by T. J. Quinn
Dakota was taken aback. Yes, they were, and that would never do.
Selene glanced over her shoulder in the direction that Jared had gone for a second before speaking. “Jared told him that he didn’t appreciate what he did you in the bar and…”
Her brain clicked, and she remembered hearing that. Dakota interrupted, asking, “How did Jared know anything about that situation?”
“When he heard from John that you got dumped, Jared called Durk who always makes it his business to know what is going on with you and Durk told him all about it. Needless to say, your son did not appreciate my father being disrespectful to you in such a public way and told him so. My father implied that his relationship with you was such that he did not think your son would care and Jared nailed him. I can’t say I blame him.”
Dakota had been panicking and not paying attention to their exact conversation, so she’d missed that part of the discussion. She was extremely disappointed with Alek for involving her son and extremely disappointed at Jared for allowing himself to be drawn into such a petty conflict. She made miscellaneous small talk until her son returned.
“I want you both to know that I appreciate you both being concerned for my feelings but please understand that I have seriously grieved Alek and his response is appropriate to the situation. Please just stay out of it. I got what I deserved from him so please don’t think of me as the victim.”
Selene clarified, “I don’t think you can hardly be held responsible for pulling the blood rage out of him. Neither of you has control of that. He is just scared he is going to shred you one night, and he would never be able to deal with that.”
Selene could probably tell by the look on Dakota’s face that she had absolutely no idea why he had been upset with her. Even Dakota couldn’t control her response as understanding slowly clicking into place. Dakota remembered the claw marks on her sofa and how he acted after they made love last night.
Recovering her wits, Dakota insisted. “Look your father, and I will work all that out. The important thing I want to communicate to you is that the two of you cannot get involved in our issues. I don’t want you conversing with Alek any more about this. We are all pushing his hot buttons, and we just need to stop. Regardless of whether or not he is behaving in ways we approve, we need to continue to love and support him. He needs our understanding now more than ever. Let’s give him a cooling off period. Will you please just let him be for a bit?”
They both nodded in acknowledgment although her son seemed none too happy.
They slid out of their chairs and bounced outside.
~ Alek ~
Alek was sat on a large rock outside when Jared and Selene came back out of the building. They were an active pair and were talking about shooting hoops on the nighttime court. The moment they noticed him, Jared made a B-line for him. Steeling himself for conflict, he vowed to keep his trap shut.
Jared walked up to him, extended his hand and promptly apologized. “I’m sorry I got involved in your personal business. It is not appropriate, and I apologize for hitting you. Please know that I still care about you even though your behavior had been kind of deplorable as of late.”
Alek shook his hand and began an apology, but Jared said, “Trust me it is not necessary.”
After Jared walked away to look for a basketball, Selene stepped up to her father and gave him a hug. Alek relaxed a little, realizing he hated acting like an ass to Jared of all people. The boy had been through enough grief in his short life to emotionally cripple most people and didn’t deserve any more.
Selene spoke, “I’m sorry you’re having problems with Dakota. I can tell this whole situation is making you miserable. If you really want to go, I will go with you right away.”
He sat her back away from him. “Just enjoy your evening, and we can leave tomorrow.”
Selene responded, “I think you should know that even after everything that’s happened Dakota reminded us that we love you and encouraged us to stop pushing your buttons. She said we should give you some space and a little understanding. She really does love you father. I hope you find a way to work things out.”
He felt a little hopeless and motioned to Jared who had found a basketball and was shooting hoops. “Join your little love mate Selene. Whatever is meant to be, will be what happens.”
Heading inside, Alek caught up with Dakota on the way to her room.
“I finally figured out why you were angry with me. Do you know that I am so totally clueless that your little Selene actually had to articulate that for me?”
He responded, “Dakota I know you think everything will be just fine. Trust me it won’t. My hunger for you eats away at my soul when we are separated. All I can think about is how you feel in my arms and the taste of your precious blood. Making you not want to be anywhere near me is the only way I know to keep you safe but doing so is making me miserable.”
She looked at him incredulously. “You are sorely mistaken if you think that because I am human I don’t feel with the same intensity as you. When I am separated from you, my heart aches and blackness settles over my soul that literally sucks all the joy out of my life.” She noticed that he looked shocked and she added. “You know, you are unbelievable. It grieves my heart to know that you never even gave a thought to how being separated from you was affecting me.”
He stopped dead in his tracks and stared at her as she walked away. It had honestly never occurred to him that humans could be tormented by such things. Now that oversight seemed ludicrous. A voice came from a nearby doorway. It was Arianna’s mate.
Chapter 12
Finding a Way
~ Alek ~
John wandered by him before he could pull himself together. “I feel kind of sorry for you my friend. You are rather clueless about women in general and human women in particular.”
Alek’s head turned sharply to the side, and he replied angrily. “That is none of your concern.”
“Not even if my suggestion involved a way for the two of you be together safely during the blood rage?”
Alek shook his head and said, “There is no such thing as being safe with a female during the blood rage. I am going to shred her one day, and nothing will stop that except not being around her.”
The young man stated blandly. “Well if you didn’t have nails that would not be a problem. Of course, your hands would not be very attractive, but that would solve the problem.”
Alek thought about it for a long moment. The young physician stated. “It really isn’t all that difficult of an operation. You wouldn’t even have to be put to sleep. I imagine that with your age and regenerative powers merely soaking your hands in her blood for an hour or two would heal the wounds right up.”
Alek responded miserably. “She would never in a million years agree to something so invasive.”
Like a little devil sitting on his shoulder, the younger man replied. “Don’t give her the chance to say no. Do it, and then go to her. Trust me she would never turn you away if you were in need. She actually loves you. Don’t ask me why after the things you have done to her.”
“It would be nice to put this whole nasty business behind us. How long would it take to arrange something like that?”
The young gave him an assessing look. “I already have.”
Alek responded recklessly. “Fine, let’s go.”
The doctors in the medical unit were vampire and carefully explained the procedure. To say they were less than enthusiastic would be a mild understatement. They refused to perform without Dakota’s signature since they were technically on her institute’s payroll. John obtained Arianna’s signature. The procedure itself took less than an hour. He felt absolutely no pain because of the numbing agent used. He had a separate physician working on each hand, and the process went smoothly. He had to admit that in the end, his fingers looked awful but he knew that once they were healed, it would not be that noticeable.
When Alek slipped into her room, Dakota was lyi
ng on her bed with a tablet. She had fallen asleep reviewing reports. She looked as beautiful as ever she did.
Alek walked over and sat by her on the bed. She turned over, stared up at him dreamily and held out her arms. He held up his fingers and watched the look of shock and then pure blind fury envelope her face as she realized what he had done.
She immediately got up took a shallow bowl placed his hand in it and began dripping blood from her wrist over each fingertip. She took a second bowl and did the same. He could tell that it was much more painful for her to cut herself than be bitten by him. He felt a little guilty.
He tried to gently calm her by saying, “I’m sorry Dakota but trust me when I say this is for the best.”
She said coldly, “Don’t talk to me again.”
He was surprised at her anger. Would she really be so upset with him over this?
She brought her wrist to his lips. “Feed, you probably haven’t eaten today. Then again, perhaps you now prefer the taste of whore. If so, you probably you went back for more this morning.”
He cringed slightly that she was reminding him of the female he drank from in the bar. Her blood had tasted awful, and it was definitely not something he would ever choose to do again. How he wished he could erase the image of him drinking another female’s blood from her head.
He placed his lips over the wound and licked and sucked the wound. He could tell his tongue eased the sting of the cut. Her body relaxed slightly when he began to feed. He realized that she took her responsibility as his preferred feeding partner seriously although last night he demonstrated to her that he did not.
Alek seemed to have a lot to feel guilty about these days. Before becoming involved with Dakota his life had been dull and simple, and now he couldn’t seem to navigate even simple relationship issues. How the hell did everything get to be so complicated?
He could see she was still furious with him for having his nails removed. He sat quietly as she alternated between feeding him and dripping blood on his fingertips. He could feel her blood healing his broken flesh. He could smell the scent of her womanly body, and his eyes slowly began to change color during the feeding.
He wondered why his bloodlust wasn’t rising tonight as it had in the past when she was with him then he realized that being with her when she was angry with him was not sexy.
Unable to stand not talking to her, he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. Nuzzling her face, he whispered soothingly. “Sorry, love. This was the only way”.
That earned him a swift slap across the face. He was annoyed but not surprised.
“I cannot believe would mutilate yourself like this. There are about a hundred ways to solve this problem without having your nails permanently removed. You didn’t even do me the courtesy of talking to me about it first.”
“You would have talked me out of it.”
“You're damn right I would have forbidden it. You have to know that for vampires your nails are a critical survival advantage? If you are attacked, what do you plan to do now, kiss them to death? How in the hell did you get anyone here to do that without my signature?”
As she spoke the words, he realized that Arianna must have signed for it. She would be profoundly disappointed with the young woman. “Please don’t be angry with Arianna. I’m sure she was not happy with my request but would not deny me the one way I could solve the problem of not feeling you were safe in my arms. She signed the consent papers in your stead.”
That resulted in another slap in his face, and she hit him several times hard in the chest before she broke down crying and curled around him. He wrapped his arms around her, as shame slowly filled his soul. His daughter’s mate had been right. Dakota did love him, and she would never turn him away no matter what he did to her or himself. That knowledge made him want to be very careful from now on about how he treated her.
She continued to nurse him for a couple of hours. He fed generously from her neck, and they both realized they were covered with her blood because he had held her in his arms, kissed her and his hands were covered in it. She pulled him into her shower. Seeing her naked did bring on the bloodlust. He rinsed off his fingers and discovered that they were completely healed. He could touch them with no pain. Her blood was pure which meant it was extremely potent.
When they exited the shower, he pulled her into his arms and dried her off with a large thirsty towel. She did not seem at all excited by his bloodlust. He realized immediately that he had left her with the impression that he could do that with any female.
He dried himself and spoke to her softly, “Dakota, fearing for your safety while you were in my arms has been tearing me apart.”
She held up a hand and said, “I don’t want to hear all that. I used to think that what we had was something special, but you have proven to me that it is not. I think it best if you leave.”
She wrapped her towel around her small body and went to her bed. She slid between her sheets and flipped off her bedside lamp. He finished drying and joined her. She didn’t turn over but spoke brokenly. “I’m really not joking. You don’t need me. You can have what we have with just anyone. Please know I seriously want you to leave now.”
He reached over and literally pulled her all the way across the bed with one strong arm. “Not in a million years. I’m never leaving you, and I could never have what we have with anyone else. When I was at the bar, and I had that nice lady in my arms I couldn’t make the bloodlust with her. It was so frustrating. I tried, but it just wasn’t there. The moment I turned around and saw you, I could remember the taste of your blood and the way you felt in my arms and the bloodlust came immediately. I know you will never believe that but ask yourself one thing. If what we have isn’t unique and special then how could I have had the blood rage before I even tasted your blood last night? I was confused by that until I realized that just being in your presence and remembering the way you feel and taste brings that out in me. Dakota, you have no idea how deep my bond is with you. I would rather die than break it. Please don’t turn me away after everything I have done to be with you tonight.”
He gently turned her over, wiped her tears and kissed her on the lips until she slid her arms around his neck and returned his kisses. It was the tiny bit of acceptance he needed to believe that she might one day just forgive him for being the world’s biggest ass hat.
As he held her and ran his hands over her body, the mood changed around them. She relaxed into his touch, and he kissed her again. Something about the emotional upheaval affected them both in some weird way, provoking some form of hysterical bonding lust. How they could go from estranged to needy for each other blew his mind.
Having her in his arms again was his small piece of heaven if there was such as place. He began to kiss his way down her body, but she stopped him and instead kissed her way down his body and began gently kissing his manhood. She ran her small soft tongue over his body with such dedication that he had a hard time holding himself back. He realized he had been having sex with this woman nearly every day and still he was still so desperate for her touch it amazed him.
Blood or no blood there was no other woman he wanted to be with. He gently pulled her off him and returned the favor for a nice long time. Her body trembled under his tongue, and he could not contain his pleasure at seeing her response to his lovemaking. His eagerness to make love to her always won out in every single situation he had found himself in with her.
He moved up on top of her, and she opened herself to him. He worked himself into her with gentleness, and he knew she would want him to drink from her. As soon as his fangs dropped he gently bit her neck, licked the wound and then sucked the blood softly from her neck as he moved in and out of her body.
She made soft sounds of pleasure as the bloodlust took him. She realized he was the most perfect creature that moved on the earth. She thought about how incredibly pleasurable it was to have gentle sex with him. He was extremely well endowed and definitely hit all the right notes
. She realized that his lovemaking reflected his mood and he had slow, gentle sex when he was happy and contented and rough sex when he was anxious or angry.
She whispered in his ear, “I am sorry for something in advance.”
He pulled back from kissing her and gave her a questioning look. He was aware that most innocent young women did not plan to do things in advance which required an apology.
“Your lovemaking last night was very intense and exciting. I will have to make you angry every now and then just to experience it. It will make a nice change.”
A deep baritone laugh escaped from his throat. “I can do that anytime not just when I’m angry. That is the kind of sex men love to have.”
She corrected him, “No, that is the kind of sex that women like to have every now and then as well.”
He went back to kissing her. “I’ll bear that in mind for future reference.” He smiled to himself. He felt she was communicating to him that she liked some variation in her lovemaking and that pleased him greatly because he did as well.
He could feel her body shake with a powerful orgasm and he was not far behind her. She ran her hands over his back, shoulders, and face as he thrust himself in and out of her small body. She felt so damn good in his arms. He got onto his knees, flipped her over onto her front and pulled her to her knees. He entered her from behind and brought one hand around to gently stroke her small soft bud as he made love to her. He was so large she could feel every square inch of his manhood caressing her body in the most intensely pleasurable ways.
Chapter 13
Vampire Heritage
~ Dakota ~
Upon waking she was pleasantly surprised to find that Alek was still in her bed. He looked beautiful when he slept. His facial features were exquisite, and his skin was smooth, pale and flawless. Vampire skin was thicker than human skin and had subtle veining that ran through it like a barely noticeable spider web. His hair was sticking up all around his head from sleeping on it after a sweaty night of sex. He was absolutely adorable.
