The Missing Chronicles of Section One
The Missing Chronicles of Section One
I wiped a tear from my eye and shut the diary, too upset to read any further. There was something beautiful yet tragic about Donovan's relationship with Aleksei, and somehow I sensed that the worst was still to come.
In what was fast becoming a ritual for me, I ran my fingers reverently over the inscription on the inside cover. It wasn't just that I was blindly infatuated with Donovan anymore. Something else was emerging. I identified strongly with Aleksei, so strongly that I began to wonder at the intensity.
But as much as I believed that what I was reading was real…it never occurred to me that that meant acknowledging more than a few supernatural elements. Did I believe in vampires? Not really. I believed in science and things I could touch or see or prove.
But then, I couldn't touch or see or prove that Donovan loved Aleksei. But it was something I *knew* unequivocally.
Not that I could explain that either.
He woke with a startled gasp, his limp body suddenly gone rigid in my arms. "Donovan! I had a dream!"
I reached out with one finger and touched the fresh scar on his neck. Except for a barely pink area where my fangs had entered, the scar was only noticeable to someone who knew where to look. "It wasn't a dream," I said quietly, waiting for what? revulsion? horror? to take the place of the improbably fond look he was giving me.
"Then it's *true*? We belong to each other?"
Of all the things I expected him to say, that wasn't even close. I slid my finger down his neck to the space where it joined his shoulder. I opened my mouth, intending to speak, but my voice broke on the first syllables. "Mi-mine. F-forever."
"Yours," he agreed cheerfully, not realizing that when he grinned, his new fangs showed. He hadn't yet learned that strong emotion could provoke their appearance.
He sat up, either unaware or uncaring that he was naked. His body was unmarked save for the scar I gave him.
"You're staring," he said.
"You're beautiful," I replied, unable to prevent the words from leaving my mouth.
"You've changed."
"So have you."
I ignored the bloodstains on the white satin sheets, moving past them to steal a kiss. I felt strangely shy now that my feelings were being so openly acknowledged. Pressing my forehead to his, I closed my eyes and muttered huskily, "I want you again."
"You have me."
That sparked the most amazing feeling of possessiveness in me. I wanted to leave my mark on every inch of him, and I had a feeling he would not object.
If I were kind and patient, I would have given him time to recover from his deflowering. But I was neither kind nor patient, and I had never desired anyone the way I desired him.
Framing his face with my hands, I thrust my tongue into his mouth with little prelude, only to find that my ardent student had anticipated me. He opened for me, letting me push him further and further back until his back hovered mere inches from the mattress.
My saliva clinging to his swollen lower lip, he murmured, "Fuck me, you know you want to."
Inflamed beyond all reason, I licked my spittle from his mouth, deliberately dragging the sharp points of my teeth across his skin until tiny droplets of blood dotted the surface.
"That isn't all I want," I whispered.
He hissed when my teeth grazed his mouth again, this time smearing the blood that was already there. I settled comfortably against him, bracing most of my weight on my arms. His snug passage was still slick with my seed, making entry even easier than before. Our groins shifted into alignment and suddenly I was where I most wanted to be: deep inside him.
My hips moved to establish a rhythm, and he met me, thrust for thrust, despite his comparative inexperience. Together we built the momentum that would serve to propel us over the edge. I waited expectantly, reading the intensity of his gaze as though we had been lovers for years instead of hours.
Suddenly, like he was every answer to any question I could ask, he sank his teeth into my neck, drawing blood for the first time. I cried out and came, my essence surging forth to fill his opening once more.
It wasn't till a moment later that I realized that he had passed out.
The ragged cut on my neck already healing, I quickly opened a small fissure on my arm and pressed the wound to his lips. After the first few drops of blood literally fell into his mouth, instinct took over and he began to suckle in earnest.
He didn't get that much blood from me, my restorative powers being what they were, but it was more than enough to revive him. All at once I knew what happened. When I came, I triggered off Aleksei's climax, but because of our newly forged bond, he felt not only his own orgasm but mine as well.
The intensity was simply too much for him to sustain consciousness.
"I felt you," he whispered inarticulately when he could finally speak again.
"I felt you, too," I answered in kind, feeling a smile tug at my lips.
Despite my initial misgivings about our relationship, I was desperately glad that I had let him into my life. But if I had had half his courage, I would have told him how much he already meant to me.
I was wrong. They *were* going to be together. They *were* going to have their happy ending. I had no idea why that was so important to me, but it was. I had the lump in my throat to prove it.
I should have stopped there. But I read on…
You would have thought I asked him to marry me.
Well, in a way, I did.
All things were relative. I only knew what my limited view of the vampiric experience had shown me. But in our circles, falling in love, while not uncommon, was still something to be remarked upon.
Ironically, Aleksei's status as a royal meant little to us. Power, in our world, was measured by something entirely different. Love, on the other hand, was a wild card. Although it came up rarely, when it struck, it deserved the special ritual it was accorded.
Of course, people, even vampires, stayed together for a variety of reasons. Love didn't have to enter the equation at all.
But in our case, it did.
I wanted Aleksei to become my Consort.
That was another irony. In Aleksei's world, *he* was royalty and *I* would be considered *his* Consort. A status that I could never actually achieve because I was a commoner and had no standing.
In our world, however, *he* was the outsider who could do virtually nothing to prove himself worthy of the honor of having me exclusively to himself. But then, he didn't need to. *I* chose him.
As far as I was concerned, our system was infinitely more fair, if only because I got what I wanted.
In any case, Aleksei understood the importance of ritual and the way it was used to bind two people together. As a royal, he had seen more than his share of ceremonies, some meaningful, some inexplicable. But more than that, he truly *loved* me. That was something he would have found a way to show me, no matter what obstacle threatened to keep us apart.
And there was one.
Alucard.
I didn't need Alucard's permission to take a Consort. I was, after all, a Master vampire in my own right.
But it wasn't prudent to ignore his wishes either.
There had been nothing between us for so long, I imagined, perhaps foolishly, that he didn't care.
Nothing could have been further from the truth.
For whatever jealousy once burned in his heart…had never died. Indeed, my relationship with Aleksei seemed to fan its flames. If I had any idea that admitting my love for Aleksei would endanger him, I would have cursed myself to remain silent.
Taking Aleksei as my Consort meant that knowledge of our affair went beyond our bedroom. That was, after all, the idea. To mark him as mine, to warn off those who would prey upon him. For his part, I don't think Aleksei was concerned at all about the latter. I had vowed to protect him and Aleksei's utter trust in me was touching.
It made me feel all powerful.
But it made Alucard sick.
He came to the palace, anger etched in every line on his face. That his face was beginning to show the ravages of time at all telegraphed his inattention to his most basic needs.
Like a scowling dark angel, he forced his way between us, demanding that a new choice be made. I knew he didn't want me back in his bed. But how like him not to be able to bear anyone else there.
"There have been others," I told him, love making me bold as well as foolish. "Why does one more matter?"
"You tell me, Donovan," he thundered. "Why take a Consort at all? What is so important about *this* one?" he sneered.
That Alucard didn't know was merely a sign of the ever-widening gap between us. He could easily have ignored me. It was what he had done for more years than I could remember. But he could not ignore Aleksei, not now that I had inadvertently thrust him into his face.
"I refuse to sanction this union!" he bellowed, not even looking at Aleksei.
"We don't need your blessing," I countered coldly. If I had to, I would challenge Alucard. But I didn't want to leave Aleksei unprotected for even a minute.
"I had hopes for you, Donovan," he said, his mouth twisting into a feral grimace.
I stepped in front of Aleksei, shielding him with my body. Aleksei was too weak to withstand an assault from someone as powerful as Alucard. Suddenly I had a very bad feeling.
The bond between Aleksei and me was strong and it rippled and flickered with the intensity of my feelings. He could feel the uncharacteristic fear in me and it must have confused him. I, who never cared about my standing in the Community, was worried. But it was not for myself. Never for myself.
I feared losing Aleksei. More than anything. And that was a very bad thing for Alucard to know.
"I could punish you any number of ways, Donovan," he mused out loud.
Indeed he could. But I didn't care. As long as he left Aleksei alone.
"But none would be as satisfying as taking this one from you," he growled.
"But why?" I knew I was losing. He sensed that Aleksei was my weakness and he was eager to exploit that.
Alucard didn't answer. Darkness oozed from his fingertips as he contemplated how to take his revenge on me.
At the risk of leaving myself completely defenseless, I channelled all of my energy into the bond I shared with Aleksei, sending pulses of love along its length. If I could not hold my own against Alucard, and I was beginning to fear that might be true, I needed Aleksei to know how much I loved him. Then he would not be alone at the moment of his death for we would be together.
But Alucard was a cruel God. He had made me and he could destroy me. But that wasn't the only path he could take in my destruction.
He hit me with what felt like a physical blow, but it didn't hurt nearly as much as the knowledge that *I* would be responsible for Aleksei's death.
"'Leksei!" I screamed.
Alucard moved quickly, seizing my lover in a terrible embrace. I knew then what was going to happen. Alucard wasn't going to kill me. He wanted me to live with the pain he was going to inflict on me for a long, long time.
Aleksei never made a sound. He stared at me with anguished eyes and I knew…he wasn't afraid of dying, but he didn't want to leave me alone. He knew how deep my grief would be because he felt the same way.
"I love you," I whispered, my lips almost numb.
The words seemed to enrage Alucard. He tore Aleksei's head from his shoulders with a gut-wrenching sound I would never forget. I closed my eyes as an icy coldness flowed down my spine. Like that, our bond was severed and I sank to my knees.
Suddenly I could feel Aleksei all around me. Invisible lips kissed mine and I opened my eyes with a gasp. It was the release of his trapped soul, leaving his body to begin its journey home. In the midst of such despair, I held onto the fervent hope that we would see each other again someday. When he was reborn.
If I could but find him…
I stood and flew at Alucard, but he laughed at my pitiful efforts. "Love has made you weak."
He stole my love's mortal remains and left me alone with a pain that would never fade. The full enormity of what had happened overwhelmed me. I crept into my most secret hiding place and vowed to stay there.
For all intents and purposes, I disappeared.
As the diary fell from my nerveless fingers to land on the bed, I could not tear my eyes from the very last entry. It was only a few lines, but it broke what was left of my heart.
This journal was a wedding present from Aleksei. I could not destroy something that he gave me, but I have buried these pages in a place where they can never be found. Would that my pain were so easily forgotten. Donovan.
My vision blurred. Silent sobs wracked my body as I realized that the mysterious Alucard had stolen more than Aleksei's remains. He had taken Donovan's very reason for existing.
My heart felt sore. It was as if Donovan and Aleksei's story did more than touch me. It was as if I had lived it along with them.
I didn't know how I was going to recover from this. Pain, jagged and intense, tore at me like a wild creature ravaging me. I felt confused and disoriented.
I had to pull myself together. We had new recruits coming in this morning.
Somehow I showered and dressed, though I could not bring myself to touch food. Just the idea made me sick at my stomach.
Still shaky from my emotional experience, I glanced up from my monitor when they brought the last recruit in. The first three wouldn't last long and I had automatically dismissed them. But something niggled insistently at what was left of my mind and forced me to examine this recruit more carefully.
He stood unsteadily between two burly operatives who seemed to be holding him up. He was tall and lean yet muscular. His head was bowed forward, making it impossible to see his face. But he had long red hair, the curling tendrils reaching out to touch the middle of his back. That was unusual. Male ops with hair that long or that distinctive were few and far between. They would probably make him cut it. I sighed. That would be a shame. It was really quite beauti—
Shit. I hated when I felt these shards of memory stabbing me. There was something almost familiar about the man, who was about my age. But that didn't make sense. I knew I had never seen him before.
"What's your name?"
The man's head came up abruptly as if he recognized the sound of my voice. A spasm of pain crossed his face, but what caught my immediate attention was his eyes. A peculiar shade of grey that looked almost like molten silver. God, he *was* beautiful.
I repeated my question. "What's your name?"
"Declan. Declan McLaren," he said with a pronounced Irish accent.
Suddenly I couldn't breathe. I started to shake, but it seemed as though no one but him noticed. For a second, I thought I was hearing voices. He was staring at me so hard, I was almost convinced it was *his* voice I was hearing. But he couldn't get into my head. Could he?
I blinked owlishly and adjusted my glasses. It must have been the aftereffects of reading the diary because the name I kept hearing in my head was…Aleksei.
End of Prologue
"Walter!"
"Yeah, amigo?"
"Where did they take that new recruit that came in this morning?"
"Which one? There were four, kiddo."
"The last one." At Walter's blank look, I elaborated. "With the long red hair."
A look of understanding dawned on Walter's craggy face. "Ohhh, the dangerous one."
"Dangerous? What makes you think he's dangerous?"
"Hell, Birkoff, anyone with a pair of eyes could tell that. What's with you lately? First you act like you forgot your own name, then you take a sudden interest in male recruits. You sure you're feeling okay?"
"Yeah. Sure. Just a little tired, that's all." That's what comes from all that late night reading, I reminded myself.
"Well, call it a day and get some rest. We need you functioning on all cylinders."
"So, uh, where is he?"
"Where's who?" Walter frowned. "Oh, the Irishman. They took him to Containment."
"Why? He just came in! He's not in Abeyance! I'd know!"
"Birkoff, I don't make the rules. I just sit here in wide-eyed wonder," Walter commented dryly.
"Who's with him? Madeline?"
"Come to think of it, no. Michael's in there."
An inexplicable wave of jealousy came over me, so intense that I could feel my face flush. The fact that I had no explanation for the way I felt didn't help.
Suddenly I felt Walter's hand on my arm. "Hey, kid, take it easy. Madeline's probably just busy."
That didn't make me feel any better. The thought of him with Michael made my skin feel too tight. "That still doesn't explain what he's doing in Containment," I said crossly.
"Well, why don't you go find out, Birkoff? It's not like he's going anywhere."
Goaded by Walter's jibe, I set out to do just that. But I wondered if I was going to like what I found out.
I didn't mean to spy on them. I wasn't trying to be sneaky. But my heart was hammering in my chest double-time like when Nikita tried to cure me of my aversion to the outside world.
Maybe there was a reason I was so afraid of getting killed. Shit, maybe I died badly in another life, y'know?
So I crept up to the window in the Containment door, careful to keep my head down. I peeked over the bottom edge of the window and…Fuck! What the hell was this? Since when did the new recruit kiss the neck of the most senior field op in Section One? And live to talk about it?
Waitafuckingminute! This was going from bad to bizarre. Michael was *caressing* the spot on his neck where Declan kissed him. Oh, no, this was all wrong! They were speaking, but damned if the sound-proofed room didn't make it impossible to tell what they were saying. If only I could read lips…
Suddenly I couldn't stand one more frustrating moment of this! I burst through the door with what I knew was an obnoxiously loud noise and confronted the two of them. I had absolutely no idea what I was going to say, but that had never stopped me before.
"What are you doing?" I hissed at Michael, earning a blank stare for my trouble.
The famed man in black rubbed his fingertips over his collar and that was when I saw it. The bloodstain. My head felt funny. I swallowed hard, flicking my tongue out to moisten my lips, and I had the strangest sensation that both men were watching me closely.
I knew there was little point in trying to get Michael to tell me anything. If Michael wanted me to know, he would have told me. And frankly, most of the time, he didn't want me to know.
I turned to the new recruit known as Declan. Summoning outrage on Michael's behalf, though only God knew why I thought I needed to defend *Michael*, I addressed Declan. "I can't believe I came in here and found you *kissing* him!"
To my surprise, Declan looked amused and not a bit uncomfortable for a man in his circumstances. "Oh, no, acushla. *That* wasn't kissing."
"*This* is kissing." Suddenly his lips claimed mine. It wasn't a light kiss that might be exchanged between friends either. It was a heartfelt, "I'm so glad to see you after all these fucking years"-type of kiss.
Which left me more puzzled than before.
And painfully aroused.
I must have looked like I was ready to pass out. Michael patted my shoulder in a gesture that for anyone else would be called affectionate. Wow. I suppose that meant that Declan was telling the truth.
About kissing him, anyway.
What was it about the bloodstain on Michael's collar that made me feel woozy? Wait, why was I worried about blood when I'd just shared the kiss of a lifetime with a man I barely knew?
I looked up into Declan's face and something shifted behind his eyes, allowing me a glimpse of the man inside. With a gasp, I took a half-step backwards, but he caught me in a snug embrace. Jesus, no wonder I felt swept away. I was staring at someone who could be the living embodiment of the man I'd been reading about all week long.
That was it. That had to be it.
Michael gave me a sympathetic look and said, "Take it easy, Birkoff. You look like you've seen a ghost."
As he crossed the threshold, he raised his eyes to the ceiling, indicating the hidden surveillance cameras that were undoubtedly recording this. I nodded imperceptibly at Michael and reached into my pocket. Okay, I've always been a science geek. I've been known to carry odd things in my pants, and no, I wasn't referring to the erection that came up when Declan kissed me. I kept a small magnet just for occasions like this. I handed it to Declan, who for some strange reason knew what to do with it, and what had been recorded on the cams became instant static.
I decided that the only safe course was to find out who Declan really was and why he was here. Both matters best discovered somewhere private where we were less likely to be interrupted. Yeah, I know, I wanted to get to know him better. I could hardly afford to be altruistic when certain parts of my body were clearly more enthusiastic than others.
There were definite advantages to being the designer of all the security and surveillance programs within Section One. One of them was knowing where all of the holes in said programs were. Another was being able to claim the sole surveillance-free quarters in Section One.
Not that I ever did anything worth recording.
But I had a feeling that my luck was about to change.
I locked the door and turned, about to say, "We need to talk," when Declan blindsided me again. To be honest, it was a little difficult to think when he was kissing me. Not that I was complaining.
He nudged my lips apart with his tongue and I let him inside. I wanted him to make love to me more than I wanted answers to my questions. He pressed me back against the door and I could feel how much he wanted me. There was something dangerous, even insane, about taking a total stranger to bed. Only he wasn't.
He wasn't a total stranger at all. There was something familiar about the way he kissed me, the way his hands smoothed their way over my hips, the way he buried his face against my neck.
My heart raced when he murmured my name. Until I realized that he wasn't saying *my* name. He was saying, "Aleksei".
I jerked to attention, my entire body frozen by the way he said "Aleksei".
All at once it all came flooding back, the memories, oh, sweet, sweet memories of how we loved. Disturbing memories of how we parted. Terrible memories of how I died. And died. And died.
"Donovan!" I screamed his name and dug my fingernails into his upper arms so hard I drew blood.
It was all there. Every time I was reborn. Every time Alucard managed to find me…and kill me. Again. Every time that I died without Donovan at my side.
"You finally came," I wept, pressing my face into his chest. My fingers tangled themselves in his long red hair and he held me, gently, as if I were some cherished objet d'art.
"I never would have stopped looking for you," he whispered, his lips dry as paper against my temple. "I never would have stopped loving you."
We didn't move for the longest time. Then I took him by the hand and led him to my bed. It was almost like the first time we made love. We undressed each other slowly, unable to resist touching and kissing as we did. We lay down on our sides, facing one another, our hands and mouths restlessly seeking and finding familiar places.
We conversed in whispers, as if anything louder than that would somehow break whatever magical spell we had woven around ourselves. "You cut your hair," he murmured dolefully, his long, elegant fingers tracing the shape of my head.
"I'll grow it back," I promised.
"I've missed you so much, acushla," he breathed against my mouth before he kissed me again.
I thought about that for a moment. How different it must have been for him, searching for me in vain all those years, always aware of what he had lost. I, on the other hand, remained blissfully unaware of who I once was…until Alucard came.
Alucard took great pleasure in ripping away the veil of forgetfulness each and every time. He tormented me, making my last moments a nightmare from which I could never escape. For, as he kept telling me, Donovan was not there. What little solace I could have gotten, knowing how deeply I was loved, was denied me. Again and again.
I didn't know if I could ever share that with him. Perhaps it would be better if he didn't know how bad it was. He would only blame himself for not finding me sooner.
Suddenly I was eager to feel him moving inside me. I needed that pleasurable pain to reassure me that I was indeed alive and well and very much loved.
In this form, I was relatively inexperienced with love or sex. But my body could be taught what my soul remembered only too well. "Make love to me," I pleaded.
Declan smiled and brushed my mouth with his. "I love you."
He entered me and I winced, thinking it had truly been a long time since we were together. "Easy," he urged, trying to slow me down. But I was so consumed by my rampant desire for him that I couldn't help myself.
"Take me," I begged.
"I am."
"No, no, take me…all the way." I emphasized the last part, hoping he would understand without further explanation. Once we had belonged to each other so completely, I couldn't bear it if we did not share that same bond again.
His pace quickened, his strokes deeper and harder than before. It was as if he were driving himself towards some goal he could not express.
Then it happened. He laced his fingers through mine and pumped furiously. His groan of completion was like a declaration of love to me. His eyelids fluttering wildly against my neck, I pressed his mouth against the scar I could still feel in my heart, if not on my skin.
The moment his sharply honed teeth broke the surface, spilling a couple of drops of blood, I came, harder than I ever had in this lifetime. I think, too, if he could have come again, he would have. But it was enough to have his body covering me, inside me, next to me.
I loved him so completely in that moment. I didn't know how I could ever find words to tell him.
Then I looked up and saw the tears that shone in his silvery eyes. He knew. He felt everything I felt as soon as he drank from me again.
"I had no idea."
"I know."
"I would take the pain away if I could, acushla."
"Just stay with me." Protect me. Keep me safe from Alucard this time. Please. For I fear my soul grows weary of this game he plays to get back at you.
"I should turn you as soon as possible. You'll be safer that way."
I nodded sleepily.
"If anything should happen to me—"
Alarmed, I pressed my fingers to his lips. "Nothing's going to happen to you."
He continued as though I hadn't stopped him. "Michael will protect you."
"You turned him?"
"Aye."
"Then there was never any reason for me to be jealous."
"None."
"Turn me then. I want to belong to you again."
"You'll always belong to me. Mortal or not."
"I want forever this time." I kissed him, then lay back, exposing my neck.
"'Lecksei…"
"Just…Sey," I said, drifting off to dream as he drank my life's blood.
"I just had the most amazing dream…" I murmured sleepily.
"It wasn't a dream, acushla. After all these years apart, we're finally together again."
Declan rolled onto his back, taking me with him. For several moments, I just lay there, sprawled bonelessly across his lean, muscular frame. My vision still felt fuzzy around the edges.
It was hell coming back to unlife.
I fingered a spot on Declan's neck where one might expect to find a pulse. On an ordinary person. "I'm still weak. I think I'm down about a pint," I growled, unsheathing my fangs.
"Drink, baby. I want you to." Declan's eyes glowed like molten silver and his voice, God, his voice, flowed over me like hot caramel.
I was hungry. I needed to feed. But I needed to claim him as well. He was *mine* in ways that mortals couldn't possibly understand. "I need you," I begged.
His hands glided over my hips, poking and probing for my opening. When his fingers found their target, he slid one inside, up to the first knuckle. Without lube, his touch burned, leaving in its wake a not unpleasant tingling. Still…
"…lube…top drawer…" I pointed to the nighttable. Declan quickly retrieved the tube we needed and spread a copious amount in and around my opening.
Now his fingers eased their way in, flexing back and forth to prepare me for his entry. My dick lay on his abdomen, rapidly hardening and lengthening in response. My insides twitched impatiently. I closed my eyes and threw my head back, running my nails over my nipples until they were painfully erect.
After applying lube to his own throbbing length, he thrust upwards, impaling me on him. I gasped, but not with pain. I felt him fill me, slowly, gently, and I waited expectantly for him to move within me.
"Oh, God…so good…"
He initiated a slow, languourous rhythm that I remembered from days long past. Days when he would take me so slowly that I would beg him to fuck me…harder…deeper…faster.
I leaned forward to kiss him and I could tell how much he missed my long hair. His fingers threaded restlessly through what was there as we kissed. And fucked. I could feel his balls tightening under my ass, getting ready to come.
Suddenly his mouth left mine to suck one of my nipples. His fangs descended and he nipped at the tiny nub of flesh, again and again, until it released a trickle of blood. I groaned as he suckled me in earnest now, the ripples of pleasure-pain echoing throughout my body.
I felt him quiver under me. His come exploded from him, pouring into my narrow channel with unexpected force. I bent my head and sank my teeth into the side of his neck, tearing open a wound for me to drink. His blood splashed over my lips and into my mouth. What I lacked in technique, I clearly made up for with enthusiasm, however, for Declan howled his satisfaction into my ear.
I came hard, spilling my sticky wetness across his chest and abdomen in ragged bursts.
I continued to feed for a couple of moments, finally burying my face in his long red hair with a soft exclamation.
Declan pressed a kiss to my hair and wrapped his arms around me, evidently reluctant to leave my body. That was fine with me. If I could spend our forever safely trapped inside his arms, I would.
We didn't need words. Our bond was back, even stronger than before, and our senses were attuned to each other in ways I could never have imagined before I was turned.
"Acushla…" That was the last coherent word he spoke before he began to purr.
I jerked my head back to stare at him. "Are you purring, Donovan?"
"Aye…"
"Is it cause of me?"
"Everything is cause of you, my beloved Consort."
