by Ava McKnight
He drew in a long breath then forged on. “About five hundred years ago, Darius came into power. He and his vampires created structure. A society within a society. A high court and an army to protect the empire they would all build together. But while always looking to the future. He believed in evolving with the changing world."
"He sounds like a clever vampire."
Ryan nodded. “He elevated us all from pillagers, mere animals, to productive members of society. But in the early 1900s, Vladiv challenged him as ruler of the coven. When he lost that challenge, Vladiv convinced an army of nearly a hundred to break off and form the Novus Semino. Their mission has always been to conquer all that they can. To eliminate the humans and rule the world.” Ryan let out a sharp, hollow laugh. “Such an arrogant, greedy cause. A cause with no real purpose, except to prove that the vampires are the true master race."
"So a world without humans would mean what?"
"Simply that they were the weaker species."
She could tell by his tone that Ryan thought the notion was ridiculous. Or perhaps it was that he saw the need for coexistence. “What did my parents have to do with any of this?"
Ryan reached for the snifter again and offered it to her. She sipped the brandy, and then handed it back to him. After another long drink, he continued. “The Novus Semino knew that your parents were the key to the future of Darius's coven—my coven. His reign was still in full swing before the turn of the century, but I had become his apprentice. Not for the purpose of replacing him, but for the purpose of teaching my son, the future Enlightened One, all that he needs to known about our heritage and the path that we must continue."
"To adapt to the modern world? To unite two very different societies?"
Ryan nodded. “In a way, yes. Of course, we will always have to be careful about who we reveal our identities to, who discovers our true selves. There are certain humans we have relationships with for purposes of upholding both the laws of the humans and those of the vampires. The Novus Semino wishes to dissolve these connections. Right now, the new breed works within the confines of human law for the most part. It is too risky not to. With more humans believing in us, knowing we exist, our coven is threatened."
"Your public image, then, is advantageous to the coven. No one would suspect that the philanthropic, billionaire playboy was a blood-sucking vampire."
She regretted her harsh words and the tone in which she'd spoken them the moment they left her mouth. But there was no retracting her statement. It lingered in the quiet air between them.
Several tense minutes passed before Ryan stood. He crossed to the tall windows, which were now covered by the sheers. The wind had died and the curtains had fallen back into place.
"Why do you loathe me so?"
Cat's eyes closed. She sighed. Her biting sarcasm had become a defense mechanism. She no longer had a reason to fear Ryan. If he wanted to kill her, if he wanted to suck her blood or make her a vampire, he would have done it by now. She knew, in her heart, she had no reason to rebel against him.
Perhaps that was the reason she did. If she admitted to believing in all that he'd shared with her thus far, it would seal her fate. She really would belong to him, to his coven. This would become her life.
She wasn't ready to concede so easily. Yet ... she was running out of reasons to flee.
Working her way out of the chair, fighting back the soft cries of pain that threatened to escape and reveal how badly injured she really was, she slowly crossed the room and stood beside Ryan. She gently touched his bicep with her fingertips.
"I'm still shocked by all of this,” she said in a quiet voice. “You have to understand that. You have to give me time to assimilate. You've had centuries to accept your fate. I've had days."
He nodded. “Darius said that as well. And it is true. I have waited a long time for us to finally be united, but for you this is all new."
"Yes."
Ryan planted his hands on his lean hips and said, “The Novus Semino had no choice but to annihilate your parents. They couldn't afford to give Palomus and Mia the chance to provide a male offspring, which was originally prophesized as the reigning power. It wasn't discovered until after your parents died that it was their daughter who would bear the next ruler."
Ryan shook his head. “My coven mourned the loss. Palomus and Mia were good people. Strong, brave, devoted. I still miss them.” He moved away from Cat and paced before the sofa. “Unfortunately, we couldn't bring you into the coven to protect you after you were born. Around that time, the coven had been infiltrated by the Novus Semino. That's how they managed to kill your parents. We couldn't take a chance on hiding you at any of our safe houses or within the mansion I'd just built. We had to turn you over to a different kind of protective service. The Witness Protection Program."
Cat blanched. “I was in the Witness Protection Program?"
"You believed it to be foster care. And, in a way, it was.” Ryan stopped and turned to face her. “We changed your identity. Gave you a different name, a new birth certificate and social security number. We have vampires in the FBI and they saw to it that you were well ensconced within the system. Changing homes every two years was essential to your survival. We couldn't allow anyone to get too close to you. We couldn't give the Novus Semino a chance to find you."
"I hated those homes,” she whispered. Not because her caregivers were ever cruel to her. Far from it. But, the families had never been hers; the houses had never been her home.
"We paid them well to take good care of you."
"I was never mistreated,” she assured him. Nor had she ever belonged.
The loneliness she'd felt the whole of her life crept back into her bones. She shivered.
"Cat.” He said her name on a soft whisper. She turned just as Ryan closed the gap between them. His fingers swept over her cheek, whisking away a tear that had fallen. He cupped her face with his hands, dipped his head toward hers. “You're home now."
His lips brushed hers. So very lightly she wondered if she'd imagined the erotic caress. Her eyes fluttered closed. As much as she wanted to turn from him, to deny him what he sought, she needed the connection between them as much as he seemed to.
"Kiss me,” she begged in a quiet, ragged tone.
He had not done so when they had conceived their child. She needed him to kiss her now. She needed to feel his mouth on hers, needed to revel in the intimacy so that she could feel for herself that everything he'd told her was the truth.
Ryan's lips grazed hers again.
Her breath caught.
"You belong with me, Cat,” he whispered. His powerful body inched closer to hers. One arm slid around her waist while the other cupped her face. He couldn't press their bodies together because of her sling, but they seemed to meld together anyway. Cat felt the heat and passion arc between them.
"Ryan,” she gasped at the intensity of their mysterious chemistry.
His tongue eased over her lower lip, tasting her. He nipped softly at the corner of her mouth, and then pressed his lips to hers. His tongue slid past her parted teeth and tangled with hers. Cat let out a low whimper of need and desire. With her good hand, she clutched at Ryan, her fingers wrapping around his bicep.
He deepened the kiss, his mouth sealed to hers as his tongue delved inside. All reason escaped Cat. Yes, she was beginning to believe all that Ryan had told her. But even though her rational mind still didn't fully accept every detail, her woman's heart knew it all to be true. She knew she belonged here. With Ryan.
But she needed them to start anew. She needed to wipe away the pain of the past few days and the shame of their initial joining. She needed a fresh start. One that truly encapsulated the depth of their emotions and the reality of their future together.
She drew away from him just enough to say, “Make love to me, Rynon."
A low growl escaped his lips. Still holding her to him, he walked backward until they were both jolted by the backs of his knees hitti
ng the sofa. He eased down onto it and guided Cat down until she straddled him. His hands slid under the hem of her nightgown. His fingers glided over her skin as his hands moved up to her hips, bringing the silky material with it.
Cat draped her good arm over his shoulder and moved in for another mind-numbing kiss. Her lips skimmed Ryan's for just a brief moment before he captured her mouth in a long, deep kiss that made her crazy with desire. One hand left her hip to unfasten the button and zipper on his pants. She lifted off him just enough for him to shove the material down his hips. When Cat repositioned herself, she lowered her bare, wet pussy over his thick erection, drawing his hard cock slowly into her body.
"Cat,” he whispered on a harsh breath. His hands tightened on her hips as he rocked her softly against him while he slowly thrust up into her.
Her heart swelled with the tender eroticism of their lovemaking. This was not the primal joining they'd experienced that first time. Although it was as deeply passionate and as wholly uninhibited, it was infinitely more sensuous, more meaningful. Cat belonged to Rynon. Ryan. Billionaire bad boy. Soon-to-be-father. Vampire. Lover. She cared not about the labels, save one. Hers.
As he loved her slowly and sensuously, mindful of her fragile condition, yet intuitive enough to know that she was strong of spirit and body and not about to let him treat her too gingerly, she felt their connection more profoundly than she'd imagined possible. He pressed her down onto him as he moved inside her, bringing her the kind of erotic pleasure she'd never known existed before she'd met him.
He whispered her name again as he pushed deeper, making her gasp in sheer ecstasy. “I love you."
"Yes,” she gasped as a powerful orgasm tore through her body. Cat cried out as she squeezed him tight, clinging to the sensations, unwilling to relinquish them. Her hips bucked against him, increasing the tempo, demanding more. Ryan met her stroke for stroke. When she felt him surge toward his own release, she leaned toward him and whispered erotic words in his ear, pushing him faster to completion. She was suddenly desperate to have him explode inside her, desperate to feel his seed flooding her pussy, filling her insides.
She would have a child with this man, this vampire. Maybe more than one.
When Ryan came, his loud roar filled the quiet, cavernous room. The intensity of his orgasm spurred her own and she came again.
"Ryan!” She gripped him tight, holding him captive inside her. Cat's inner walls convulsed and clenched, keeping him snuggly enveloped inside her warm depths. “Oh, God,” she whispered. “You feel so incredible."
She snuggled close to him, still unwilling to release him. Ryan stroked a hand down her long hair. His lips grazed her temple, skimmed over her cheek.
Cat lifted her head from his shoulder and looked deep into his eyes.
"You belong to me,” she whispered.
"Always."
Chapter Ten
Later, as they lay in Ryan's bed, having made love once more, Cat felt satiated sexually. But one nagging thought lingered in her brain. With her body curled up next to his, she couldn't touch him the way she wanted to. The sling on her arm precluded her from running her fingers over his smooth chest the way they itched to do. Instead, she dropped a soft kiss on his pectoral muscle and snuggled closer to him.
"Tell me the rest, Ryan."
His fingers tangled in her long hair. “You know everything now."
"No.” She lifted her head and rested her chin on his chest so she could gaze up at him. “I don't know why Seth was so hell-bent on procuring the Lake Shore Drive property."
"I told you about the first vampire war,” he said in a soft voice. “The leader of the Novus Semino was captured by my coven. We entombed him forty feet below the earth's surface. Right in the middle of the Lake Shore Drive lot, which I'd just purchased. I then erected a building on top of it."
"And Seth wants to release his leader?"
"If Vladiv hasn't gone insane from being locked in a tomb for the past hundred or so years, he could be revived. And he could be a force to be reckoned with."
"So why doesn't Seth just blow up the building and retrieve him?"
"It's not that simple.” His hand skimmed lightly over her shoulder. “As I told you, even the Novus Semino finds it necessary—prudent, really—to respect the human's laws. I erected an apartment complex on the land for a reason, knowing it would always be occupied and that if Seth were to plot an attack, it would not go uninvestigated. With the vast amount of debris the wreckage of that building would create, it would take months for the investigation and the cleaning to be complete. Every day that passed, it would become more and more feasible for the authorities to discover Seth was the saboteur. I would help them realize this, of course."
"And with the amount of lives lost...” Cat could easily draw the conclusion. “Even Seth's considerable fortune couldn't buy him out of jail."
"He didn't know you were trying to secure the property for him, correct?"
"I wanted to surprise him. Only his chief legal counsel knew. I knew what Seth was willing to pay for the land, so Drexler drew up the contracts for me."
"Drexler is one of my men."
She sat up. “What?"
"He's part of my coven,” Ryan said with a smile. “He's been watching over you all this time."
"He was the reason I came to your party the other night. He said...” she let out a soft laugh. “He set me up. He knew I'd be upset, thinking you were in cahoots with Michelle Eaton. Thinking I was going to lose the deal to her."
"You have nothing to worry about with Michelle,” he said as he eased her back down to him. He draped his arm around her shoulder and said. “Nor do you have anything to worry about with Elaina. Neither woman draws out my passion, Catalina. They aren't the women I want in my bed. Only you."
She smiled. “I'm happy to hear that.” She was silent a moment as she settled back against him. The quiet night enveloped them for a brief spell. Then she said, “Ryan?"
"Yes, Catalina?"
"I think I'm in love with you."
* * * *
They made love twice more then slept all day. As dusk descended, Ryan slipped from the bed.
"Don't go,” she whispered, her eyes still closed.
Ryan leaned over her and kissed her cheek. “I won't be gone long. Go back to sleep.” He knew her body must ache from her injuries and the physical exhaustion that comes with several rounds of lovemaking. Especially his kind of lovemaking.
Hating to leave her, but knowing it was inevitable, Ryan slipped on a pair of black jeans and boots, and tugged a black T-shirt over his chest. He grabbed the duffle bag he'd kept in the closet for as long as he could remember, never knowing when he would need it. The contents were from another life. A time before this one. Crossbow, daggers, stakes. They were the weapons of his time, the defense his coven had used during the first vampire war. The weapons they would use during this new war.
Leaving the mansion with his battalion, he drove into town. He pulled into a vacant spot in the underground parking garage and waited for the elevator doors to slide open. Seth Hilliard stood inside with his four bodyguards.
Ryan opened the door of the black Hummer he drove. Braedan and his soldiers climbed out with him. They stalked toward the elevator as Ryan hung back, preparing for Seth to take flight. He wouldn't get far.
Without a word uttered between covens, the vampires attacked each other. Seth's flew out of the elevator and clashed with Ryan's. The sound of bodies crashing together echoed in the quiet garage. Ryan did not take his eyes from Seth. He watched the vampire, waiting for him to make his move. Ryan leaped onto the hood of the car, spike in hand, waiting for the onslaught.
It was not forthcoming. His vampires quickly eliminated Seth's, with stakes to the heart. It went against the old world laws to kill another vampire, but Ryan did not worry about that now.
As the doors of the elevator slid closed, with Seth ensconced safely inside, Ryan knew the battle they would engage in
this time would be like no other. The prophecy held true.
The time for war was upon them.
The End
About the Author:
Ava McKnight is the award-winning author of erotic romance novels and novellas. Although she lives in Arizona, Ava is generally traveling the country and Mexico, laptop in tow, dreaming up stories for the exotic, exciting, enchanting places she visits. She also writes as Calista Fox. Visit the author at www.calistafox.com; check out her latest happenings at www.calistafox.blogspot.com; or email her at [email protected]
* * *
Visit www.atlanticbridge.net for information on additional titles by this and other authors.
