And all because he was a stupid fool...
His father's final, parting words rang in his ears. She doesn't love you, Kyrian. No woman will ever be able to love you and you're a damned fool if you ever believe otherwise!
A soldier placed a metal spike over his wrist and held it there as another drew back a heavy iron hammer.
The Roman guard brought it down on the spike...
Amanda came awake screaming as she felt the nail piercing her arm. Sitting up, she grabbed her wrist to make sure it had just been a dream.
She rubbed her arm, staring at it. She was just as she had always been and yet...
The dream had been real. She knew it.
Driven by a force she didn't understand, she left her room to find Kyrian. She ran through the dark house, just after dawn, up the mahogany staircase and down a long hallway. She followed her instincts to a set of doors on the west side of the house.
Without hesitating, she threw open the double doors to a bedroom twice the size of her own. A single candle burned next to an old-fashioned, curtained bed, casting shadows against the far wall. The gold and brown curtains were pulled back and fastened to the posts while cream-colored sheers shielded the bed. Even so, she could see her Hunter writhing on the rust-colored sheets as if caught in the midst of the same nightmare she had seen.
Her heart hammering, she ran to the bed.
Kyrian woke up from his nightmare the very instant he felt Amanda's cool, gentle hand on his chest. He opened his eyes to find her sitting by his side, her gaze dark with horror, her brows knitted as she examined him.
He frowned while her hands roamed all over his chest. It was as if she didn't really see him at all, as if she were in some kind of strange trance.
He lay in complete silence, stunned by her presence.
She pulled back the silk sheet and touched the scar on his stomach, just to the left of his navel.
"He drove the knife in here," she whispered, stroking the narrow scar.
Then she grabbed his wrist and tenderly traced the scars there. "They hammered the spikes in here and here."
Next she went to his hand and rubbed the pad of her thumb over his fingertips. "They pulled your fingernails off."
She reached up and cupped his stubbled cheek in her palm. Her eyes held a thousand emotions and the sight of those crystal-blue depths stole the breath from him.
No woman had ever given him such a look.
"My poor Hunter," she whispered. Tears streamed down her face and before he knew what she was doing, she pulled the sheet away from him, baring his entire body to her questing gaze. He hardened instantly, his body throbbing at the sight of her concern for him.
She touched his scarred thigh where Valerius had once placed a hot brand to it.
"Oh God," she gasped, her fingers brushing his puckered skin. "It was real. They really did that to you..."
She looked up at him, her eyes swimming in tears. "I saw you. I felt you."
Kyrian frowned even more. Was that possible?
He'd been dreaming of his execution when she woke him. Could their powers have combined to allow him to reach out to her even while he slept?
It was a terrifying thought. If it were true, then it meant they were bonded together on a much higher level than the physical.
It meant...
He didn't finish that thought. There was no such thing as a soul mate, especially when one of them no longer had a soul. It just wasn't possible.
As Amanda stared at him, she ached all the way to her heart for the man before her. How had he borne such torture and betrayal?
He had carried it with him through the centuries. Alone. Always alone. Always hurting and wanting, with no relief.
No hope.
"So much pain," she whispered.
How she wanted Theone's head for what she'd done to him. But most of all, she wanted to soothe Hunter. Wanted to ease the torment in his heart. Erase the pain of his past.
She wanted to give him something to hope for.
She wanted to give him his dream of children and of a woman who could love him.
God have mercy on her, but she wanted to be that woman.
Before she could stop herself, she leaned down and captured his lips with her own. He moaned at the contact and cupped her face in his hands while he returned her kiss.
Amanda tasted him in a way she'd never tasted any man before. As their tongues danced, she could feel him all the way to her soul. She'd never in her life been bold in bed. But then she'd never wanted a man like this.
With the whole of her.
Tears welled in Amanda's eyes as she buried her lips against his collarbone, over the scar where Valerius had dragged his ring and left it bloody.
Such strength. Such love. She would give anything to have a man love her the way he had loved his wife.
More to the point, she wanted Hunter to love her. She wanted his heart. She wanted this man who knew what love was, who understood commitment and compassion.
Whether he would admit it or not, he needed her.
No man should walk eternity alone. No one should ever be hurt the way he'd been hurt. Not when his only crime was loving someone more than he had loved himself.
Her breath mixed with his as she climbed up his body and straddled his waist.
Kyrian groaned as he realized she wore nothing beneath his T-shirt. Her thighs were hot and moist as she slid herself against his bare stomach, igniting a fire deep inside him that needed her so much it terrified him.
Push her away.
But he couldn't. Not tonight. Not after the nightmare that was still fresh in his mind.
Right or wrong, he needed comfort. He wanted to feel loved again. He wanted to know the softness of a woman's hands on his body. The scent of Amanda on his skin.
Kyrian shook as she reached down and wrapped her hand around him. "Oh gods," he breathed against her lips. No one had touched him like this in over two thousand years.
His entire body throbbed and ached as she stroked his hot, rigid shaft.
Today, he would have her. There was no way he could push her away now.
His breathing ragged, he trembled from the feel of her fingers gripping him, her palm brushing up, along his shaft, then down to the base where she cupped him gently. Her fingers skimmed the underside of him, making him even harder, hotter, until he thought he would burst from it.
He trailed his hands slowly over her body, savoring every dip and curve. Savoring the feel of her soft skin and the T-shirt against his palms and fingers. He nuzzled her neck and for the first time since his Dark-Hunter incarnation, he felt an overwhelming urge to feed off a human.
The sound of her blood coursing through her veins filled his ears. Her raw energy beckoned him, making the Dark-Hunter in him long to sample her life force.
It was forbidden. No Dark-Hunter was supposed to puncture a human neck. And yet as he stroked the hollow of her throat with his tongue, the deep-seated need burned in him.
He grazed her neck with his fangs and it took every piece of control he had not to taste the blood he could feel rushing under his lips. He felt the chills spread over her body, making the nipple under his hand even tighter.
Pulling back with a growl, he latched onto her mouth and kissed her deeply as he slid his hand under the T-shirt, to the dark triangle between her legs.
He groaned at the feel of those tiny hairs teasing his fingers as he carefully separated them and touched her for the very first time.
She jumped in surprise, then moaned a welcoming murmur as she quickened her fairy strokes on his shaft.
Kyrian couldn't believe how wet she was already. Gods, how he wanted her. Wanted to taste every inch of her flesh. To drive himself deep into her fiery heat.
But he resisted because he wanted to savor the moment. Wanted to explore her tenderly, slowly.
He wanted this morning to last forever.
"You taste so good," he whispered as he ripped the T-shirt from neck to hem, pulled it from her, and threw it to the floor. He nibbled a path from her neck to her breasts.
Amanda arched her back as he gently teased her nipple with his tongue and fangs. The feel of those sharp teeth on her skin made her burn like lava.
Once more he dipped his hand back down between their bodies and touched her where she ached most. His fingers swirled around her, teasing and soothing, delving and stroking, making her burn even more for him as he slid them deep inside her and made hot, sweet love to her with his hand.
"I want you, Hunter," she breathed against his lips. "I've never wanted anyone like this."
He smiled, showing her his fangs as he rolled her over to lie beneath him with an ease of strength that awed her.
Amanda moaned at the feel of his hard, lean body on top of hers. His weight stole her breath and she wrapped her legs around his hips.
He was all sinewy power. It rippled from his body into hers.
Those sleek, honed muscles flexed around her with every graceful move he made. But even more captivating was the restrained power he showed. Like a fierce lion ready to strike.
She wanted more of him. She ached to feel him inside her. Ached to claim him in a way she knew no woman had claimed him in over two thousand years. She wanted this man's heart.