Arabella was unclear precisely when it had happened, but her breathing had escalated from deep and ragged, to audible and obvious. She made note of it only as she caught the sound of her own rapid exhalations, each one increasing into a slightly higher moan than the last. The contrast between Byron's smooth, cold skin beneath her and her own igneous flesh was it's own delightful torment. She was coming undone fast. The only thing that could possibly have made her pleasure any greater would be..

A squeak escaped her as Byron snatched her up, burying his fangs in her throat. La petite mort, they called it. Those climactic moments that could be strong enough to overtake a person, on an almost spiritual level. They had no idea. Her legs locked around his hips. Her spine turned into clay beneath his touch, following the path of her neck backward in submission to whatever he chose to do to her in that moment. Pleasure ran like an electric current through her, buzzing through her bones, beginning at the place where Byron's fangs remained penetrating her skin. Her graceful fingers tangled into his hair, keeping him clutched to her throat, exactly where she wanted him.

She could not have said what words came spilling out from her in that moment. Promises that she would never again leave. That she would stay with him. Arabella meant every babbled word of it. She was done with being a ghoul. Done with having to alternate sources of blood just so that she didn't lose her mind and become dangerously obsessed with Byron. From where she stood, or sat as it were, she could not be more dangerously obsessed. It had been the promise of being reunited in heaven with her family that had always held her back, but having given it years of thought Arabella had come to a final realization. Her family had known her for twenty years of her mortal life. They had suggested, and allowed, her to ruin herself for their financial security and then cast her aside when they had been saved. Why the hell would she want to see them again? Her family was here with her. Byron. Gabrielle. The only family she required..