by J. K. Coi
“Good.” She gave him a slow smile. “I expected nothing less.” On tiptoes, she leaned in and kissed him, her mouth open, her tongue searching, wet. He groaned and crushed her close before lifting her high in his arms and carrying her unerringly to the bed.
He laid her down carefully, almost reverently. Looking into his face, she saw fear and uncertainty in his eyes. She saw Baron, the real Baron—a strong, powerful man with a shattered soul.
He’d always felt as if he were unworthy of health while his brother was so weak, that he was unworthy of happiness while his brother suffered. What he didn’t realize was that all his guilt had effectively crippled him, the result being a life more bereft than Jackson’s had ever been.
Max felt a surge of tenderness so strong that it brought tears to her eyes, which she quickly blinked away so he didn’t see.
She gave him an encouraging smile. He rose to strip off his boots and his leathers and finally stood naked before her. He was magnificent—strong, dynamic, sexy—and she loved that in this he had no shame. He was completely comfortable in his own skin, confident and sure and…yes, a little bit arrogant.
When he moved to join her on the bed she stopped him, crawling to her knees and placing her hands flat against the rock-hard planes of his thighs.
“Not so fast,” she said teasingly, watching as his eyes grew dark, passion evident in their shadowy depths and in the hungry twitch of his penis straining tall and proud between their bodies. Taking him in her hand, Max leaned over, touching her tongue to him, loving the way he twitched and grew in her hand. She licked at the drop of wetness that had gathered at the tip, savoring his groaning response. Then she kissed and licked her way down his thick length to the base of his shaft and back before taking all of him inside her mouth.
“Max.” His hand twisted in her hair, halting her progress and urging her to rise and face him for a long, deep kiss full of the passion and love they had denied each other for so long.
His kiss was hot and potent, his touch tender but insistent as they fell back on the bed. He cupped her breasts in his hands then smoothed his palms down over her quivering belly and slipped his fingers into the soft curls covering her pulsing core.
“Open for me sweetheart,” he urged. His teeth pulled gently on her ear as he reinforced his request with his hand on her thigh. “Let me touch you.”
Eager to comply, Max sighed and let her knees fall open, desperate to have his touch ease the fire raging within her. He moved into position between her thighs, but held himself above her, still inches away from touching her heated flesh. Her body burned, a conflagration of need that threatened to overwhelm her, and she arched her hips high in a wordless plea.
“Now tell me exactly what you want, baby,” he coaxed, running light, maddening circles along the insides of her thighs with his thumb and blowing a teasing breath across one tight, puckered nipple.
Max groaned even as her body responded to his torture, pulsing and throbbing deliciously. “Ah, Baron,” she gasped, swirling her hips in a circle and throwing her head back against the sheets. “Please.”
“Is this what you want?” Max bit her lip against the frustrated scream that threatened as he flicked her nipple once with his tongue and dragged his thumb over the sensitive bud of her clitoris. “Tell me.”
“Yes,” she moaned. “Yes…please.”
“More, Max. Tell me more.”
“Ah…” Fine. If that was the way he wanted it. She opened her eyes, levelled her gaze with his, wet her lips. “That’s what I want. Touch me, Baron. Kiss me. Fill me. I want your cock stretching me, thrusting hard and deep. Make me scream when you take me. Do it.”
“Ah, God. That’s it. That’s what I want to hear.” Baron groaned and latched onto her breast, sucking hard as he parted the swollen lips of her sex and slipped across the slick evidence of her readiness. He penetrated her with one finger and she thrust against him, rolling her hips into his hand until he added a second, plunging in and out while his tongue flicked and teased her breasts.
He brought her right to the very edge of orgasm and left her hanging, only to start over—again and again until she was writhing and pleading for him to take her.
Baron slid his tongue between her lips for another drugging, sensual kiss. Max sighed, cupping his face in her hands. He raised his head and their eyes met. Max knew this moment would be the one she tucked away in a safe, secret part of her heart. “I love you,” she whispered. Surprisingly enough she wasn’t afraid to say it, wasn’t afraid to let him see it shining in her eyes. “Even if this is all we ever have, I wanted you to know that.”
He was slow and gentle as he entered her, his eyes never leaving hers, joining their souls as they joined their bodies. He didn’t return her declaration of love but suddenly his mind was opened to her and she was flooded with thoughts and images. He purposely let her see into his memories. All the pictures of her that he kept near his heart. Like photographs. Of two teenagers teasing each other mercilessly, of her laughing with Jackson, of her dressed up in that frilly pink prom dress, of her naked with her head thrown back in the throes of passion.
“Max,” he started, but she hushed him with a finger to his lips. The words didn’t matter. Not when his body spoke volumes.
“Love me, Baron,” she told him, wrapping her legs around his waist and leaning up to his kiss. He groaned and thrust deeply, wringing a shout from her lips as she dove right over the edge into exquisite climax.
With her body pulsing and quivering around him, beneath him, Max widened her senses, wanting to hold on to the mental connection as well as the physical one between her and Baron for as long as she could.
The assault was swift and thorough. As if he’d been lying in wait for just the right moment.
Devon.
The vampire ripped through her mind with vicious brutality, settling in before Max could get any of her barriers up. An insidious presence inside her, too powerful to oppose, though she tried desperately. Taunting and whispering, he dug at her control, clawing it away. He purposely fed the hunger she had struggled to hold at bay, lending it strength against her until her stomach tightened painfully. She felt the ache of her vampire teeth growing long and sharp inside her mouth.
Baron surged above her, shouting his release as he reached orgasm, and inside her the demon roared.
Chapter Nineteen
Baron sensed the change in Max, the sudden swell of venom and power, but was physically incapable of halting the orgasm that burst forth from his body with a ragged shout of pleasure. With his seed pumping into her, he watched the glint in her eyes turn red, saw the sharp points of her teeth as she let loose an unnatural snarl.
He fought to bring his body under control, shattered as it was from their lovemaking. He managed to lever himself away in time to avoid the sudden swipe of claws now sprouting from delicate fingers that only moments ago had clutched his shoulders with eager passion.
Oh shit.
“Max!” he shouted. “Max, fight. You have to fight him, baby.”
The perverted stink of psychic energy surrounding her clogged the air between them, impenetrable. Like before, only ten times stronger this time. He wanted to howl. Rage choked him, closing his throat. How dare that monster violate Max—and in such a way, hiding behind her mind like a coward.
Ignoring their nakedness, he turned his attention inward, focusing his energy. He worked to put his power between Maxine and the vampire in an attempt to shelter her and help her to drive it out. He forced himself into her mind. Connected to her as he was, Baron could not only sense the vampire’s insidious presence, he could also hear Devon’s laughter.
The natural vampire hunger that Max had been learning to control was being stirred up, heightened to severely unnatural, uncontrollable levels. Devon baited her relentlessly so that when she couldn’t stand it anymore and caved under the pressure, Baron would be the one she attacked, looking for blood to appease the demon set loose within her.
/> If Max did attack Baron, went for his vein while in the midst of a frenzied madness, if she took his blood without the sanction of his offering, then she damned herself—which was exactly what Devon was hoping for.
Baron stared into Maxine’s glowing red eyes as his mind worked double-time to find a chink in the vampire’s psychic screen. His Immortal gift allowed him to sense Devon’s energy. If he could just zoom in on it, if he could tune his mind to the same extrasensory frequency, then he could turn that power against the vampire and force it out. But Devon was a fog in her brain, drifting everywhere at once, fluid and murky, dissolving into another corner of her psyche as soon as Baron thought he finally had the bastard in his grasp.
Intent on the silent battle taking place within, Baron was unprepared for Max’s physical attack.
“Shit!” He jerked back as she swung again, but this time he wasn’t quick enough to avoid being clawed and his chest showed three bright lines of crimson as proof that the demon still had control of her mind.
He danced backward again as she lunged forward with a feral snarl of rage and hunger, her lips pulling back from the long, pointy incisors, going right for his throat.
“Max, don’t.” He held her back—just barely. But she fought wildly, hissing and scratching and lunging, trying to get at him with all her considerable strength.
His breathing was soon labored and ragged with the amount of energy he expended trying to keep ahead of her without hurting her. Baron had fought countless battles against hundreds of demons, but it was an altogether different story when you were trying not to annihilate your opponent.
“Shit, shit, shit,” he muttered, angry with himself for letting the situation get so out of hand. He should have sensed Devon’s presence as soon as the bastard had tried to tap her mind.
Max crouched, circling him with predatory intent. She hesitated slightly and Baron thought he saw her eyes flash back to blue, but then it was gone and she let out a low hiss.
“Max.” He called to her, hoping to reach her with his voice and his touch, since the vampire was controlling too much of her mind. Holding out his hands, he took a careful step forward, then stopped. Conscious of the blood dripping from the jagged claw marks she’d drawn across his chest, he changed his tactics. It probably wasn’t a tremendously brilliant idea to get too near her after all. Inundating her with the scent of his blood wasn’t going to help matters.
He spoke to her in soothing tones, urging her to be strong. With his mind, he relentlessly pursued the vampire and tried to help her control the growing hunger.
Long moments passed. Maxine suddenly stopped. She stood stock still, her head lowered, her breathing heavy and uneven. Baron finally sighed.
Thank God. She’s winning.
When she looked up, her eyes were clear. Crisp and pure blue. And full of tears.
Ah, hell. Anger and ridicule he could deal with from Max. But her tears were foreign to him. No matter what happened, Maxine Deveraux always held it together. Through her mother’s drunken binges and rejection, and the ridicule of the entire town. Through death—and undeath—Max had faced it all with courage, strength, and without shedding a single tear for herself.
It’s about damn time.
She sank to the floor, tears streaming down her face as she stared, horrified, at the blood staining her hands. Gone was the growling, wild whirlwind. She looked frail and vulnerable, her face pale, her nude body curling in on itself.
Baron grabbed one of his T-shirts and went to her, kneeling before her on the floor. She threw up a hand in protest. “No. Get awa—”
“Shut up. You know that’s not going to happen.” His tone brooked no argument.
He dragged the cotton shirt over her head. Still naked himself, but unable to walk away from her long enough to find a pair of pants, Baron took Max in his arms, folding his body around her like a cocoon.
She fought to be free, but his embrace was stubborn and inflexible. Her struggles subsided, but the tension in her shoulders and the way she refused to look him in the eye told him she was far from accepting of his comfort.
Suddenly he stiffened, alarmed. He felt something, a whiny ringing in his ears as if he were getting radio feedback from an earpiece. Max felt it too. She flinched, and he heard her gasp.
But Devon had given up his hold on Max, at least for the time being. Baron had known the moment the vampire removed himself from her mind.
Which meant… Shit.
“Shit. He set this whole thing up as a decoy. To fucking distract me from what he was doing right under my fucking nose. Shit.” Baron reluctantly let Max go and went to the dresser for something to wear. He would rather not have to go into another battle tonight as naked as the day he was born. Max stood along with him, her legs a little wobbly. She started pulling on a pair of joggers.
After dragging up the zipper of his jeans, Baron grabbed his gun belt and strapped it on before he turned back to her.
Looking at her devastated face, he hesitated, but Max swiped at her eyes and shook her head. Like him, she knew that whatever Devon had planned was already in motion, that it might even now be too late.
“Baron! I need help!” The desperate shout tore through the eerie silence. Down the hall.
Baron immediately jumped for the door, with Max close on his heels.
“Fuck,” he said, turning back, torn between keeping her safe should the vampire attack her again and needing to help. “Alric.”
“I know. Let’s go.”
He shook his head as he jerked the door open. “Not a chance,” he said. “I want you to stay here.”
Hell, she had that steely, stubborn look on her face, and he didn’t have time to tie her down or argue with her. “All right, fine. But…”He met her eyes. There was no time for delicacy, to beat around the bush, so he just spat it out. “Be sure, Max. If you come in that room, you need to be in complete control. I need to be able to trust that you can handle whatever happens.”
She caught her breath and her body stiffened visibly. “Can you do that?” he demanded. “Can you shut it all out? Because I can’t afford for you to be a wild card.” He softened his voice then. “Baby, don’t feel bad if you can’t do it…but make the right decision and wait here.”
Her expression was hard, closed to him. “No. I’m coming,” she said.
“Okay, good.” It would have to be. “Come on.” With one last look, he nodded and pulled his Glock before sprinting down the hall to Alric and Diana’s room.
Chapter Twenty
Shit. Devon had carefully and deliberately taken him out of the equation tonight. Baron knew it in his gut. Divide and conquer. The oldest, most basic strategy of war. He’d used it himself more than once.
Which was exactly the reason he should have expected something like this to happen. What was he, some kind of amateur? Some seriously bad shit had gone down right across the fucking hall—and he hadn’t sensed it because Devon had used his power over Max as a smokescreen.
This was going to be bad.
Shit. Shit. Shit. He flew down the short hall and practically slid into the open door of Alric’s room.
The room was empty. But God, there was a lot of blood. All of it drying in ominous black circles on the light parquet floor like splattered blots of ink on a white page.
“Bathroom,” Max whispered. Her voice was hoarse and her body tense. She was very deliberately not looking at the blood. He paused for a moment, using his mind to test her psychic shields. She was doing well so far, holding it together. Damn, he had to admire the woman’s courage and strength.
They followed a splotchy trail of blood that started in the center of the room and ended at the entrance to the ensuite bath. Even before they reached the doorway, Max knew what they would find. She could feel Diana’s pain.
The sight within was enough to tear Max’s heart out.
Alric knelt on the hard tile of the bathroom floor in a pool of what could only be Diana’s blood. They were bot
h covered in it, and Diana herself was cradled in Alric’s arms, her pale, pale face so still.
“Oh God—Diana.” Max made a conscious effort to ignore the blood and ignore the disgust she felt for herself that such a thing had to be done.
Alric turned on both of them with a low growl that ended in a wild hiss. He held Diana closer, pulling her up and into the great wall of his chest. Max watched Diana’s head roll back on his arm like a rag doll’s.
Very slowly, Baron stepped forward. “Alric. Man, it’s me—Baron. Baron and Max. We’re here. We want to help.”
Alric’s eyes blazed with a terrible black fire, and Max realized that behind the agony coming to her from Diana’s subconscious mind, she could also feel the intensity of Alric’s violent emotions. His defenses were down and he wasn’t able to keep his mind closed to her. God, so much rage, anguish, guilt…all of it seething and burning a hole in his heart, in his very sanity.
Baron took another small step forward, showing no reaction to Alric’s desperate animal-like snarls. “It’s okay, Alric. Everything’s cool now…we just want to help you. Diana’s hurt. She needs medical attention. You saved her—you did—but now you need to let us get her patched up, okay?”
Max thought that Baron’s words had finally gotten the warrior’s attention. His head seemed to clear just a bit as he gazed down at the woman clutched desperately in his arms. After a long moment, his hold on her loosened.
“Baron?”
“Yeah, man. I’m here.”
Alric met Baron’s eyes, his expression reflecting all the pain that Max was feeling through him. “I couldn’t stop her, Baron.” His voice broke on each word. Max gasped, closing her eyes tightly as his mind unknowingly broadcast to her what had happened…in vivid, horrific detail.
Baron shot her a sharp, warning look, and Max forced a nod, plastering her hand to her mouth to stop the scream.
