Immortal Kiss

by J. K. Coi

  He shifted and pulled from her body, leaving her thighs sticky and wet. Lying back, he threw an arm across his eyes, and Diana started to get really worried. The only other time her warrior had been so darkly introspective was when he tried telling her that his life was too dangerous and they couldn’t be together. Changing his mind from that decision had been one hell of a fight—a fight she had very nearly lost.

  Sure, his job was dangerous—he hunted demons, for God’s sake. But they dealt with it, and she was sure he’d never regretted making the decision to give them a chance.

  Or maybe he had.

  “Come on, Alric. Spill your guts,” she urged. “You’re starting to scare me here and you know how much I hate that.”

  He lowered his arm, his expression hard and resolute with some mysterious decision that he was obviously struggling with. Pulling her closer he looked deeply into her eyes like he was searching her soul for the answers he needed.

  “Diana.” He kissed her lightly on the mouth. “I never want to lose you.”

  She kissed him back and drew a finger along the deep worry line in his forehead. “I know that,” she answered softly. “Tell me what happened today.”

  “It’s not…nothing happened.” He squeezed her in a tight embrace. “But I want you to listen to what I have to say, okay? Don’t say no until you’ve really given it some thought.”

  “Say no to what? Why would I say no?”

  He hesitated, clearly worried about her reaction. “I want to ask Maxine to turn you.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Baron stood motionless in the hallway facing the closed door of his room. He’d checked all the security cameras and the computer system, called Kane for an update—anything not to end up where he was right now.

  He was uncertain about the wisdom of entering. Diana had spent a long time with Max this afternoon, and like most men with a healthy instinct for self-preservation, he knew it was always a bad thing when two women got together with nothing to do but talk about their men.

  So was he Maxine’s man, then?

  If she would have him, he would thank his lucky stars and the twist of fate that convinced her to give him a chance.

  But he had serious doubts that Max felt the same way he did. She’d been as clear as crystal today, making sure she pointed out that what happened between them was all about the sex and nothing else. It was about an escape from fear and uncertainty and a release of mutual tensions.

  It was probably better that way anyway.

  So why did he want to howl his fury at the moon?

  He’d done a lot of thinking this afternoon about Max, about the two of them, and about his past choices. He flipped back and forth between wanting to keep her close and letting her go.

  Damned if he knew anymore what decisions were the right ones. Years ago, he’d been certain he was making the only choice available to him. But he knew now those decisions had been based on fear, guilt and the insecurities of a boy who hadn’t yet matured into a man.

  That wasn’t to say he’d enlisted just as a way to escape. But he could have done it differently, in a way that didn’t involve walking out on the people who loved him and relied on him.

  Thing was, his fear and guilt were still there. He still wasn’t good enough for her. He had nothing to offer Max but a life of danger and killing.

  And he still couldn’t face his brother.

  Baron sighed and reached for the door handle. Before he even turned it, he knew Max wasn’t inside the room. Her distinctive scent lingered—an alluring mixture of citrus and fresh cool seas that he would never mistake as belonging to anyone else—but it was faint.

  “Shit!” Where the hell could she have gone? The security system had been fully armed all day.

  He stormed from the room and stalked down the corridor, leaving the door wide open. “Alric,” he called loudly. “Alric!”

  The Saxon stuck his head out of the guest room at the end of the hall and stood in the doorway buttoning his pants. “I’m here. What’s going on?”

  “Max is gone.”

  “Shit.” Alric glanced behind him into the room, then nodded before turning back to Baron. “Diana says Max seemed pretty upset earlier.”

  Diana slid past Alric, throwing an inscrutable look his way. She was pulling a robe closed around her. Alric went back into the bedroom but returned quickly, dragging on a shirt, his gun belt hanging from his arm. He pulled Diana in for a hard kiss, but when they parted it wasn’t with their usual lovey-dovey gooing and gawing. The tension between them was so heavy that even Baron, who was admittedly distracted, could sense it hanging in the air.

  He didn’t care. Whatever was going on between the two would have to wait.

  Baron continued down the hall with Alric close behind. Shit, he’d reviewed the security cameras and seen nothing. Where was he even going to start? Where would she have gone? She had no car.

  “Baron?” Diana called.

  He stopped and looked back, the dread a heavy ache in his chest.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I knew that Max wanted to leave. I should have—”

  “It’s not your fault, Diana,” he reassured her. And it wasn’t. It was his fault.

  Halfway to the garage, Baron stopped short. He sighed.

  Alric looked at him, then clapped a heavy hand on his shoulder. “If you need me, you know where I am.”

  Baron nodded, his gaze trained on the closed door of the gym. “Thanks, man.”

  He waited until the other Immortal had rounded the corner before he approached the door, needing time to will the wild thumping of his poor heart back down to a level that wasn’t going to cause him to suffer a heart attack.

  She was in there.

  He didn’t know how he could tell—he just knew, like he’d known she wasn’t in his room. Maybe because his blood was in her, flowing through her veins. It called to him and he would always be able to sense when she was near. Maybe because she wasn’t human and his Immortal senses picked up on the supernatural forces coursing through her. Or maybe it was because she was the keeper of his soul and would always carry a part of him with her.

  The view that met Baron when he opened the door robbed him of speech.

  Max was on the treadmill running full tilt to nowhere. Sweat poured from her face, her breathing heavy, and she’d tied her long hair back into a slim ponytail. He’d seen her body before—naked in his arms only hours ago, in fact—but the sight of her now made him just as hard as he’d been with his dick buried deep inside her.

  He couldn’t take his eyes from her flawless, toned body. Diana must have given her some workout clothes. She wore a skimpy training bra that left bare the smooth expanse of her belly and arms, and nylon bicycle shorts that stretched tight over her drop-dead amazing ass.

  Her long, sleek legs gleamed with perspiration, the muscles of her calves and thighs subtly sculpted, mesmerizing him as he was reminded of just how good they had felt under the slide of his hands and wrapped around his waist.

  She knew he was there but she hadn’t yet deigned to look at him.

  That was fine. He was in no rush.

  Max kept running. Normally she would have been tired by now, but the strength in this transformed body continued to amaze her. It seemed her resources were limitless, although she knew that probably wasn’t true.

  She had expected Baron to come for her, so she wasn’t surprised to see him. What did surprise her was the instant, powerful reaction she had to his presence, especially since she had gone to so much trouble earlier talking herself out of wanting him.

  He hadn’t returned to face her before leaving with Alric to go vampire hunting, so Max hadn’t seen Baron since their argument. Which was probably just as well, because if she had been forced to carry this picture of him with her all day long, she would have found it even harder to stick to her resolution to leave him and this place tonight.

  She would not waver. Max repeated the mantra, trying to reinfor
ce the walls she had just finished rebuilding. But he looked so damn hot, and even though her footing on the treadmill remained sure, inside she was sliding.

  He was warriored up from head to toe in black leather, from the thick shit-kicker boots on his feet to the knuckle-cut driving gloves smoothed over his hands. His heavy, muscled legs were encased in leather, and he had a long leather trench coat still draped over his shoulders.

  She’d never seen him in his army uniform, had rarely seen him in anything other than casual attire. And she had thought he looked good then, but this was something altogether different. Primal, powerful, dangerous. For the first time, Max could clearly visualize Baron as the Immortal who took on demons. The youth who had teased her mercilessly as a child was gone, buried behind hard crystal eyes and deadly purpose.

  He looked fearsome, breathtaking and so damn good. Her mouth went dry as she surreptitiously eyed him and hoped he didn’t catch her doing it.

  He wasn’t going anywhere.

  He leaned his back against the wall and watched her with heavy-lidded eyes.

  She could feel her body growing hot, and not from the vigorous workout. Finally she couldn’t stand his gaze on her any longer and flicked a couple of buttons on the treadmill’s console, reducing her speed to a brisk walk in order to cool down.

  He took it as a signal from her, doffing his jacket and the gloves. She glanced at him sharply with wide eyes as he pulled the snug black tee over his head.

  “Uh, Baron?” She couldn’t make herself look away.

  “Come here, Max,” he said, his voice low with single-minded intention.

  Her breathing heavy, Max turned off the machine and stepped down, shaking her head as she grabbed her towel.

  It wasn’t technically a “no”, and from the way he stalked her, Baron knew it. The thrill of conquest gleamed in his silver eyes. He reached her in three long strides, taking her up in his arms before she could so much as whimper a protest. Truth be told, Max wasn’t interested in protesting. She wanted him and recognized that this might be her last chance to have him.

  His kiss was fierce, a reflection of the hard body he pressed close. “You scared the shit out of me,” he muttered before taking her chin in one big hand and forcing her head to tilt to the side, giving him better access to her mouth.

  Despite the succulent taste of him, Max’s hackles rose at Baron’s tone, and she tore her mouth from his. “What?” she gasped. “I didn’t do anything. I couldn’t—I’ve been trapped here all day like a prisoner, while you were out gallivant—”

  He laughed and some of the tension he’d been carrying in his eyes since he walked through the door bled away. He rested his forehead against hers and breathed deeply. “I’m sorry, baby,” he whispered. “When you weren’t in my room, I just…”

  “You thought I left,” she finished for him, stepping back and throwing her towel across the back of her neck. “Well don’t get excited, because I am leaving.”

  “Max…” His body stiffened.

  “Don’t start. I have to go back—you know that.” Max took another step. “He’s been alone for days now. Can you imagine what that’s doing to him?” She looked at him with her fists clenched at her sides. His continued callousness about Jackson was like another betrayal. “He’s your brother, for God’s sake. How can you not be rushing to his side?”

  “Fuck.” He walked away from her, running a hand through his hair. “We talked about this, Max. And what the hell am I supposed to say to him?” He shook his head and met her glare with clear, cold eyes. “He doesn’t need me.”

  “You’re such an asshole. Who are you to say what he needs?” she spat, crossing both her arms over her chest. “He needs someone.”

  “I know. I just want you to wait one more night until we get this vampire and then…then I’ll go with you.”

  She sighed. Would the extra night be worth it if she could show up at Jackson’s bedside with his brother like she’d promised? Max didn’t know anymore. Her feelings were too twisted, her emotions too raw. She couldn’t trust herself to know if her decisions were being made based on what was best for her dying friend or what her heart wanted for herself.

  “I need to take a shower,” she muttered, moving past him to the doorway.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Max tilted her face into the hot spray, letting the water sluice over her face and down her body. Her mind felt fractured, emotion and uncertainty causing her to lose focus.

  Her vampire abilities were increasing, getting stronger, but her mind continued to flounder.

  She was afraid.

  Staying here with Baron was like being cocooned in a little bubble of his protection, a place where she could pretend that her world hadn’t disintegrated, that she wasn’t a monster. But she had to leave. There was no way around it, even if Jackson hadn’t been waiting, alone in the hospital. She couldn’t stay here with Baron any longer. Her heart wouldn’t stand it.

  But could she leave? Really? She was so unsure of herself. Unsure of whether or not she could be trusted with her new powers, the extent of which she wasn’t even certain of. And it would mean trusting herself enough to control the hunger.

  The hunger that even now raged inside her again.

  Shaking with it, Max stumbled out of the shower and found herself facing her reflection in the foggy mirror. For several long moments she stared into the glass. Careful not to look at the slick wet hair dripping water onto the floor, the frightened blue eyes that shone with a peculiar light, or the pointed incisors that peeked from the feral snarl curling her lips.

  An eternity passed before a small sigh escaped and Max blinked, coming back to her surroundings. The water in the shower was still running. She stood stark naked in front of the sink, her body cold and wet—but she was in control. Thank God, it seemed to get easier to hold on to herself each time the hunger reared its ugly head.

  That didn’t mean she was off the hook. She knew it would still have to be appeased…and soon.

  Using her nifty inner vampire clock, she estimated it was still early evening by the time she exited the bathroom looking for something to wear. She should have brought her clothes in with her, but she’d been too impatient to put a closed door between herself and Baron at the time.

  He was waiting for her in the bedroom. She found him leaning back in bed with his hands tucked behind his head. His eyes were closed, but Max knew he was awake—his prone form was throwing off too much intensity to lull her into believing he had fallen into harmless sleep.

  He still hadn’t put a shirt on.

  Max was very aware that she wore only a fluffy white towel, and she sidled carefully past the end of the bed. She would grab her borrowed clothes and go back into the bathroom to dress.

  She started when his arms came around her, encircling her from behind in his warm, solid strength. So silent and swift she hadn’t even heard him move.

  “I need you, Max,” he whispered, his hands pulling at the towel she held in a tight fist to the V of her breasts. “Come be with me. This one time—let us have this one time together without any bitterness, guilt or spite, without anger or fear, without the shadows of the past to get in the way.”

  He tugged again and she released her grip, watching the towel tumble to the floor. Her inhibitions and earlier outrage tumbled down right along with it, and on a low moan she let her head drop to the side, encouraging the small kisses he set along the column of her neck.

  “This one time.” His words teased the wispy strands of drying hair that curled over her shoulder as he pulled her closer against him. “Not as a contest of wills between us, not as vampire and Immortal. But as man and woman. As Baron and Maxine. Let me worship you. Let me love you.”

  She couldn’t resist him. His scent, his warmth, his hard body against her all combined to drug her with passion. “Yes, Baron,” she whispered. “Oh yes, that’s what I want too.” She turned to face him but he held her still, his hands gripping her hips.

>   “No, stay where you are,” he murmured. “Just let me touch you.” His calloused palms slid over her acutely sensitive skin. Unbearably slowly, dragging heat and sensation first up her sides then back down her arms. He took her hands in his and raised them above her head. Leaning her head back against his shoulder, she bent her elbows, dropping her arms behind her to his neck. Urging him closer, she was aware that the position pushed her breasts higher, that she was begging him to touch them.

  Baron touched his open mouth to her neck. He smoothed his hands over her belly and Max’s muscles twitched and jumped in response. Her breathing hitched as his hands continued up her abdomen and his thumbs grazed the soft undersides of her breasts. She arched her back and moaned, the sound scratchy and desperate, and was rewarded when he finally turned his attention to her breasts, rolling the aching, pointed nipples between his fingers.

  “Ah, Max.” His low voice rumbled in her ear, a practiced seduction all its own. “God, I love how you respond for me. The soft sounds you make when I touch you, and the way your body flushes and welcomes me. You’re so perfect in your passion. Has anybody ever told you that?”

  She shook her head and bit her bottom lip to keep from crying out as he pulled at her nipples. God, he didn’t really expect her to answer that? Max couldn’t even remember either of their names at this point. Both her previous experiences had been utterly forgettable. Only Baron had ever touched her as deeply, disturbed her reason so completely, roused her passions so thoroughly.

  Her body felt heavy, hot, and she squirmed, pushing back into the cradle of his thighs, rubbing her ass along the hard length that strained urgently within the confines of his leathers.

  “Jesus, woman,” he grumbled. “You’re going to be the death of me.”

  Max’s answering chuckle was throaty and seductive, “I think you can handle it, Immortal.”

  Baron spun her around to face him and she gasped at the heat blazing in those molten silver eyes. “Oh, I intend to do my very best, babe, don’t get me wrong.”