by Talyn Scott
She chewed her lip, thinking. “Distant protection?”
“If you want me to stay in a mist above the property, then I’ll stay in a damn mist, just don’t expect me to wave goodbye while you drive away.”
“Tonight, at least, I can deal with that,” she agreed.
“All right, do you want a room at The Blue Pelican or do you want to stay here? Either way, I’m hovering while you sleep.”
Why did she think there was any way around this with an Alpha male? She dangled her car keys between them. “Bag is in the trunk.” He waved off the keys and circled around the car. Kalen heard the lock mechanism moving before the hatch popped open. Without a word, he lifted her suitcase and re-secured the car with his mind.
“A male expects a lot of things when he discovers his mate. Crying and running weren’t on my list of expectations.” He tilted his head toward Mason and Jude’s house, so she started walking back. He waited for her to step ahead of him on the stairs. “I didn’t think I was that ugly.”
“You’re asking if I find you hot?”
“As my mate, it’s a plus if you like what you see. I want you to want me. Go on in ahead of me. The house is clear.” He held the door open for her, and she went inside the house. “I think you’re beautiful, Kalen. I wanted you the second I watched those long legs of yours slide out of the car and walk up the deck steps. I can’t tell you how I feel right now.” He shut the door with his foot and placed his hand over his heart. “There are no words for this fire blazing inside me right now.”
“I guess I’m having trouble with words myself.” There went that stomach clenching thing again, the emptiness growing between her weakening legs as she made her way to the kitchen. She pulled out a chair, gulped in some air, and plopped down as he lowered her bag in the corner. “But I’ll start with the fact that you are perfection walking, Archer Jordan. If I wanted mates, I couldn’t have asked for three worthier males.”
Archer opened the refrigerator, searching, and looked pleased when he pulled out a small bottle of orange juice. “Well, it’s plain to see that you don’t want mates.” He twisted the lid and offered her the bottle.
“That’s not true. I didn’t come back to the island expecting this,” she qualified. “I just need to catch my breath.”
“We all do.” Archer tapped the bottle and urged her to drink. “But I smell more than fear, confusion, and desire from you.” He pursed his lips. “Are you hungry, perhaps need more blood?”
“You can smell Mason’s blood on me?”
He nodded.
She swallowed a few sips of the juice, the tanginess washing away the taste of Mason’s blood.
“It’s been one hell of a night, since I stepped off that airplane.”
“Talk to me about it, sweetheart. I want to help.”
“Flashbacks of my Mom’s death have nearly beat me down,” Kalen continued in a rush, so she wouldn’t chicken out, “and I had to tell Mason I turned into a blood drinker. Obviously, he wasn’t as appalled as I’d expected but he certainly was appalled that I was still.…”
“Still?” Archer prompted, squatting in front of her.
“I have a big mouth.” She sat the juice on the table, surprised that she’d consumed half of it. “And I’m sorry I started this conversation.”
They looked at one another for a moment. “Do you want to talk about your mother’s death?”
“I don’t remember enough to talk about it. I’m told my father put a block on my memory, so I could live a saner life. But he’s a halfbreed vampire. Have you met a halfbreed that can wipe the mind of another?”
“Is his other half human?”
“Yes.”
“Not personally but I’ll ask Jayce.” Archer perched his forearms atop his thick thighs, his hands dangling between leather-encased legs. His eyes lit up again, the werewolf glow igniting the small space between them. “As far as Mason goes, he must have said something stupid.”
This wasn’t the response Kalen expected, and the rest streamed out of her mouth. “Every time I wanted to have sex, I ended up not going through with it. It felt off somehow, almost repulsive to me.”
Archer reached out and curled his hands around the backs of her calves. It was a simple gesture but an overload of skin-to-skin contact. With his touch, she felt the power of his Alpha Beast whirling beneath his skin. “So you’re a virgin.”
Her legs trembled beneath his touch as he slowly ran his hands up to her thighs, parting them slightly. “Yes, and I realize how stupid that sounds.”
“Was every time that you tried with a human?”
She nodded, shifting back on the chair. Kalen no longer wore panties beneath her dress, and if Archer glanced between her legs he would see everything. Part of her wanted to hide, the other part wanting him to look.
“That’s a normal response for our kind, Kalen.” His hands slipped higher, their warmth stirring her lust. “Our males tend to get wild with females, mostly human because we don’t have many of our kind to mate, but the satisfaction is lacking. Our females, however, even mixed bloods like yourself, are even less attracted to humans. Some of our females go through the motions, but I’m told their orgasms are weak.”
Kalen should have been embarrassed, but she grew wet when he said orgasm. “I’ve masturbated, but I’ve never come close to attaining the orgasm Mason gave me. So I guess it’s another double standard thrown at women.”
He breathed in what her body was putting out for him. “Double standard? I’m not so sure, but its nature’s way of keeping what few females we have right here where they belong.” He lowered his head and kissed her knee. “And from what I smell, you don’t care about double standards.”
That wasn’t true, Archer was simply rolling her into his vortex of lust, and she couldn’t think past what his hands were doing. Her legs almost fell open as his mouth moved higher. “Oh… I care.” Kalen gripped the table’s edge as her head lolled back. What were they discussing? She seemed to have forgotten.
“I want to be honest with you, from the get-go. Even though any man could see — by your body language alone — what you obviously want, my werewolf is slamming the inside of my skull to give you what you need.”
She swallowed. “Does it hurt when that happens?”
“Hurts like a bitch, Kalen. But I know how to stop the pain for both of us.” Slowly, he eased her legs apart, and a trickle of wetness slipped down her folds. “Your body is going into full-blown heat,” his voice dropped an octave as he stared openly at her sex, “and your mate wants to sate you.”
“Whether you are my mate or not — ”
“Feel me.” His touch moved beneath her skin, stoking and calming… stoking and calming, in a never-ending circle of need and satiation. “I’m a pureblood Alpha male. Not some scrawny man you have to pretend to want.”
She couldn’t deny the ancient calling boiling in her blood. “I know.” She writhed, turning liquid for him, trying to get relief by way of friction.
His mouth nipped higher, his sweltering breath touching her core when he said, “I’ll keep my clothes on. Everything will stay inside my pants,” he qualified to reassure her. “All you have to do is spread your legs wider, sweetheart, and I’ll do all the work.”
Oh, she wanted his mouth there, wanted to feel his tongue lick her most sensitive flesh. But she had no experience with this. She shook her head, her hand dropping from the table. “Ah…I’ve never…”
“Kalen,” he said tightly, his eyes flipping up to look her straight in the eyes. “Has no man even tasted you?” Archer’s fingers tightened on her thighs.
Her cheeks burned. “No.” And she wanted it so badly from this male. When his thumb slid down the crevice between her thigh and her mound, he brushed it back and forth, fueling the clenching low in her belly. She lifted shaky hands to his hair, running her fingers through the golden threads. “I thought Mason was going to, but…”
His brow scrunched as though he were pai
ned, his deep voice rumbling when he asked, “Do you want my mouth on your pussy?”
“Y-yes.”
He cupped the back of her thighs and lifted her on the kitchen table. The unforgiving wood a cool contrast to the steam rising from her skin. Archer adjusted her dress higher, and pushed her legs apart. Then he opened his mouth wide, his sharp canines gleaming under the hanging kitchen light, and inhaled through his mouth, putting her scent to memory. He leaned down, pressing his leather-clad erection against the very heart of her sex, before he sealed their lips and kissed her.
She moved her hands up his back, loving how his body felt too heavy between her legs. Relishing the weird high his power was exuding to her body. He lifted his head slightly and nipped at the corner of her lips with his straight teeth before he scraped his canines over her chin. It stung before he laved away the pain with his sandpapery tongue.
Archer braced his weight on one elbow, and with his other hand, reached between her legs and started stroking the outside of her folds. She gasped at the way his hands and body felt completely different from Mason’s, yet she wanted them both. He worked his tongue inside her mouth, invading, the same way he invaded her sheath with a single, albeit large, finger. He stopped right at her virgin barrier, the same way Mason had.
“You are so tight, sweetheart, but you’ll expand for your males when the time comes.” Archer wrapped his free hand around the back of her left thigh as he moved down her body and rained kisses over the fabric of her dress. She felt them the same as if she’d been completely naked. “And just so we’re clear,” he said in a demanding voice that snapped her to attention, his finger momentarily stilling inside of her. “None of us will pressure you for anything, Kalen. That’s not the way we roll. Only you say when you’re ready for our cocks, okay?”
What could she do other than nod? Her brain hadn’t been functioning after it found out Archer wanted to eat her out.
“But on the flip side, since we’re being honest. I won’t stand back and allow you to take another male inside your body, other than your mates, without a territorial battle.” The Alpha Beast washed over him, the creature’s eyes narrowing on her. “A territorial battle I would win.”
She tensed at the look on its face. It was feral and completely nonhuman, but the werewolf disappeared into Archer’s body as fast as it came. And strangely enough, Kalen didn’t think Archer was aware of it making its presence known to her.
His blonde head dipped and he pressed his face against her sex, inhaling and exhaling slowly, repeatedly. Her clitoris tightened, her sheath squeezing around his finger, wanting it to go higher. “I’m starved for a taste of my mate,” he spoke against her pussy, then kissed her straight on her throbbing nub. His tongue snaked out as he twirled his finger inside her, coaxing her clitoris from its protective hood.
Her hips jerked off the table and his arm shot out, planting his hand on her stomach. His silky blonde hair stroked her thighs as he wiggled his face back and forth, rubbing his nose in the triangle of her hair while his sandpapery-velvet tongue pressed tiny circles at the tip of her clit.
Kalen’s legs started shaking, her back arching though he kept her still. “Archer!” Her head whipped back and forth, thrashing, as he pressed harder with his tongue. When an internal switch flipped and a white-hot blaze filled her vision, he pressed his thumb against her clit and moved his tongue to her entrance.
“Eat you,” he growled before he speared his werewolf-lengthened tongue through her dripping nether lips.
Her legs went completely straight, her thighs clamping the hell out of his head. “Ah!”
“Come for me, my female,” he commanded, his deep voice working like a vibrator against her pussy. He curled his tongue inside her sheath, flicking over her internal ridges just as he pinched her clitoris between his forefinger and thumb.
Kalen screamed her orgasm, creaming Archer’s mouth. He swallowed, working her juice with his tongue. When the last of those ferocious waves left her, she raised her head slightly to look down at him. He lifted his chin, the evidence of her orgasm wetting his whiskery scruff. “Perfect,” He said, licking his lips, “right down my throat. Just where I like it.”
Kalen’s eyelids fluttered right before a peaceful sleep overcame her.
Chapter Eight
Jude tracked his prey to a waterfront villa in Cap d’Ail, France. Misting to the seaside, he immediately noticed that all the bay windows were open to the terrace. Such arrogance, he mused, for her to expect him to stroll through the back way and endure her assault. But what else did Jude expect from a creature who’d played lethal games of the deranged, those belonging to bloodlust in its foulest form?
“This ends tonight,” he vowed clearly, hoping his words carried across the wind and into the house. But even if she couldn’t hear his promise, Jude could feel her eyes on him the same way he could sense the fear of every other dangerous creature he’d ever hunted. “Time’s drawing nigh, lass.” So near, in fact, he could hear the thundering heart of a Pre-Youngling somewhere on the third level. The sound renewed him. If he could save an innocent before this sick mess ended, he would sleep well this night and mayhap a few nights thereafter.
The copper salty-tanginess of fresh blood hit his werewolf’s sensitive nose ten yards away from the seaside pool. Misting closer, he peered over the tiled edge of the pool and found lifeless bodies littering the water. All fresh kills, their various uniforms indicated they we’re servants of the household. He rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand, counting their sightless faces, their eyes staring to the sky in horror. If only he’d arrived sooner.
Jude misted just outside the summer dining room and peered through the glass, easily locating her from the echoes of struggling prey and voracious feeding. She stopped long enough to stare up at him, unafraid, with eyes as lifeless as the creatures and mortals she’d killed. Licking her lips slowly, she splayed her hand across her current victim’s chest and buried her fangs right in his throat. Sadly, the mortal’s blood loss and injuries were already insurmountable for human doctors to heal. The only choice of saving him would be turning him into an Undead vampire. This wasn’t a life for any human to lead so he wouldn’t be turned on Jude’s watch. With great anguish, Jude allowed her to finish off the man while he awaited his brother to circle the perimeter.
Not a moment too soon, Heath misted in next to Jude, his eyes reflected Jude’s disgust. “I heard the footfalls of a wee lass.”
“The Pre-Youngling daughter,” Jude confirmed, “our second target.”
“Aye, she’s now tiptoeing through the grand hall’s second floor where the landing is split in two, her heart’s a thundering like a sparrow.”
The tiny sound broke Jude’s own heart. “Like a bird ensnared is more like it.”
Heath placed his booted foot over the glass. “There’s a Druid spell preventing us from misting beneath the roof, so we’ll have to break through this glass, tumble to the floor, and hoof it. You still want the kill?”
“Aye.” Jude cocked his head as he pulled out the wooden stake, griping it fiercely in his right hand. “I want the kill. Though, brother, I hear another heartbeat several yards behind the Pre-Youngling.”
Heath shook his head. “I hear it, too, but I can’t detect the species of the second heartbeat.”
“It matters no’,” Jude said. “The girl will be free this night. I vow it on my life.” Because he would die for her, just as he would any other child who was in mortal danger.
“I’ll take the girl.” Heath nodded grimly. “When she reaches the middle of the landing, she has only two choices: To her right, there’s an elevator lift, but the center offers the grande staircase.”
Jude also placed his booted foot on the glass. “Let’s hope she takes the staircase.”
Simultaneously, they crashed through the ceiling of glass, both falling to the floor in a violent gust of crystal shards and powdered glass. Heath shot up the stairs just as the Pre-Youngling dropped
to the top step, a wash of horror on her face. “Werewolves, Mama! Run!”
The vampire turned her cinder eyes on Jude, hissing when spotting the stake. Blood dripped from her hands and slid from her mouth, soaking the front of her nightgown. “You think to take my daughter away from me? Never!”
“I can plainly see her throat’s been chewed on by her own mother,” Jude spoke slowly as he stepped closer, keeping her talking until Heath gathered the flailing girl in his arms and rushed through an open bay window.
“I would never kill my child!”
“It’s only a matter of time.”
“She’s mine!”
“This is no life for her.” Jude lunged forward, stake lifting high, and feigned for her chest. She flipped to the side and Jude nailed her in the back, puncturing her heart through the center. A wave of putrid air left her chest as her eyes quickly dimmed to seaside blue tinged with green…then to gray. “And this certainly is no life for you.”
When he felt her life surely draining, Jude placed her gently on the blood-soaked floor for he needed to find where that second heartbeat had gone. He closed her eyes with his fingertips and whispered a prayer over her, though his insides rolled fiercely with rage.
With her last words, she asked, “Why… did he do this… to me?”
Jude still hadn’t figured that out for himself. “I was always told love is no’ selfish, but he was too selfish to let you go.”
“Mama!”
He whipped around, seeing himself through the girl’s eyes: His werewolf flickering in and out, crouched over her mother with a bloodied stake in his fist. “Bloody hell, brother! Why are you back inside!”
“The man…the second heartbeat attacked! He’s her guard.” Heath roared, a silver dagger embedded in his left thigh. “Tried to take her.” He handed over the screaming girl.
Jude brought the girl’s tearstained face to his chest, wrapping his hand around the back of her head to hold her steady.
