Page 30

I sat comfortably behind Aaliyah in the hot bath, toying gently with the soft strands of her hair. She sighed, sinking farther into the water.

I wasn't sure if there was a heaven, but if there was, I'd imagine it wished it could be this. It was like everything had fallen exactly as I needed it to, every moment, every hardship. Every tear and ache were worth it if it led to this.

Even that fucking sock potion.

I pressed a kiss to the back of Aaliyah's head, and she hummed. It was perfect … but it was only here because Aaliyah had been through hell. Had been strapped down by the same man that had turned me.

By her own fucking blood.

"I'm sorry, Aaliyah," I suddenly whispered, the release of it something like gauze on an open wound. My pathetic apology would never be enough, not after what I'd remembered. Not after having watched what had been done to her and being able to do jack about it. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to save you."

It would haunt me forever. I hadn't remembered much beyond her, everything narrowing in on my years by her side, the good and the bad. The laughs and the unending screams.

Prince.

"None of it was your fault, Prince," Aaliyah whispered as she looked at me. Her cheeks were softly flushed, going even more red when I looked down at her. She was naked in my arms, and she still shimmied to cover herself. It was adorable. "You kept me sane when we both know I would have gone crazy alone. Please don't discount that. I wouldn't have survived without you. I wouldn't have wanted to."

I gritted my teeth, wrapping my arms around her as I set my head on her shoulder.

"I should have kept you safe," I whispered.

I should have been able to save her, to keep her from the monster that paraded himself as her blood. I never should have died … but then, had I not, I wouldn't have found her.

I hated that thought even more.

"You can do that now," she said, so easily, but she'd always been like that, able to look ahead when everything else was crumbling. That will, that vibrancy in her, was everything. God, I didn't deserve her, didn't deserve this love or the joy of being hers, but fuck me if I wasn't going to soak it all in and earn it. "Just like I'm going to keep you safe. All of you."

Of course she would. She was a powerhouse, a literal walking bomb, but she was caring, as well, too good for the world she'd been thrown into.

I chuckled, kissing her neck, my fangs aching with how close she was. All warmth to the cool chill of my skin, sparks of heat igniting where she touched.

"I love you, Aaliyah," I whispered, needing to say it again.

I needed to say it every day, every spare second I had that wasn't spent worshiping her between her thighs like the good Prince I was. Every moment I had was hers now.

"Do you mind that I call you Prince? Or would you prefer Nero?" she asked, trailing a finger down my arm.

I hadn't really thought about it, not in the way she was thinking. I was Nero, would always be, I'd bet, but Prince was a name that I clung to. A name I treasured above all else.

"Prince is who I was when I met the love of my life. Prince is the man that fought to come back to you, that conquered death. I couldn't ask for a better name," I said simply. "The others will call me Nero, but I'll always be your Prince."

Because Prince was the name that made me hers.

Aaliyah swiveled in my lap, suddenly pressing against me in all the right ways. I forced a few breaths, cursing when I hardened between us against my best effort. The tender give of her under my hands was more than enough to wake the damned spry bastard between my legs, and he was more than happy to poke up and say hello. I tried to will my erection down, but it wasn't effective at all when she leaned close, her wet chest sliding against me. Her lips brushed mine with the softness of a dream. I groaned, my head tipping back as I adjusted forward, trying to give her the space to move without grinding her down on me.

Because good fucking hell did I want to.

"I love you, too, my Prince ," she said, with a dashing smile and a glint of mischief in her eyes.

She didn't pull away, her legs instead sinking deeper into the warm water, her knees firmly beside my hips as she bared down and slid against the underside of my shaft. I damned near fucking choked.

I jolted, my hands gripping her sides as I hissed. My entire body tensed, lust a living thing in my veins as it stole my rational ability to think. This was supposed to be a nice bath after a passionate night.

Now all I could think about was flipping her over and fucking her again, anything to hear those sweet whimpers and feel her thrust back against me, maddened by her own lust. One thought took over, one focus on the woman who was destroying my will to be a gentleman.

She ground again, moaning in my ear.

Oh, fucking hell, I was just a man.

"If you keep doing that—" I managed, cut off by my own grunt as she did it again.

My mind blanked entirely, the hands at her hips lifting her so I could slide her back down again. My eyes focused, senses sharpening as my fangs dropped. Blood flooded my mouth where they pierced my lip, and I jerked again when Aaliyah saw it, licking her pouty lips.

"What? You'll have your way with me again?" she whispered, stumbling slightly on the words as she blushed. She brushed her hair behind her ear, fidgeting in the most adorably sexy way. "What if I wanted you to?"

The quiet confession, like everything she said, was a code I'd live by. She wanted me, and I was hers. She wanted to come again? I'd get comfortable with her legs on my shoulders and make sure it happened if it was the last thing I ever got the pleasure of fucking doing.

"You're going to be the death of me." I leaned in to lick her throat.

The water sloshed around us, hitting the floor as I easily lifted her, stealing a second to grab one of the towels I'd laid out and place it on the side of the tub, so she'd have something soft to lean against.

"A good way to die, then?" she whispered, the dark joke wily in her eyes. The pupils were blown, slits of lavender surrounding the black void.

She rolled her hips tentatively, as though she were testing her own reaction as much as my own. I gripped the sides of the bath, my fingers digging into the porcelain until it cracked as I grunted at the feel of her.

"I'd have it no other way. Fuck , I love you," I growled, snagging her legs to wrap around my hips. I slid my hand under the water, finding her core still soaked with arousal and my cum, something that had me leaning over her, groaning into her neck. It didn't take much for me to admit that it had me nearly savage to get inside of her again. The idea of her full of me, pumped to the brim, was enough to drive a man crazy. She cried out when I slid two fingers in, deep.

"Look at you, all spread out for me. A little treat all to myself while the others sleep the day away," I whispered, chuckling when she jolted, my fingers finding the place that made her moan so deep I felt it against my skin. Gentle pressure was all I used, keeping my palm on her clit as I rubbed back and forth against it. "Just imagine the looks on their faces if they were here."

They'd be feral, sitting ever so patiently as they waited for her to let them come to her as well. They'd stand in their own want, grinding into their palms, waiting for her to let them in … and she would. I knew she would. She held power over monsters, over the beasts that stalked the night, and over every one of my bastard brothers.

They'd wait, then they'd feast on everything she'd give them.

"I need you," she whimpered, her head tipping back, white hair splayed around her like a shimmering halo. A bright red blush spread across her cheeks and down her slender neck, highlighting the dusting of freckles there. Tears brimmed in her eyes as her walls contracted around my fingers again. She was close, so close I could taste it.

I slowed my moves before pulling away entirely. Aaliyah protested, trying to follow me as I placed a hand on her chest, holding her in place. I lined up with her, notching at her entrance as she went completely still.

"You deserve everything, Aaliyah. All the pleasure you can handle, and we'll give it to you until you're begging for us to stop." She opened her mouth to speak before the words were ripped away by the moan that tore from her chest as I sank inside of her in one smooth thrust. "Or begging for more."

It was like coming home, finding the place where I was always meant to be. She wrapped me like a vise, and I grunted as I tried to dig deeper, finding it difficult in the slippery tub. She shook against me, her legs turning to putty as I wrapped my hands around her calves. Words weren't needed after that, as I pulled out, watching my length slide out of her, before I dove back in with another sharp thrust.

I kept that pace, slow out, fast in, grinding each time to savor the way she'd moan, until she was riding the line to her peak again. Each gasp was a symphony, each cry another memory I locked away to remember later.

She clawed my arms and chest, until I hoisted us both out of the water, keeping her impaled before her back hit the wall. The new position had her sinking down just a hair further. The added depth was exactly what I'd been looking for, and the way she moaned was nearly what did me in. My hips stuttered, and I had to breathe, counting back from ten as I rotated my hips. Even then, I was holding back, keeping things soft for her because after everything that had happened, she had to be sore.

Until her little fangs sank into my fucking neck.

It was like a jolt of adrenaline found its way directly into my dick, the pleasure overwhelming as my hand slammed into the wall, my eyes flushing red. A grunt forced out of me as the tile cracked under my palm, and my thrusts became little more than erratic desire. She drank from me, savoring it with little sips until my own mouth watered.

I struck before I could ask, before I could think about it, my fangs finding her throat. A sharp jolt went down my spine, as if the Eternium warned me not to push it too far, an act done in pleasure riding the line of what it would accept. If I thought her feeding from me was a new level of satisfaction, the feeling of being inside of her while we swapped blood was enough to send me to heaven.

Any gentleness fled as I fucked her with sharp thrusts that left her reeling. She released my neck at the same time she clamped down on me, her head thrown back in a choked cry that I had to see.

I licked bloodied lips, my hips stuttering before I came, too, deep inside of her again. Exactly where I was meant to be. I ground my hips, twitching and writhing at the thought of filling her again.

Fuck me, did I have a breeding kink?

Our breathing was heavy, the room smelling of sex and steam as she leaned forward and licked the wound on my neck that had already started healing. I did the same, clearing the blood from her shoulder with sure licks that had her shaking against me, clenching on my shaft and keeping me hard inside of her.

I placed both hands beside her head, brushing my nose against hers, before ink caught my eye.

"Guess that cleared that up," I said, humming as I admired the lavender band that now wrapped around my wrist. Aaliyah eyed it with wonder before looking at her own. My mark on her was a deep black that matched the others, sharp points and the appearance of feathers reminding me of Rome. "Told you I'd look amazing with your ink on my arm."

She smiled at me, pressing her hand to my chest. "I'm glad."

"I never doubted I was yours, Aaliyah. This just proves it." The worry she'd felt about it was gone. Something I'd known was going to be an issue, anyway. At least this we could be sure about. I looked between us, at the mess we'd made of ourselves and the once-quaint little washroom. "Now, you need another bath."

She blushed, shaking her head with a laugh. "Whose fault is that?"

"Surprisingly, not mine. Well, not entirely mine. I say I'm at least twenty percent innocent," I mused, smiling broadly when Aaliyah's laughs grew belly deep.

I placed her on the counter, not wanting to make her try to stand after that, and moved back to the bath, emptying it before refilling it with fresh, steaming water. I added some more scent and hid where my hand marks had dug into the shiny white porcelain with some spare towels.

Like it had never happened, and if Osiris asked, I was going to blame Fallon.

"I love you," she whispered from behind me.

I shivered at the words, looking over my shoulder at her. She sat so regally, her hair falling over her pale shoulders in stunning waves, framing where her hand was placed over her chest, with the ring and pinky finger down.

There wasn't anything I wouldn't do for her.

"I love you, too. Aaliyah," I whispered, my fingers already falling to the language we'd made. " Forever ."