Unleash (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series Book 6) (26 page)

“May I move now?” she said with a smile and he frowned, evidently not amused by her tone, or was it the fact that she wasn’t preening his feathers for him by saying how charmed she was by his ability to find matches?

Me man. Man make fire.

The man in question tossed her a dirty look, skulked across the room and hunkered down in front of the empty fireplace. He huffed and cast a glance around. There was no wood and if he wanted to be all manly and go back out into the storm to find some, she wasn’t going to argue.

And she might actually fake a swoon for him this time.

It was a touch chilly outside. Her bare feet were numb and her fingers were still like icicles. She feared they would snap if she tried to bend them, even though she knew that they were only cold and that she was immune to the true effects of exposure to freezing temperatures.

Snow rose to his full impressive height and stomped across the room to her.

“Stay put.” He cut off her protest about his behaviour with a brief, hard kiss that melted her vocal cords and left her nodding dumbly.

The door opened, allowing an icy blast of air to assault her, and then closed again. Aurora rubbed her arms and decided to search the pitch-black room for blankets while Snow tackled the firewood.

The room was sparse, with one rickety wooden chair near the fire, a few wonky shelves in a nook near the door, and one tall cupboard on her left, standing against the wall opposite the fireplace. Her perfect night vision allowed her to see it all as if the fire was already alight. She opened the door and found layers of furs.

Snow cursed outside and barged the door open, letting in another wave of wind that carried white icy flakes across the threshold.

He didn’t chastise her for moving. She took some of the furs and laid them down near the fireplace, keeping one in her arms. They would have to do as blankets and she was sure they would be warm. The cabin was basic, the sort of place that had been built to give refuge to anyone caught in a storm.

She felt as though she was caught in a storm herself as she watched Snow.

He crossed the room to her, his arms full of wood, his gaze intent on her and his body shifting sensually with each step. Her heart picked up pace, beating hard against her breast, trying to break free and get to him.

A smile tugged at the corner of his lips, telling her that he had heard her pulse begin to race and could sense her desire.

He dropped the wood beside the fireplace, crouched and moved some of it onto the grate, and set about lighting it, completing her caveman image of him. He flinched when he struck a match, the light a bright flare in the darkness, and his eyes switched from their true state that allowed him night vision almost as perfect as hers was. His pupils expanded, returning to circles, and the red in his irises quickly faded back to blue.

He seemed better now than he had been at the lake, more in control of himself.

Was having a task to focus on giving him some respite from his bloodlust?

She should have anticipated that taking him to his family’s mansion would trigger an episode. It had terrified her when he had clawed at himself, his blunt nails only scoring his black jumper. He had wanted to harm himself.

She had put him through incredible pain tonight and she only hoped that it had some positive effect on him, and he would fight now and desire to live again.

Guilt rode her mercilessly, never letting up, filling her head with a notion that haunted her. If she had simply told Snow why she was here in the first place, would it have had the same effect as forcing him to see that he had never truly fought his bloodlust and the hold it had on him?

He had taken it surprisingly well, but then he had been tired, drained by everything he had experienced when reliving his nightmarish past. He probably hadn’t had the energy to lash out at her. He had looked on the verge of collapse at several points, the most recent just before she had decided to bring him here and give him some peace.

Did he hate her for what she had done to him? If he did, then she deserved it. She had been cruel to him and she was beginning to feel she was doing all of this out of some selfish need she had rather than for his benefit.

He didn’t want to live.

Was it cruel of her to want to make him live even when he wanted to die?

Snow finished with the fire and looked over his shoulder at her. She hugged one of the furs to her chest, needing the warmth and the soft feel of it. It comforted her.

A frown marred his handsome face, his beautiful blue eyes intense but also laced with fatigue.

He looked lost again, bearing a heart filled with pain and darkness, and a head full of melancholy thoughts. She didn’t want to take him back to the theatre yet, even when she knew that she should because Antoine would discover Snow was gone sooner rather than later. His younger brother would be frantic.

She was still feeling a little selfish though and she wanted some time alone with Snow, because she felt that if she spent these two remaining days with him that she would find a way to save him from death. There had to be a way.

“What is it like when the bloodlust takes you?” It was a dangerous question to ask and she feared it would strengthen the hold his affliction had on him and drive him into a rage, but she wanted to understand what he experienced.

She needed to know, because it might offer her valuable insight into his problem and possibly even a way of helping him master it.

Snow frowned and swallowed hard, and red ringed his irises. “I feel caged. When I… back then, two centuries ago… I felt there was nothing I could do to stop myself. I could only watch myself do those things, powerless and pathetic. It destroys part of me every time it takes me, Aurora.”

He stared across the room at her, his voice thick with emotion and eyes glittering with pain.

Her heart went out to him again and she stepped closer, driven by a need to comfort him.

He was powerful and a warrior, a strong male, and she knew he hated to feel weak. His bloodlust made him feel trapped in his own body, aware of everything he was doing but unable to control himself. Aurora ached for him, wanting more than ever to find a way to free him from its grip.

Aurora crossed the room to him and he remained kneeling on the furs she had laid on the floor, looking up at her, his soft expression and the need she could feel in him calling out to her. She placed the fur in her arms around his broad shoulders and then wrapped her arms around his head and held it to her stomach.

She looked down at him and ran her fingers through his pale silvery hair.

He was incredibly powerful, yet amazingly tender, and every inch of her warmed as he wrapped his arms around her and held onto her, his breathing slow and steady, his cheek against her belly and his eyes closed.

Calm flowed through him for the first time in hours and she realised that he needed this.

He needed to feel her arms around him. He needed her to show him affection. It wasn’t her blood that had helped him maintain better control over his bloodlust these past few days.

It was just her.

Her presence in his life.

She stroked his hair, her gaze locked on him, studying his noble but wild beauty. If it was her affection that gave him reason to fight his bloodlust and perhaps made him dare to dream of overcoming it, then she would give him all of it, and none of it would be a lie.

Did that mean she was falling for him?

She had seen mortals fall in love, and others too, such as the vampires at Snow’s theatre.

She had never understood what they were feeling until now though. She felt desperate and scared, happy yet sad at the same time, warm and freezing cold. She had an urge to cling to Snow and keep him here with her forever, hiding from the world, just the two of them.

Whenever Snow spoke of death or looked as though he would still accept that fate, she grew angry and wanted to shout at him and make him take back his words and change his mind.

“What are you thinking, Aurora?” Snow whispered and moved to press a kiss to her stomach. He tipped his head back and she cupped his cheeks and looked down into his eyes. Her noble, beautiful vampire.

Her heart pounded hard.

“I think I am falling in love with you.” She spoke those words quietly but they were loud in the room, as if she had shouted them at the top of her lungs.

Snow stared at her, his pale blue eyes wide, filled with the shock she could feel in his trembling body beneath her hands.

“Aurora,” Snow whispered and then he was on his feet, drawing her close to him, enfolding her in his strong arms and kissing her so sweetly that it brought tears to her eyes.

She didn’t want this to end, and if she had her way, it wouldn’t.

She had never feared anything in her life as much as she feared the end of these days with Snow, and she would give anything for just one more day with him, one more day spent in these arms that held her gently and kissing these lips that made her feel alive for the first time in her life.

Tears rose unbidden and she quietly sniffed them back, not wanting to ruin this moment, desperate for it to be a perfect memory for both of them.

They both needed this.

Snow sighed against her lips and pulled away. His large hand cupped her jaw and tilted her head back, so her eyes met his.

“You are not only thinking you are foolishly falling for me… you think sorrowful things too.” He stroked her cheek with his thumb, the caress tender and soft, stripping away her defences and leaving her powerless to resist him.

She nodded, needing to confess all because it was the only way she would feel better. She didn’t want to hide anything from Snow, not anymore. He deserved to know everything and she would answer any question he posed.

Snow brushed a kiss across her brow and lingered there, his lips resting gently against her forehead.

“Aurora… what happens if you judge me wrongly? Will there be a consequence?” The wary edge to his tone told her that he suspected he knew the answer to those questions and feared posing them for that reason.

“I would lose my soul and be cast into Hell, and there I would likely die.”

“This is your only chance to redeem yourself?” He drew away and frowned down into her eyes. She nodded and then shook her head, because she honestly wasn’t sure whether it would be her final shot at redemption.

“My master gave me this mission as punishment for my sins… but I think perhaps he also did it because he could see I harboured feelings for you.”

“He gave it to you because he is a sick individual and he needs to be put down,” Snow growled and she placed her hand over his mouth, stopping him from saying more.

She feared that if he spoke foul things about her master that he would come to them to punish Snow and take her away. She didn’t want to lose a minute with Snow. Not a second.

“If my verdict is that I believe you able to function in society without endangering anyone because of your bloodlust, and I believe that is the only reason you would prove a danger to a mortal, and I can give evidence to back up my verdict, then my superiors have no reason to harm you or go against my decision.”

Snow took her hand away from his mouth. “What if you can’t give them solid evidence?”

She swallowed hard. She didn’t want to think about that. She didn’t want to think about any of this.

“Snow?” she whispered, holding his gaze, hoping he could see in it that this subject pained her and she needed to forget about her mission, her master, and her home.

“Kiss you again?” he said with a wide smile, reading her mind.

She nodded and he gathered her back into his arms and slowly dipped his head towards her. She tiptoed and met him halfway, kissing him softly, drawing out each brush of their lips, savouring the way it lightened her insides and took her pain away.

Aurora didn’t stop him when he laid her down on the furs in front of the crackling fire. The heat of it and his touch chased away the last remnants of chill from her heart.

He leaned over her, his body resting half on hers and half on the furs beside her, and continued to slowly kiss her, as if he savoured this moment too. His tongue brushed hers, causing it to tingle and a moan to slip free of her lips.

He did it again, sweeping his tongue along hers, and then kissed her more deeply, fusing their mouths together in a way that stirred the passion that always ran as an undercurrent through her veins whenever she was near him.

He stroked her hair, brushing his fingers through it as he kissed her, the aggressive edge to it at odds with his gentle caress. She melted beneath him, needing more and aching for him to make her forget everything in the heat of the moment. She wanted to lose herself in him and their mutual desire.

She skimmed her hands down his thickly muscled arms.

The soft material of his black jumper clung to the delicious curves, emphasising them and causing a fierce ache to see him nude again. She would never tire of it, not even after a million years with him.

He had a godly form, powerful and masculine, a warrior made flesh.

She ached to lick every inch of him and worship his body as he had worshipped hers.

Snow grunted when she grabbed his shoulder and rolled him onto his back. She shamelessly settled herself astride his hips, feeling him growing hard in his black jeans.

His hands claimed her waist, burning her flesh through her white dress, teasing her with a brief flash of his strength as he ran them upwards. His thumbs and fingers pressed into her stomach and back, and then he brought his hands around and cupped her breasts. She moaned and bit her lower lip, her eyelids falling to half-mast as pleasure ran through her blood, igniting it and making her burn hotter for him.

He thumbed her nipples and she closed her eyes, groaned and thrust her breasts into his palms. She needed him skin-to-skin with her.

He was distracting her, throwing her off her mission to get him naked.

Aurora caught his wrists, leaned forwards, and pinned them above his head on the furs. His breathing quickened and she stared down at him. The sight of him beneath her, held at her mercy, sent a liquid rush of heat through her that pooled in her belly.