He lifted his chin, revealing his neck. “Bite me,” he rasped.
Her fangs extended and she didn’t hesitate to bite down on the side of his neck. He roared, rolling his hips, deep inside her channel as he bathed her with his release. Her vaginal walls seized as pleasure swept through her in waves.
“Jenny…” He let out a guttural groan and his animalistic sound of ecstasy turned her on even more.
He was an amazing lover. She relished his taste on her tongue and the way he completely possessed her with every masterful thrust of his hips. Jenny withdrew her fangs from his flesh and cried out, lost in the throes of a powerful orgasm that left her writhing beneath him. His back bowed and he shuddered as warm semen poured inside her. He moved languidly, deep within her body until both their spasms passed.
“Did I take too much?” Jenny locked gazes with him.
“I outweigh you by over a hundred pounds. I think I can handle what you take from me. Besides, I fed before I came to find you.”
Before she could respond, he covered her mouth again. Their tongues meshed together greedily until she finally broke away.
“I see. You were planning ahead, were you?”
“Always.”
She kissed his swollen lips, her fangs still extended. The hunger for the man in her arms consumed her. “You’re still hard.”
“I am.” His voice was husky and full of need.
“Want to go for round two?” She grinned.
“And three and four…”
She giggled loudly as he tickled her side. They made love several more times throughout the day until she fell into a peaceful slumber with him wrapped protectively around her. Her last conscious thought was of Marley. Hopefully, she was okay.
* * * * *
“Jenny…” Marley’s voice lulled her awake.
How did I get outside?
She rubbed her arms and noticed the snow falling lightly to the ground. “Marley, what are you doing outside?” Her friend was twirling around in a circle and for some odd reason the color of her skin reminded Jenny of the fallen snow.
“Don’t you just love this place? It’s beautiful here.”
“It’s wonderful here. Let’s go back inside.”
“It’s too warm inside.” She twirled around in the white fluffy powder.
“Is everything all right?” She watched her friend, bewildered by her strange behavior.
“Come with me, I want to show you something.” She gestured with an outstretched hand.
What the…
“Right now? It’s the middle of the night and it is freezing out here. Tomorrow I’ll go with you if it’s cloudy. Let’s go inside. I’m freezing out here.” Something was off about the situation. But she tried to dismiss her reservations.
“I’m going to make snow angels, you want to join me?” Marley fell back in the snow.
“What?” She stared at Marley and shivered.
“You heard me. Come on, it’s fun. See, lie on your back and glide your arms back and forth like this.” She demonstrated.
“I’ll pass.” She glanced back at the den, seriously considering whether to leave Marley and go back inside. Cuddling up next to her mate sounded like a better idea than making snow angels.
“If you don’t want to frolic in the snow, how about we go explore the scenery? I think it’s quite beautiful here. Don’t you?” She twirled around in a circle and then paused. Her fingers went up to her face and she giggled as if something struck her as funny.
“I can’t.” Foreboding traveled up her spine. “You’re acting really strange. What’s wrong with you?”
“This is all new to me. What’s odd about wanting to go check things out?”
“It’s the middle of the night, Marley.”
“Who cares—we’re vampires. The night is our time, remember?” That was an odd thing to say. But perhaps she was right.
“I know I’m right.” Marley quickly seized her wrist and a strange sensation came over Jenny.
“W-Wait, what are you doing? Stop!” There was a familiarity that made her skin crawl.
“Too late for that, my dear, you and I are going on a little trip.” Marley’s voice sounded hollow and strange as they both traced.
Jenny felt the cool pavers beneath her feet and a warm breeze swept through her hair. Cement walls were covered in graffiti. “This isn’t funny, Marley.”
“We’re back at home, don’t you recognize this place?” Marley’s voice sounded hollow and strange.
“I know where we are, damn it.” Then it hit her, the dream. Central Park.
Oh shit.
“These are excellent hunting grounds. You should try drinking from humans sometime. It tastes so much better than that bag stuff you’ve been told to consume. Oh, wait, that’s right. You don’t drink from a bag because Dane fulfills your needs.” Her tone was full of disgust.
Please don’t be doing what I think you’re doing.
Jenny cringed as she slowly turned to face Marley. There behind her back, she held the body of a small child. A baby boy who was probably not even two.
How did she kill him so quickly? We just got here. This can’t be happening.
Dear god, it wasn’t a dream.
A laugh echoed through the tunnel.
“How could you hurt an innocent child? Why, Marley?” The baby hung lifeless, blood dripping on the ground behind Marley. Tears welled up in Jenny’s eyes. It was just a child. How cruel to take such an innocent life before it even began.
“Fate…” She lifted the child’s neck to her lips with a grin. “Remember the dream?” She bit into the child’s throat. Jenny stood there frozen in horror at the sight of what her friend was doing.
“Marley, stop it!” she shrieked.
“Mm…why should I deny myself? I have no empathy toward these pathetic humans. They’re food.” She sank her fangs back in and continued to drink.
“No!” Jenny screamed as her eyes snapped open. She sat straight up in bed.
“What’s wrong?” Dane reached for her.
“Oh god, it was a dream. Not real.”
“Come here.” He drew her against the warm planes of his chest. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“I-I don’t know why I keep having this same damn nightmare about Marley. I think I’m going to be sick.” She took deep breaths to control the spasms in her stomach as she recoiled from the ghastly images in her mind.
She climbed out of bed and walked over to the window. She shuddered as she tried to calm down. Two powerful arms protectively encircled her.
“Maybe it happened because you’ve been worried about her,” Dane whispered.
“The nightmare changed. Something’s wrong.” She pushed him away.
“I think you’re reading too much into this. You’re worried about her and it’s probably affecting your subconscious.”
“You’re probably right.” She sighed, following him back to bed. The dream was vivid though. She stared at her feet and noticed tiny remnants of leaves and debris clinging to her pajama bottoms. “What if I was really there?”
“I know I’m right. If she left, Harris would’ve alerted us.”
That made sense but then where did the leaves come from? “Can we go check on her?”
“Sure.” He threw his clothes on.
“What if they’re…you know, busy?”
“Then they’ll tell us to go away. Come on, get dressed.”
They traced outside their room and Jenny rested her ear against the door to listen. “I don’t hear anything. It’s quiet. They’re probably asleep, let’s go.”
Dane sniffed the air. “Something’s wrong.” He kicked the door open and found Harris lying on the floor with a large slash on his throat.
“Dane…” Harris rasped as air escaped from the gaping hole in his throat.
“Who did this to you?” Dane knelt next to him.
“Marley. She attacked me while I slept. I fought her off before she ripped my throat out. I can’t believe it. She got me good.” He coughed up blood.
“Your mate did this?” Dane froze, surprise and worry etched on his handsome face. Jenny couldn’t comprehend her friend doing anything that vicious. It had to be a mistake.
“Yess-s…” Harris hissed, his eyes glassy and unfocused.
Jenny could see the profound hurt in his eyes and it broke her heart that her friend would do such a terrible thing to someone she supposedly loved. Maybe her mind had snapped or something. None of it made sense. “Why would Marley do this?”
“I’m going after her. We need to put a stop to this before she kills more victims,” Dane snarled.
“Wait. What are you going to do when you find her? You’re not going to kill her, are you?” She panicked at the angry expression that blanketed his features. Her friend might’ve mentally lost it, which kind of explained her weird behavior earlier. Marley was a lot of things but a killer wasn’t one of them. Jenny wasn’t about to let Dane hurt her.
“Did you see what she did to Harris?” He pointed to Harris’ wounds.
“Don’t hurt my mate.” Harris seized Dane’s arm. “Promise me.”
“I’ll try not to,” he said to him. “I need to gather the pack. Stay with Harris.”
“She’s not here.” Jenny rose to her feet. “I know where she is though. But I’m not telling you where unless I can go with you.”
“We don’t have time for fucking guessing games. Lives are at stake here.” Dane gave her a forbidding glare.
The memory of the small child surfaced again.
He’s right. I can’t let her kill anyone else. It’s time to draw the line.
“She’s hunting in Central Park.” She covered her mouth to prevent a sob from escaping her lips. Maybe the dreams were a premonition of things to come. But tonight she could’ve sworn she was really there.
All of it churned inside her mind like a jumbled clusterfuck, and trying to figure out what was real or her subconscious wreaking havoc was maddening.
“I better go. Hunters are patrolling the park and they won’t hesitate to turn your friend into ash if they catch her.”
“I’m coming too.” He wasn’t going to leave her behind this time.
“No. You’re staying here and that’s final.”
“Don’t talk to me like I’m a freaking child. I want to help.” She hated the way he treated her like she was inferior.
“You can help by staying here. You’re not equipped to fight our kind and I don’t want to be distracted.”
She hated to admit he was right. If she couldn’t meet the challenge then she’d only be in the way. “All right, I’ll stay here. But promise me you’ll do everything in your power to save her.” A rush of emotions brought a sting of tears to her eyes.
“You have my word.” He touched her cheek reassuringly.
She nodded as his warmth and addictive scent enfolded her, calming her frayed nerves. “Thank you.” She lifted up and gave him a light kiss on his lips.
“I hope you know I’d never purposely hurt anyone you cared about.”
Her mouth opened wordlessly. She didn’t know what to say. Trust was still apparently an issue between them.
“Where the hell is Ta’breyian? He was supposed to be back by now.” He took a step back. “I must go.”
“I need blood. It will help me heal faster.” Harris gritted his teeth as the words came out almost garbled.
“Hold on, I’ll get you some.” Dane scowled and traced from the room.
Jenny took a seat next to Harris. “I’m really sorry Marley did this to you. It doesn’t make sense.”
He slowly pivoted his face toward hers and the brief flash of hurt in his eyes made her heart squeeze. It was so sad, what Marley’d done to him.
“I-I truly believed she loved me. Maybe it was too much for her and she snapped under the strain.”
“There’s no way of knowing for sure until we find her.” She could feel her brows furrow in response to her worry. What could she say to him to make it better? What Marley had done to her mate was a vicious and deliberate act of violence.
You don’t rip out the throat of someone you supposedly love.
Dane returned with several bags of blood. He bit into one and lifted Harris up to help him drink it. At first the blood spilled out of the wound but as it did the flesh began to fuse together. When he finished the first bag, he was given another. He drank two more. When he finished, the large gash in his throat was almost completely healed.
“Here.” Dane handed Jenny a bag. “I want you to drink one too.”
“Why?” She stared down at the red liquid swishing around inside the clear plastic. She suddenly had no appetite. Her stomach rolled and she had to swallow hard a few times to keep the rising tide churning inside her belly from spilling out. “Not hungry.” She gave it back to him.
“I want you strong in case we’re attacked.” He punctured the film with his fangs and drank it down. His expression was clearly irritated by her refusal. But he didn’t force the issue.
“Can’t—feel sick,” Jenny unwillingly admitted.
“I’m going after her.” Harris rose, swaying as he stood.
“Give it a few minutes, you’re still too weak,” Dane cautioned him.
“I can’t wait, she’s in danger.” He traced from the room.
“Damn him, he’s going to get himself killed. I’m going after him.”