An End of Night (A Shade of Vampire #16)(59)

I felt his need.

Caressing my earlobe with his lips, he breathed against my ear:

“May I take you, Rose?”

My throat felt so tight, I could hardly speak. “Yes,” I managed.

“All of you?”

“All of me.”

Kissing the side of my face, he ran his wide palms down the back of my thighs and lowered me to the floor. As I lay beneath him, my head against the pillows, he knelt over me, gazing down at me for several moments before dipping down.

He kissed my lips, then my neck and the base of my throat. His kisses trailed down the center of my chest, over my ribcage, my stomach, and down to my abdomen. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold out when his mouth found my inner thigh. My chest heaving, I bit down hard on my lower lip.

He moved back up my body so that his face was level with mine, his mouth once again closing around my lips. I gripped his hair, pulling him closer.

Then his hips pressed against me.

And he took me.

All of me.

Even as we made love, it felt like a dance. A dance I didn’t need to learn.

His tongue brushed against mine in rhythm to the rest of his body, our breathing forming a symphony as he explored the deepest part of me.

The lapping of the waves, the blowing of the wind, the flickering of the candlelight, even the stars glimmering overhead seemed to join in the beat of our love.

I still didn’t know what lay ahead of us, how we would make what we had last. Whether I would risk turning into a vampire, or Caleb would turn into a human.

But we had time.

Caleb was mine and I was his.

And as our hearts beat against each other, the heat of my body melding with the coolness of his, nothing else in the world mattered.

Chapter 41: Sofia

Derek and I turned in soon after Rose left with her new husband. There were too many gifts to carry back with us, so Corrine offered to transport them to Rose’s bedroom in our penthouse by magic.

Leaving the area, Derek and I didn’t speak much as we headed back home. We walked hand in hand, lost in our own thoughts.

Arriving at the front door, we headed straight for our bedroom. I entered the bathroom and started brushing my teeth. Derek pushed open the door a moment later to join me. I caught his eye in the mirror. I was expecting to see moroseness in his expression—after all, this was the first night Rose was officially Caleb’s. Instead, the corners of his lips were curved up in a smile.

I raised a brow, my mouth filled with toothpaste.

He responded by burying his head against the back of my neck and kissing me.

“I was just thinking of our wedding night,” he said, resurfacing.

Ah. That should be reason enough to smile… Then again, I recalled how much anxiety we’d been in, since Derek had been due to take the cure the very next day and neither of us had had any idea whether or not it would work.

I rinsed out my mouth.

“I said to Rose how much better behaved Caleb has been with her than you were with me.” I gave him a teasing smile.

He placed his hands on my hips, pulling me back against him. “But would you have had it any other way?”

I craned my neck up to kiss him full on the mouth. “You know I wouldn’t.”

We changed into our night clothes and got into bed. Though there really wasn’t much point in changing into clothes with Derek giving me his look. We’d stripped out of them in a matter of seconds.

After we’d finished our tumble in bed, I nestled my head against him while he brushed his fingers through my hair.

We both sighed.

“A daughter married,” I said. “A son missing. What a year it’s been.”

“Barely an hour goes by when I don’t think of Ben,” Derek said, “but… I’m not as worried about him as I was before.”

My eyes shot up toward him. “Why?”

He paused before replying. “After seeing Rose’s growth in the face of danger while she was away from The Shade, whatever Ben is going through now, I can only think that he will pull through it stronger and braver than ever before.”

I wanted nothing more than for my son to return. But I couldn’t deny that Derek’s words had struck a chord with me. Although Rose’s gumption scared the living daylights out of me sometimes, I couldn’t have been prouder of her.

Gradually, I’d also been coming to terms with why Ben had chosen to leave. Even after hours of discussion with Derek about it, I still hadn’t accepted why our son had seen no other option.

But Ben was prince of The Shade. He’d killed Yasmine. An innocent young woman. One of his people, his citizens, who’d looked up to him as an authority. As a ruler.

Ben had done what any true leader would do—held himself accountable and taken full responsibility for his actions. He didn’t want to return until he was certain such an incident would never occur again.

As his mother, I’d lost perspective. I realized that I should be proud of him for making that decision, despite the pain it caused me. Ben was a stronger man than I’d given him credit for.

“I agree with you, Derek,” I said. “Adversity will be good for our son.”

Derek looked surprised. He’d probably been expecting me to disagree with him and try to persuade him once again that we ought to go looking for Ben.

My husband raised a brow.