Gunner pressed the accelerator to the floor, and they shot out into the night towards his estate. The stereo was silent, so while he drove, Gunner explained to Imogen what he’d been going through and how he’d reacted to Piper.

“I was sure she was the one, but when I saw her again, I felt nothing for her. That was when Piper theorized that I wasn’t craving her—it was you. Did it affect you, Imogen? The Thirst?”

“You can call me Immie. Everyone does,” she said, as she ran her fingers through her hair.

“I’m not everyone. I’m much more to you than anyone else. If you don’t mind, I’m gonna call you Imogen, because it’s beautiful and unique, just like you.”

“Thank you, Gunner.”

“So, back to my question. Were you feeling different before tonight?”

She paused, considering how much was too much to tell him. Though her heart was onboard with their union, her head hadn’t quite caught up yet. And she certainly wasn’t going to tell him how many times she’d pleasured herself, with him playing the central role.

“Well, I was a vegetarian before it started.”

Gunner glanced over at her, taking his attention away from the road.

“How long did you practice that?”

“Just over 17 years.”

“Are you unhappy about your change?”

“Not at all. Strange, huh?”

“When you start attacking blood bags, we’ll play the Who’s weirder? game, baby.”

She laughed, and he reached for her hand. As he returned his focus to the traffic around them, he lifted it to his lips and placed a kiss on each of her knuckles. As she watched, his tongue slipped from between his lips, and he flicked the tip in the crease at the base of her fingers.

In answer, her clit began to throb, while she imagined him doing the same thing between her legs, as she cried out, begging him not to stop. Trying to hide her reaction, she shifted in her seat and looked out the window.

“Mmmm,” he groaned, when she crossed her legs, squeezing them together.

He set her hand on his thigh, and she left it there, getting used to the feel of him, though she knew his body thoroughly, considering what they’d done to each other in her dreams during fitful bouts of sleep.

In a few minutes, Gunner slowed the car in front of a mansion that took up an entire city block.

“This is yours?”

“Ours.”

“Oh, my God!”

Clicking the garage door opener, he waited until it raised enough to navigate the vehicle in the only empty spot in the ten-car bay.

“Am I dead?” Imogen gasped.

“No, that would be me.” Gunner huffed a laugh. “If you don’t like it, we can always sell and move somewhere more suited to your tastes.”

“I just need a moment to absorb all of this. I didn’t see it in the dreams.”

“And the truth is slowly revealed.”

“I mean—”

He shook his head and said, “Everything in your time, baby. You’ll tell me when you’re ready.”

“Will you show me the rest of the house now?”

“Of course. Wait there for me.”

It was a little odd, how old school and gentlemanly he was towards her. None of the men in her past had treated her with such respect and deference, as if she were something precious.

Gunner opened her door, took her by the hand, and helped her rise to standing.

“Would it be too much if I carried you over the threshold?”

“No.”

She shrieked when he swooped her up into his arms.

“Should I kick it down in a show of strength to impress you, or let you twist the knob?”

“Don’t we need a key?”

“No, it’s on retinal recognition. See?”

He leaned inwards, staring at an illuminated raised area on the door, and a moment later, the lock clicked free. After straightening, he looked down at her with one of his thick brows arched.

“Well?”

“Let me.”

She giggled, and he walked into the house and set her on her feet in the foyer. As she surveyed the space, she noticed that a lot of the furnishings were covered with sheets.

“I was away for a bit.”

“Where? Long vacation?”

“Imogen, I need you to know the truth.”

“Okay,” she said, as she looked around the large space at the various Old World paintings hanging on the walls.

“I was in prison.”

“What?” She whipped around to face him. “That’s the last thing I expected you to say! What do you mean? What’d you do?”

“I was falsely accused—framed. I’ve been released by a high authority for a month to prove my innocence.” He said it with such an intensity that she couldn’t doubt him. Gunner took a step towards her and then another, and her breaths began to lengthen, as she waited for him to come close enough to touch her. “But then,” he said, as he swept her hair from her shoulder, behind her neck. “The Thirst. You happened.”

“That’s what Lee’s helping you with? He wouldn’t tell me.”

“Uh-huh, it is. You’re not mated to a criminal. I’m the exact opposite. Before I went in, I was a regulator for The Directive, bringing the lawless to justice.” As he neared, tipping her head up with his fingers under her chin, his voice lowered in volume when he said, “So beautiful, my Imogen.”

Descending, he took her mouth in a searing force of passion. Without a thought, she wrapped her arms around his neck and went to her tiptoes to meet him with an equal fervor.

Imogen was no blushing virgin. She’d had her share of lovers, but she knew in the deepest part of her that none of them would compare to the man who was holding her at that moment.

All those fractured nights.

All those vivid dreams.

They’d led to a singular point in time… that instant.

When their lips parted, Gunner pressed his onto her forehead.

“I can’t lie to you, Imogen. No matter what I said earlier about taking things slow… I want you. Naked, underneath me, as my cock fills you. My mouth on your breasts. Your legs around my waist. Your hands clutching my ass, urging me to fuck you harder. I wanna swallow your screams of my name.”

At his words, which were spoken with a frank honesty about what he desired, she blinked hard. She wanted it as much as he did.

“Then, go for it,” she whispered.

Quicker than a flash, she found herself standing in his bedroom, where the walls were black, with silver sconces. Flickering flames danced in a fireplace across from the bed, which was a black lacquer four-poster immense thing, covered with thick gray linens and myriad colorful pillows. The windows were sealed and covered by metal shutters to keep away the sun’s rays. Deep purple curtains dipped and rolled in an abundance of material that hid the machinery.

The room had just enough light for her to see clearly once her eyes adjusted a bit, and it immediately soothed her.

“Do you like it?” Gunner asked in his low voice.

He came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her close, and she could feel his hardness against her ass. It was not inconsequential.

“I do. It’s beautiful, Gunner.”

“Say my name again,” he whispered, turning her around to face him.

She obeyed and then repeated it once more, as his lips covered hers. Lifting her up, he went to the side of the bed and set her down beside it.

“May I?”

She nodded, and he reached behind her. After unzipping the dress, he slipped it off her shoulders, and it fell in a shimmering wave to the floor. Unable to wear anything under it due to its design, she was bare before him, only donning the heels on her feet.

Stepping back, he looked at her, and she felt a bit of her essence slip down her thigh under his scrutiny. Suddenly, he grabbed her with his hands at the sides of her face and plunged his tongue into her mouth, taking her over, staking his claim on her with every stroke.

Breaking away, he growled, “Mine,” and pulled her into his arms, turning them so that slowly, they lay together on top of the duvet.

Imogen was flat on her back, and Gunner leaned over her, letting his hands roam her body, as her shoes dropped to the floor. He cupped her breasts in his hands, tweaking one of her nipples to the point of pleasured pain, before moving to the other. Of their own volition, her legs parted.

The tips of his fingers trailed in teasing circles down between her breasts and skimmed her navel, as he proceeded lower, and she moaned.

“I need to taste you,” he said.

He moved down her body and took her heels in his hands, lifting her legs into the air, and then bent them at her knees, pressing them back.

“Oh, God!” she cried when his tongue slipped between her lips.

She clutched her breasts, as he ate her voraciously, sucking and releasing her flesh, before rubbing his tongue over her, while he held her secure and spread. She couldn’t have moved away if she tried, but she didn’t want to. If anything, she wanted to give him more of her, all of her that he desired.

Then she felt his tongue delve inside her channel, driving inside of her insistently, drinking her, and her thighs trembled, as her crest rose higher. He returned to her clit, flicking it, kissing it, urging it to give him more.

Lifting her head from the bed, she stared at him, as he dipped down, gorging and then moving up to stare at her pussy, before going back to it. She was weeping from her core, and then tears crept across her temples and into her hair. Letting go of one of her feet, he plunged two fingers inside her. He gazed at her, his eyes simmering, as he pumped them between her walls. He gave her a look of utter yearning, as his head lowered again.

“Gunner!” she screamed, as she bucked underneath him, but the way he was holding her only made her rub against him harder. “Aaahhh!”

Then he withdrew his fingers and got up to remove his clothes. He unbuttoned each of them at a leisurely pace, as if he had all the time in the world, while she panted in recovery of what he’d done to her. His shirt dropped to the floor, and he took her by the hand, pulling her up to sitting. Looking her in the eyes, he licked his lips, circling them top and bottom.

Gesturing to his cock, straining behind his pants, he said, “Baby… it’s time.”

Eagerly, she unclasped his belt and unzipped his trousers. She shoved them from his hips, and they hit the floor with a thump of his buckle onto the carpet. Seeing his cock, she inhaled deeply. It was thick and long, a shade darker than the rest of him, and her mouth watered, anticipating the way he would feel on her tongue. With a desire to reciprocate, she reached for it, wrapping her fingers around his girth, and spread her lips to take him inside.

“Next time,” he said. “As much as I want that, I need to fuck you more, baby. Lie back. Let me look at you with your skin flushed, your breasts heaving, and your pussy wet and ready for me. Show me.”

Imogen did as he asked and let her legs fall open. After lowering himself and licking her once more, Gunner then moved up her body, grasping her hands in his, and placed them over her head. His cock met no resistance, and he sank into her pussy to the hilt, as he kissed her with overwhelming intensity. She tasted herself on his tongue, the sweet acknowledgement of where he’d been.

Undulating his hips in a decadent dance, he slid in and out of her. Their lips parted, and he looked down into her face. She wrapped her legs around his waist, as their fingers intertwined, gripping each other.

“You’re gonna come again. For me.”

“Yes!” Imogen cried, as the waves rose yet again. “Don’t stop! Please! Don’t stop!”

“Are you ready for the mating bite?”

Imogen’s vision swam, as she tried to focus on what he’d said.

Tunneling from the erotic haze he’d put her in, she whispered, “I don’t know what that is.”

“Then, it won’t happen right now. But, baby, let me drink from your throat as I did from your pussy.”

His words were sending her higher, and she wanted to please him, to give him all of her. She turned her head to the side, baring her neck. Flicking her vein with his tongue, he sucked on it, making it more prominent, and then he sank into it with a groan, bringing about an orgasm more powerful than any she’d ever experienced.

“Aaahhh!” she screamed, as she came, clawing his back with her nails.

Seconds later, she heard his fangs click back up into his gums, and he licked over her wounds. Blood was around his mouth, but it didn’t dampen her ardor. Grasping him by the back of his neck, she drew him down to kiss her.

As she watched, he licked his lips, the same as he had done moments prior.

“Gunner,” she murmured, as his movements slowed, drawing out the sensations running through her. Her back arched, and her nipples grazed his chest. “It’s so good!”

“Baby,” he groaned, stilling his motions.

He trailed his tongue along the seam of her mouth, and she pulled him to her tighter, tracing his spine with her fingertips until she reached his nape, clinging to him, as their caress deepened. The ends of his curls teased her palm, as she burrowed into his hair.

I’m his.

The thought hit her, sifting through everything else in her mind, past his hands on her, deeper than his cock inside her. It landed with a force she couldn’t deny, and though they had met mere hours before, she knew it was right.

She belonged.

When his cock hit that special spot inside her, she groaned in ecstasy. He increased his speed, and it was a constant rub, an unending press, and she shattered once more.

His movements became more erratic, and she grabbed his ass, holding him to her. Staring into her face, he shouted his release, as his essence shot from him to her. He lowered his head to the hollow of the juncture of her shoulder and neck and then slid off her, to her side, urging her closer with an arm around her. She placed her head on his left pec and her hand on his right.

After a long pause in which they were both silently recovering from their bliss, she said, “Tell me about the hush-hush operation Lee’s helping you with.”

He explained from his beginning suspicions of deception, an uprising within The Directive, what he’d done to expose it, and ultimately, his imprisonment after the false accusations against him.

“Why didn’t they believe you?” she whispered. “I do.”

“I don’t know for certain, but I’m gonna find out and clear my name.”

Snuggling in to him closer, she said, “Now tell me about this mating bite. Sounds violent.”

“It does?”

“Yeah. I’m a pacifist.”

His voice rumbled in his chest, as he laughed, and she smiled at the sound.

“Sex isn’t a very gentle activity, Imogen, but I think you liked what happened between us.”

She thought back to how he’d taken her, not handling her softly, like she might break, but rather as a man loving his woman, knowing that she could bear his passion and that she didn’t want anything other than his full unleashing on her.

“I guess you’re right.”

“That you liked how I made love to you?”

“No, I loved that.” She felt his chest puff up at what she said. “I never thought of it in those terms, but it’s true.”

“Was I too rough?”

“No!”

“Good,” he said, and then he pressed a kiss into her hair.

“So, tell me.”

“Our mating must consist of an exchange of blood. Yours to me and mine to you.”

“While we’re intimate?”

“I’m not sure it has to be that way. I’d never heard of the Thirst until I felt it for you. I’m learning the same as you, but it seems like that would be the perfect time, when we’re bared to each other, lost in passion. I believe it’ll be mind-blowing for both of us, an incredible and rare thing that brings us together as one.”

“Hmm.”

“What’re you thinking about, baby?”

“Confused, mostly.”

“I’m right there with you.”

Propping herself up on her elbow, she said, “You are?”

“The only thing I know is that I’ve never been as complete as I was inside you.”

“You speak so candidly.”

“Would you rather I lie?”

“No, I like it. It’s just that no one has ever been that way with me. They hemmed and hawed and drove me crazy with their inconsistencies… until I figured out they weren’t being honest with me at all.”

Fire flashed behind his eyes, which were boring into hers, as he said, “I will be the unshakable truth for you from now on. Me. Only me.”

Their gaze on each other locked, his one of flame and hers of water, as tears threatened to crest over her lashes.

“Why’re you crying?” he asked, going up onto his elbow. He then pushed her onto her back. “Did I hurt you? Tell me, baby.”

“Happiness.”

“Let’s take that to ecstasy.”

He growled, as his lips met hers, and he loved her until her weeping turned to screams of his name.

Later, Gunner brought a bottle of wine for them to share, and they lay together, talking for hours, getting to know each other better, growing more at ease. They took any reason to touch a cheek or a shoulder, and he intertwined his fingers with hers amidst her coy smiles, as his low laughs rumbled.

Eventually, she confessed that she’d been having dreams about him, and then they did exactly what she told him they’d done in them.

As dawn approached, he pulled her close to his body.

“Sleep, baby,” he said. She felt the ebbs of the rest that she hadn’t felt in weeks begin to take her under. “I’ll see you when I wake tomorrow night.”