To Love a Shifter: A Paranormal Romance Boxed Set (98 page)

          It was more than enough, sending her over the edge, his heartkeeper screaming his name over and over.

          The emptiness, the terror, and the darkness of the past few weeks disappeared at the lovely sound of her voice.

Now all he knew was joy, and as her vaginal muscles squeezed his cock with every pulse of her orgasm, Silviu found himself nearing the edge as well.

Her eyes flew open, locking with his. “Silviu,” she whispered. The acceptance that he had dreamt of finding for so long, the passion and the courage he had always wished to see in a heartkeeper – it was all there, everything and more.

His body tightened, the look in her eyes making him shudder.

“Silviu.”

The sound of his name on his heartkeeper’s lips was all he needed to push him over the edge as well and Silviu pounded into her, throwing her legs wide open as he speared her pussy with his cock again and again, her cries making his once dark world dazzle with so much color.

His heartkeeper.

His.

Only his.

“Georgina,” he said harshly.

She looked up at him, her eyes still cloudy with desire.

“
I love you.
”

Her lips parted in surprise, her eyes widening, her throat convulsing. But she did not say a word and he did not mind.

He kissed her hard, and she kissed him back just as fiercely. The words he needed were already there, her kiss just as telling but even so Silviu wanted the words. When he lifted his head, he was smiling.

Her eyes narrowed, her face becoming suspicious.

“By tomorrow’s ball I will make you say it,
ma threa.
”

His words tied her up in knots and butterflies filled her stomach at his voice, arrogant, possessive, and tender all at the same time.

He loved her.

He loved her.

          Silviu kissed her. “Yes, milady. I love you.”

George gasped, realizing that he had read her mind.

He smiled, even more arrogantly. “And tomorrow, I will make you so in love with me that you will tell me the words over and over, in front of all the guests.”

****

          “
You
are the Duke of Brimstone and you did not tell me?” Irritated beyond belief at Silviu’s admission, George threw her spoon at him during breakfast the next day. But since he was, like, a thousand feet away, with both of them seated on opposite ends of his gigantic table, the spoon only made it halfway to him before clanging against the table and then dropping to the floor.

           Silviu merely shrugged. “It was better that you did not know.”

          She snarled, “Because I have a big mouth, you mean?”

          Adrijan said diplomatically, “I believe the word is unfailingly honest.”

          “You’re sweet to say that, but we both know that’s just a fucking lie,” Georgina said without taking her gaze off Silviu. “When are you going to trust me?”

          “I do trust you---”

          “No, you do not! We need to stop with these white lies and omissions. I know how to keep my mouth shut---”

          “And if someone makes you drink a truth serum?” Ilie asked silkily. “What then? Do you think you will be able to keep your mouth shut? Your inner self is revealed with a truth serum, milady, and as you are who you are---”

          “Fuck you, werewolf.”

          Mihail coughed.

          Ilie scowled. “I liked you better when you did not have a sense of humor.”

          “Don’t be like that to him! He’s been through a lot, you know! He was really hurt and sad after what happened to the bats!”

          Everyone kept quiet.

          Mihail was now glaring at her.

          Oh, shit. Maybe she had made him sound too…emotional? Too gay? Too not like one of the warrior marquises that made up the Duke of Brimstone’s famous Galeré?

          Silviu laughed at the look on his heartkeeper’s face. “My love, do you see now?” All three marquises reacted in various ways upon hearing his words, but he paid them no heed. He knew, by the stunned look on their faces, that they understood he did mean it. He loved Georgina, his heartkeeper. He did and he was not going to be ashamed of it.

          His heartkeeper, however, seemed disgusted with him. “Shut up,” she grumbled. “I don’t have a big mouth and that’s final.”

          Adrijan looked at Ilie, who was white-faced. He changed the subject, saying, “I have heard that the entire land is in an uproar over the ball.”

          Silviu grimaced. ‘Uproar’ was putting it mildly. Even now, his ears were still ringing with the protests that he had received from his people.

          George considered Adrijan’s words thoughtfully. “I don’t get it. Don’t you guys like parties? Is that it?”

          Adrijan smirked. “We like parties, milady. But we prefer those where we can eat what’s supposed to be eaten.”

          She choked. “
You
eat humans, too?” She looked at Silviu. “Seriously, Silviu! That’s not cool! I mean, you don’t---” She stopped at the indifferent look on his face. She glanced at Mihail and then Ilie.

          “Really?” she squeaked out. “I mean, really?” She shook her head, seriously upset at the way they did not deny her accusations. “That’s got to stop!”

          “No. It is the rule,” Mihail said coldly. “We are very clear about this. The territories outside Asphodel – and that includes the Woods of the Wraiths – are not to be trespassed. Those who are lost in our territories are no longer considered human. They will be considered prey, the kind that may be eaten.”

          “But what about those who ignore the rules without meaning any harm? I just wanted to take photos that night!”

          “Then you are lucky that instead of prey, you became heartkeeper to Silviu.”

          “That’s not right!”

          “That is the law in this land and it will not change. Once you step outside Asphodel, you need to forget that you are still in the world of humans. You are not. The kingdom was built to protect our kind – to keep us from the eyes of men and to live in peace among ourselves. It is not our fault that the failings of your race continually cause humans to put themselves in danger.”

          She looked at Silviu.

          “Once you become my duchess, you may have a say of this but you will need to speak with the other dukes.”

          “Who are demons like you,” she said darkly.

          “Yes.”

          “And none of you will back me up on this?”

          Ilie let out an impatient sigh. “Has no one ever told you to choose your battles?”

          Silviu started. Through his bond with his Galeré, he said,
You are so dead, Ilie.

          What the fuck do you mean---

         
George growled.

          When Ilie looked at the duke’s heartkeeper, she appeared near to exploding. “I hate that fucking line!”

          Again, Adrijan played the role of mediator by changing the subject. “Milady, has Silviu told you about our plans for tonight?”

          “No,” she snapped. “Because he thinks I have a big mouth.”

          He said quietly, “He plans to kill your step-aunt.”

          She turned to Silviu in shock. “Silviu!”

          His face hardened. “You do not understand, milady. Your step-aunt is no ordinary human. She was once the head of the strongest coven of witches. She was – is – a mass murderer, and she will
never
give me her blessing to marry you.”

          “Surely you’re joking? Lady Beyotch is so weak she makes me carry her bonnet, for God’s sake!”

          “You told me you were made to watch numerous terrifying films when you were young. Then perhaps you will know what I am talking about when I tell you her real name.”

          “Silviu---”

          “Her name is Delphine LaLaurie.”

          Georgina paled.

          Satisfied, he said grimly, “That is the woman I will kill for you, milady.”

****

          “So, you’re Mihail’s sister, huh?”

          Maricha nodded, delighted at the way the duke’s future duchess spoke so engagingly with her. Georgina McCartney was such an interesting woman. She was unlike any woman in the kingdom, and Maricha had met nearly all of them. Of course, all meant only those who were like them – and not human.

          “Are you, umm, like, hundreds of years old, too?” She had a hard time thinking of the younger-looking girl as
ancient.

          Maricha’s face dimpled. “I am near their age, yes, but I was cursed to sleep for almost a thousand years. I only woke up at the beginning of this year and so I do not feel – I
am
not like them, in the way that they know the world.”

          George shook her head in amazement. Everything just kept getting weirder, cooler, and way more interesting than real life in this part of the world. “Like Sleeping Beauty?”

          Maricha flushed, her eyes darting unconsciously towards the balcony that overlooked the courtyard.

          George curiously followed the young girl’s gaze, her eyes widening as she saw Adrijan training soldiers below, bare-chested and his skin glistening with sweat under the sun.

         
Oh.

          She cleared her throat.

          Maricha blinked. “I am sorry. I lost my train of thought.”