His heart... She climaxed, throbbing, throbbing. Screaming, sobbing. The force of it raked her, vibrated and hummed.

Valerian slid out and pounded forward. Over and over, driving hard and deep.

"Shaye," he roared, shuddering into her a final time. "Love. You." His hands dug into her hips. Gripping. Bruising deliciously.

"Love you," he said again.

"I'M BEING RUDE to my guests," Valerian said a long while later. He lay on the bed, and he held Shaye in his arms. He was loath to let her go. They were both naked, and he was tempted to remain that way for all of eternity.

He loved the way Shaye's curves fit against him. Like the last piece of a puzzle, perfectly matched.

She yawned. "What guests?" she asked, her breath fanning his chest.

"Vampires. They helped us with the dragons and bought us a bit of a reprieve."

"I should run screaming from this room, but I 'm too tired to be scared of vampires. Even vampires that are in the same house as me." She chuckled. "Do you mind that you're ignoring them?" Her fingertip slid along the ridges of his stomach.

"It is my greatest pleasure to ignore them," he said roughly, aroused by her touch and her words. She was adapting to life here. Maybe even coming to love it as he craved.

Her finger looped through his nipple ring, and she chuckled again.

He liked the sound of that laughter and realized he 'd never really heard her amus.e.m.e.nt before. "How old are you?" he asked, wanting to know everything about her.

"Twenty-five. How old are you?" "A lot older," he said dryly. "Hundreds of years older."

Her mouth fell open. "No way."

"It's true."

"So you're going to, what? Live forever? Never age?"

"I age, just slower than humans."

Her entire body tensed. "What you're telling me is that if I stay here, I'll grow old while you continue to look like that?"

"You are in Atlantis now, love. Your aging process will slow, as well."

"Oh." Little by little, she relaxed. "That's okay, then."

"Do you miss your surface life as you did before?" he found himself asking.

An intense stillness came over her. "That's a hard question to answer."

"Yes or no is all that is required." He didn't want her to miss her old life. He wanted her happy, completely, with him. If she did miss it... What would he do? His two greatest desires would be at war with one another-the desire to keep her with him and the desire to see to her happiness. Always. No matter the cost to himself.

A sigh slipped from her. "I'm not sure if I miss it or not. I mean, I 'm not close to my family. I never have been, really, but closure would have been nice."

"Why exactly were you not close with them?" He could not imagine such a thing with his brother if Verryn had lived.

"They wanted me to be something I wasn't," she said.

"What?"

"Sweet."

He snorted. "You are sweet. You like to pretend otherwise, but you are most definitely the sweetest morsel I have ever sampled."

Shaye bit him on the shoulder and licked away the sting. This man saw into her soul; he saw the woman she 'd always secretly wanted to be. Something her own mother hadn't been able to do.

"How can your family not see how sweet you are? More shame, them."

She raised her head, cupping his cheeks with her palms. "Thank you for that."

Valerian's chest tightened. This woman possessed his heart, of that he had no doubt. Now he wanted hers. "Have you been able to make your anti-cards here?"

"Yes."

"If you were to make one for me, what would it say?"

"Well... let's see." She rested her head on his shoulder. A minute ticked by, then another. "Are you sure you want to know?" "Yes."

"If I were going to make and send you a card, it would say... " She paused, frowned. "It would say, I'm trusting you not to break my heart. If it gets even a scratch, I'll break your face."

His lips twitched. "Break my face?"

"You heard me."

Break his face if he broke her heart... Her heart. Valerian stilled, the significance of what she'd said finally registering. Even his blood ceased flowing. Breath froze in his lungs. A wave of dizziness. .h.i.t him as emotion after emotion crashed through him. "You are trusting me with your heart?" He was almost afraid to ask, afraid he'd misunderstood.

He, a warrior who had laughed at danger his entire life, was afraid this tiny, pale woman would not want him.

"Kind of," she said. "I'm not saying I love you or anything like that." A layer of panic coated her words. "But I'm going to trust you not to be with anyone else while you're with me. That means no other women."

"Moon, I desire no other save you."

"Now you don't. But what about later, when the novelty of me wears off?"

As she spoke, he heard her vulnerability. He rolled her to her back and stared down at her. "You are my mate. I have told you that, but I do not think you understand what that means. None arouse me anymore but you. None tempt me. None appeal to me. Only you. When a nymph takes a mate, that is the way of it. Now and always."

Her gaze softened, and he knew she wanted to believe him. "Yeah, well," she said, "we'll see what happens in the coming days."

"So you want to stay with me?"

Radiating vulnerability, she whispered, "Yes."

Joy burst through him, full but not complete. Not yet. "You want to stay with me but you do not love me?"

"Right. Love is complicated and messy."

"I love the way your nipples are pushing into my chest. That is not complicated."

Her lips pursed. "That's not what I meant, and you know it. Loving someone gives them permission to do bad things to you because they know you'll forgive them."

"What kind of bad things have been done to you by those you loved?" The question emerged quietly, lethally. He would slay anyone, man or woman, who dared hurt this woman.

"I've been abandoned, rejected, dismissed and forgotten," she said, and he tensed. "Plus, I saw the way you pushed aside the women who came before me."

"I did not expect you, moon. You were a surprise. I cannot undo what I have done in the past. But you have my vow of honor that I will never tire of you. In time, you will realize this for yourself. " He paused, intent. "I know you said you would stay, but I'd like your vow. Promise me you will give me time to prove myself and my intentions toward you."

Her eyes searched his face, probing. Whatever she saw in his expression must have comforted her because she gave him a slow smile and nodded. "You have my vow."

He breathed a sigh of relief and renewed joy. Leaning down, he brushed his lips over hers. His hands searched for and found her own, and he intertwined their fingers before anchoring them above her head. This lifted her chest and meshed her b.r.e.a.s.t.s deeper into him. She licked her lips as her eyelids lowered.

"While you have seen only the bad side of love, I have seen the best. My mother and father were mated and completely devoted to each other."

"Where are they, your parents?"

"They died many years ago. My father died in battle and my mother's sadness took her not long after."

My G.o.d, Shaye thought. To be so devoted to someone you actually died without them. Simply lost the will to live. It was something out of a movie, yet a part of her she didn't want to acknowledge understood such devotion. She was frightened, and yet for the first time, utterly excited by the prospect.

"I'm sorry you lost them," she said softly.

"Uh-oh. You are showing your sweet side again."

She grinned. "How dare you say such a thing. I'm a hard-core b.i.t.c.h."

"And you hate the things I do to you."

"Hate them," she agreed with a laugh.

His breath tunneled into her ear, followed by his tongue. Her hands tangled in his hair as she trembled.

"Just like you hate me," he breathed.

She couldn't give him the words he wanted so she gave him these instead. "Yes," she whispered. "I hate you so very much."

"Good. Because I'm going to hate you until you can't imagine life without me."

Too late, her mind whispered as he slid into her.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX.

LEAVING SHAYE ASLEEP in his bed-their bed, Valerian amended-was the hardest thing he'd ever done. Her soft, pale tresses tapered over the violet sheets, as ethereal as a dream. Her features were relaxed, the sandy length of her lashes casting shadows over her cheekbones. Her lips were plump and rosy from his kisses.

He'd already dressed, had hastily tugged on a black shirt and pants before he'd lost his resolve to leave. As leader of this palace, it was his duty to see to his guests. But more than that, he wanted to see to the palace's defenses and ensure they were well fortified, strong enough to withstand the most violent of attacks.

This peaceful reprieve the vampires had given them would not last long, he knew. Darius would be back. Valerian only hoped it would be later rather than sooner. The longer he had to solidify his bond with Shaye, the better.

He couldn't resist placing a chaste kiss on the tip of her nose-which proved to be a mistake. She muttered under her breath, an airy gurgling of unintelligible words. One of them might have been his name. He was suddenly rock hard for her, so aroused it was as if he'd never taken her. Leave. Now. Before you can't.

Forcing one foot in front of the other required all of his concentration. But he did it, his quick stride widening the distance.

Now that Shaye had decided to stay, he knew she would begin to make his home her own, gifting it with little touches of her personality.

Flowers would most likely fill the rooms, and he would take great pleasure in procuring them for her. Paintings, colored stones, beaded pillows. He would take her into the city and purchase everything she wanted, everything she needed. All the things women used to make a home, well, a home. She would want for nothing, her every wish his to grant.

He was grinning as he entered the dining hall. Vampires surrounded the table. Most clutched goblets filled with some type of blood, he was sure. Several nymphs were here, though most were on duty and if not on duty, loving a woman. There were no females present.

Layel, who had claimed the head of the table, spotted him and motioned him over.

"Acting as king of the place, already?" Valerian said with a grin. He plopped onto the now-vacant spot beside his friend.

"Of course." Layel sipped at his goblet. "I don't think you've ever looked so sated, Valerian."

"Mated life agrees with me."

A curtain of sadness flittered over Layel's expression. "I remember it well, mated life."

Layel had lost his mate years ago. She'd been a human, descended from those the G.o.ds had banished from the surface and dropped into the city for punishment. A rogue group of dragons had raped and burned her. Not Darius, but a contingent of his tutor's men. It did not matter to Layel that Darius was innocent. The vampire king despised all dragons and wanted them destroyed.

Valerian recalled well the devastation Layel had endured when he'd discovered his lover's charred remains. His grief had been severe and gut-wrenching.

"The dragons have captured a group of nymph females," Valerian said, "and that is something I cannot allow."

"It would be my pleasure to retrieve them for you," the vampire king said with relish.

"No. I will not have your vampires go after them. I would like to send my own men, but if I do so, I will need to make up for the loss here."

"You wish us to remain?"

He nodded. "If you are able."

Layel didn't hesitate. "You need us, we stay. There is nothing more to discuss."

Layel had always been that way. Loyal. Giving of himself and his time. That was why Valerian valued his friendship as he did. There were not many men so willing to help a race other than their own.