Chapter 22
Deacon Thorn was taken into custody by The Directive. Things weren’t looking good for him. He’d either face death, or a very long time in jail. Either way, he’d be taken off the streets of London, and his clubs would be shut down. The werewolf was over in this city.
Ivan left to go and break the news to Deacon’s daughter. He knew it wasn’t going to go down well, but he thought she deserved to know what her father had been doing, though he knew he wasn’t going to get any thanks for being the one to break the news.
Nikolai and Lauren were happy to return home.
They still had a couple of hours until morning, and though they were both battered and exhausted, they wanted to curl up in bed and just be together. First of all, Lauren wanted to wash the smell of Sergei from her skin.
They got into the shower together, and Nikolai washed her long dark hair, smoothing soap over her skin, working as gently as he could. This wasn’t about sex right now, even though being naked with her immediately gave him a semi-erection. He ignored it, though, focusing on her.
It hurt him to see that the other vampire had hurt her. Twin pinpricks of bites marked the smooth skin of her neck, and the sight made him want to rage, even though the creature who’d done this to her was gone now. It felt as though Sergei had put his mark on her, when that should only have ever been Nikolai’s job.
He wanted to make it go away, to hide those marks with bites of his own, but only if it was what she wanted, too.
Nikolai finished rinsing her hair and then helped her from the shower, wrapping her in a thick, white towel. She was so tough, after everything she’d been through, and then saving him from The Thirst as well. He literally owed her his life.
Still wrapped in her towel, and him with one wrapped around his waist, he lifted her and carried her to the bed. Gently, he set her down, her dark hair still damp from the shower, spreading across the pillow. He lay down beside her. She’d been uncharacteristically quiet, and he worried about how much of her energy she’d given him when she’d healed him from The Thirst, and what sort of emotional trauma she had suffered. He wanted to make her well again, in the same way she’d cured him.
“I can heal them,” he told her, touching her neck softly. “Let me bite where he has bitten, and I’ll use my saliva to heal you. I can make it look as though they were never there.”
She looked up at him with those big dark eyes that he’d fallen in love with and nodded. “Yes, I don’t want to see them anymore. It’s like he put a brand on me.”
“He could have healed them if he wanted,” he growled. “He left you marked on purpose.”
He could see his words were upsetting her, and managed to clamp his mouth shut. Instead, he touched the tips of his fingers to her chin, lifted her face to his. He kissed her gently, knowing that if he made the bites pleasurable, it would be far easier on her.
She opened her mouth to him, and he pulled her closer, so they lay face to face, only the towels separating their skin. He wanted her, and the towel did nothing to disguise the fact. His hand ran down the smooth skin of her thigh, and his tongue pushed into her mouth. Lauren let out a moan and pressed herself closer, her hand on his hip.
She tasted amazing, and, after the shower, there was no hint of the scent of Sergei on her delectable skin. He could smell her blood, and a second desire rose within him. This time, however, he was in control. He’d never do anything to hurt her. Not now.
He moved his hand to the inside of her thigh, testing how responsive she was to him. With a sigh of pleasure, she parted her legs, giving him access. He slipped his hand to her most intimate place, planning to bring her to the point of ecstasy before he tried to heal the marks that bastard had left on her.
He pushed one finger inside her heat, and then a second. Lauren’s hips moved against him, urging him on, and his cock throbbed. He wanted to be inside her, but was also worried it might take him too far. He needed to be able to control what he was doing, and being on the brink of his own orgasm might make him lose it.
Lauren’s breathing grew ragged as he worked her, using his thumb to circle her clit as his fingers pushed deep. Her kisses became hungry, and he knew she was close.
Working his way from her mouth, across her jaw, and down to her throat, he allowed his fangs to descend, and he positioned himself directly above the marks Sergei had made.
The tips of his fangs touched her skin, and the result was instantaneous. Lauren let out a scream and pushed him away, backpedalling up the bed to put space between them.
Her dark eyes were wide, her skin pale as she stared at him. He hated that he’d inspired such emotion in her.
“I’m sorry, Nikolai. I’m so sorry. I just can’t ... I can’t ...”
Tears brimmed in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks.
He reached out and pulled her into his arms. “It’s okay, baby. It’s okay. We don’t have to do that. I was only trying to help.”
But even as he held her, rocking her gently as she cried, worry carved its way into his soul. She was his Bloodmate, but what if she never let him feed from her? It was something he’d have to live with, and all that mattered was that she was safe. But still, a little part of his soul withered. A vampire who’d never be able to feed from his Bloodmate. It was wrong on so many levels, and even though he was dead, Nikolai found himself hating Sergei even more for what he had done to them. The bastard was ash, yet he’d still managed to leave his mark.
Epilogue
One month later
It took time.
Though Nikolai did his best to heal her through love, she knew he wanted more. He was a vampire, and it hurt him to know another vampire had fed from her when he hadn’t. Even if that vampire was dead now.
But for Lauren, it was more than she could bear.
She had numerous flashbacks of her time spent in the tower, of how Ivan’s maker had clamped his cold mouth around her throat and sank his teeth in. She woke from her nightmares coated in cold sweat, gasping, as she tried to untangle her dreams from reality.
Over time, however, the nightmares grew less frequent.
She and Nikolai spent every moment together, and she fell into his sleeping pattern, spending the nights with him, as he taught her what he knew about his business, and they made love at every opportunity. Lauren’s days of stealing to get by were behind her, and she knew she’d never again have to stay in a hostel.
Her thoughts hadn’t left the people she’d met during her time on the streets, however, and she told Nikolai that she’d like to spend her time helping them. Already, she was putting plans together on how to open a shelter of her own, one that helped people who needed it the most—offering a bed for the night, or a hot meal, or even just a shower and warm clothes, if that was what they needed.
She knew Nikolai was struggling with his natural desires, however. He was a vampire, and she wanted him to be able to do what came most naturally to him. She remembered how it felt when they’d first had sex, how she’d wanted him to do it, even getting an erotic thrill from the thought. But now Sergei had ruined that for them.
But she didn’t want him to have. She didn’t want that son of a bitch to have taken anything from them.
As she stood in the kitchen one evening, preparing a meal from their now fully stocked kitchen, Nikolai caught her around the waist and planted a kiss on her shoulder.
“Nikolai,” she said, twisting in his arms to face him. “I think I’m ready.”
He frowned. “Ready? Ready for what?”
“For you to ...” She gestured to her throat.
His eyebrows lifted. “You are? You’re sure? There’s no rush. You know that.”
“Yes, I do. But I also know I don’t want Sergei to win. I don’t want him to leave any kind of imprint on me, and even though the marks on my neck have faded, he left his scars on my heart. I healed you through the energy I had inside me, so maybe you can heal me with what makes you what you are.”
&
nbsp; A small smile touched his perfect lips. “You know I’m happy to try.”
She exhaled a sigh of relief. “Good.”
“But if any point you want to stop, you just need to say.”
She reached out and touched her fingers to his cheek. “I trust you, Nikolai.”
He leaned in and kissed her, and then lifted her, so her legs wrapped around his hips.
Nikolai wore only a pair of sweatpants, which hung low off his hips. She couldn’t get enough of his beautiful body, and she thought she loved him even more like this, having discovered the more relaxed version of Nikolai that she hadn’t been totally sure existed at first. She loved to run her palms over his skin, marvelling over the smoothness and the solid mass of muscle beneath.
Still holding her, he stepped forward so her bottom hit the countertop. She reached back and scrabbled around, pushing the vegetables she’d been chopping for an omelette onto the floor. She suddenly didn’t care about her hunger anymore. He pushed her up, so she was steady on the surface. It had brought her to the exact right height. Nerves fluttered around her stomach. Sex with Nikolai was always incredible, but now there was something else on the table, and that made her nervous.
All she was wearing was another one of his shirts—a favourite of hers now—and her underwear. As he kissed her, his hands went to the buttons, and he popped them open, one by one, exposing her naked breasts. His hand cupped a soft globe, his fingers pinching the nipple, and Lauren let out a moan.
Nikolai ducked his head to her breast, and his lips covered her nipple. He pulled it into his mouth, drawing it long and pointed. His mouth on her nipple seemed to have a direct line to her pussy, and her hips pushed towards him, craving his attention.
He responded, pushing his hand between her thighs and yanking her underwear to one side. He circled her clit a couple of times, and then separated her folds. She was already wet—just being near him made her wet—and he pushed inside her. Lauren let out a gasp, her back arching. He always knew exactly how to touch her to leave her mewling and begging for more.
“I can start here, Lauren,” he growled. “It doesn’t have to be your throat.”
She knew exactly what he meant. “Yes, do it. I want you.”
Her fingers laced in the back of his soft blond hair, pressing his face closer to her breast.
His fangs punctured her skin, but it brought her no pain. It was nothing like when Sergei had bitten her—though she didn’t even want the other vampire’s name to cross her thoughts at that moment. Then she’d been filled with pain and horror and revulsion. But it was like any intimate act—when it was desired and given by someone you loved, it meant everything—and Lauren found that Nikolai biting her was exactly the same. She felt a slight pressure in her breast as he drew blood from her, but she loved it. She loved that he was taking something from her that nourished him, and brought them closer together. She didn’t know what she’d been so afraid of all this time.
She moved her hand lower, reaching for his cock. It was easy to slip her hand beneath the elastic waistband of his sweatpants, and already his cock was fully erect and peeping from the top. She tugged the item of clothing from his hips, and he used his other hand to shove them the rest of the way, before stepping out of them and kicking them to one side.
He lifted his mouth from her breast and swiped his tongue across the bite wound, healing it. He grinned with wicked pleasure, and she caught a glimpse of his fangs.
“I didn’t hurt you?” he asked.
“No, quite the opposite.” She returned his grin. “Now, hurry up and fuck me.”
He slipped his fingers from her body, and the next moment, he pulled her off the counter and flipped her around. He dragged her underwear down her thighs and kicked her ankles apart. Lauren pushed her bottom out towards him, and he stepped in, bending a little at the knee to get their heights right. Then the smooth head of his cock nudged at her opening, and his hands on her hips held her steady as he thrust in deep.
“Ah, fuck,” she groaned as she stretched to take him. She loved how he felt so cool inside her, heightening the experience.
He reached to the front of her body, between her thighs, and strummed her clit, taking her to the next level. She felt every inch of him as his dick slid in and out of her pussy.
With his other hand, he swept the hair away from her neck, and his lips met her skin. She was so caught up in her building orgasm, she barely even noticed when he bit her a second time, drawing her blood into his mouth as he fucked her.
“Oh, God, Nikolai. Oh, yes.”
She gasped and rocked her hips to meet his thrusts.
A familiar tingling started in her fingers, the hairs on her arms standing on end. She’d thought she’d used up her fae abilities when she’d healed Nikolai from The Thirst. It hadn’t happened since then, even when they’d had sex and she’d orgasmed. But now, as her blood flowed into his mouth, her light resurrected itself, brighter than ever before.
It engulfed them both, surrounding them in a brilliant luminescence.
And she could see right into him, could feel everything he was feeling, and knew he was doing the same. He was everything to her, just as she was everything to him.
And as he unravelled inside her, giving himself to her, just as she was giving herself to him, they both knew this was right.
This was exactly how it should be.
THE END
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A Vampire’s Thirst
About the Author
Marissa Farrar has always been in love with being in love. But since she's been married for numerous years and has three young daughters, she's conducted her love affairs with multiple gorgeous men of the fictional persuasion.
The author of thirty novels, she has been a full time author for the last six years. She predominantly writes paranormal romance and urban fantasy, but has branched into contemporary fiction as well.
If you want to know more about Marissa, then please visit her website. You can also find her at her facebook page, or follow her on twitter @marissafarrar.
She loves to hear from readers and can be emailed at [email protected].
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A Vampire's Thirst_Nikolai Page 14
