Vampire King of New York (33 page)

She sank further into the sweet relief. With her eyes half closed, Evelyn asked, “What are you going to do?”

“Move forward.”

She inched up. “Why?”

Max got into the tub behind her. He eased in, his legs on either side of her. “Lean back against me.”

Evelyn leaned back against him. He caressed her hair. The pleasant hot water swirled against every inch of her immersed skin. Max was making up the difference everywhere else, taking a soft loofah, caressing her neck, her shoulders, her arms, her breasts. “Oooh.” While her mind cleared and relaxed, the inner shaking stopped. Tension dissolved and under Max’s fingertips every ache slipped away and was replaced with the delicious awakening of desire.

“Is that the only thing you can think about?”

He kissed her neck. “My love, when I am with you, you’re all I think of.”

She laughed, shaking her head. “Maximum, I accuse you of thinking about sex and you use that old fashioned language of yours and make it sound all romantic.”

He nibbled her ear. “It is romantic. We’re going to have a very romantic life. I’m going to take you around the world for our honeymoon, and we’re going to make love in all those places.”

Her self-control had completely disintegrated when his hands slipped beneath the water and probed her lower lips. She was trapped, his arms holding her down.

“Max,” she breathed. “Okay, Maximum, you win.” She pushed against his fingers sending them deeper. His large rod pressed against her behind. It was awkward, but she managed to turn her head to look at him. “Please, release me.”

He paused but then he did, his hands settling lightly on her hips.

She turned around in the water, tickling him. In the midst of splashing and laughing, they embraced. His kiss sent liquid heat rushing through her veins spurring her to action. She wanted more. Evelyn moved slightly, and they were joined. Max’s head fell back with his ecstatic smile.

Maximum, you’re mine.

You’re mine too
.

They nuzzled and kissed. It hit them both at the same time.

“Did we just mindtalk?” They turned to each other in surprise.

“We did.” That led to more kissing. Evelyn hugged him so hard she couldn’t contain herself. This also translated into squeezing him hard inside. He lurched forward, pounding into her. She pushed down with all her energy, all her strength. They clung to each other, as the wild dance grew more and more fierce, more and more hungry. With one hand on her breast, his thumb rubbing across a very tight nipple, his other hand rested firmly on her hip pushing her down onto him.

Evelyn arched her back. Her head fell back, but the only sound she could make was a choked off scream. She fell on him and bit his shoulder.

Max growled, “You are my Evie.”

Pinwheels of pleasure stroked every part of her body, and it was so nice that with her face against his neck, she drifted into a white, warm, gushy world where everything felt perfect.

Max was carrying her to the bed, when she came to. “I passed out again, didn’t I?” She looked up at him, blurry-eyed.

“You did. You also bit me again. You’re more savage than a vampire.” He threw back the covers and then unrolled her from the towel onto the cool blue linen.

“Oh, no.”

He chuckled, throwing the towel onto a chair. “Move over.” He slid into the bed beside her. “I liked it.” He winked at her. “A lot.”

Yawning, she settled against a pillow. “What are we doing now?”

“You’re getting some sleep, and I’m staying with you.”

“Why?” She rubbed her eyes.

“I enjoy the act of sleeping, especially with you.”

They hugged and he covered them both with the comforter. He kissed her lower lip, more like nibbled on it.

When Max next opened his eyes, it was two o’clock in the afternoon. He lingered in bed enjoying the feel of Evelyn against him. She whimpered in her sleep. Perhaps a dark dream tormented her. He stroked her cheek with his thumb.

“I’m here, my love.”

She sighed and rolled over, murmuring his name. He carefully moved a gold curl that had fallen over one eye. Though tempted to kiss and nibble her, he didn’t. Being human, Evelyn needed her sleep. Being her past and future husband, Max had to put her needs above his own.

Sliding carefully out of bed, he reached for his robe and put it on. Max walked to the doorway to the small balcony, which had served as a fortunate escape route a few days earlier. A little sun wouldn’t hurt him if he didn’t linger. Max stepped out into the afternoon air.

Chapter 21

“So they call you Max now.” Ruxandra hovered parallel with the balcony. As a daywalker, sunlight was not her concern. Her raven hair hung in lustrous waves clinging to her curves, her round large breasts, diminutive waist, and ample hips. A sheer black fabric fluttered over her naked body. Her gold eyes bored into him, salvaging through his thoughts. Max put up all the barriers to the sight, sounds, and scent of her. She was the embodiment of sex from hell.

Blocking his thoughts from her probing, he stepped backward through the doorway to the balcony. She immediately landed and rushed toward him. The magic wall set by the elves held. She could not touch him, if he remained inside the house.

“How long do you think you’ll be safe in there? Sooner or later, I’ll defeat the magic. Sooner or later, you or your pet will need to leave the house.”

Max glared at her. He remained safely inside.

“You should thank me.”

“For what? Imprisoning me so I lost my wife and children? Turning me into a creature that could never go home?”

Ruxandra grinned. “For not snapping the neck of your pet when I had the chance. She is quite the pathetic and frail creature. I half expected to find a vampiress by your side, a consort befitting King Maximillion Vander Meer.” The ancient one not looking a day over sixteen chuckled. “They call you King Max.”

Anger simmered in his veins. Max didn’t want to lose control or he might step toward her and that would be a fatal mistake.

“You’re very attached to her, this pale little one. It is a mistake you know. She will get old and ill and die, and it will happen too fast. Then where will you be? Alone and hungry for love?”

“I will change her.”

“No.” She shook her head. “You won’t. You might be good at blocking my way to your thoughts, but not her. I can read her easily. She doesn’t want to be like us and has made you promise. So you can never change her. It’s a doomed relationship, Max.”

“Why are you here, Ruxandra?”

“Queen Ruxandra to you.” She charged the invisible wall, but the magic threw her back.

“Why are you here?” Max stood his ground. He wanted to find some clue to defeat her.

“For you, of course.”

“Me? You have many slaves.”

“Tsk, tsk. Max, I don’t have you. You escaped me, and no one escapes me. I’ve been hunting you for centuries. At times, I would lose track of you. When I could not feel your presence, I sent out others looking for you, and collected all the names you traveled under. Then you were gone again, and I didn’t know your newest name.”

Max was proud that he was able to defeat the connection between him and his sire. Using every charm, changing identities many times, even asking the wandering people for help, he had managed through magic and chemistry to shake her off his trail.

Ruxandra paced now. At times, she stopped and stared at him. At other times, she looked out over the city.

“You’re coming with me, Max.”

“No, I’m not.”

Stopping, Ruxandra turned to him. “Understand this. I almost killed the little pet you’re attached to. Next time I will, without any hesitation, especially since I know how much she means to you.”

“You won’t get the chance.”

“I will. You know that.” She smiled, and Max fought the waves of sexual attraction washing over him. To say she was not hot would be a lie. Ruxandra was hot and deadly. Her allure made the power of the sirens pale. “Think with reason. I will not leave without you. If you do not come out, I will amuse myself by killing your precious Arnhem Knights. My minions will munch on the human occupants of your city. Sooner or later, you will have to come out and I’ll be here.”

He stood firm behind the elven barrier.

She pursed her lips tightly in thought. He could feel her constant poking and probing and kept his thoughts sealed tight behind an inner wall.

“I will make an agreement with you, and I never make agreements.”

Max watched her every gesture with her hands. Swaying she walked toward him as close to the barrier as she dared.

“If you come willingly with me, I will spare the vampires and humans of your realm. I will leave and take my followers with me.” She stepped back and held out her hand.

“How do I know you’re not lying?”

“I swear on the blood.”

There. She did it. Every vampire avoided the term ‘swear on the blood’ for it obligated them in a promise that could never be broken. What force persuaded them to keep their word was beyond memory, but it existed and there were stories of the dreadful things that happened to vampires that swore on the blood and then turned their backs on a solemn oath.

Evelyn slept peacefully in the room behind him. It was tempting to just shutter the balcony doors and climb back into bed with her, hold her, breathe in that fragrance of her. Max longed to kiss her once more. He knew if he did, he would never leave her. Imprisoned in his house, the city would fall victim to the appetites of her followers. His Arnhem Knights would be destroyed by one more versed in the art of deception and war.

“She may not forget you, Max, but at least she’ll have her life to start again. She’ll have a husband and children again, and she will be happy. So don’t think you have to be with her.”

Ruxandra was right. Evelyn didn’t need him. He was the weak one. He was the one who needed her. In his mind, he kissed her one last time, savoring the heat of her love in those perfectly plump fuchsia lips. He dared not move. Max didn’t want Ruxandra to know how close his lifemate actually was. Lifemate. He would never forget her. He would die a little each day knowing he had to give her up. In his dreams, he could love her even though in her life he would grow more and more a memory.

“Come. You reek of her. I’m going to change that.”

He stepped beyond the barrier and took her hand.

Chapter 22

Evelyn sat up screaming, clutching the pain in her gut. “Max,” she called. “Max!” Running to the balcony and its opened doors, she found Max’s black silk bathrobe in a heap on the stone floor. Fearfully looking out, she reached for it and pulled it inside to safety. Pain radiated from it. Hugging it, she collapsed in tears.
Laura, I need you. Max is gone.

Noblesse was in the house and heard her scream. She was the first one there. David and Laura came soon after. Even though there were still two hours before sunset, the Arnhem Knights were fully activated.

David walked out onto the balcony to examine the scene of Max’s abduction. Laura sat on the floor next to Evelyn.

“Did you hear anything?”

“No. I was sleeping. He’s in pain, Laura. I can feel the pain coming from him.” Tears streamed down her face unabated. “I’ve got to go to him. I can find him.”

David walked back into the room. “I can track him too, but right now we’re going to keep our heads and do the smart thing. We’re going to lock up the house and go to the Arnhem Society to plan. Nothing has ever gotten into the Arnhem Society.”

“David, her minions have been spotted leaving the city.” Noblesse had obviously mindtalked with other Arnhem Knights.

Evelyn grabbed some clothes and went into the bathroom to change. She hadn’t noticed that her sister came in with her. Shaking, she tried to untie the knot in the robe’s belt.

“Here. Let me help you.” Laura worked the knot until it loosened and untied.

Evelyn got dressed more quickly with Laura’s assistance. Then they rejoined the others and left for the garage. Once they were out of the drive, Vincent steered the limo quickly into traffic. Seconds later, they were in another garage and sinking below the pavement into an underground structure.

She’d been to the Arnhem Society many times but never through the garage system. Next they were out of the car and ushered into an elevator, which opened into the foyer with its wondrous floor. There was no time to admire it. With David on one side of her and Laura on the other, they hurried up two flights of stairs and burst into the council chambers.

One vampire seeing Evelyn said, “She is human. She has no right being here.”

“I’m Max’s lifemate,” she protested.

Laura smiled.
You did well. The council cannot ask you to leave, if you have accepted Max as your lifemate. By saying so, you are announcing your acceptance of Max.

Evelyn still held onto Laura’s arm. The council grew quiet. Then one vampire said, “Come we must go to the war table to strategize.”

They moved to a table on one side of the room. On it was a detailed map of the city.

“Ruxandra’s minions were seen in the tunnels heading for Jersey,” Noblesse said.

“That’s bad. If he’s moved outside the state limits, it’s beyond our domain,” one vampire added.

“We will have to ask the King of New Jersey for permission to enter his territory. We don’t have an alliance with them,” another council member said.

“No!” Evelyn shouted, pounding her fists on the map. “You don’t understand. We don’t have time for that. Max has been exposed to the sun. She’s fed on him repeatedly. She’s torturing him. By the time we ask permission, it will be too late. We have to go now.”

David turned to one of the vampires standing guard in the room. “Go to the King of New Jersey, tell him we will be entering his realm to rescue our king and beg his tolerance, and would welcome his assistance.”

Evelyn stepped forward. “No, David, please, let me. I don’t know how I know, but I know just what to say.” She turned to the courier. “Please, send my greetings as the lifemate of the King of New York to the King of New Jersey. I humbly request his tolerance of our entrance into his domain to retrieve our king from a predator that threatens both realms. We would welcome his assistance. In honor of his tolerance of our temporary presence there, we will name our first born after him, if that pleases his majesty.”