My fingers ran through his hair, pulling it as I roughly kissed his lips. “What do I smell like?”
“You smell like you need to be fucked.”
I leaned up and whispered in his ear, “I do.”
He lost all sense of control, his hands fumbling with my dress, pulling my panties down, and his fingers sank inside my wet pussy, moving in and out in a rhythm I much preferred he did with something else. I was already close, given how hot Knight made me by just existing. His thumb came up to rub my clit in time with his fingers fucking me.
“Knight,” I gasped out and gripped his hair so hard I worried I’d pull it all out. “I’m so close already, Christ. I’m going to come.” With the pleasure running through my system like a drug, I was on the verge of falling apart.
“You’re mine,” he declared with a possessive kiss. He went down to my nipple, biting it through my dress, and it caught me on the edge, until he tweaked my other nipple and I was writhing against him in an intense orgasm that rivaled what I’d felt under Arthur’s hands.
I was far from drained, and my fingers had just reached for his pants when Knight stopped. I started asking what was wrong, but he put his finger up for me to be quiet. The wind changed directions, and I smelled what Knight had sensed.
Lycans.
I’d been so busy climaxing that I hadn’t seen them nearby. There was a pack, a dangerously large one, and our smell had enraged them.
Knight righted my clothes, took my hand and said, “Run.”
We ran again, back towards the village, this time in a rush. I pushed my senses out to track where the pack was. They were gaining on us. A lone vampire and a werewolf that couldn’t transform without the full moon. We were no match for a Lycan pack.
After we’d gained some ground, I thought we might lose them until I tripped over something and went down. My leg seared in pain and I smelled the blood running down my knee. Knight stopped, picked me up, and kept going. With our decreased speed, the pack was quickly catching up and it was clear they were going to overtake us.
Knight stopped when it was too late to keep going. He backed me up to a tree and got between me and the wolves.
“I love you, Lis,” he whispered.
I took his hand. “I love you.”
The wolves descended, their pack numbered in the dozens. I smelled the Alpha approaching through the ranks and peeked out from Knight’s neck. Half were in human form, the other half in wolf. The Alpha in human form stood tall at the head. He had long blonde hair in braids and his face was all sharp angles and cheekbones.
He started speaking in Romanian, stopping when we didn’t respond. He tried a few other languages, some I knew and some I didn’t, but I chose to remain silent. When he got to English, he was frustrated, but could see Knight’s nonverbal response to words he understood.
“Ah, there we are. English.” The Lycan’s accent was thick and choppy. “A werewolf and a vampire loose in our lands. It’s a good day to be me.”
“We don’t want trouble. We didn’t know of any packs in this area,” Knight explained, his eyes darting around when any of the Lycans moved.
The Alpha laughed like Knight was ironically adorable. “Ignorance. We are the oldest Lycan pack in the world. For four hundred years we have lived in a land free from the terrors of blood drinkers, not to mention your filthy kind. Fucking werewolf.” He spat on the ground and I fumed in white hot anger behind Knight, but he wouldn’t let me escape, pressing me so far into the tree I was going to start sprouting leaves. “Kill them,” the Alpha ordered. The wolves howled in response.
Before they could descend, I smelled something coming. Something was approaching from the village. Two people running fast, together as a unit.
No fucking way.
Anastasia and Lucas burst out of the trees, claws and fangs out, hissing at the Lycans that were closing in on us. I shoved Knight out of the way to join them, standing with my parents and hissing like a puppy barking for its mother’s approval. Knight took his place at my side, growling appropriately.
Three vampires and a werewolf against a pack. Our odds weren’t the best, but they’d improved. Now that my mother was awake, Anastasia had a power coming from her that I’d never felt before. I’d say she had been blood bingeing, but she had none of the physical side effects, like the flushed skin and bloodshot eyes. Then again, from Clara’s description of my mother’s powers, she was naturally this strong. What kind of terrifying power would she have if she actually blood binged? Shudder.
Anastasia held her hand out to the Lycans in a warning. “Leave.” Power built inside her and she strained to make her order powerful enough for an entire pack to obey.
“Mother, no,” I told her. She looked at me in confusion, but she dropped her arm to let me take over, and I turned to address the Alpha. “Is this land your territory? Is it marked?”
He turned his nose up at me. “No. And it will never be, not with the stench of vampire here.”
The cut on my leg was healed but the blood was there for me to swipe my hand over, holding my bloodied palm out to the Alpha. “I claim this area for vampires.” I pressed my red hand to the ground. “This is now a vampire border. You cannot cross, or your life is forfeit.” I straightened and motioned to my parents. “Do it. Put your blood on the earth.”
They both bit into their wrists and added blood to the new border I’d just created. We all stepped back, safe inside our land. The Lycans couldn’t touch us now, and the Alpha was very disappointed.
“Invoking the old laws. Clever bitch. Annoying. Fine, we withdraw. Make no mistake, you or your kind cross into my territory again, your life is mine.”
I nodded. “Agreed.”
He lifted his eyes to Knight. “What about that one?”
“He’s under my protection,” I told the Lycan. I had a bit of blood left on my hand, and I pressed it onto Knight’s arm. His lip curling in defeat, the Alpha swung his finger in a circle and whistled before turning around to leave. The pack followed him, a few choosing to spit in our direction or give us the finger before they left.
“Wow,” Knight said in amusement. “My girlfriend is so damn awesome. How do you avoid being killed by Lycans?” He waved his hand around and said in a high-pitched voice, “Oh I just created a brand new vampire border, no biggie.” He giggled sheepishly.
“Is that supposed to be me?”
“Yes. But you’re a thousand times more adorable. Also, that was the single most awesome thing I’ve ever seen. Fist bump.” I bumped his fist appreciatively.
“Erzsébet,” Anastasia interrupted, turning my attention to her. She came up cautiously and put her hand on my cheek. “I heard you by the fire. Cameron, Kitty, Arthur, and Knight. I heard you. It was like I was at the bottom of a well, and I didn’t even realize that’s where I was. Every word you spoke was a step out to freedom. I couldn’t break through the top until I realized that you smelled like my baby. My Erzsébet.”
“I go by Lisbeth,” I reminded her gently, feeling stupid as I said it.
“Right,” she said with a smile. Her face faded and I worried she would disappear again, but she was back before I could move. “We need to mark the rest of the borders. It will take some time, and a lot of blood.”
“How much blood?” Knight asked.
“Quite a bit,” Lucas answered. “It’s supposed to be done by an entire vampire Order. Dozens of vampires. And we are but three.”
Anastasia dropped her hand, looking behind us at the city in thought. “We will need to feed.”
My mouth curled and Knight stepped forward before I could say anything. “You can drink from me.”
Anastasia nodded to him, but I crossed my arms over my chest in defiance at the very idea of my parents drinking from Knight. “No way in hell.”
My mother didn’t even pause. “Lisbeth, the werewolf is the best choice. His body will keep him alive, we won’t drain him.” Her speech was short and authoritative, making it very cl
ear she was not used to being told no.
Hi, mom. I’m the one who says no.
“He’s not a hors d’oeuvre at a garden party, mother. He’s my mate, and I forbid it.”
Realizing I wasn’t going to do what she wanted, she scowled at me, and while she was definitely intimidating, I stood my ground. “Lisbeth, you are not in charge here.”
“Oh, and you are? Miss, ‘I’m going to pretend nothing matters and be comatose for four hundred years while my daughter grows up thinking I didn’t love her?’ Not to mention Clara giving up her life for you, you selfish little bitch.”
“Hey, yeah, let’s… just…” Knight grabbed me and pulled me away before I could do anything irrational, like slap my mother across the face.
I lightly pushed him away from me, pulling my shirt and jacket hem down in a Picard maneuver, fluffing my hair out in a huff. “I’ll mark the border. By myself. And if you ever suggest feeding from my mate again, I will leave you to the Lycans, mom.” I stormed off.
Uuuuugh. I was four hundred years old and acting like a moody teenager. This was awful. Straight up awful. Maybe I’d get a tattoo and start listening to emo music, just to keep the trend going.
“You know what I think is romantic?” Knight said, coming up behind me as I stomped across the forest. “Once you claim a mate, vampires become territorial, like that person is a fancy car they have to make sure no one else drives.”
“You know what I think is romantic? You not lecturing me.”
Knight clicked his tongue. “Moody. I forgive you. I love you. But seriously. You acting like that over me? Super hot. I’m totally into it.”
Every so often on our walk, I sliced into my arm and let my blood drop onto the ground. The entire area didn’t need to be covered, as long as there wasn’t a gap of more than ten feet between blood spots. The blood would soak into the ground and leave a scent that any vampire or Lycan could smell, and the effect would last for at least a decade, assuming they stayed here that long. They probably wouldn’t, so doing this was useless.
Lucas came up to us, hands out in a peace gesture, most likely realizing what I just had. “You can stop doing that, Lisbeth. We needed to leave either way, and I convinced Ana to do it now. We should help Clara pack.”
Knight held his hand out for me and we went back to the cottage where we found Clara and Anastasia packing up some of their things. Anastasia didn’t react to us as she continued stuffing her bag with trinkets. Our bags were mostly still packed, and I took mine when Knight offered it.
No words were spoken between the five of us as we stepped outside, each holding a bag, and Clara closed the door with a final thunk. The rental car was still at the Pizzeria Bathory, and we piled in with my three family members squished together in the back seat.
I’d had a mother less than twenty-four hours and we were already mad at each other. Fucking fantastic.
A thousand retorts, none of them nice, bounced around my head on the drive back to Vienna. I grumbled under my breath in Japanese, knowing the back seat couldn’t understand me. Knight brought a hand out to take one of mine off the wheel where I was rubbing a tear into the leather. He held my hand tightly and settled our clasped fingers over the gear shift.
Calm down, he would’ve said, if he could speak out loud without her hearing. It’s going to be okay. Knight could always relax me, no matter what was going on. Our hands stayed together until we got to the airport and we had to give the car back to the rental place. I firmly clasped his hand from the car rental to the ticket counter, in case he had any ideas about taking it back as we bought our tickets.
“Two to Rome, please. And wherever those three are going.” I motioned to everyone beside me that wasn’t holding my hand.
“Hallo,” Lucas said brightly to the teller. “Three to Paris.”
“Back to the Catacombs?” I asked him, purposefully not looking at my mother as much as possible.
“It’s the safest place, so Lucas says,” Clara offered, an apologetic smile on her face as she noticed me ignoring Anastasia. I wasn’t mad at Clara. I was mad at her stupid sister. My aunt smiled at Knight and stepped to pull him in for a hug. “It was good to meet my niece’s mate. Take care of her for us.” I heard her whisper, “I enjoyed the kiss.” She winked at him and turned to hug me. “I wish we had more time, my love.” Letting go of Knight’s hand, I hugged her tightly. In our short meeting, I’d already come to care for her. Her sister, less so. “Thank you for bringing my sister back to me. I can never repay you.”
Finally, I looked up over Clara’s shoulder and saw Anastasia staring at me. I looked away. “You’re welcome.” Clara pulled back, and with a smile she kissed my forehead. Once she moved away, Lucas stepped in.
We stood staring at each other for several moments, not really knowing what to say. One step, then another, and I was in my father’s arms. He was as warm and inviting as I’d always imagined a father should be. I felt like weeping, which was stupid. I was a grown woman, for crying out loud. Still, when I pulled away to look again at those golden eyes and the flawless blonde hair, I felt wetness on my face, and Lucas wiped the tears away. He didn’t say anything, he simply kissed my forehead and was gone.
That left one more goodbye.
I heard the other three shuffling back so they could give us some space. Finally, I met Anastasia’s purple eyes, and I admit I had a bit of defiance in my gaze.
“I’m the head of my Order,” I said, choosing anything to break the silence that wasn’t an apology.
“You deal out death and judgment?” she asked smoothly.
“Sometimes.”
“You uphold our laws.”
“Yes.”
She nodded and stepped closer to me. She reached out to hold the pendant Clara had given me. “You look just like my mother.” She moved back. “Go home to your baby. Give her the life I could not give you.” Saying nothing more, she turned her eyes away.
That was that. That was the end of what could’ve been the last conversation with my mother.
Knight touched my arm, pulling me close to him. “We should go.” We started towards our gate and until the very last second, I glanced back to see if she was looking at me, but she never moved her head, as if she’d become frozen once more.
16. Finally
The negotiations at the Italian Lycan pack went well. Mentally, I wasn’t there, so I’m sad to admit that Knight did most of the convincing. I had my necklace on under my dress and I pressed my hand against it in constant thought.
I’d ruined my relationship with my mother. Whether or not I ever saw her again, I’d called her a bitch right to her face. My stupid temper always reared its head at the most inopportune moments, but this one was the worst.
“Earth to Erzsébet,” Knight said suddenly, waving a hand in front of my face. We were in the hotel hallway going to our room for the night.
“Not my name,” I grumbled. We walked into our room and he tossed the room key onto a table. “We finished the negotiations, we should—”
“Sssh,” he soothed, interrupting me, coming closer to where I stood by the door. “No more talking. Stop thinking. Come back to me. I need you, Lis.” My mind cleared enough for me to see how worried he was for me. “Come back.”
Everything bubbled over inside me, but I had no intention of crying. “I need you more,” I invited, hoping he’d take the bait.
He did.
Not wasting a moment, Knight picked me up and slammed both of us into the door so hard, I knew we were going to leave a dent. His lips kissed mine in a bruising intensity. This time there was no one to stop us. No parents, no friends, no stupid misunderstandings. It was just us, the vampire and the werewolf, together at last.
I wrapped my legs around him and one of his hands grasped my thigh to pull me closer to him, my pulse speeding up so fast I could hardly catch my breath. Flushed with his lower half, I felt how hard his cock was after just one kiss, and it excited me, making me hot all over. I
ached for him. I needed everything he had to give me.
“You know what sucks about being a werewolf?” he murmured against my skin. I was too focused on getting my lips latched onto his neck so I could lick his rapid pulse. “My memory isn’t perfect. I forget things sometimes about my past. But there’s one thing that I could never forget, and that’s the sounds you make.” To prove his point, his fingers moved up my side and cupped my breast, making me squeal beneath him. “When I was locked up, I replayed every noise, every gasp, every moan, just to keep my sanity.” I dropped my hand to firmly grasp the hardness in his pants and cut him off with a hiss.
“Less talking, more touching,” I demanded, pulling his lower lip between my teeth. As an answer, his fingers tunneled through my hair and he tugged at the strands so my face was immobile beneath him. I shuddered in response.
“Tell me everything they did to you.”
“W-what?” I stammered, feeling a flush go over me, more of embarrassment than desire.
“In detail. And don’t leave anything out.” He waited, staring at me with his deep brown eyes. I wanted, needed, to know if he was sure. Would his opinion of me change? I licked my lips, moist from his kisses and thought back.
“Balthazar bit my nipples. He…” Just remembering was turning me on, and I felt dirty doing that in Knight’s arms.
“Tell me, please,” Knight whispered, and he kissed gently on my jawline.
“He took me. It wasn’t making love, it wasn’t even fucking, he didn’t care if I liked what he did, he fucked me anyway from behind. I came so hard it was like I was flying in a thousand directions. Then he put me on my bed, he tied my hands above my head, and he fucked me without mercy. I begged him to let me come, to rub my clit, anything, but he wouldn’t let me climax, not until he…” I swallowed, my throat suddenly very dry. “He offered to look like you, right at the last second, and then it was you fucking me, and you made me come harder than I ever have in my life. I’m sure I climaxed multiple times before I came down, and I soaked the bed with my fluids.” Knight’s chest was rising and falling much faster than before, almost as if this was turning him on too. “Then Arthur, I was very pregnant at the time, but he ate my pussy like it was a feast displayed only for him. He fucked me with his fingers and sucked my clit into his mouth until I came on his face.”
The Born Vampire series: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (The Complete Series, NSFW Edition) Page 46
