Deep Kiss of Winter Read online

  “You’ll make me lose my mind, Daniela.” My control as well. . .About to take her virginity like a rutting beast.

  “Would that be so bad?” she purred.

  Have to be gentle with her. He’d had sex before, but now he wanted to make love to his woman. Was she ready for him? “How do you feel right now?” His voice was unrecognizable. I can do this. I can hold on. Just a little longer.

  “Aching. Empty. Hungry.”

  He swallowed, and his voice broke low as he uttered, “H-hungry?”

  FORTY-TWO

  WHEN DANII LICKED HER LIPS AND PRESSED HIM BACK on the bed, his expression wavered between excited—and agonized.

  And the seducer might even be nervous.

  Kneeling between his legs, her palms flat against his chest, she kissed down his torso, nuzzling the trail of crisp hair below his navel. “Remember when I said I’d do this at my leisure? For hours?” When she took him in hand, he bucked as if helpless not to.

  “Hours? This might be over before it starts.” His accent was thicker than she’d ever heard it. He was watching her as she gave her first seeking lick. “Daniela! Ah—”

  Another lick silenced him. A third made him growl. Soon she was raining wet flicks over the slit, tasting him, just as he’d described all those nights ago. He was delicious, with a salty tang.

  “Umm, I love your taste,” she murmured in a delighted tone.

  He cupped her head with shaking hands. “You want me to lose my mind for you? We’re on our way.”

  “But Murdoch, I need more of this.” Unable to stop herself, she continued her wet kiss, closing her lips over him. And while her mouth slid down his length, her fingers explored, hefting his sac, which seemed to madden him more.

  “Ah, that’s it, Danii. . . .”

  Sucking hard, she darted her tongue all around until she’d built up a cold, freezing friction.

  He groaned, “You’re doing it so good, kallim.” Digging his heels into the bed, he let his knees fall open. “I’m close. Pull back.”

  She ran her cheek along his damp shaft. “Let me make you come,” she said before she took him back between her lips.

  He seemed to be struggling to keep his hips still. Hoarse groans erupted from his chest.

  “Daniela, going to come in your mouth . . . if you don’t stop.” The big hands palming her head couldn’t seem to decide if they wanted to draw her away or press her down.

  “No!” He tried to pull back, but her claws were sunk in his ass, so he couldn’t move without hurting her. “Ah, baby, I can’t hold on.”

  She could feel his shaft thickening, straining as he began to ejaculate against her tongue.

  She’s done it—made me lose my fucking mind.

  “Daniela!” he roared as he came into her hungry mouth.

  His eyes rolled back in his head when she sucked him as if she were starved for him. As if she’d waited two thousand years just to swallow him down, over and over. . . .

  Once she’d drained him dry, they both lay back on the bed, gasping, as they had that first night together. Only now could he reach over and hold her hand.

  Recalling every wicked instant of what they’d just done had him rebounding in a rush. When he raised himself over her, Daniela’s gaze dipped and her lips curled. “My man has talents.”

  But as he used his knees to spread her thighs, she tilted her head at him. “Murdoch, are you nervous?”

  “I want this to be worth the wait.”

  “It already has been. Anything else is a bonus.”

  “I haven’t done this for a while.” He frowned. “Actually, I’ve never done this.” When she quirked a brow, he said, “Claimed my virgin female for all time.”

  “Oh.” She gave him that soft look from under her lashes, the one that made his heart twist in his chest.

  “When I make you mine tonight, I’m never letting you go.”

  She gazed up at him with that exquisite elven face, mesmerizing him. “I never want you to.”

  He took himself in hand, positioning his cock at her slick entrance. The crown met her wetness, beckoning him inside. He wanted his shaft covered in it, wanted to stir himself in it.

  As the head nudged inside, he stared down at her eyes. “Ma armastan sind.”

  Her eyes glinted at the words, and she whispered, “I love you, too.”

  Mounting her untried body, he inched inside, stretching her sheath. “Don’t want to hurt you,” he grated, fighting to go slow.

  “It’s not . . . too bad. Just keep going.” She was clutching him to her, her curling claws holding him as if she’d never let go.

  “You’re so tight. Like a fist squeezing me.” Once he’d seated his cock deep, he forced himself to go still, letting her grow accustomed. With untold will, he waited until she began undulating under him.

  Only then did he draw his hips back, giving her a measured thrust. The pleasure was so intense that his vision wavered.

  “Murdoch, yes!”

  Another withdrawal, another pump of his hips that made her moan low. Once he began a rhythm, rocking between her thighs, he kissed her again, delving his tongue in time with his body.

  The friction made it warmer, but it was still cold, and cold felt so damn good.

  “Daniela, tell me that you’re mine.”

  “I am yours. . . .”

  Already, he didn’t know how much longer he could last with her nipples rubbing against his chest. The drenched clench of her sex called for his seed, demanding. . . .

  “I’ll never get enough of you, never,” Murdoch rasped with his brows drawn.

  His expression made Danii’s heart squeeze, even as his determined thrusts were sending her closer to orgasm. His scent drove her wild; his strength captivated her.

  As his body worked hers, magnificent taut cords of muscle stood in relief. The latent power of a male vampire. She desired that power, savored the way he toiled under her claws.

  His arms bulged as he held himself up to alternately buck his hips hard, then languidly stir them. Gods, the man knows how to move.

  Cupping her ass with his fingers splayed, he lifted her, wrenching her along his shaft.

  “Murdoch!” she cried, already on the verge again.

  He worked her up and down, harder and harder until her teeth clattered with each landing.

  She wrapped her legs tight around his waist, which seemed to spur him. He went wild, possessively pinning her arms over her head, so that even more of their bodies could touch.

  Surging over her, he rode her sheath in a frenzy. His face was an agonized mask, his body straining for her. “Come, kallim. Let me feel you.”

  At that moment, she wanted to give him anything he desired. She needed to surrender to him. Surrender everything to him.

  “Take my blood,” she managed to whisper.

  “What?”

  “Drink me.”

  “Ah, Daniela, you don’t have to ask me twice. . . .” He licked her neck, then sank his fangs into her.

  As he pierced her, Danii’s eyes went wide, and she gave a shocked cry—she’d begun to come immediately. He must have felt her, because he gave a frenzied growl.

  “Murdoch! Ah, yes!” As her orgasm ripped through her, his shaft thickened even more, swelling until he could barely move inside her.

  Then he went motionless, snarling against her. Just when she felt the first lash of his semen, his hips began plunging like a piston, taking him to the very end.

  As he drew her blood, he flooded her with seed. She felt every pumping jet, prolonging her own ecstasy.

  With a final groan, he released his fangs, collapsing atop her, his breaths cooling against her new mark. With seeming great effort, he rolled off her, but only to enfold her in his arms.

  She lay on his chest, skin to skin. He clutched her to him, pressing a kiss into her hair.

  “That was worth my wait, vampire.”

  “I’m glad, Valkyrie. Because I’d have counted down eternity f
or that.”

  FORTY-THREE

  “IF I COULD KISS YOU, I DON’T THINK I’D EVER STOP,” Daniela had told him all those months ago. Now they could and she didn’t stop— for hours, they lazily kissed and touched.

  So this is utter contentment. Murdoch had never known it before.

  For the first time, he experienced the luxury of her smooth legs entwined with his. At last, he could trace all the cobalt markings on her skin that had always tantalized him. They’d discovered that the tips of her ears were ticklish—she’d been unaware. He reveled in her taste, her responsiveness, wanting to go to his knees in thanks for the Bride he’d been given.

  He’d been trailing kisses along her delicate collarbone when she sighed, “Now I understand why my sisters enjoyed being bitten so much.”

  “You liked my bite, little Bride? You’ll be able to endure it every other day?”

  “I’ll demand it every other hour. And I’ll make sure you’re properly exerted, so you’ll be thirsty all the time.”

  Just getting better and better. “That won’t be a problem.”

  “But Murdoch,” she began, her tone uneasy, “about your living here. . . .”

  He pulled back to meet her gaze, dread drumming in his chest.

  “They’ll never accept you,” she said. “Not after what happened to my mother. They’ll reason that if Sigmund could turn against his own queen, then a vampire surely could . . . and they were punished by Sigmund, every day.”

  “Daniela, you told me you were mine. I warned you I’d never let you go. But I won’t ask you to give up your crown.”

  She grew still. “You won’t?”

  “No, but just as before, we’ll have to find a way to be together, because you can’t ask me to give you up either.”

  She seemed pleased by his answer. Had she expected him to demand she relinquish her throne? The old, selfish Murdoch would have. He would have believed it was her honor to be with him. Now he knew it was the other way around.

  “Explain to me exactly what Nïx told you,” Daniela said.

  He scowled. “Still planning on marrying Jádian?”

  “Murdoch!” She play-punched his arm, then seemed to get briefly distracted by the feel of his skin. “Now tell me.”

  So he did . . .

  When he’d finished, she said, “You know, I didn’t need a soothsayer to convince me that you’d be true.”

  He gave a decisive nod. “My thoughts exactly.”

  “And I have an idea,” she said. “A way we could be together— and do only as we please.”

  “No, no,” Murdoch grated. “ Not a chance. I can’t let you do this for me. Daniela, I saw your memories. Your mother wanted this for you.”

  Danii shook her head firmly. “I think she’d want me to be happy. And this is the only way. Murdoch, if you saw my memories, did you not feel how long I’ve waited to be happy? A lonely life of service will not be forthcoming from me.”

  “I did feel it. But don’t you even want to think about—”

  “I have been thinking about this,” she said, meeting his gaze. “And it’s what I choose.”

  After long moments, he said, “I’m with you, Daniela. Whatever you want, I’ll support you.”

  “Then let’s get some clothes on, because what I want is to get this settled as soon as possible.”

  Once they’d dressed, she called for Jádian. When he arrived, she wasted no time. “I’m abdicating, and I want you to take over the throne. I’d like you to be king of the Icere.”

  Instead of jumping at the chance, Jádian almost seemed put out and kept glancing at the door.

  Danii said, “You don’t appear too happy about this.”

  “I had . . . other plans, once you got established here,” Jádian replied. “But I’ll do my duty, if this is your will.”

  Jádian the Buzz Kill, all duty, no fun. “Yes, it is. But I have a few conditions. I want to visit whenever I like, come around for holidays and such, once I get the cryomancy down. And the Icere must always ally with the Valkyrie.”

  “Agreed. But I have some conditions as well,” Jádian said. “If I die with no heir, you’ll resume the throne. And you’ll take with you your mother’s crown.”

  “But it belongs here—it belongs to your future queen.”

  “I’ll never take a wife to wear it.”

  Still waters run deep with the Iceren? “Then I can agree to that.”

  Jádian nodded to them, then strode to the door. As he left, she thought she heard him mutter a curse, demonstrating the most emotion she’d ever observed.

  When they were alone, Murdoch pulled her back into his lap. “I think Jádian was a shade shocked at your offer.”

  “Well, Nïx did say that I would make him my king—so I did.” Danii smiled brightly. “Now it seems I’m a woman of leisure.”

  Murdoch nipped the tip of her ticklish ear, making her laugh. “Good. Then you can take a day to marry me.”

  EPILOGUE

  Chris tmas Eve

  Blachmount Manor

  THE WROTH FAMILY—FOUR COUPLES BROUGHT TOGETHER by the Accession, and in some cases by Nïx—had gathered to celebrate Murdoch and Daniela’s marriage, the holidays, and the renovation of Blachmount.

  Myst and Nikolai had completely restored the manor, and now it was lavishly decorated for the festivities.

  While the brothers drank whiskey, the females gathered around an enormous table laden with food and drinks. But Myst and Néomi were the only ones with plates. Myst eating? There went the Valkyrie’s inherent birth control.

  Danii raised her brows, but Myst only shrugged. “What can I say? Nikolai’s big on family. And I felt sorry for my poor biological clock, having to tick for millennia.”

  Kaderin received a questioning glance as well, but she held up her hands. “Don’t look at me. I’ve got shite to do and no pity for clocks. . . .”

  When they convened by the fire to exchange gifts, naturally Danii and Murdoch took the chilly settee farthest away from the heat.

  Murdoch gazed around again, still seeming stunned by the changes. “It looks just like home used to.”

  Nikolai took Myst’s hand in his. “She wanted to keep it as close as possible to what I remembered,” he said, looking like he was about to explode, he was so proud and satisfied.

  All of the brothers gave that impression. Even Conrad, with his flame-red eyes. He was doing so well, seeming more of an eccentric than the madman Danii had expected, but he did appear to occasionally get lost in memory. Whenever he did, his new wife, Néomi, was there, gently tugging him back to the present.

  Danii had liked Néomi immediately, though she was a bit puzzled about how the ballet dancer had gone from ghost to human to the more powerful phantom. Now Néomi was telekinetic, with the ability to become incorporeal and vanish at will.

  Néomi wasn’t spilling the details—even though she was visibly tipsy, speaking in a mix of her native French and English. “Merry Noelle!”

  The atmosphere was cozy and domestic, and Danii relaxed, enjoying herself, savoring the time spent with her sisters and siblings-in-law. Murdoch drew Danii even closer into the chill of his arms until she all but sat on his lap. He rubbed his big, cold palm up and down her arm. With his other hand, he held hers.

  Constant contact. Over the last few weeks, he’d barely kept his hands off her. She soaked up his affection as she would frost.

  After Jádian’s reluctant coronation, Danii and Murdoch had been married in a simple Lore ceremony. He’d been Catholic, and she was a pagan. Simple was best.

  Since then, Danii hadn’t had time for fantasies anymore. Her husband had proved deliciously insatiable. Each sunset, he would ease into her, waking her that way, drawing just enough blood to keep him cold. Though she always wanted him to drink more.

  He’d taken the icy changes in himself in stride. And if she’d expected his brothers to be disappointed with this development, she would’ve been wrong. They’d easily acce
pted Murdoch’s decision.

  With much fanfare, the family began exchanging gifts. Murdoch had bought her an extravagant case to hold Svana’s crown—and an emerald comb to replace the one that Néomi had admitted to stealing right out of his pocket at Elancourt.

  Danii gifted him with her own creation: an intricately carved ring of ice for his forefinger, to wear as a type of cold monitor, until he got accustomed to his transformation. They didn’t know if he could overheat, and she never wanted to find out.

  Yet every present was upstaged by Sebastian and Kaderin’s gift to the family. Thrane’s Key.

  At the sight of it, Danii stifled a shiver. She’d heard that the key didn’t always do as one hoped, and it didn’t always go back to the exact time one wished.

  But Murdoch had such hopes of being reunited with his family. He’d told her his father would be so proud to see that Murdoch had given his heart completely.

  She shook away her apprehension. This family was so formidable, fate should yield to it.

  “We go back at the beginning of the new year?” Sebastian asked, wrapping his arm around Kaderin’s shoulders. Danii curbed a smile when fierce Kaderin melted against him, half-lidded with happiness, all but purring. Danii made a mental note to razz her about that later.

  “Yes, it’s time,” Nikolai said. “We’ve all gotten settled.”

  Conrad’s red eyes grew blank, his fists balling as he went awash in a memory. But Néomi tenderly cupped the side of his face, tugging him back into the conversation.

  “Néomi?” he rasped in confusion.

  She smiled lovingly, with infinite patience. ”Écoute-le, mon coeur.”

  He gave her a nod, his red gaze filled with what could only be described as adoration.

  “Are you ready to go back for your sisters?” Néomi asked him.

  Conrad faced the others with a decisive nod. “I’m ready.”

  “Are we all agreed about this?” Nikolai asked. “I am most concerned about how the girls will do. They were so young, and they’ll be thrust into not only a completely different world of beings, but a completely different time.”