Finn's blue eyes were gleaming. “Not so fast.”
She narrowed her eyes. “What do you think you're doing?”
“I told you we'll see who's the best at seduction, sweetheart,” he murmured.
Her heart raced out of its own accord, and she drank in the statement with a slow, languorous stretch. Her mind buzzed, thrilled and alarmed at the same time.
Then she pushed him off and ran, with one parting sentence meant to catapult the chase.
“You'd need to catch me first.”
CHAPTER NINE
It was a very, very bad idea.
The worst idea in the world, really, to challenge someone to catch you—most particularly when that certain someone was a shifter, whose instincts turned sharp at the mere idea of hunting prey. And she didn't just plant the idea in his head... oh, no.
She boldly smacked him with it like a bullet train with no stoplight and actually expected him to back off.
Wrong calculation, it seemed.
She was already regretting her decision when they reached the inside of the castle, and she'd run from him as fast as she could—ran like the wind right before hiding in the night's shadows. If there was anything vampires were good at, it was blending in to their dark surroundings, and staying absolutely still when required.
So Lucinda did what she did best: honed in her own instincts, blended into the corners where no light came and she could stay perfectly safe for hours. Her sharp eyes recognized the hallway where most of his expensive tapestries hung—pictures of dragons fighting dark creatures, the scenes absolutely succinct and precise. He had a similar painting on the entire ceiling of his library where she once snuck in and found herself delighted at his very large book collection.
Books were scarce for her during her human years, hence she devoured whatever she could find time to read.
There were no sounds inside the castle, save for the pitter-patter of the rain outside. Lucinda could smell it, too—the scent of the rain itself, cold and fresh as it mingled with the intoxicating scent of blood—
It came to her almost a second too late, and Lucinda only had time to dodge as he tried to grab her. Finn grinned in challenge, blue eyes flaring with the thrill of the chase as he stalked to where she had positioned herself.
The darkness of the space seemed to emphasize his tallness—a sleek warrior who moved without sound, whose intense eyes made her stomach jump as he looked at her as if he were stripping her soul bare. That was the thing, too: vampires did have souls, at least those who hadn't gone rogue, buried somewhere inside in the deepest part of them. Finn seemed to find hers easily.
The scent of his blood filled her nostrils, and she tried to block it and gave him a level stare.
“Tired yet?” she asked coolly.
“I could go all day,” he said easily, still stalking.
She took a step backward. “If you think stalking me like some madman is the kind of seduction that's going to work on me—”
He pounced. There was no other word for it as Finn's body moved as one and she was overwhelmed by his presence. She would have evaded again and ran, but it was too late, as he had already pinned her to the floor, grinning triumphantly as he did so. Astonishment filled her that a mere shifter could beat her speed, and she looked up at him and tried to gather her thoughts.
“I wasn't seducing you earlier,” he clarified.
She could struggle and match his strength, but she opted to remain still.
Big mistake.
Finn's body shifted, locking hers in place as he lowered his head and whispered in her ear.
“But I'm going to now.”
Warmth seeped in her at the feel of him against her. Refusing to show any emotion, she merely raised a brow.
“How?”
“A date, to start with,” he murmured, right hand trailing idly on her arm in a feather touch. “I'd wine and dine you, Lucinda, right here in this castle with the candles as our only light and you enjoying every bit of my warm apple pie.”
Surprise filled her. “You bake?”
“Sweetheart, I'm the best when it comes to pies,” he said with a chuckle.
It would be wrong to ask, absolutely wrong to encourage the conversation and have it go further. But like a person possessed, curiosity got the best of her and had her blurting out questions she normally wouldn't have asked. “What happens after?”
Finn's head tilted beside her, and bright red hair filled her vision as his whisper settled near her chin. “I'd talk to you—about your interests, your likes, whatever topic would make us both smile and think. I'd charm you with my conversational skills, and we'd enjoy each other's company until the moon is up and we're both relaxed.”
The picture he painted was as charming as him, and a certain delight ran up her spine at the thought. Allowing herself a small smirk, she asked, “Then what happens?”
He smirked back. “Then I would walk you to your room, bidding you a good night with a kiss on your knuckles.”
“Oh. So that's—”
“I'm not done.”
Lucinda blinked. “You're not?”
His hand had stopped trailing down her arm, now moving up to settle on her neck and feel her pulse. “I would then slowly move in until your back's pressed against the wall, and I'm pressed against you. And you know what I'd do next?”
Excitement raced inside her, and her stomach heated in response. “What?”
“I'd take a kiss—a long, slow kiss while we stand there, the silence surrounding us. I'd take my time exploring you, tasting every bit of you until you're moaning for me... and we're both lost in the sensation.”
His thumb had settled on her jaw, and he watched as her mouth parted open and a breath escaped. His voice had grown lower, deeper, creating an intimate moment between them that seemed to stretch on until they were both steeped in it.
And then he chuckled in amusement, breaking the spell. His fingers left her neck, and Finn made a move to disengage, almost as if the moment was over—leaving her alone with the warmth, the heat, the arousal.
Jerk.
Before he could stand up, Lucinda moved—a quick spin, a short burst of strength until she rolled the two of them in a matter of seconds. He yelped as his back got pressed to the ground as she straddled him and maintained the strength of her limbs to prevent him from moving.
Then she leaned in, sliding her palms against his chest in a deliberate gesture.
“What are you doing, sweetheart?”
“It's Lucinda,” she corrected. “And I'm showing you vampires are better at the game.”
Vampires had one advantage over shifters when it came to this, and that was their power of persuasion, no matter how subtle. Slowly, Lucinda let her power slide and bombarded him with images—flashes of her hands on him, her lips on him, without giving him the full picture. It was an erotic scene, and she found herself drawn in too—something that never happened in the past. Something hardened beneath her, right inside his damp pants, and she found herself throbbing in response and almost unable to stop herself from grinding against his erection.
Abruptly, she cut off the images—and froze when she found his eyes on hers, darkened with an emotion that shouldn't be there. The humor was gone, replaced by something very basic... very carnal. Shaken, she tried to stand up.
“Lucinda.”
That one word, his voice a rough whisper, stopped her.
Then Finn was pulling her head down and meeting her mouth in a kiss that left her blinded.
*****
He was kissing a vampire.
He was kissing a vampire and damn it all to hell, it was the best kiss he's had in his lifetime.
Lucinda's mouth was soft—soft in all the right places, an addictive texture that made kissing her absolutely pleasurable as he held her still, cajoling her tongue out to meet his. When it finally did, he tasted the beer they had earlier, along with a definitive taste that was hers alone—a warmth beneath the coldness as
she slowly, slowly gave in.
Her body all but melted against him, her lips responding to his kiss, and he found himself drowning in her taste and her scent of cold rain.
More.
His hands trailed all over—one over her head to pull her even closer, the other on her hip in an intimate caress. She jumped at his touch, a movement that had her clothed core pressing against his cock. He groaned into her mouth and thrust up, and her palms fisted against his chest now, taking a handful of shirt with it.
His mind demanded him to think, even while his body kept moving against her, wanting to rip off all her clothes and taste every inch of her, wanting to touch her all over and have her moan out his name in total lack of control.
Crazed with her taste, his hand slid up her wet skirt, thumb rubbing her upper thigh and fingers tracing her panties. His mouth moved to nip her neck, and her breath hitched as she called out his name.
His thumb itched as desire roared in his blood to take, and he moved it up to touch her wet core. Fuck.
He wanted all of her.
One second, they were all over each other. Half a second later, her body was gone, taking with it her warmth and leaving him staring up at the empty ceiling and still reveling in her taste.
In how absolutely wonderful she felt in his hands.
He sat up and found her a few meters away, back pressed on the opposite wall and mouth pressed together. Her mouth had become swollen from his kisses, and he itched to touch.
He itched to taste again.
As if reading his thoughts, she held her head high and eyed him almost coolly, with no trace of the earlier warmth showing.
“I have to go back and see Nell,” Lucinda breathed out.
Finn stood up, still reeling from everything and her taste still lingering in his mouth. His heart was hammering an incessant beat, and his cock… well, definitely raging.
“You mean avoid me,” he said.
She held her ground. “I just wanted to prove vampires are better at seduction. And I did.”
Liar.
A quiet second lay between them, and his hearing picked up the rate of her heartbeat—then the scent of her arousal. He took a step forward.
In an instant, she was gone, leaving Finn with his own thoughts and the scent of her still in the air.
*****
The rain kept on for the rest of the night.
In the morning after, Nell woke up with her eyes clear and none of the previous wildness there. Finn heard their hushed voices just as he was about to descend into view, and he decided to go back up and give them privacy. He went to the kitchen and fixed them a decent breakfast of pancakes and eggs, then brought everything to the dining hall.
Minutes later, Lucinda stood at the dining hallway door, staring at the food before looking at him.
“Good morning,” he said easily, to put her at ease. “Have some breakfast. Tell Nell the food is delicious.”
Her mouth quirked slightly before she nodded her head. Then she straightened her shoulders.
“Nell’s back,” she murmured. “I need to go back home and face my council.”
Silence.
Then Finn swallowed the pancake he was chewing on and nodded.
“Of course.”
It was time to re-open the portal and face reality.
CHAPTER TEN
The first agenda on his list was to send another missive to Henrik telling him of his whereabouts—and that he intended to accompany Lucinda to vampire headquarters as a courtesy to his guardian task. Finn didn’t wait for any response as they took the portal that led them to the back alley of Cromwell, the bar in Dublin where they made the emergency escape days ago. It was owned by a very trusted shifter friend named Jen, who wasn’t around when they dropped by, making for a quick escape. They took a taxi to the airport and booked a last-minute flight from there, with Finn and Lucinda seated together and Nell seated a few aisles behind them.
Nell was back to her usual self—a very uncommon sight for Finn, who was more used to dealing with the rogue vampires who wreaked chaos in general. As Nell had behaved herself since her full turning until now, Finn took his time to relax in the flight, leaning back on his chair and closing his eyes for a bit. When he sensed no movement beside him, he opened his eyes again and found Lucinda sitting very still, her eyes focused on the seat before her.
Slowly, quietly, he leaned in to whisper.
“You okay there?”
A muscle jumped in her neck, but she remained still and nodded her head.
“I’m fine,” she said.
“Haven’t ridden commercial before?”
“As a matter of fact, no.”
Interesting.
“Scared?” he asked, putting his hand on top of hers. She tried to snatch her hand away, as if he’d burned her. Already anticipating the move, he continued taking her hand before she could remove it altogether.
“I don’t get scared,” she whispered.
“I know,” he said. “But I’m still coming with you to meet your council.”
She opened her mouth as if to protest, then snapped it shut at the look he gave her, refusing to say anything.
Finn rubbed his thumb on her wrist, a soothing gesture.
“Glad we have that straightened out.”
Then he let go of her hand and leaned back on his seat, reminding himself to stop whatever it was he was doing before it was too late.
They had bigger fish to fry.
*****
The flight might have lasted five minutes for all the rest he’d gotten, hyperaware of every movement Lucinda made beside him. He was relieved when they finally landed in New York, but the tension built up again in his body as they traveled to vampire headquarters.
Being the leader of her kind, Lucinda knew the path more than most, and she wasted no time in leading Finn and Nell to a secret passage that apparently only Sophia and a few others knew about. The passage led to her private office, where she asked Nell to stay until she straightened things out. Then she let Finn accompany her to another secret passage which led to the entrance of the hall where the council usually did their meetings.
Finn took it all in in silence. Shifter headquarters was more basic, so to speak—an ordinary building on the outside, and lots and lots of rooms inside, with sleek, modern features, a protected rooftop, and a vast back garden with protected walls used for training. Vampire headquarters was made up of one huge mansion in the middle of a vaster lawn expanse, and the mansion interior was of the old Victorian style, elegant and timeless. Interior-wise, it was not as huge as the shifter building, mostly having to do with vampires having their own secret houses scattered all over the states rather than the shifter style of gathering and living together in one specific area. It cemented the idea that shifters were all about the pack and vampires preferred isolation.
The secret passage ended in an empty closet, and stepping out led them to an empty corridor with double doors at the end. Lucinda quickly pushed the doors open, the smooth sound of the hinges rolling as Finn was treated to his first sight of the so-called meeting hall.
It wasn’t empty.
They’d had no vampire encounter from the mansion secret entrance to the corridor, and the sight of the vampires all gathered in the room had Finn’s hair standing up on end. Lucinda was cold and ruthless when need be, but there was just one of her, plus Nell. To have all her powerful counterparts swivel their heads at the same time in his direction was slightly unnerving. Finn did his best to ignore their looks, his gaze zeroing in on the only vampire standing in the middle of the seated lot.
Raphael was staring at Lucinda as if he’d seen a ghost, and the expression that was visible was shock. Then his face transformed into a mixture of worry and anxiousness as he made a move to approach her.
Quietly, Finn stepped forward and slightly in front of Lucinda, not fully covering her. Raphael paused at the movement.
The silence wore on until one of the seated vamp
ires, a middle-aged man wearing a long blue coat, stood up.
“Lucinda, we are very glad to know you are all right.”
Unaffected by Raphael’s continuous stare, Lucinda turned to the man and nodded. “Likewise. I am glad to be back, Oscar. And it’s perfect that you are all here so I can relay to all of you what happened and where I’ve been.”
No one said a word while Lucinda talked, starting from the events when she, Raphael, and Nell left the vampire ball. Lucinda’s delivery was calm and precise, with no details left out save for the village visit and the kiss she’d shared with Finn. Out of the corner of his eye, Finn saw Raphael eyeing her in concern and what might have been relief—and something else, an expression that had intense dislike boiling in Finn’s blood.
Obviously the vampire lusted after his leader, and after his involvement with the recent happenings, it was more than inappropriate.
Lucinda ended with their travel back to New York, and Finn noted that a few of the council members stirred when she finished.
The vampire who’d stood up, Oscar, had a thoughtful look on his face as he seemed to absorb her words. Then he nodded his head, almost curtly.
“Raphael here has been telling us what happened on your way home. Apparently the... shifters have defended you and should be thanked.”
The way shifter was said in a tone of disdain clearly indicated Oscar's opinion of their kind. Finn's mouth curled as he sneered at the man, but he might as well not have existed for all the attention he was given. Some council members, however, were looking at him curiously, while others stared in open dislike.
Lucinda nodded her head to Oscar's statement. “I will handle that part. I do have one more concern that I would like addressed.”
Another seated vampire, a middle-aged female with the most flawless skin, spoke.
“What is this concern?”
Green eyes fixed on the female. “I would like to remove Raphael as my second-in-line. He has betrayed us for a demon.”
Finn saw Raphael's body jerk slightly as he stared at Lucinda with a stricken expression. Refusing to look at him at all, she began detailing what Mico had said to them, as well as his possible involvement with the guard killings. Raphael didn't say anything even when Lucinda finished, and a dreadful silence fell over the room as all eyes that were on Finn turned towards the accused vampire.
Dragon: The Clan Legacy Series Page 19
