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Heart’s Eternal

“Good evening, my lady.”

Cassie yelped with a start and then looked down the dark alley only to see the very same man she’d been thinking of leaning his shoulder casually against the brick wall one of the buildings. Both his arms and his legs were crossed, as if he had been waiting there for her. But that was ridiculous. How could he possibly have known she would come this way?

Her heart pounding, Cassie managed to say, “Good…good evening, sir.”

“Laith,” he told her gently as he unwound himself from the wall.

“Laith?”

“My name, my lady,” he said as he smiled at her. “Laith Moreland, at your service.” Cassie couldn’t help but think that smile looked oddly predatory, and that she was somehow on his menu. “And yours?” he purred.

“My…my what?” she whispered, trembling, staring at his lips as he spoke.

“Your name,” he said with a grin, taking a step closer. He wore a black cloak that shrouded his body from her view, and suddenly an image popped into her head of him spreading that cloak down on the ground right there in the alley, pulling her down onto his naked body . . .

“My name.” She snapped her eyes shut and took a ragged breath. Her conscience warred with her emotions at that moment. Should she tell him her real name? He was a stranger, after all. However, opening her eyes to him, she saw the intense look in his own gray depths, and something more, something deeper than anything she had ever felt before. Cassie felt compelled to tell him her real name. She knew, as if on instinct, that he would never harm her.

“My name is Cassie. Cassie Chapman.”

“Cassie,” he whispered, making her name sound almost like a prayer. “Short for Cassandra?”

Shaking her head, Cassie found herself taking a step toward him, silently urging him to take her into his arms. What am I doing? she thought. I have to get out of here! But instead of fleeing, she merely looked into his eyes.

“No,” she finally said after a long pause. “My name is short for Cassidy. My mother was in love with David Cassidy when I was born. It’s kind of a silly name, really, but my father liked it, so . . .” She was rambling. She could have cut her own tongue out at that moment. And the man was actually smiling at her!

“I’m sorry,” she said, blushing.

“Don’t be, Cassie,” he said, taking another step closer to her.

“I…I want to apologize for staring at you earlier,” she heard herself saying. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“Who says I’m offended, my lady?” he asked. His smile widened sensually, revealing perfectly straight teeth.

Oh, God, that smile! Cassie blushed just looking at it. Her insides turned to mush and her heart skipped a beat.

Her lips were dry and she darted her tongue over them for moisture. The man instantly noticed and his gaze lingered for a moment on her mouth. They were standing so close that he could touch her if he wanted to, but he didn’t. The heat of his gaze felt almost like a caress itself as he stared at her. However, his next words suddenly snapped her out of her reverie.

“I cannot be offended when my woman stares at me so. I can only be flattered.”

What did he just say? Did he just call me his woman?

Heart’s Unbound

“How is it possible you have brought me back in time?”

Jessica sighed. “As I have told you, with my magic. For years I have watched you pursue my sister, and for years I have admired you from afar, Jareth. When Morana began speaking of you as if she knew you during my lessons, I had to find out what you were planning with her. When she told me the truth of it, I was aghast. I had no idea how deep your hatred for your brother runs.”

“It runs very deep,” he growled, still pacing.

“This I know,” she continued. “Morana told me she plans on killing both Laith and Cassandra. She plans on telling you that killing Cassandra was merely an accident, but you must know it is not! She plans to curse Laith as you agreed, but she will bond his soul with Cassandra as his shelmir, ensuring that you can never have her.”

“Why?” Jareth raged, crossing the room. Jessica cried out with fright as he clutched onto her arms. “Why would Morana do that to me? Why would she take away the only woman I have ever loved?”

Jessica looked as if she’d been slapped by his words. Tears filled her eyes, but she answered him. “Because she wants you for herself, Jareth! She wants you to curse yourself. She wants you to become a vampire just as she. I couldn’t stand by and watch that be your fate! I had to know what was in store for you. I peered into the years to come and found you confronting Cassandra once again three hundred and fifty years hence. I watched the entire ordeal, Jareth. I watched her choose Laith over you. Again.”

“What do you know of it?” He released her so hard she almost fell over in the chair. “The woman I love does not love me. I understand this now!” Tears fell from his eyes as he spoke. He backed away from Jessica as the urge to pull her closer and kiss her senseless emerged.

“What have you done to me?” He tried to reach out to her with his power in order to make her tell him, but the power he once had as a vampire was no longer there. He growled in frustration. “What have you done to me?” he yelled again, making her jump.

“I—I have enchanted you,” she said, visibly shaking.

“With what? Tell me!”

He watched as Jessica swallowed hard, standing and taking a few hesitant steps toward him. “Jareth, I—”

“Tell me!”

“I made you my shelmir!” she cried out, her tears flowing freely as she sobbed into her hands.

A few moments of silence followed her words as Jareth made sense of that.

“You made me your shelmir?” he repeated, remembering the feeling of bonding to another soul as he’d been whisked through the shadows of death. “Why would you do that?”

“Because—”

“Why would you do that?” he exclaimed, not letting her finish. “I was supposed to be Cassandra’s shelmir!”

“Jareth, please.”

“I don’t even know you. How can I be bonded to you? I can’t even begin to fathom what you have done!”

“I had to do it! Morana is evil. She is insane. She will twist you—make you insane with jealousy at the bond between your brother and my sister. If you confront her, she will only try to convince you to become a vampire. I couldn’t let her have you again. Not when I gave you a second chance at life.”

Jareth scoffed at that. “A life with a woman I hardly know? A life I didn’t ask for or want?”

Jessica licked her lips as more tears fell. “If you are my shelmir, then she has no claim on you. You—you…”

“What? I am what?” he demanded.

“You are mine,” she whispered.

He laughed, tossing back his head. Glancing at her, he advanced, pushing her back until her legs hit the bed. When he continued to approach, she had no choice but to fall on the bed, where he pounced on her.

“If I remember correctly, my sweet,” he purred with contempt. “The shelmir bond means that you are mine as well.”

Jessica didn’t fight him. She stared up at him with wide eyes as if he would strike her, but now that she was underneath him, he had no such inclinations. Her surprised expression looked so much like Cassandra’s. He groaned, resting his weight against her.

“The bond is strong.” He caught her hair in his hand, twining it around his fingers. She flinched, but said nothing. “Do you feel it?”

“You should not be on top of me,” she managed to gasp, ignoring his question.

“What an odd thing to say,” he murmured, lowering his head to rub his nose on hers. “You gave me the right, my sweet, did you not?”

He watched as she closed her eyes and tried to turn away, but his hand in her hair prevented her from doing so. Holding her this way felt so right. He swallowed hard, wanting nothing more than to scare her, but finding himself reacting in a different way now that their bodies rubbed together.

The pull to kiss her was intense, and Jareth wasn’t prepared for it. Without giving it another thought, he gave in, lowering his face to nuzzle her neck.

“If I was still a vampire,” his voice was muffled against her skin, “I would drink of you, my lovely.” His tongue snaked out to taste her, making her shudder. Baring his teeth, he did indeed bite her, but his fangs didn’t grow. He had to chuckle at himself as she pushed at his shoulders.

“You’re hurting me,” she gasped in his ear, flaming his blood.

“You like it,” he answered, certain she’d be putting up much more of a fight if she didn’t.

“Jareth,” she whispered, threading her fingers through his hair. “Kiss me. Please kiss me. Please—” She didn’t get any further.

His mouth claimed hers savagely, forcing her lips open with his tongue. He wanted this woman, now, at this moment. A demon of desire was riding him hard, more so than with any other woman who had come before her. Including Cassandra. However, he hadn’t been bonded to Cassandra. His desire for her hadn’t been quite this intense, although it had been close, fueled by jealousy and guilt. This need inside of him now, however, was something different, something deeper. Something primal.