by Sarra Cannon
She extracted her fangs from his neck and cried out, her orgasm claiming her. Traces of his blood smeared her lips. This image took him over the edge and he followed her in release, erupting like a geyser. His body shook uncontrollably, and the slightest touch from her sent him into tremors of pleasure. Hot seed continued to pump within her as he regained his strength.
"That was good…" Her breathing slowed. "But I think I have a toothache."
He laughed. "Oh, yeah? Well, you just bit the hell out of my neck, toothache and all."
She smiled. "I learned from the best."
Elaina had once been a tracker until she’d made one move that had led her into his arms, and now, he'd love her for an eternity.
Chapter 18
TWO WEEKS LATER: THE INITIATION
The electric vibrations and the pounding beat of the music flowed through Elaina as she straddled Vicq's lap. There was a frenzy of bodies around them, dancing, gyrating to the techno music, but her main focus was her lover and the thing they both craved so badly. She lifted her chin as he dragged his tongue up and across her neck to collect the blood trailing from the two small holes at her jugular.
They wouldn't have been able to hear each other's voices over the music, so Vicq projected his thoughts to her.
I can't wait until we're alone. I can feel you trembling with need and can even taste the sexual desire in your blood right now.
She smiled and leveled her lips with his to kiss him. Be patient. I want to enjoy the party you've given me. I promise to give you everything you desire in return.
Tonight was her night to celebrate her initiation into Vicq's coven. Dozens of vampires were packed into the small bar and nightclub to celebrate her new life. And more importantly, their leader's new quest. Elaina hadn't known how much leverage Vicq had over his followers until now. They waited on him hand and foot, yet he treated them with the same respect as his closest friends.
A waitress brought him what was his fifth drink, and he lifted it to his mouth, chugging the glass down in one gulp. He'd been alternating between her blood and the cocktails all night. She preferred his blood, as neither the alcohol nor fresh cut fruit brought out for their enjoyment did anything to curb her raging appetite. Like him, she would enjoy the party now, but later tonight, she'd satisfy her desires of the flesh.
Elaina felt warm palms rubbing against her shoulders and back. Many, both men and woman, had greeted her by touch all night. They hungered to know her just as they knew their leader. None had been as sexual as the two women flanking either side of her and Vicq at the moment.
It seemed that everyone in the room either fed off each other's blood or emotions. The beautiful women beside them had been feeding off her and Vicq's emotions all night. They weren't the only ones in the club tonight indulging in these desires. There were others inside that seemed to care less about who could observe them fulfilling their sexual needs and heavy appetites in open spaces or shadowed corners of the room.
Each day Elaina learned something new about the Dresdan. Much of what she'd taken in would take some getting used to.
Elaina hitched in a breath as one of the women placed a cube of ice between her lips and then bent to gently glide it across her shoulders. Small, delicate fingers traced a line down her spine until it stopped to meet the top of her leather pants and teased the exposed flesh between Vicq's fingers. The woman continued her exploration across her back, cooling the skin on the outside but doing nothing to subdue the flames licking at her insides and pounded at her core. She arched her back, enjoying the sensations.
Vicq dipped his head lower to nip and lick between her breasts. His tongue slid beneath her barely there crop top, teasing the tops of her nipples. His breath was heavy, hot, and laced with the smell of potent alcohol. His cock pressed against the fly of his pants and against her pulsing center. She was ready for him now, but intense, drawn out foreplay made for better fucking. He proved this fact time and time again.
Her hips moved of their own accord above Vicq, and he grabbed them. He sipped her lips gently between his until she parted her mouth to accept his kiss.
The woman with the ice in her mouth came to rest with it against the back of her neck. The two women were now knelt next to her and Vicq. Their bodies pressed against Elaina’s, feeding off her lust. The second woman picked up a dark cherry from the appetizer tray and placed it between her lips. The color of it contrasted perfectly with her honey-toned flesh, just a shade lighter than Elaina’s. Almond-shaped eyes swirled with blood-red and bright hazel and gazed at her. The woman leaned forward, offering Elaina the fruit.
Elaina accepted, parting slightly from Vicq to meet the other woman's lips with her own, biting into and moving away with half of the fruit.
Vicq's erection pulsed under her and he gripped the expanse of her hips even tighter.
Elaina lifted her hand to run her fingers through the ends of the other woman's tresses. In turn, the black-haired beauty lifted her neck in a gesture of submission she'd become very familiar with during her time at Vicq's coven. The woman was offering her blood. Her neck was beautiful and long. Elaina imagined that the skin was delicate and easy to break—just like her own.
Instead of biting her, Elaina slid her palm behind her neck, pulled her in, and kissed her. Her lips were sweet, just like the cherry. And soft, just like the skin at her nape.
Their mouths glided against each other’s like silk and they pressed deeper, tongues joining in a dance. Elaina had no desire to exchange blood with this woman, but the taste of her was new and exciting. Their lips fit perfectly together and the other woman kissed her softly. Their tongues tangled and played, and before Elaina knew it, she was drawn further into the moment.
Vicq’s dick grew even harder against her pussy. He slid his palm up her back and he pulled her away from the other woman. He stole a kiss of his own and then lifted her chin and honed in again on her neck. Heat engulfed her as he sucked at the delicate skin of her jugular.
Evidently, the woman was relentless too, and her hands glided against Elaina’s belly and slipped under her belt. The vixen’s fingers reached Elaina’s sensitive mound and didn’t stop there as they slid farther down to touch her bundle of desire.
Vicq’s mouth was at her neck. The vixen’s breath was hot against her earlobe. Elaina gasped as her center pulsed even more, and she pressed herself against hot fingers.
Vicq hissed at the vixen and she finally retreated, removing her fingers. The black-haired beauty gave a shy smile of compliance. Her pink tongue moving lithely across her bottom lip before both women backed away and moved on.
Elaina turned her attention back to Vicq and glimpsed the lust in his eyes, which turned her on even more. Her mouth watered as her enhanced vision honed in on his pulsing jugular. Within his veins was the blood she craved above all others. In his arms was the place she most wanted to be.
"Mine." His irises constricted and then turned into red blazing orbs.
Yes, I'm all yours.
She leaned in, he lifted his chin, and she sunk her fangs deep into his neck. The savory blood immediately washed over her tongue and down her throat. Through the blood, she connected with every feeling and emotion running through him. Lust. Sexual craving...innocent jealousy. Desire and need. Love and Adoration.
She'd tracked down the man who she'd love for all eternity. Yes, definitely.
Bonus Chapter: Scene from Requiem (Dresdan Coven, 2)
ONE MONTH AFTER ELAINA'S INITIATION…
Elaina tightened her grip on the picture frame and a crack spread across the glass shattering the photo of her smiling parents. Her heart ached and was damn near ready to burst as she fought to dispel the rage that built inside of her. The broken glass pierced the pads of her fingers and dark blood ran down from her hand, past her wrist, and to her elbow. It dripped into the plush beige carpet and onto the toe of her black boots.
How could she not have known? She should have been there to stop them.
Elaina’s heart jumped at the sound of Vicq’s voice behind her. Precious time had passed and between the long panels of the lace curtains, she caught a glimpse of the light outside as morning began to fold over night.
She placed the damaged picture frame back on the fireplace mantle and used her powers to instantly seal the cuts on her fingers. “I’ll meet you outside.” She couldn’t turn around. She didn’t want him to see how helpless and defeated she was. Angry with herself and the world because it seemed that everyone who she loved had either been stripped away from her or threatened to be.
Vicq paused a moment in the doorway before turning to leave. Only then did she reach up to wipe the tears she’d allowed to spill down her cheeks.
Her parents were lost forever. It was her fault. All of it. Many had paid with their lives as a result of District 5’s corruption. They had gone too far. In an attempt to create the ultimate weapon, they’d done the unthinkable. They would murder innocent men, women, and children—all in the name of one mission.
She snatched up the bundle of mail that she’d found earlier behind a picture frame. All of them. Every last of one them. Envelopes filled with check stubs from D5 Inc. Her parents had been receiving payment from the shady organization that employed her. And they were the same organization that hunted her down to this day.
She snatched out another letter, hoping her eyes would tell her a different story. But the evidence was all the same. The checks had been drawn on the same bank and from the very organization that once paid her a weekly salary for being a tracker.
Her parents were paid by District 5. But for what?
Shame was an understatement of what she was feeling right now.
Her fangs lengthened and nicked her bottom lip, reminding her that she wasn’t even human anymore. Her nails dug into her palm, and she swallowed in an attempt to contain her frustration to lash out. Now wasn’t the time to make rash decisions. She needed to process this revelation. The day would come soon enough. She would destroy District 5.
Elaina turned and headed toward the front door, leaving her childhood home behind.
Vicq and two others waited under a tree for her. Like her, they must have caught on to the mounting proof inside the home. She could look none of them in the eye, but could sense the questions on the tip of their tongues.
Sunrise was literally minutes away, but like devoted friends and despite the evidence they stayed behind. Her newborn vampire skin tingled, warning her of the sun peaking over the trees off in the distance. Another one of her enemies, so to speak, and she was just learning to tolerate it. She had gone from Donor to Fledgling in such a short time.
Logan and Mark stood alongside Vicq with cans of gasoline at their feet. They parted from their huddle and came out from under the tree to meet her on the gravel path leading out to the mailbox. There were about a dozen newspapers strewn on the ground and she stooped down to pick one up. Vicq placed a hand on her shoulder as she scanned the headlines.
Middle-aged couple missing. Feared dead.
And more headlines….
Couple vanishes without a trace from their home. Daughter, only child and heir to estate, unreachable.
Elaina’s belly churned, and she nearly dry-heaved in angst. She feared the inevitable and she hated not knowing.
“The lighter?” she requested, holding her hands out palm up.
Logan placed a gold lighter into her palms, and he and Mark dissolved instantly as they transported themselves away to safe cover.
“It pains me to see you hurt like this. I would take it away, if I could,” Vicq said, coming to stand in front of her.
She closed her eyes and pressed her face against his when he pulled her into his embrace. “I know you would. Nothing will erase what has happened. We can only move forward, not backward.”
Elaina pulled from his embrace and lit one end of the rolled newspaper with the lighter. She hurled the rolled newspaper at the trail of gasoline leading to the front door. The fire engulfed the home instantly. Her childhood memories would only exist in her mind now. Besides Vicq, memories were all she had now.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Discover what awaits the couple in the next book, Requiem, or read the prequel to Donor.
Prelude (0.5)
Donor (1)
Requiem (2)
Want new release news from Amber Ella Monroe? http://smarturl.it/amberellas-list
Amber Ella Monroe loves weaving tales where undying love is the main element. When she's not writing, she's plotting. She's a thirty-something year old wife, mother, book hoarder, 90s music fan, earl grey tea drinker, dark roast coffee fiend, platform and stiletto shoe collector, Keurig lover, and martial arts/action movie fanatic.
She also writes contemporary romance as National Bestselling author Ambrielle Kirk.
Follow Amber Ella Monroe online at:
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Savage Surrender
By Ellis Leigh
Heat rating: Sensual
Paranormal Romance
Long thought to be extinct, the Dire Wolf shifters have been hiding in plain sight—hunting, tracking, and killing those who threaten their beloved Omegas. But when the hunter becomes the hunted and the first mating bond in the modern history of the breed is realized, one wolf will have to fight off an entire enemy pack armed with a secret weapon in order to save not only his mission but his soul mate.
Chapter 1
We have a situation. Report to the private residences immediately.
Bez deleted the text, pocketed his phone, and changed direction. The guards of Merriweather Fields nodded as he stalked past them. One after the other, each shifter stationed at a security point yielded without question. Not that Bez expected any less. The very presence of one of his breed made even the strongest of shifters reek of fear and submission. Still, the sentries stood their ground as he passed—afraid, but not running. Terrified, but fighting back their cowardice. Bez respected that. The private security staff for the president of the National Association of the Lycan Brotherhood could at least hold their posts as one of the deadliest beasts in their world passed by. Not that they knew exactly what he was.
Bez growled low and deep as he passed two more guards. Neither made more than a brief impression on the tracker. Still, his wolf side cataloged their features and scents. Noting any detail that made them stand out from the next. The security guards could have been a study in dominant shifter genetics. Each man resembled the next: big, buff, and mean, the kind of shifter most others would roll over and submit to without a challenge. Most shifters…but not him.
His long legs and booted feet eating up the carpeted hall, Bez nearly smirked at the thought of submitting to anyone, let alone one of the president’s little pets. The seven members of Bez’s breed respected Blaze, agreed he’d earned it, but that didn’t mean they’d submit. Thankfully, Blasius understood the dynamic of the pack when he’d asked Bez’s brethren to work with him. Blasius may be president of the NALB, the ruling power over all shifters in the country, but even he didn’t try to demand anything of the seven. He issued orders that the team followed, not because they had to but because they respected him enough to choose to. But in the end, the other six like Bez were a separate pack, a separate breed.
The Dire Wolves. A breed among themselves, one shrouded in mystery. An elite team of soldiers, trackers, hackers, and all-around narcissistic fucks who’d spent millennia battling side by side. They were the men called upon when the best weren’t good enough, when creatures of various species needed to be found quickly or put down quietly… And Bez had been called by the only man outside of his own race he’d ever come running for.
With heightened animal instincts, a larger frame and body type than your average male, and a higher
level of control over both sides of their nature than everyday shifters, the seven men in Bez’s pack were a unique force within the shifter community. One handpicked by the president of the NALB to aid their intersecting causes. Most shifters considered the select seven part of the Cleaners, the designation bestowed upon the clean-up crew Blasius kept at the ready to handle NALB business. But Bez’s group was even more than that designation allowed. Not that the rest of the shifter population knew their secret.
“Cleaner Beelzebub. President Zenne is expecting me,” Bez said once he reached the north wing of the mansion known as Merriweather Fields. The guard, the same man who’d been stationed at this post for the last three years, nodded and moved toward the locked entry point of the heavily fortified double doors, ignoring the safety procedures they both knew were required for access to the president.
Bez glared, letting his growl grow louder as he motioned toward the retinal scanner and keypad at the side of the door. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
The guard’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. He kept his head down and his eyes averted, submitting to the stronger wolf. “President Blasius is waiting for you, sir.”
Bez made a humming noise as the guard opened the door. Retinal scan skipped, identity of the visitor not confirmed.
“Bez.” Dante, longtime mate of Blasius, met Bez at the door, his eyes flat and his face showing signs of worry. “Thank you for coming so quickly.”
Bez nodded as he stepped over the threshold, cataloging every minute detail of the dark-skinned shifter. Because that’s what he did…he studied the minutia. It was a skill that came in handy, one that served his job as a tracker well. He never forgot a face, a shape, or a shadow.
As soon as the latch slammed into place, Bez grunted. “Fire the guard. He’s not wolf enough to be the last line of defense between the enemy and Blaze.”
