Her lashes lifted. He didn"t know if she read it from him, as tightly closed as his mind always was, or if it simply moved in them both, a new synchronization to their thoughts and wishes that had perhaps always been there, but had been hampered by those shields and protections she"d referenced. Or what he was and what she hadn"t been, until now.

I want him here, too. Does that make sense?

Yes, cher. He’s your servant. But he knew it was more than that. While she didn"t challenge it, her sensual lips curved, telling him she still wasn"t fooled.

“Do you think he"ll come if I call him?”

“I think so. Though keep in mind he"s more terrier than retriever. Savagely loyal, but not always predictable.”

“I think that"s what we both like about him.” Her tongue touched her lips, moistened them, and more beads of water rolled down the delicate architecture of her throat, caressing the firm, high tops of her breasts.

He"d waited long enough. In one effortless move, he had her up against the shower wall, gripping her thighs, and drove home. He knew her body so well he didn"t have to hesitate. She moaned, startled at his sudden decision but welcoming it. Her slippery channel pulled him in, her body bucking up in his arms. She wrapped her own around his back, those razored nails sliding along his flesh, raking him and splattering his feet with crimson, the smell of his own blood.

Don’t waste it, cher .

He"d felt her hunger. She had a moment of hesitation, remembering he needed to feed, but he had no patience for her coddling. He brought her mouth to his throat, cupping the back of her neck, fingers tangled hard in her hair. She read his need and answered it, puncturing him with those dainty fangs, making a sound in her throat as his blood rushed into her mouth. He surged back into her, holding her so close she was pressed flush to him, from groin to breast, as he hammered into her body. This first time, it wasn"t about pleasure or climax. It was a deep-seated need being met, conveying how much he"d missed her, had wanted to be here, that brought her to an emotional pinnacle that overflowed in her mind, spilled over to his. More images than thoughts, but all of them were the things she"d wanted and missed so much while he was away.

Because of that, he was able to slow himself down enough to reach between them, stroke her, tease the stretched opening, caress her spread thighs, the tingling nerves there. When she dropped her head back against the tile, he caught her mouth, tasting his blood on her tongue.

He moved to her throat, but didn"t bite, stroking the artery with his fangs as the hot water rained on them. He maintained a steady stroke, knowing her body so well, feeling every incremental shift up toward climax, the way her body was tightening on his, responding in kind, goading him higher. Her legs were locked over his hips, her vampire strength holding her easily on him, such that with the brace of the wall behind her he could curve his back, work his way down her sternum and issue the command in his mind.

Bring your breasts up to my mouth. Display them to me.

She didn"t want to let go of him, but she did, cupping their weight and tilting them upward to increase the sensitivity of the nerves as his mouth closed over one. It took bravery for a woman to put her nipple in a vampire"s mouth, but Anwyn had no fear when she surrendered her body to him.

“Oh.” Her moans increased, her body undulating up against his. “Daegan. Come with me.

Go over . . . together. Please.”

Normally, he"d order her to come before him, but he didn"t mind letting her have her way.

He wanted to go over that cliff together. “Go, cher. I"m with you.” She renewed her efforts against him, and he drove her harder against the wall, straightening so that he braced one hand on the tile and kept the other cinched low and hard on her waist.

Powerful thighs and buttocks flexed under her heels as he thrust into her, strong and sure, stroking those tissues, striking her deep inside, bringing her hot, slippery core to the flash point. His cock got impossibly harder, his balls drawing up. If Gideon came in right now, Daegan wouldn"t care if the hunter staked him in the center of the back. He wasn"t stopping, wasn"t pulling back.

She cried out as his cock spasmed, jetting the first stream of hot seed into her. He felt the rippling of her clit, the clutch of her cunt, and he pushed harder, wanting to give her some pain amid the delightful pleasure, the flavoring he knew would take her soaring even higher.

“Daegan . . .” I missed you missed you missed you . . . Oh God . . . Don’t leave me don’t ever leave me again . . . Those shadow creatures didn"t just cower back into the shadows. They were sent scuttling, disappearing down the tunnels and holes of her mind as the flash of climax detonated there. It was a fierce warrior"s satisfaction to give her that, give her that moment of peace and pleasure, something that could be hers, if she trusted him to be in control.

The emotions such trust elicited made his heart ache. It was good to be home.

There were so many meanings to that handful of words, he was glad their aftermath didn"t require speech. They leaned against the wall, Anwyn still held securely in his arms, holding him right back, hearts thundering and bodies still shuddering with those delicious aftershocks, her pussy rippling against his cock.

Have you ever had a home before me, Daegan?

He hadn"t realized he"d opened his mind to give her that thought, but maybe he hadn"t.

Maybe she was so deeply in his heart, she knew what he was feeling. She had her head tilted back against the wall, but now she brought her chin down to gaze into his eyes.

“No, cher. ” It was the simple truth. He"d never considered anyplace home, not until her, though he realized he"d never thought of it until she asked the question. “Not since I left my mother"s home to go out on my own.”

Her blue-green eyes softened and her hand lifted to cup his face. It was trembling, so he closed his own over her wrist, steadying her, still holding her securely about the waist. “No woman you"ve loved has ever given you a home?” she asked softly.

He stared down into her lovely face, wanting to press his lips to every cherished inch.

Nuzzle her brow, tug her head back with that silky hair and touch his mouth to her throat, to the life-giving carotid. He knew at some point he"d piss her off. She"d do the same to him.

He"d hurt her, make her laugh, cry, frustrated, annoyed, happy, content . . . It didn"t matter. He wanted to be everything for her, every emotion, good or bad.

“I"ve never loved another woman, Anwyn. You"re the first.” And the last. He wasn"t sure why he was so certain of that, but since he was seven hundred years old and she was his first love, he didn"t think it was a wrong assumption.

The stunned amazement that crossed her face was a gift, one that he took with a kiss, another of those that lingered. As they held that way, she at last reached out with her mind. He followed that tendril, felt it touch Gideon, tug him to her. Slowly, Daegan let her down, sliding her off his now-semierect cock. He held her against the wall still, though, caged within his arms so he could indulge that desire to taste her neck beneath her ear, work his way to the collarbone.

He sensed when Gideon was standing in the bathroom doorway. Anwyn beckoned him forward. “Take off your clothes and come join us, Gideon.”

The vampire hunter shifted. “You look like you"re done. I can bring Daegan a towel if he"d like one.”

When she slid her gaze toward him, Daegan noted the slight tightening of her lips at the evasion and felt that warning simmer to her blood, what he"d felt at the airport when Gideon had somehow thwarted her intent. She spoke calmly, but he could tell as well as Gideon that it was deceptive.

“Daegan needs blood. There"s a reserve in the refrigerator, but I want to offer him the blood of my servant, hot and fresh from the source. He needs that, for his strength. I want you to allow him to drink from you while I bring you to climax with my hands, my body.”

“No,” Gideon said. While his response was quiet, his tone even, there was a leashed resolve that would detonate if she pushed it. “You already know I won"t feed him, or any other vampire. Not ever. Only you.”

“It doesn"t matter, cher,” Daegan said, earning a surprised look from both of them. “I won"t drink from your servant.”

Gideon"s reaction stirred that impulsive anger in her, and from the hunter"s significant glance Daegan realized her demand wasn"t unexpected. Gideon apparently had been dealing not only with the seizures and bloodlust, but the war between the Mistress, evaluating her slave"s limits, and the reaction of the fledgling vampire, which believed everything was hers to take, struggling for the upper hand.

He shouldn"t have been away so long. This was one side of the battle where his strength was specifically needed. Do not push him, cher . He nearly died for you.

You, who wouldn’t let me shirk from being a vampire, wouldn’t let me have a moment of panic, would cut him slack? She turned a gimlet eye on him. Do you have a soft spot for him, Daegan?

I am telling you that neither of us is your toy. That has never been the type of Mistress you are. Being a vampire will make you more demanding.

He came back to her then, touched her face to soften his next words. A hand shot out to knock his away, and he easily pinned it to the wall, continuing the cradling motion of her jaw without pause. Power has always been the delicate brush you wield on a willing canvas, because you knew it was about consent. The Mistress in you craves that power enough to take it, if you let the vampire side have too much control. You know that about yourself. Don’t let being a vampire take that from you. You will have a harder fight with that than most, but you will do it.

When that blood shifted, uncertain, he hardened his feelings. If you don’t, you’re less than I expected you to be. Don’t do to him what Barnabus did to you. The Mistress knows the difference between rape and submission. So does the vampire, but the blood is hot and fresh in your veins. It takes time to settle it down.

She shuddered, but he saw the red tide turn as she pushed it back. Even managed to give him a defiant look, but the one he knew, tinged with sexual challenge. You might be the head alpha in this strange new arrangement, but don’t get carried away with yourself.