“Look at who you are, my exotic Isabella. This is you. Seven days ago, the life you knew ended.”
Even though desire laced her veins like laudanum, she stiffened. Each word that dropped from his lips shook her despite his fingers strumming at her core. Cool clarity settled for the first time in days. A sudden heaviness swamped her and she studied her features closer. Her face—it was her, but brighter, younger even, and free of her trademark freckles. It was as if she had been touched up by a magazine, eradicating blemishes and marks. A panic rose and the ever-present thirst gripped her throat, making words hard to come by, but his fingers thrust deep inside, demanding attention. She pushed down her fear as her nerve endings flooded her brain with carnal lust.
The rolling, pulsing waves increased and every part of her responded to the amazing feelings floating inside her. As the tide of euphoria rose, her legs quivered. She would have collapsed but for the band of steel that locked around her, holding her in place. Her orgasm ripped through her like wildfire and she screamed out loud as she watched herself come in the mirror with his fingers buried deep inside her. Roman stared at her, dark desire brimming in his eyes and tense features as he held her as if she belonged to him. At that moment, the look of longing in his eyes aroused her, and she had never felt so desired, beautiful, or alive in all her life. Being held and touched by him seemed natural and right somehow.
“What—do you mean?” she managed to ask in a quiet, almost calm voice.
“My sweet love—you’re a vampire. To be exact, you’re my vampire.”
A bloodcurdling anger doused out the flames of desire to fill every pore in her body. What the fuck? She twisted around and lashed out, kicking and punching. He ducked and tried to grab her. But she flew at him, punching, scratching, and thumping him wildly. Power surged through her. What did he mean, she was a fucking vampire?
“A vampire!” she hollered.
“Yes, my love.”
Isabella shoved him as hard as she could.
He flew across the room, crashing into the tall dresser and smashing it into pieces, but he righted himself and flew to her side. “Marvelous. That’s it, my love. Get it all out of your system. All that excess human emotion. You will feel better. I may not, but you need to do this.”
For what seemed an eternity, she kicked, punched, and lashed out at him. Each time she made contact with his ribs or side, he didn’t make a sound. She destroyed the bedroom, throwing everything she touched at the wall. Glass smashed. Wood splintered. She hurled every piece of furniture at him, which he batted away and it smashed to the ground. Staring at his gigantic and magnificent bed, she shoved it with a ferocity that sent it flying and smashing right through the wall to plummet outside, crashing to the ground and detonating like a bomb. Racing to the large gaping hole, she studied the dense forest below, and a range of mountains on the horizon. She stood right on the edge and wondered what would happen if she jumped.
In that pause of destruction, Roman launched and dragged her to the ground. Instead of fighting her, he pressed cool kisses all over her flesh. Her body and mind were at odds, fighting each other. Every time Roman kissed or nibbled her, the need to retaliate withdrew. Exhausted, and calmer, she sat up. Her anger weakened, and her rational mind wanted answers.
“Tell me what happened.”
Roman nodded and stood. He frowned but offered her his hand. Isabella stared at it, tempted to continue the fight, but allowed him to assist her to her feet.
“First, you need to…”
She knew and spoke the words before he said them. “Drink—I get it.”
He wrapped his arm around her waist and held her against him. “Yes, you need to drink, because you’re a new vampire. Your hunger for blood and sex is insatiable. The hungrier you are, the more assertive and sexual you get. Now you are more lucid than you have been for the past week, which is good because I am a highly sexual male, and there is a limit to the number of times I can say no.”
Embarrassed and mortified at his insinuations, she raised her hand to slap his face, but he caught it in time. “No more, my love. You are a vampire. That cannot be undone, and you will not continue to fight me. The time for that is over. Because I turned you, you are now my responsibility. We are forever connected. You stumbled into my domain and twice, I have been there while you were on the brink of death. I am the only one who could save you either time. In the end, even your human, Jake, begged me to take you.”
She cried out at his revelation and spun away, unable to hear any more, but he didn’t stop. He grabbed her chin and twisted it, forcing her to meet his cold eyes. She had no choice but to stare and knew what he intended. As she stared in the inky depths, she saw her life drain away in the misty cemetery as a woman grew out of the shadows. The entire spectacle played before her and she clutched her
