Free Fire Nectar 2 by Faleena Hopkins

greatest thing she had to offer him and she gave it freely. He could not imagine living without her. All at once, a pain shot through his heart as he heard little sobs escaping his love’s breast. Sliding out his sharpened fangs, he rose on his elbows to look into her eyes. “What is it, mon amour?”
    Her breath caught as she tried to contain her sadness. She reached for the bottle of Brandy and found it to be empty. Again. Wondering instantly if she could leave a moment to get more, she turned to him and continued her woefulness. “I’m going to die yet you will not!”
    “I will not kill you!”
    “No! Not now. I will grow old… and you will live without me. I cannot bear the thought!” A fresh stream of tears poured down her cheeks and she gasped and buried her head into his bare chest to hide her suffering. “I’m sorry. I do not mean to be upsetting. I love you almost too much to bear!”
    Poor Joshua was too new to understand the intense workings of his heart. His vampyric senses were acute, as were his emotions. Everything heightened and without reign. Had he met her a year after his rebirth, he might have made another choice. But tonight, in the thick of lovemaking and bloodlust, he was not strong, nor wise. “There is a way,” he whispered, sitting up and bringing her with him to cradle her on his lap. “I could take you with me.” She sniffled again and a made a small noise of confusion. “Don’t cry. I cannot bear it. There is a way. I was not always what I am now. This was a gift given me. I could give the gift to you.” She kept her face hidden, or he might have seen the look on her face–the look of victory.
    “You tease me,” she whispered.
    He kissed the top of her head, his teeth back to their dormant, dulled state. “I promise you, I do not.” He looked at the flames lashing up from the blackened wood, and wondered what Ludovico would say to this. He had joked about Marion’s following him to the chateau like a puppy dog. William had been no different. But they were jaded. They did not know what it meant to love. Ludovico had a different whore every night and took none of them seriously. And William? William was so old, stern and commanding to ever be able to allow a woman to make him soft. That’s how it seemed to Joshua, but he did not know the eldest above half, he must admit. Still, he would be surprised if the fossil had ever loved.
    And so there they were, the two of them, traveling through eternity alone. Yes, they had each other, the friendship of brothers. But it was not the same. When Marion looked up, damp eyes above wet, rosy cheeks, Joshua knew he did not want to live a life of solitude. He needed more than brotherly love. He wanted a bride. He wanted a love that lasts forever.
    “Will you let me give you this?” he asked, his voice husky with need.
    Her eyes opened in surprise. “Are you offering it to me, now, Joshua? Tonight?”
    He held her look, waiting for her to see the truth his eyes told. As his mind raced with the excitement of what he proposed, he thought of Wolfl and how that man had called him a coward. He was no coward now! He would take this leap, come what may! What could possibly go wrong?
    “Marion…I am offering you eternity.”
    She gasped, her lashes fluttering. This was more than she’d expected. “What about your friends? What will they think of me? What if they detest me?”
    Joshua laughed at the absurdity. Women were so wont to dramatize and exaggerate where emotions were involved. “Mon chere, they will come to love you as I do!”
    She smiled. “I am a goose!”
    “You are that, indeed. And a very pretty one.”
    She bounced off his lap, excited beyond anything and kneeled on the bed next to him, her skin beautiful atop the cream-colored sheets, her hair tussled and shining. “How will it happen? What shall I do? Must we pray to the gods?”
    He leaned back on his hands, his manhood resting comfortably between opened, bent knees.