Page 119 of Vampire's Choice

She released the first serum from behind her fangs.

If it worked, no matter where he was, she could find him. As long as he was within range. But she wondered if, as an angel, his range would be even greater than hers, such that he could find her anywhere. In any part of the world. Or the universe. They had a lot to explore and discover.

“Don’t withdraw. I don’t care about the pain.” His voice was rough. “I want the second mark now.”

She wanted that, too. The second serum came quickly. She swayed, because it had been a really long time since that last second mark to a staff member, and she’d forgotten the disorienting rush as channels opened between two minds.

Lord Brian, the vampire who headed up the various research centers that delved into vampire biology, had pinpointed a lot of the chemical reactions associated with marking. But there was still a significant area he acknowledged fell under “unknown” or “magical and spiritual properties.” In their world, those influences carried equal weight in Brian’s research, no matter their resistance to scientific methods and measurements.

She didn’t want to think about practical things like that, but they helped her find an anchor to pause and think about Merc. This was a servant marking, but he was a male she was accepting as her Master, her job to serve him. When she drew back, closing the wounds with the coagulants in her tongue, she noted his hand had left her hair and moved to her shoulder.

Looking up, she saw his fascinated internal focus on a jumble of thoughts that weren’t his own, and what they revealed as they sorted themselves out.

With effort, she pulled herself back into her own head, to give him room to adjust to the connection, follow the paths to her without her thoughts cluttering those passageways.

When he stepped back, she was concerned, but he wasn’t leaving her. He lifted her to her feet and moved them to the bed, where he sat down on the edge, guiding her between his spread knees. She put a hand on his shoulder as he met her gaze. When he spoke, she let out a little gasp. Because his lips didn’t move.

There is a great deal going on in here.

It made her laugh, and also choked her up some. He touched her cheek, coming away with moisture. She held his hand, pressed her face against it, and answered him.

Human servants can’t prevent a vampire from reading their minds.

“But vampires can prevent the servant from reading theirs, when they don’t wish to share.”

He’d heard her. She nodded. “I don’t know how it will work with us, but I won’t read your mind unless I have your permission.”

It was why she’d withdrawn, resisting that temptation. She wanted to honor what they were to one another, what he was supposed to be to her, even more than she desired to do that. Which she guessed was irrefutable confirmation of what she was.

Come inside my mind, Ruth.

Joy filled her as she obeyed, letting herself be swept back inside his mind. Nonverbal communication was a big part of actual communication, and that held true for communication in the mind. So many feelings and hints of deeper things.

I want her. She’s beautiful. Simple, basic need thoughts. It made sense those came through as words. But what lay behind those was a cave with endless twists and turns. It could narrow down, squeeze in on her, make her breathless. Or widen out and pitch her forward to tumble into open space, populated with thought, currents of sensation, emotion, images. It held her, carried her along, all parts of his language.

She had her hands resting on his chest. Her head dropped forward, too. He put his hand on her nape, his palm large enough to cover the base of her skull. Slow strokes as their minds met, explored. And this was just the second mark.

Do you need a moment before you do the third?

That was usually the vampire’s line. She lifted her head and found his gaze upon her. Watching. Energy sparked off of him, telling her he wasn’t calm, but he was in control. And he wanted that mark. If anything, the first two had made him even more intent upon it.

“With the third mark, you can look through my eyes, see what I see,” she said.

“Not with the second mark?”

“Yes…if I work at it. It’s easier for older vampires.” Stronger vampires. She didn’t feel like saying that, though. Instead she thought of her father, showing her Merc in the kitchen with her mother, and the negative feeling eased.

“You’re strong enough for me, Ruth,” Merc’s gaze sharpened on her. “That makes you very strong. You haven’t answered my question.”

“Yes, I’m ready.” In his head, where feeling was far more powerful than thought, there was only one answer. “You need to take some of my blood for the third mark.”

He grasped her forearm, lifting it so her wrist was brought to his mouth. Her fingers quivered, then rested against his cheek and jaw. “Did I give you permission to touch me?” he said.

His mood had shifted, and her fingers pulled back like a startled bird. His gaze glittered at her through their frame, her arm still held in his grasp.

I would like to. Please.

You will wait on my command. Yes?