Destined Hearts

by Castle, Angela

  Ethan could not resist the temptation before him, dipping his head to taste her lips. Gently running his tongue over her bottom lip until they parted, Ethan closed his own mouth over hers to capture the soft moan.

  He thrust in his tongue, wanting to taste her sweetness. There was not one part of Aria’s soft body he did not relish or enjoy touching and tasting.

  When the only flavor he had had in his mouth for hundreds of years was blood, the taste of this woman was beautifully addictive. He wanted to spend the rest of his existence with her every flavor on his tongue.

  Ethan shifted to cover her body with his without pausing the plundering of her soft, sweet mouth. He glided his fingers up through her scalp, into her silken brown tresses, his fingertips coming across a series of long, raised welts along her scalp. After breaking the kiss, Aria gasping

  for air, he gingerly ran his fingers along the obvious scars. “What happened to you, ma petite, to obtain these?”

  She blinked, momentarily confused; Ethan wanted to smile as it took her a moment to comprehend his question. “Oh, it apparently happened when I was twelve.”

  “‘Apparently?’” He raised his head at her curious use of the word.

  “Well, I don’t remember. I was told by doctors that my family and I were involved in a serious car accident.” Her voice held a slight quaver.

  “A truck driver, who had spent too many hours on the road, swerved into oncoming traffic. While they were killed on impact, I wasn’t but had serious head damage. The biggest part that had been damaged was my memories. I have absolutely no memory of who I was, who my parents were, or anything of my life before the accident.”

  Ethan gently stroked her scars. “Who cared for you after?”

  “I was placed in a foster home and was shuffled around from home to home until I was seventeen. Then I was placed in a home where the family was nice enough, but dear ol’ foster dad had a thing for young girls. I broke his nose when he tried to rape me. Of course no one believed a juvenile delinquent, so I left and didn’t go back.”

  Ethan’s jaw tightened, enraged that a girl such as his beauty had been treated like this, that any man had dared to harm her. He silently vowed he would never allow harm to befall her ever again. “Tell me his name, Aria. I will kill him for you; anyone who has ever hurt you, I will make pay.”

  A smile lit her beautiful face; her hand came up to run her fingers along his jaw line and across his cheek. Ethan closed his eyes, relishing her gentle touch.

  “That’s sweet of you in a very sexy, macho way, but I’d prefer the past stay in the past, thank you.”

  “As you wish, ma petite, but all you need to do is say the word and vengeance is yours,” he promised in all seriousness. “You think I’m sexy?”

  Aria gave a soft laugh, dropping her hand. Ethan caught it, raising her palm to his lips to swirl his tongue around, unable to stop himself

  from tasting more of her.

  “Anyone who is deaf, blind and stupid would know how sexy you are. It’s probably why I can’t resist you.”

  Ethan felt a grin curve his lips; it appealed to his masculine pride that she found him attractive. “Oui, ma petite, I am a hard man to resist,”

  he teased. His reward was a delightful, musical laugh from Aria. “You, too, are irresistible; you have such beauty, strength and spirit.”

  She blushed prettily at his compliment.

  “But tell me what happened once you ran away.”

  The smile fell from her face. As much as he wanted to see her smile again, he wanted her to continue her story. He felt her slow intake of breath beneath him before she let it out again.

  “I was on the streets for only three days. I was pathetic.” She shook her head. “Lots of kids survived on the streets, were tough, but I wasn’t, and I was starting to think about going back to the welfare agency for a new home. I was cold and hungry, huddled and scared shitless wandering the streets. A man propositioned me, and when I told him to go fuck himself, he got angry and tried to drag me into a car. That’s when I met Mae; she saw what had happened and intervened, scaring the guy off with some Mace. She took pity on me, coming from a background of foster homes herself. She took me home and looked after me, made sure I went to school during the day. I found a job at a diner, working to pay my way.

  Though, even with tips, it was just enough to pay rent and buy food and basic essentials. Maybe I’m selfish, but I wanted more than to be just a waitress all my life. I wanted to go to college and study. The years slipped into each other. Mae and I made a comfortable home; we had everything we needed but no more.” Tears slid down the side of her face, making her eyes bright and clear. The way her bottom lip quavered made him want to never stop kissing her.

  “You thought you could make money the way Mae did, I understand, but you are so much better, Aria, in no way selfish. You have a bright, strong spirit. Your beauty shines within and out.” He wanted to kiss away the pain of losing her friend and the memories of a hard life. “If not for Jacob, I would not have you now; he will pay for touching you.”

  He kissed away her salty tears, another flavor he enjoyed. “I will never lie to you, Aria, and I want you to be always honest with me. Can you do that?”

  “Yes.” Her answer was barely a whisper.

  “Then you must know there may be more dangers to come, ma petite. I shall protect you. Do not fear.”

  “I want to know everything,” she told him. “I want to know who you are, why you are and everything in between. Will you tell me?”

  “You may not like some of what I will tell you.”

  Aria pushed at his chest. She was no match for his strength, but he moved off her as she wished it. He flipped onto his back.

  She crawled on top of him, straddling his lower body, and wiped the tears with the palms of her hand. Then, suddenly and sharply, she slapped his chest. “Considering you’ve kidnapped me and chained me to your bed, you damn well better tell me everything. If you keep insisting we are going to be together for a while, don’t you think I have a right to know everything about you, bad and good? Otherwise, I’ll kick your ass across Europe, as it’s obvious that’s where we’re going. You owe me answers, Mr. Ethan of Archalon.”

  Ethan was amazed at the sudden swing from tender, vulnerable woman to feisty vixen. He was mesmerized by the swaying of her bountiful breasts. The crest of his cock touched her soft bottom, making him groan. When he reached up to cup her full breasts, she slapped at his hand.

  “No more wild monkey sex until you’ve told me everything.”

  Ethan smiled, letting his hands slide down her thighs, resting them there.

  “Hmm, belle petite, the idea of wild monkey sex intrigues me, but I promise to tell you anything you wish to know.”

  “Good.”

  Straddling his chest, she moved to swing her legs off him, but he gripped her hips, stilling her. “We shall have this conversation here.”

  “What, with me naked and sitting on top of you? What if I suddenly decide I don’t like what I hear and want to rip your arm off and

  beat you with it?”

  His lips twitched up at the corners. “Such pleasant imagery, Aria. I doubt you have the physical strength for such a task, but you can try if you wish.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Comedian.”

  Her sarcasm was not lost on Ethan. “Where do you wish to start?”

  “From the beginning. Jacob said you were an alien.”

  The smile fell from his face at the mention of Jacob’s name. “What else did he tell you?”

  “Uh-uh, it’s your turn to talk. You’re not going to renege, are you?”

  “I honor my word.”

  “Good, start talking,” she demanded, trying to give him a serious glare, which was extremely difficult to do when you were naked, straddling a delicious, naked man.

  “My home planet was called Archalon.”

  Aria bit back the instant question that popped into her head. She waited to
let him finish before peppering him with questions.

  “We were in a fleet of a hundred and sixty star ships; our solar system’s sun was no longer able to support life, so we were traveling the galaxy in search of a habitable planet when we came into the Earth’s solar system. My family was a part of the ruling body of Archalon; I was next in line to rule and also in charge of scouting possible new planets to colonize.

  Earth seemed habitable, even if its inhabitants were primitive and savage.

  We were very similar in physiology.”

  Aria could not contain the question. “Primitive and savage? Just how long ago did you come?”

  “Nine hundred Earth years ago, about the middle of what you call the twelfth century, A.D.”

  “Wow, I guess humans would have appeared primitive and savage back then.” She shivered on top of Ethan, feeling the chill in the cabin.

  He shifted, pulling her down onto his chest and holding her tight as he rolled them until she was beneath him. He then braced himself on his upper arms so as not to crush her with his weight but cage her in with his warmth. “More comfortable?” That arrogant half smile played upon

  his lips again.

  His body warmth above her and the bed beneath took away the chill. She was more comfortable like this, hot even. “Yes, thank you. Now continue.” Her voice sounded huskier than she had intended.

  “Our scout ship contained twenty crew; three of those were females of our species. We landed in a remote northern part of France, but once we stepped out of our ship and out of our own atmosphere—despite our readings that your planet’s atmosphere was safe, your air had molecules we didn’t pick up on—Earth’s atmosphere started to change our metabolism. The radiation from the sun filtered through the atmosphere had affected our skin. It became sensitive to the light but didn’t knock us out entirely at first. Forty-eight hours after researching and testing the Earth for suitability, we started feeling the effects of the changes to our systems. Our stomachs became sensitive to foods. We started to feel drowsy during daylight hours. Physically, Archalons are naturally stronger than humans, but our senses became heightened along with our speed and strength. By the time we got back to the scout ship with our data, it was too late. The change was almost complete. When we tried to board our ship to join the rest of the fleet, we could not stand our own atmosphere. It caused us crippling pain. We could not breathe.” Ethan drew in a breath and closed his eyes as if seeing it all again in his mind’s eye.

  “The Earth’s sun was killing us, our air would kill us, and we were slowly dying from starvation. After managing to flood the ship with oxygen, we were able to board once again, but it was still no good. We tried every kind of medical procedure to reverse the effects; they even sent supplies down from the other ships. Every one of our top scientists was working on the problem, but it was to no avail. Even if we left Earth, there was nothing for us to eat. We could never walk among our own people without the atmosphere killing us. As leader, I made a decision to sacrifice our crew and ship for the greater good of our people, remain on Earth and find a way to survive. We designated the Earth off limits to our people.

  My father had no choice but to take the fleet and continue our search.

  They finally left the Earth’s solar system to continue the search for a new

  home. He still had my two brothers to pass the ruling line on to.”

  He understood loss more than Aria had given him credit for. He had lost his home and family. It seemed they had much more in common than she had realized.

  “I’m sorry. It must have been hard on all your family to be left behind,” she said in a soft tone.

  His eyes opened, emotion passing across his face before he tucked it away behind a passive mask, but Aria knew better. “How did you figure out you needed blood to survive?”

  “We went among the human population in desperation, seeking help, but we were greeted with hostility, fear and violence. In a pitch to defend ourselves, blood was spilt. The aroma was intoxicating and made us hunger greatly. Luc, my commander, was the first to drink human blood, yet it only sated a part of his hunger. In the beginning, it was bloody. Many people were killed due to the hunger we couldn’t control.

  We became monsters, not unlike what you found when you were placed in the cell. We lived but were not truly alive.”

  “I still don’t understand; if you can’t live off human blood, then how did you survive?”

  “Many of us did not; the humans hunted us down in those early days, believing us to be demons from your hell. Until the day I sunk my teeth into an unsuspecting human peasant girl. Everything changed that night. Her blood cleared my head and took away the horrid cravings. I found I had no wish to kill her. Instead, I took her back to the ship. When she was recovered enough from the first blood loss, I hunted down my crew, who were running wild, and fed her blood to them. We were careful not to harm her, but it was clear that we could not all keep feeding from the one source.”

  “And just how did she feel about this? Did you chain her up like you did to me?” Aria accused.

  Ethan shook his head. “Luc was very fond of Claudia and she of him. Apart from the frightening first bite, Luc took her under his protection. She willingly gave of her blood. There was something different about her and her blood. Using our advanced technology from our scout

  ship, Marc discovered she had a slightly different genetic makeup.

  Claudia’s mother and sister had the same genetic makeup. We promised them wealth and protection in exchange for their regular donation of blood. They became what we dubbed our first ‘blue bloods.’ I made it my mission to seek out others like Claudia and her family to stop our mindless killing of humans.”

  “Do you think your people found a new home?”

  “I can only hope they have.” He looked distant for a moment before getting back on topic. “There were many discoveries over those first hundred years here on Earth and great losses. By the time I had found enough blue bloods to sustain my people, we had lost over half of our original crew due to humans hunting us down. It is only certain human females carry the blue blood strain. Never have we found any males. We learned that with every bite, their blood supply would slowly increase, allowing a greater volume of blood to be taken without having any ill effects. We also learned that blue bloods could conceive our children when Claudia became pregnant to Luc.”

  Chapter Eight

  Aria blinked. Had she heard him right? “Did you say ‘have children’?”

  “Yes. Blue bloods can carry our offspring or the offspring of any vampire.”

  Aria tried to scramble up in a sudden panic. “You mean you could have knocked me up?”

  Ethan frowned. Her use of words was confusing him, but he did not let her up. “I have not struck you, Aria. I would never hurt you.”

  “I meant I could be pregnant. We haven’t used any condoms, and I’m not on any birth control.”

  “This worries you because we are not yet wed?” he asked in all seriousness.

  Aria stared at him as if he’d completely lost his mind. “You son of a bitch!” She hit out at him. “Let me up now.”

  Ethan moved to let her up.

  She scrambled off the bed to pace around the cabin. “How could you do this to me? I had a right to know this kind of information before we fucked.”

  “It matters not, Aria. I shall never let you go. I would be delighted if you have conceived, ma petite.”

  Aria was so pissed off at Ethan in that moment she could almost feel her blood boiling with rage. “Aaahhg!” With hands on her hips, she glared at him. “I know you’ve been out of it for the past two hundred or

  so years, so here’s a quick crash course on modern women. One: we’re liberated and don’t put up with this macho, alpha male crap. Two: we run our own lives. Three: we don’t need a man to make our lives complete.”

  “Is this the part where you wish to rip off my arm and beat me with it?” It was clear he found
her amusing.

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “Did you ever stop to consider what I want? What makes you think I want a backward, Neanderthal, alien vampire, anyway? Do you even care about my feelings? You’re a selfish, heartless bastard; I want you to stay the hell away from me.”

  Ethan was quick off the bed. She slapped at his hands as he slipped his arms around her waist, pulling her tight against him. She beat her fists against his hard chest.

  “You are your name, Aria Tempest—a beautiful song in a raging storm.” He breathed into her hair. “Do not think I care not for you. With all I am, I wish to see you happy. From the moment I first held you in my arms, I knew you were the one I have been searching for all these centuries. I may not know about modern women, but I do know I am a man. I need to protect and provide for those I care most about. I want to do all these things for you and more.”

  Aria stilled her struggles, tears stinging at the back of her eyes. She tilted her head to look up into his emerald depths.

  “Would you wound my pride to deny me these things, a chance to soothe your pain, a chance to make you smile and give you untold pleasure? Could you truly walk away from me knowing that I could turn back into the very monster you saved me from, a monster that is nothing but a mindless killer?”

  Damn him. Of course she cared that others might get hurt if Ethan turned into a monster; this made him her responsibility.

  Her body relaxed in his arms, her softness molding against the hard planes of his chest. His cock was protesting his prolonged hardened state; he longed to sink himself into her again.