There was nothing better in this world than kissing Drake.

I confess that when I told him I was a witch, I had expected him to rage and yell and maybe even throw me out, to go live with the other blood slaves, or to be taken by whoever crossed my path first.

Most likely Alex.

I shuddered at the thought, but then Drake’s tongue swept over my lips and I lost my mind. My mind and my heart.

Vampires were monsters, but Drake was different. He had a good heart. If he led Castle DuMoir, maybe things would change, and the witches wouldn’t hate vampires so much. If he became the new Lord, maybe he would let me walk out with my coven’s heart, but that wouldn’t be the end for us.

Because I really didn’t want it to end.

I had come in here sure I was going to die, one way or another. I was supposed to retrieve the heart and hand it back to the coven. If I died in the process, I had been okay with that, because it was my duty. I would die with honor. Doing what was right.

But now, with Drake’s soft lips pressed against mine, moving in a frantic rhythm, as if I were the moonlight of his existence … now I wasn’t so sure I wanted to die.

Taking my breath away, Drake spun us around with his super speed, and pinned me to the wall. Without breaking the kiss, he glued his hard body to mine and ran his hands down my hips.

His mouth wandered from my mouth to my chin, and he bit the soft spot between my shoulder and neck. On instinct, I threw my head back and moaned, digging my nails into his shoulders. I felt when his fangs elongated and he grazed them over my skin.

A sliver of fear snaked through my chest, but then he whispered, “Don’t worry. I won’t bite you.”

He didn’t give me time to process his words. He grabbed my ass and pulled me up. Instantly, I wound my legs around his waist. The skirt of my nightgown rode up, and I wiggled, adjusting against him, rubbing on him, making him even harder for me.

His chest rumbled with a growl as he slipped his fingers between us and rubbed through my underwear. Heat and lust traveled through me, and I moaned, my back arching. He moved his mouth from my shoulders to my cleavage, dragging his tongue on the curve of my breasts while his finger inched under my panties. I shivered as he touched my center.

“Please,” I whispered. The feelings, the sensations zipping through me … I never thought I was the kind to beg, but right now, I would beg. “Please.”

Finally, Drake slipped a finger inside me and I stilled. For a brief moment, all I could do was pant. Then, my hands tightened around his shoulders, and I pulled him to me. He slid a second finger inside me and rubbed my clit with his thumb. Whimpering, I ground my hips in rhythm with his hand.

It didn’t take long for my body to start tensing, my hips shifting, my nails digging so hard into his skin I was sure I would have drawn blood if he weren’t a vampire. I was so, so close.

“Like this?” he whispered before taking my mouth again. He kissed me even harder and deeper than before, ripping little moans out of me. Drake increased the pressure of his thumb and thrust his fingers faster. “Show me how much you like this.”

Eyes closed, I threw my head back, whimpered, tensed, and then broke into little trembles in his arms. I melted, my legs dropping down hard, and if it weren’t for his arms around me, I would have slipped to the floor.

Drake held me close and brushed back a strand of my hair from my face. “Are you okay?”

Floating in paradise, I smiled at him. “I’m more than okay.”

“We’re not done yet.” He leaned into me and took my mouth with his. His hands worked to open and push down my nightgown.

With a low growl, Drake pushed me onto the bed, but instead of joining me, he stepped back and looked at me. Just looked at me. His gaze traveled over every inch of my body, his green eyes brewing like a storm. I felt like I should be self-conscious and embarrassed, but then I realized I didn’t have a reason to be. I liked the hunger in his eyes, the way they darkened while his whole stance changed, the way his jaw worked, the way he licked his lips as if I was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

“You’re stunning,” he said, his voice husky. I hadn’t thought he would say it out loud, and it took me by surprise. “You’re too damn gorgeous.”

Slowly, he inched to the bed. Dipping his knees, one leg on each side of me, he leaned into me. He ran a finger up my body, sending a blazing fire wherever he touched—my thigh, my hip, my waist, the curve of my breast.

A moan slipped from my throat, and I arched my back into his touch, amazed at how my body reacted to him.

Drake groaned and closed his mouth around my breast. Crying out, I buried my hands in his hair as if to hold him there, because I would die if he moved his mouth away. He teased. He licked. He sucked. He drove me insane with pent up ecstasy. I needed more. I needed him.

“Please …” I croaked, out of breath.

He growled and lifted his head, his eyes meeting mine. The desire in them, the want … I shivered, anticipating the moment he was inside me. I couldn’t wait.

“What do you want?” he asked.

“You,” I said, no hesitation. “You and me. You inside me.”

With a satisfied grin, Drake shrugged off his clothes and crawled over me. I barely had time to appreciate the view—he was the gorgeous one with a long, hard body, and a thousand muscles I wanted to explore—as he rested his body over mine and took my mouth with his. I gasped as he plunged his tongue past my lips and claimed me. Wanting more, needing more, I opened my mouth wide, giving him full access.

He positioned myself between my parted legs. I broke the kiss and sucked in a sharp breath as he slid inside me.

“Oh …” I whimpered as he buried himself deep and stilled, giving me time to get used to him, to how he filled me up, to how I was about to explode with all the heat and lust and need.

He growled then started moving. Slowly at first. I savored each rub of him on me. It was too much and it still wasn’t enough. I clasped his ass and pulled him into me, hoping he would get the hint. He did. With a growl, he pounded into me, taking from me as much as he could. I arched my back, and he wound his arm around my waist, keeping me close. He grazed his tongue across my mouth, my chin, jaw, neck, shoulder, and down my breasts. He clasped a hand around one while sliding his hot tongue along the curve of the other. Lost in the millions of sensations racing under my skin, I moaned, arching my back more and more. Like I had done before, I buried my hands in his hair and held him against me. He teased me, flicking his tongue around my breast, then my nipple, all the while thrusting into me, hard and deep. I cried out in pain and pleasure. He sucked on my nipple, then he opened his mouth and took as much of my breast as he could. I cried out again.

“Hell,” he whispered against my skin.

Boldness surged through me. I pushed on his shoulders and rolled us over. I straddled him, loving the surprise shining in his wide eyes. With my hands on his rippled chest, my torso straight and my head thrown back, I started moving. Up and down. Rinse and repeat. With each stroke, I went deeper and deeper, taking more of him, filling me up. By all that was sacred, I couldn’t get enough of him. Of this.

“Hell,” he repeated, letting out a growl.

He closed his hands around my waist and helped me as I went up and down, keeping rhythm with me, taking me even deeper.

I tried focusing, I tried appreciating how hot and handsome he looked under me, but all I could do was whimper with each stroke of him inside me. Drunk in lust, I leaned over him and licked his chest. Gods, how come he was so perfect? Even for a vampire, Drake was too perfect. I grazed my tongue over the ridges of his muscles, trying to memorize them all, but there were so many and I wanted to spend days, weeks, years exploring them all. Then, his muscles tensed under my touch. With a loud growl, he wrapped his hands around my arms and rolled us over again.

“I want you right here,” he said, pressing his heavy body over me. I moaned, loving this. I wished this moment would never end.

He captured my mouth with his, kissing me hard as he pounded into me. I moaned again, and my nails clamped on his shoulders, holding on tight.

“By all that is sacred,” I mumbled.

Drake increased the rhythm. “You want more?”

“I want it all,” I confessed, drunk on him.

He brushed his lips over mine. “You have me. All of me.”

He thrust into me once, twice, three more times, and I cried out, coming around him. With another thrust, Drake came too.

His body went limp over me, pressing me against the mattress, his face tucked into my neck, is hot breathing tickling my skin. I felt his fangs as he raked them across my skin, but I wasn’t afraid. I wrapped my arms around him, keeping him close, enjoying how we fit together.

Drake licked my neck, then pressed a soft kiss on my skin. He pulled back, just enough to look at me.

“Are you okay?” His fangs were nowhere to be seen.

How he was controlling himself was beyond me, but right now, I was too satisfied and happy to care. “I told you before, I’m more than okay.”

He smiled at me. A real smile that filled my heart with pride.

Slowly, he disentangled himself from me and lay beside me. I felt cold and down from the absence of his body covering mine, but my disappointment was short lived. Not a second later, Drake pulled me to him. He wrapped his arms around me, and I laid my head on his shoulders.

“Sleep now.” He kissed my forehead and tightened his grip around me. “I’ll keep you safe.”

He was gonna keep me safe? He had been the one who was almost killed, and I had just saved him. I knew the healing salve acted fast, but I hadn’t expected that well so soon after. I wanted to protest that I could keep myself safe, thank you very much, but his words worked like magic.

Soon, I drifted into a deep sleep.