When he pushed open the bedroom door the sight before him almost brought him to his knees: Kimber kneeling in the middle of the bed with tears streaming down her face. The liquid dripped down her face, dripping from her chin to drop onto her palms that lay on her lap, her eyes darting to him when she heard him entering.

She hiccupped as she accused, “You left me. You promised you’d never leave me and you did. You’re not supposed to do that right now. Not when we’re still bonding, Victor. Not now, not . . .”

She stopped, unable to continue as another sob broke free, her hands rising to cover her face as her head fell forward. Her long, dark locks falling to drape around her like a shroud. Victor dashed forward, leaping onto the bed and taking her into his arms, cradling her against his chest and apologizing profusely, “I’m sorry, baby. Truly sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I really didn’t mean to.”

“What happened? Why did you do that? Run off like that?” Kimber struggled in his arms, her eyes rising to glare at him, and glare she did. Her eyes sparking fiery red as she punched at his chest. “I felt awful . . . desolate. Inside here,” she patted her own chest, “I felt as if my heart was breaking. Dragons don’t leave each other for days after they start to bond! And you upped and ran away. What the hell, Victor? Tell me what the hell is going on?”

He could feel her anger, her pure unadulterated fury as it ran through her. That he could deal with. What he couldn’t take was the others that were coursing through her: sadness, anguish, pain and sorrow. All of them because of him.

“If I tell you then I need you to stay calm and not freak out on me.” He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Can you promise me to try? Please?”

“Oh for goodness sakes. You know whenever someone says that it’s the first thing that someone’s gonna do . . . right?” Kimber cocked an eyebrow right back at him.

“Fair point.” He shrugged. “All right, I’ll start by saying I wouldn’t ever hurt you on purpose. You know that, right? You know it inside you. Don’t you. You can feel it . . . can’t you?”

He hoped with all his heart that he’d played the right card. That her Dragon senses would be able to pick up on that fact. If he was wrong then he was screwed. Kimber screwed her nose up but nodded before she replied, “Sure, I know that. My Dragon knows it so it must be true. But why are you asking that?”

“I just need you to know that, truly know that before I tell you why I freaked out and went in search of Nellie to ask her something.”

“Nellie? You went to talk to Nellie?” She wiggled her eyebrows. “What? You needed some guidance for our bonding or something?”

He couldn’t help but chuckle at her innuendo. His little Dragon seemed to have a wicked sense of humor. “No, Kimber, not for that, but for her knowledge to do with Vampire Bloodmates and specifically something that was happening to me. Something that scared me and that’s why I left so suddenly.”

“Scared you? How?”

He ran a finger down her cheek, onto her throat, caressing the skin there around the vein pulsing beneath. He could feel it, sense it, scent it. His fangs threatening to break free once more and he had to fight to keep them safely within his gums as he forced his eyes back to hers. “Your blood is calling to me. I have no other way to put it into words, Kimber. But the longer we’re together, the more it’s pulling me to it and earlier my fangs erupted of their own volition and that’s not something that happens with me. I’m always in control of that side of me, in fact it was only when the Thirst struck that I broke my self-imposed rule of feeding on human blood. So I freaked out and went in search of the only person I thought might be able to give me some answers: Nellie.”

Kimber’s eyes widened even more, shock clearly evident but relief ran through him when he saw no sign of fear in her face. The first thing that she said wasn’t what he expected when she reached up to cup the side of his face. “The Thirst? You had the Thirst?”

Victor’s eyebrows puckered, unsure he’d heard her correctly. How would she know about such a thing when he, a Vampire had known nothing of it? “Yes, I had this Thirst but how is it that you know of it? I had no knowledge of this and thought I was losing my mind. Again, it was Nellie that enlightened me to what was going on. If she hadn’t I’m not sure what I would’ve done.”

Kimber’s lips tugged up, a small smirk on her face. “Dragons have been around for a long time, Victor, longer even than Vampires and we have a vast knowledge of things to do with the other races. My father used to tell us about other species, mainly their weaknesses and one of those is when a Vampire is afflicted by this Thirst. They lose their mind and don’t think rationally and if they don’t find their mate they go insane, or that’s what my dad told us. He said that their dark side consumes them and that they would be hunted down by The Directive and killed because they’d be too dangerous to be allowed to live. I didn’t know that you’d had the Thirst . . . was it bad? My father said it was, he made it sound painful and really awful. Was it?”

Victor thought back to how he’d felt in the days prior to finding Kimber. Yes. It was bad. It was damn painful and the worst part was feeling as if he were losing control. For him that was the worst. He was known for his steely domination over the darkness inside and the fact that he had been losing that made him feel as if he was going insane.

He remembered their conversation about honesty and gave her a curt nod. “Yes, it was bad. As I said, I used bagged donor blood for a long time and didn’t feed from live subjects, but I lost control and fed in a registered club. Too much and too many. I felt as if I was losing my mind and for me that was the worst thing to happen to me. I knew I was going to lose control of the darkness inside and that would’ve brought death and destruction. I’m very powerful, baby, and it would’ve taken many of The Directive’s operatives to take me down. There would have been too many deaths at my hands if that happened.”

“That man in the park, what’s his name? Clarence something, he couldn’t have dealt with you?”

Victor gave a brittle laugh, shaking his head. “No. Clarence is indeed a strong and able Vampire, but he couldn’t take me on and he knows it. The only one that, possibly, could take me one on one is his boss, Magno Zara, and even then it would be too close to call.”

“I see,” Kimber said softly. “Well, I’m glad you found me. I wouldn’t want you to hurt anyone.”

“I wouldn’t want to either,” he admitted. “I’m not averse to taking out people who do wrong, but if the darkness had taken over that wouldn’t have been the case.”

“Now, the other thing . . . the feeding part.” Kimber nibbled her bottom lip nervously. “Nellie says that’s normal? For you to feel that and to want to feed from me?”

Her heart had sped up. While she was doing her best to cover how she was feeling he could hear it thundering in her chest. His little Dragon couldn’t hide it from him no matter how hard she tried and he felt more love blossoming in his chest for her, although he wasn’t sure how that was even possible. He tightened his hold on her, softening his voice and choosing his words carefully. “Yes, she said that’s the case. She emphasized the meaning of Bloodmate and that our bond would be complete in that you would sustain me completely for eternity. However, Kimber, I will not do anything that you don’t want me to. If you’re not comfortable with me feeding from you I will continue to feed from my donor blood. I will never force this on you. We can work through this somehow.”

Kimber blinked up at him, her emerald eyes impossibly bright as she processed his words. “I see. That kinda makes sense . . . the Bloodmate thing I mean. It’s just a little scary for me. I’m usually turning tail and running for my life from Vampires, so to allow one to feed from me willingly is not exactly something I’ve ever thought I’d do.”

“I completely understand and you don’t need to make any decision now.” He uttered the words but he knew that it was going to be difficult to control the urge to taste the crimson liquid running through her body. Not impossible . . . he hoped. No. He’d make sure he didn’t cross that line. Ever. He refused to do that.

“I’m not saying no, Victor.” Kimber’s fingers landed on his lips, trailing along them teasingly. “I’m just saying . . . you need to be gentle and if I say stop you have to do it. Okay? Oh, and will it be painful? Will it leave bruises? I don’t want to walk around with hickeys all over my neck. I’m not a teenager any longer.”

Victor couldn’t believe he’d heard right. Had she just agreed to allow him to feed from her? “What?”

“I said, will it hurt and leave bruises?”

“Are you saying you agree?” Victor whispered, his voice barely audible as his cock sprang to life with the thought of burying himself deep inside her as his fangs broke the soft skin of her neck and drank down her life-giving ambrosia. It was as if he were in a dream when she nodded, her lips parting and her tongue darting out to lick along her bottom lip. “I’ll make sure it won’t hurt. I have venom that I can use to numb the area and I close the wound afterward so there’s no bruising. In fact, it can be quite arousing and sensual for you while I’m feeding.”

“Really? I’d heard stories but I assumed those were rumors put out there by Vampires to get willing victims.” Kimber shrugged. “Guess I was wrong, huh?”

“Yes, you were wrong.” Victor slipped off the bed, undoing his jeans and dropping them to the floor before rejoining her on the bed.

She saw his throbbing need and slipped off the robe she was wearing, moving to lie back in the middle of the bed. He positioned himself between her thighs, his hands running up the insides of her legs to stop at her inner thighs and pushing them apart. “I need to taste you here.”

Kimber moaned as he dipped his head, his tongue darting out to lick along her folds slowly, tortuously making his way toward that little nub that would take her to the heights of ecstasy. He was determined to make his first feeding one that was as painless and pleasurable as possible, start as he meant to go on as it were. As he suckled her clit, his fingers slid inside her, two, then three to fill and thrust faster and faster as her hips bucked beneath him. Her moans grew louder as she rose higher and higher toward the precipice, nearing the edge where she’d fall over and shatter as bliss encompassed her body. When he felt her walls start to convulse around his fingers, tightening hard and she screamed his name, his head darted down to her inner thigh, releasing a tiny amount of venom at the same time as releasing his fangs.

He’d been fantasizing about this, piercing her here, right next to her opening . . . and he struck quickly, his fangs sinking in so fast that he was certain she wasn’t even aware of what he was doing. Taking a long slow drink of Kimber’s blood, he almost came right then and there . . . it was that erotic to taste her for the first time. She was exquisite, sensual, and downright wicked at the same time as being pure, innocent and uncorrupted. Now he knew what Nellie meant . . . he could feast on this ambrosia for eternity and still crave more. It was the strangest thing he’d ever felt while feeding as he swallowed several more mouthfuls before releasing his fangs from her skin and dashing his tongue over the two pin-prick wounds to heal them. He’d carried it out so quickly that Kimber was only just coming down from the throws of her orgasm and wasn’t even aware of what he’d done.

He climbed up her body, licking his lips and grinning like an idiot. “Are you all right?”

She giggled, pouting up at him breathlessly. “I’m more than all right . . . that was wonderful. You have a sinful tongue, Victor. If you ever go to church I’m sure you’ll be struck by a bolt of lightning straight from God himself.”

Victor’s head reared back, laughter filling the room at the mere thought of him entering a Church. “That’s not going to happen.”

“Victor! Are you hurt? There’s some blood at the side of your mouth.” Kimber reached up, a finger tracing his lips and coming away with a tiny drop of blood on the tip, staring at it then up at him questioningly.

He looked down, looking sheepish. “I have to apologize, darling, I’m afraid I couldn’t resist. Did I hurt you?”

Victor knew he hadn’t, but he had to ask anyway and he hoped she wasn’t going to be angry at his taking the liberty of feeding before asking her permission. He scrutinized her closely, her eyes, her breathing, her heartbeat, for any sign of anger or outrage, but all he saw was confusion as she looked at her finger then back up at him. Her mouth opening and closing several times before she finally managed to get words out.

“You fed from me?”

“Yes, just a little,” he admitted quietly. “From the top of your thigh. I hope it didn’t hurt.”

“Holy shit,” she breathed out. “I didn’t even feel it far less you hurting me and that orgasm was, well, it was out of this world. Was that because you were . . . feeding?”

Victor nodded. “Yes, I waited until you started to come and then I started. As I said, I’m sorry but I got carried away in the moment. I won’t do it again without asking if I’ve upset you.”

Kimber’s arms came up and around his neck, pulling him down toward him. “You didn’t hurt me and if that’s what it does go right ahead. Just don’t drain me dry . . . okay?”

“I would never do that, Kimber. You mean everything to me . . . everything. I could never harm you like that. I’d die before harming you, beautiful. You’re my Bloodmate and that means you’re the most cherished person in my world.”

“Thank you.” Her eyes glassed over as tears filled them. “I’m beginning to understand that now and just so we’re clear . . . I feel the same.”

“Glad we’re on the same page.” He grinned before lowering to cover her lips with his, as his hips pressed down, his steely length seeking the warm embrace of his Bloodmate.