Free Reunion by Felicity Heaton

beautifully exposing her milky throat and his eyes dropped there. He stared at the marks on her neck—his marks—and remembered all the times they had spent together.
    Running the pads of his fingers over her throat in a light caress, he thought about what she had said to him. She was his sire but she had been scared. What had frightened her enough to drive her into the decision to let another raise him?
    He brought his mouth close to her neck and pressed his cheek against hers.
    “Why did you run away after you turned me?” he whispered against her ear.
    She shivered in his arms and sighed. He thought she wasn’t going to answer.
    “I thought you’d only love me because I was your sire,” she said, her voice trembling and betraying her nerves. He could sense it in her, had always been able to feel a trace of her emotions.
    “The moment I laid eyes on you that night... across that dance floor... I fell in love with you,” he whispered against her throat.
    She pushed him backwards, her wide eyes echoing her shock.
    “You did?” Her tone matched her look—surprised and stunned. “When you were human?”
    “When I woke to another... I thought I was going insane. I swore I’d fallen asleep with you. I hated what had happened to me.” He pressed a finger against her lips to silence and reassure her when she leaned forwards to speak. He smiled and his eyes followed his fingers as he brushed the strands of dark hair from her forehead. “But then I saw you, and realised you were like me, a vampire, and after that... I did everything I could to make you notice me.”
    She smiled but there were tears in her eyes.
    “The thought that I had fallen asleep with you the night I died plagued me, but it soon drifted to the back of my mind as I tried to prove myself worthy to you. I used to follow you everywhere. I used to love watching you in the garden when you thought no one was around.” He wiped a tear from her cheek.
    “I knew you were watching... that’s why I’d go there, to let you watch, in the hopes that you’d come to me.” Her hand lightly cupped his cheek and then trailed down to his neck. She stared at it and he knew she was staring at the marks on his throat.
    She was his sire. He realised that meant she was the only one to ever bite him. He had never allowed Almina to.
    “I love you, Mari.” He held her gaze, furrowing his brows so she could see the apology mixed in with what he had said. He had never meant to hurt her.
    Her expression remained flat for a moment and then she smiled.
    “I feel like I’ve always loved you, Jascha.”
    He grinned and pulled her close, wrapping her up in his arms and savouring the gentle pressure of her cool fingers against his bare back.
    Pressing kisses to her throat, he steadily traced the curve of it, licking her earlobe as he reached it. He kissed along her jaw to her mouth, claiming her lips again and stealing all her breath away as his tongue tackled hers.
    Marise closed her eyes and surrendered to her feelings and Jascha. She ran her fingers down the arch of his back to the smooth globes of his buttocks and smiled as she refreshed her memory of them. She had spent countless hours studying the beautiful curves of his body as he had slept. Sometimes she had wished she could draw so she could capture his graceful, lean but powerful physique on paper so the world could see how perfect he was.
    She bit back the tears that wanted to come when happiness filled her and ignored the voice at the back of her head that reminded her of her duties.
    Jascha swept her thoughts away for her when he scooped her up into his arms and carried her across the room. Panic that he would reopen his wounds filled her mind, but all sensible thought quickly left her when he laid her down on the bed. His eyes sparkled with love and fire. She smiled back at him and then frowned when he pulled back and she saw all the marks on his body again.
    “You’re really in no condition—”
    He cut