by Milly Taiden
She whimpered at the feel of his firm lips kissing and sucking up and down her shoulder. Her body ached with need. He cupped her breast with one hand and caressed the inside of her thighs with the other. Soon, he was rubbing at her pussy, spreading her pussy lips open.
He tugged at her hips, drawing them back and pushing her upper body forward until she was almost bent over at the waist. She struggled to keep her breathing under control. He took her breasts in his hands and massaged them, tweaking her nipples and tugging at them. The bites of pain flooded her channel with moisture.
“You have a beautiful body. I could spend my life touching you and watching your reactions.” She moaned, brought her hands up to cover his, and wiggled her ass over his cock. “Do you want me, Aria?”
She held her breath. She knew what he was doing, and by god she was starting to wonder if maybe she was cursed for falling for a shifter.
“What do you say, sweetheart?” His voice caressed her ear and she let out another moan. It was so goddamned sexy to have him touching her this way. Gliding his hands over her body and pressing areas he knew would bring her to the edge of reason. She cocked her head to the side to give him a better angle to kiss and lick. “Let me have you, beautiful. Be mine.”
She groaned and shut her eyes, but immediately jerked them open. “I…” He pinched her nipples and sucked on her neck. Her pussy quivered, unfilled. Fuck, she wanted him—wanted his cock inside her again. “Yes.”
He traced his way up her calves, followed by her thighs, around her front to her waist, and up to her tits. She sighed. He went straight for her nipples again, pinching the little buds without mercy.
It was pleasure and pain mixed with enough potency to make her feel like tiny orgasms rolled through her. She dropped her head back onto his shoulder. His hands left her breasts.
He stroked her spine with his lips, soft kisses and licks that worked down to her ass. Arousal thickened in her veins, dark and needy. Bracing her hands on the tree, she inhaled sharply when he caressed her cheeks, rubbed his cock down her crack, and finally stopped at her wet entrance. “Watch me fuck you, baby.”
“Yes, please.”
He thrust into her in one quick stroke. Wildfire spread inside her. Licks of the growing inferno raced up to her nipples at the speed of light. Scraping her nails on the bark, she moaned when he pulled back and thrust in again. Hard heartbeats hammered her ears.
His pelvis slapping her ass made a smacking noise she found incredibly arousing. His strokes were firm and steady. Each one fanned the flames of tension inside her. She dropped her head forward, only to have him grip her hair and tug—not painfully, but enough to get her to raise her head. “Do you like it?”
“Yes, oh yes.”
He kissed her back, sucked his thumb into his mouth, and then slid it down her crack. A moment later she felt his digit circling her hole. Her breath caught. He dipped into her tight ass. Slowly. Carefully.
She whimpered, shoved back into his driving cock and finger. He slipped the finger in and out in tandem with his quick, hard strokes. She panted, groaned, and tensed.
Pressure built inside her. So heavy, she was going to explode. So fast, it was a tsunami coming for her.
“Trevan. I need…” she moaned. She didn’t know what she needed, but he better fucking figure it out. Now.
“I know, baby.” He released her hair to lean forward. A single pull, and then he drove his cock deep. Hard. Harder. Jesus, it felt good. So good. Like being bitten and licked at the same time. Her body throbbed. The taste of bliss grew closer. He ran a hand around her waist.
One quick breath, and he was delving his hand between her pussy lips. Her pleasure intensified with each stroke. He brushed a finger over her clit.
The earth shook and she came unraveled inside. A pain shot through her shoulder. Her mate bit the back of her shoulder, his canines embedding deeply, and his cock driving even farther inside. She propelled back onto his cock, her ass pulsed on his thumb, and her pussy quivered.
His moves lost all coordination. He stopped completely and drove a single final thrust into her that left him tense. Electricity flowed through her in tiny pricks that made her entire body shake.
He jerked. Over and over. His cock filled her with his seed while his teeth were firmly embedded inside her. She wanted to bite him so badly. He pulled out of her and flipped her around, her back pressed against the tree and his cock still rock hard sliding back into her. His mouth and teeth were red from swallowing her blood, and it did something to her. She was losing control.
She bit down on his neck, the sweet, almost tangy taste of his blood hitting her tongue in a splash. She took a little, only enough to create a link between them, giving her the ability to know he was okay wherever he was.
Then she pulled back and licked her lips. He did the same. Good god, she was in deep shit. How fucking erotic was it to watch her man do that? Lick his lips like the taste of her blood was better than any meal.
“Even your blood is addictive, beautiful.”
She was a goner. Another orgasm rocked through her and he came again. Hard to believe they were both coming in less time than it took to make a sandwich. He laid on the ground, dragging her on top of him and held her. Both their bodies still shook from their joining, but now they were connected. True mates. Blood mates.
TWENTY
Trevan stretched as his lovely mated mate lay against him. Her skin felt so good on his. Did they have time for a quickie? He glanced at his watch. Damn, their hour of waiting for Mason’s guys to show was almost up.
Each rushed around the trees, trying to find their clothes, giggling when coming across underwear—one lacy black thong and bra dangling on a limb, the boxer-briefs completely missing. Someone was going commando, and it wasn’t his mate. Damn. He was getting hard again thinking about her naked under her clothes.
He stuffed his legs into his jeans, then yanked and pulled to get the waistband to his thighs. That was weird. They didn’t fit that tightly before. The zipper zipped an inch, if he sucked his stomach in, but the button wasn’t happening no way, no how. It would become a deadly projectile quickly.
Fine. He’d let his shirt hang over his pants until he could borrow a pair of Mason’s pants. His arm slipped through the sleeve, his hand slid out the end. And kept sliding and sliding. The cuff stopped inches above his wrist. What the fuck? He slid his arm into the other sleeve, then shrugged to get the shirt to sit correctly across his shoulders. When he lifted his arms in front of him, the sound of tearing fabric surprised him. The buttons wouldn’t come together across his chest.
“Aria, does something happen to male vamps after mating?”
Her sweet voice came from behind a tree where she changed. “Like what?”
“Like grow another two shirt and pant sizes.”
“What?” She glanced at him and her eyes grew wide. “Oh my god, Trevan. You’re huge. What the hell happened to you?”
He gave an exasperated sigh. “That’s what I’m asking you.” She looked him up and down, her eyes suddenly stopping halfway down his body.
She gasped then giggled. “You’ve grown two sizes everywhere.” His mate’s approving, lusty eyes sent blood rushing to the observed body part. “Damn. I don’t know if I can take all of you now.”
A low growl rumbled in his chest. “Don’t worry about that, baby. You’ll take it all and love every inch as I pound it into you.”
“Damn straight, I will.” She licked her lips. “But not now, we got to go.” She yanked on his jeans. Didn’t budge. “Hmm. Take everything off and we’ll get a towel in the pool house for you to wear until Mason can get you something.”
A few minutes later, Trevan stood with a bright blue beach towel sporting pink and green cartoon birds and animals. “I’m not wearing this into the house with half the pack there.”
Aria smiled. “Then you’ll have to go naked. That’s the only thing big enough to go around you.”
He dropp
ed the towel. “I have no problem going naked.” Before he knew how it happened, he found his back partially imprinted into the wall.
Aria pressed against him, teeth at his ear, towel against his chest. “No other female will see my mate naked and live.” Oh fuck. He was instantly hard. That was so damn hot. She scorched him.
She breathed deeply. “You like that, my mate? Just you wait ‘til we get home.” Her teeth grazed his neck. “The things I plan to do to you. Yum.” Her lips latched onto his flesh and sucked blood to the surface. Shit, he hadn’t had a hickey since high school.
She pulled away with a fanged smile. “Imagine that suck around your cock, my love. Fucking my mouth as I suck your cum down my throat.”
He couldn’t take anymore. He twisted them around until her back was against the wall, his cock snuggled up to her pussy. Dammit. She had clothes blocking his way. His claws popped out to shred the material. She grabbed his hand, laughing.
“Hang onto that thought, big boy, until later. We have some karma to deliver to a clan I know.” She tossed the beach towel at him. “And put that around you. Mason will be very pissed if I have to kill females in his living room.”
He and Aria opened the backdoor to the main house to find a room full of people, and the air laden with anger and worry. Which lasted two seconds after they walked in. One look at the big bad-ass wolf in the colorful, comic beach towel and the room erupted into laughter.
He grumbled as someone said the bird on the material was a peacock. And yes, he got it: pea cock. He’d show them how pea his cock was. Aria latched onto the towel as his fingers released it. She glared at him. He sighed and grabbed at the towel. Mason slapped him on the shoulder and guided him down the hall.
Aria made her way to Emma on the other side of the room. “Did we miss much?”
Emma’s smile was huge. “You did not, Mrs. Aria Valderi Stone.”
She rolled her eyes. “Sometimes you wolves and your noses are too nosey.” But Aria couldn’t help the smile that lit her face. She didn’t want to think about him going away yet. That time would come. Now wasn’t it.
“Well,” Emma said, “the only thing we all agree on is that we have to act now. As soon as the vamps find the four women gone, they’ll kill any others and be ready for us. We need to take advantage of a surprise attack.”
Aria nodded. “I think that’s the only thing we can do to save as many lives as we can. As soon as Trevan gets back, we’ll leave.”
“That’ll be good. The pack will be right behind you with all the medical support we can scramble,” Emma said.
Aria searched the room for Alain. “How is the little wolf they found?”
“She’ll be fine in a while. Alain gave her some blood which healed her quite a bit. I fear those two have a rough road ahead of them. She’s really messed up mentally. He is going to have a challenge getting her over the trauma.”
“If anyone can get her through it, it will be Alain. He’s a good man from what I’ve seen.” Aria saw Trevan enter the room with Mason. She gave her friend a hug. “We’ll see you there. We’ll probably search the main club first. I’ll call you to update after we get the initial feel for things.” Aria followed her three guys out the front door.
It was time to end this.
TWENTY-ONE
Rolling through town, Trevan drove the group past the small club they found the girls in. The place seemed dead. No lights, no one milling around. The area looked like a quiet residential section waiting for everyone to get back from work.
But Aria knew the evil that lay below the innocent appearance. With Filip dead, she hoped the hive here would crumble to her demands. How strong was Damon? She thought back to the meeting with the community last night. Had it only been twelve hours since then?
The fear she saw in many eyes now made sense. They were firmly addicted to human blood and wouldn’t be willing to give it up. Her heart broke. Her great plans and dreams for them were crushed. Even now that they knew the truth behind the reason for the blood rule, she doubted many would choose to obey.
Her father and grandfather would tell her the entire clan would have to be destroyed. She loved these people. That act would kill her. But their continual abduction of humans and killings would lead to their discovery and destruction. What could she do?
Trevan reached over the console between the front seats and took her hand. “I don’t know what’s going through your head, my love, but I feel your struggle and concern. I’m here with you and we will do this together. Alain is more than ready to get revenge for his little mate, and Roen… Well, not sure about him—”
“Thanks, Trev,” Roen commented from the back. His sarcastic words made her smile. “Love you, too, man.”
With a grin, Trevan glanced in the rearview mirror. “Don’t get all mushy on me, dude.” Roen grunted and went back to the game on his phone.
She squeezed her mate’s hand, which felt large in hers. If she was right, the T-shirt he wore was tighter than it was when they left the house an hour ago. She had to ask Julian what he thought about her mate’s sudden growth spurt. He was a fucking mountain now. He’d scare even vamps.
They came to a stop at the front doors of the main nightclub where the vamps hung out. She buckled down her heart to focus on the right thing: protect the humans, no matter what she had to do.
She took a deep breath. “Let’s do this.” They climbed from the truck to the bar’s entrance. Trevan busted through the door with little effort. Wow, he was amazing. The room didn’t smell of blood or humans, but neither did Embraced. They split and searched all the rooms. Nothing. Not even any indication there was a level below. Could she be wrong about Filip and Damon?
Failing to find anything, Aria suggested they search the clan house. She remembered the underground rooms they had when she was a child. But the house had been rebuilt, so she had no idea where to find the entrance. Time was running short if they wanted to get out before the sun went down.
Aria had a key to the front door, which bummed Trevan. He was liking his new strength. She leaned into his ear and whispered, “Save it for the bedroom.” Both Alain and Roen behind them coughed to epically fail hiding their laughs. He gave them each an evil eye.
After opening the door and entering the passcode to turn off the alarm, they all stepped through the threshold. Inside, the house looked as it did when she arrived half a day ago. Tidy with a Victorian feel that traversed the ages. She led the group to the library. If this house was built like hers up north, which it should be since it was planned that way, there would be a secret entrance behind the interior wall.
They moved around books on the shelves, pushed on wood panels, and searched the floor for scrape marks. All yielding nothing. Obviously, Damon changed the means to gain entry to the secret chamber below. Aria sat at the overly fancy desk and opened drawers, feeling around for buttons or levers. Her fingers stumbled over a hidden switch, and the fireplace rotated ninety degrees revealing a dark room. Not very creative, but it got the job done.
They all passed through the entrance, the guys pulling out flashlights for extra light in the absolute darkness. The narrow space led to stairs leading down. This was it, the entrance to the underground lair she never liked.
She took the lead and Trevan brought up the rear, keeping the other two wolves between them. The place gave her the creeps, though it was more modern than when she’d last been down there. The walkways were wide with concrete flooring and walls. Dripping water echoed in the distance. That was the only sound beside their own heartbeats. Creepy.
The farther they walked, the wider the central aisle became. Large areas and rooms opened to the sides. Some had furniture for lounging while others looked unused. Smaller tunnels shot off in different directions and Aria wasn’t sure if they should check them. She turned to her mate.
“Maybe we can send some of the others down those when they get here. Right now, I think we should stick with the main path to see what we have.” H
e agreed and moved forward.
Her nose picked up a whiff of human blood. Behind her, Alain said, “I caught it, too.” They hurried along to find a locked door. Putting her shoulder to the door, Aria bent the metal frame, allowing the dead bolt to slide from its notch.
What she saw inside confirmed in her mind the destruction of the southern clan was upon them.
TWENTY-TWO
Inside, a dozen humans, male and female, lay naked and chained to the wall. Each had bite marks over his or her entire body, many red and puffy from infection. The smell of death was ripe in the air.
Fuck. Up to that moment, Aria had a tiny flame of hope the clan didn’t have blood slaves. Trevan pulled the chains from the wall and Roen lifted a nearly dead woman. They hurried the prisoners back the way they had come and into the sunlight. The captives had to shield their eyes from the bright light, but it was better than staying in the hell hole.
A few cars were parked along the street outside the main house and others were doing the same. An ambulance was setting up triage farther down the street so they headed that direction. She heard the alpha wolf giving orders to setup a defense perimeter.
“Mason,” Aria called, “we found a few prisoners. There’s bound to be more.”
“Damn,” he said. “Okay, everyone knows the plan. Groups of four go where you tell them to search. If they find someone, they call me immediately and we send others to help, if needed.”
Aria pointed out different buildings to search, but she wanted several groups to scour the tunnels. The vamps had to be sleeping somewhere and the underground maze was the most likely place. She wanted everyone out before last light.
“Is Emma here?” she asked. Mason frowned heavily.
“I couldn’t keep her away. She agreed to stay with the medical units. But knowing Emma…” Yeah, he didn’t have to finish. She knew Emma.
Stepping back into the tunnels, she heard groups of pack members searching the various offshoots of the main aisle. Voices called Mason, more slaves already found.
