away from Neron’s clever fingers. Dropping the shirt over my back, he waited for me to push my arms through the warm sleeves before he made quick work of the buttons. Neron handed him his jacket, which he took with a hard glare. He paused and then Jager slid his hand over mine and lifted both to my mouth. “Feed from me,” he said.

“Jager…” Zara’s low growl cut over me. “I didn’t agree to this.”

He pressed his wrist to my mouth and the solid thud of his pulse beat against my lips. My hand tightened around his and my own pulse jumped. Fangs broke free, lengthened and pressed against the warmth of his skin. “I belong to her.”

Heat burst through me at this words and I bit deep. Jager stiffened and a soft moan escaped him. I lapped at his skin, at the hot run of blood. His fire burned on my tongue and bloomed heat in my chest. I drew in a deep, steadying breath, inhaling the intoxicating scent of his blood and skin. Damn, the man meant more to me than I ever thought he could.

Jager’s other hand gripped my hip, holding me to him and the too-tempting press of his erection. “Stop, Tate.” He rested his forehead against mine, his skin hot. His soft whisper brushed my skin. “Or your new subjects might get more than a flash of your backside.”

I laved the wounds, closing the punctures in his wrist. The afterglow of his taste had me sighing and I licked my lips. “Is that a promise?”

His mouth covered mine in a fierce kiss that robbed me of all thought. I clung to the material of his jacket, not caring who saw us, actually wanting people to witness how much Jager was mine. Fire, blood and his own heady taste swept through me. My beast growled, low, needy, and I felt Jager’s smile.

He pulled back, his hand stroking over the wild tangle of my hair. “Come back to me.”

His words pierced my heart. I wanted to promise and the words burned on the tip of my tongue. But we both knew it would be a promise that I couldn’t keep. Fate had favored me, but it was a fickle friend. “If that’s what’s decided.”

“Trust in yourself,” he murmured before stepping back.

My fingers curled into balls and I suddenly didn’t know what to do with my hands. It was too late to say those extra words, tell him of the sudden, unexpected way that I loved him. I took a steadying breath and the scent and taste of Jager calmed me. I lifted my chin, looking for my rival…and found her draining her mate.

I winced. She’d pushed Soren into a half crouch and still lapped at one of the major veins in his neck. His face twisted, his eyes crushed against her invasion. Zara’s hand held tight to the man’s shoulder and head, taking without shared consent and pleasure.

Soren came from a powerful queen whose line had once ruled all of us centuries before. Zara had obviously wanted a share in that ancient power but such an unwilling mate was a bad choice.

His face dropped slack and Zara let him slump to the floor. “See he’s fed,” she said to Neron, waving a dismissive hand to her mate. Zara wiped a hand across her blood-wet lips and met my glare. Her beast flared in her dark gaze. “You’re stupid not to drain your mate.” She flicked Jager a contemptuous glance. “And you’re…lowering yourself.” She shook her head and straightened her shoulders. “Ready, Tate?”

I flashed her a feral smile and leapt from the dais. Hitting the soft, cold grass in a half-couch, I sprang forward and bolted for the tree line. Zara’s snarling curse whipped around me on the biting winds, followed by a ragged burst of cheering from the assembled crowd.

Jager’s fire pumped strength into my flowing strides. Fate had put me in position to become ruling Queen—as insane as that seemed—and I didn’t intend to ignore that opportunity. We would hunt and we would fight in the forest. The first to submit to the power of the other forfeited the right to rule and became the slave of the other queen, to do with as she wished. I didn’t dwell on what that would mean for me—and for Jager.

The sloping grassland curved into the dark edge of trees, a large, ancient oak casting the first shadows over the immaculate lawns. Dried leaves littered the forest floor, my bare feet crunching over twigs and fallen acorns. I winced as the prickled shell of a conker caught the ball of my foot. It slowed my rapid pace through the dark trunks and forced me to hop as I yanked the shell free. Licking my thumb, I rubbed healing saliva over the wound. At least both of us were barefoot. Not much consolation as my foot continued to sting and slowed my pace to a hobble.

My plan was simple. I had to take Zara by surprise. Not much of a plan, but it was all I had.

“Tate!”

Zara’s voice echoed through the shadowed darkness of the forest. “My brother tied himself to a coward.”

A quick smile pulled at my mouth. Was she having trouble scenting me? Why else would she want to draw me into revealing my position? I edged around low, spiky bushes, hissing as the sharp, leafless branches dug into my bare thighs. In the heavy shadow of the forest, the heat of the morning sun seemed a distant memory. I’d grown used to the gloom but not the icy cold that had my toes numb.

Blowing on my fingers, I worked warmth back into my hands. Trees grew thick and heavy all around me, twigs interlocking and forming a heavy canopy of bare branches. Sunlight gilded their tops.

“Tate…”

Did she think I was an idiot? That her brother could fall so far in choosing a mate? I scrambled up the gnarled base of a beech and grabbed at the lowest branch. It’d been a few years since I’d climbed a tree, and it seemed I’d been a few feet shorter and a lot more agile as I tried to clamber to the next branch. I cursed at the twigs sticking into my stomach and pulled myself higher. Finding a thick branch, I dropped my legs over and settled back against the cold trunk.

The almost-silence of the forest washed over me. I listened to my even breaths, willing my heart to slow and blend into the winter life-force of the forest. Zara would find me. I just needed the brief moment of surprise that—maybe, if I was lucky—could catch her off guard.

I rubbed my hands together and willed some of Jager’s incredible fire to the end of my fingers. My pulse jumped at that thought, of the taste of him in my mouth. I blew out a slow breath, steaming the air. I couldn’t risk thoughts of him—not if I wanted my body to disappear into the hibernating life of the forest.

Twigs cracked, breaking the silence.

I eased my way to the lower branch, staring into the thick shadow of the forest floor. With my pulse controlled, I picked out Zara’s pounding heart somewhere off to my left. And she’d made no attempt to mask her body or the noise she made as she kicked through deep leaf litter. She was relying on her superior strength, had to be. Her mate’s blood pounded through her, increasing her beast’s natural power.

The potency of it rushed over me. Damn, she was strong.

The branch took my weight. I focused. When Zara stomped beneath the branch, when I fixed on the ornate curls pinned with gold and diamonds and the Queen’s crown, I would jump. My heart thudded in a slow rhythm as concentration held me.

Closer…but her fast march over the thick litter slowed. Zara stopped and her chin lifted. She pulled in a deep breath. She’d picked up the thin thread of my scent, probably felt it thicken around the tree.

Zara moved forward. Her heart thudded, her excitement rising. I felt it, could almost taste the power-rich blood that flowed in her veins. It stirred the beast in me but I clamped my will down, holding still, waiting, waiting…

Ornate curls, pins, nail-sized diamonds. The ancient crown of the ruling Queen.

I leapt. In a frozen instant, I caught the image of her upturned face, her brow starting to furrow and then a dawning realization, just before I smashed into Zara and dropped her to the forest floor. I gripped her waist with my thighs and grabbed her upper arms, pinning her to the ground. My beast growled her joy at capturing her rival. Jager’s fire burned through my veins, giving strength to every muscle. I leaned over her. “You were looking for me?”

Zara snarled, struggling. “An ambush? The coward’s way.”

I smirked at her and her eyes narrowed. Her hips twisted under me, her hands trying to get a grip on my shirt, my arms. Shit, Zara was strong. I wanted to keep the strain of holding her from my voice and probably failed. “Fate chooses who we are.”

“My brother’s weakness put you here!”

With a heave, she tried to roll me. My beast was ahead of her and I scrambled free. But before she could leap up, I jumped her again, pressing her face into the damp piles of leaves and twigs. Fighting to pull her flailing arms behind her back, I sat low on her spine.

She bucked, her feet kicking out, her screams half choked as leaf mulch sucked into her mouth. But I stayed steady, held her to the ground thick with muck. Her body jerked, strained, but I rode her, my blood hot as I tamed the beast within her. “I will not submit to you! Kill me and have done with it.”

I felt my beast in my smile, something sharp and satisfied. I had her now. “I’m not going to kill you, Zara. You’ll live out your life with your chosen mate.”

That froze her and then a sneer crept across her half-buried face. “You’re weak. I would not leave a rival living.”

I tugged at her arm, lifting it, and she cried out. She fought me, but it was a token effort. Only her pride had her fighting, her beast had admitted defeat. Bending my head, my fangs grew until they pressed against my lower lip.

“Kill me.”

Her tone begged me, but Zara had tried to deny me Jager, deny me my future. I could show her no such mercy.

“No.” I sank my fangs deep into her forearm and caught the thick run of blood with my tongue. Zara cried out and her body fell limp. She tasted of fire, the hot, rough taste of it burning on the edge of my tongue. I winced. Too much of Soren’s reluctance soured the pleasure of taking her blood. It was there, a bitter undercurrent flowing in her veins.

With a final lick, I healed the wound. Her blood sat sour in my belly. I released her hands and wiped at my mouth. Zara’s hands moved to cover her face, her fingers digging tight into her skull. I pulled the crown free of her hair. Pushing myself to my feet, I brushed the mud and leaves from Jager’s white shirt. His scent rose on the still air and I pulled it deep into my lungs, drawing strength from it. I placed the crown on the wild tangle of my own hair, my beast surging at the power that was now ours.

“Zara, kneel before your ruling Queen.”

She stilled and then slowly she crawled up onto her knees, her head bowed. “Majesty,” she murmured.

My beast curled hot in my gut, enjoying Zara’s defeat. I held back my growl, remembering Jager’s words. I wouldn’t gloat over her. “Your province is the Northern Isles.”

Zara’s head snapped up. She stared at me. “Our birthplace? It’s been uninhabited by humans for centuries.”

“There are a few still living there.” I gave her a sharp smile. “Build up the economy, get it thriving again.” The smile faded. “It’s a reminder for you, Zara. Fate rules us. You can’t cheat or deny it.”

She stared at the floor. “Yes, Majesty.”

I let out a slow breath and turned from her. “I’ll send Soren in to get you.”

“Yes, Majesty.”

I strode back through the forest, keeping my back straight, my chin up. Insane as it was, suddenly I was the ruling Queen. I ran a trembling hand over my tangled hair, tracing the wrought gold of the crown, and willed my breathing slow and even. My heart thudded as the aftershock of beating Zara hit my body.

I grabbed at an oak, using it to support my unsteady legs. Glancing back, I found only the heavy shadow of trees spiked now by the gradually rising sun’s sharp beams. Zara hadn’t witnessed my moment of weakness. I closed my eyes and pulled in the power of my beast to strengthen me. We ruled now.

A smile curved my mouth. Really, that sounded crazy. I was the third daughter of a minor queen, my father a fresh tanao barely risen out of his grave, and yet I had hunted the Queen’s son, defeated his sister and ruled in her stead.

Fate had favored me. I would never forget that.

I pushed myself away from the cold bark of the tree. The trunks thinned and the gleam of the morning sun cut through to the forest floor. My bare feet crunched through the dry leaves, taking me out of the wood.

The sun washed warm over my cold limbs, a light breeze rippling the shirt to my body. I stopped and closed my eyes, letting the sun’s rays slant across my face. I almost laughed out loud. I’d expected to find a little province, a young tanao, not to rule and have Jager at my side.

The breeze brought me his scent, the heady mix of fire and spice that had my heart beating faster. A moment later and his strong arms wrapped around me. I pressed my face into his neck, my lips, tongue, teeth, brushing against his tantalizing skin.

“Majesty,” he murmured, and the beast within me in growled a response. Jager laughed and hugged me tighter. His arms loosened and he pulled back. Serious eyes held me. “Zara?”

I released a slow breath. “Alive. Send Soren to get her. Their new home is the Northern Isles.”

He gave a brief nod and a smile lurked on his mouth. “Yes, Majesty.”

“You’re enjoying saying that.”

Jager brushed the tangled hair back from my face, the affectionate gesture tightening my heart. “I thought fate would take you from me.” His mouth brushed mine, his lips cool but with the promise of the inner heat of his tongue. “I’ve waited too long.”

I slid my cold hands under his jacket, finding the warmth of his skin and he hissed. His teeth nipped at my bottom lip. Desire coursed through me and I pressed myself to his hard body “How did this happen, Jager? I mean you didn’t…”

“We said all the right things, Tate. You have no idea how tempted I was to lick my way down just that bit further…” He smiled against my mouth and my head felt light. “And I think that should be your next order.”

“The coronation?”

“All glamour and fakery. It hardly matters. Every important queen here has witnessed your rightful ascension.” His dark eyes sparked with his beast and heat pooled low in my belly as his hand stroked hot over my waist and hip. “I want to demonstrate my devotion.”

“You do?” Was a Queen supposed to sound that breathless?

The smile he gave me was wicked. “I do.”

Chapter Eight

Jager shut the bedroom door.

We’d left the fallout of my sudden ascension for Neron to sort. Jager had said he had a flair for it, said it with a hint of smirk. Something about his mother’s tanao irked him, and since he was now my tanao, I wanted to know what it was.

“What is it with you and Neron?”

Jager threw his jacket across a chair and caring about my question began to fade. My beast’s growl flickered from my lips and I found myself pressed up against the warm, hard muscle of his chest. I licked his collarbone and the salt-sweet taste of his skin had my primitive side flaring.

“Neron?” Jager’s fingers slid down the front of my shirt, flicking the buttons open. “I have no problem with Neron.”

I snorted. “I can make it a command…”

He pushed the shirt back, his hands cupping my shoulders. He paused and let out a tight breath. Fire sparked in his eyes and my beast reacted to his undercurrent of fury, pounding blood through my veins. “Neron wanted you as his escravo. Offered himself as your master.” A muscle jumped in his jaw. “Almost succeeded in convincing my mother to let him.”

I stroked his jaw, wanting to ease the tightness straining under my fingers. “But now you’re both my slaves.”

“Tate…” Anger mixed with humor and he slid his hands down over the shirt to my spine, stopping just above my buttocks. “Not funny.”

I traced the edge of his mouth, my gaze fixed on his lip. “Come on, wasn’t it just a little bit funny?”

“Can we not discuss Neron right now?”

“Killjoy.”

“Really…?”

Jager’s fingers inched under my shirt, easing up my spine. I arched at the unexpected rush of sensation, gasping as his lips caressed my jaw, his tongue tip tracing a hot line down my throat. I forgot about talking. Jager belonged to me.

My escaping growl had him smiling against my damp skin. Open-mouthed kisses chased over my collarbone. The prick of his teeth pulsed little points of pleasure as he pushed me back against the silk-lined wall. Goose bumps ran fast over my skin at the cool contact with the smooth fabric. Jager pressed his hands against my hips, fingers gripping me and holding me still.

His mouth slid lower and brushed all too quickly over my breast. I groaned, my fingers pulling through his thick hair. He smiled against my stomach and edged further, slowly, slowly dropping to his knees.

The beast within me let out an almost liquid growl of satisfaction and my heart hammered. Tension tightened low in my belly as shallow bites and teasing licks slid down from my navel.

My fingers clenched in his hair and only the solid grip of his hands on my hips held me up. Blood fired through my veins. Breathing became shallow and I crushed my eyes against the rush of need, the ache for him to stop teasing and to find me, lick and bite me ’til I screamed his name.

His teeth grazed over my mons and sparks danced behind my eyes. I could feel his smile. He knew exactly what he was doing.

The curl of his tongue dipped, finding the edge of my thigh and the sudden sensitivity of my skin had my spine arching. “Jager.” I half growled his name, trying to edge his teasing mouth to where I ached for him.

“I’ve waited a long time for this, Tate.” His warm breath tickled me and I shivered. He looked up. “Let me enjoy my submission to you.”

My chest hitched at his words and I couldn’t speak. I nodded and surrendered my body to his pleasure.

He kissed my thigh, tormenting little butterfly kisses that pulsed need through my veins. I growled, my beast flaring, and my fangs pushed against my lips. Jager edged closer, closer, his mouth and teeth burning points of pleasure…and then his tongue tip pressed against my clitoris.

Lights flashed and I crushed my eyes against the sudden burst of fire. I gasped out unintelligible words and Jager’s soft, satisfied laughter swept heat over my skin. Slow, delicate, teasing licks had my body in turmoil, the first stirrings of orgasm pulsing tight and hot in my belly.

Jager’s thumbs caressed the edge of my thighs as his tongue flickered and then slid deeper into my flesh. My fingers fisted in his hair and his clever tongue licked as his teeth broke skin. I hissed. Slow laps drew my blood into his body and the tension low in my pelvis had that blood thick with need.

“My beast will serve you now and forever.”

His soft, muffled words seared my flesh and the promise of orgasm had my body trembling. I could almost taste it and I teetered on the edge, aching for release—

“I belong to you, My Queen.”

Fire swept through me and I cried out, lost in the sudden surge of bliss. And still he lapped at me, intensifying the rush to joy in my blood, only the strength of his arms holding me up as my body shook, but then he loosened his grip and I slid unceremoniously down until my backside hit the carpet.

I laughed and swatted at him. “You’re evil.”

Jager grinned. “I couldn’t resist…Majesty.”

I growled at him and the humor in his eyes faded, desire replacing it. The sated vampire in me unfurled, pulsing fresh need through my body. Jager still knelt in front of me, so I shoved him back. He hit the carpet with a dull thump and I straddled his hips. “Much better.”

Jager pushed the loose shirt down my arms, freeing it from my body. “Yes.” His palms pushed up over my belly to cup my breasts, thumbs teasing. “Much.”

I glared at him as my fingers worked to undo his trousers. “You’re a very insubordinate subject, Jager.”

He smirked at me. “I learned from the best.”

I wriggled, pushing the material of his trousers, his underwear, down, exposing him. The smirk died on his mouth and the primitive heart of his vampire shone in his eyes. His hands slipped away from my breasts to hold on to my hips, tilting his pelvis so the long length of his erection pressed against me.

I teased him, sliding wet over him in a slow rhythm that had his fingers digging hard into my flesh.

“Tate…” My name was almost a growl. “You may be my Queen but there are some things I will not tolerate.”

“You can’t be teased?” I leaned forward, changing the angle of my slide and my hands caressed his abdomen, chest, feeling the solid pounding of his heart. I flicked a nipple and he hissed. “Not even a little bit?”

The ripple of a growl caught me by surprise and I jerked hard against him. The blunt head of his cock slid too easily into my wet flesh and with sudden strength and speed, Jager had me on my back. He planted his hands either side of my shoulders and his gaze gripped me as he pushed deep into my body, heat and desire darkening his eyes.

“No, Majesty, not even a little bit,” he muttered.

I shifted my hips, wrapping my legs around him. The almost smooth nap of the carpet rubbed against my buttocks and shoulder blades. Sex on the floor, not the best idea…

“Sink your teeth into me, Tate.”

All thought of discomfort fled. The prospect of drinking from Jager, the promise of his fiery blood sinking into my body as we made love, had me pushing hard against him. I twisted, my mouth seeking the hard muscle of his pectoral, tracing over warm skin to find the hard thud of his heart. My beast growled, eager to taste the source of his power, and Jager groaned.

It was the final part of our bond.

My lips trembled over him, my fangs sliding out to prick his skin. He shuddered over me, his hips grinding against mine. Orgasm flickered at the edge of my flesh. So close…and the promise of what was to come had me meeting every one of his hard thrusts. I clung to his back, trusting him to support me as desire wound around my flesh, my beast and I sinking my teeth deeper, deeper until l grazed his heart.

Jager cried out, arching into me, forcing the spill of his heart’s blood over my lips and tongue. Fire scorched over my flesh in a dizzying rush and I lost myself in the glorious taste of his strength, his power, orgasm smashing through both of us. For endless moments, I knew nothing but the incredible taste of Jager on my tongue, my body shaking as I lapped and sucked at his flesh.

“Tate…”

My back touched the thick carpet and reluctantly I released him, healing the punctures in his skin. A slow, satisfied sigh escaped me. “Oh, that was good.”

Jager gave a soft laugh and pushed himself up. His gaze traveled in a slow, scorching slide to where our bodies still joined. The muscles tightened in his arms and he sucked in a deep breath. He looked back to me. “I could’ve made a child with you.”

The hesitation, the wonder in his voice tightened my heart, had tears burning at the corners of my eyes.

He lifted a hand and his thumb wiped away a trailing tear. Leaning in, he pulled the softest kiss from my mouth. “Fate allows us six. Imagine how much effort must go into producing so many…”

I smiled against his mouth, I couldn’t help it. “And vampires are a slave to fate.”

Jager pulled me into a tight embrace, his breath warm against my temple. “Happy to be,” he murmured. “Being here with you…”

“Here?” I rubbed at my ass where the carpet had chafed it red. “Fate could have been kinder and let me get to the bed.”

Jager’s laughter warmed through me. “What me to bite it better?”

He untangled himself from me and his clothes. I missed the close contact of his skin and heat, but he pulled me to my feet and led me to his large bed. He lifted me onto the high mattress and I fell back into the still-tangled sheets, wriggling farther up the wide bed. Strong hands rolled me. Jager’s breath burned against my reddened skin.

“Well, Majesty?”

I heard the smile in his voice as he leaned over me. The brush of his chest against my thighs already had my blood running hot. Damn, the man was addictive. “Consider it a royal command.”

The first stroke of his tongue had me yelping, and then his teeth pierced my skin. I melted as he licked and lapped with slow ease over my buttock. Pain eased and the familiar urge to jump him heated my flesh. “I could get very used to you.”

“I’m your mate, your consort, will be the father of your children.” He paused and then rolled me onto my back again. He crawled up the bed, pulling me into his arms, with the tightness that made breathing hard. Dark eyes held me. “What I didn’t expect was to love you too.”

I stared at him and swallowed, my throat suddenly constricted. “You…?”

A smile tugged at his mouth. “Surprised?”

I traced a finger over his mouth. My heart squeezed so tight it was almost a physical pain. “Stunned.”

“Good stunned?”

I hugged him hard, so hard he groaned. “I never thought that you…” I buried my face in his shoulder and breathed him in. “Lust and duty, yes, but I didn’t believe that you could care for me.”

Jager’s soft, rumbling laughter vibrated against my breasts. “And that is the last doubt you’ll ever voice.” He pulled back and his eyes gleamed. “You hunted well, Tate. I’ll guide you. I’m a hundred and fifty years old, I know a thing or two.” He grinned before he pulled a kiss from my mouth. “As I may have demonstrated…”

I laughed. “Another reason I love you.”

Jager paused and then he kissed me, a soft kiss melting into something deeper that curled all the way down to my toes. He sighed as his mouth left mine. Pride shone from him. “You will be a dazzling Queen.”

“Because fate paired me with you?”

He smirked, but affection shone in his eyes. “Of course.”

“How long before the coronation ceremony?”

“Tradition has it at sunset.” His mouth twitched with a smile and he knew exactly what I was thinking. “Why, Majesty, what did you have in mind?”

I ran my finger along his jaw, enjoying the rough feel of morning bristle. I pulled a little kiss from his mouth. “Breakfast and then you.” His scent, his taste was addictive and I pressed my body along the length of his. Jager’s hand stroked over my hip and I almost sighed. In spite of everything, we were together as we wanted to be. I would never forget how fate had gifted me with this man. “Or you, then breakfast…”

I matched his grin. Yes, my stomach could wait just that little bit longer to be fed.

In fact, a lot longer.