Bonds of the Vampire King (Blood Fire Saga Book 7) by Bella Klaus (romantic books to read TXT) 📗

I could ever have dreamed of in a partner. Beautiful, resourceful, loving, and exceptionally powerful.”

“Say that again?”

“You’re powerful?” he asked with a grin.

“All of it.”

“Why don’t I show you my appreciation, instead?” Valentine’s lips descended on mine with a kiss that made me sway on my feet.

I grabbed onto his shoulders to hold myself steady, but his arms already cradled me around my back.

“What about the battle?” I asked.

“This won’t take long,” he murmured into the kiss.

I choked a laugh. “The last time you said that—”

“You saved me from having to deal with an assassin.” He hooked his hands beneath my thighs, scooped me up, and carried me across the room to the daybed.

Valentine’s woodsmoke and musk scent engulfed my senses, and his magic curled around my limbs like silky strands of sin. My nipples tightened, and a pleasant shudder ran down my spine. It settled low in my belly, stoking a fire that hungered for more.

“I want to be on top,” I said.

He smirked. “As My Lady Phoenix wishes.”

A laugh huffed from my chest. “You’re enjoying that silly title.”

“Why not?” His deep voice resonated through my insides. “You make me feel like the luckiest man across the realms. There are dozens of Vampire Kings, and even more monarchs in the Supernatural World, but none of them have a soulmate as loyal or as kind or as beautiful or as powerful as you.”

My breath quickened at the sincerity in his words. Valentine had always spoken about me like I was a prize, but I’d always thought he had just been saying that to boost my confidence. After everything we’d both suffered to get to this moment, I believed him with every fiber of my being.

Valentine sat on the daybed, positioning me atop him so I straddled his thighs. Our gazes met in a connection as deep as the ocean. Valentine’s eyelids were hooded, and he stared out at me through wide pupils ringed by the barest trace of violet.

He cupped my cheek with a warm hand and brought his lips down on mine with a gentle kiss that conveyed every ounce of his love. His lips were soft and caressing, just as they had been when we’d first courted, but the arm pulling me into his chest was firm and demanding.

Part of me wondered how he intended to make love to me while encased in leather armor, and the other part was too distracted by Valentine’s lips sliding over mine to concern myself about anything but his heart-fluttering kiss.

My lips parted with a soft moan, and Valentine’s tongue stroked mine in a caress that made my nerves tingle. Heat gathered in my core, and moisture flooded my folds. I pressed myself against his broad chest, making him groan and deepen the kiss.

“I love you, Mera Griffin,” he murmured.

White light flooded the room, and the daybed trembled. I flinched, glancing from side to side, my heart pounding. Everything in the room shook as though we were in the midst of an earthquake.

“What’s that?” I scrambled off his lap and stared at the window. Snowflakes drifted down from a brilliant white sky. “I thought the weather in Logris was always mild, no matter what’s happening outside.”

“The humans have gotten through the weather protection wards,” he replied.

“That’s bad?” I asked, even though the answer to that question was obvious.

Valentine clenched his teeth and snarled. “It’s only the first level, but another attack of this magnitude will result in wide scale supernatural retaliation.”

My stomach plummeted, and I took another glance at the falling snow. “We’ve got to stop Kresnik before he gets all those humans killed.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Valentine helped me into my armor, which turned out to be more complicated than it had appeared while on the model. The green leather garment consisted of laces and straps and pulleys that needed to be in place before the magic activated.

With each fastening he secured, his fingers glided over my flesh, sending tingles down my spine that made me hunger for more of his touch.

I shot a hateful glare at the brilliant white sky through my dressing room window. If it hadn’t been for the deluded humans attacking the wards of Logris, Valentine and I could be making love.

His soft lips pressed on the sensitive flesh of my neck. “When this is over, we’ll spend an entire weekend celebrating our victory.”

“That’s if neither of us are too injured to move,” I muttered.

Valentine stopped putting my armor together and placed his hands on my shoulders. He stared down at me with hard eyes, his lips forming a tight line.

My brows drew together. “Did I say something wrong?”

“A being who can survive an explosion and a crash-landing from the Realm of the Gods cannot sustain injuries.”

A breath caught in the back of my throat, and my teeth worried at my bottom lip. Why was Valentine talking like this? It almost sounded like he was trying to convince himself that I would survive the upcoming battle. “I know that.”

“Do you?” he asked.

“I’m just not in the habit of overconfidence,” I said. “Kresnik is older than us, has access to more power, and is completely insane. Both of us have survived the impossible, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be careful.”

Valentine nodded and released his grip on my shoulders. “As long as you’re entering this battle with the right attitude.”

“You’re worried about me?”

The way he shook his head told me he was having second thoughts about not keeping me locked up in a tower or in a cell next to Prince Draconius. I stared into Valentine’s eyes, waiting for him to say something else, but he just smiled.

“After you disappeared, I swore that when you returned I would never stifle your development. You’ve grown so much since I found you in London, and most of that has come from learning from your mistakes.”

“It almost sounds like you believe in me,” I said with a smile.

Valentine gazed down at me with gleaming eyes and a satisfied grin. “If you’d been