Her Vampire Mate (9 page)

Beautiful.

He slowed his efforts, easing her down from the edge and pulling every last bit of orgasm from her before pushing up on his elbows and gazing at her. Her torso was flushed, life-giving blood rushing just under the surface.

How he wanted to bite her. But he couldn’t, so he worked to keep his fangs from slipping down. He didn’t want to scare his little wolf away; he’d barely started with her.

“What are you waiting for?” Her voice sounded like she’d spent several hours screaming her lungs out.

“I’m enjoying the view.”

“Well, I’m about to pass out so if you want to continue, you’d better get a move on.”

He crawled up her body to loom over her. “Do you doubt my ability to rouse you?”

“Yeah.” Her eyes were mere slits. She did indeed look like the afterglow of the orgasm he’d given her was putting her to sleep.

He couldn’t blame her. He’d gotten a nap while she was out getting breakfast. She hadn’t had sleep in who knew how many hours. Plus, it gave him a little masculine thrill to think he’d worn her out. Nevertheless, she couldn’t go to sleep until they were finished.

He kissed her, settling his body on top of hers. She accepted him eagerly, if a little languidly, wrapping her arms and legs around him as she kissed him back.

“Time for your underwear to come off,” she said with a squeeze to his butt.

“Are you sure? I warn you, tesorina, I cannot hold out for long foreplay. When these come off, I will be inside you within seconds.”

“After putting on a condom.”

He paused, waited until she met his eyes. “Amore, there’s no need for a condom.”

Her brow scrunched, then smoothed as she thought about it. Vampires, being undead, carried no disease and could not have children.

“All right, then.” Her voice sounded soft.

He didn’t bother asking if he was her first vampire lover. It was clear he was, and no wonder, considering the incident in her childhood. She no doubt would not have taken him to bed either, except the fates had pushed her to it.

He pressed a kiss to her lips then quickly stood, yanked off his boxer briefs and re-joined her on the bed.

“Shit,” she said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get over how fast you can move. I didn’t even get a look at you.”

“There’ll be time for that later.” He nudged her damp folds with the head of his cock. “Ready?”

Her mouth curled up in a smile, her eyes sparkling. “Of course.”

Looked like she’d woken up again. He pushed inside her, unprepared for the way he felt when he’d seated himself fully. It felt more than good, more than the perfect fit. It felt right.

But he still didn’t feel certain. Disappointment washed over him. He hadn’t realized how much he wanted to know she was his soulmate, and more—to know now, with sex. If he had to drink her blood in order to know for sure, he might never know.

Jennalynn wrapped her legs around him until they were tangled together tightly. She shifted her hips but with him lying heavily on top of her and not moving, she couldn’t do much.

He needed to shake off these feelings and get on with it. It wasn’t like having sex with Jennalynn was a hardship.

Lifting himself a little, he slid out of her then thrust back in. Moaning, he said, “I don’t remember the last time it felt like this.”

Her fingers tightened on his back. “It’s never felt like this.”

He was tempted to agree with her but it seemed cruel to both of them. If it turned out she wasn’t his, it would be hard enough as it was.

He kissed her while they set up a steady, pounding rhythm. She dug her fingers into his back but not so it hurt. He just felt claimed by her.

“You probably want to bite me,” he whispered in her ear.

“I do.” Her voice sounded garbled, deeper.

He pulled back enough to look at her. Her beautiful blue eyes were now a burnished gold. Her mouth had widened slightly and sharp fangs grew on both the bottom and top.

He felt a shiver and realized the thought of being bitten by those teeth was not altogether pleasant. Maybe neither one of them wanted the bite.

No matter. “Will it make it easier or harder on you if you bite me?”

Her eyes rolled back a little and she growled. “Don’t know.” He could barely make out the words. She writhed underneath him, her pussy tightening around his cock.

Antonio brushed the hair back from her face. “What do you want to do?” He asked himself the same thing—what did he want? To his surprise, he wanted to be hers. He might be afraid of her teeth but he wanted her mark.

What on earth was wrong with him?

Her eyes focused on him again and she grabbed the back of his neck. “Mine.”

His breath caught. She was the sexiest, wildest, most amazing thing he’d ever seen. “Then do it. Bite me.”

She nodded, her eyes on his. He saw the predator in her, the way she captured his gaze and stared him down, the way she held his neck taut as she moved her teeth closer and closer to his shoulder. “When we come.” Her words were becoming increasingly garbled but he could still make them out.

All right then. He lifted his hips and resumed, pushing into her harder and faster with each stroke. He felt the buzzing hum that preceded a damn good orgasm and thrust faster, while at the same time trying to hold on just a little longer, just long enough to make sure her orgasm was earth-shattering.

With some difficulty, Antonio slid his hand between their bodies so he could rub the topmost nub of her clit. Her cries and moans were worth any trouble.

Her grip on him got tighter. “Coming.” She sunk her teeth into his shoulder.

He saw stars. Stars and an inky blackness that swept away everything except the pulsing beat of his heart and the pleasure that consumed him. He was barely aware of the fluids rushing out of him, bathing her core. All he knew was the pleasure invading every cell of his body and Jennalynn, Jennalynn, Jennalynn.

Chapter 9

As Jennalynn pulled her teeth out of Antonio’s shoulder following the most explosive orgasm of her life, she couldn’t stop the doubts from pouring in. What the hell had she done?

In the moment, biting him had felt like the most natural thing in the world. And she knew in the long run it wouldn’t matter—she was done for whether he wore her mark or not. But still, it seemed wrong to bite him when he hadn’t really agreed to be hers. Even if he had agreed to the bite itself.

He brushed the hair off her face. “What are you thinking so hard about?”

“I’m thinking you might be a little bit nuts.”

He laughed. “Is that so?”

“I know why I want to mark you. I don’t have any idea why you’d allow it.”

His fingers traced her cheek with a feather-light touch. “It felt right.”

“But you don’t know if you even want me. How could you allow yourself to be bitten?”

“Bellissima, I most definitely want you. As I said, it felt right.”

Had she mated a madman? “Aren’t you at all concerned? Other vampires will smell me on you.”

“I hadn’t thought of that. But it doesn’t matter. I’m ruled by my heart not my head. My heart said to let you bite me, so I did. I don’t question it.”

A madman indeed. She tried to push herself up on her elbows but the way he lay half on top of her kept her from moving. “How can you not question it?”

He rubbed her temple with the fingers that continued to move over her face. “Those are the words of someone ruled by her head. These days, the Western culture values the head over the heart. Your words make sense to most of your compatriots. But it was not always so.”

And he was very, very old, though he looked no older than she did. “And you’ve always been this way?”

“I have.”

“How do you manage it? Certainly when you’re doing your work, you need to be in control of your emotions.”

“We’re talking about two different things. I’m saying that when I make a decision I let my heart lead me. I’m not saying that I can’t control my emotions. Sometimes I chose not to control my emotions, but that’s still a choice.”

She watched his face as he continued to study her with his fingers, running the tips of them over every freckle, every tiny line, every dip and indentation on her face. She could love this man.

The thought terrified her.

***

While there were plenty of dives in Chicago, the number that catered to humans in any obvious way was much smaller. Not the ones that turned the music up just loud enough to hurt non-human ears. But the ones that had signage just this side of racist. Instead of “humans only” they said things like “especially for humans.” While Jennalynn didn’t like seeing the signs at all, the small number of them made it a little easier.

So in the early morning after hours of visiting dives, they ended up at a place called Dante’s. There were a surprising amount of people there considering the hour—the place was at least a quarter full. They sat in maroon-colored booth seats and drank beers in the dank lighting. And in the front, a woman stood on a little stage and sang.

She had long, straight blond hair and a slim build. Objectively, she was an attractive woman but there was something lost about her.

It’s true there could be more than one singer working here. It was also true she could be the world-walker they were looking for.

Antonio led Jennalynn to a table along the side of the front, not too far from the stage but not necessarily in direct line of sight. They wanted to get a good look at the woman; they didn’t necessarily want the woman to get a good look at them.

Antonio held a chair for Jennalynn, who seemed startled by the action. She shouldn’t be; he was an old-fashioned man after all. He pulled his chair closer to hers before sitting down, so he could slide his arm around the back of her chair.

He leaned toward Jennalynn, very aware of the pull on his skin around his bite wound. While she may have had doubts about his reasons for letting her bite him, he still had no regrets. Soulmate or not, there was no reason they couldn’t be fuck buddies for a few decades. And he would enjoy it immensely.

At the same time, something in him wanted more than sex. He wanted her to be his. And just as quickly, he pushed the thought away. If he let himself want it and later found out she wasn’t the one, the pain would be almost too much to bear.

“She’s good,” he whispered in Jennalynn’s ear.

She leaned closer to him and his heart sped up. “She’s looking at us.”

Antonio stiffened, forcing himself not to turn immediately toward the stage. “Are you sure?”

Jennalynn leaned closer and brushed her lips over his. “I’m sure. You suppose we stick out?”

“We’re not regulars. Beyond that, we don’t look any different from anyone else. Do we?”

Their eyes met. Hers were blue. The only time he’d ever seen them bleed to yellow was in bed. She had good control of her wolf. And yet…he always knew a wolf by that liquid way they had of moving. Maybe the world-walker saw the same thing.

“You’re a little pale,” Jennalynn said so softly he almost couldn’t hear her underneath the music. “You haven’t fed in a while, have you? And you’ve got that stillness thing going on. Maybe she can tell.”

Stillness thing? He’d seen other vampires do that—go so still you weren’t sure they weren’t statues. But those were cold-hearted bastards. He’d never thought he did it too. “I think we’re worrying about nothing.” He finally let himself look toward the stage.

The world-walker was indeed looking at them, almost singing to them. The crowd was also paying attention to them, and not in a good way. What the hell? They’d been to at least ten different places tonight and no one had so much as looked at them twice.

The song ended. “That’s it for tonight,” the world-walker said. “I want to thank you all for coming out. Especially our two new guests.” She swung around and held her hand out, palm up, toward Antonio and Jennalynn. “A vampire and a werewolf, is it? We don’t see that combination too often.” She grinned a feral grin.

Around them, men and women stood up and crowded closer. The world-walker jumped off the stage and headed for a door in the back.

“She’s getting away,” Jennalynn said as the two of them stood.

“This was a diversion.”

“It’s working.”

A big man with a black T-shirt took a swing at Antonio, who leaned back and just barely missed getting a fist to his jaw. By the time he was upright, the mob was upon them.

Antonio had little time to spend watching Jennalynn but what he saw was impressive. She fought with every part of her body, unafraid to take injury, no doubt knowing her werewolf body would heal whatever harm she did to it. Within reason.

His body would heal too, but he lacked her skills. She could apparently fight as many as four men at the same time. He could hold off one. Unfortunately, his opponents weren’t lining up to go at him one at a time.