“You should have told me, Nico,” she whispered. “I had a right to know.”
“You don’t want this,” he realized, drawing back to study her expression. “Because I do. I want this. How could I not want you to be the mother of my child?” His gut tightened, thinking about how hard it had been to get her to put that ring on. “I think I’m starting to understand. You just really don’t want to be back here with me, do you, Aylia? Is that it? Do you regret coming back here?”
“Nico, you don’t want me as the mother of your child.” She dropped her head to his chest, and softened her voice. “You don’t.”
He slid his hands to her face and forced her at look at him. “I do.”
“No. No, you don’t.” Her bottom lip trembled. “Think about my necklace, think about my life. Every offspring in my Coven is cursed. Our child will be cursed.”
***
Thirty minutes later, Aylia sat against the headboard waiting for Nico to return after letting the Society’s primary doctor out. She’d been given some kind of herb that had worked wonders to cure her nausea and there was no question about her condition. She was pregnant. It was hard to believe that it was really possible. Guilt twisted inside her over her initial reaction. She’d hurt Nico and she knew it. She didn’t want to hurt him, not now or ever. He appeared in the doorway and immediately crossed to the bed and sat down. “You okay?”
“I don’t care about me right now. I care about you. I didn’t mean to upset you. I love you, Nico. I do. I want to be your wife and I want to be the mother of your child. I was just scared. Okay, I still am. I already worry about the day someone jerks the necklace off of me and I die. How do I, how do we, endure that fear with our child? I feel like I’ve cursed you to live in the same hellish world that is mine.”
He settled against the headboard beside her and pulled her into his arms. “Our child. Our life. We’ll deal with two necklaces and we’ll live happily ever after; no matter whom I have to kill to make it so.”
She blinked and then laughed. “That was such an alpha statement.”
“You like it when I’m alpha. Admit it.”
“I’ll never admit it.”
“I bet I can make you admit it.” He leaned in to kiss her when Marcus and a strange man appeared at the end of the bed.
Aylia sat up instantly. “Marcus?”
“Do you ever knock?” Nico growled, pushing to his feet.
“I was eager to congratulate you two on the little bambino. And so was Ariel.”
Alyia stood up, and tugged on the hem of her dress, studying the stranger with long hair so black it was almost blue and odd eyes that matched. ”Ariel? Like the Archangel?”
“He’s my twin,” he said. “And I’m definitely not angelic.”
Marcus smiled at Nico. “Ariel is the one who loaned us that room in the third dimension a while back.”
“You mean the one I was locked up in for a week?” Nico asked, grumpily.
“That one,” Marcus said. “Ariel is my wedding gift to you two.”
Ariel held up his palm, showing them the marking there.
“My pendant is etched in your skin,” Aylia gasp. “Why? How? What does it mean?”
“I am Benedanti.”
“Benedanti?” Nico asked. “As in the legend about the werewolves that hunt witches?”
“We don’t hunt witches. We’re the offspring of wolf and witch. And unfortunately, it was a Benedanti that cursed the Coven of the Rain. I’ve done what I can to remove the curse, but could not. The pendants your coven wear became my solution and the gift of a longer life was my way of compensating for what your people have been through. But your situation is now different than that of your coven. Your child is Benedanti, already alive with powerful magic, so that I can give you a more permanent solution to the curse.”
“What kind of solution?” Nico demanded, distrust in his voice.
“The kind that works,” Ariel replied without looking at Nico, his focus on Aylia. “Hold out our hand.”
Aylia lifted her hand. Nico grabbed it and looked at Marcus. “You’re sure about this?”
Marcus gave a nod. “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.”
Nico’s eyes met hers and he let go of her.
Aylia extended her hand again and Ariel pressed his palm to hers. It tingled and burned for a moment before Ariel lifted his hand from hers. She blinked at the etched pendant on her hand.
“Now I need you to press your palm to Nico’s,” Ariel instructed.
She flatted her hand on Nico’s and Ariel held his hand over theirs; a light poured over them. The instant Ariel pulled away, Nico snatched his hand and looked at his palm, where the pendant was now etched. Aylia reached for it but suddenly her necklace heated and disappeared.
“The pendant is now a part of you, Aylia, and so is the counter spell to the curse. The magic of the necklace will forever run through every cell in your body, impossible to remove. If you wish to call on the magic you can do so as you do any of our natural born magic. You no longer need the blood of your coven members to cast powerful spells. You will be capable of doing so on your own.” His attention turned to Nico. “You are now Benedanti as well, Nico, and your destiny is one that has long been leading to this day. You are needed in a war much more dangerous than the one you fight now. I would like you to visit our operation and consider joining us.”
“I have a responsibility here,” Nico replied, pulling Aylia close.
“Your war is over. It was a Benedati pulling Andres’s strings, and we have dealt with this traitor. Your second in charge should be able to handle the rounding up of the remaining rebels. After, of course, you get Kole’s head back on straight.”
“How do you know what is going on with Kole?” Nico demanded.
“I’m old and wise,” Ariel said, his lips twitching.
“What’s going on with Kole?” Nico asked.
Ariel’s lips twitched. “That’s between you and Kole.”
“How old?” Aylia asked, growing more and more curious about this stranger.
Marcus laughed. “He’s too damn old, I can tell you that.”
She cut her gaze to the vampire warden, also curious about him now. “And how old are you?”
“Depends on the day you ask. One day I’m ‘too damn old’ and others ‘not old enough’.”
Ariel’s odd eyes settled on Nico. “I will extend an offer of Benedanti support here in the Society, if you so wish, until you join us.”
“If I join you,” Nico corrected.
Ariel’s eyes flashed before he said, “You will.”
Nico narrowed his eyes on Ariel. “You seem sure of that.”
“I am.”
Nico stared at Ariel a moment and then shook his head. “I’m not going to ask how, because I know the answer will be magic that I don’t intend to understand. But you gave me Aylia’s safety and I am indebted to you for doing so. I’ll visit you and I’ll hear what you have to say.”
Ariel inclined his head. “I’ll have a formal invitation extended immediately with details.”
“I’ll be expecting it,” Nico replied and scrubbed his jaw. “You wouldn’t happen to know if I have any more traitors in my operation?”
“Three,” Ariel said. “And no I do not have names. It’s simply a number I know. You will figure it out easily with your new abilities.” He glanced between them. “You no longer need a crescent moon to be bonded. You are bound by magic, for now and evermore.”
Aylia’s eyes collided with Marcus’s and he winked before he and Ariel disappeared.
Nico immediately went down on his knee in front of her and held her hand. “Now I ask you again. Will you marry me?”
She blinked down at him. “I don’t understand. I already said ‘yes’ before.”
“You said ‘yes’ with a silent ‘but’. Say yes like you mean it.”
She bent down on her knees in front of him, and pressed her hands to his face. “Yes. Yes. Yes.
”
He pulled her down on the floor and settled on top of her. “We have much to talk about my little witch, my mate. Later though. Much later.” He kissed her with a passion that promised this was going to be one heck of a wicked Benedanti night.
The End.
Thank you, readers, for taking time with one of my stories and I sincerely hope that you enjoyed it. Please check out my website at www.lisareneejones.com where I have details on this series and many more. I also hold regular readers contests there. And don’t forget that Wicked Werewolf Night will be in print in the Alluring Tales: Night Moves anthology in 2012!
Love to you all!
Lisa
Excerpt from HOT VAMPIRE SEDUCTION
Out Now!
A look inside
HOT VAMPIRE SEDUCTION
The underground vampire population of Austin, Texas has taken to hosting orgies with human women who’ve been forced to indulge in a new aphrodisiac. The drug, Blood Red, is a mixture of a rare type of werewolf blood and that of a vampire. Blood Red creates an insatiable desire for sex in the user to the point of pain in the absence of pleasure. Sometimes that pain leads to death.
Vampire Warden, Aiden Brooks, has spent more than a hundred years enforcing the laws of his race, and life has taught him that anyone that he allows into his world ends up dead. Despite knowing this all too well, having painfully loved and lost in his past, when his search for the creator of Blood Red places coroner Kelly Riggs directly in both his path, and that of a dangerous clan of vampires, his desire for her goes well beyond offering her protection. He’s drawn to her bravery, seduced by her feisty spirit and beauty, but he is determined to resist her, fearing he will put her in harms way.
But Kelly is already on the radar of the enemy, and when she gets too close to the evil vampire clan’s secrets, she is given Blood Red. Now Aiden’s hunger for her might be the only thing that can keep her alive but who will save her from him? can keep her alive but who will save her from him?
EXCERPT FROM HOT VAMPIRE SEDUCTION:
When they stood up to head back to the bedroom, he grabbed the empty pizza box and put it in the trash inside her pantry, while she put the plates in the dishwasher. They turned toward each other at the same moment, and he reached out and caught her to keep them from colliding. The touch was hot, electric, consuming. He didn’t even consciously think about what came next. One minute they were staring at each other and the next he was kissing her, or more like devouring her. He lifted her, removing the barrier of his height, allowing himself to deepen the kiss, to taste her more fully. Her legs wrapped around his waist, his hand finding her backside where the shirt had lifted, where a tiny strip of a thong did nothing to cover her. He groaned with the realization, and he knew he should stop now, before he couldn’t think straight, before this went too far. Her hand slid into his hair, caressing his neck, the gentle hunger he felt in her arousing the animal that was his vampire. He could smell her arousal, almost taste the sweetness of her blood again. His gums tingled, and he knew he was in trouble.
Aiden set her down on the counter, intending to pull away, to end this now, but somehow his lips traveled the delicate curve of her neck, his hands the curves of her high, full breasts. His fingers found the stiff peaks of her plump nipples against her thin shirt. She gasped at the intimate touch and then moaned as he tugged the delicate peaks.
Hunger roared inside him and he kissed her again, desperate for an outlet to release the heat building inside him, the need to taste her, the need to drink from her. Sex would satisfy him. He’d lived this. And sex was only sex. It meant nothing. He knew this, he’d lived this so long, maybe too long. But in the far reaches of his mind, he knew Kelly was different, that she was already more than sex. He rejected that idea, and shoved her shirt up her body, then tugged it over her head, and tossed it aside.
Her hands went to the counter behind her, the position lifting her full breasts higher. He pressed her thighs apart, his gaze ravishing the little spec of silk in the V of her body. He leaned into her, his hands went to the counter beside her, their eyes connecting. “You’re beautiful,” he said, one of his hands caressing a path up her stomach, over one of her breasts, teasing the stiff rosy bud of her nipple.
Her lashes fluttered, dark half moons, on pale, perfect skin. “Thank you,” she whispered.
He almost laughed at the polite prim words as she sat in nothing but a black thong on her kitchen counter, and he might have teased her, if not for the urgency growing inside him. His gaze slid over her full red lips, then raked over her lush breasts and puckered nipples, his hands following the same path. He dipped his head, brushed his mouth over hers.
He reached down and slid his fingers over the wet silk between her thighs. “Tell me to stop,” he told her, shoving aside the material and caressing the wet heat of her body. “Tell me to stop before we both forget why this is a bad idea.” He pressed inside her, caressed her.
“I don’t normally just hop on a kitchen counter for a man I just met,” she said breathlessly. “And since I really can’t think right now,” she paused, rocking against his hand, then moaning softly. “Why exactly is this wrong again?”
A look inside The Storm that is Sterling
Out NOW!
In bookstores and in e-book!
Sourcebooks Casablanca (November 2011)
ISBN-10: 1402251599
ISBN-13: 978-1402251597
The Hero: Sterling
He was created, molded, formed from life, love, and misery…
Lethally daring. Ruthlessly passionate. He invites death to his door. Welcomes it with each breath he draws, each step he takes. And thus he is danger. A volatile storm that will sweep across the calm realms of humanity and shake it to the depths of its core. And that storm is…Sterling.
Product Description
Award-winning, bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones is breaking out of series romance success into single title with her fast-paced, paranormal romantic suspense series full of dark danger and sizzling hot passion.
Sterling Jeter, Renegade Super Soldier, is fearless, powerful, and wildly unpredictable. His life-threatening mission is to save the beautiful, brilliant astrobiologist Rebecca Burns from ruthless villain Adam Rain. But their immutable mutual attraction threatens to put them in the path of death... or worse...
EXCERPT:
His cheek brushed hers, whiskers erotically scraping against her skin, his breath warm against her ear as he whispered, “If I instinctively know something so simple as how to order your dinner, think what else I might know about you. What we might know about each other. How to tease each other… How to please each other.”
There was an emptiness inside her that shuddered with hope, with a plea that he would drive it away, fill it with something that wasn’t icy and cold.
He pulled back and looked at her, his eyes dark, passionate. Compelling. “No regrets, Becca,” he vowed, and she knew he’d found those words in her head. Words she’d sworn to live by when she’d left that German hospital without a cure. Words she’d spoken in her head in the lab earlier with him there.
She rolled them around inside her and let them take root, rewarded herself with a deep inhalation of Sterling’s addictive, masculine scent. “No regrets,” she said softly.
A slow smile formed on his lips. “I love it when you agree with me,” he teased.
Becca laughed. “You’re crazy.”
“About you,” he said huskily.
She felt a little schoolgirl rush from that. In the past, she would have felt like the geeky bookworm with the quarterback, uncomfortable and out of her league, but not with Sterling. Never before had a man taken her from such dark emotions to laughter. A place she might just find real escape.
She pressed her hands to his face, her lips to his. Absorbing him. Breathing him in like a little piece of life. They lingered that way, heat simmering between them. Expanding… drawing them in closer to one another without ever moving.
His tongue flickered against her lips, pressed past her teeth as he slid it against hers for a long, sensual taste. “Your kisses taste like honey,” he murmured. “What does the rest of you taste like?”
She shivered at the erotic comment—the promise he was going to find out. He kissed her again. Crazy-wild, hot-kissed her, and she loved every second of it. Loved his tongue, his lips, and his hands sliding through her hair, over her face.
Becca ran her fingers through his thick, blond hair. She loved his hair—a little wild like him. Hot like him too. With each stroke of his tongue, each touch of his lips, she felt liberated.
Her palms traveled over his chest—warm, hard muscle, her reward. She was extremely, intensely interested in those muscles, like the best science project in the world that had to be studied. She explored his arms, his biceps, how they felt beneath her palms. Inching forward in her chair, she arched into him, for research purposes, of course. To explore how he would feel pressed close to her. Her breasts ached for his touch, her nipples tight and swollen, in need of his mouth. God. Had she really just had that brazen thought? She was a good girl; she always had been.
His hands slid over her breasts, fingers teased the stiff peaks of her nipples. Her hands covered his, silently telling him she wanted more, because she couldn’t ask or demand. Because she was still that “good girl” at heart and couldn’t seem to let it go.
But she didn’t want to be a good girl. If anyone knew the meaning of “life is short,” she did. Becca ran her lips over his jaw, hid her face in his neck, and nibbled as she said, “You know what I want?”
He slid his hands around her waist. “If you say Chinese food, I’m going to object.”
“I’ll give you a choice then,” she said, feeling braver with his jest. “Feed me, or take off your clothes.”
“I’m all for getting naked, if you are,” he quickly agreed.
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