“I will say the words that bind the two of you together, but it takes more than words to bind one soul to another. The true marriage between you must take place within each of your hearts.
“Savanah Gentry, do you promise to love and cherish Rane Cordova, here present, for as long as you shall live?”
Savanah squeezed Rane’s hand. “I do.”
“Rane, do you promise to love and cherish Savanah Gentry, here present, for as long as you both shall live?”
Rane gazed deep into Savanah’s eyes. “I do.”
“Then, by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife.” He smiled at Rane. “You may kiss your bride.”
Rane gazed at Savanah for stretched seconds, wanting to imprint the beauty of this moment in his mind and heart, to always remember the radiance of her smile, the love and trust shining like a bright blue flame in her eyes.
Drawing her into his arms, he murmured, “I will love you forever,” and then he kissed her.
Savanah leaned into him, her eyelids fluttering down as he deepened the kiss. Heat flowed through her, threatening to melt her very bones, and she clung to him, afraid her legs might give way beneath her. He had kissed her before, and often, but never like this. It was a kiss of love, of possession, branding her heart and mind and soul. She was his now, forever his.
When he took his lips from hers, it took her a moment to regain her equilibrium.
And then the priest was saying, “I give you Mr. and Mrs. Rane Cordova,” and Rane’s family was crowding around them.
Later, back at the house, Rane introduced Savanah to Susie and Cagin, who were close friends of the family, and who were also a Vampire and a Were-tiger, respectively.
It was a gathering unlike anything Savanah had ever attended. She could only wonder what Kyle Bowden thought of it, since as far as she knew, he was still unaware of the fact that he and Savanah were the only two mortals in the house.
Several bottles of vintage red wine stood on a cloth-covered table, alongside a platter of tiny sandwiches and a small cake. Savanah eyed the cake curiously. She had just decided it was simply for decoration, since the majority of the people present couldn’t eat it, when Rane’s mother gathered everyone together to watch the bride and groom cut the cake.
Savanah looked at Rane, a silent question in her eyes.
“As most of you know, Rane is allergic to sugar and flour,” Cara said, a mischievous twinkle in her eye, “so he won’t be eating any cake. But we didn’t want Savanah to miss out on such a delightful tradition. So…” She handed a knife to Rane with a smile. “You’re on.”
Rane cut a narrow slice of cake, speared a piece with a fork, and offered it to Savanah.
Feeling a little self-conscious, she accepted his offering.
“And now, please join me in a toast,” Vince said. “Rafe, if you please.”
Rafe opened a bottle of wine and after everyone had been given a glass, Vince lifted his. “To Rane and Savanah. May they enjoy a long and healthy life together.”
Rane grinned at his father as echoes of “Here, here” rose in the air. “Thanks, Dad.”
Vince set his glass aside and slipped his arm around his son’s shoulders. “Take good care of her, son.”
Rane winked at Savanah. “That’s my plan.”
Vince wrapped his other arm around Savanah. “If he doesn’t treat you right, daughter, you come to me, and I’ll set him straight.”
“I’ll do that,” Savanah said with a smile.
Later, when the initial excitement had worn off and Rane’s family sat in the living room, reminiscing about other weddings, Savanah managed to get Mara alone.
“I’ve been wanting to ask you something,” Savanah said, keeping her voice low. “I was wondering…that is, Rane said you might know the name of the Vampire who killed my mother.”
“What makes you think she was killed by one of us?” Mara asked with some asperity.
“My father told me,” Savanah replied, somewhat taken aback by Mara’s sharp tone.
“A young Vampire named Tarkan brought your mother across, but he’s not the one who destroyed her.”
Savanah stared at Mara. “If he didn’t do it, then who did?”
“Are you sure you want to know?”
“Of course,” Savanah said, frowning. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“Sometimes ignorance is, indeed, bliss.”
Savanah glanced at Rane, who was standing across the room, talking to his brother, and felt a sudden iciness creep into her heart. What if Rane had lied to her? What if he had killed her mother? She told herself it was impossible, but what if it was true? She could forgive him a lot of things, but not that. Never that.
“Yes,” she said, her voice little more than a whisper. “I want to know.”
“It was your father who destroyed your mother.”
The words pierced Savanah’s heart like shards of glass. “No.” She shook her head. “No! I don’t believe you.”
“It’s true, nonetheless,” Mara said.
“How could you even think such a thing?”
“I know everything that happens in my world,” Mara said. “Your father destroyed your mother at her request. She begged him to do it, and he could not refuse her.”
“But he said a Vampire killed her.”
Mara lifted one shoulder in an elegant shrug. “In his mind, that was true. He believed that the Vampire who turned her was responsible for her death, and in a way, I suppose he was right. But it was your father who…”
“Mara, spare her the gory details,” Rane said, coming to stand beside Savanah. “She’s heard enough.”
“Thank you for telling me,” Savanah said.
With a nod, Mara excused herself.
Savanah blinked back her tears. Now that the first shock was over, it seemed right that her father had taken her mother’s life. Better to die by the hand of one who loved you, she thought, than by the cruel hand of an enemy.
“Oh, Daddy,” she murmured, and felt her heart break for the terrible secret her father had carried for so many years. Knowing what he had done explained the sadness that she had often seen in his eyes, the melancholy moods that had sometimes overwhelmed him, the nights he had sat in the backyard, a bottle of whiskey his only companion.
Rane squeezed her hand. “Are you all right?”
“Yes.” It was over. The Vampire who had killed her father was dead, destroyed by her own hand; and now that she knew who had destroyed her mother, she could finally put her mother’s memory to rest, as well, and with it, any thought of following in her mother’s footsteps. Her family had been touched by enough killing.
“What do you say we go find a place where we can be alone?” Rane suggested.
“I’d say, ‘Let’s go.’”
They bid farewell to Mara and Kyle, who were returning to Egypt in the morning.
“Do you think they’ll last?” Savanah asked, watching them walk away.
Rane shrugged. “I don’t know. I hope so. She’s been alone a long time.”
Savanah nodded, wishing that everyone could be as happy as she was at that moment.
Savanah and Rane bid his grandparents farewell, told Rafe and his wife to stay in touch, thanked his mother and father for their hospitality, and left the house.
A full moon lit their way to Rane’s car. Savanah had packed her things earlier in the day; her suitcases were in the trunk.
She glanced at Rane as he started the car and pulled onto the road. Feeling her gaze, he looked over at her and smiled, then took her hand in his. “Happy?”
“Very.”
“Did I tell you how beautiful you are?”
“No.”
“Remind me later.”
She winked at him. “Oh, I will.” She rested her hand on his knee and then, slowly and suggestively, stroked her way along his inner thigh.
Grabbing her hand, he raised it to his lips and turned it over, his tongue lightly stroking the sensitive skin of her palm.
The touch of his lips sent frissons of heat stealing through every part of her body. Just like that, she wanted him, needed him. “Can’t you drive any faster?”
Chuckling softly, he goosed it up to seventy. Ten minutes later, they pulled into the hotel parking lot. Rane grabbed Savanah’s overnight bag, swung her into his arms, and strode into the lobby. Holding her close with one hand, he signed the register, then carried her swiftly up the stairs and into their room.
“We could have taken the elevator,” Savanah said, linking her arms around his neck.
“Too slow.” He kissed her then, a long lingering kiss, and then carried her into the bedroom. A look turned the lights on low as he gently lowered her on to the bed. “You’re beautiful,” he murmured. “The most beautiful woman I’ve ever known.”
“It’s just the dress,” she said. “It makes me feel beautiful.”
“No,” he said, “it’s you who make the dress beautiful.”
At his words, warmth swelled within her heart. “I love you, Rane. No matter what the future holds for us, I’ll always love you.”
He kissed the curve of her throat as his hands finessed the gown from her body until she wore only her lacy bra, panties, and high heels. “That’s a good look for you,” he said, a wicked gleam in his eyes.
“Well, you look a little overdressed for my taste.” Kneeling on the bed, she removed his jacket, tie, and shirt, then skimmed her hands over his shoulders and down his chest, loving the feel of his cool flesh beneath her hands, the way his muscles quivered at her touch.
His belt came next, then his shoes, socks, and trousers.
Rane slid his finger under the edge of her bra and suddenly it was gone.
“I see you haven’t lost your touch for magic,” Savanah remarked with a smile.
“Watch this,” he said, and an instant later her shoes and panties were on the floor.