by Hart, Shauna
Tarquin was his maker. He had chosen Alec years ago as his personal guard. At the time, Alec had no idea that he was protecting a vampire. Living in the small kingdom of Bluffton, he had heard the whispers that the Lord of the manor was no ordinary man. He had brushed them off as easily as he had the rumors that the local healer was secretly working with the devil.
But the rumors were true as he discovered for himself when he was inducted into the Order. The Order of the Dragon, as he would later learn, was formed many years before he was born. It was designed to ensure that the masquerade was upheld–that humans never learned of their true existence. The Order was comprised of three divisions. The Senex, the oldest vampires alive, created the laws. Vigilate were chosen to protect key figures in the organization, and Vindicate carried out punishment. It was designed to ensure that order was kept, even amongst the wildest at heart.
As a member of the Vigilate, he knew his job was the most important. And it fit him perfectly. After all, he wasn’t the type to inflict his own rules on others, and he never had the desire to enforce punishment. But one of his best abilities was his ability to defend. It was why Tarquin chose him so long ago.
Then, he had been young and naïve. All he cared about was being a good warrior, but that night he became a warrior of a different sort…a warrior of the night. It turned out that avoiding suspicion wasn’t as difficult as he had originally thought. Money and power could easily buy silence and Tarquin had enough of both to wash away any indiscretions Alec committed in his youth. Over the years Tarquin had gotten him out of quite a few scrapes.
He turned his head to look at the sleeping woman next to him. Her eyes were closed, her lashes resting on high cheekbones. Full pink lips were slightly parted as she slept. Reaching over, he caressed her long black waves.
This was one transgression that Tarquin would not overlook…or forgive.
Chapter 21
Kat slowly came awake to find that she was alone in bed. A black satin sheet caressed her skin as she sat up. Her fingers curled in the soft material as she pulled it around her. A quick glance around proved that the only light in the room was provided by a small lamp on the table. An armoire sat against the wall, the cherry wood gleaming in the muted glow. A small black table sat next to the bed its surface bare.
It betrayed nothing about the man who owned it. On the wall, an oil painting in an ornate wooden frame was proudly displayed. Its swirling colors created a scene that was oddly erotic. More than anything she wanted to explore the room more thoroughly, wanted to learn more about the man she had become so intertwined with.
But she couldn’t.
The last thing she needed was for him to find her snooping through his room.
Suddenly, the door opened. Alec came in carrying a wooden tray of food. Closing the door behind him, he crossed the room to place it on the bed in front of her.
“I hope this is okay. I did the best I could at the little market up the street.”
She looked at the tray to see toast with butter and jelly packets, a bowl of corn flakes and a glass of milk.
“I hope I prepared everything correctly,” he admitted sheepishly. “It has been some years since I have had to worry about human food.”
Warmth swept through her chest at the thought of him working so hard to please her. “It’s perfect,” she said with a smile.
Reaching for a piece of toast, she used the knife he provided to smear butter and jelly across its surface before taking a bite. Noticing that he was still standing rigidly at the foot of the bed, she patted the comforter.
“Sit with me,” she invited.
She noticed that as he eased down, his expression was still tense. His brows drew together.
Her eyebrows drew together. “What is it?”
After a moment, he answered his lips forming a grim line. “Your father will be arriving soon.”
They were both silent for a few minutes.
Placing the toast back on the tray, her eyes met his. “What will he do?”
He looked away, the line of his shoulders straightening. “I don’t know.”
Her gaze swept down as she realized that this could be her last night with him. She wished that thought didn’t hurt as much as it did.
“Tell him not to come,” she said.
He angled his head to look at her. “We need him,” he replied simply.
“Why?”
“Damien will be coming for you soon. And when he does I might not be enough to stop him.”
She took a moment to digest the threat. But Damien wasn’t what was worrying her right now. “What will my father do to you when he finds out about us?”
The question hung between them with the suppressed violence of a thundercloud.
“You don’t need to worry about me. I’m not important.”
“Is that what you think?” she challenged. “That you don’t matter?”
His features softened. “What matters to me is that you’re safe…that’s all.”
The look on his face made it clear that arguing with him now would get her nowhere, but she wasn’t about to let him sacrifice himself to save her. There were many things that happened recently that she had no power over, but this wasn’t one she would budge on.
Later when he took her on a tour of the grounds, she tried to pay attention to the beauty of the bayou, but her mind was still swimming with the thoughts of what would happen when her father arrived. She glanced around. Tree limbs draped over the water as if begging to be quenched. A wooden archway led to a dock that was built behind the house. Birds sang a haunting melody as they flew across the water. The night seemed to envelope them.
“Is this house yours?”
He nodded. “I bought it a while ago. Figured I should have a place to say if I was going to be here for a while.”
She turned to look at him. “You were here because of me.”
He inclined his head slightly, the ghost of a smile glinting in the moonlight. “I’ve always enjoyed the area,” he hedged.
She walked ahead of him to lean against the wooden railing. Glancing out across the water, she could feel the breath of the night wafting through her hair.
“Did you ever hate it?” she asked, her voice low.
“It?” he prodded.
Turning, she pinned him with a serious stare. “Watching me?”
One side of his mouth quirked up on a grin that was dangerously sexy. “I would watch you even if I wasn’t duty bound.”
Her lips curved up at his response, but the warm feeling didn’t last when she thought of what was to come.
She pursed her lips. “I won’t let my father hurt you,” she vowed.
He closed the distance between them, his hand coming up to stroke her cheek lightly. “Whatever happens to me was worth it, if it saves your life.”
“How can you say that?”
“Because protecting you is the only thing I’ve ever done that I’m proud of.”
His reply made her heart swell with emotion. Reaching up, she caressed his cheek. Lifting on tiptoes, she pressed a soft kiss to his lips.
“Kat…”
She placed a finger over his lips. “Please…I want one time with you that isn’t about the blood. One time that is just about you and me.”
Something flared in his gaze, and she couldn’t tell if it was passion or hope. But as her lips fused with his, she could feel him slowly begin to respond. Tentatively, she slid her tongue along his lower lip. A low rumble sounded in his chest as he took control of the kiss.
When his arms slid around her, she realized that nothing had ever felt more right. Even with everything going on around them, in this moment it was just the two of them. The closeness was intoxicating. What was happening between them wasn’t just about the blood.
It couldn’t be.
She ran her tongue over his fangs feeling the sharp edges. Reaching for the buttons on his shirt, she slid the first one through the hole to release it. He captured
one of her hands to stop her.
“You don’t have to do this.”
Her hands framed his face. “I want to.”
Her lips met his, her gaze remaining locked on his as the smoldering passion became a full-fledged frenzy. Clothing fell along the dock but it wasn’t just their bodies that were bared…it was their souls. He lifted her onto the railing, his fingers digging into the silken flesh of her thighs. Reaching for her hands, he curled one of them around the railing to her side and the other around the one beneath her. Bending his head, his mouth covered her breast, his tongue circling the tight bud until she moaned.
His eyes met hers as he kneeled before her, his hands caressing the insides of her thighs before moving them apart. The sight of his dark head between her legs made her entire body tingle in anticipation. Parting her with his fingers, she felt his tongue slide along her clit in teasing licks. Her fingers curled around the wood railing as waves of arousal rushed through her body.
When his tongue entered her, she cried out unable to contain the force of passion. He moved his tongue inside of her, his fingers clenched tight on her thighs. The groan that escaped him vibrated through her pussy bringing her to swift ecstasy. The tips of his fangs teased her pussy, creating a heady mixture of pleasure and pain that drove closer to orgasm. Needing to touch him, she released her hold on the railing to curl her fingers in his hair as he fucked her with his tongue.
His fingers replaced his tongue, driving into her until he forced another orgasm from her body. Standing up, his gaze met hers as he positioned himself at her entrance. Gripping the back of his neck, she pulled him into a heated kiss. She could taste herself on his lips, his tongue, and the sweet exotic flavor made her crazy. Gripping his hips, she pulled him inside of her. The sensation was so intense that she couldn’t contain the moan that escaped her lips. For a minute, he just held her there.
Her hands grew frenzied and she whimpered at the loss of movement. His hand came up to cover the back of her neck, forcing her gaze to remain on his.
“Slow,” he whispered.
When he pulled back leaving only the tip of himself inside, her nails dug into the skin on his shoulders. Plunging back inside of her, he drove deep with each stroke creating a seal to their connection. As her fingernails dug into the muscles of his back, she realized that she wanted him to be a part of her. She wanted him so deep inside of her that he could never leave.
His hand moved over her stomach to venture lower. His thumb delved through her curls to run small circles along her clit, making her breathing hitch. Each slow glide of his body brought her closer to another orgasm. It began to crash down on her as the hand at her neck tensed holding her level with his gaze, his eyes on her. Her muscles contracted on him and she felt his strokes get rougher, more frantic. He moaned her name as his body stiffened inside of her. She clung to him, her gaze never leaving his as he lost himself in their passion.
Afterward, they walked back to the house their fingers intertwined. It was hard to believe that it had only been a few days since she met him.
So much had happened since that first night. So much had changed.
When they reached the kitchen, his cell phone rang. He answered briskly, speaking in the same foreign language, his tone curt. As he ended the call, he pulled her into his secret room.
“What is it?” she asked.
Releasing her hand, he crossed the room to open the door to the armoire. To Kat’s surprise, the cabinet was filled with weapons. Alec began to load a gun with bullets that gleamed silver.
“I thought silver bullets were only for werewolves,” she mused.
Not meeting her gaze, he continued to load several guns with the ammunition. “Silver has been used on my kind for years. It is only in the movies that it is used on werewolves.”
She shifted nervously. “These silver bullets…will they stop him?”
“These aren’t just silver bullets. When they hit their target, they release liquid silver into the victim.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Liquid silver?”
He nodded. “A small amount in the bloodstream can incapacitate my kind,” he explained. He held up one of the bullets. “These release ten times that amount.”
“So these will kill him?”
He shook his head. “They won’t kill him completely, but they will put him down and keep him down until I can kill him.”
She drew in a deep breath, a sickening feeling spreading through her stomach. “How?”
He stopped what he was doing, his body going very still. “Fire…It’s the only sure way to do the job. Once he’s down, I’ll set him on fire. He won’t be able to do anything but burn.”
A shiver raced through her body as the horror he was describing set in.
His eyes met hers. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
She nodded, doing her best to put on a brave front. He crossed the room to take her hand in his but instead of feeling the weight of his hand, she felt cold steel. Glancing down she realized that he had placed a gun in her hand.
Drawing in a deep breath, she looked at him.
He tried to smile, the motion coming out forced. “Just in case.”
Chapter 22
From Alec’s position, he could look out the window while shrouded in cover by the drapes, his weapon at his side. By his count, Damien brought five men with him, which would make the fight six to one. Not the best odds. Still, he had seen worse on the battlefield and come through it alive.
He thought of Kat locked away in his room. He would willingly give up his life to make sure she was safe.
But, would that be enough?
“Alec!” Damien yelled.
His attention returned to the man outside.
“Come out now,” Damien ordered. “Or we’ll come in.”
With a quick feel of his side, he checked his weapons before making his way to the front door. He said a quick silent, futile prayer before pulling the door open. Damien’s eyes widened as Alec walked down the steps to stand in the middle of the clearing.
“I didn’t think you were brave enough to face me,” Damien mused. “I thought you hid behind a silver cloak.”
Alec’s gaze took in the men who were beginning to surround him at a distance. “Obviously you don’t know me as well as you thought you did.”
Damien reached up and touched the spot where Alec had injected the silver. “Obviously,” he agreed. “So, the Senex has a new weapon? Do they think that they can scare all of us into submission?”
Alec didn’t reply.
“There was a time not long ago that you considered me a friend,” Damien mused.
“That was before you went against the Senex.”
Damien laughed. “Come on now, Alec! Are you telling me that you have never disobeyed one of their orders?”
Alec’s gaze shifted away.
“Exactly,” Damien said. “The Senex are too old and out of touch to control a race that has evolved with time. You know it. I know it…Hell, even they know it. Do you think it is an accident that they’re making so many new vampires? They are doing it because they know they have lost touch with things. They need loyal new followers.”
“That’s not true,” Alec bit out, his jaw clenching.
“Oh, you didn’t know,” Damien said softly, his eyebrows rising. “Well, I can assure you that it is true, Alec. It is an unfortunate sign that they are losing ground in this new age.”
For a moment, they were both silent.
“Even your maker breaks the rules, Alec.”
Alec’s eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?”
One eyebrow arched up. “Isn’t that why you’re watching the beautiful Katarina?”
When Alec didn’t reply, Damien’s lips twitched. “She is not completely human. The tracker picked it up in her scent right away. I must admit that I was surprised by that knowledge. The way you’ve always talked about Tarquin, I thought the man was a saint. It’s nice to know that even the most
pious have their weak spots.”
Every nerve in Alec’s body stood ready for the fight that was itching to come.
“Where is she by the way?”
“Far from here,” Alec lied.
Damien let out a low chuckle. “I’ve always admired your spirit, Alec. Here you are outnumbered and you still have the fortitude to bluff.”
Alec watched as Damien took a step closer.
“Unfortunately, my patience is running thin. Silver usually has that effect on me. Now, where is she?”
His lips formed a grim line. “Somewhere you’ll never find her.”
Damien sighed heavily. “Things would be so much easier if you would just cooperate.”
“Fortunately, that was not my goal.”
Damien motioned to one of his men. The man sprung into motion beginning to move toward Alec. Before he could get close, a shot rang out from the house.
Everyone turned to see Kat perched in one of the windows. Alec’s eyebrows rose as he saw the gun she had trained on the man who tried to grab him.
No! was the only thought he had as several of Damien’s men swarmed him.
****
Kat’s heart rate kicked up as Damien smiled before moving across the yard with an unnatural speed. Alec tried to go after him, but was quickly swarmed and overwhelmed by several of Damien’s men. She aimed at one of the men holding Alec and pulled the trigger. The shot barely grazed him.
Damn!
Before she could take aim again, the gun was ripped from her fingers. She cried out as she turned to face Damien.
He shook his head and made a tsking sound with his tongue. “Beautiful Katarina, you were meant for pleasure not war,” he observed, his voice low.
She watched as he slid the gun into the back of the waistband of his pants.
“You left much too soon,” he continued. “There are things we have to finish.”
She tilted her chin up defiantly. “I know what you want, and I won’t do it.”
An evil grin slide across his face. “So, Alec told you then. You realize how special you are. Most hybrids do not live. It is a miracle that your mother made it through the delivery. But then, it seems your vampire side has remained practically dormant.” Reaching for her hand, he grabbed it before she could jerk it away. “There are ways to bring it out, I assure you.”
