Hunger Embraced (The Hunger Series) (22 page)

He blinked slowly and turned back to the road. Large, white knuckles showed through his skin, but when he spoke, the cold tone of voice terrified me more than anything else he could have done.

“We will talk about your king and the other things later. You could have been taken. You could have been spirited away none the wiser, and there would have been nothing I could do to help you. And you would have wished for death before it was over, Miranda. I can promise you that.” A low, angry chuckle escaped his lips. The sound raised the tiny hairs all over my body. “A creature like you, confined by the Council’s edicts and demands? Never.”

I watched trees and houses zip past the windows before getting the gumption to speak again. “That’s another thing. Just when are we going to talk about this stuff anyway? I feel like I’m running from one crisis to the next with no time to even get a breath. I know you’re connected to this Council, but how does that all work?” A big clod of mud was stuck to the knee of my jeans, and I used a finger to flick it off. “You’re a Guardian, and I have a feeling it is something I really need to understand beyond the surface explanation you gave me. Especially since Stephan was so sure you’d do as he asked back there. It wasn’t an order he gave you, but he was sure enough of you to send you off with me with only one vampire to stand guard. So I’m not really sure I’m safe even with you. How can I trust you when I know next to nothing about anything? How could you expect me to sit and hide in my apartment on your word alone?” I turned my face to the window, so pissed steam should have been rising off my body.

“I cannot answer your questions now. It is too dangerous. Sometimes knowing less is safer.” The ancient window motors growled, and brisk fall air flooded the car. “And I would ask that you please temper your emotions. It is making it exceptionally hard for me to concentrate.”

The strain in his voice brought my attention back to him. He still had a sort of pained expression on his face, but it seemed to have migrated through his whole body. My gaze landed on his crotch—completely by accident, of course—and his slacks grew even tighter. I wouldn’t have thought it possible.

“Your scent and emotions in this confined space along with your gift calling to me—” His nostrils flared and his body trembled. “Please try to calm yourself. I understand your difficulty, please try to understand mine.”

“If Adrian is my king, like you said, why is this happening? And why are my feelings bothering you? My Hunger shouldn’t still be calling to you, right?” Hope surged in my chest but I controlled my face, staring straight out the windshield.

“I do not know. None of my readings and study prepared me for this.”

“Wait, there are books about this? About me? I mean, not me specifically, you know, but about others like me? About Chosen Children and the magic and everything?”

He nodded. I grinned. Finally, I might be able to get some answers. His hand found the window controls, and he rolled the back ones down too. I guess happiness was as bad as anger. I didn’t really care. I had hope again that I wouldn’t be saddled with someone I didn’t want. And I would be able to study works written about others like myself.

He could park on the side of the road and pounce on me and I’d welcome it. For more than one reason, my day was definitely looking up.

* * *

We headed to my apartment, but Daniel refused to pull directly into the parking lot of the building. Instead we circled around the block twice while he scanned the lot and side streets for other vampires. He insisted we park on the street and slouch in our seats for two hours. My stomach rumbled, but I tried to nap. This seemed to be the safest place to be for now. When I had my stuff and we made it back to his place, I’d eat until I couldn’t see.

Finally he decided we could go in. He walked so close to me, reminding me of that first day when I’d seen him on the street. The day I’d brought him back here for a quick uncomplicated fuck before work. Nothing had gone the way I’d planned. It made my stomach hurt. But not having Daniel around would hurt more. A lot.

If he left me, what would I do? He had the power to crush my heart and didn’t even know it.

T.T.B. might regret the circumstances leading to the place we were now, but I’d do it all again for a night in his arms.

His hot breath puffed on the back of my neck, sending little tingles to my nipples. They hardened. I swallowed twice before I could unlock my door. My pussy swelled, and the seam of my jeans hit me in the perfect spot. He grabbed my hips as soon as we crossed the threshold and tipped me back against his chest. Looked like I wasn’t the only one having memory regression. The door shut with a slam, and then he buried his fangs in my throat.

“Oh, Daniel—” The sharp tinge of pain crowded out the memory of his tongue lapping my clit.

He swallowed, and with the next suction, I buried my nails in the backs of his hands and ground my ass into his groin. His magic coiled over me, bathing me in warmth and a sensation of tender appendages sliding over my skin, enveloping every inch. My pulse throbbed between my legs and in my breasts. The twin points of his fangs dug in deeper and shot twin bolts of fiery pleasure to my clit. Unbelievable heat zinged through my body like a low-level electrical hum.

Daniel growled and shoved his hands under my shirt. He clasped my breasts roughly, pinching my nipples until I arched up onto my tiptoes. The Hunger rose and slid over his aura like a warm blanket before sinking inward. So much sweeter than before, this was a true joining.

It was like lying back on a huge featherbed that had been warmed before you crawled into it. Completion filled me as my Hunger fed from him while he drank from my neck. His shaft dug into my ass cheek, and I slid down then back up again over the bulge. Longing, desire, fear, happiness, and a sense of belonging washed over me. The emotions were Daniel’s, but they echoed in me, a shadow of my own. Snippets of his memories carried me away, out with the tide, and into the sea that was Daniel. This was how it was supposed to be.

“Mine…ours…mate…”

I sighed and relaxed, ignoring the alarm bells that erupted any time I heard the voice. I covered his hands with my own, encouraging him to massage my breasts. What would it be like to have this all the time with him? I wanted it.

“This is what you turn your back on, Miranda. This is what you deny yourself. Deny us by living as a shell of what you could be. It doesn’t have to be evil…”

Daniel moved the fabric of my bra out of the way with one hand and cupped my breast, thumbed the nipple. He skimmed his other palm over my belly and under my waistband. His index finger delved inside and circled my hood. The cold air of the room chilled my neck when he stopped drinking and kissed his way to my jawbone.

“Don’t stop.” I thrust my hips forward and captured his hand as he continued to play with my swollen nub. “Bite me again. Please.”

The rumble of a purring growl ghosted though my neck, and he slipped his fangs back inside, his lips forming a hot seal. He sucked harder than before, faster, and increased the rhythm he used to claim my clit to match it. Orgasm shot through me, flying from my pussy to the nipple trapped by his thumb and fingertip to the rest of my body. My knees went weak, and I bobbed down.

The Hunger ghosted away, and Daniel retracted his fangs, licking the wound before picking me up off the floor and cradling me in his arms. I held my hand in front of his face, caressing his aura and smiling at the way it curled around my fingers. He looked no worse for the feeding. In fact, he looked brighter, his skin glowing faintly.

I stretched and settled against his chest. He frowned and snorted.

“Here I was about to apologize for grabbing you like that, but it looks like the feeding was mutual.”

“Mmm-hmm.” I ran my fingers through his hair and over one eyebrow. “I feel awesome.”

A smile twitched his lips as he set me down on the couch. “I guess this means I have the chore of packing you up all to myself then, huh?”

“Guess so.” I leaned over and rested my head on the arm of the couch. “You started it, you know.”

“Right.” He crouched down to give me a sweet kiss before leaving the room.

Huh. Maybe he really did like me. The thought made me smile. My hunger pangs were gone, and I wondered if feeding my magic counted as physical food too. But I couldn’t feed it on just anyone. Adrian had walked away without much in the way of visible side effects, but he’d been affected, that was for sure. Daniel looked better than before. Although, that could also have been from the blood. He’d taken more from me than the other times.

I lunged off the couch, residual tingles flitting over my skin, and headed into the bedroom. Daniel took random clothes from my dresser and stuffed them into a duffel bag. He had it under control, so I retrieved the knife from its hiding place and primary spelling supplies from my closet. I wanted to spill all the words crowding my throat, tell him that he was my mate, not Adrian. To promise that my heart belonged to him and would never be right for another.

Instead I put the spelling supplies carefully into a box. He kept his back turned, and I wondered if the turmoil in my head reached him. If it did, and he didn’t feel the same, he’d let me down easy. Daniel would never be cruel.

I cleared my throat and held the knife up. He turned and considered it for a long moment before taking it by the proffered handle and studying the markings on the blade. Then he tucked it in with my clothes.

“I don’t want to know where you got that blade. If anyone asks you about it, you are to lie your ass off. You’ve never seen it, never touched it, and never heard of it.”

I frowned and shut my mouth with a snap instead of asking him why. Another item on the laundry list. He nodded and stuffed a pair of jeans into the bag along with a well-worn sweater and some flannel pajama pants. I fished out a clean pair of hose and threw my favorite skirt, flip-flops, and ragged Ohio State sweatshirt on top. My cosmetics and bathroom stuff filled one of the self-replicating, blue bunny bags from under the sink.

I tucked the box under one arm and headed for the door when I remembered the head in the refrigerator.

“I have jelly beans for you at ho—my place.”

I pretended not to notice his slip of the tongue even though I wanted to do a happy dance.

“I have something I have to get out of the fridge. A little present someone left on my doorstep. And a girl can’t live on jelly beans alone. There are other candy varieties I must have.”

He didn’t smile. It was a bad joke. “The surprise you mentioned earlier today on the phone?”

“Yes.”

I knew he was in the doorway before I turned around with the mop bucket dangling from my fingers. He had the duffel bag strap over one shoulder and his hands in his pockets. A god born of sun, surf, and warm sunny afternoons on a beach made of fine white sand. My mouth dried, and I blushed at being caught blatantly staring. Ridiculous, we’d had sex. More than once. I clenched my fists and fought the urge to peel his clothes from his body and run my hands and mouth over every inch of delicious, tanned skin.

He took a step into the room and rocked back on his heels. Agitation sparked off him along with lust and a healthy dose of longing. He wanted me like he’d never wanted any other; I knew that now. The Hunger had shown it to me and offered the feelings up as a ripe fruit I could use to control and manipulate him. I rejected it. I wanted him to be with me because he wanted to be, not because of a magical compulsion.

I stepped forward and held the bucket out to him to put an obstacle between our bodies. “I found this the other night. I guess we can get rid of it with the other.”

He held the container up and took a whiff before looking at me. “This explains the blood pool in front of the door. Do you know who it is?”

“I don’t know his name. But he was someone I had sex with recently. I took a picture of the way it was arranged, because that was how it felt to me. Arranged.”

Daniel nodded and let the bucket drop down near his thigh. He walked over to the front door with his head cocked to the side listening. All I could hear was Ted’s TV next door. When he finally opened the door, he scanned the hall before moving aside so I could exit the apartment. While I locked the dead bolt, he strolled down the hall to Ted’s door and back again with a grim expression.

We were in the car heading down one of the main roads that led north to his place before he spoke. “Did you know your neighbor is a were-creature?”

I stared at him with my mouth hanging open. I closed it and felt stupid. Good grief.

“I’ll take that as a no. It is very unusual to see. Normally, the moon-driven don’t want anything to do with vampires. They’ll try to kill us to keep us out of their territory. Two apex predators in the same general vicinity don’t really mix if they’re after the same prey.”

“I’m not…he’s just a weird…this is too much.” Great. Now sputtering could be added to the list of unattractive things I did.

“I really wish you’d stop denying your heritage. It’s grating and tiring. You just fed from me, Miranda. It may not have been blood, but you took some of my life energy and used it for yourself. I understand your plight, but we’ve bigger problems than your identity crisis to deal with.”

“Wow, OK, jackass. Then how about you stop denying how much you want to fuck me again and just do it already. How about that?” I fired the words at him with vehemence and the burn of acid in my gut. “I’m not the only one here pretending something isn’t going on when it is. I lov—”

He covered my mouth with one finger. “Don’t say it. It can never be.” He took my hand and pressed a quick kiss to my knuckles before letting go.

Pain speared my heart. “What? Why not?”

“I am a Guardian. There are edicts…rules…I’m sorry.”

“No, I apologize. You’re right.” I picked at my nails. “You’ve been dragged into my mess, and it’s not fair to expect things from you. For you to feel anything for me back.”

“I did not say I felt nothing.” He stroked my cheek. “Ah,
cara
, I’m the one who is sorry.”