Shadow's Claim (Immortals After Dark #13)(10)

He merely needed to complete this blooding, then take his new Bride back to his underworld realm. His target could wait until she was safely ensconced in Dacia.

Then this delicate sorceress would grace his home—and his bed—for all eternity.

He knew of other males who’d felt panic at this realization; Trehan experienced only satisfaction. Secret longings resurfaced, at last to be appeased.

I am ready for her.

At that moment, his lungs started to expand. He inhaled deeply, until they felt too big for his chest. Blood rushed to his shaft, hardening it. He groaned as it distended against the confining fabric of his pants.

His gaze raked from her pert breasts to her waist, dropping to the titillating skirt that bared most of her gently flaring hips and her long, shapely legs.

Her Sorceri adornments—the collar around her neck and the gold climbing her pale arms—now struck him as unbearably erotic.

A sexy, delicate sorceress. Apparently I’ve been waiting for you as well.

Long-dormant drives came roaring back to life—to mate, to claim, to bite? After eons, he hungered.

No, not hunger! Dacians didn’t pierce the flesh of others. He wanted only to possess and master her.

But first, he had questions. What is the name of my pretty Bride? Why are you so drunk? What is your connection to this demon realm?

He’d gone the better part of a millennium without bedding a female. Will you forgive how out of practice I am with all this?

She gazed up at him from under her lashes. “I won’t disappoint you, I swear it.”

Disappoint him? “I am—”

She raised her fingertips to cover his lips. “Shh. Don’t say a word. Please. You’re in my bedroom for a reason. Let me show you how right you were to come here.” She began unlacing her bodice, shimmying from the material. With a shy grin, she tossed it aside to bare the most exquisite little breasts he’d ever seen.

At the sight of her rosy nipples tightening before his eyes, Trehan’s powerful, rational mind went blank, his questions forgotten.





Bettina had awakened to a darkened room.

All her candles had burned out, but she’d sensed a male’s presence, an awareness that made her skin tingle. She’d barely been able to discern the outline of his towering form.

Cas! He’d returned. How to get him to stay? she’d thought in a drunken panic. How to get him into my bed?

So she’d taken off her top. His response: a sharp intake of breath. Which told her he either liked the view—or was merely surprised by her daring.

Talk to him; don’t let him get away! “I’m going to make you so glad you’ve come to me, darling,” she said, but she could hear herself slurring. You’ve got one shot at this, one shot at a future worth having!

Strike fast and hard? She would seduce him yet. When she piled her hair atop her head and arched her back in invitation, he gave a not-so-subtle growl. A growl of appreciation? Or frustration that he couldn’t have what he wanted?

She fretted her bottom lip, letting down her hair. But as soon as the locks concealed her breasts, she felt two wisps of air as he swiftly swept her hair back over her shoulders.

When she could feel him staring once more, Bettina couldn’t suppress a buzzed sense of accomplishment.

This was actually happening. Caspion. Here in her bedroom. Admiring her breasts. He was finally looking at her—because he wanted her!

Cas was going to be hers tonight, and then he’d understand what she’d always known. She was his as well. Their fates would intertwine. There’d be no tournament for the “unchaste” Bettina.

She was giddy—and drunk, but mainly giddy. She imagined walking hand in hand with Caspion the Tracker, announcing their betrothal to all.

Yet he still hadn’t caressed her or kissed her. With another spike of alarm, she rose, swaying until his callused hands gripped her shoulders to steady her. Ah, contact!

A lifetime of swordplay had roughened his palms. Because my Cas is a warrior, none finer, none braver. . . .

She laid her hands on his chest, lids growing heavy at the feel of his mighty body. But this was just a tease; she needed to trace his skin, to explore him.

She reached for his coat, working it over his bulging shoulder muscles. He shrugged from it, and she heard it land over the foot of the bed.

For years, she’d been beset with curiosity about sex, about the masculine form. Yet she’d never touched a male before. Would nights of fantasizing at last come to fruition?

When she attempted the top button on his shirt, her normally agile fingers were clumsy. She made a sound of frustration. “I’m impatient to touch you—”

The material of his shirt disappeared with a single rip, joining his coat.

“Thank you. I-I just need to feel you for the first time.” Bettina worked with metal every day, engraving, forging, casting. To check for the slightest imperfections, she would often close her eyes and trace her sensitive fingertips over her work, as if seeing with them.

Now she smoothed the pads of her fingers over Cas’s naked torso, holding her breath . . .

The reality was so much better than fantasy! “My gods, I love your body.”

Her words made him groan. Light grazes over the hard planes of his pec muscles made them tense for her, made his heart thud louder. And oh, how his flat nipples hardened. When she dragged her forefingers across them, he hissed between his teeth.