“No!” She snatched her hand from mine. “I do know what it’s like. Your mom told me. I’ve had three years to think it over. I love you, Gabriel. I’m willing to take the chance to be with you.”
Gods, she was making this hard.
“Well, I’m not. You have your whole life ahead of you. I can’t ask it of you. I won’t lose you again.”
“But if you send me away, you’ll lose me anyway.” She moved closer, pressing all those sweet curves up against me. Threading her fingers through my hair. “Let’s think it over, all right? We don’t have to make a decision right now, do we?”
My arms came around her. Somehow my mouth was on her throat again. I inhaled deeply as if I could take her fragrance into myself.
She nuzzled my temple. “Gabriel?”
“No,” I heard myself say. “We don’t have to make a decision right now.”
She feathered her fingers over my nape, teasing the fine hairs there. “You’re hungry, aren’t you?”
I nodded against her skin. “My body’s been working overtime to heal me, and that takes blood.”
“Please.” She angled her head to give me better access. “I want you to.”
I couldn’t help myself. I craved this woman, needed her body and her blood. And she wanted me. What would it hurt to make love one last time?
Her, said my conscience. It would hurt her—and you.
I ruthlessly swatted the thought away. “I love you,” I husked, and sank my fangs into her throat.
She gasped and arched her body against me. I supported her with one arm while I slid the other down to where she was hot and slick and ready.
Her blood flooded into my mouth, salty and rich. Already, I recognized the special tang that was Mila.
I drew from her strongly while at the same time I played with her clit. She squirmed and pleaded, but I took my time, keeping her on the edge, waiting for the small signals that told me she was about to come: her soft groans, the erotic rocking of her hips. When her body tensed, I took a last hard suck and plunged my fingers into her silky wetness.
She moaned my name and spasmed around me, riding my hand through her orgasm. Her fingers dug into the back of my neck like she was drowning in pleasure. I licked the puncture wounds closed but kept my fingers inside her cunt, rubbing the edge of my thumb against her clit until she sagged against me with a sated sigh.
“Mm.” She smiled into my eyes. “Love you.”
I pressed my lips to the tiny red marks I’d left on her throat. “I love you, too.”
She put her hands on my shoulders and came up on her toes to give me an open-mouthed kiss. The next thing I knew, she had me backed up to the bed. She nipped my lower lip. “Sit down.”
My knees immediately bent.
She inched up the hem of my T-shirt. “Raise your arms.”
I did, and the shirt came over my head.
Next she knelt on the floor between my legs and unbuttoned my pants. She paused to press a kiss to my abdomen just below my navel, then licked her way down the happy trail of dark hair until it disappeared into my boxer briefs. My thighs locked. She looked so damn erotic, kneeling at my feet like that, her damp hair tumbling over her bare shoulders, her rose-brown nipples brushing my shins.
“Suck me,” I ordered hoarsely.
She complied—slowly. First, she eased the zipper over my hard cock. Then she set her mouth against my boxer briefs and directed a stream of warm air against my dick. My thighs hardened. It felt so damn good, that hot, fuckable mouth so close to where I wanted it, and yet still separated from my skin by the briefs.
At last, she slipped her fingers through the opening in my boxer briefs, releasing my cock. It sprang out, flushed and ready.
Wrapping her fingers around the base, she gave it a slow lick that sent an electric jolt clear to my toes. It was my turn to groan.
I grabbed a pillow and handed it to her. “Kneel on this.”
She took the pillow and slipped it beneath her knees without taking her other hand—or her gaze—from my erection. Another few long, leisurely licks, and then her plump lips closed around the head.
My eyes squeezed shut in pleasure. “That’s it, love.” I sank my fingers into her damp hair. Not forcing her, just holding her close. “Suck me.”
“Mm,” she said, the vibration of her voice sending more jolts of electricity to my balls, and sucked the head into her mouth. Her hot little tongue swiped over and around it, tasting me in a way that lit up every nerve in my body.
“Take me deeper. I want to fuck that sweet mouth of yours.”
She sent me a wicked look from beneath her eyelashes. Acknowledging that although she might be the one on her knees with me giving the orders, she had all the power.
Then she hummed an assent and obeyed.
A raw groan escaped my lips. My grip tightened on her hair. I guided her head back and forth, showing her what I liked.
Keeping her grip on the base of my cock, she sucked me so deep I touched the back of her throat. Then she eased up, drawing her mouth up the stalk until her lips caressed the sensitive head.
Her other hand was fondling my balls now, increasing the sensation. I pushed back into her mouth, every muscle in my body straining to go deeper.
Gods. “I’m going to come,” I warned.
“Mm-hm.” She sucked harder.
It was like she’d touched a live wire to my most sensitive nerves. Light sparked behind my eyes. I was primed to explode, but suddenly, I wanted to be inside her, feeling those hot inner walls squeezing me.
I put my hand on my head, stopping her. “Come up here.”
She gave a last suck and then released me. Reaching down, I pulled her onto my lap for a rough kiss. Then I pushed her against the nearest wall, face first, taking control because I knew it made her as hot as it did me.
Her fingers spread on the cream-colored surface. She cast me a look over her shoulder. Her hair was sex-tousled, her dark eyes dreamy and so damn seductive. “Fuck me, Gabriel.”
The low, suggestive voice vibrated in my lower belly. Combined with her dreamy eyes and killer body, it almost sent me over right then and there.
I shucked the rest of my clothes and stepped closer, shaping her curves with my hands: her breasts, waist, the slope of her hips. I spent extra time playing with her ass, until she was moaning and pressing against my fingers, begging me to come inside.
I smacked her round bottom. “Open for me.”
She immediately spread her legs. I slid my fingers between her thighs, caressing and circling her clit until her soft, aroused pants told me she was climbing toward another peak. Setting a hand on the wall, I snaked the other around her waist, my body covering hers from behind.
She canted her hips to take me. I found her center and stroked slowly inside. Deep as I could…and then deeper.
A growl emanated from my throat. “You feel so good. So fucking good.” I nibbled her earlobe, telling her all the sweet, nasty things I was going to do to her.
A tremor went over her. Tiny inner muscles clenched on mine. She gasped out my name, begged for more.
I set up a hard, steady rhythm. No longer thinking, just feeling. Wanting her with my whole being.
My urgency was matched by hers, the two of us feeding the heat like fire meeting fire.
Her breath sobbed in. “Please, please, please.” She pushed her ass into my groin and craned her neck around, trying to kiss me.
My mouth met hers, our tongues twining around each other in a kiss that went on and on. We weren’t fucking now, we were making love, the pleasure so intense it was almost painful.
My balls drew up. I slid my hand down her stomach to her clit. “Take it, cher. All of me.”
Her breath jerked in. She moaned and tore her mouth from mine, lungs working. Her pussy constricted around my cock as the orgasm took her. Sensation wrapped like a fist around my balls and I followed her over the edge, freefalling in a hot, sharp burst of ecstasy.
&n
bsp; After, I carried her to bed and pulled a sheet over us. She cuddled into me, warm and soft…and sadness ballooned in me until I could hardly breathe.
She was so young, her whole life ahead of her. Yes, she was strong, but she was still fragile in the way of any human.
If she died during the transition, I’d never forgive myself. And I didn’t want her to live the kind of life where she reached for a switchblade before opening the fucking bathroom door.
I nuzzled her hair. It had dried in wild corkscrews around her face. One teased my nostril. I brushed it away and touched my lips to her temple.
She stirred. “Love you,” she said without opening her eyes.
“Love you, too.”
I released a breath, and abruptly, knew what to do. It had been staring me in the face the whole time.
I simply couldn’t bring myself to allow Mila to attempt the transition. And actually, as my blood-bonded thrall, she couldn’t do it without my permission.
But sending her away wasn’t the solution. Look what had happened the last time she’d left me. We’d both been miserable, and she’d been vulnerable to any vampire who chose to use her to strike at me.
No, the only solution was for us both to go.
It wouldn’t be easy. I’d have to resign from the Syndicate, step down as crown prince. It was a hell of a time to leave the Syndicate, with things in flux as they were. Despite Father’s threats, I’d bet my favorite Jag he’d try and pressure me into staying.
And I’d be giving up everything I’d worked for the past decade.
But Mila was more important. It might not be easy, but it felt right.
She nuzzled my shoulder. “Something the matter?”
“No,” I told her. “Everything’s just fine.” Tucking her close to my heart, I shut my eyes.
It was a shadow, not a sound, that jerked me awake. Silver flashed in the darkness.
My heart slammed into gear. I threw myself at Mila, rolling off the bed with her. We landed in a tangle of sheets on the floor between the windows and the bed.
A stake slashed into the mattress where I’d been.
I fought free of the bedclothes and looked around for a weapon. But the switchblade I’d left on the nightstand was on the opposite side of the bed along with the intruder.
Everything went silent. Then a click sounded, and the window blinds retracted. The rising sun flooded in.
Even through the specially darkened windows, the sudden change in light was too much for me. For a crucial few seconds, I was blinded, long enough for the shadow to flow over the mattress and shove me back to the floor.
A woman’s powerful thighs straddled my chest. The silver stake came down again.
I managed to knock it aside with my arm, but not before the tip tore a hole in my chest. Pain screamed through me as the silver entered my bloodstream.
I dragged in a breath as my eyes adjusted to the sunlight. Growled. “Jessa?”
My housekeeper glared down at me with burning eyes. She raised the stake above her head.
I grabbed her arm, but the silver raced through me like wildfire, searing my nerves, stealing my strength.
With a sneer, Jessa jerked her arm free.
Beside us, Mila rose to her knees and gasped in horror. “You’re a slayer.”
Jessa flicked her a glance. “Take your brother and get the fuck out of here. This isn’t your fight.”
“Okay. Sure.” Mila raised her hands, palms out—and lunged for Jessa.
But the slayer tightened her thighs on my chest and, without taking her gaze from my face, slammed a fist into Mila’s throat, knocking her to the floor.
Fury rose up in me like a red-eyed wolf. Ignoring the pain, I summoned everything I had and surged off the floor, clamping both hands around Jessa’s throat just as the stake slashed down again.
The tip of the stake caught my bicep, sending another round of agony searing through me. My nostrils filled with the scent of my own blood.
I growled and grimly held on to Jessa’s throat. My fangs extended.
On the floor, Mila gasped for breath.
My stomach clenched. I had to end this. If her trachea was badly damaged, she could suffocate right there on the floor.
I summoned my magic, let my eyes shimmer vampire blue. “Let. Go,” I said in the voice of compulsion.
Jessa’s mouth twitched up. “Good try.” She struck again. This time, the stake’s slim point almost pierced my heart.
I gave an animal snarl, my mind awash in pain. The lucid part of me confirmed that Jessa was almost certainly a slayer—they were often chosen for the genetic quirk that made them immune to compulsion.
And her coolly efficient fighting technique told me she was from Slayers, Inc.
“Gabriel.” Mila’s rasping tone sliced through my agony.
My head jerked up. I’d blacked out, my fingers loosening on Jessa’s throat. Energy seeped out of me along with my blood.
The slayer rose up, hands locked around the stake, lips drawn back in a savage mask. I stared up at my death.
Fuck that.
I dug deep and shot up with superhuman speed, wrenching the stake from Jessa’s hand. I turned it in the air and shoved it into her throat.
Blood spurted, drenching my shirt.
Jessa’s pale eyes widened. Her hand went to her throat.
“Monster,” she rasped and toppled sideways to the floor.
I took only enough time to ensure she was really dead, and then crawled to where Mila lay struggling to breathe. I swore under my breath.
“Sweetheart. Cher. Are you all right? Can you talk?”
Her hands covered her throat. I eased them away. Her throat was red, but she was already breathing more easily. Jessa had probably pulled her punch; Slayers try to avoid collateral damage so they wouldn’t lose human support.
“I’m—okay.” She struggled up to sitting. “But you—?”
She set a hand on my chest. It came away bloody. Her eyes rounded in horror.
“Most of it’s hers,” I hurried to say, and tried not to wince. Because even speaking hurt.
“Bitch,” she croaked with a disdainful glance at Jessa, and turned back at me.
Despite my pain, my lips twitched up.
Mila’s eyes zeroed in on my wounds. “I don’t think that’s all her blood,” she rasped. “Lie down.” She guided me back to the floor. “What can I do?” Her gaze darted back to Jessa. “You think it was just her? Oh God, what if there’s more out there?”
The flood of adrenaline that had allowed me to make that last, desperate lunge at Jessa had worn off. But I managed to grab Mila’s hand, bring it to my lips.
“She’s alone. No one else…could’ve gotten past my security. Get my phone.”
She hurried to obey. I pulled up the security app and pushed the panic button for the guards, then showed her the videos of the quiet apartment. “See?”
When she nodded, I continued, “Why don’t you go…put ice on that throat.”
“What about you?” she asked in that raw, cracked voice.
My gaze slid to the dead slayer. The scent of her blood was almost unbearably tempting. But Jessa’s last word clanged in my mind.
Monster.
Mila’s gulp was loud in the quiet room. “Oh.”
I was fading fast. The pain was so bad, I could’ve whimpered like a wounded animal. Only blood would help.
The craving clawed at me, a vicious, merciless beast.
“Sorry.” I looked away from Mila’s anxious face. “But it’s…fastest way to heal myself. You…go. Put ice on your throat.”
“Don’t.” Her eyes blazed down at me. She squeezed my fingers, her tone fierce. “Don’t ever apologize for being you. Got it?”
I stared up at her. Warmth filled me, the special light that was Mila spreading to all the dark, secret corners of my soul.
“Got it,” I rasped.
But I waited until she’d left the room before I laboriously pu
shed myself up, crawled the few feet to Jessa, and fed.
27
Mila
Gabriel’s people sprang into action, removing Jessa’s body and cleaning his bedroom so thoroughly you’d never guess a bloody fight had taken place.
Joey had slept through everything.
I wished I’d been so lucky. As soon as I was sure Gabriel would be all right, I stumbled into the unused bedroom next to Joey’s and fell onto the bed.
I was exhausted, my throat bruised. Swallowing hurt. Hell, breathing hurt.
But every time I closed my eyes, I saw the lethal flash of Jessa’s stake.
I shuddered and stared at the ceiling.
Gabriel’s safe, and so is Joey.
But I’d been too weak, too human to fight her off. One blow and I’d been tossed to the floor, where I’d lain, gasping, like a fucking fish, ten feet from the switchblade Gabriel had given me. It might as well have been on the moon for all the use it had done me.
I pressed the heels of my hands to my eyes. I was a liability.
I must have dozed off. When I woke again, I heard the murmur of voices—Gabriel and another man. Something made me slip from the bed. I pulled on a pair of shorts under my sleepshirt, picked up the switchblade and silently eased open the door. But I couldn’t quite make out their words.
I crept down the dark hall, halting out of sight a few feet from the living room.
Gabriel spoke, low and mean. “What do you mean, you don’t know where Zaq is? He was chained to a fucking wall.”
I pressed a fist to my mouth. Gabriel’s brother was being held prisoner somewhere?
“He escaped.”
My brow furrowed. The other voice sounded so familiar.
“How?” Gabriel demanded.
“I don’t know. But he’s gone.”
“Or dead, and they covered it up so well even you can’t prove it.” Gabriel’s voice was harsh with anger. “Damn you to Hades. You should’ve gotten more men, gone in there—done something.”
“Enough,” the other man responded in clipped tones. “We can discuss my methods later. I have intel that the slayers themselves don’t know where Zaquiel is now, which tells me he is still alive. But he’s gone to ground.” A pause. “It’s almost as if he doesn’t want to be found.”
Pursued: A Vampire Syndicate Paranormal Romance (The Vampire Syndicate Book 1) Page 22
