“Yes, Joya. Take what I offer my love,” he said, his voice husky. Suddenly it occurred to her lust fogged brain she could hear him and she pulled back.
Juliana licked her lips and his eyes followed the movement.
“I can hear you,” she whispered.
“And I you.” He ran a hand down the side of her neck where her pulse thrummed wildly.
She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Thomas took the opportunity to slip back into his shirt. She wasn’t going to like what he had to tell her. He cupped her face in his hand again and she opened her eyes. “How much blood has Tony given you?”
“Does it matter?”
“It might. Just answer the question.” He stepped back, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I don’t know. A little here, a little there. Only when I was really miserable. He wouldn’t let me have too much, too close together. Why? He’s not in trouble is he?”
Thomas ran his hand down his face. Yes, his underling was in trouble, but not for the reasons she feared. “You don’t smell like Tony. You smell like me,” he said.
“Um...huh?”
Had he actually made her speechless? He’d long since given up hope it was possible. He straightened his shoulders, prepared himself for the reaction his next words would bring. “Tony hasn’t been giving you his blood. He’s been giving you mine.”
“Okay.” She drew out the word and pursed her lips. “How is that possible? You haven’t been around for years.”
The last thing he felt like doing was educating his bride on the intricacies of vampire hierarchy but she wasn’t yelling at him. As long as she didn’t start, he’d explain whatever she liked. “When I left, I had no intention of leading the local coven, but it’s still in my territory of course. Ordinarily the members of a coven take a blood oath with their leader and he in turn does so with me. The plan was that the coven members would take an oath to Raoul and he to me. But then Sara called and told me he wasn’t controlling the vampires as he should.” Juliana shivered. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just cold. Go on.” There was a lie in her words, but he left it alone. For now.
“There was no one else to take Raoul’s place. No one with enough power. Michael could have done it, but he has no interest in leading a coven. I kept control from a distance, but the only way for me to enforce it without coming back was for the vampires to maintain their blood tie to me. They came periodically to renew the bond. Tony was given a supply of blood to keep on hand so new vamps could be tied to me temporarily until they made the trip to see me.”
“Thomas, that’s really gross.”
He grinned. “How is that any different than what you just did?”
Her cheeks turned red. “It just is. I can’t believe you let all those vamps just...” She waved a hand in his direction. Was that a thread of jealousy he heard?
“They don’t. I put it in a glass.”
She blinked at him. “You’re a real bastard sometimes, you know that?”
He chuckled. “The fresher the blood, the more potent. It loses potency even in the short trip from my body to the cup. Besides, I thought I should get something out of the process as well.”
“You mean other than my improved wellbeing, of course.” More than a touch of sarcasm colored her voice.
“Of course, Joya.” He held out a hand. She took it and hopped off the counter. Bending down, he retrieved his knife, wiping the blood off on his jeans before folding it and putting it away. Taking her hand in his once again, he started for the door. She pulled him to a stop.
“Wait a minute. We don’t have a blood tie now do we?”
He tugged her against his side and looked down at her, shaking his head. “You swore no oath to me, mate. If anything, we will simply be more aware of each other, but it pales in comparison to our union. It is why Tony would not let you drink too often. He feared I would figure out what he was up to.”
“Do you care that he gave me your blood?”
“Not in the way that you mean. I would have preferred if you were going to partake of me it would have been directly from the source so to speak, but that no longer matters. I refuse to dwell in the past any longer,” he said. “Make no mistake, my love, the bond we share is far more powerful than a mere blood tie. Together we could be extraordinarily powerful if you would but embrace it.”
There it was. The truth she had been avoiding since he stepped back into her life. He chose her for the power she could bring him. She chose him because she loved him. It was the reason whatever this was between them would never work. And once more, her heart shattered at the reminder. She closed her eyes and stepped away from him. She kept her head down waiting for him to open the door.
Hot tears ran down her cheeks, but she didn’t wipe them away, fearing the movement would draw his attention to them. She prayed to every god she could think of that they weren’t red. Only when it came to her heart did she ever wish she were human. Their hearts could shatter with no outward sign, hers could barely crack and those damn red tears would give her away every time. She double checked that the mental shield between them was firmly in place. Why wasn’t he leaving? Couldn’t he see she just wanted to get back to the other room?
A hand touched the side of her face and she opened her eyes to see Thomas crouched down to look at her face. “What is this?”
She tried to turn her face away, but he ran a thumb across her skin, collecting one of the tears. He pulled his hand back to look at it. For once the gods had listened and the tears bore not even a tinge of red.
“What did I say, Joya? What did I do? Tell me so I can fix it.”
She sniffed and swiped the tears away, angry with herself for letting him get to her again. “Forget it. It’s not important. Let’s go.”
“No.”
Her eyebrows arched up to her hairline. Ordering her around wasn’t going to help his cause any, but it did dry up her lingering tears. She crossed her arms over her chest to wait for him to decide what he wanted to do. She wasn’t going to help him out.
He narrowed his eyes as he studied her face, doubtless looking for some clue to tell him where he went wrong. His eyes widened.
“You don’t think...” He looked at her a moment longer. “You do. You’ve thought it all along.” He closed his eyes and leaned his head back. “I’m an idiot.”
“Yes, you are.” She stepped past him and reached for the door.
He grasped her wrist and turned her, pressing her back against the wall. He put his hands on either side of her, boxing her in. His head dropped forward so their foreheads touched again. She closed her eyes and breathed in the scent of him. Cinnamon and cloves, he always smelled of cinnamon and cloves.
“What I feel for you has nothing to do with power. It never has.”
She laughed so she wouldn’t cry. “How am I supposed to believe that? How can I possibly believe that?”
“How can you not?”
“The morning after we were United, you started talking about presenting me to the Council, about me ruling the coven. It was all about your power. Your prestige.”
“I talked about these things because I wanted you by my side and I wanted everyone to know you were mine,” Thomas insisted.
She shook her head in denial. “You wanted them to know so they would fear you more than they already did. Than they already do.”
He sighed. “Sometimes I forget how very young you are.”
She would have jerked away if she had anywhere to go. She hated when he acted as if she couldn’t possibly understand something just because she wasn’t centuries old. She must have tensed anyway because he said, “Don’t be offended. I didn’t mean it that way.”