“Why,” he whispers. “Why did I stop?” Clasping my chin, he pulls me closer and licks each of my canines. His gaze meets mine, and this time I know he speaks to me. “What purpose do they serve?”
“Release me and I’ll show you.”
The restraints holding my power at bay dissolve. My eyes widen as he silently relinquishes the power suppressing my wolf spirit. His expression is a dare. Growling, I slam his shoulders to the dirt.
Before he can protest I bite his shoulder. I snarl and shudder to make sure I’m attached to him good and deep. There won’t be tidy pinpricks left on his alabaster skin. My teeth will leave scars for the rest of his existence.
The cool night air is infused with my mating scent. Beneath my impulses, I start in shock, but relax in a moment of blissful calm. My intention is to mark him not drink his blood, but it mixes with my saliva.
Unease skitters up my spine.
Hot and bright, a blood rose of pain blooms in my chest. Sharp stabs between my eyes have me trying to pull away, but I’m locked in deep.
A storm of truth batters me. I scream around his flesh. Muscle cramps force my body rigid.
Dark hair streams over my face and body as I shake. The forest flickers in brightness and depth as my pupils do something strange, dilating and contracting in hallucinogenic spasms. Hundreds of years of experience and feeling replays through my body and mind at warp speed until everything is a chaotic blur. Impressions of his fears, ambitions, hurt, happiness, pain, lust, anger, hunger, shame and resentment beat me senseless in a volley of crushing blows.
I see a flash of recent pain. Fangs dig into his body and fire pours through him in waves of pure agony. A sword slashes and hacks at his flesh. His legs are left throbbing ribbons of flesh.
Terrified, my own legs twitching, I dig my claws into his chest. His warning hiss has me snarling like a feral beast; too sacred to understand I’m drawing first blood.
Fisting a hand in my hair, he yanks viciously and tears my teeth free. “Enough.” A tremor judders his frame as he stares at my mouth in horror. Reliving the memories passed between us through blood? Cautious hands smooth down my sides. “How did you–”
An uncoordinated mess I scuttle back. “Don’t touch me.” Tumbling off his lap, I’m a thrashing puddle of toile.
How long it’s taking to think in straight is something I’ve no concept of. My understanding of what I’ve seen, what I’ve felt are so alien no logical reasoning is allowing me to set my world right.
“How am I still breathing?”
‘That is a good question,’ the Vampire thinks.
The blood drains from my face. “You’re in my head. Talking.”
‘Ja.’
“Stop. Vampires talk mind-to-mind. I’m Lycan.”
He tilts his head. ‘Holding your ears does nothing.’
A creeping burn tenses my muscles. My stomach clenches. I rub my arms when pins and needles prick all over my body. “What’s happening?” The burn intensifies and digs deeper. “What did–” My air cuts and my throat locks.
I exhale in a rush. My chest decompresses to an abnormally empty state.
For the life of me I can’t inhale again.
“You bit me.” He makes a noise of irritation. “My feeding would not cause this, and surely you considered to drink from me might have unknown consequences.” He leans over until his silhouette looms inside the halo of light breaking through the tree canopy. “Are you listening? You’re not breathing.” He shifts and the moonlight hits his face. Fury. “Breathe, Harmony.” He places a hand at my temple and another on my chest. ‘Damn you female breathe.’
The mental command booms in my mind. My throat unlocks and the pressure crushing my chest eases. I suck down a panicked gulp of air. Now I can’t slow down. I breathe hard and fast until my lungs ache.
The Vampire mutters a curse and lifts me from the leafy ground. My blood has healed him?
He peers at me with mild revulsion as he strides a circle.
Kept knotted by his glaring, I endeavour to pull myself together. The gliding movement of his pacing is soothing, and my breathing returns to normal.
My hands slide past the collar of his shirt onto bare skin, seeking the comfort. “Shouldn’t you put me down?”
With a shake of his head he keeps me pinned to his chest.
Instinct clawing to the surface, I push against his hold. Testing. The resistance is strong, and I squirm, the alpha streak in me wanting to fight for dominance.
Hands grip me painfully, dig deeper until I know I’m bruised. “Stop your fussing.”
“Then put me down.”
“Are you calm?”
It feels like millions red ants are trapped under the surface of my skin. I stare at him. “Yeah.”
He hisses quietly. Frightening, but I’m beginning to like it. His eyes press closed. “Now who is a liar?” When they open again he’s focused.
Is he ever wrong? Suddenly, it doesn’t matter what he is, or if what’s happening to me is his fault as long as he can make me feel like I did again.
The heat.
Desire.
How have I reached this place? Why doesn’t it matter, and why can’t I focus on getting away from him.
“Kiss me again.”
“Unbelievable.” His jaw clenches and he tightens his grip. “You are a Lycanthrope and … I can’t believe this is happening. Of all the ridiculous–”
I arch up wanting to kiss him. I lick his chin instead, that sexy cleft. He tastes like the sea and the earth since he’d been sleeping in it. “I want to see if it feels the same.”
“The vestiges of my power are interfering with your instincts.”
“Does your blood always cause a feeling of attachment?”
“Attachment?” He stops and waits patiently until I swing my gaze upward. “Do you know who I am?”
The answer slams into me so hard I see stars. I’m glad he’s holding me because I would’ve keeled over.
Warmth spreads in a deep flood in my abdomen, and my fingertips tingle with the urge to touch him.
My mouth drops open.
I’ve been told it might happen like this. When I find the right wolf, my body will know and react, making it impossible to be mistaken. I’ve heard common sense will flee and leave me a fumbling mess. I’ll grow weaker, my power diminishing so I can submit to my male.
I’ve heard unbelievable, scary, and thrilling things will happen when I find my true mate.
Except.…
A chill ripples over me. “Oh my Christ. Mate.”
His annoyance is a chilling slap to the face. I feel it. “I’m not like you. I’m one of the cursed, and we do not take mates.”
One of the Cursed.
Vampire.
With his blood in my veins, and my scent all over him my mind isn’t connecting the word with the fear. “Yeah, you take Brides.” Ha. He’s surprised I know that. “I know this shouldn’t be, but that doesn’t change the fact I’m right.” I laugh my disbelief. “You’re mine.”
“Focus, Lycan.” His gaze remains on the middle distance. “If you focused you’d see this is impossible.”
My eyes narrow in suspicion. That’s the second time he’s said the word impossible. “I am focused.” With a cheekily added, “Vampire,” I wind a lock of my hair around my finger, my mind still working on why I think his reactions are off. “Methinks the lord doth protest-eth too much-eth.”
“Much-eth? That is not a word.” He stops. Blinks. “You can’t just mangle Shakespeare.”
“I studied Hamlet in Secondary school. I know what I’m talking about.”
“You misquoted. You meant to say, ‘The lord doth protest too much, methinks.’.”
“Do you require assistance in removing the rod lodged up your–”
“You think I belong to you? A minute ago you wished for my death.”
“Nah.” I’d been invested in his survival from the moment he’d lifted his head. Maybe my wolf had been subco
nsciously guiding me all along. The animal spirit and my lust shoved aside, there’s so much more to all of this.
An opportunity.
The Vampire scoffs, and resumes his quick pace. “You weren’t praying for my demise?”
“Nope.” Rather than answer his question, I realise something key. Something I would of missed if I’d let him goad me into anger. “Why aren’t you surprised?”
His eyelid twitches. “Are you not concerned I was going to kill you?”
“Was.” Past tense. “Don’t doge the question.”
His whole eye twitches crazily. “Will kill you unless you gain control of yourself. Regardless of….”
I lick my lips nervously. “Of what?” Again, I get no answer.
The thing is, I think he’s not surprised because he knows exactly what’s happening. He felt it before I did. That’s why he stopped feeding from me. Stopping wasn’t a choice. He was compelled by the knowledge of what I could be to him.
He doesn’t know how to handle it.
“Do it then. Kill me.” My toes curl. “I won’t stay silent.”
“That is the second time you’ve ordered me to ‘do it’. Both times I’ve struggled to deny your wish.” A line appears between his brows. The Vampire walks again. “I will take you home. I have no wish to harm my–” His mouth snaps shut. “Don’t you remember me biting you?”
I focus on his lips. When he speaks they move in a sexy way. “I remember you stopped, and you let me bite you back.” Emboldened by his failure to hide the truth, I place my hands on his cheeks. “Admit why.”
“There is no affirmation to be had. I drank from you. I stopped. I was curious, and I let you bite me. It was a mistake on my part. That is when you started acting oddly.” He clenches his jaw. “Like this.”
Unflinchingly lying to my face rather than telling me what he feels.
How can I make him understand something I barely do myself?
Even if he doesn’t want me I need him. He’s my ticket out of my suffocating life. The more I think the surer I feel. I won’t relent until I have his devotion or a mating mark to secure my freedom.
“Let’s look at this objectively.” I smile winningly, hoping it hides my desperation to sell him on the idea of us. “I find you–” Lickable. Mindblowingly sexy. Breathtaking. Just damn fine. “–not bad to look at. And I know you’re mad for me. Right?”
Fair brows lifting, he blinks repeatedly. “Nej.”
“Assuming that means no I’m countering with a fat yes. I smell you and know you’re mine.” I still have a hold on his face because he refuses to look at me. I need something irresistible to seize his interest. “Curious about my partial shift?”
Chary, his eyes swivel to meet mine. I’m relieved at his reluctant glint of curiosity. “I suppressed the wolf. How did you do it?”
“Nothing I did.” Sheepish, I shrug. “My mating instinct allowed the change, a carnal impulse stronger than the sprit alone. It’s fundamental to what I am.” Triumphant I managed to swing the conversation neatly back around to my previous discussion point, I stare at him pointedly. “Why did the mating instinct rise, do you think?”
Withdrawing, he refocuses on the middle distance. “My bite is traumatizing.”
“Not giving me an inch are you?”
“I can’t give what I don’t have.” His eyes darken. “Your body is trapped in some kind of delayed shock.
“That would be a reasonable argument if I didn’t know the truth.”
He grinds his back molars. “You were taking me to your Alpha. Don’t you remember your threat of what he’d do to me?”
“You hold grudges don’t you?” I wave my hand dismissively. “That was then. Get over it. I’m not putting you down for tricking me into being dinner, am I?
“What do you want exactly?”
I study him. “The truth?”
“If you’d be so kind.”
“You can give me something I want. But if I tell you what that thing is I have a suspicion you’ll try to keep it from me.” I can’t hold his gaze. How annoying considering how close I am to baring my soul. If he’d asked I’d have explained that my greatest wish was freedom. “The usual way of things is to keep you now. So that’s what I’ll do.” I let go of his face. “Put me down.”
He sets me onto my feet, but I suspect it’s because he wants a safe distance between us.
His pale hand flattens on his brow. Long fingers dig in as he mumbles to himself. “I tried to do the right thing by you and all of them. Stay here and roam the woods. I care not.” He turns on his heel. “I’m leaving.”
With him leaves all chance of a happy future, one of my own making. Not one forced upon me by heritage and obligation.
I grab his hand. “Don’t.”
Could I justify getting closer to him just to be free of my old life? He’d use me in a heartbeat to get anything he needs. I laugh bitterly inside. He already has by drinking my blood to heal.
This Vampire my wolf has marked as ours is cold-blooded and hard-hearted.
I need to be like him.
He wants me, and isn’t unaffected by my presence as he pretends. It’s why he stands and listens though he could outrun me, leave the hunting grounds, and never look back.
Heart thumping, my breath comes short as I press my chest into his back. Rubbing my cheek on his shoulder, I hold my breath until his silence breaks me. “Facing my Pack with a Vampire mate is something I’d never dreamed of, but I’m dealing with the idea as best I can. So should you.”
“I can walk away.” His fists clench. “In less than a century you’ll be dead and I’ll be free of this connection between us.”
“You would go that far?” I feel sick at the suggestion and close my eyes. I remember to harden my heart. He’s a means to an end. A tool. My heart isn’t his to break even though the potential is there. He can’t hurt what he won’t claim. “You may as well have drained me then.”
“I can deny my Bride.”
“Yeah, I can turn away from you too.” I stare into the woods. “For my own reasons I’m choosing not to.”
“What can a Lycan gain attaching to one of my kind?”
I bite back a curse at his attempt to sully our clean relationship. Yes, I want something from him, but as a consolation. “What you can give me instead of a mating costs you nothing.” I hesitate. “You understand my wolf wouldn’t have staked a claim if you weren’t the perfect choice? The attraction is reciprocal.”
“Are you aware of what ‘reciprocal’ means? That is a four-syllable word. I know you struggle from three upwards.”
My eyes narrow in offense. Letting that one go to expedite the conversation, I calmly say, “I know what ‘reciprocal’ means. Pissing me off won’t make me leave.”
He’s quiet for so long I’m afraid he’ll tear himself from my arms and make good on his threat to leave.
The wind is chilly. I shiver, holding him tighter despite his cooler body temperature.
“Very well.” He turns to face me. “Do not say I did not try to be kind. Let us deal with the truth so we can avoid this mistake.” His mouth twists cynically. “Ask why I’m in the hunting grounds. Ask why I was wounded. Ask my name.”
Was there a time when I wasn’t staring into his face? Beneath the surface antagonism there is shame. I don’t want whatever he feels accountable for to intrude on what should be the happiest day of my life. Nothing matters anymore. We’ve found each other. Why can’t he see that?
If we approach our differences with a unified mind set we might’ve been able to make it work.
Because he’s resisting I have to use this time to my advantage.
I grasp his head and tug him down. He’s so tall. “You have important stuff to tell me. I understand, but it can’t wait? We’ll discuss what happened to bring you to our hunting grounds, but right now enjoy this.”
So few of my kind find their true mate. Our wolves let us mate with someone we love, but the spirit is n
ever satisfied.
Even if he won’t let me stay close, I can appreciate how magical it feels to come this close to being complete.
Vampires are strange creatures, but after meeting Lee for just a few minutes I know the stories that have been passed down from my ancestors were been tainted or biased. I’ll discover for myself if the Vampires are good, evil, or simply beings trying to survive in a world that doesn’t accept their existence.
He shifts restlessly, his desire to escape this situation heartrendingly plain.
Smiling, I cup his face. Lifting onto my toes, I kiss his cheek. “Tell me your name.”
Groaning, he turns his head to cover my mouth with his. He slips his hands down to my hips and yanks me close. Our hips connect. Thrilled, I hold him tightly. He’s obviously someone who takes pride in self-control, but there’s an animal under his skin.
“You will regret this,” he mutters.
Rubbing his shoulders I drag my nails down his chest, catching skin. I keep eye contact. My wolf growls from inside me. “Mine.”
His gaze flickers with identical possessiveness. “Look at you, so young. Innocent. And me so….” His face twists. “It makes no sense.”
My gut quivers. I’m afraid he’ll reject me before we can learn about each other. His gaze lowers to my breasts. My nipples harden and I push my chest forward, eager to show him that I’m not innocent, and that I can be whatever he needs me to be.
Chewing his own lip, he tugs on the bodice of my dress. It inches down until I’m bared to him and the night air. This time, his pupils contract into catlike slits, the mesmerizing blue of his irises intensifying.
I’m feverish, my whole body hot and bothered.
Nudity isn’t an issue for me. It comes as part of being able to shift into an animal. I remove clothing before I shift, and when I revert to Human form I’m naked as the day I was born.
This is different.
The Vampire’s attention narrows to my breast. Achingly slow, he sucks my nipple into his mouth. His tongue flicks at the sensitive peak until his teeth graze and bite mercilessly.
Legs weakening, my fingers dig into his shoulders.
Breathing hard, he kisses where he’s bitten. “You like that?” He hesitates. Searches my gaze questioningly.
Bite My Love Dark Creature Page 3
