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Mia Bailey

woman. He wanted her to feel joy, feel ecstasy. He would lay the world at her feet to make her happy.

And up here on the Ferris wheel, with the night and stars embracing them and the carnival grounds illustrating the beauty that could be found around them, the world
was
laid before her feet. If he had his druthers, he would keep her high away from the world…safe and untouched…like she was in the mountains.

He leaned over and inhaled. Her scent, a combination of roses and mountain air, coursed through him, his body becoming hard in response.

Unable to resist his animal urges as he caught scent of her pure essence and her growing arousal, he rushed in to steal another kiss.

She accepted the swift intrusion of his tongue as she accepted her destiny as his life mate. There was no denying it any longer—she couldn’t deny it was what she wanted with all her heart. By the time their kiss ended, they were both panting, gulping for air. Richelle wrapped a strand of Valya’s dark hair around her finger, marveling at how soft it was—how soft he was, with her.

“In case I forget to tell you later…”

“Yes.” Valya raised a brow.

“I had a wonderful time tonight.”

He placed a chaste peck on her forehead as he held her close, happy he could do this for her.

“And I love you,” she whispered quickly, trying to get the words out before she lost her nerve.

He squeezed her so tight she could barely breathe. He held his breath, to capture and keep this moment in time. This moment, when Richelle had declared her love for him. They hadn’t known each other long. She’d had to face so many changes in that short time. He thought it would have taken much longer to earn her trust. But she loved him.

“Are you sure?” He didn’t know why he had asked. It was what he had hoped for since he found her. But he had to be sure.

“I am sure.”

Dumbfounded, it took him a few moments to respond to her avowal.

“Am I that easy to read?”

“No. Even though you didn’t say it out loud, I can feel your hesitation.

I’ll admit so much I’m feeling is scary. But it’s scary in an exhilarating kind

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of way. I didn’t realize how empty I felt until you came. And now I feel as if I’m going to burst. I don’t want to lose that feeling. I don’t want to lose you.”

Valya tried to swallow the lump in his throat. He could feel his blood thrumming through his veins, responding not only to her words, but also to her growing arousal.

“I want to be with you.”

Valya’s smile was genuine and hot, melting her insides like butter on a hot stove.

“We have all eternity.”

“No. I mean I want to
be
with you.”

With a hungry look, Valya gazed into her wistful eyes, causing her to gasp. Not in fear, but in unfulfilled desire and wanton hope. Mesmerized by her beauty, he had forgotten himself with his lustful gaze.

“Are you sure?”

Never breaking their gaze, she took his hands in her own.

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.” She brought his hands up, letting her tongue lightly trace the outline of his thumb, tasting the saltiness of his skin with the sweetness of the cotton candy, before she nipped the tip. “I’m yours, for eternity. Take me as your mate.”

With the growl of a beast that had waited too long between meals, he feasted on her lips, her face, her hands. In his rush, he didn’t know where to begin to touch her so he opted to touch her everywhere.

It was when she felt his hands in her hair, gripping her by the side of her head, that she moaned, opening herself completely to him. And he took full advantage of it, letting his hands cup and stroke her body boldly with her shocked gasps and lusty sighs spurring his advances.

She was giddy, dizzy, light-headed, all the while wanting, begging for more. Her head spun as the Ferris wheel spun faster and faster, matching the pace of her racing heart.

Valya broke their kiss, whispering hoarsely into her ear.

“You need to calm yourself,
mio dusa
,” he rasped huskily. “Your desires are driving the ride faster.”

“How can that be?”

“Perhaps it is a latent power part of your Wicca heritage, I’m not sure. I do know it is
your
desires driving this ride. You must relax.”

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She could barely reply as he ran his tongue over the delicate shell of her ear.

“I can’t.”

“Yes, you can,” he chortled, sending a thrill she felt to her toes. “It’s like closing a door.” He stroked her lobe before nipping it. “You opened the door, you can close it.”

“No,” she shivered. “It’s not that I can’t. I mean I don’t want to.”

No, he didn’t want her to either. With a lusty growl he devoured her mouth using his teeth, his lips, his tongue while several ride attendants tried to slow the racing wheel.

“Close the door, Richelle.”

The wheel started to slow until it came to a halt with a slight jolt.

“Start bringing the passengers down!” one of the carnies shouted. “Shut this ride down!”

One by one, the attendants helped the riders off and had them exit.

Finally, Valya and Richelle’s chair came down. But it was empty.

“Where the hell did they go?”

* * * *

At first, Richelle had the sensation of falling. But then she it felt like landing on a cloud with Valya’s masculine form weighing against her. She looked around. They had returned to the loft and were lying in Valya’s bed.

How delicious it felt—Valya’s hard physique pressing against her breasts and into the soft mattress beneath her. She wrapped her hands behind his neck, drawing his face closer to hers.

“How did we get here?” she asked against his mouth.

He kissed her soundly as his body covered her like a blanket.

“How do you think?”

Not wanting his kisses to stop, she used the same mind link to speak with him.

“Did you bring us here?”

“No.”

“Then how did we get here?”

“You brought us.”

“Me? Impossible.”

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“No, not impossible.”

He pulled back, gazing at her face. His body responded, his cock seemed to reach for her through his leather pants. There was no denying his desire as she felt his steely length pressing against her leg.

“Do you really wish to discuss this
now
?” Valya asked.

She shook her head. He leaned in to kiss and nibble her neck. Trailing his kisses up over her chin to claim her lips again, she shifted beneath him and moaned.

“I cannot believe how lucky I am to have found you.”

Pulling away, Richelle wanted…needed to say the words.

“No. I’m the lucky one you found me.”

His motions stilled as he lay atop her, her soft body a gentle respite from the harsh life he had led. Here with her, there was no war, no crime, no evil.

Just her.

With him.

Together.

Forever.

“Yes, Valya. Forever,” she murmured against his lips. “Claim me. Take me as your mate. Forever.” Before he could say anything, she kissed him, putting all the love and emotion bursting from her heart into that kiss.

And then the kiss changed. It went from soul-wrenching first love to blazing passion as he took control of their kiss, slanting his mouth over hers so there was no part of her, body or soul, that he didn’t touch as he joined his mind to hers.

Mine. Forever.

* * * *

People were rushing around the Ferris wheel, looking for the missing couple as he watched from the shadows.

Scurrying around like rats. Hatred oozed from every pore as he watched the humans hunt for Valya and Richelle.

Where the hell did they disappear to?

“Damn Valya!”
Damn all Immortals.

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Stalking away, he tried to sense where they had gone. Nothing. Usually he could feel the presence of an Immortal nearby and could even track them to a certain degree. But now, nothing.

Valya is certainly cloaking her, keeping her from me. But he will fail.

Leaving the main fairway heading toward the woods, he conceived a plan to capture Richelle. He merely needed to be patient. She would return to the fairgrounds. That much he could sense. He couldn’t decipher why, but she would return.

He would have Preacher and his Believers wait. And watch. When she returned, they would take her and bring her to him. Then he would take his revenge against Valya. Against Nicolae.
The Great One
. The mere thought of Nicolae made his blood boil. He was the one to blame! If not for his interference…well, no matter now.
Great One,
you
have been judged and
now it is you who will pay.

All the Immortals will pay.

So caught up in his thoughts, he had no warning when a double-fisted blow to the middle of his back sent him to the ground.

“I told ya I would find ya! No one makes a fool of Big Huey!”

As he began to rise to his feet, Big Huey gave him a kick to the stomach to flip him onto his back. And then another so he was lying on his face again.

“Not so tough now, are ya, pretty boy,” Huey remarked with a sneer.

“Maybe now you’ll learn. No one messes with Big Huey!”

Huey leaned over to grab him by the neck when he disappeared.

“What the…”

Huey spun around and back, trying to see where “pretty boy” had disappeared to. Then, appearing like a bolt of lightning, the handsome blond stood before him wearing an evil smirk.

“How the hell…” he stammered. “Who are you?”

“Pretty boy” kept disappearing, then reappearing somewhere else, causing Huey to spin on his heels like a whirling dervish.

“What are ya?”

The man’s eyes flickered from icy blue to fiery red, causing Huey to recoil in fear, a real fear that he’d never known in the past twenty of his forty years.

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“I am Luka cel Rau, descendant of Marvoloe cel Rau, oldest of the Immortals. I am destined to be Supreme Master of the World, the giver of Life or Death.” With viper-like movement, his hand snatched out to grab Huey by the throat, squeezing until his eyes popped and he gasped for breath. “And you are nothing more than a rabbit at the bottom of the food chain.” Luka threw Huey away, leaving him staggering on the ground as he approached him with the stealth-like movements of a panther on the prowl.

Looming over him, Luka stared down at him with predatory eyes. Like molten lava they burned into Huey’s soul. The stench of fear reached Luka’s nostrils, and he surreptitiously licked his lips.

“I missed my lunch. But as she is not here…you’ll do.”

And with that, Luka made a powerful lunge toward Huey, pinning him to the ground. Luka’s fingernails grew in length to resemble claws, scratching and raking through Big Huey’s shirt and finally through his skin.

All the while, Huey was screaming as each pass lacerated deeper and deeper into his flesh.

The slashing stopped.

Through tears and splattered blood, Big Huey looked up at his attacker.

Luka stared down at him in derision, his contemptible sneer pulling his lips back while his canines descended. Huey’s eyes grew large, and he was unable to move as he felt the blood spurt from the gashes on his chest with every beat of his racing heart. Luka’s nostrils flared at the smell of fresh blood.

* * * *

Lunging in, Luka sank his fangs into the flesh in Huey’s throat, finding a vein so he could gorge himself on his prey’s hot blood. Several Believers approached, surrounding the clearing to watch as Luka feasted on his midnight meal.

Some of the Believers turned away in revulsion as Luka gorged himself while others watched on in fascinated malevolence, feeding on the violence of the situation. Luka fed while Huey lay twitching on the ground, still alive.

That is until the final moment when Luka crushed Huey’s windpipe, snapping his neck and sending him into blessed oblivion.

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Preacher stepped forward when Luka stood. Throwing back his head in a silent howl, his fangs withdrew as he licked his lips, savoring every last morsel of his meal. Preacher watched on helplessly. Too late he had learned of Luka’s deceptions and now all he could do was follow orders.

Luka first approached him in Romania, telling him tales of Immortals and Vampyres and the battle of good versus evil. Luka proclaimed he was on a mission to help a girl, Adelaide, fulfill her true destiny. Preacher willingly offered his allegiance. It was later when Luka had killed the girl’s parents that he realized he had aligned himself with evil itself.

By then, he served Luka in fear of losing his life if he did not obey.

Adelaide had escaped and had a child of her own. Luka then proclaimed it was Richelle who was destined to be the mother of a new race as his bride.

Unwilling to face his own death, Preacher led his followers, damning his soul and theirs. “Master.” Preacher spoke softly, knowing from years of service to approach a Vampyre cautiously, especially one feeding, since a Vampyre was dangerous as a lion as it consumed its latest kill. “We are here by your command.”

Luka’s eyes had returned to their pale blue color. There was nothing warm or friendly about the disdainful glare he shot the Believers who dared to venture nearer to the grisly scene.

“She was here.”

“The one from the prophecy?”

“Yes.
Richelle
.” Luka murmured her name almost reverently.

“Where is she now?” Preacher asked, sorry he had when Luka lowered his head and growled menacingly.

Preacher stepped back as Luka’s eyes flashed in rage, while his hands transformed into those of the beast, his nails growing into claws.

Lashing out, Luka struck several of the Believers, slashing through skin and tissue but not taking blood. Rather, it was the outraged tantrum of a spoiled child, Preacher thought. When the rage had subsided, Luka’s claws retracted and he spoke.