Sharp fingernails dug into Cora’s flesh as the vampire grabbed her by the neck. “You don’t need to check your calendar, pretty Cora, because I can guarantee you won’t be available.”
Cora whimpered as the vampire lifted her with one hand, her feet clearing the floor.
I’m going to die.
Thoughts of her imminent death flashed through Cora’s mind. As she clawed at the hand holding her aloft, the small cylinder bit into her palm. Bless Becka.
Barely holding onto consciousness she blindly sprayed the liquid garlic at the vampire.
The vampire screamed, tossing Cora to the floor. “Bitch!”
Cora scrambled backwards as the vampire wiped the spray from her eyes.
“You’re going to die for that.”
She’d been pretty certain she was going to die before. Exactly why, was the detail she was unclear about.
“You’ll never be queen. I’ll kill you before then.”
“Queen?” Cora croaked. That was as much as she could get out through her bruised throat.
“I warned you to leave her alone,” a male voice spoke behind her. Spinning with her spray clutched tightly, Cora turned to see Basil in her doorway.
“She tried to strangle me,” she whispered, still unnerved by the events of the evening. Shaking, she wrapped her arms around herself.
“You bitch, you hurt my cousin.”
Cora looked up in time to see Melinda rush into the room and impale the strange woman with a sword.
“Melinda!”
“Shh, cuz. We’ll talk later. Bitch woman has to die first.”
Screaming, Cora’s attacker fell to the ground.
As Melinda moved in for the kill, the strange vampire grabbed her ankle and flipped her off her feet.
Cora cried out as she saw her cousin fall. The female vampire jumped out the window and, before anyone could move, vanished out of sight.
“Melinda!” She rushed to her cousin’s side only to see her sit up and shake her head.
“I’m fine, just a little dazed. Sorry I didn’t get to kill her though.” Melinda gave her a wry smile. “I never did like Deva.”
“Is that her name?”
“You didn’t know?”
Cora shrugged. “She didn’t introduce herself before she tried to kill me.”
She started to shake all over again.
Melinda wrapped an arm around her, a soothing contact she needed after her harrowing night. “Come on, cuz. You come stay with me. I’ll help you with the nightmares and protect you if anyone else tries to take you out.”
“That’s a good idea. Melinda, I officially name you protector of the crown,” Basil said in a solemn, sonorous voice.
Cora gave a rusty laugh when her cousin looked scornfully at the king. “You don’t need to give me an official title to watch my cousin. I’ve been looking after her since she was a little girl.”
“Nevertheless, you have it. It should also quell any rumours about your lack of an official capacity with the crown.”
Melinda sighed. “Whatever.”
Still shaky from her vampire encounter, Cora let her cousin lead her out.
“How did you get away from psycho lady?” Melinda asked.
Cora showed her the canister. “Becka gave me this.”
“Garlic spray?”
Cora nodded.
“Huh. You should double her salary. That stuff’s expensive.”
“I probably should at that.” If it hadn’t been for Becka’s spray, Cora had no doubt this evening would’ve ended differently. Melinda wouldn’t have arrived in time to stop the psychotic vampire from killing Cora. “Why did she want to kill me?”
“Because Basil wants you for his mate.”
Cora laughed. “Great. I finally get a hot guy interested in me and he comes with a lot of baggage.”
She let Melinda help her into the limousine. Apparently, when you went to rescue your relatives from psycho vampires you took luxury automobiles. Who knew?
The ride back to the castle was done in silence. Cora knew Basil watched her but she didn’t have the energy to care. She had no idea how he thought this entire thing was going to work out but she had no interest in being the undead vampire queen even if the position did have one very sexy perk.
When they arrived at the castle, Melinda led Cora to a spare bedroom and tucked her in. “I’ll have someone go by your apartment and get you some clothes.”
“’kay.” She could feel Melinda hovering over her bed but she was too shaken and exhausted to expend energy making her cousin feel better.
“Well, if you need anything…”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Yes, you will.” A maternal kiss landed on her head. She heard her cousin move away, then the sound of the door opening and closing.
Sighing, Cora closed her eyes and tried to will the troubling thoughts away.
Chapter Four
Cora awoke to someone stroking her forehead. Instinctively, she turned into the soothing touch.
“That’s it, my sweet, I’ll keep you safe.”
Blinking she looked up into the amused green eyes of the vampire king. With a strangled scream she sat up in bed. “What are you doing here?”
“Watching over you.”
“Um. Thanks.” That wasn’t the least bit freaky, nope. Then she remembered stripping out of her clothes before going to bed last night. She scooted a little further away from the vampire.
Basil frowned at her. “You don’t have to be afraid of me.”
“I’m not afraid of you. I…I don’t have any clothes on.”
The vampire gave her a wicked smile. “I don’t see that as a problem.”
“Shoo. Go away while I dress.”
“You are always telling me to go. For once I’d like you to ask me to stay.” His green eyes glowed as he watched her. For a moment she wondered if he could see through the blankets.
Cora sighed. “You’re not very good at the listening thing, are you?”
“I’m very good at hearing things that are important. But I believe you’re mistaken about wanting me to leave. I think you really want me to stay and join you in your lonely bed.”
“You really are delusional.” She hoped he wasn’t scanning her mind. Cora didn’t need the overly confident vampire to know she thought he was the sexiest thing with fangs she’d ever seen.
“Is it the vampire thing? Do you have a thing against vamps? I can understand that, after Deva attacked you, but I’ve done nothing to you.”
Except make her wet between the legs and her nipples stand at attention like Rover wanting a treat.
A wide smile crossed the king’s face. “Oh, I see now. You want me.”
Before she could form a thought he stripped off his shirt, exposing miles of pale flawless skin. Normally she liked her men a little more tanned, but in that moment she couldn’t find it in herself to care. It took all her effort not to leave a puddle of drool on the bedding.
“I—I don’t think this is a good idea.” There, she’d made her token protest. Surely she could get resistance points for that.
“I’ll give you all the points you want, honey, as long as you don’t mind me sliding one of them into your hot hole.”
Cora burst out laughing. She laughed so hard tears dripped from her eyes. “That has to be the worst line anyone has ever used on me, and that includes the dryad who went on and on about his wood.”
Wiping the tears from her eyes she saw Basil’s chagrined expression. Damn, he was adorable, cheesy lines and all. Of course, the lack of shirt helped his case, too.
She couldn’t think of one good reason not to let him in her bed. It wasn’t like she was against relations with paranormals—her past dates were proof of that. Just because she hadn’t been attracted to any of them didn’t make her less willing to date paranormals.
While she was still mulling over dating the vampire king, he slid into bed with her and covered her with his body. His
larger form pushed her into the mattress.
At the sensation of his smooth bare skin, Cora had to concentrate on not coming immediately.
“I’ve had dreams about feeling your skin against mine.”
“Really?” Her mind raced as she remembered how hours ago he’d turned into an eagle. “How can you be an eagle?”
He looked down at her with a hot, sincere expression. Supporting his weight with his upper arms, he covered her entire body from chest to toes with his warm, masculine presence. The scent of flowers and ash filled her nose. Strange but not unpleasant, more late-night camp fire than mortuary.
“I was born a vampire, not made. Which is why I have talents the others don’t.”
“Alexis doesn’t…at least I don’t think he does.” She hadn’t had a chance to talk to her cousin much lately but she was almost positive Melinda would have mentioned if her future husband could turn into a bird.
Basil leant down and pressed a sexy kiss on her cheek. It was more sweet than sexual but her body heated up faster than a race car engine. “We aren’t truly brothers. He was my first made and with me the longest. There are no blood ties between us. I am the last of my kind until I bond with my mate and create children of my own.”
“Children?” This was obviously more than a brief fling to the sincere man hovering over her. “I didn’t think vampires could have children.” A stupid thing to say after he’d just told her he was born, but until that moment she’d thought all vampires were made.
“Only between a vampire and a mortal woman.”
“Oh.” Good thing she was on the pill.
Basil gave her a wicked smile. “We will talk of this later. Right now I want to make love with you.”
She didn’t know if it was the sexy accent or the hot eyes, or maybe it had been just too freaking long since she felt a man inside her, but Cora reached between them and slid down the covers.
Basil slipped off the bed and whipped the covers the rest of the way back.
“The angels must have cried the day you left heaven,” he mused. Cora blushed as he unbuckled his pants and lowered the zip. The man obviously didn’t bother with underwear—as his heavy cock fell through the opening and pointed at Cora.
Her mouth watered with the need to taste. She didn’t have a lot of experience sucking men off, few of her dates ever got to that point, but in that moment she desperately wanted to feel Basil in her mouth.
“Can I?”
The vampire gave a broken laugh, quickly divesting himself of the rest of his clothing. “Like I would ever say no to that, especially with the images going through your mind.”
He started to climb back on the bed.
“No. Stand right there.” She sat up on the bed and spread her thighs so he could stand in the vee of her legs. Pressing her hands against the back of his knees, she urged him closer. He quickly stepped forward. She marvelled at the heat of his skin. She’d always thought vampires would be cooler to the touch. Basil’s skin warmed her hands and the crinkly hairs on his legs tickled her fingers. Neither fact received more than cursory attention, however, when she had other, more important things to focus on.
His long cock lined up with her mouth as she sat on the low bed. The perfect height.
Sliding her hands up the back of his legs, she squeezed his ass before settling her touch on his hips. She tentatively leant forward and licked the tip, capturing the clear, leaking fluid with her tongue.
“Oh fuck,” Basil whispered.
A powerful rush heated her core as she enjoyed her control over the powerful man towering above her. Cora might not have had a lot of practice but she did have some experience. A low growl made her look up.
“If you want this to go any further you won’t think about any other men you might have experimented on.”
“You could stop reading my mind!” Even during a blow job the man couldn’t give up his control. She wondered how he’d do if she tied him up.
“But then I wouldn’t know about the Fae prince you dated for two months…and I don’t do well being confined.”
Cora ignored his bondage comment. If they pursued a relationship, she had all the time in the world to change his mind. Instead she addressed the other issue. “Look a little deeper and you’ll figure out why he’s history,” Cora dared.
Basil ran his fingers through his hair. She could see he wanted to yank it all out; she tended to have that effect on men. “I can’t believe we’re having an argument when I could be enjoying your mouth on me.”
Cora shrugged. “Your choice.”
A growl left his throat. It was cute in an ‘I’m going to snap and bite you’ kind of way.
Her back hit the mattress as a large, annoyed vampire lost patience and pinned her to the bed. He moved off her enough to wrap one hand around both of her wrists and pull her the rest of the way onto the bed. Hmm, she could see he didn’t mind bondage if she was the one confined.
“We need to get one thing straight, my sweet one. You can push, prod and annoy me all you want, but when it’s time for bed, I’ll be the only one keeping you company.”
“Maybe.” Cora wasn’t going to give an inch. Her aunt told her once to start any relationship the way she planned on continuing it. She had a feeling if she didn’t lay down the law right now with Basil, she would always give in to his demands.
The vampire king smiled. Not the reaction she was expecting. “You think if you annoy me enough I’ll decide you aren’t worth all the trouble, don’t you?”
“It usually works.” Damn, she’d never had a man figure that part out before. Her defence mechanism was to ditch the man before he ditched her. A psychologist had once told her she had abandonment issues. Her father had died when she’d been young and her mother had quickly followed. Her aunt essentially raised her and her cousin Melinda alone. When Melinda died in an accident it took little thought and only brief begging to have her aunt bring her back from the dead. Problem was, her cousin hadn’t appreciated the favour.
Hopefully now that Melinda was in a relationship of her own, her aunt and cousin could move past their differences.
“It won’t work with me.”
Basil’s hot tongue lapping across her nipple snapped her back to the present. Memories of her cousin and aunt fighting slipped away as she fell beneath the spell of the sexy vampire’s surprisingly hot mouth. With a bounty of hard muscles and silky skin she didn’t know where to rest her hands. She slid her fingers into his thick black hair ready to yank him back if his touch started to hurt. Her breasts had always been super sensitive and it was easy for the wrong touch to go from exciting to painful.
A fang scraped across her nipple. Cora gasped as her back arched off the bed and liquid gushed between her thighs.
The vampire looked up with a wicked grin. “I think I found the spot.”
He gripped her thighs, pulling them apart so he could slide down between them. Cora missed his touch on her breasts for only a second before his amazing mouth lapped at the apex of her femininity.
“Oh shit,” Cora moaned as he sucked and nibbled. She didn’t know what the fuck else he was doing but she’d give him anything if he kept it up for the next thousand years. Wave after wave, the orgasms came fast and furious until she was drained, and muscles she didn’t know she had ached from clenching.
“Please,” she sobbed. “I can’t take any more.” Her body was too sensitive to the touch and her nerves tingled with sensation.
“Shh, I’ve got you.” Relief went through her when he finally lifted his mouth. She barely noted his body sliding up across hers before he lifted her legs and pushed inside.
Her body, primed beyond belief by his previous attention, clamped down on him as another orgasm ripped through her.
“Yes,” he moaned. He moved inside her with rough, needy strokes as if he were already driven to the brink by the taste and feel of her. “I’m so close.”
“Ahhh,” she cried. Was it possible for a woman to have t
his many orgasms and not die of dehydration?
Basil laughed against her throat. “You are the most infuriating woman.”
Cora didn’t get the chance to reply because at that moment he plunged his fangs into her throat. She jolted with a powerful orgasm as he drank from her vein. Completely exhausted, her body shut down and she welcomed the blackness.
Basil licked the wound, pleased when it healed instantaneously. The transference had worked. As much as he enjoyed going down on her, there was a method to his lovemaking. At the moment of penetration she’d been too far gone to insist he wear a condom. When his semen had entered her system it had started her transformation towards creating a viable environment for his seed. She wouldn’t get pregnant, not this time—he wasn’t that much of a bastard. He’d only prepared her for giving birth to the next set of royals. True vampire children to lead the new generation of vampire kind and rebuild his family’s dynasty.
Smiling, he left the bed to clean up and returned to wipe her down so she wouldn’t feel sticky in the morning. Tomorrow he would move her into his suite. Now that they were bonded, she would need to live with him.
Feeling indulgent, he stroked her hair back from her face. “I’ll even let you organise a wedding if you’d like,” he whispered to the still form.
He slid back into bed and snuggled up with his mate. Everything would be fine now. Cora was his.
* * * *
“Ow.” Basil sat up in bed clutching his stomach. “You hit me.” He glared at the hellion who’d taken over his mate’s body. Obviously a doppelganger had appeared in the night and replaced his sweet Cora with this angry creature.
“You screwed me without protection.” She punched him again.
“Stop that. You aren’t pregnant.” He read her concerns easily since she was practically announcing them to the world. Hell, the entire compound probably knew that she was mad at him.
“And you can ensure that!”
“Yes, I can.” His calm reassurance took the edge off her ire.
“What about disease?”
“Vampires can’t get disease or carry it.”
Colour Me Undead Page 3
