A wave of heat rose inside her.
“Need…” Duncan muttered again. “You.”
And she needed him.
The sharp edge of his teeth raked over her skin, but he didn’t hurt her. Had he ever?
Then his hands were on her shirt. He yanked, and the fabric tore. He tossed the material away. Shoved down her pants.
He lifted her into his arms. “Can’t think of anything…else…only you.”
Right then, he was all that mattered to her. “I was afraid I wouldn’t see you again.” Her confession.
“I’ll never leave you.” The promise was a man’s, not a beast’s.
Then they were in her bedroom. The lights were off. Like her wolf needed light to see. The mattress dipped beneath them. She expected wild, hot sex. He was coming off the full moon rush. Everyone had said this would be him at his most dangerous but…
But he was so careful with her now. As if he were afraid she couldn’t handle him. Silly werewolf. Was he forgetting what she really was?
His fingers pushed down her panties. Tugged away her bra. Then he was licking her. Licking her nipples. Sucking the tight peaks. Driving her out of her mind.
Her nails clawed down his back as she tried to force him to go faster. She didn’t need this slow build-up. She needed him. All of him. Holly didn’t know how much time they had.
But he wouldn’t hurry. He parted her legs. Put one hand on each thigh.
Then he put his mouth on her.
The first orgasm caught her by surprise. Holly hadn’t expected it to come so fast, but he licked her, stroked her with his tongue right on her clit, then pulled back, only to repeat that sensuous pattern and the release hit her, slamming into her.
But he didn’t stop. He kept tasting her. Stroking. Learning every inch of her body. When she tried to lunge up and grab him, he just caught her hands in one of his and pushed her back on the bed.
There was no stopping him. No controlling him. He was set on exploring every inch of her body.
Claiming every inch?
Her breath panted out and she took the pleasure that he gave her.
Her sex was aching, so eager to feel the surge of his cock within her. But he wasn’t coming close enough to her. Damn him. “Duncan!”
His head lifted. He licked his lips, as if still tasting her. His eyes locked on hers. “Only…you.” His dark growl.
Then he flipped her over on the bed. Lifted her onto her knees. Her hands were free, and they grabbed for the bedding, clenching around the sheets.
He was behind her. Covering her. He moved back her hair, and put his mouth on the curve of her shoulder once more. “No going back,” he said again, the words darker, sending a shiver over her.
She arched back against him just as his teeth sank into her skin. Shocked, she cried out even as he thrust inside of her. The pain from his bite faded almost instantly as he licked over the wound, and then he was thrusting, withdrawing, driving in deeper and harder—finally—and the lust and need spiraled inside of her.
But…
I know what he did.
She knew what his bite meant. It hadn’t been like a vampire’s bite.
When a werewolf bit in that spot, the mark was a claiming.
The bed creaked beneath them. Her fingers tightened on the bedding. The way he was thrusting into her, his cock slid right against the most sensitive part of her body, and, oh, it felt so good. He felt good. Right.
Incredible.
This time, the climax built in a fast and furious rush. Her whole body tightened because that pleasure was there, just out of her reach. She drove back against him, slamming down because she wanted all of him.
He gave her all.
His hands were on her waist now. Holding her tight. Moving her so that she had to take him in even deeper. That was just what she wanted.
Her fangs were coming out. An instinctive response that didn’t embarrass her. Why would it? Her lover had fangs of his own.
I want a bite. He’d claimed her. It seemed only fair that she get her turn?
“Duncan, I need…”
“What? Anything. I’ll give…anything.” A promise.
Her right hand rose. Grabbed his wrist, yanked his fingers away from her waist. She had to bite him. It wasn’t something that she could control. Not anymore. The urge was too dark. Too consuming. Holly lifted his wrist to her mouth.
She sank her teeth into his vein.
“Yes…” His hiss.
His thrusts became even harder. She loved it. She drank from him as she came, exploding on a release so powerful that her heart seemed to stop for a moment. Her eyes squeezed shut, and the pleasure swamped her.
Duncan was there with her. Coming hard because she felt the jet of his release. Holding her, curving his body around hers. His heart didn’t stop. The thunder of his heartbeat seemed to surround her. He was all that she knew in that instant.
All that she wanted.
The rest of the world could just fade away then. She had Duncan.
She had everything.
His heartbeat was thundering…thundering…
And sirens were wailing.
Her eyes widened. His wrist wasn’t at her mouth any longer. She didn’t even know when she’d let him go. She could still taste the rich flavor of his blood. Within her, Duncan was hard again, already, but the sirens seemed so loud.
Were they coming for Duncan?
He’d tensed behind her. She looked over her shoulder. Saw the lust and need and…growing fury in his gaze.
Then he started to thrust again. The breath caught in Holly’s lungs. Because now the intensity was different. So dark and focused. Consuming.
The sirens were wailing, growing ever closer, and she was staring into Duncan’s eyes as he thrust deep into her.
But it wasn’t enough. Not for her.
She tried to twist against him, wanting to face him fully. Needing to.
His hands locked around her. Held her tight.
He thrust harder.
She shook her head, “I want—”
Everything.
Then they were rolling across the bed. She ignored the screams of the sirens. This moment, it was too tense, too sharp.
She was on her back. He was between her legs. Plunging into her. Possessing her. Every stroke seemed like a brand on her. And she wanted another bite.
Wanted his blood in her. Wanted to bind them. Link them.
I want to claim him, too.
Then his neck was near her mouth. Her lips feathered over his skin.
“Bite.” His sharp snarl.
And she did. Because she wasn’t a human anymore, and the vampire that she was wanted his blood as much as she wanted his body.
The rush she got then was incredible. A climax that shattered her even as the lights from the swarming vehicles lit her home.
Duncan kept thrusting. Then, once more, his release erupted within her.
Car doors slammed. The siren finally stopped wailing. Then she could hear the thud of racing footsteps.
Duncan didn’t let her go.
Run.
The cry was in her head, but she was holding him tight.
She forced her mouth away from his throat. She could compel him to run. Make him leave. There might still be time for him to get away.
Holly looked into his eyes.
She realized that she could force him to do nothing.
“This is how they take me,” he said.
She shook her head. “No.”
Those footsteps were growing closer.
He pressed a kiss to her lips. “You’re mine.”
And he was hers.
“Don’t forget it.”
“Holly!” Her brother’s cry, and it sounded as though it came from her living room.
He was going to find them together. Naked. Duncan wouldn’t have a chance. “Why?” Why had he done this? Why not run?
“Because I had to be with you.” His smile was a
bit twisted. “Before they sent me to hell.”
She wouldn’t let them. Duncan wasn’t going to hell. No, he couldn’t—
He pulled away from her. She grabbed for the sheets even as he yanked on his jeans.
Then Pate was in the doorway. Men in black were behind him. They had their guns out. All of the weapons were aimed at Duncan and her.
“Don’t shoot my sister,” Pate ordered.
She jumped from the bed. Kept the sheet around her. “You’re making a mistake! I told you…Duncan was protecting us! He didn’t hurt anyone!”
But Duncan just stared at Pate, and he laughed. “How are you going to take me in?”
Pate’s chin lifted. “The guns are loaded with silver.”
Duncan moved to stand in front of Holly. “Then take your best shot, and while you’re doing that…” Duncan raised his claws and said, “I’ll take mine.”
This wasn’t happening.
“You’ve been playing some kind of game with us all, Pate,” Duncan said, the words snapping. “I thought we were supposed to be making the world a better place, but it seems like you were just using us all, even the monsters.”
The men behind Pate were looking nervous.
“What are you?” Duncan asked him as he inhaled. “Because I’ve noticed that you sure don’t smell human.”
Pate shook his head—then lunged across the room in a move so fast that he looked like a blur. Holly gasped because in less than a second’s time, Pate stood with one hand wrapped around Duncan’s throat and with his other hand holding a gun right against Duncan’s heart.
“You’re screwing things up for me,” Pate bit out. “Why the hell couldn’t you have stayed controlled?”
Duncan bared his fangs. “Fuck control.”
And she knew, she knew what Pate would do even before his fingers tightened on the gun.
“No!” Holly screamed.
The gun fired.
She shoved into Duncan, knocking him aside, but the move was too little, too late.
The bullet had driven into his chest. Blood was pumping everywhere, and a sharp, acidic odor rose from the gaping hole near Duncan’s heart.
She grabbed for Duncan, sinking to the floor beside him and lifting his head into her lap. Her own chest burned as if she’d taken the hit. She didn’t care that her sheet had fallen away, she only cared about him.
“Don’t,” she whispered. Begged. “Don’t leave me.”
But he was. His eyes were wide, shocked, staring up at her with the glow already fading from his gaze.
She wouldn’t let him go.
“Holly…” Pate’s voice was sharp. He wrapped his fingers around her arm.
She stared at him with hatred. “Get the hell away from me.” She didn’t know him anymore. Didn’t care to know him.
A muscle jerked in Pate’s jaw. “You’re making a mistake.” He glanced over his shoulders at the men who still stood there, armed and ready to fire. “Let me help you.”
The way he’d helped her before? When he’d made her become a vampire?
Become a vampire…
Her gaze flew back to Duncan. Could a werewolf even become a vampire? Was it possible?
“Holly…”
She used her teeth to rip open her wrist. Duncan had lost a ton of blood. Just like she had in that alley. She’d been given vampire blood when she was close to death. It had saved her.
I’ll save him.
Pate’s hand yanked at her shoulder. “Don’t make me hurt you,” he warned her.
“You already have.” Because it seemed like he’d shot her. Her heart was breaking as Duncan lay dying.
The blue of his eyes was so weak now. His breath rattled in his chest. And he was just staring at her.
“I can’t let you go,” she said, staring at Duncan and knowing this was wrong but not able to stop herself. She’d just found him. Losing him wasn’t fair. She didn’t want to be without him.
Duncan’s eyes closed.
“I’m sorry…” She put her wrist over his mouth even as she felt the press of a gun at her temple.
Pate.
“Don’t make me do this.” His words seemed torn from him. “Stop, Holly.”
She wasn’t stopping. If she had to, she’d trade her life for Duncan’s because she wasn’t just sitting there while he slipped away from the world. She needed him.
Loved him?
Dammit, she wanted a chance to find out.
“Pull your wrist away from him,” Pate told her, voice tight and hard. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”
“I’m saving him.” And Pate wasn’t shooting because maybe, deep down, past whatever twisted mess he’d become when she wasn’t looking, he couldn’t kill his sister.
“No,” Pate was definite. “You’re not. You’re just making a walking nightmare.”
Duncan’s eyes opened. Her breath caught. She started to smile. He was coming back to her. Her blood had worked. He was—
His hands flew up and clenched around her wrist. His mouth hardened on her, and he started to suck and drink more. Harder. Harder.
“D-Duncan…”
His eyes stared up at her, and all she saw in that gaze was a ferocious hunger.
“We are so fucked,” Pate muttered. Then the gun was moved to Duncan’s temple. “Let her go.”
Duncan kept drinking. Taking so much that Holly began to feel weak. His hold on her wrist was too tight.
“Let. Her. Go.” The gun dug into Duncan.
Duncan didn’t let go.
Holly shook her head. “Pate, give me time, I can—”
He fired.
Holly screamed as her world ended.
Ended.
Chapter Eleven
She had her own set of guards. Guards who watched her with careful eyes and made sure that they didn’t come too close to her.
They were probably scared that she’d bite them. Considering the way she felt, Holly realized that she just might.
“Where did Pate take Duncan?” Holly asked the question for what had to be the hundredth time.
But Brent just shook his dark head. “You know I can’t tell you that, ma’am.”
Right. Because he had his orders. Orders that had come from her brother, right after Pate had shot Duncan and dragged him out of her home.
Even as she’d screamed after them.
Pate had stopped at the broken door. Glanced back at her as his men had held their guns on her. “Trust me, Holly.”
How was she supposed to do that?
So her guards stayed. They kept their guns. While Pate had gone who the hell knew where with Duncan.
But he was alive. She knew that. He’d already become a vampire before Pate had taken that second shot. She’d been afraid that the transformation hadn’t completed, but then she’d noticed that his wounds had been trying to heal.
She glanced down at her wrist. It had healed, too. Duncan had bit her, drank her blood, just like a vampire.
How did he feel now? Did he hate what she’d done to him? Being a werewolf had been bad for him, and now, well, she had no idea how he’d react to being a vampire.
“Did he go to Purgatory?” Holly asked.
Brent’s eyelashes flickered, and the other guy, Henry Wells, glanced away from them.
Purgatory.
It was what she’d feared. But where else could Pate take Duncan? With the containment facility in Seattle shutting down, they’d have to take him somewhere else.
Purgatory was the perfect prison.
She straightened her shoulders and knew what she’d have to do. “You’ll take me to him.”
Brent shook his head. “Our orders are to keep you here, to keep you safe, until—”
“Until Pate comes to fetch me?” Like she was some kind of dog? Now Holly shook her head. “That’s not happening.” Because she wasn’t going to sit back and let Duncan be punished for crimes he hadn’t committed. “You’ll take me to him,” she said again as s
he pulled in a steadying breath.
She had to stop thinking and acting like she was human. She was more. Time to be more.
Brent was the weak link. He’d stared at her with pity in his eyes a few times. She’d use that pity. Because of his weakness, she knew he’d be the one to hesitate on actually firing his weapon at her.
So she went for Henry first. Holly leapt toward him and slammed his head into the nearest wall. He went down with a groan.
Brent swore and lunged toward her. Still not firing, just as she’d suspected. She grabbed him. Yanked his weapon away from him. “Sorry,” she said, right before she sank her teeth into his throat.
He tasted good, but not as good as Duncan. No one was as good as Duncan. She only took a few drops of his blood, just enough to control him.
Then she eased back so that she could stare up at him. “You’ll take me to Duncan.” She pushed her compulsion in the words.
With slightly unfocused eyes, Brent nodded.
***
“Sunlight is supposed to make vampires weaker, but it won’t have any impact on you.”
The quiet voice penetrated through the darkness that seemed to surround Duncan.
“Silver won’t burn you. No matter how pure, you’ll be immune to it.”
That voice was familiar. Pate.
“From what I can tell, you don’t have any weaknesses. Lucky bastard.”
Lucky? A surge of rage pushed through him, and Duncan’s eyes flew open.
He discovered that silver bars separated him from Pate.
Pate stared at him, with his arms crossed over his chest. “You’ll need blood to survive, but you aren’t supposed to eat the other inmates. That’s frowned upon here.”
The other inmates?
Duncan shook his head, then stopped, remembering…Holly’s screams. Pain. Blood.
Fangs were in his mouth and claws erupted from his fingertips. “What did you do?”
“Not me. You can thank my sister for what you are now.”
“Where is she?”
“Don’t you want to know where you are?” Pate asked him instead.
Duncan could only glare at him.
“This wasn’t the way it was supposed to be,” Pate said, and damn if those words didn’t sound like a broken record from the guy. “I wanted to make you strong enough, but not this way.”
He wanted to rip the man apart.
Love's First Bite: Bad Boys and Alpha Vampires Boxed Set (6 book bundle) Page 16
