Authors: Chris Lange
“Go home if you don’t want to die!”
The soldier nodded while striving to find the right spot on the watch he was wearing. He disappeared. As soon as the warrior was gone, Rogan’s face shifted. Fangs retracted, his golden eyes glowing in the darkness, he looked like the Rogan she had stumbled upon in the parking lot, sombre and handsome. Drawing Liv to him, he carefully took her in his arms to brush a lock of hair from her forehead.
“Are you all right?”
“My back hurts a little, but I’m fine.”
“What just happened?”
The feel of his hand on her hair soothed her, and turned her on at the same time. Would she always react this way to him?
“I’m not sure, Rogan. I felt something in me, like an incredible force running in my blood. I don’t know how to put it except that it wanted out. It begged to be let out. At first I thought it did, but something went wrong I guess. Anyway, nothing happened.”
“I know, Liv, I saw it in your eyes. I had the impression something had taken you over. You looked…”
He didn’t finish his sentence, seemingly getting a grip on himself, or putting a troubling image out of his mind. So close to him, she couldn’t dismiss his odd look as a trick of the moon’s silver light.
“How did I look?”
He let go of her and bent down to retrieve the watch the nameless warrior had struggled to fasten around her wrist.
“Forget I said that.”
“No, I won’t. What were you going to say?”
“We can’t stay here. As soon as Khord has reported, the council will send others. Come on, let’s get the hell out of here.”
“Rogan!”
Frustrated with his obvious refusal to answer her, she almost shouted his name. He must have sensed she really meant to get it because he fiddled with the watch, and let out a long sigh.
“You looked like a goddess of justice, utterly gorgeous and impregnable. An iron maiden feared by men and vampires alike. Watching you, I felt…”
“How did you feel?”
“Excited. Compelled. And, oh hell, so aroused. You dig up my worst feelings, Liv, and you don’t even know it!”
That was when she noticed his body still tense and hot from battle, his feverish eyes alight with inner lust. As he talked, his face seemed to revel in the moonlight, his teeth slowly drawing out. Face to face with the vampire of her dreams, Liv understood there was no going back this time. Her voice as soft as a silken thread, she reached out to touch his fangs.
“I know you’ll never hurt me.”
He swept her into his arms.
Chapter Eleven
Rogan had stretched out his long coat on the grass. Liv smelt the rich damp soil, the thick fresh odour of growing plants. Over their heads a canopy of trees curtained them, but she could see a myriad of stars shining bright in the sky. One for each beat of her heart.
Entwined, their naked bodies glistened in the moonlight. Rogan had buried his strong hands in her hair and was now kissing her breasts adoringly. She relished the weight of his body, the heavy pressure increasing her desire. When he licked her nipples—his provocative tongue flickering on the pink skin—she raved from pleasure.
As he nibbled her, she felt him stiff between her thighs. So stiff she couldn’t think of anything else. Nothing existed but this willing hardness, solely intent on getting inside and ravishing her with delight. That wasn’t fantasy. That was rock-solid proof of his need of her. He ran his tongue over her breasts before whispering her name.
The throbbing between her legs wouldn’t abate. Calling. Demanding. Frantic for the man’s skin grazing her opening. Abruptly, Rogan let go of her hair. Leaning on his forearms, he raised his head to look into her eyes. When he spoke, his strangled voice sent shivers down her belly.
“Liv, the impulse… It’s coming!”
“Let it come. You won’t hurt me.”
She gasped when his hard sex touched her for the first time. Really touched her. He pushed himself in, just a little, and stopped. Skins blended. Fluids mixed. Legs splayed, heart pumping blood and desire, Liv panted under this agonising sensation.
“God, Rogan!”
He gave another push, penetrating her moistness. She thought her whole body was liquefying, dissolving into the purest emotion she had ever known. She quivered, tremors of irresistible pleasure running their powerful course. Breathing hard, eyes closed, she let her senses take control.
“Look at me!”
She obeyed his harsh command to discover anew his beloved face marked with passion. As their inflamed gazes met, he slid all the way in. She moaned, her chest quickly rising up and down, her attention fixed on his sensual mouth. Then he whispered for her.
“Look at me! I want to see the joy in your eyes.”
He slightly withdrew, only to drive himself hard into her. Submitted to this excruciating motion, she dug her nails into his shoulders. Wild tears gushed out, wetting her cheeks, sliding down to her lips. Never had she felt so much pleasure, so much desire for another man. Except that the term ‘man’ couldn’t be applied in his case. He was a creature of the night.
He rammed her even harder. She shuddered under his total domination while his grunts brought a pleasure she hadn’t anticipated. From head to toe, she needed to be mastered, to be the servant of his steamy cravings. She hadn’t been prepared for anything remotely like this enslaving sensation. She wasn’t sure her heart could take it, yet she begged for it.
“Love me, Rogan.”
He murmured her name, suddenly tightening his grasp on her. In a single swift thrust, he impaled her. She cried out. Huge and rigid, he filled her completely, giving her what no other man could give her.
He drank her cry with a passionate kiss, all the time gliding in and out of her, again and again. Legs widely spread to fit his every strike, powerful waves of delight already drowning and engulfing her, she got goose bumps when he moaned in her ear. Moaned from the relentless pleasure they were sharing.
Then he straightened up, his broad chest pale in the moonlight. He placed his hands on her hips to pull her forward and backward, all the while staring at the rapture he must be seeing on her features, on the curve of her mouth, in her eyes widening with his every thrust. From her ecstatic look, he must’ve known she wanted it.
Attuned to his intensifying rhythm, she arched her body, her round breasts rising, demanding he went deeper into her. He responded immediately, his hands sliding on her buttocks to bring her to him in hard motions. She watched his fangs come out, she heard him groan.
“Liv, it’s so strong!”
He looked like a golden god—a god of war, of wild passion, of eternal love. Sensing he couldn’t restrain his instinctive impulse any longer, she pushed her hair back to offer him her bare neck.
“Do it. Do it now!”
He lifted his face to the sky, and let out a feral cry. He then leant down to her in a wolf-like manner, mouth wide open. When she felt his fangs on her neck, she arched her back even more, in unison with his movements, coupling her body with his vigorous thrusts.
He might turn her into a vampire. He might have to kill her. At that precise second she didn’t give a damn one way or the other. Because what she felt for him was now too complicated for words, so much more powerful than lust. She craved the feel of him inside her, the feel of his piercing fangs against her throat. Acting on her raw emotions, she brutally clamped her inner muscles around his stiff rod. He grunted. He shivered from head to toe.
And it happened. The pain when he bit into her flesh. The wetness of her blood. The power of release jolted their whole bodies, shocked their beings, staggered their minds. A sensation so extreme, she felt it submerged them and united their souls in ecstatic agony. They climaxed together, their screams ripping the cloaked silence of the woods.
Chapter Twelve
They walked out of the forest without a word, for no words were needed. He had licked the blood on her neck, the deep punctures stinging hard. With a single bite he had marked her forever, and she rejoiced in it.
Just by looking at him, she knew he feared for her. For tomorrow’s dawn. For his race chasing her. For each night apart. For each day he wouldn’t be able to protect her. Now she had to leave behind the places she enjoyed, the people she loved. Without looking back. Now she was on the run for her life.
Holding hands, Rogan and Liv walked to her car. Although night still ruled their side of the universe, time was running out. As she opened the driver’s door Rogan pushed a lock of her hair back, and stroked her cheek. Then his features stiffened.
“I can’t come with you.”
Her throat tightening, Liv grabbed the hand lingering on her cheek. She squeezed the strong fingers before looking at her new lover, at the vampire who had blown her peaceful world to pieces.
“Why not? You said I had no scent. If it’s true, how will they be able to track me?”
“They won’t, but trackers will smell me.”
He made sense. As much as she would have liked him to be wrong, he had thought this through. If they stuck together, his race would find her soon because of his own scent.
Yet as logical as it sounded she buckled at the idea of being left alone, of moving about in dangerous territories on her own. Without him to protect her, she’d be unable to rely on his presence, strength and courage. Although she believed herself to be rather strong and resilient, she really didn’t want to face a horde of vicious vampires alone. Rogan felt confident they wouldn’t go after her. She didn’t.
“Shit, Rogan, I don’t want to be alone. Please, don’t do that to me. What will I do? I can’t even go back home. Where will I go? Does it mean I’ll never see you again?”
He placed a finger on her lips. Aware she was fighting off a rush of fear, he cupped her face, his gaze getting hold of hers with no option to slip away. She stood perfectly still, mesmerised by the brightness in his eyes. When he spoke, a chill ran down her arms.
“I’ll find you anywhere.”
The certainty of his words and the confidence oozing from his voice caused her to shiver.
“How?”
“Because I bit you and tasted your blood. Because you’re the Bringer of Death, yet you healed me. Or because…I love you.” Rogan pressed her hand against the hard muscles of his stomach. “I’m not sure why, but now I can feel you inside. Wherever you are, I’ll always know.”
Lapping up everything he said, Liv inhaled loudly. Way too frightened of his imminent departure to perceive whatever he was feeling inside, she licked her bottom lip. But when her fingers bore down on what felt like a marble slab, she gazed at his sensual mouth and knew she wasn’t mistaking lust for love. Not anymore.
Their lovemaking had changed everything. His biting her under the protective canopy of trees had called forth deeper feelings. His licking her blood and tasting her essence had bound them to one another. But holy shit, she loved a vampire!
Seeming to experience the same emotion, he brought his lips down on hers, taking the breath out of her. As they joined, she moved both hands around his back while he embraced her, their bodies finding each other again, hungry with desire.
Had she ever been kissed so intensely? Could it be called passion? Sure, she had read about this wild sensation in romance novels and she had watched lovers exchanging perfect kisses in movies, but that was make-believe. Not real. As for her ex-boyfriends, compared to this overwhelming feeling, they had merely been pissing into the wind.
He crushed her against him until she believed her bones might snap, and made love to her with his tongue. Her instincts responded to his hard-on. Desire pushing her to moan, she clutched him even harder as if their bodies could penetrate each other.
Liv almost toppled over when Rogan finally let her go. Eyes slightly elongated and burning bright, skin taut over his cheekbones, he looked halfway through transformation.
“Hell, Liv, I can’t control myself around you!”
As he cursed, his face shifted back to its human form. Soon only a fierce glow in his eyes still testified to his craving for her. A shiver went through him as he straightened up and took her hand.
“The next couple of days will be harsh, and I wish I could be there for you. But I know you’re strong enough to make it.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re a vampire now. By tomorrow evening you’ll feel thirsty, your body yearning for blood. Try to hold it off as long as possible. I promise you I’ll do everything I can to be back before you have to…”
His voice trailed off, his gaze leaving hers to stare into the night. For a second he seemed to have gone to a faraway place where darkness ruled. Watching his serious air, Liv realised his sinking his fangs into her flesh would have unavoidable consequences—already had.
Holy mackerel, she had become a vampire! Fighting off a wave of nausea, she took a deep breath to clear her mind. If Rogan couldn’t speak the dreadful words, she’d say them for him.
“Before I have to kill someone.”
What she didn’t voice was the violent rush of fear twisting her guts, the unshakable sense of dread locking her lungs until all she could feel was the severe beat of her heart drumming at the base of her throat.
A vampire. Because she had let her instincts and emotions take over, she was now a bloodsucker who would soon need to drink. Rogan had warned her it would come to this. He wouldn’t have acted without her consent, but she had asked for his bite. Hell, she had almost pleaded. She alone had made the decision and would now have to deal with it.
Somehow shackling her panic to a metal ring in the back of her mind, she watched Rogan nod. When he looked at her again, he lightly stroked the palm of her hand with his fingers.
“If the need to feed gets too strong, do what you must. Remember, you aren’t human anymore.”
Focusing on the tender motion of his fingers, Liv suppressed a snigger. He might be right, but she had been solely human up to now and lifelong habits had the annoying tendency to stick in mind. She wasn’t yet prepared to snack off people and envision murder as her new spare-time activity.