Eternal Seduction (37 page)

Logan wasn’t sure what Kerestyan had requested, but with the way his body stiffened and his eyes slowly narrowed, she could only assume Stefan’s response wasn’t what he’d hoped for. “I won’t risk tainting the bond,” he said, his voice strained. He lowered his head, and for the first time since she’d met him, a sense of defeat charged the air around him, as if he’d just lost something important. “As much as it pains me, the risk outweighs the reward for her.”

She frowned. “For who? What are you talking about?”

Stefan stepped back in front on her. “I had a suspicion when we first spoke, due to your detached nature, it would be nearly impossible for you to establish a reciprocal bond with your Master. Meaning, while your Master is able to sense you, you cannot be influenced in return. Vouclade and I discussed the matter in length, and after a series of mystical tests performed on the blood he acquired during your physical examination, we concur my initial suspicion is accurate. Would it please you to become Kerestyan’s
Servio
?”

Logan didn’t have a chance to answer, because before her brain could process the extent of Stefan’s words, Kerestyan’s tongue plunged into her mouth. She moaned at the unexpected taste of him, at the exquisite sensation of his soft lips, hot and demanding, moving against hers. She returned his passion and more as she tangled her fingers into his hair.

He broke from her mouth and looked down at her, his incredible blue eyes streaked with obsidian. “I love you,” he breathed against her lips. “I don’t expect you to understand. I don’t expect to hear you say the same. But if you say yes, I promise you’ll never regret the choice.”

Logan considered Kerestyan’s handsome face for a long moment. She knew she couldn’t return his words with the same sincerity, but her heart told her, given time…he would be the only man she ever said them to. “Yes, Kerestyan.”

He flashed a devious grin, his razor sharp fangs taunting her from between his firm lips. “Does this mean I’m allowed to say I think you’re beautiful?”

She nipped at his bottom lip. “No, Kerestyan.”

“You know,” Odin’s sleepy voice interrupted,
again
. “Since the man just stood there and told you he loved you, the least you could do is pay him a compliment or something. As his brother, I know I’d feel better hearing one.”

She laughed and smiled at Kerestyan. “Is that what you want?”

He tipped his head from side to side. “I could listen.”

She cleared her throat. If he wanted rainbows compared to how she felt about him, she would grant his request. “Red is the color my blood flows for you. Orange is the color of the morning sky I can’t see with you. Yellow is the color of the sun whose ass I’d kick for you…if it had one. Green is the color—”

“Logan,” Kerestyan laughed. “Just shut up and kiss me.”

Three months later…

Kerestyan stood on the back porch of his new home, watching as the woman he loved more than life itself was smothered by a mound of black fur. She squealed and squirmed as Syn licked her face, and then let out a loud
oomph!
when he flopped over on top of her.

Although her dark outlook on the world hadn’t changed, and she still couldn’t see it the way he did, not a day went by that she didn’t try. She hadn’t done anything drastic like join one of the many Goodwill groups that called New York home, but her desire to leave her street life behind shone in her actions.

Kerestyan smiled. He’d almost fallen over the night they walked to the butcher shop to procure the steak she enjoyed so much, and instead of running off with the purse an elderly woman dropped as they passed, Logan picked up the bag and handed it back to her.

She even earned a crisp one-dollar bill and a litany of thanks for her trouble.

Granted, she let loose with a string of curses once the old woman was out of earshot, ranting about grandmothers and their obsessive need to stuff dollars in G-strings, but when all was said and done, she gifted him the most beautiful smile and used her reward to buy him the first chocolate bar he’d ever eaten.

“Yuck! Not in the mouth, Syn. How many damn times do I have to tell you your tongue does not go in my mouth?”

Kerestyan stepped off the porch and smiled at the warm blades of lush grass cushioning his bare feet as he moved to take Syn’s place. He knelt beside Logan and grinned at her closed eyes while she wiped the back of her hand across her lips.

He followed her hand with his tongue then slipped it into her mouth, savoring the soft, sweet taste of her and the instant warming effect she had on his Ancient body. There was no better taste to him, save the hot, rich texture of her blood as she writhed in ecstasy beneath him.

“Ow, das mot Smm.”

Logan moaned as Syn’s weight was replaced by the man who’d become the only addiction she’d ever refuse to give up. Kerestyan was as vital to her life as the air she breathed, and she was certain if the day ever came when she was forced to give him up, more than just her physical body would suffer.

She smiled as Kerestyan broke from her mouth and trailed a line of searing kisses across her jaw line before lowering his assault to her throat. She tangled her fingers into his hair and blew out a deep, contented sigh.

Unfortunately, all the movement got her was a tongue that belonged to a member of the cainine species.

“Damn it, Syn! Just because he does it doesn’t mean you get to!”

Kerestyan’s chest rumbled with laughter, vibrating her already puckered nipples and making her wish he’d left his pajama pants in the house. She slipped her hands from his hair, down his bare sides then pinched the sexy cuts of muscle above his hips.

She huffed out a breath when Syn interrupted by licking a stripe across her forehead. “I think Syn needs a girlfriend.”

Kerestyan raised his head and pinned her with his incredible blue eyes. “If we get him a mate, not only will we have to housebreak another wolf, but it’ll only be a matter of months before we have puppies running loose everywhere.”

She smiled as wide as she possibly could. “We’ll be parents.”

“No.” His eyes narrowed playfully. “We’ll be grandparents. And considering your belief that all grandmothers visit strip clubs, I’m not sure I’m ready to explain to my beast why I’m allowing you to stuff money down other men’s G-strings.”

“I’m not interested in any other man’s G-string. In fact,” she slipped her hands down the back of his pants and squeezed his tight, bare ass. “I prefer my man commando.”

He nipped at her bottom lip. “In that case, we can search for a she-wolf as soon as I’m finished with you.”

Logan squealed as he stood then scooped her into his strong arms, as if she weighed no more than a feather. She brushed the backs of her fingers across the stubble shadowing his cheek and shivered as the goblin in her belly purred.

Kerestyan Nelek, the moody man and sometimes far too serious vampire, may not have been able to reconnect her to the world she knew, but he’d rekindled her belief in two emotions she thought she’d never feel again.

Hope…and love.