Claiming Ecstasy Read Online Free PDF Page B

sconces countersunk into the walls and the scent of the sea
surrounded me.
    I looked around the room, pausing only briefly on the
feminine vanity table and the sparkling trinkets glistening in the firelight.
Dark mahogany armoires pressed against the layered brick walls.
    Where was Nicolas? I shook my head and pressed the heel of
my palm between my eyes. A wave of dizziness rolled through me. I didn’t
remember getting up from the bed but I knew I had. I stopped at the large open
bay window. Cold, gusting wind whipped the beige curtains against my sensitive
skin. I shivered not from the cold but from the power electrifying me.
    I took a deep breath and a slow smile curled my mouth until
the pressure of tiny, delicate fangs pressed into my lower lip. The air was
full of salt, the sea.
    “You’re awake.” Nicolas’ voice sent a shiver down my spine.
    I tuned to face my sire, my lover, my soon-to-be husband. Dressed
in black slacks and a crisp white shirt—open to reveal the perfection of his
chest and abs—he looked devastating.
    Mine.
    Power and magic surged in my veins. It was like my pleasure,
like my pain—immeasurable. My soul was nothing but a vacant black pit. My
sanctuary was gone. In its place was a path of darkness connecting me to
Nicolas. The energy between us crackled and sizzled in my veins. He was inside
me, always, forever. I’d never be alone again.
    “What day is it?” I asked.
    Despite the dark shroud of night, everything was too bright.
I closed my eyes and the moment I did, my other senses flared to life. The
faint whisper of voices from the maids, cooks and blood slaves milling around
the castle pressed into me, my sense of hearing better than it had ever been.
Outside, the ocean churned and crashed against the cliffs. In the distance a
raven called, its tone rich and gravelly.
    Nicolas cupped my cheek and trailed his thumb at the corner
of my eye until I opened my lids and looked up at him. Too concentrated on
everything else, I hadn’t heard him move.
    “The day after your birthday.”
    Panic gripped me and I waited for the familiar drum of my pulse
to kick into overdrive. Nothing happened. My skin chilled. I pressed my hand to
my still chest and realized my heart no longer beat.
    I licked my lips. “The negotiations?”
    His caress shifted from my face to my neck and I tilted my
head, welcoming the electric sensation his touch generated in me. He trailed a
single finger between my breasts, his gaze never leaving mine. Desire filled me
and my pussy wetted with arousal. I arched closer, inviting him to stroke
lower.
    “In a few hours.” He cupped my hip, fingers digging into
flesh, and pulled me to him until the tips of my nipples pressed against his
silk shirt.
    I lifted a trembling hand to his face. The scratch of my
fingernails trailing over his unshaven cheek filled the room as I stroked him. A
rumbling came from his chest, the vibration moving through me and straight to
my clit.
    “How do you feel?” he asked.
    “Different.”
    I closed my eyes and released the magic thrumming through
me. I let it waft over the seas, over the masses of humanity cuddled in their beds.
That’s when I found them, the goblin army my mother had gathered to fight
against the vampires. Only they were no longer hers. My blood had given them
strength. Now it was my blood that commanded them. They were mine. They
responded, hundreds of them, by looking up into the void.
    I snapped my lids open and gasped at Nicolas.
    A crooked, seductive smile made his sapphire eyes glow. His
hands were cold against my hips when he walked me back to the bed and shoved me
onto the mattress. He gripped my thighs and spread them so he could fit his
body against me.
    I know, lover. Nicolas spoke without words. I always
knew they’d follow you into the darkness. Your mother is a foolish woman.
    When Nicolas turned me, he turned us all. My power was their
power.
    He drew his mouth along my throat, down to my breast. I
cupped the