Unbound (The Captive #7)(85)

Renewed.

He could feel the bond reconnecting between them while he laid her onto the bed and followed her down. Power swelled within him as her blood flooded his system. The bloodlink had always made him stronger, but this was a whole new level of strength.

When he’d first seen Sabine, he’d wondered if he’d be able to match her power. When he’d risen from the dead, he’d known he was stronger than he’d been before, but he now knew he would exceed her.

Reluctantly, he released his bite on Aria’s neck and leaned back until her fangs retracted from him. He stared down at her, absorbing every exquisite detail of her as she lay beneath him. The clamoring madness that had been ever-present in him since he’d woken in that cave eased within him. He no longer craved blood and death; all he craved was her.

Taking hold of her glasses, he eased them from her face to peer down into her crystalline blue eyes. His fangs throbbed when he saw that the bruise on her face also encircled her eye. His fingers hovered above it as he fought to contain his urge to kill.

“Who did this?” he growled.

“You’re here,” she breathed. “You’re really here. Not a dream. Not an illusion.”

“I’m really here, love,” he replied and rested his fingers against her cheek as he gazed down at her. “Who did this to you?”

“They’re dead. William took out the one who did this.”

***

Aria

Aria couldn’t understand what had happened. One minute she’d been standing at the table, trying to ignore the pounding in her head, and the next, she was lying here beneath him. The heat of his body against hers and the feel of his hands on her were all so familiar yet so unreal. Her eyes continued to run over him as her hands felt over his body. She touched him, but she couldn’t get herself to believe it was really him.

However, those were his chiseled abs with the indent running down the middle, and those were his broad shoulders. Shoulders she’d clung to more times than she could count. That was his black hair and those were his beautiful gray eyes with the blue band around the iris, before they’d turned red at the sight of the bruise on her face. His blood stained her lips and infused her body, strengthening her in a way she’d never experienced before. The power of his blood awed her, but not nearly as much as touching him did.

Icy water dripped from his hair and onto her, making this moment all the more real. Her fingers stilled on his cheeks, and her gaze ran over his eyes as she realized the scars around them had vanished completely. She found she missed them even as she realized their disappearance was due to the wealth of power emanating from him. He’d come back different, but he was still hers.

“Braith,” she whispered.

His hands tenderly clasped her cheeks as he bent to kiss her trembling lips. His mouth slanted over hers as his tongue slipped in to stroke over hers, tasting her until she quivered beneath him.

His hands worked to pull her shirt and pants from her as his kiss became more demanding. Clutching at the smooth, flexing muscles of his back, she eagerly met every hungry thrust of his tongue. She gripped him against her as he tossed aside his own pants and settled on top of her. The familiar weight and feel of his body against hers made her skin come alive. He pulled her firmly against his chest as his body joined with hers.

“Home,” she whispered against his neck before sinking her fangs into his flesh once more.

The intricate, soul-deep bond between them, which she’d missed so much since he’d been taken from her, consumed her once again, dragging her into its fathomless depths. He smoothed her hair back from her forehead when she released her bite on him, and bent to claim her mouth again with his.

Her nails dug into his back when his tongue thrust into her mouth in the same demanding rhythm as his powerful body moving within hers. Aria gave herself over to the passion he so easily stoked to life within her, and to the pleasure only he could give her.





CHAPTER 33


Braith

Braith cradled Aria against him, her back pressed to his chest as she ran her fingers over and through his. “I did something,” she whispered. “Or I allowed it to happen.”

He propped his head on his hand and gazed down at the unmarked side of her face. Color had crept back into her cheeks and her skin glowed with vitality once more, but she was still far thinner than he liked seeing her. Shadows circled her eyes and the knowledge of things one shouldn’t know shimmered in their depths.

He didn’t care what it took, he would do everything he could to make it better for her again.

“What did you allow to happen?” he inquired.

Her hands stilled on his. “We had to learn more about Sabine. Had to know her plan and who she was. Had to know if she had any weaknesses. Xavier, Max, and I tracked her to another town and a house there. I was going to try to get into the house with her, but I didn’t think I could do it without being caught. And I couldn’t get caught,” she grated through her teeth.

His hands clamped on hers at the possibility of such a thing. She wouldn’t be here now if she’d been caught. She wouldn’t be in his arms again, and the clawing sensation would still be tearing at his insides, driving him mad. Now, finally, it had been silenced by the renewal of their bloodlink.

“So instead of trying to get into the house, we lured away the vampire who worked in her stables there.” She rolled over to look up at him; her haunted eyes searched his face. “What I allowed them to do to that vampire was cruel. It was brutal…” Her words trailed off as her gaze slid passed him to the ceiling.