Rhea finally surrendered to sleep just before dawn, her body was too exhausted to keep fighting the pull of fatigue any longer.
The bed was foreign and too soft and the room was also too silent after the whole chaos of the feast, and that faint metallic echo of Elias's blood still clung to her tongue like a frickin sin. She curled onto her side, facing away from the chaise where he rested, and let darkness claim her.
But then, a nightmare came fast. She was back in the snow, pinned beneath a shadow that was inhuman. Cold fingers clamped around her wrists, a mouth hovered above her throat, fangs gleaming in the moonlight. The creature's breath was icy against her skin as it lowered its head down-slowly drawing her life out in steady, burning pulses.
She thrashed, tried to scream, but her voice was stolen. The pain blurred into darkness, it made her body arch against her will. The vampire lifted its head, blood glistening on its lips, and whispered, "You belong to us now, little wolf. Every drop." Rhea jolted awake with a choked gasp, chest heaving violently, her skin was damp with sweat. The room was dim, the fire reduced to glowing embers, moonlight slicing across the floor in pale ribbons. She sat up sharply, clutching the sheet to her chest as she looked around, heart racing so hard she could feel it in her throat.
And then as soon as she turned her head sideways, she almost screamed. Elias stood beside the bed, shirtless and looking down on her, arms loose at his sides. Moonlight traced every line of him-broad shoulders, defined chest, the lean ridges of muscle along his abdomen that disappeared beneath the low waist of his trousers. His pale skin seemed almost luminous and flawless, and his gray eyes were fixed on her with an intensity that stole the air from the room.
He had clearly not been sleeping; his hair was slightly tousled, as if he had run his hands through it while watching her. Obviously he was a creature of the night so most times he spent it working but today it was his wedding night but he couldn't even get a taste of his very beautiful princess.
He didn't speak at first. He simply watched her catch her breath, he watched the sheets slip lower on her chest, and the way her chest rose and fell quicky. A slow smile curved onto his lips. "Nightmare? Huh? Wife?" His voice was low and husky from disuse, laced with dark amusement.
"You were making the most intriguing sounds. Soft little whimpers. Almost like you were calling for someone. Me perhaps?" Rhea's face heated. She yanked the sheet higher, glaring up at him. "Back away."
He didn't. Instead he leaned one hand on the mattress beside her hip, close enough that she could feel the cool aura of his body without him touching her. Rhea couldn't help but move away a little in fear, the dream had totally shaken her.
"I couldn't look away princess," he murmured needing, gaze dropping to the pulse fluttering at the base of her throat.
"You looked so... vulnerable. All that fire dimmed for once. Then you arched like you were chasing something in your sleep, naughty girl. You seemed to have even called my name?"
"I totally did not say your name!" she snapped, though her voice trembled with leftover adrenaline and fear.
Elias's smile deepened. "You did. Quietly. Breathlessly. Like you were imagining my mouth right here-" He lifted a hand and traced the air above her neck, not touching, but close enough that her skin prickled with awareness, oh! How he wanted to grab that beautiful neck and feel it in his hand.
"Tasting you. Drawing you in slow, deep pulls until you forgot how to fight." He continued as he breathed suddenly became ragged. Rhea slapped his hand away.
"Touch me and I'll end you." He laughed-darkly, utterly unconcerned. "There she is. My defiant wife. All sharp edges and fury, but trembling from a dream. If only that was possible!"
He straightened but stayed close, letting her see the full length of him in the moonlight-the hard planes of his chest, the way his muscles flexed sexily with every breath.
"You know what's fascinating? I can still taste you from the ceremony. Your blood on my tongue-warm and intoxicating as fuck. And now you're lying in my bed in nothing but that thin material, flushed and breathing hard because some shadow in your mind got too close to you making you arch and pant and call my... name. Your body is already responding to me, Rhea. Even if your mind won't admit it." He teased.
Rhea's face was flushed to the max. She believed so hard that she did not call this bastard's name!
"I'm not responding to you, stop it!" she said through gritted teeth, even as heat pooled low in her belly. "Liar," he replied softly, voice husky.
"I can hear your heart racing. I can smell the change in you... you know... down there-sweet and warm. You're my wife now. My blood runs in your veins. Yours runs in mine. My ring marks your finger. And your body knows exactly who it answers to. Okay princess?"
Rhea's breath caught. She hated how her thighs pressed together instinctively, and how her skin felt so tingly under his gaze. She forced herself to meet his eyes, chin up.
"I answer to no one," she said coldly. "Least of all you. You can stand there half-naked and whisper filth all night, Elias. It changes nothing. This marriage is paper and blood. It doesn't make me yours to take. We had to do this for the people so please... leave me alone." His eyes darkened, pupils expanding until the gray was almost swallowed by black.
"Are you sure you want that? I'm not asking you to give yourself tonight," he said, voice dropping to a dangerous murmur.
"I can wait. I have centuries intact but you don't. And when the moment comes-when you finally stop pretending-you'll beg me. I'll lay you out on this bed, taste every inch of you until you're trembling, then take you so thoroughly you'll feel me for days. And when I sink my fangs into that lovely throat and turn you fully into mine-" He leaned closer, breath cool against her ear. "You'll shatter so beautifully I'll never let you forget who owns your pleasure." Rhea's pulse thundered.
She wanted to shove him away so hard. She really Wanted to claw his arrogant face.
She also Wanted-God help her-to feel that beautiful dirty mouth on her skin just to prove she could survive it. Instead she smiled, coldly at him.
"Keep fantasizing, vamp. The only way you get near me is if I decide you're worth the trouble. And right now? You're not." Elias straightened slowly, giving her one last lingering look that dragged over her like a physical touch.
"Right now? So there can be later? I'm looking forward to it!" He said with a smirk. "Sleep well, wife," he said softly. "I'll be right here... imagining exactly how you'll sound when you finally give in to me." He returned to the chaise, stretched out on it with lazy grace, still bare-chested and definitely still watching her through the dim light.
Rhea lay back down, turned away from him, and pulled the sheet up to her chin. Her body was burning and Her mind was raging.
And somewhere deep inside, the nightmare had been replaced by a far more dangerous dream that drove her crazy. One that wore his face.
"Damn womanizer!" She muttered as she inhaled sharply.