by Virna DePaul
Mahone blew out a breath. “Look, I know Lucy has certain needs, but I can’t afford to have both of you out of the country. O’Flare’s going to help Wraith adjust to her new situation. Knox is still determined to keep Felicia safe, which means not letting her set foot out of the Vampire Dome. That leaves only you and Lucy. With everything that’s happened with the felines lately, it makes sense for me to keep Lucy nearby. Besides, you’ll only be gone a few days.”
“When do you want me to leave?”
“This week. Can you get in touch with your contact by then?”
“Yeah,” Dex said. “I can.” He wasn’t sure if Jes would be able to tell him anything about French shape-shifters, but it didn’t really matter. Not anymore.
Forces were conspiring to bring them together, and he was tired of fighting them.
He was giving in gracefully.
He’d talk to Jes, fly to France, get the information Mahone wanted, and then things would get back to normal. He’d tell Mahone he was ready to move on his grandfather, and then he’d decide whether he even wanted to be part of the Para-Ops team anymore.
But first, he’d get in touch with Jesmina.
In fact, as he left Mahone, touching Jes was all Dex could think about.
CHAPTER FIVE
Of all the disastrous mistakes he could possibly make, Dex knew he was about to make a big one. Yet, there was no stopping himself. It was late afternoon, the L.A. sun still blazing, so chances were that Jes was inside her room. Sleeping. Warm and drowsy. Vulnerable.
As he stood in front of her hotel room door, his skin rippled with the need of his beast to break through. He tried to keep his thoughts on his mission, on his need to question her about the shape-shifters, but as soon as she opened the door, his ability to reason shorted out.
Her telltale moonlight hair was a disheveled cloud around her face. Her legs were bare, her nipples dark and reaching out to him from beneath a thin long-sleeved tee, her expression devoid of any hint of surprise. Behind her, the shades were drawn and the room cast in shadows.
Without thinking, he stepped into the room, kicked the door shut with his foot, then reached for her and didn’t even bother with the niceties.
As if he had every right in the world, he slipped his hand under the fall of her hair and palmed the back of her neck. The way she bit her lip and the way her lids shuttered sent his pulse spiking and his body hardening.
He paused. Waited for her to protest.
But she didn’t. His blood raged through him when her little white teeth released the plump flesh of her bottom lip. He followed the movement with his gaze, imagining her teeth lengthening into fangs, penetrating his throat. He nearly grimaced from the quivers of desire that rattled through him with a complimentary need to bury himself in her body. Her lips parted.
“What took you so long?” she demanded.
Eyes widening then narrowing, Dex stepped forward and took her mouth with his. He’d never felt so much a wolf as he did at that moment, swooping down on her like a predator overpowering its prey. Plunging his hands into her hair, he held her still for his kiss, groaning at the warm slick suction that surrounded his tongue and shivered its way down to other parts of his body. His hands followed suit, slipping down to her shoulders, pausing at the graceful swell of her breasts, then separating so that one played with her nipples while the other snaked its way to the juncture of her thighs.
She jolted when he pressed his fingers against her mound, her gasp almost drowned out by his groan of approval. She was warm and wet here, too, her body extending the same invitation she’d uttered when she’d first approached him in that bar.
Firmly, he pressed his thumb against the bud that swelled for his touch. Her thighs trembled, something he barely noticed because of his own shaky limbs. Against his fingers, a gush of moisture soaked the fabric of her panties, making him dizzy with need. His nostrils flared as he absorbed her scent, the spice of her arousal almost drowning out the perfume. He licked his lips, wanting to go down on her, knowing she’d taste like heaven on earth. Instinctively, he pressed his groin against her thigh, her warmth penetrating his clothes and giving him the smallest hint of what he’d feel when he was inside her.
But something was off. Even as she opened her mouth wider, welcoming the aggressive thrust of his tongue, she seemed startled by his passion. Innocence didn’t jive with what he knew of her, which admittedly was very little, but she seemed almost frightened. By him or the passion between them? He hesitated and started to pull back.
She’d have none of it. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she deliberately arched her lower body into his hand. Then she dropped her own hand and cupped him through his pants, finding and rubbing the head of his cock with a firm, circular motion.
His eyes rolled back in his head and he struggled for control. There was a reason he needed to pull away. Something important…
Quietly, she murmured, “Take me. Now. I can’t—I can’t have children. We don’t need protection.”
Protection. Not needed.
Vampires couldn’t lie.
But he wasn’t taking any chances. Not with her. Not with anyone.
Using his free hand, he retrieved several condoms from his pocket and held them out to her. “Suit me up,” he said.
She looked shocked at his request, which gave him pause. She’d never helped a guy put on a rubber before? But before he could give it more thought, she took one of the packs he held out and did the one thing guaranteed to bring him to his knees.
She lowered herself to hers.
***
With her head bent and her gaze focused on her fingers, which were fumbling with Dex Hunt’s zipper, Jesmina bit her lip to stop herself from moaning in confusion and delight. Now’s the time to do it, Jes, she told herself. Strip him naked and rid him of the gold he carries, then read his mind and use persuasion on him. You’re not actually going to have sex with him, remember? You’re a scientist who needs to test his blood; you’re not a whore.
But even at her mental gymnastics, her fingers freed him from his pants and her breath escaped.
Like hell I’m not going to have sex with him.
And it had nothing to do with needing to test his blood.
She wanted him. Inside of her. On top of her.
And he wanted her, too.
His shaft was big and thick, the plum-shaped tip flushing a dark red and reaching almost to his belly button. She wrapped her fingers gently around him, gasping when Dex hissed and jerked as if she’d burned him. Yet she was the one who felt burned. His erection was smooth and hot, and that heat traveled directly from her fingertips to her breasts and in between her thighs. Wanting to heighten that delicious heat, she stroked him, relishing his growl and the way his hands flew to her hair and tugged the strands until she looked up at him.
He was staring down at her, eyes glistening, flags of red on both his cheekbones. He looked inflamed and angry, and she knew he hadn’t forgiven her for taking Lucy from him that night to hunt down Alton Maddox. Still, she felt a moment of glee. Dex might be sleeping with Lucy, might even desire her, but right now his body wanted hers. The knowledge made her heady with power. Deliberately, she moved forward, pulling against his grasp, not stopping even when she felt a bite of pain because he hadn’t released her hair. Her mouth stopped a mere inch from him and though she strained, he wouldn’t grant her any more leeway.
She extended her tongue and laved the underside of his shaft.
His fingers tightened even more and he locked his knees together.
“Feeling a little unsteady, were?” she taunted, then swirled her tongue around him, taking her time before teasingly flicking the tip of him. He moaned and suddenly, instead of holding her back, he was guiding her where he wanted her. Or rather, where she wanted him—in her mouth, where she enveloped him with a warm, moist suction that caused both of them to tremble with pleasure.
He tasted wonderful. Hot and sweet with a slight tinge o
f bitterness that only made him more nuanced and complex. Kind of like fresh, pure blood. And he slid down her throat just as easily, invigorating and energizing her without any of the guilt that came with needing to survive by taking from another. In this, she took but she also gave. She sucked and sucked until her mouth ached, and then she released him only to rake her fangs teasingly against him.
When he cursed and pulled away, not because he didn’t like it but maybe because he liked it too much, she cried out and tried to pull him close again, immediately missing the feel of him in her mouth. He shook his head. “Put on the condom,” he gritted out, hands still buried in her hair. “Now.”
She obeyed with unsteady hands. When she was done, he helped her to her feet, and with his gaze locked on hers, reached down and ripped her panties off. His hands gripped her hips and with amazing ease, he lifted her up and poised her over his straining flesh, butting against her opening like a stallion ready to bolt out the gates.
After that first time, he hadn’t kissed her again. He made no move to do so now, but she couldn’t stop her gaze from lowering to his mouth. She wanted that mouth on her. All over her. She wanted his tongue in her again. In other places.
“Look at me,” he ordered.
Her eyes jerked back to his. He lowered her onto his shaft, feeding her one inch at a time, jerking one hitching gasp out of her after another. The feel of him stretching her delicate, clasping flesh caused pleasure as sharp as diamonds to rip through her. When he was fully inside her, stretching her almost to the point of pain, she could no longer bear the intensity of his gaze.
She buried her face in his neck and breathed in deep, dizzy from his fresh, clean scent. Without forethought, she nipped him and imagined sinking her fangs into his beautiful skin. Her little bite spurred him into motion and suddenly he was pounding himself into her, alternately lifting her and pulling her, working her over his flesh at the depth he wanted, the angle he wanted, the speed he wanted.
And what he wanted just happened to be exactly what she wanted, too.
The pulses started deep inside her, small, tight little flutters that expanded into rolling, thundering explosions that shook her like a rag doll caught in a hurricane.
“Yes,” Dex hissed. “That feels amazing. Keep going.”
She didn’t know what he meant but then realized that as he kept moving in short, hard thrusts, he was somehow prolonging the pleasure, keeping her on the edge of sensation even as his pace quickened and he reached for his own.
“Holy fuck,” he breathed just before he exploded. As he came, he latched onto her breast, sucking her nipple through the fabric of her tee. His grip tightened on her hips to the point she knew she’d have bruises but she didn’t care. She felt him pulsing inside her, felt the sucks on her nipple and farther down, deep inside her, and she flew straight into another intense orgasm. Another first for her.
She pulled back, breathing hard, and stared into his pleasure-contorted face. She felt a trickle of liquid on her thigh. Realized the condom had broken. Since she couldn’t get pregnant or give him any kind of disease, however, she didn’t bother telling him.
When his release ended and his face relaxed, he growled, “We’re not done yet.”
“No,” she breathed in agreement.
Little to no foreplay and Dex had given her multiples right out the gate.
She couldn’t wait for what came next.
CHAPTER SIX
Jesmina pulled herself out of the tangle of his arms and looked down at Dex. For the first time since meeting him, his expression was completely vulnerable, relaxed in sleep so he could no longer hide himself behind a fierce glower or disdainful sneer. Slightly parted lips revealed just the tips of his fangs. His chest rose and fell with his breaths, the muscles rippling beneath burnished skin. She noticed a soft patch of hair that had tickled her cheek when she’d rested against him, relishing the strong beat of his heart. The flesh between her thighs ached, further evidence of his vitality and health.
Dex Hunt had given her the best sex she’d ever had.
Problem was, sleeping with him hadn’t been part of the plan.
Making him think it would happen, yes. Getting him alone so she could use persuasion against him, sure.
But not sex.
Only, resisting the were’s touch had proven outside her capabilities. Her response had had nothing to do with her plan and everything to do with the simple fact she’d wanted him. Wanted something for herself when for so long she’d thought only of others. She’d been so far gone she’d even let him strip off her shirt, giving him a good long look at the hideous scars on her arm, which, though ugly, hadn’t slowed him down. He’d run his fingers and mouth over the damaged skin just like he did every other part of her body and soon she was too caught up in pleasure to be embarrassed.
Now that the sex had happened, however—now that he was naked, with the gold charm he normally used to block vampire power likely somewhere still in his clothes that she’d kicked into the closet—she still had one thing left to do.
Reading his mind should have been easy given everything she’d taken from him already. But it wasn’t. Not for her.
This would be the final violation, the most intimate penetration she could commit, yet she let neither that knowledge nor her unease stop her.
She couldn’t. What she found would cement her next move. Either she’d be able to wake Dex and tell him the truth—make her offer—or she’d have to take what she needed and leave. She wanted so badly to be able to wake him…
She slipped inside his mind so gently he’d never sense she’d been there. She prodded carefully but thoroughly, and within seconds had her disappointing answer.
Bodin of Hammersham would get no help here. Not willingly. Dex Hunt hated him—his own grandfather. He wanted to kill him.
Nonetheless, Bodin’s plan had worked. By ostracizing Dex, he’d kept him alive.
Dex had no idea what he was.
He had no idea of the immortality he could give.
And hopefully, neither did anyone else.
Soundlessly, she retrieved the supplies from her bag and used persuasion to keep Dex asleep while she drew his blood. It was a particularly hard task since he was sleeping and few vampires could actually accomplish persuasion on a sleeping individual; she, however, had tricks of the trade that other vampires didn’t. It was just one benefit of a life dedicated to researching Otherborn, including her own race. She knew how to use persuasion on someone who was sleeping. Knew how to train a vampire mind so the vampire could lie. Knew all kinds of little known facts about vampires and weres and felines…
She smirked.
Oh my.
Yes, she was a virtual treasure trove of information, yet she didn’t know the things she’d always agonize over.
Why had she been saved when her parents hadn’t?
Why would she live forever when those she loved wouldn’t?
Why had she finally met a male who could move her and make her think beyond her guilt and duty, only to have to use him and leave him shortly thereafter?
She would never have those answers, but she might be able to have others.
With Dex’s help, with his blood, she could find the key to prolonging the lives of those who weren’t born immortal. At least, she prayed to the Goddess Essenia that would be the case.
To accomplish what she wanted and to run all the necessary tests, however, she’d need a lot of Dex’s blood. Almost too much blood, since she’d likely never see Dex again and this was her one shot at getting enough samples. She had to be careful, otherwise he wouldn’t just be feeling woozy tomorrow—he might not recover. So she used care, taking what she needed and not a drop more.
As she took vial after vial, his scent whirled around her, seeping into her skin and causing her fangs to lengthen despite her efforts to keep them sheathed. As a doctor, she’d always had to exercise iron control over her appetite in order to treat her patients. In truth, it hadn’t
been all that difficult for her, which simply made it easier to forget sometimes that she actually was a vampire.
Things were different with Dex.
She’d been desperate to bite him as they’d made love, had thought for sure she wouldn’t be able to stop herself, but the pleasure he’d given her had combined with her own curiosity, giving her the strength she’d needed to resist. Instead, she’d focused on imprinting him into her memory. The feel of him, his touch, the taste of sucking and licking his flesh were all details she cherished and knew she would continue to cherish for an eternity. Sadness threatened to swamp her, making her fingers tremble, and she mentally cursed.
Focus, Jes. The guy got what he wanted from you. Now you need to do the same.
When she was done and the vials of blood safely stored, she dressed and sat beside him again.
Guilt weighed heavily on her but she told herself she’d had no choice. Dex’s blood could save the one person he wanted dead. He never would have given it to her freely and she couldn’t let his anger, though understandable, jeopardize Bodin’s life. Not when she might have the power to save it. Professionally, she’d sworn an oath to heal all, human and Otherborn. Practically, Bodin’s death would cause enormous problems within several Otherborn communities, including the Draci, the community most important to her. And personally, she owed Bodin a debt, one she could repay with Dex’s help, whether it was freely given or not.
Yet she still regretted having to deceive Dex.
No matter how this turned out—whether or not Dex carried the gift Bodin thought he did—Dex was special.
She’d seen that for herself when she’d seen him with his team mates. Even the seedy bar they’d been staking out hadn’t been able to detract from the bond they all seemed to share.
They were a family.
That knowledge had simply enhanced the attraction and intense pull she’d felt for Dex. They were both castaways. Both orphans. Despite his unfortunate childhood, he’d found his place. And in his arms, he’d given her something far more precious than pleasure. Something she’d never quite felt before.
