Blood Judgment (Judgment Series)

by Nickie Asher

  “What?”

  “The head is bare.”

  “Oh.” Understanding dawned on him. “Yeah, most human males have the foreskin removed. At least here in America,” he added.

  “Why?”

  He panted against her skin and his swollen cock jerked in her hand. He desperately needed the jeans removed before he sprang loose and injured tender skin on the zipper. “It’s just the way it is.” He silenced any more questions with a quick kiss.

  Julian rolled onto his back and shoved his jeans down and off. Commando underneath, his cock stood at attention. She tugged at his shirt, pulling it off and giving it a toss over the side of her bed.

  Before her questing hands had a chance to fasten on him, he slid her pants down her long legs, brushing over skin soft as silk. Black lace panties covered the place he wanted to go. He hooked his thumbs under the elastic and dragged them down her legs, dropping them on the floor.

  She was pale perfection. Her legs were long and shapely and the small triangle of blond curls beckoned him.

  “Beautiful,” he breathed.

  He traced down her body, caressing between her breasts and over her flat stomach in one long stroke ending at the juncture of her thighs. He slipped his hand between her legs and pressed, asking her to open for him. She let her legs fall apart, exposing her center. Her eyes met his, and in that moment, as she lay vulnerable before him, he knew she trusted him completely. Warmth spread through him along with a need to take care of her and protect her.

  Gently, his questing fingers slipped upward and touched her soft folds. She moaned and pushed into his hand, giving herself.

  He stroked down the center of her wet heat, spreading moisture over hot flesh. His finger found her nub and caressed it, rubbing with just enough pressure to make her shudder under his hand.

  “Julian.” It came out a moan. She thrust her hips forward.

  The scent of her desire and arousal hung thick around the bed. He drank it in, breathing it deep into his lungs. His cock became harder, painful, his need more urgent.

  Panting with anticipation, he pushed a finger inside her hot, soaked passage. He slipped a second finger in and pumped until she moaned and arched off the bed, more than ready to take him inside her.

  He withdrew his fingers and slid down the bed to see her better. Her slick, glistening center made him ache to part the soft curls and kiss her hot flesh. He wanted to bury his tongue in her, to taste her and learn her flavor.

  The scent of her filled his nostrils and he breathed the fragrance deep into his lungs. He slid his fingers back inside her and pumped until she rocked her hips, riding him. He worked her harder, intent on giving her pleasure. Panting hard, she grasped the sheet and rode his fingers faster. Stiffening, she threw her head back with a cry. She shuddered, then pumped her hips hard. She grabbed a fistful of his hair and tugged.

  “Julian, please, I want all of you.” She pulled his hair again, urging him to come up over her.

  When she stilled, he withdrew his fingers and licked them. Her flavor was clean, almost sweet, like a berry before reaching its full flavor. God, he wanted to lick her. Wanted to shove inside her and tongue fuck her. Instead, he moved up on the bed and slid over her, careful to keep his weight off her.

  She drew her legs up further and spread them wide, ready to receive him within her. He grasped himself and rubbed the head of his cock against her slick skin. The sensation of wetness on his sensitive skin drew a hiss of pleasure from him.

  She reached down between them and seized him. He let go, giving her control. Her warm hand gently squeezed him, then guided his swollen head to her entrance. “Julian, now. Please. I want you.”

  His need and her pleas stripped away the last of his control. He pushed inside her with one hard thrust, sliding deep into her tight passage, filling and stretching her around him.

  She cried out and dug her nails into his back, urging him into motion. To his relief, she wasn’t just handling it well, she was with him completely. He thrust into her, slowly at first, letting her get used to him. But his caution was unfounded. She met him with her own hungry motions, pushing up to him, rubbing herself on his cock, moaning her pleasure.

  Losing control, he drove into her, hard and fast, until sweat slicked his skin and her moans became cries of ecstasy.

  Panting for breath after long minutes, he slowed, pumping with practiced rhythm and making as much contact with her most sensitive places as possible.

  Her muscles contracted around him and she shattered. Her hot passage squeezed and released him. He picked up his pace again, wanting her orgasm to finish before he lost it.

  His balls tightened and he growled. He thrust deep and exploded. Driving hard again, he shot jets of hot fluid inside her. He roared in triumph and dipped his head, fangs bared. With raw aggression, he bit into her throat and held her still as he spurted into her.

  She whimpered and dug her nails into his back.

  Growling against her skin, he pumped into her.

  Finally, he slowed and stopped though he still held her pinned in a show of male domination and possession. Saranna was his. His property. His mate.

  Slowly, he realized he had her trapped beneath him. Holy hell. He’d acted like an animal. He’d intended to be gentle and make it easy for her. Instead, he’d lost control.

  Thankfully, she didn’t seem upset.

  He released her from the grip of his teeth and licked the bite clean. Entwined, his cock still buried deep inside her, he rolled them onto their sides. Drawing her possessively tight against him, he said, “You’re mine.”

  The scent of sex, along with their unique blended scents, hung thick around them. She drew her leg up, placing it over his hip, keeping him lodged inside her. “I want to be yours.”

  She was now his property, marked, claimed, owned. He’d never experienced such intense sex. As a wave of possessiveness gripped him in an iron fist, he wanted her again.

  WHEN JULIAN woke, their bodies still lay tangled together. Saranna would wake soon. His senses told him darkness hadn’t fallen yet, but soon would. The musk of sex hung in the air. He inhaled it with relish.

  He needed to relieve himself, but didn’t move. He wanted to be with her when her eyes opened. Making love to her had been a revelation. There’d been no violent urges to harm her.

  He’d only wanted to mate again and to mark her as his property. Her neck bore the proof where his fangs had slashed into her during the next two bouts of heated coupling.

  He was no danger to her. Perhaps the human blood he now loathed kept her safe. Maybe being a mutt had some redeeming qualities after all. They might not be bonded, but they could enjoy each other, which was more than enough. Besides, he didn’t have a right to anything more.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  VALI SWAM from sleep. The scent of disinfectant hung heavy in his room. He stared at the colorless wall and wished he still slept. He didn’t have a single reason to remain awake.

  He still wasn’t able to walk. His legs refused to move. They would bear his weight, but wouldn’t budge, not an inch.

  Jason had given him a set of crutches, but he never voluntarily left the bed. He preferred staring at the wall to dragging his dead limbs around. He was officially a worthless piece of shit.

  And his problems didn’t stop there.

  He was sick, but not from infection. Jason had filled him with antibiotics until the infection gave out under the power of the drugs. Perhaps things would have been better if the infection had won out.

  Black, overwhelming depression had become his constant companion. And something worse, something he kept secret. Something beyond depression was wrong with him and it scared the shit out of him.

  He plucked at the thin blanket covering him against the too-cool temperature Jason insisted on. He would be going home, probably tonight. He would prefer to stay there, but Jason didn’t have beds to spare on someone who didn’t need to be there.

  He shoved lan
k hair from his eyes. It made no difference, his life was over. And hadn’t life been grand to this point?

  Too bad he didn’t have the guts to go outside and greet the sun like his mother had. He’d heard the sunrise was a beautiful and wondrous sight. But the idea of burning to death was too frightening for serious consideration.

  Jason came into the room with a chart.

  “Ashton will be here in an hour or so to pick you up.”

  Vali nodded.

  “I know you’re feeling down, but you’re fortunate to be alive and to have your leg. And with time, you may be able to walk again.” He ran a hand through his short, brown hair and focused on the chart, avoiding Vali’s eyes.

  Vali didn’t need Jason’s evasive body language to detect unadulterated horseshit, but he didn’t call the doctor on the lie. And never mind that he’d overheard Jason’s phone conversation with Ashton as he spelled out in detail why Vali would probably never walk again.

  “Where are my clothes?”

  “I threw them away. They were ruined. Ashton will bring you something to wear.”

  Vali nodded and Jason left him alone.

  What in God’s name was he going to do? He wasn’t going to leech off Saranna forever. And now even turning tricks wasn’t an option.

  Why hadn’t they left him to die at the Security Center? If he couldn’t walk, he didn’t want to live. He had nothing to live for.

  JULIAN KISSED Saranna and ran his hands over her back. He wanted her, but it would have to wait. Vali would be home at any time and she would have to leave for work.

  His hands slipped down her back and fastened on her bottom as he kissed her again. God, he needed to get inside her. He had a near constant urge to mate. Driven by instinct, he needed to mark her internally as well as leaving visible marks on her body. His lips traveled to the bites on her throat and he sucked lightly on them, reasserting his claim.

  Heavy thumps on the door announced company. Ashton. Julian released Saranna and she went to the door.

  “Vali,” she said, welcoming him in.

  Vali clumsily hobbled in on crutches with Ashton right behind him.

  “Vali, welcome home.” Julian hoped his shock didn’t show. Vali’s silver-blue eyes were flat, dead. The laughter and mischief that had danced in them was gone. Julian had stopped at the clinic several times to visit and he’d assumed the pain meds were giving Vali the I-don’t-give-a-fuck-about-anything look, but now he wasn’t so sure.

  “Good to be home and away from that hack.”

  “Jason saved your life,” Ashton said.

  “Yeah, isn’t it wonderful? I can live hundreds of years like this.” He maneuvered to the sofa and lowered himself onto the worn cushion.

  Saranna sat beside him. “You’re alive and you’ll recover eventually.”

  “I’m a friggin’ cripple. I can’t help fight our enemies. I can’t even sell my… I can’t do anything except mooch off my family. How do you think that makes me feel?”

  Julian’s mouth dropped open. He snapped it shut.

  “You aren’t a mooch. Don’t you think that,” Saranna said.

  “I’m nothing but a mooch.” He buried his face in his hands. “Why didn’t you leave me in that place? Why did you save me to live like this?”

  “Vali?” Saranna touched his arm.

  He shook her off. “Please, leave me alone. None of you can help me. I need to be alone.”

  “I’ll call later.” Ashton headed for the door. “Take care, all. Julian, I’ll be in touch.”

  “Okay, man.”

  Ashton let himself out.

  Vali looked at Julian’s right arm. “Sucks being marked, doesn’t it? I didn’t realize how awful it was… Until it happened to me.”

  Julian shrugged and rubbed his arm as if the scorched skin still hurt. He’d learned to keep his canines hidden when he spoke, but he couldn’t always hide the brands which condemned him in human eyes. “I don’t care what they think of me.” A flat out lie.

  Saranna patted Vali’s arm. “I have to go to work, but we can talk when I get home. Please don’t think you’re a burden. You aren’t.”

  Vali nodded, but his eyes reflected disbelief.

  “I have to go out, too,” Julian said. “We’ll talk when you’ve rested and feel a little better.”

  “Sure, whatever,” Vali said.

  JULIAN CLUTCHED the scrap of paper with his father’s address. The building was close, no more than a thirty minute walk. He turned left at the street corner and headed for his father’s apartment.

  By the time he stood in front of the exclusive high-rise, his stomach had twisted into sick knots. What if his father didn’t want to see him? Hand clenched around the piece of paper, he took a deep breath to steady himself. Heart thudding, he slid inside the building and zeroed in on the elevator.

  Moments later, the car stopped at the seventh floor. On shaking legs he headed for his father’s apartment. He knocked twice.

  Inside, someone cursed and moved toward the door.

  Julian’s stomach tightened.

  The chain rattled back and the door jerked open. He looked into eyes exactly like his.

  “What do you want?” a larger version of him asked.

  “May I… May I come in?” He swallowed hard. Christopher Wilkes was almost an exact copy of Julian, but no spark of recognition showed in his cold blue-green eyes.

  “Make it fast. I don’t have time for bullshit.”

  Julian stepped inside the lavishly furnished apartment. The scent of his anxiety rose thick and choking. His father surely smelled it too. And this was his father.

  “Spit it out, whatever you’ve come here about.”

  “I’ve been looking for you.”

  “Why?”

  Shit. He had to be kidding. “You’re my father,” he blurted.

  Christopher laughed.

  Julian cringed inside.

  “I have no offspring.” Christopher’s lip curled in a sneer.

  Dumbstruck, Julian stared into his own features. Of all the possible reactions, he hadn’t counted on his father denying his existence. “My mother was Cynthia Wilkes. Your wife.”

  Icy hostility flashed in his father’s eyes. “Vampires have mates, not wives.”

  “She was your mate.” His father was not going to brush him aside. “I’m your son. Look at me! I look just like you.” His insides morphed into a cold lump.

  “You have blue eyes and blond hair like countless young males around here. It means nothing.”

  Desperate to make his father see the obvious, Julian grabbed his arm.

  Christopher snarled and backhanded Julian in the face. The blow sent him sprawling on the floor. Dazed, he tried to right himself. Holy fuck, his father was incredibly strong.

  “Do not put your hand on an older vampire. Ever.”

  Julian scrambled to his feet.

  “Don’t you know how to behave?” Christopher’s face twisted into something ugly.

  No. No, he didn’t because his father hadn’t been there to teach him. “Why do you deny me?”

  “Because I’m not your father. And you should be glad because I wouldn’t tolerate your ill manners and inappropriate behavior.”

  “I was raised human. I don’t know the rules of vampire society. I don’t know what’s expected of me or how to act.” This wasn’t happening. Couldn’t be. This was his father, for God’s sake. Julian’s chest tightened painfully.

  Christopher’s eyes narrowed. “You’re nothing to me. Now get the fuck out of my apartment and don’t come back because, if you do, I’ll give you the lesson in manners you’re in dire need of.”

  “Why can’t you at least admit it? What did I do to make you deny me?”

  Christopher’s lip curled off his teeth and he hissed. His blue-green eyes deepened in color.

  Julian took a step back and the little hairs on his arms lifted. He smelled hatred on his father.

  “What have I done to make you ha
te me?” His heart physically hurt.

  “Get out. You are not welcome here.”

  “You’re my father, whether you want to be or not.” He stumbled to the door and exited with all the dignity he could pull together.

  In shocked bewilderment, he took the stairwell, nearly falling in his haste to get out of the building. How was it possible for rejection from someone he’d never known to hurt so bad?

  Of all the scenarios he’d imagined, none had ended like that. He wasn’t telling Saranna or anyone else. What was more humiliating, more demeaning, than your own father denying your existence? He reached in his jacket pocket and his hand closed on the little knife he always carried. It wasn’t a weapon, it was a carving tool.

  Instead of going home, he wandered the streets in search of someplace to hole up for a little bit. He had his own downer to deal with. He didn’t need Vali’s dose of pitiful on top of it. Besides, he needed to make himself feel better. His hand squeezed the knife.

  CHRISTOPHER COULDN’T believe the son of a bitch had found him and had the balls to come to his apartment.

  That he’d denied siring Julian didn’t matter. The hurt and disbelief he’d read in the bright blue-green eyes, the color that ran in his bloodline, made it clear Julian knew better.

  Julian would be back. His son had inherited more than his looks. Now Julian knew the truth and wouldn’t accept lies.

  Christopher ran a hand through his hair. He would have to deal with Julian soon. He didn’t need a young male slinking around his home. Left to his own devices, Julian would draw attention. And he sure as hell wasn’t letting Julian cause trouble for him.

  At his age, he had the skills and tricks to hide in plain sight. The humans he passed never noticed the tips of his fangs unless he allowed it. His neighbors had no idea he was anything other than like them. And that’s the way it had to stay. No one except the bastards at the Security Center knew what he was. And they wouldn’t know either except he liked being a Wolf Guard. Hunting his own kind was more challenging than hunting humans.