“I want you to open this. I have to
leave now and you keeping me here against my will is a crime.”
He shook his head.
“I mean it. I want you to open this door
right now.”
He moved slowly toward her. “I don’t
want you to leave. I want to make love to you, with you. I want us to bond and
mate. Please.”
“Are you nuts? Of course you are. You
want to bite me and suck my blood. How nutty is that?” She looked at him
seriously and frowned. “You really believe you’re a vampire, don’t you? You
really are…you’re all nuts. Your whole family is certifiable. I suppose you’ll
tell me that you know a werewolf and maybe a fairy or two.”
Her voice was flippant, even teasing,
but he heard the fear. The uncertainty. He took off his jacket and tossed it
over the chair. “I do. As do you. Bradley and his mate are wolves. And I know
several hundred fairies. I have an aunt that is a nymph too. A wood nymph, as a
matter of fact.”
She opened her mouth and closed it
several times before she snapped it closed. He wanted to tell her about the
dragon he knew, the one that he’d ridden as a child. About the aunt that he had
that was the last of her kind until she’d met her mate and now they ruled the
fae together. Then there was the uncle that governed a territory much like his
father’s, his uncle Beau, and his mate Megan. But she was shaking her head
again and he decided that he’d wait for another day.
“This doesn’t change things. Nothing. I
still need to leave and you need to back off.” She didn’t move away, even
though he was sure she could have. “Please don’t do this.”
He was nearly close enough to touch her.
He could smell her now and all the scents that she gave off in droves. Hurt,
anger, and a great deal of her aroused scent was perfuming the air around her. He
wanted to touch her, but didn’t know if she’d hurt herself trying to get away
from him. He did put his hands on either side of the wall, bracketing her in.
“You’re too close and you can’t possibly
open the door with me standing like this. Move back.” She didn’t touch him, but
curled her fists up and put them behind her. “I mean it, Mac, back up. You’re
in my space.”
“I want to be inside of you.” He leaned
in and buried his face in her neck then licked the pounding pulse. “Do you have
any idea what your scent does to me? My cock aches to be freed and I want to
sink my fangs deep into your flesh.”
“Back up, please?” Her voice was
breathy, needy, and soft. Her scent now was spiced more with her arousal. He
moved his body closer. Not touching her, but close enough that he could feel
her heat. “You’re too close.”
He put his hands on her neck and ran his
thumb over her beating pulse. He curled his fingers into the neck of her shirt
and looked into her eyes. When he ripped it from her body, she began to pant. He
looked down at her breasts and his mouth watered.
Licking a path down her collar bone to
where her full, ripe breasts were cupped in lace, he flicked his tongue over
her nipple. They were straining against the material and he cupped them in his
hands. When he looked up at her face this time her eyes were closed.
“Look at me, Brandi. Watch me suckle at
your nipples.” Her eyes opened wide and she nodded at him. Lowering his head
slowly, he used his thumbs to open her bra and spill her warm flesh into his
hands. “Your nipples are pink and hard. I want to feed from you here soon. Bite
you so that your blood fills me and your hard peaks tease my tongue.”
Mac kissed the tip then took it into his
mouth. Her moan had him lifting her breasts up so that he could nibble on them
both at the same time. When her fingers tangled in his hair he lifted his head.
There was no need for words. Her face
looked hungry to him, hungry for him. He lifted her up by her ass and her body
molded to his. Her legs wrapped around his waist and he turned them toward the
bed as he took her mouth.
The moment her back touched the bed he
willed their clothing away. It was something that he used just when he was too
tired to do it when he worked. But now he could see the advantages of such
magic. And Christ, it was well worth it. He looked down her body to where he
was hidden between her thighs.
“You’re beautiful.” His voice was husky
and thick. He rocked into her and thought of taking her now. “I want you. I
want to make this good for you, but I need to sink my cock into your heat.”
“Yes. Please, yes. I need to feel you
there too. Please, Mac.”
He moved down her body to where he could
take her nipple again. Her taste, her scent was driving him over the edge.
“Please,” she begged again and he
couldn’t wait any longer.
“Next time. I swear to you, I’ll make it
good for you next time.” He slammed his cock deep. Her scream of release was
enough to take him with her. Sinking his teeth deep into her throat, he pumped
into her again and again. Lifting his head, he bit into his wrist and put it
over her mouth as he took her throat again. When she began to drink from him,
he came again and brought her with him. They were finally and truly one.
The connection snapped into place. He
felt her every emotion as if it were his own. Even as he closed off the tiny pricks
he made he continued to move in and out of her. When their eyes met he knew
that he’d never be able to leave her, never even think about meeting the sun
again. She was his world.
He pulled his wrist away and sealed the
wound as he watched the tiny trickle of blood run down her chin. Her body
tightened around his again and he wanted to watch her come this time. Wanted it
more than his next breath. He rolled to his back and sat her over him, his cock
still buried deep within her. “Ride me. I want to see you come while you ride
me.”
She moved over him and moaned. When he
lifted her hands and put them to her breasts she looked down at him as she
massaged them then tweaked her nipples.
“I’ve never done this before.” She
didn’t seem to be a novice at it, but he only nodded. “I’ve never enjoyed sex
this much before. This is fantastic.”
“You have to come for me. I want to see
your face when you come.” He sat up and took one of her nipples into his mouth.
“I love your taste. Can I bite you here?”
“Yes,” she hissed at him as she held him
to her. Her body rocked over his faster, so much so that he grabbed her hips to
slow her down. But she wouldn’t have it. As soon as he rolled her to her back
again he took her breast and bit.
His own climax ripped through him. His
breath was knocked from his lungs so much so that when he roared out his
release, he saw stars. When he drew harder on her breast, her hot blood filling
his mouth, his body, he felt her come. She nearly strangled him when her sheath
rippled around him and pulled him deeper. His last thought before he blacked
out was that he wished he had drunk from her nectar and would make sure he did
the next time. And the next. And every time he took her again.
Chapter 8
Andi looked around the alley and noticed
that everything there was dark, wet like it had only just rained. She tried to
move into the light, anywhere but where she was. But couldn’t. Something…someone
was holding her there. When she turned back, that’s when she saw him.
It was a man, but she couldn’t see his
face. He was shadowed, much like the alley was and dark. She didn’t think her
mind thought he was dark like his clothing, but something dark about him. Something…something
that made her think of evil.
“I’ve been following you,” the man said.
She looked behind her and that’s when she saw the woman. “You’ve can’t escape
me now. You’re mine.”
“No. I don’t know you. You have to let
me go.” The woman was easy to see. Her voice high with fear. Andi didn’t know
why, but she took in every detail of her and tried to remember everything there
was about where they were. Something made her think that it would be important
later.
The man moved toward them…the woman. Andi
didn’t think he could see her and realized that it was true. She supposed that
in dreams you could do and be anything you wanted, but she had a feeling that
this might not be a dream. At least not like the dreams she’d had with Mac. Terror
made her whimper and he looked at her for a second before looking at the woman
again.
“Come here.” Andi tried to move again
and felt something tighten around her. “Come here, I said, and I’ll make this
quick for you. And enjoyable if you’d like.”
The woman ran. She really didn’t have
anywhere to go and Andi wanted to scream at her to pick something up, to fight
back, do something other than stand there like one of those dumb blondes in all
those horror movies she’d watched as a kid.
Of course he caught her easily enough.
She posed no threat to him, and Andi got the feeling that he was disappointed
in that. She shivered when he pulled her into his arms with her body pressed
intimately against his. Andi tried to struggle, but stopped when the man looked
her way again.
He turned the woman so that she faced
away from him, her back to his front and her body heaving in terror. He fondled
her breasts and then began licking at her throat. Andi tried to look away, but
couldn’t. The man no longer looked at her, but made a sort of sick love to the
woman in his arms. When he opened her blouse with a knife, she tried to focus on
the knife, anything but what was going on between them. Then she felt his
tongue at her own throat.
“You’re going to come for me. Come so
that I can have your spice.” His voice was hard now, no longer coaxing. “Come
now.”
The woman came. Her body bowed out then
she wrapped her fingers around his neck to seemingly hold on. When he put the
knife against her skin and ran it across her nipples blood trickled down her
chest and onto her belly. The man commanded her to come again and the girl did.
He bit her, the woman; he bit her even as he cut her up. But this time, instead
of her body bowing out, he plunged the knife deep into her chest. A vampire had
just killed the woman.
Her own screams woke her. Putting her
hand to her chest she could almost be sure that she’d come away bloodied, but
she found nothing. Sore, but no wetness. She sat up in bed and rolled out of it
and to the floor. A large shadow loomed over her and she screamed again.
“It’s me. Brandi, it’s me, Mac.” He
moved again and she tried to move away. Nothing was making sense and she was
still terrified. “I’m going to turn the light on. Don’t move. I don’t want you
getting hurt because you can’t see.”
Hurt? Someone had just tried to kill
her. She touched the skin over her heart and was glad there was nothing there. She
looked up at Mac when the light flared to life. She had a thought, something so
quick that she didn’t get a chance to remember it before it was gone, but it
made her more scared than ever.
“He tried to kill me.” She looked away
as she continued. “He plunged a knife in my chest and tried to kill me. No,
that’s not right, not me. Her. He tried to kill her.”
“Who? Did you know who he was, where
they were?” She looked up at him sharply. “Did you see his face?”
Andi shook her head and moved back away
from Mac when he slid off the bed he’d been sitting on and onto the floor where
she was. He didn’t move closer, but she knew that if she tried to leave he’d
grab her.
“No. I didn’t. How did you know what I
dreamed about?” He closed his eyes and she knew that he was going to tell her
it hadn’t been a dream. “A vampire, like you said you were, killed her. Is that
what you’re going to do to me?”
She knew he wasn’t. If he had wanted her
dead she’d be there already. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that he—
“I had the same dream as you. Only…” He
got up now, pulled on a pair of sleep pants, and tossed her the shirt. “Here. You
should get dressed. We have to talk to the queen.”
“I don’t think so. I don’t know what the
hell is going on, but I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what you mean
that you dreamed the same one as me. You did something to me, didn’t you?” She
pulled the shirt over her nakedness and glared at him when he didn’t answer. “Tell
me who that person was. And I want to know how you knew what was going on.”
“I’ve been having these dreams. About
this man, that man, for all of my dark life, since I’d changed into a vampire
myself. He’s a vampire, but not like me. He kills those he drinks from and
I…you’re the only person I’ve ever drank from. I usually take my nourishment
from a bag.” His small laugh made her think he was trying to make a joke. Not a
funny one either.
“So he kills the people he…what did you
call it? Feeds from?” She looked around the room for her clothes and found them
on the back of the chair. “You need to unlock that door now. I want to go
home.”
“You are home. Or at least until I can
find us something of our own.” He started to pace. “I saw you…or he did, I
suppose. He looked at you twice. I couldn’t make you out, but I’m sure he saw
shadows of you. When he kills, it’s as if I’m him. Understand?”
No, she had no idea. She stood up and
walked around him as he moved about the room. She pulled on her pants wondering
fleetingly when she’d taken them off, and decided that she had more important
things to worry about right now and not the way she’d gotten naked with—