Stark kissed me again. His tongue touched my neck and he moaned. This time I didn't think it was from pain. He didn't hesitate any longer. His teeth nicked my neck. It stung, but as soon as his lips closed on the small cut, pain was replaced by pleasure so intense that it was my turn to moan.

I wanted to wrap my arms around him and lock my body with his, but I held myself very still, trying my best not to cause him any more pain.

Too soon his mouth left my skin. His voice already sounded stronger when he said, "Do you know when I first knew I belonged to you?" His breath whispered warm against my neck, making me shiver again.

"When?" I sounded breathless.

"It was when you faced me down in the infirmary back at the House of Night, before I'd Changed. Do you remember?"

"I remember." Of course I remembered - I'd been naked and threatened to kick his butt with the elements as I stood between him and Darius.

I could feel his lips tilt up against my skin. "You looked like a Warrior queen, filled with the Goddess's anger. I think that was when I knew I would always belong to you, because you reached me even through all that darkness."

"Stark." I whispered his name, utterly overwhelmed by what I was feeling for him. "This time you reached me. Thank you. Thank you for coming after me."

With a wordless sound, his mouth was on my neck again, and this time he bit harder, and really drank from me.

Again, pleasure quickly replaced the sting of pain. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the exquisite heat that was rushing through my body. I couldn't stop myself from touching him, and slid one hand around his waist so that I could feel the tight muscles just underneath the skin of his back. I wanted more of him. I wanted him closer to me.

He took his lips from my neck, and he actually held himself up. His eyes were dark with passion, and he was breathing hard. "Now, Zoey, will you give me more than just your blood? Will you accept me as your Guardian?"

I stared at him. In his eyes there was something that I'd never seen within him before. The boy who had walked away from me in Venice, jealous and pissed, was gone. The man who had grown in his place was more than a vampyre, more than a Warrior. Even as he lay there broken in my arms, I could feel the strength in him: solid, dependable, honorable.

"Guardian?" I said wonderingly, touching his face. "So that's what you've Changed into?"

His gaze never left mine. "Yes, if you accept me. Without his queen's acceptance a Guardian isn't anything."

"But I'm not really a queen."

His torn lips didn't stop Stark's cocky smile. "You're my queen, and anyone who says different can f**k off."

I smiled at him. "I already accepted your Oath as my Warrior."

Stark's cockiness was instantly gone. "This is different, Zoey. It's more. It might change things between us."

I touched his face again. I didn't really understand what he was asking, but I knew that he needed something more from me, and I knew that whatever I said and did now would affect us for the rest of our lives. Goddess, give me the right words, I prayed silently.

"James Stark, from here on out I accept you as my Guardian, and I also accept all that goes with it."

He turned his head and kissed my palm. "Then I will serve you with my honor and my life, forever Zoey.

My Ace, mo bann ri, my queen."

His oath rippled through me like a physical thing. Stark was right. It was different than what had happened between us when he'd sworn his Oath to me as a Warrior. This time it was as if he'd given me a piece of himself, and I knew that without me, he could never truly be whole again. The responsibility of

it scared me almost as much as it strengthened me, and I pulled his mouth down to my neck again.

"Take more from me, Stark. Let me heal you."

With a moan, his mouth met my neck. His bite deepened, and something completely amazing happened.

First, the unique power that accompanied the element air surged into me and flowed from me to Stark.

He shivered and I knew it was from the intense pleasure that was filling him as the element gifted him with a swirling rush of energy. At the same instant a sweet, familiar pain swept over my forehead and cheekbones, and against my closed eyelids I got the flash of an image of Damien, shouting with joy. I gasped in amazement. I didn't have to ask. I didn't need a mirror to see. I knew the first of my tattoos had returned.

Following closely behind air came fire. It heated me and then spread throughout Stark, filling him, strengthening him, so that he was able to lift his arm and pull me closer, drinking even more deeply.