Red Moon (17 page)

She opened her eyes, her breath catching in her throat at
the fierce green light radiating from his eyes.  He dipped his head and
nuzzled her neck.  She could feel his teeth against her throat, and she
held her breath as he licked a slow path from her jaw to her collarbone. 

He looked at her throat, smiling with satisfaction when
there was no trace of the vampire’s bite.  He nuzzled her neck again, a
deep primal part of him enjoying the shiver of trepidation that went through
her.

“Are you frightened of me, girl?”  He withdrew and
pushed into her slowly.

“No.”  She moaned, thrusting her hips at him.

“If I bit you would you turn?  Or would your body heal
you from the Lycan virus?”  He asked.

“I do not know.”  She whispered.

He kissed her throat again, nipping lightly without breaking
the skin. 

“I confess that I would very much like to find out.”
 He growled against her throat.  He was still moving within her, his
hard cock rubbing against her wet walls, and she stared mesmerized at him as he
looked up at her and gave her a predatory grin.

Avery’s body was filled with a weird and fascinating
combination of fear and pleasure.  She stared into his eyes as he thrust
harder within her, feeling the hard bite of the bark against her back and the
cool air on her naked thighs.

She was so close to coming.  Every nerve in her body
was singing with pleasure as he moved within her.  He inhaled sharply when
she suddenly kissed him hard and then lifted her chin, tilting her head and
baring her throat to him.

She realized with wonderment that she wanted him to bite
her.  She wanted to feel his teeth sinking into her as she came against
him and as a low rumbling growl started in his chest, she whispered, “Bite me,
Tristan.”

He bent his head towards her neck, his teeth bared, and she
dug her nails into his back and waited breathlessly for his bite.

Before he could bite her, before his cock could give her the
release she was looking for, he was staggering away from her.  He turned
away, his hands in fists at his side and his entire body shaking violently.

She pushed her dress down and approached him, laying a
hesitant hand on his back.  “Tristan?”

He twitched away from her.  “Do not touch me, Avery.”

She recoiled, jerking her hand back as if he had burned
her.  “Tristan, I am sorry I – “

He looked back at her, his entire body was shaking and
shuddering and she realized he was starting to shift.  “Go back to the
house – now.”

She shook her head. “No, Tristan, please I – “

“For the love of the gods – GO!”  He suddenly roared at
her and she turned and fled.  Behind her, his roar became a long,
torturous howl and she stumbled to a stop and turned to look behind her. 
Tristan had shifted to a wolf and he was looking at her with a human-like look
of misery.  He barked once sharply, and she began to run for the house
again as he turned and disappeared into the trees.

Victoria stepped out from the trees.  The air was cold
against her naked body but she took no notice of it.  She approached the
tree that Tristan had pushed Avery against and she inhaled, her nostrils
flaring with anger at the combined scent of their bodies.  Her eyes
narrowed as she watched Avery’s retreating back before she suddenly shifted
back to her wolf form and slipped silently into the woods.

Avery, carefully balancing the two trays, stopped in front
of Tristan’s room.  She set one of the trays on the floor in front of his
door and then carried the other to Victoria’s door.  She knocked lightly.
When there was no reply, she quietly opened the door and stepped into the room.

It was early evening.  The Lycans had returned from
hunting early this morning and had immediately gone to bed.  Mrs. Lanning
had sent her with trays of food and drink for when they woke.

“Make sure you build their fires up.”  She had glared
at Avery.  “They’ll have let them burned down while they slept, and we
don’t want Lord Tristan’s houseguests uncomfortable.”

She had poked Avery in the back.  “And if Lady Victoria
wakes and wants anything – a bath drawn, more food – make sure you get it for
her.  I don’t want to hear any complaints about you.”

Now, Avery set the tray down on the small table in the room
and quickly built up the fire.  Mrs. Lanning had been right – the fire was
only a few embers.  Victoria was a quiet, sleeping lump under the blankets
on her bed and Avery left quickly before the woman could wake.

She entered Tristan’s room without knocking.  He was
lying on his back in the bed, the covers around his waist despite the cold
room.  She smiled a little.  She had lain next to him, knew how warm
he was, but she built up the fire anyway, not wanting him to catch a chill.

She stared at him from across the room.  He was
sleeping deeply, his broad chest rising and falling in an even rhythm and she
waited for a few moments, hoping he would wake.  He had saved her life
last night and she had not even said thank you.

When he didn’t wake, she sighed and moved to the door. 
She reached out for the handle and stopped, staring at the door for almost a
minute.  With a slightly trembling hand, she reached out and turned the
lock on the door before walking toward Tristan’s bed.

She would just cover him up.  Pull the blankets up and
make sure he didn’t get cold while he slept.  It was the least she could
do for him.  She stared down at his sleeping form.  He was so
beautiful, she thought wistfully.

She reached for the bedcovers but instead, found herself
stroking his lean abdomen.  Her thoughts turned back to the night before –
to the moment he had pushed her up against the tree and entered her - and she
gave a low shuddering sigh of need.  She had spent most of the day in a
state of arousal so deep it nearly hurt.  She had tried to ignore it,
tried to pretend she wasn’t aching to finish what they had started in the
woods, but deep down she knew that she had been waiting all day for this very
moment.  She took another deep breath and let her long pale fingers smooth
over his chest and back down to his abdomen.

He had saved her life.  She would say thank you in the
way she knew he would like best and then she would not touch him again. 
She was hurting no one but herself by doing this, and she decided she could
live with the hurt.

Quickly, before she could change her mind, she stripped off
her clothing and eased into the bed beside him.  He didn’t move and she
slid her hand under the covers and stroked below his abdomen.  He sighed
in his sleep and shifted a little, and she smiled and placed a soft kiss just
above his navel. 

She pulled the covers down to his thighs and pressed small
light kisses across his abdomen and around his hips.  He groaned as she
took his hardening cock in her hand and stroked lightly.  She watched his
face as she caressed and touched him and when his eyelids started to flutter
open, she bent her head and took him into her mouth.

He cried out, waking fully at the feel of her warm, wet
mouth and started to sit up.  “Avery?”  He whispered hoarsely. 
She pushed him back down on the bed and increased the rhythm of her
mouth.  He shuddered under her helplessly and a feeling of exhilarating
power rushed through her.

“What are you doing, girl?”  He half-moaned and
half-sighed.  She licked the head of his cock, rubbing her tongue in small
circles across the top, as his hands clenched into the bed sheets and he stared
down at her.

She kissed the head of his cock.  “Saying thank you.”
 She slid her mouth back down over his cock, gripping the base of him in
her hand and twisting her wrist back and forth in a gentle motion as she sucked
hard on the shaft.

“Oh gods girl…please.”  He moaned again and she licked
his cock with warm, long strokes of her tongue.  His hands threaded
through her hair.  He held her head tightly and she smiled a little when
he pushed gently on it, urging her to take his cock into her mouth again. 
She obliged willingly enough, opening her mouth wide and sliding her lips down
his cock until she could feel the head of it against the back of her throat.

Tristan continued to groan as Avery licked and sucked and
squeezed his rock hard cock.  His cries were growing louder and his body
tensing under hers, when he suddenly sat up and grabbed her shoulders. 
She gave a small squeak of surprise when he pulled her off his cock and grabbed
her around the waist.  He lifted her easily and dropped her onto her back
on the bed.

“Enough, girl.  I want to be in you.”  He pushed
her thighs open, and she hooked them around his hips as he knelt between her
legs and pushed his cock into her.  They both cried out but Avery was
surprised when instead of starting the quick, rough rhythm she was expecting,
Tristan propped himself up on his elbows above her and lay perfectly still.

“Tristan…”  She sighed, wiggling her pelvis against him
but he didn’t respond to her movements.  He surprised her again by kissing
her slowly and tenderly.

“I’ve missed you.”

She smiled at him, blinking back the sudden tears.
 “I’ve missed you too.”

“Last night – “

He paused, his eyes troubled, and she shook her head and
silenced him with a kiss.

“Make love to me, Tristan.  Please.”  She kissed
him again, probing at his lips with her tongue, and he groaned into her mouth
and began to move within her.

“Yes.”  She sighed.  “Like that…it feels so good,
Tristan.”

“You’re so warm, my love.”  He held her hands, linking
their fingers together and staring at her as they rocked against each other in
a slow, natural rhythm.

Avery could hardly breathe.  The way Tristan was
looking at her, the way he was moving so gently inside of her as if she was
made of some exotic glass, was making her throat ache.  Tears slipped down
her cheeks and he frowned and stopped.  “Am I hurting you?”

She shook her head and smiled.  “No, don’t stop.”

He kissed her tears away, each kiss soft and tender, and she
suddenly wrapped her arms around him and crushed her body against his.  He
buried his face in her throat, and she gasped with pleasure when he quickened
his pace within her.

Little bursts of ecstasy were radiating through her pelvis
and down her legs.  She urged him on with small bird-like cries of need,
and she squeezed him tightly with her limbs and mouthed the words ‘I love you’
into his neck as she climaxed. 

His face still buried in the warm curve of her neck, he
kissed her soft skin, his body trembling and twitching against her as warmth
flooded her insides.  He relaxed against her for a moment, his warm breath
blowing against her throat, before he sighed and lifted himself away. 

He tucked them both under the covers and lay on his
back.  He put his arm around her as she curled up against him, wrapping
her arm around his trim waist and resting her head on his chest.

They were silent for a few moments, and then he squeezed her
hip with his warm hand.  “What did you mean by thank you?”

She kissed his chest.  “You saved my life last night.”

His hand moved to her throat, his fingers stroking her skin
and feeling for any trace of the leech’s bite.  “Last night I,” he said
hesitantly, “I could have seriously hurt you, Avery.”

“You didn’t.”  She replied. 

“But I could have.”  He insisted.

“But you didn’t.”  She repeated.

“Why did you ask me to bite you?”  He whispered.

When she didn’t reply, he tugged gently on her long hair
until she looked up at him.

“Why?”  He asked.

She wanted to tell him the truth – wanted to tell him that a
part of her, a surprisingly large part of her, had hoped that his bite would
turn her.  That if she became a Lycan, perhaps she could stay with him
forever.

But there was such a look of pain and misery on his face
that she couldn’t bring herself to say the words, and so she only shook her
head and gave him a small and melancholy smile.  “I do not know.”

“Never ask me that again.”  He gripped her chin and
gave her a heartbreaking look of desperation.  “Promise me, Avery.”

She nodded, knowing it was an easy promise to keep – she
would be at the Barton’s by the next full moon.  “I promise, Tristan.”

He searched her eyes until, satisfied with what he saw in
them, he nodded and gave her a brief, hard kiss.

He relaxed against the pillow, his hand stroking her long
hair, and then spoke again.  “Why were you in the woods last night?”

“Mrs. Lanning had heard that Victoria was craving some
berries.  She sent me out to pick them for her.”

He cursed loudly.  “I’m dropping that crazy old bat at
the outskirts.”

She gave him a look of horror.  “You cannot do
that.  She’s been in your household for years.”

“I don’t care.  She almost got you killed last night.”
 He scowled.

“Please, Tristan.  I’m begging you not to send her to
the outskirts.”

She rubbed his chest anxiously and he shook his head.
 “She’s been after you since the moment she met you.  I cannot let it
go on any longer without some type of punishment.”

“The outskirts are a death sentence.”  She said
quietly.

He sighed loudly.  “She has been nothing but horrible
to you.  Why do you fight so hard for her life?”

“She cannot help who she is.  Please, Tristan.”

He kissed her forehead.  “I will do as you ask, but she
will be punished.”  He stared at the ceiling, his hand rubbing her arm.
 “I will assign Marian as the head housekeeper.  Mrs. Lanning can
take orders for once.”

“She will not like that.”  She sighed.

He laughed and kissed her forehead again.  “I do not
care.”

They laid in companionable silence for a while until the
silence was broken by Tristan’s stomach growling.

Avery sat up, the sheet falling to her waist.  “You’re
hungry.”

“Aye, I am.”  He grinned wickedly at her and cupped her
bare breast. 

She rolled her eyes and pushed his hand away.  “I
brought you some food.”  She started to climb out of the bed and he put
his hand on her wrist. 

“Stay here.  I’ll get it.”

He walked naked to where she had left the tray of food, his
tanned skin glowing in the light from the fire, and brought it back to the
bed.  He set it down carefully and then lit the three candles clustered
together on the small stand next to his bed.

She sat up, scooting back until she could lean against the
headboard.  Her lips twitched and she suppressed her smile when he frowned
and pushed her forward so he could tuck a pillow behind her back.

“Better?”

She nodded.  “Yes.  Thank you, Tristan.”

He climbed into the bed, leaning against the headboard as
well and dragged the tray towards them.  He tore the bread in half and
held it out to her.

She shook her head.  “No.  The food is for you.”

“Eat.”  He insisted.  Sighing, she took the bread
from him and nibbled on it.  He grunted with satisfaction before handing
her some cheese.  She watched as he took a thick slice of the cold
meatloaf Mrs. Lanning had placed on the tray and ate it in two large
bites. 

She watched as he quickly finished off most of the food on
the tray.  She grinned a little.  “Hungry, my lord?”

“Aye.  The shift burns up energy.  I’m always
hungry after.”  He set the tray on the floor beside the bed and rested his
hand on her blanket-covered thigh.

“Do you not eat what you hunt?”  She asked curiously.

He nodded.  “Yes.  But I was distracted last night
and by the time I returned to the pack, they had finished the deer.”

“I’m sorry.”

He frowned and took her hand, stroking her wrist with his
thumb.  “You have nothing to be sorry about.  Saving your life was
more important.”

He squeezed her hand and then climbed out of bed,
disappearing into the bathroom.  With a soft sigh, Avery began to
dress.  She had been in Tristan’s room for nearly two hours and she was
shocked that Mrs. Lanning hadn’t sent someone to find her.  She looked out
the window.  It was dark but she could see the trees at the edge of the
forest swaying in the wind.  It would be a cold wind and she shivered a
little, knowing that as soon as she showed her face in the kitchen, Mrs.
Lanning would send her outside for more wood for the cook stove. 

She bent down and picked up her dress from the floor. 
She pulled it over her head and began to gather her hair into a loose
bun.  She would definitely be taking a warming rock to bed tonight, maybe
two.  Even in Tristan’s room, with a fire burning in the fireplace, it was
chilly.  Her room would be as cold as a crypt.

She was just pulling her boots on when Tristan came out of
the bathroom.  He frowned.  “Where are you going?”

She smiled and put her arms around his waist, squeezing
affectionately.  “I must go, my lord.  I’m surprised Mrs. Lanning
hasn’t sent poor Laura to find me.”

She planted a kiss on his bare chest.  “Besides, I need
to warm up some rocks for my bed.”  She winked at him, trying to make him
smile, but he frowned again and put his arms around her waist.

“Stay with me tonight.”  He glanced out the window.
 “It’s too cold to stay in your room.”