Dark Secrets Box Set

by Angela M Hudson

  “Don’t cry,” he said, his lips almost touching my skin, flowing gently over my neck and my collarbone. “And don’t fall down, either.”

  “Okay. I promise I won’t.”

  “Good.” His hands slipped along my lower back, drawing me into him—our chests, our hips, the skin on our stomachs touching, making everything tingle—alive with lust.

  I’d wanted this for longer and more intensely than I’d ever wanted anything. All those thoughts I had from the moment we met were finally coming true. But old memories awakened a sliver of fear, drawing it from deep within—someplace locked, barred away from the world. I felt suddenly… “I’m scared.”

  “Of what?”

  “I don’t really know,” I whispered as our lips touched, softer, more terrifying than any kiss we’d ever had.

  “It’s okay, sweetheart. I’ll be gentle with you.”

  My lips set into a playful smirk. “Just don’t be too gentle.”

  “Oh, so that’s how it goes.” He laughed and swept me off my feet like I was a feather; one hand scooping my knees, the other at my waist, and kissed my brow as he slid me feet first between the silky sheets.

  Their cool touch woke me to the reality of naked skin and cotton, while the smell of lily fabric softener reminded me to wash that bloodstained shirt I left in the laundry.

  “Perhaps,” David said, standing above me and unfastening his belt, “now is not the time to be thinking of laundry.”

  “Well, maybe I’m bored lying in this bed all by mys—” But before I even finished the words, the empty space beside me was occupied by the naked body of my vampire, his jeans hitting the floor with a soft thud a second later. “Oh, I love how you do that.”

  “And I”—he leaned on his elbow, his nakedness touching my leg—“can not believe I finally have you in my arms like this.”

  “Imagine how I feel then.”

  He shook his head, closing his eyes for a second. “You don’t know how many nights I dreamed of this, Ara.”

  “Yes, I do,” I said simply.

  “Then”—his firm hand cupped my waist, moving slowly down my stomach—“do you know how many times I dreamed of this?”

  I gasped, excitement making me jump as his hand pushed my legs apart at the knees. “Mm-hm.”

  “You may know that,”—his hypnotic voice came warm from above my brow—“but you couldn’t know how long I dreamed of…”

  My eyes shot open, a sharp intake of breath making him smile as his cool fingertip brushed places warmed by the desire to have him. And then he stopped.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  He brought his hand up from between my legs and laid it over my brow, staring right down into my face. “Your eyes, they’re unbelievably blue right now.”

  “It’s the color of desire.”

  He snapped out of whatever reverie he’d been in and pushed up off the bed. “I thought that was meant to be red?”

  “Not tonight,” I whispered, my legs falling apart to let David kneel between them.

  “It looks almost…” He considered my eyes for a moment. “Unnatural.”

  “Mood-stones.”

  “Hm?”

  “Mike always said my eyes were mood-stones. Guess this is the first time they’ve ever been this happy.”

  David looked down to where our naked bodies met—not yet connected, but closer than ever before. “I’d say they reflect something other than happiness.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like—” He smoothed his hands over my inner thigh, tracing every inch of my flesh, his thumbs coming to rest in a place that took my breath. “Desire.”

  “Am I supposed to feel like that?”

  He smiled. “You mean… wet?”

  I felt my cheeks go hot. “Um, yeah, that.”

  “Yes, you are.”

  He slipped his thumbs into the entrance. I closed my eyes, tensing all over—good tension.

  “I think you’re ready,” David said, sinking onto his elbows; his stomach, his hips, his chest falling to meet mine.

  I propped a shaking hand against his ribs and held him there to stop him. “Will this hurt? When you—”

  “Yes. The first time usually does.” He kissed my brow. “But we’ll go slow, and I can stop whenever you want me to.”

  “Okay,” I said, then held my breath.

  David reached down, watching my face carefully as he guided himself inside me.

  “Uh!” My fingers tightened on the pillowcase under my head, the deep, stinging feeling so foreign.

  “Relax,” he whispered into my hair. “It won’t hurt as much if you relax.”

  “Mm-hm.” I nodded but stayed tense. I couldn’t take my mind off the sensation: David, inside of me, touching me.

  He dropped his head and looked to one side, smiling. “Bite me.”

  Huh?

  “Bite me, Ara. The blood will distract you.”

  “But—”

  “Go on,” he prompted. “You won’t need me to break the skin for you. I’m so hungry right now a butter-knife could draw blood from me.”

  I hesitated.

  “Go on. It’ll help.”

  The lump in my throat shifted and I rolled at the waist, cupping David’s shoulders to pull myself closer, my hot breath coming immediately back off his skin with the smell of shampoo and aftershave.

  I pressed my tongue to his flesh, the stubble prickling like velcro, and when I found my mark—the pulsing ripple under his skin—sunk my teeth into the softness until it broke open and blood spilled into my mouth. The sound of his flesh cracking rung in my ears, reminding me a little of biting a grape.

  As I swallowed, distracted by the smooth sugary taste of him, David slowly went deeper inside me, the weight of his body forcing my spine into the mattress; he held still for a moment then eased out of me, dragging a warm feeling behind before gently sliding back in. I choked on my quick gasp for a second and then bit harder, reopening the wound as it tried to close.

  “How’s that now?” he asked.

  “It’s…” When I thought about it—focused on the feeling—it didn’t hurt anymore. I crossed my ankles over his hips, letting his throat close. “It’s good. Really good.”

  “Good,” he exhaled, grabbing my hip to control the movement. But it was too controlled. Too... gentle.

  “You’re holding back, aren’t you?” My words came out funny, jarred with his movements.

  “Yes.”

  I moved my hands down to feel his muscles flex where his waist met mine. “Don’t.”

  He looked down at me. “I could get pretty rough, Ara.”

  “I’ll tell you if it’s too much.”

  He leaned in slowly and kissed me, his tongue stealing the blood from my lips then pulling away before coming back one last time as he broke the kiss. And the controlled David gave in to the carnal, feverish one—the hungry vampire. I relaxed my legs, taking each thrust and letting the impact dissolve in my body. It was rougher than he’d ever been with me, but still so loving and gentle. Exactly as I imagined it’d be. I knew I’d be bruised tomorrow from where our bodies met, maybe unable to walk, but I liked it so much I didn’t care.

  “I know it’s a little sick”—he sounded like he was talking and running—“but I want to do so many bad things to you right now.”

  That only made me want him to, which made him bounce off my reaction, moving faster, his hands wildly searching every inch of my flesh, his face in my neck, the want for my blood showing in his tight grip under my hips.

  “Do it. Bite me.” I closed my eyes and scrunched my hands into his hair, willing him to.

  His body changed then: grew hotter, softer, his kisses eager with desperation. The breath moved loudly from his lips as they searched my flesh, touching, then pulling away. Hungry, but afraid to take. His teeth scraped my skin, gently nibbling at the surface then sealing each tender peck with only a kiss. And the pulsing inside made ripples through my core,
flushing me with heat.

  I let out a pathetic cry, and David laughed.

  “Oh, God,” I said. “I can’t believe that noise just came out of me.”

  He smiled down at me, moving his hips again. “Well, I can’t be held responsible for what I might do if you keep making those sweet, sexy noises.”

  “You thought that was sexy?”

  “If only you knew.” He kissed my forehead then rolled his head back slightly. “I wish you could be me, Ara—for just one moment to know how you make me feel; to see how good you feel when I’m inside you.”

  I took a moment to really feel him on top of me—to feel his weight, the backs of my legs touching his waist, his hipbones sharp, the breath from his nose falling over my bare chest. “Am I the first human you’ve ever made love to?”

  “Yes.” He grabbed my thighs, his hands warm and kind of sweaty, and drove his weight down harder, angling my hips up at the same time.

  “Uh,” I cried out again, laughing. “Stop doing that.”

  “What?” He did it again, making my insides twitch and my toes curl.

  “That!”

  “Oh, you like that, do you?”

  “Stop it. I can’t control my voice when you do it. Uh!”

  David laughed, doing it again. “Do you know what that feeling is?”

  “An act of God?”

  He chuckled. “You’re peaking. In a minute you’ll go over that ridge and…”

  “Orgasm?”

  “Yes.”

  “I thought that was something only porn stars did.”

  He laughed again, loud and full, his Adam’s apple vibrating in his throat as he tossed his head back. “Then we better get my camera out because, my love, you are about to—” He bit his lip, leaving the immediate future up to discovery.

  I turned my head to the side, reaching for something to ground me again, twisting my fingers around the sheet under my hips as every pulse in my body flowed down to that one place below, surrounding me like the intense stillness in a moment of excitement—almost better than drinking blood—my insides growing tighter around David.

  But it wasn’t David between my legs anymore. The vampire wedged his hand under my chin and thrust my head up, sinking his hard bite into my flesh a second later. Each muscle along his jaw tensed, flowing down his shoulders and tightening his hips. He stopped moving then and forced himself deep enough to tear my delicate flesh a little, a streak of warm blood dribbling past my collarbone and under my shoulder blade.

  The pleasure of his bite only excited me, sending tingles down my spine and into my toes, forcing my back to arch, my pelvis rising up to his. And with one tiny movement all the lust, the fear, the intrinsically delicious sensation gathered at my core, sending a pathetic squeak through my lips. I felt everything: his breath, his hands, the heat, the cold, cumulating and rising up from my knees into my hips, tightening my stomach—Oh God—until I inhaled, unsure whether to panic, or cry, or giggle.

  “Holy shit!” I drove my hands into my hair, feeling David get harder, his deep voice in my ear as he let go too, losing himself inside me—the seed that Marked a human rushing through my body. I could feel it. And I was lost, totally lost. I was Marked. I was his. Unmarried, yet officially his.

  The sensation that tipped me over the scales flooded away with a rush of tranquility, weakening my legs; they fell softly against his hips, numb exhaustion filling my chest with giggles.

  My vampire sucked the last vestiges of blood from my neck and drew back, panting as he looked down at me.

  “That was…” I smiled, searching for a better word than ‘amazing’. But David’s whole body went rigid on top of me, a shadow passing over his smile. “What?” I said.

  “Just… Just don’t move.” He jumped back and shuffled to the foot of the bed, clutching the sheet to his groin.

  “Why?”

  “I—”

  “Is she okay?” Emily burst in the room.

  “Emily!” I grabbed the other end of the sheet to cover myself, deciding then to get a lock.

  “What’s going on?” Mike flicked the light on, still buttoning his jeans. “Em?”

  “He used his fangs.” Emily sat on my bed, taking both my hands and looking deep into my eyes.

  “What?” Mike’s gaze flicked to David, livid with fury, until he saw what I only noticed then: David’s black eyes—hollow and horrified. He stared at me like he’d just taken my last breath.

  “I lost control,” he said, haunted.

  My hand flew to the bite mark. “You used your fangs?”

  Mike’s entire posture wilted, his eyes tearing. “Is she gonna die?”

  “Die?” I squeaked, panicking. I didn’t feel anything. Nothing. No sting. No rushing infusion of agony.

  “What have I done?” David said softly, his words falling to oblivion.

  “I—” I looked around the anguished faces. “I feel fine. It didn’t even hurt.”

  “No, it doesn’t.” Emily looked over to David. “That’s how humans feel when we kill them.”

  “But I’m okay, though. It’s not burning,” I promised. “I don’t feel any different.”

  David’s soul came back to life with an edge of curiosity. He crawled across the bed and sat before me, the sheet forgotten, leaving Mike to shake his head in disgust, while Emily just smiled sheepishly.

  “My love.” He cupped my face, looking right into my soul. “I’m so sorry.”

  “I’m fine.” I placed my hand over his, using my other one to cover his manhood with the sheet.

  His eyes narrowed, still studying me with the same intensity. “She should have had some kind of reaction by now.”

  Emily nodded in agreement. “If she was going to, she—”

  “There’s no way of knowing that,” David said, looking suddenly up at Mike.

  Mike shrugged. “It was just a suggestion.”

  Emily and I shared the confusion. “Knowing what?”

  “When Jason bit you, we always just assumed you didn’t have the gene—that you can’t be changed—because you’re still human,” Mike said.

  “Right.” Emily stood up, folding her arms. “David, is it possible that she does have the gene—that maybe something went wrong when Jason tried to change her?”

  Thought washed across David’s face.

  “Do you think that’s possible?” Mike edged forward.

  “No one has been gifted the secret of transformation for over a hundred years,” David said. “All I know is that it’s not just a case of biting a human and leaving them alive.”

  “Well, that’s just great.” Emily threw her hands up. “And it’s not exactly like you can just walk in there and ask the Council.”

  “I know. I—” David pressed a fist to his lips.

  “Come on, Em.” Mike folded his arms, a thought darkening his eyes. “Let’s leave them to it.”

  David looked at Mike then back at me as the door closed behind them, giving us back our privacy.

  “What?” I said. “What was that look Mike just gave me?”

  “He just realized what we were doing when I bit you.”

  “Oh.” I looked at the door. “Is he mad?”

  He barely contained the laughter etching onto his lips. “Yeah. Pretty mad.”

  “Oh no.” I rolled my face into my hand.

  “Ara. I’m sorry I lost control—”

  “I know. I felt it when you did.” I liked it. “I’m not mad that you bit me, David. It was silly of us to risk it, with you being hungry and all.”

  “I should be able to control it. I’m not some kind of animal.”

  “If it’s any consolation at all, I loved every second of it.”

  His teeth showed with a smile, tipped with thin lines of red. “Me too.”

  “Can you believe we finally did it?”

  “It didn’t hurt too much, did it? The er, when I first—”

  I shook my head. “After I relaxed, it was fine.”

>   He reached across the small space between us and cupped my chin. “You were so beautiful. I mean, you are so beautiful, all the time but… I don’t know, making love to you it… it made me feel alive.”

  “So it’s different making love to a human than a vampire?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  He lay back, opening himself for me to rest against his bare chest. “Well, they don’t have a heartbeat, for a start. They’re not timid and shy and, inside, they don’t move like you do either; they’re kind of just tight. You”—his fingers traced circles over my bare skin, all the way down my spine—“you’re all of that, but more alive.”

  “But you said vampires aren’t dead.”

  “We’re not. But I mean alive descriptively. Buzzing, sort of.”

  “Right.” I nodded. “So, you liked it—I was enough for you?”

  “Oh, God, sweetheart, yes. For eternity, you’re everything I want.”

  “But, what about when I’m Lilithian?”

  “What about it?”

  “Well, you won’t like me as much then because I won’t be human anymore.”

  David laughed aloud. “You won’t be human any less, either.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Lilithians are a very different class of vampires, and trust me, making love to a Lilithian is nothing like with a vampire,” he scoffed.

  “So you speak from experience?” I looked down at my diamond ring.

  “Ara.” David tilted my chin upward and smiled softly. “I’ve been alive for over a hundred and twenty years. I told you, I have had other girls.”

  “I know.” I pulled away and rested my face back on his hairless chest. “I just don’t like to think about it.”

  “Then don’t, sweetheart.” David kissed the top of my head, smoothing my hair back. “It’s only ever going to be you now.”

  And for me, I’d only ever had him. My first and my last. And it was perfect that way. “Is Mike going to be okay?”

  “I actually don’t know, Ara,” David said with a sigh. “I wish I did, but he shouldn’t be feeling what he’s feeling for you. Not now he has Em. I’m worried.”