by J. S. Scott
Hannah straightened, still breathless but slowly recovering, her heart still pounding. “Thank you for this.” She met Daric’s eyes, not quite sure how to express what this experience had meant to her or how to tell him that it had a significance far greater than just skiing down a mountain.
“Don’t.” He speared her with a dark glance. “I already know. Why do you think we’re here? You’ve spent enough time in the shadows of another, never pleasing yourself. What does Hannah want?”
You. The word fluttered through her mind instinctively, automatically. “I didn’t really want to leave Temple. I wanted to stay here and learn how to run a business from my father. Vail and Olympic training were Mark’s dream. I was never happy there.” I was never happy with him. It had never truly been the location or her occupation. The problem had been her relationship with Mark.
“He never valued you. Never protected you or loved you. Why did you go if you didn’t want to?” Hannah’s ski equipment disappeared, and Daric moved closer, pinning her between his body and the trunk of a large tree, his eyes never leaving hers.
“Mark and I grew up together. We were childhood friends. I guess we just gradually became a couple. He was all I knew.” Even as she spoke, Hannah realized that even from a very young age, Mark had somehow convinced her that she needed him, and she had believed it. Somewhere along the line of their very long relationship, Hannah had lost herself. “He didn’t value me because I stopped valuing myself.” Tears flowed from her eyes, blurring Daric’s face. “All those years wasted. Time with my father that I can never get back again. I rarely even saw my dad because Mark didn’t like him.”
Daric wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly in his embrace as he grumbled, “I’ll kill the son of a bitch for you.”
Hannah didn’t doubt it for a moment, and she smiled through her tears as she buried her face against Daric’s warm chest, her heart leaping at his defense and outrage for her sake. “No. He’s not worth a moment of your pain. I made the choice and it was the wrong one.”
“You won’t think about him again.” Daric’s tone was demanding, as though issuing a royal declaration. “If thoughts of him distress you again, I’ll kill him.”
Daric’s body was fiery hot, even in the bitter cold atmosphere, and Hannah snuggled against him, her heart hammering. No man had ever treated her as though she were precious and cherished, but this man, a male she had only known for a day, treated her like she was everything to him. It was tempting, intoxicating.
“You’re my mate, Hannah. There is nothing or no one on this earth more important to me than you.” His voice was husky, and radiating with raw emotion.
“I thought you refused me.” The words struck Hannah straight in the heart.
“I can’t.” He grabbed her by the shoulders, his eyes clashing with hers in a volatile meeting. “My fate is in your hands, Hannah. I want you, therefore I can’t refuse you.”
She shivered as she held his gaze, feeling as if she were drowning in his heated eyes. His loneliness called to her, beckoned her closer with every second that passed. Her heart aching at the thought of leaving this strong, powerful man vulnerable, she whispered, “What do we do?”
“That will be for you to decide. I’m an Ancient. On my good days, I’m just an asshole. On my bad days, I can be a vampire healer’s worst nightmare,” he replied, his voice as menacing as the scowl on his face.
Hannah knew Daric was arrogant, demanding and probably occasionally harsh, but she couldn’t manage to connect the man she getting to know with his own description. Daric was just…Daric. And there was so much emotion beneath his gruff exterior. He wasn’t a man she feared. He was her protector, her champion, the first man who had ever considered her feelings. And Hannah was fairly certain that even without the mating instinct, she would still think him the hottest man, or vampire, to walk the planet. She had always believed that sex was highly overrated, over in minutes and not particularly exciting. Now, she wasn’t quite certain she was correct in that assumption.
Taking a deep breath, she asked, “Will I get the asshole, or will you be my nightmare?” She needed to get her mind off the erotic thoughts that were starting to swamp her brain.
He shrugged his massive shoulders. “Depends on how difficult you decide to be.”
“I won’t follow your every command.” Never again would she walk in a man’s shadow.
“That isn’t what I want. I want you to do whatever makes you happy. But know this…I will be protective, high-handed and I will try to keep you from harm by every means available to me. This is a supposed to be a lull period of mating for me, a time to court you. But my need grows stronger every second, and eventually I will have a difficult time trying to control it. I already consider you mine. I’m just trying to wait for you to make the same decision.” He wrapped his arms around her waist. “You’re getting cold. Let’s go home.”
After that speech, Hannah was far from cold. The thought of Daric wanting her so desperately soaked her panties and stole her breath from her lungs. She closed her eyes as he held her tightly against him.
Dizzy from the transport, she opened her eyes to find herself in Daric’s kitchen. “I thought you’d take me home.”
“You are home,” he answered in a low, dangerous voice.
“I meant my home.” Exasperated, she stepped away from him and planted her hands on her hips.
“You aren’t going back there until you can do so without feeling sad.” He shot her a seriously cranky look.
“And you’ll decide when that might be?” she retorted.
“I’ll know. I can read your emotions and your thoughts.”
It wasn’t as if Hannah hadn’t already known that Daric was in her head, but the significance of it hit her suddenly, wondering what exactly he really could see. “Can you see my past memories, intimate memories?” she asked, wondering if he could see her less than wonderful sexual experiences with Mark.
“You won’t think about him anymore,” Daric replied, moving forward to wrap his steely arms around her waist. “I don’t see those memories. I can’t. They are filtered beyond my reach to keep me from going crazy from seeing my mate with another male. I only see them if you visualize them in your current thoughts.”
Yeah. Like that was something she actually wanted to remember? “Not much likelihood of that happening,” she muttered, her arms curling around Daric’s neck, longing flooding her entire body as Daric dissolved her outerwear, leaving her clothed in only a t-shirt and jeans. “Crap, I’m back in a thong again,” she cursed loudly, annoyed by the thin strip between the cheeks of her ass. “Why do you do that if you can’t even look?”
“I torture myself with imagery,” he told her, his voice both self-deprecating and amused. “And I might look. It would be more than worth the price.” His big hands stroked over her back and down, finally cupping her ass possessively.
“No! You can look. I give you permission. Feel free.” Her modesty wasn’t worth the price of Daric feeling the pain of penalty. She could change into her own lingerie now that her own possessions were here, modest panties that wouldn’t tempt him.
“You tempt me merely by existing, Hannah. It doesn’t matter what you’re wearing,” Daric said huskily, his hands kneading the flesh of her ass, pulling her hot core up and against his pulsating cock. “I’ll always want to be deep inside you, surrounded by you, claiming what belongs to me.”
Every nerve in Hannah’s body went up in flames, her entire being feeling like liquid fire. “Please,” she whispered in a needy voice, not even quite sure what she wanted, only certain that whatever it was, she needed it now and no one but Daric could quench the flames. Confused by the intensity of her emotions, Hannah wondered which emotions and wants were her own and which were caused by the mating compulsion, the small portion of those urges that emanated from Daric to her.
“I won’t be able to stop.” Daric warned ominously as he pulled back, searching her eyes, his
face a mask of tortured desire. Placing a hand on each side of her head, he closed his eyes as he growled, “Share my mind. Know what desire is yours and what belongs to me.”
Hannah’s whole body rocked as his memories, his thoughts flooded her brain. Closing her eyes at the onslaught, she shook her head furiously, overwhelmed. “Oh, God!” Confused, she clenched Daric’s shirt, fisting the cotton, desperate to be grounded.
“Relax. Separate my thoughts from yours,” Daric commanded, pulling her thrashing head against his chest. “Sort them out in your mind. I’ll help you.”
His voice penetrated the thick fog in her brain, forcing her to grit her teeth and try to make sense of the massive overload of information that was taxing her senses. Her body relaxed as she sensed Daric in her head, filing away most of the information from his past, leaving only the present thoughts and emotions.
Grimacing, Hannah tried to mentally push his emotions on one side and hers on another, but the dividing line was blurred, intertwined. “Shit. I can’t completely separate them,” she muttered, frustrated.
“Relax. You’ll become accustomed to the sensation. Information will come to you slowly over time. You can’t handle twelve hundred years of memories and emotions all at the same time. And the emotions of true mates are always blurred. You will know what emotions originate from me, and you will always sense how I feel, know what I’m thinking,” he answered, stroking her hair gently, massaging her scalp.
Calmed by Daric’s reassuring touch, Hannah settled, but her body was still aflame, yearning for more, clamoring for him. Nothing had changed; her need was her own, except she could sense Daric’s emotions and thoughts. And at the moment, every one of them featured the two of them entwined together in shared ecstasy. As much as Daric needed to possess, Hannah needed him to claim her. Lifting her head, she told him softly, “I need you. I need you as much as you need me.”
His dark eyes scanned her face as he replied, “If you let me take you, I’ll never let you go. Hell, I probably won’t anyway. But if I fuck you, have you once, I’ll track your ass down until you either mate with me or I die of mating conflict. I don’t have Nolan’s noble morals that allowed him to die with dignity while his mate left him. Your ass is mine. And I’ll chase you until the moment I breathe my last.”
Hannah felt a shiver run down her spine at his dominant oath, a promise that she knew that he would fulfill. As if she’d let him die? “Then fuck me, Daric. I need to know what it feels like to truly want and be wanted.”
“You’ll definitely know what it’s like to be wanted. To the point of insanity.” His mouth claimed hers roughly, his tongue driving between her lips in a frenzied meeting of mouths, a devouring kiss that left her in no doubt of how much she was needed, wanted.
Daric’s hand fisted into her hair, holding her head for the fierce possession of his mouth, as his tongued plundered relentlessly. Frantic to get closer, Hannah lowered her hands, searching for his t-shirt, desperate for skin to skin contact. Finding it, she thrust her hands under his shirt, moaning into his mouth as her fingers touched his fiery skin, wanting to know every inch of his enormous body, feel every ripple of muscle.
Closer. I need to get closer.
Hannah was panting heavily as Daric released her mouth and moved to the sensitive lobe of her ear, nipping gently and then laving it with his tongue. Clothing vanished, leaving Daric nude and Hannah in nothing but the racy underwear he had conjured.
Her fingers sought and found his enormous cock immediately, sliding over the silky skin with trembling fingers. His length and girth made her pussy clench, flooding the already saturated flesh at the apex of her thighs. What would it feel like to have this inside her, claiming her?
“You’re going to know very soon,” Daric growled. “If you keep touching me it will be right now.”
“Yes,” she breathed softly.
“No.” He backed her up until her bare ass cheeks collided with the refrigerator. He lifted her hands over her head. “You’ll behave before I lose control. It’s hanging from a nearly invisible thread right now. And I need to pleasure you.”
Hannah shook her head as she glanced at his face, so full of heat and desire. “I need you.” Her pleasure would come from having that mammoth cock inside of her. She went to reach for him again, only to find that her hands were unable to move. “Let me loose, dammit.” She needed to touch him now.
“There are other pleasures to be had,” he said, his mouth vibrating against her skin as his hands explored her body. “You will experience those delights before I take you.”
Hannah moaned aloud, not sure if she could take whatever he had in mind. Her need was roaring through her body, demanding to be satiated. She had never thought she would enjoy this kind of complete domination, her body under a man’s control. Strangely, she relished it. A wild instinct rose up inside her to greet the alpha male vampire that was Daric, needing to let him sate her body any way he desired. She just wasn’t entirely sure how much she could take without screaming with frustration.
She arched her neck as his teeth gripped the flimsy lace of her bra, ripping the garment from her body, freeing her breasts to his gaze. His hands and mouth were there immediately, his large fingers cupping her breasts as his thumbs circled her hard, sensitive nipples. His tongue and teeth teased, alternating from one breast to another, making her core spasm with need, every inch of her body hypersensitive. “Please,” Hannah whimpered, desperate for Daric’s possession, her body aching to be taken.
“Mine. You’re so beautiful,” his voice was rough against her breasts.
His touch continued down her body, Daric sliding to his knees as he touched and licked every inch of her skin. “Daric. I can’t. I need. I want.”
“You may want, but your need could never be as great as mine. You will come for me, Hannah,” he grunted, his fingers playing over the lace thong that barely covered her pussy. Hannah shivered from the brush of his fingers on her pink, saturated flesh, as he hooked a finger under the material and tore it from her body, without her feeling even one tiny bit of pain.
His hands roamed over her ass as his tongue licked slowly up each of her thighs, making Hannah’s entire body thrash with erotic torture. “I can’t take anymore. Please.” She yanked at her hands frantically, needing a rough possession to satisfy the untamed desire battering at her body.
“You will take this.” Daric gripped her ass at he spoke, holding her in place. “I can smell your need, your arousal. You will come for me.” He sounded barely human, an animal wildness making his voice vibrate in something similar to a snarl.
Hannah could feel his hot breath wafting over her quivering pussy. Her muscles tense, she waited, holding her breath.
She released her pent-up breath in something between a whimper and moan as his tongue finally touched her trembling flesh, pushing his way between the folds, seeking and devouring. He showed no mercy, and Hannah didn’t want any. Her arms secured, Daric pulled her legs up over his massive shoulders and buried his head between her thighs, his mouth and tongue all over her sensitive clit.
He took her weight like it was nothing, keeping her body supported, ensuring no tension on her restrained arms. All Hannah had to do was feel, and her body responded to his dominant, erotic touch with a relieved groan, her climax approaching like a speeding train.
He manipulated her clit with his mouth, his strong arms and hands holding her ass, squeezing it, bringing her core tighter against his mouth, and flicking her tender flesh harder.
“Yes. Please, Daric. Oh God.” His whiskers were abrasive against her tender thighs, another erotic sensation that blended with every touch of his tongue, driving her nearly insane.
A deep, reverberating sound left his lips, vibrating against her throbbing bud. Tilting her gaze downward, Hannah could see his dark head buried between her thighs, consuming her, the image so erotic that she pulled her eyes away and arched her back, her climax erupting with a force that made her scream. “Oh
, my God. Daric. Daric. Daric.” She chanted his name like a mantra, unable to think, her whole body convulsing with the strength of the most incredible orgasm she had ever experienced.
Daric stood, still holding the weight of her body as he wrapped her legs around his waist. He kissed her, stealing whatever breath that was left in her body, but she didn’t care. She could taste herself on his lips and her own primal urges rose up to meet his, desperate for him to take her.
Pulling his mouth from hers, he pushed her hair back from her face. “Now you have had a small taste of want and desire,” he whispered harshly. “Multiply it by a hundred and you might have an idea of how I feel.”
Hair cleared from her face, Hannah looked at Daric, initially startled by the wild, feral look on his face. As her gaze clashed with his, she found herself drowning in carnal need, swamped with erotic heat. “Take me now,” she answered, her voice low and trembling with urgency, with the painful ache to feel this man inside her.
“Tell me that you want me,” he rumbled, his expression dark and volatile.
Hannah knew he sensed her desperation, but some animalistic part of him wanted to hear it. “I want you, Daric. I ache for you. Only for you.” The words came out on a long moan. “Release me. Please.”
Her hands came loose and she wrapped them around his massive shoulders. “Now fuck me. Please.”
Daric lifted her ass, pinning her against the cool metal of the refrigerator. With one smooth thrust of his hips, he impaled her.
“Mine!” He released the word in a feral groan, his hands tightening on her ass, fusing them together tightly.
He was massive, but Hannah felt no pain, only a satisfying fullness and the incredible joy of being joined with him. “Yes,” she whispered in a husky voice, unable to form any other words.
