The drawings he’d made of Delilah during their first night fluttered to the floor. Samson bent down and stroked his hands over them, as if touching her instead. He yearned for those moments again when he had her in his arms.
“They are beautiful,” Delilah’s soft voice whispered behind him.
How had she been able to sneak in without him hearing her? He had to attribute it to his recovering state.
“You drew these of me.” Not a question, just a simple statement.
He didn’t turn. “You were asleep. I wanted to capture your beauty.” It seemed so long ago now. “If you want to pack, I’ll leave you to it.” He took the pictures and rose to turn away, but felt her hand on his arm.
“Please look at me,” she begged, her voice soft and gentle.
Samson complied and turned.
“If you think I give my blood to anybody and then just walk away, you’re wrong. Do you really want to know why I didn’t let you die? Do you?” She paused. “Because for once, I wanted something that’s just for me, and I didn’t care about the consequences. When you were laying there dying, the only thing I could think of was myself. Call me selfish, but I couldn’t imagine living a life without you. That’s why I gave you my blood, because I wanted you. And I still do.”
Samson’s jaw dropped, his fingers released the drawings, scattering them on the floor once more.
“You want me? No matter what?”
Delilah nodded. “I love you, and if that means you’ll have to turn me into a vampire so I can be with you, so be it.”
“Turn you …? No!” He pulled her into his arms. “No. I love you too much to do this to you.”
He sank his lips onto hers, claiming her. This wasn’t the gentle kiss he’d bestowed on her in his office, but the possessive kiss of a vampire claiming his mate. Delilah was his.
“Blood-bond with me.” He looked deep into her eyes.
“Please explain it to me again. Last time I wasn’t in the right mind to listen.”
“It means you’ll be mine forever, and I’ll be yours.”
“Forever? But I’ll grow old and you won’t.”
Samson smiled. “No, you won’t. Once we’re blood-bonded, you’ll draw on my essence. You’ll remain human, but you won’t age as long as I’m alive. I’ll only drink from your blood, and you will drink from mine. You’ll be able to sense me because my blood will run in your veins. We’ll be connected. You’ll always know what I feel and I’ll know what you feel.”
“But I will still be human?”
“Yes; you’ll still go out in the sun. You’ll still eat real food. But you’ll be my wife, my mate for life, and I’ll never let you go. There’s no turning back once you’ve decided. We’ll become part of each other, one incomplete without the other, two halves of one whole.”
Her eyes locked with his. There was no hesitation in her response. She brushed her hair aside and exposed her neck to him. “Bite me, then.”
A second later, the bedroom filled with his laughter. It was like a release to him. In her own quirky way she had accepted. “Sweetness, there’s a little more to this ritual than just a bite. And believe me, you’re going to enjoy every second of it.”
The entrance door slammed loudly. Samson’s ears perked up. Several men had entered his house. All of them vampires. He could sense them clearly.
“We have visitors.”
He quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and slipped into a t-shirt, before he took Delilah’s hand in his, intertwining his fingers with hers.
The commotion in the living room grew louder. When Samson and Delilah reached the foyer, they already knew who was assembled: Ricky, Amaury, Carl, and Milo, the latter restrained by two strong vampire guards.
“So you found him.” Samson entered the room, nodding to his friends. He looked at Milo, who had a disgusted sneer on his face.
“Your sister said hi before she went to hell,” Samson greeted him.
Milo snarled at Delilah. “Bitch!”
“If you’re talking about your sister, I must agree. Otherwise, you’d better hold your tongue, or I’ll cut it out.”
“Go ahead. Since you’re going to kill me anyway, get it over with.” Milo’s voice was cold and impassive.
“I’m not going to kill you,” Samson said slowly, watching Milo as he exhaled sharply, letting him experience a brief moment of relief. “I’m going to have Thomas do it. He’d be annoyed with me if I deprived him of this.”
He reveled in the shock on Milo’s face. For a short moment he’d obviously thought he’d get away unscathed.
“It was all my sister’s doing. She was behind it. She forced me to do it,” Milo whined. “You’ve already killed her. So you’ve had your revenge.”
The front door opened, then closed again.
“I’ll make sure you’ll get all the money back. I have access to the accounts in the Caymans—I’ll wire it all back.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Thomas’ voice came from the hallway. He came into sight an instant later. “I’ve reversed all transactions. Samson, the money is safely back in your account.”
“Thank you, Thomas.”
“How?” Milo sounded confused.
Thomas approached him, stopping inches from him. “You might have fooled me about your feelings for me, but when it comes to IT, you can’t hold a candle to me. I reversed every one of your transactions.”
“Thomas,” Samson addressed him.
For the first time, Thomas looked straight at him. “Yes, Samson?”
“What do you want to do with him?”
“I?”
“Yes, he betrayed you. You’ll be his judge. Amaury took care of Ilona. And thanks to Delilah’s insistence to feed me her blood, I survived Ilona’s attack, so I have no further need for revenge. But you may take yours.”
Thomas gave Delilah an admiring look. “I can’t imagine anybody more worthy to be Samson’s mate than you. He is truly lucky.”
Samson caught the shy smile curling around her lips and squeezed her hand in agreement. “I know I am, and even more so since Delilah has agreed to blood-bond with me.”
Suddenly everybody was talking over each other. The excitement in the air was palpable.
“See, I told you so.”
“Who would have thought?”
“You owe me a hundred bucks, Carl!”
“Congratulations!”
“I’m so happy for you two!”
“What hundred bucks?”
“We had a bet.”
“When’s the happy event?”
“Oh, damn, just kill me now, before I puke!” Milo shouted and shut everybody up.
“It looks like somebody doesn’t share our joy for your union, Samson,” Ricky said pointedly.
“Luckily I don’t give a rat’s ass about what Milo thinks.” He caught himself and looked at Delilah. “Sorry, sweetness, I shouldn’t curse in front of you.”
She gave a hearty laugh. “You’re funny, you know that? Do you really think a curse word or two can shock me after all I’ve been through in the last few days? If I can get married to a vampire, I think I can deal with a few cuss words.”
“Oh cute,” Milo said sarcastically.
“Shut up, you prick!” Delilah snapped at him.
The room broke out in laughter, all except for Milo. Samson wrapped her into his arms and pulled her face up to his. “I can see already, that we’re going to have lots of fun in our lives together.”
He restrained himself from devouring her right in front of his friends. What was between them was private. Soon he would be alone with her, and she would become his forever. The thought warmed his heart like never before.
“Have you made a decision, Thomas?”
Thomas nodded and addressed his lover.