by Kari Gregg
Garrick shot her a sly smile when he scattered her toiletries on the bathroom vanity.
As if her shampoo sharing counter space with his shaving cream meant anything.
Brows beetling, she returned her attention to the non-fanged Mr. Darcy.
When they’d finished, Luc gave her a stiff, one-armed hug she didn’t return.
“I’ll come back tomorrow—and every day thereafter—at sunset to visit. We’ll talk.”
Yeah, like he’d told her so much thus far? Like how powerful she was? So much more powerful than the two of them, wasn’t that his spiel? Yet they’d moved her into Garrick’s rooms without so much as a by-your-leave to her.
Sure, she was powerful.
Right.
Luc cupped her cheek. “Don’t make this harder for me than it already is.”
Her eyes squeezed shut.
He was leaving her, then.
He was truly leaving her.
Anxiety tightened her stomach.
“I’ll never leave you, bébé.” His fingers traced the line of her jaw. “Choose him. Or not. The decision is yours.” He blew out a sharp breath. “I give you this freedom, in haste, but while I’m still steady enough to offer it.”
When her eyes opened, his glistened. “Staying with you now would be the worst sort of sin. So I need to go,” he said. “Please understand.”
She didn’t, but her heart softened at the pain that grooved deep lines at the corners of his mouth.
“I will—always—be yours.”
The mattress dipped under Garrick’s weight, and her pulse raced when his scent washed over her anew. His big hand settled on her knee. “Your link to him fades as ours grows stronger, but you must see how keenly this hurts him.”
Kate didn’t like her guardian or Garrick very much at the moment. They were arrogant and domineering. They didn’t explain anything, then used her ignorance to leave her out of decisions as though she were a callow two-year-old. And she was heartily fed up with the two of them controlling her life.
Luc’s heartache still twisted inside her gut.
She’d meant to send him away with a cold shoulder, but she dipped her cheek into his palm, nestling into his touch. “Lucy, you got some splainin’ to do,” she said, curving her lips to a tremulous smile, but the best she could muster. “Tomorrow.”
His shoulders slumped as tension fled his body. He gulped. “Tomorrow.” When he bent to brush a chaste kiss on her forehead, she leaned forward. “I love you, Kate.”
“I know.”
Garrick’s fingers tightened on her knee, then released her. “I’ll walk you out,” he told Luc.
Kate frowned at her Kindle as the two of them spoke in low voices at the door. Garrick pulled Luc to him in a warm hug, fondly thumping his back. Comforting the bloody vampire for walking away from her, no doubt.
They’d done it again.
Snatched control of her decisions, her life, away from her.
She scowled.
Tossed the Kindle with the equally moronic Mr. Darcy aside.
She stared at the strong line of Garrick’s spine instead, enjoyed his broad shoulders. She studied the lush curve of his ass in soft, faded denim and his ridiculously sexy bare feet. Even his hair, mussed from his shower, made her fingers itch to slide through its rich, decadent silk.
She watched him say good-bye to Luc.
And wanted.
Most of these past days had revolved around what she didn’t want. She hadn’t wanted to become a vampire or leave her old life behind. Moving to a creepy swamp with a bunch of werewolves certainly hadn’t been her idea either. Going into heat like a damned alleycat? Not only no, but hell no. As sexy as he was, Garrick was probably the last guy on earth she would’ve hooked up with too. She hadn’t chosen Luc for a protector, but the only safe harbor she could lay claim to was now walking away from her.
Garrick pulled both doors shut with a muted click.
She certain didn’t want the arousal that burned inside her.
Not for him.
Anybody but him.
She watched the graceful bunch of his muscle as he pivoted to face her across his bedroom. Alone again, at last. Kate’s nipples beaded to aching points.
Her blood heated.
She hadn’t chosen him, but he was the first and only thing since this sorry mess began that she did want. Genuinely wanted. With every flutter of her racing pulse and each throb of her galloping heart.
She wanted him.
And by God, this once, she’d have him.
Her lips curved to a feral bow. “Come here.”
His eyebrows arched.
She rose to kneel on his bed and lifting her arms, she tore her T-shirt over her head to send it sailing across his eerily spotless bedroom. She squared her shoulders, arching her back a little so her boobs thrust out, pleased when his gaze fastened on first one, then the other before meeting her stare again. His blue eyes darkened with lust when her fingers rose to tweak one nipple, the jolt of pleasure sizzling from her breast to cunt in the span of a heartbeat.
His delicious chest rose and fell in shallow pants. “Mating isn’t just about sex.”
“Don’t pretend you don’t want me.” She concentrated on what she needed most, and skimming her mind as she’d known he would, Garrick flinched as though he’d been struck.
Kate laughed, low and sultry.
When he looked at her, his eyes sparked red.
His rapidly disintegrating control sent her own arousal spiraling. “I said come here.”
“I won’t fuck you until we’re fully mated. I mean it, love.”
“Good that I’m not interested in fucking you at the moment, then, isn’t it?” Her fingers fell from her nipple to the waist of the boxers she’d begged from him, and under his rapacious stare, she inched the boxers down her hips, slid them down her thighs. She bared her pussy to him in wanton invitation.
His body tensed. His hands fisted at his sides. “Take them off.”
Crap, the man was hot when his voice lowered to that needy, growling rasp.
Kate’s head spun.
“Off. Now.”
The walls of her cunt clenched at the husky order echoing in her mind, but two could play at this game. “You first.”
His eyes narrowed.
But he lost the shirt. He stripped the buttons free and ripped it down his arms.
Good God, his muscle made her wet. Instantly wet. Fierce arousal slicked her pussy and set her body to trembling. Her gaze traveled every inch of his muscled arm, from his thick wrist to the bulging sinew of his shoulder, then back again to savor the contours of the other arm in turn. Her scalp tingled because she could already imagine his fingers tunneling into her hair and those arms guiding the pace she set.
“Kate.”
His low moan shuddered through her, but she abandoned the bed, scooting to the edge of the mattress so she could slip the boxers past her knees and kick them away. She dropped to her knees on the smooth oak floor. “You know what I want.”
His fingers plucked at the button of his jeans. He slid his zipper down with a tinny rasp that cut through the panting silence of the bedroom and locked Kate’s breath in her throat.
Her mouth watered when he—finally—stalked toward her.
His hand dived into the gaping maw of his jeans to ease his cock from confining denim.
Dear God, but he was beautiful. Hard, thick, the bulbous head of his dick flushed purple with arousal, and Kate licked her greedy lips at the glistening precum gathered in the slit.
That was what she wanted.
To swallow his cock down and trace each vein with her tongue. Take him deep into her throat.
Garrick groaned wanton lust. His fingers wrapped around his gorgeous cock and gave it a slow, lazy pump.
Kate stared up at him.
“Open your mouth.”
She parted her lips.
He stepped forward and fed his dick to her.
S
he moaned at the first salty taste of him. Her tongue dipped into his slit to lap it out, hungry for more as his musky sex smells enveloped her and became the air that she breathed. Intoxicating. So achingly wonderful to her. What she wanted? At that moment, with his dick sliding in and the husky sounds he made when she teased the underside echoing in her ears, Kate felt like sucking him was all she’d ever need. Garrick’s cock pushed deeper filing her mouth. His fingers dug into her hair. She hummed happily, lips sealing around his length.
Her cheeks hollowed.
His dick hit the back of her throat.
She opened wide, eager to drive him out of his fucking mind.
For Kate, sucking cock wasn’t just a pleasure. It was an avocation, one she loved and excelled at. There was nothing like taking a prick deep, swallowing to massage the tip and the husky groan he made? God, who wouldn’t want that?
Kate loved to suck cock because when she did…
Rick was at her mercy.
He was hers to toy with. To pleasure. To tease. She could bring him to spine-melting climax in seconds—or long minutes. She had the power, skill, and desire to bring him to his knees.
She wanted to rock his world.
“You already do,” he said on a harsh pant.
When he slowly drew back, her tongue chased his dick. She licked. She sucked. She ran her tongue over the sensitive head.
And moaned out her feral delight along with him. “Holy crap, you taste as good as you smell.” And she hadn’t believed that possible.
Her fingers lifted to cradle his balls.
He shuddered.
Pushed back into her.
The fierce pleasure inside him poured through the link they shared, and she fed her own giddy arousal to him.
“God, love. Your mouth.” Garrick grunted, thighs shaking, when she swallowed around his cock again. “Not going to last.”
Pride, joy, lust—they all burst inside her. She redoubled her efforts, sliding along the length of his dick, her lips sealing to create the sweetest suction as he fucked in and out of her. “Want it. Want you.”
No, it wasn’t want anymore.
Need.
She needed him to shoot inside her, his dick spurting thick, salty semen into her throat and coating her tongue with the bitter taste of him. Kate had tasted his blood, had savored and treasured every drop, but she wanted it all. Everything he had.
His body quaked, muscles rigid as cement. “Christ, have mercy. The way you talk… You’re going to make me blow.”
“Yes.”
He shook his head. “Too soon.” His hips bucked into her face to thrust deep. Deeper. “I never want this to end.”
“It doesn’t have to.” She gently kneaded his balls, rolling each in her fingers, while her other hand slid down her stomach and into her nest of curls to tease her slick, needy clit. “You said I could have your cock any time I wanted. Your blood, your dick—mine.”
He groaned out mindless lust. “Yes. Fuck, yes.”
Deeply buried in his senses, Kate felt his orgasm nipping at the base of his spine, clawing to tear free. She shared the dizzy, soul-shattering rush. Sucking his dick, his precum flavoring her mouth, she rubbed her tingling clit, and primal pleasure jolted through her. “Give it to me.”
He pushed forward, burying her nose in his wiry bush of hair.
Her lips stretched.
His muscles tensed.
Busy fingers working her sopping pussy, riding the sharp edge of release, she looked up.
Because she wanted to see it take him.
Kate’s orgasm knotted her belly. She needed to come, but she wanted to share that with him too. So she waited. Licking and laving his rigid length, she stared at the grimace of pleasure that made his eyes go black.
“Oh Christ, love. Now!”
His cock pulsed, shooting the first salty strings into her mouth. He roared, pushing his hips into her.
Kate’s vision grayed.
There was only pleasure and soul-obliterating release.
Her husky whimpers. His hoarse moans.
His cum pulsing into her mouth and sliding down her throat. Her musky sex scenting her damp fingers.
He cradled her scalp, hands shaking as she sucked down every drop, then licked him clean. And kept licking him. Loving on him. Until his dick softened, the attention she gave him flirting with over-stimulation to his hypersensitive tip. Chest still rising and falling from her own orgasm, she let his dick slide from her lips.
Garrick stared down at her. A bead of sweat slid down his temple and traced the line of his scar. “Love you.” He closed his eyes, his fingers in her hair petting her. “God, how I love you,” he said when he managed to catch his breath.
Finally sated, she leaned her forehead against his thigh and adored the heady scent of their spent sex. “I heard you the first time.”
Chapter Eleven
Kate burrowed into the warmth of the comforter, surprised but not alarmed to find the other side of the bed empty. Garrick hadn’t left her once in the past week, not while she was awake, at least. She knew he must, because he had given her his blood every night, and strong as Garrick was, even he must feed.
If nothing else, to maintain his stamina.
Kate’s lips curved to a lazy smile at the delicious weight of her limbs, the sated exhaustion of her body, the mere memory of what he’d done to her, what she’d done to him, and how he made her feel.
Glorious.
Maybe Garrick was right. When need made her skin itch and her nerve endings scream, no, being a vampyr wasn’t so great, and Kate resented it, him, everything. But wow, did she feel wonderful now.
She’d needed.
Garrick had provided.
Beautifully, generously.
Just as he’d said.
No reason to muddy up perfectly good sex up with messy emotions.
She all but purred as she stretched, slow and indolent, on the bed and still stubbornly refused to lift her too-heavy eyes. Why risk disrupting this magical feeling?
Content.
Kate sighed into her pillow, hugging it to her. Had she ever felt so perfectly content? Given how frequently instinct and the demands of her body had driven her to Garrick over the past days, this easy sense of satisfaction seemed foreign to her, but she felt it nonetheless, more than she ever had before.
Did she want Garrick still?
As before?
Yes.
Even more so.
Though he gave her pleasure night after night with his hands and his talented mouth, Garrick still denied them both the fucking they both craved. He said she wasn’t ready, that when the time came she would know, and insisted they’d make love after their blood-mating was completed.
Kate was almost 100 percent sure that was bullshit.
Oh, she wasn’t physically strong enough to revive him yet. That much was true. Her body had healed, rejuvenated by leaps and bounds during the last several nights. She’d feasted on him. Unapologetically. As far as Kate was concerned, it was Garrick’s fault for getting her in this condition to start with, so who cared if he was forced to range farther and hunt more voraciously in his daily pursuit for blood? Garrick was a predator, through and through. He’d kept apace with her hunger. And his. That was all that mattered.
Still, the sly vampyr was holding out on her. Blood, she could have. In greedy abundance. Orgasms? Every night, he wringed them from her until her body slipped into sated exhaustion. But he refused to slide inside her, take her as they both wanted, and forget what Garrick had said. There was no reason to deny the inevitable. She wanted his cock in her. Badly.
She had to admire his duplicitous genius.
The man was using sex to lure her to him, to draw the both of them more firmly together. By the time her body was capable of resuscitating his, they’d both be crazed with lust to fuck each other, while at the same time, they would be as intimate as two beings could be.
Kate intended to savor every moment.
The mind-bending passion that flared between them now, and the passion to come. Other than the whole bloodsucking-creature-of-the-night business, he wasn’t too bad, really. She’d seen worse. She’d dated worse. She wasn’t going to fall in love with him, no way, but she’d relented about opening her mind to him once she realized she’d been treating him like a vibrator. Garrick was still a jerk. But she’d been acting like a bigger one. Letting him in her head, just a little, wouldn’t hurt. Besides, sharing odd casual moments with him felt…nice. As long as her heart wasn’t in danger, why not? She could play well with others when the situation demanded it.
Her heart already thudded with want of him, but along with arousal lived confidence and anticipation. He would return to her. Soon. And he would do lovely, lovely things to her. Where once, she’d feared fucking him, Kate now longed for it, more and more each night. Maybe tonight, he’d bend. Maybe tonight, he’d thrust his cock inside her and—
“Ah, Sleeping Beauty awakes.”
Kate’s eyes sprang open.
Across the room at the fireplace mantle, a woman in faded jeans, hiking boots, and a fraying flannel shirt traced a finger along the nub of a candle they’d burned last night. Her hair shone honeyed gold, cut short to frame her pixie face in a sophisticated style Kate would’ve never been able to pull off, but then, Kate would’ve never been able to leave the first four buttons of her shirt undone either. The woman’s eyes flashed feral yellow, her cheeks flushed, her lips full and red. They twisted to a smirk. “Hello, dear,” she said, scraping a long scratch on the candle wax with one sharp fingernail. “I thought it time we meet.”
Her sultry, mocking soprano made Kate’s stomach clench and instinctively, her mind sought out Garrick. Every sense in her demanded him there, her intuition shouting cold dread. “Rick!”
“He’s busy, darling, hunting with the pack,” the woman said as though reading her mind, but Kate knew that wasn’t possible. Only Garrick and Luc could link with her. Only they had shared blood.
