Colton's Dilemma (Shadow Breeds) (20 page)

“Well, why don’t you go take a walk in the garden to cool off first then?” he said as he swept his hand towards the kitchen door. 

“Maybe I will.  I could use some fresh air,” she said as she moved towards the door.

Colton watched her with both sympathy and amusement in his gaze.  This would hurt her, but she had to learn that she couldn’t just go waltzing into the sunlight.  Tess’ hand turned the door knob, she pulled open the door and, “Son of a bitch,” she hissed as she slammed the door,  “Why didn’t you stop me?”

“Lesson number one: stay out of the sunlight, it burns like a motherfucker.”

“God, for a teacher, you are a major douchebag,” Tess said as she rubbed her neck and arms.

“Here, this will help” Colton said as he held his wrist out to her.

Tess looked at him with a twinkle in her eye, “Why the wrist?  I like the neck better.”

“I do too but we need to concentrate on studying right now and if you drink from my neck, studying will be the last thing that we’ll be thinking about.”

“Fine,” Tess said just before she clamped her mouth over Colton’s wrist.  The bite sent shivers down both of their spines and straight to their cores, causing Tess to moisten and Colton’s erection to press against the fly of his jeans.  Tess felt the sting of her burns disappear almost instantly.  She retracted her fangs, licked the wounds closed and looked at Colton, “Son of a bitch that turns me on.  Is it like that with everyone that I drink from or is it just you?”

“There is a degree of sexual arousal no matter who we drink from.  There’s nothing we can do to stop that,” he said.

“So how do you keep from banging everyone that you drink from?  How could you possibly remain faithful
and how can I?” she groaned.

“That’s part of the training.  You learn self-control.  You learn that, even though there is arousal when you drink
, the sex is, well, disappointing at best.  But if you take that arousal, store it up and then release it when you can have sex with another vampire where you can feed from each other while you are having sex, well, that is amazing at the very least.  And if that sex and feeding is with the one that your heart truly belongs to then, as I hope you now know, it’s off the charts, it’s epic, it’s better than anything you could ever dream of.”

Tess stared for a few seconds, “So, um, so the sex between us is that good because, well, because, are you saying that your heart belongs to me, Colton?”

Colton pulled her into his arms, looked deep into her eyes and said, “My heart, my body, my soul, my
life
belongs to you Tess.  Do you belong to me?”  His lips crushed down onto hers as he held her tight.  Tess felt her heart open up to him in a way that it never had before with anyone else as his tongue swept into her mouth and joined with hers.  She groaned and his mouth moved away from hers and kissed down her neck as his erection pressed into her throbbing core.  “Give me your heart, Tess.  Let me show you how good it can be,” he whispered into her neck as his hands moved down her back and cupped her round ass.  Tess felt his teeth as he nipped lightly at her neck, making her inhale sharply, “Oh, yes, Colton.  Everything I have, everything that I am belongs to you,” she groaned.  Colton’s teeth sank into the vein in her neck.  His tongue flicked over her skin as he suckled, pulling the blood from her vein into his body.  Tess tensed against him and he smiled knowingly.  “Colt, Oh God, Colton I’m going to, how is it possible, oh yes, Colton I’m coming.

Colton held her tight as her body shivered and squirmed in his arms.  When she slowed and then went limp in his arms she mumbled, “Holy shit,
you didn’t touch me other than to bite my neck. What the hell was that?” into his chest.

Colton smiled with pride and said, “That, my love, is just a small sampling of what sex can be like with the vampire that you’ve given your heart to.”
  He looked into her eyes and saw the love in them, the desire, but also the fear, “Don’t decide now, my love,” he whispered as he brushed a lock of hair from her eyes, “Let’s do what we have to do first.  Let’s take out Shane, find your sister and give you time to adjust to being a vampire.  Then you can decide, okay?”

“But I thought we were already bonded because you sired me,” she said.

“In a way, we are.  But for vampires that are in love, truly in love, their hearts can be bonded as well.  It’s a much stronger bond – I will feel everything you’re feeling, every emotion, everything and it’s a bond that is almost impossible to break, so you have to be sure, Tess, absolutely positive.”

“And this is something that you want with me, Colton?  Are you sure?”

“I told you, Tess, I’ve been around a long time and time is irrelevant to me.  I may have fallen fast to you but to me it’s not fast at all.  Yes, I’m sure.”

She nodded and kissed him on the lips, “Thank you for being so patient with me,” she whispered when he stopped.

He smiled at her, “Darlin’, I’ve got all the time in the world.  Now let’s go book our flight for New Orleans.”

Once the flight was booked, Colton pulled Hansen aside, “If Shane is still with Tess’ sister, and he’s injured then she might not be held against her will.  I think we might need some help getting her out of there because I have the feeling she’s going to fight us.”

“You want me to call in Stryker and the men?” Hansen said.

Colton nodded, “I think it’s time.”

Hansen pulled out his cell and pressed it to his ear.  As he waited for the call to go through, Colton touched him on the shoulder to get his attention, “Tell him I’m sorry for staying away so long.”

Hansen nodded and began talking as he stepped out onto the porch.

In the air, somewhere over the ocean, Tess tugged on Colton’s hand, pulling him to his feet, “I need to talk to you privately,” she said as she pulled him toward the bedroom at the back of the private plane.  Once inside the room, she closed and locked the door then she turned to face him, “This heart bonding thing, is it something we can do right now?” she said.

“Here, now, on the plane?  Jesus, Tess, I don’t know.  Why?  We can just wait until we’re at home, you know.”

“I know, but I don’t want to.  I want to do it now, before we land.”

“Why?”

“It’s important to me, Colton.  I know the timing is bad.  But I’ve thought about it, I want this and it’s important to me to get it done now.  We’re meeting up with friends of yours, right?  Men that you have a history with, men that you’ve fought in battle with, Hansen told me, I want to meet them as your bonded mate.”

Colton’s arm reached out to the back of Tess’ neck and he pulled her close, “God, I love you so much,” he said just before his mouth crushed down onto hers.

He gently sat her on the bed then retrieved the first aid kit from the bathroom.  He pulled out two syringes, “We both need to withdraw our heart’s blood as it pumps during sex then drink from the syringe during orgasm – that will complete the heart bond.”

Tess looked towards the door, “Everybody is going to hear us, aren’t they?”

Colton nodded, “Probably.”

Tess shrugged her shoulders then said, “Oh well, let’s do this.  Show me exactly where I need to stab this thing to get it into your heart.
Colton pulled his shirt over his head, grabbed Tess’ index finger and guided it to his chest, “Here, right here, love.”

They emerged from the room
forty five minutes later, fingers entwined, smiles on their faces, twinkles in their eyes but it was the peaceful, contented glow that had everyone in the cabin turning and staring at them with their mouths agape.  Both Tess and Colton were oblivious to it because they only had eyes for each other.  As they took their seats across from Hansen, Hansen leaned over and said, “Sir, what happened to you two?”

Colton’s gaze shot to Hansen
, “I’m sorry, were we too loud?”

“Loud?  No, I didn’t hear anything, sir, it’s just that there’s something different about the two of you.  Something’s happened,” Hansen said.

Colton pulled Tess’ hand to his lips and kissed it.  “Tess is now my heart-bonded mate, Hansen.”

Hansen looked at the two of them for several seconds then he looked down at his hands, “Oh,” he whispered.

Colton leaned forward and placed his hand on Hansen’s knee, forcing his gaze up, “What is it Hansen?”

“Well, I’ve heard of that, but I’ve never met anyone who was actually heart-bonded and it’s odd but I swear that I can actually
feel
it.”

Colton grinned, “It’s strong, isn’t it?

“Very, sir, umm, congratulations, I suppose.”

“Thank you, Hansen.”
Colton felt Tess’ hand tense when the plane touched down.  He released his hand from hers and put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close and kissing her temple, “It’ll be okay, Tess.”

“I hope so, Colt, I really hope so,” she mumbled.

Tess fell silent as she stared out the window again for the few minutes it took to taxi into the hangar.  “What if she doesn’t want to be saved, Colton?  What if she truly hates me and wants to stay where she is?  She and I would be mortal enemies.  How am I supposed to live with that?”

“I don’t know sweetheart but we’ll figure it out, I promise.”

In the back of the limo, Tess watched as Hansen, in the passenger front seat, pressed his finger to his ear, “House is secure, Sir,” he said.

Colton leaned into Tess’ ear and whispered, “I think Hansen is enjoying his beefed up security role.”

Tess smiled and nodded then stared wistfully out the darkened limo windows at the sun-kissed countryside as it passed safely on the other side of the UV protected glass.  “What is it, Tess?”

“Why me, Colton?” she whispered.

“What do you mean?”

Tess turned and locked her eyes on Colton’s, eyes that were full of more emotion than he had ever seen in any one place before – love, fear, doubt, anger,
confusion.  Colton frowned, he hated to see this conflict raging in her.

“You were alone for so long, you preferred to be alone after being hurt so bad, so I’m wondering why me, why, after all this time, did you decide to open your heart to me?  I mean, you barely knew me, so why?” she whispered.

Colton raked his hand through his hair, “Honestly?  Before I even saw your dirty, battered body in my yard, I felt your presence.  Something about you pulled me.  Your heart was like a beacon.  It awakened something in me that I truly thought was shut down forever.”

“But what if none of this is real?  What if it’s a spell?
”

“I know what I feel Tess.  I love you.  I want to marry you. The woman who came and saved me in that basement loves me too, of that I have no doubt.”

“I love….wait, you, what, did you say?” she stuttered.

Colton’s eyes light up with his smile, “Yes, Tess, I said I want to marry you.”

“But we’re already bonded, I thought that was enough.”

“Nothing is enough when it comes to you.”

“Oh, Colton, I love you so much,” she gasped as she unbuckled and crawled into his lap.

“And I you, mo an
am cara,” Colton whispered into Tess’ hair as he cradled her on his lap.

“
Mmmmm, mo anam cara, that sounds so beautiful, what does it mean?”

“It means ‘my soul mate
.’  It’s Celtic.”

“It’s wonderful.”

Pulling into the driveway several minutes later pulled them out of their quiet moment.  Colton looked at Hansen, “Has the basement been set up for strategy?”

“Yes, sir”

“Everyone has arrived?”

“All but Kryton, Sir.  He’s due tomorrow afternoon.”

“Excellent work, Hansen.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

The town car pulled into the garage and Hansen jumped out and opens the door to the house.  They can all hear that there is a heated argument going on in the basement….

“We need to ambush them all at once Tyson.  Take the fuckers out once and for all.”

“No, no, no, Craig, we can’t.  The girl is her sister.  She’s not to be hurt.  We go in there all guns blazing and, well, you know how that turns out.  We need to get them apart.  Divide and conquer.  Less casualties that way.”

“Damn it Tyson, we did that back in England in 1658.  Remember how that turned out?”

“Oh, no you don’t.  I didn’t plan that one. That one was all Stryker’s piss poor planning, not mine.  We did it your way in Paris in 1447 and it was a disaster.”

“
Good afternoon, my brethren,” Colton said as he entered the room.  Tess, watches, mesmerized, as everyone in the room stops talking and bows deeply towards Colton.  “Who are you,” Tess whispers to Colton.

Colton presses a kiss to the back of her hand as he mumbles, “Later, my dove,” then he addresses those in the room waiting for his command, “Stand tall and proud, my brothers
.”

As one they stand
straight and say, “Today and all days we fight by your side as one, King Renner.” Then they pound their fists on their chests and let out a roar that rattles the windows.