Darkest Desire of the Vampire: Wicked in MoonlightVampire Island (Harlequin Nocturne)

by Rhyannon Byrd

  “Please,” she whispered, turning her head to the side. “I can take it. I swear I can. I just need to feel that connection with you.”

  He needed it, too. Badly. But Nick figured it was a miracle they’d managed to get this far without him hurting her. As desperately as he wanted her blood, he wasn’t willing to risk destroying what they had for it. Not when he might take it too far...or she might decide that having a set of fangs buried in her throat was a hell of a lot more intense than she’d expected. Whether his brothers showed or not, he still had this day with her, and he wasn’t willing to lose it if she freaked out and told him to get lost.

  “I might be human, but I’m not so easily broken,” she murmured, as if she knew his thoughts...and his fears. “You know that, right?”

  “I know,” he grunted. But he was still unwilling to take the chance. As badly as he wanted a bite of that pale, delicate throat, he wanted to keep losing himself in her more. And he needed to move again...starting now.

  With his pulse roaring in his ears, Nick let himself go, his hips pistoning between her sprawled thighs as he fisted his hands in the bedding and took her with the single-minded focus of a man making a claim on a woman’s body. It was more than sex. More than raw, aggressive fucking. It was a goddamn act of possession, and when he came the eruption was so intense it bowed his back, a guttural shout echoing through the room as he shoved himself inside her, nudging deeper with each thrust until she was gripping every part of him. Body, heart, soul.

  “Feel good?” she whispered when he finally stilled, running her smooth palms down the slick length of his back as he settled over her, bracing his weight on his forearms at the last moment so he didn’t crush her.

  “Feels bloody incredible,” he growled, shifting his arms higher so that he could spear his fingers into the wild tangle of her hair, gripping handfuls of the soft, silky locks. With his body pinning hers to the bed, Nick had her under his complete control, and he loved it. Couldn’t get enough of it. Leaning down, he took her mouth with barely restrained violence, kissing her so hard and deep that neither of them could breathe. When they finally had to drag in gulping breaths of air, he buried his face against the side of her neck, licking the soft, tender flesh there. “Did I hurt you?” he rasped, tasting the tears he’d seen slipping across her cheeks as he kissed his way up over her jaw.

  “No,” she moaned, hugging him to her as if she never wanted to let him go. “I loved it, Nick. Every second of it.”

  He rolled his hips, enjoying the wetness, his chest filled with potent male satisfaction at the fact that she was drenched in him. And as that thought immediately led to another, he froze. “Hell,” he rumbled. “I never even thought to ask you if you’re on the pill.”

  “It’s okay,” she murmured, slipping her fingers through the damp locks of his hair. “I am.”

  He nodded, knowing he should be relieved. Considering what he was going to ask of her if his brothers didn’t get there in time, he had no right putting a child inside her. But damn if he didn’t feel a fresh surge of lust at the thought of her round and heavy with his babe.

  Huh. Guess you could take the guy out of the 1700s, but you could never take the 1700s out of the guy. He might hold his own in the modern world, but there were some old-fashioned sentiments that he found damn hard to leave behind. Though his job made it nearly impossible, he thrived on the idea of a wife and family. Of having that kind of closeness with another person. That incredible sense of belonging.

  And this is a waste of my time now that the clock’s counting down.

  Biting back a bitter curse, Nick wrapped his arms around Lainey and held her close as he rolled to his back, reversing their positions.

  As she settled against his chest, she rested her chin on her stacked hands and stared directly into his eyes. “Why didn’t you take my vein?”

  He tried to control his reaction to the provocative words but knew from the catch in her breath that she’d felt him get harder. “Please tell me,” she murmured. “I just want to understand you.”

  “I didn’t do it because it’s too dangerous,” he told her, loving the little gasp she gave as he used his grip on her hips to hold her still as he pushed in a little deeper, already hopelessly addicted to the way she felt around him. “If I lost it,” he added, “I could drain you.”

  Exasperation quirked the soft curve of her lips. “You wouldn’t. You’d stop before you risked hurting me. And I think that however that bite ends up affecting you, you’re still stronger than it is. I don’t believe for a second that it could ever control you.”

  “I wish that were true,” he grated, his thumb rubbing against her soft skin as he cupped her cheek in his hand. “But I can’t stop what’s coming, Lainey.”

  “But you can be prepared for it,” she argued, bracing her hands against his chest as she pushed herself up into a sitting position, his cock giving a hard pulse inside her as she straddled his hips. “Did you ever think that my blood might give you more control when you need it tonight? That everything that’s happening between us might be for a reason?” she asked in a soft, firm voice that rang with challenge and conviction. “That you might actually need me, Nick?”

  Need her? Of course he needed her! But just because the beautiful, beguiling, brave little human was willing to give him everything didn’t mean it was right for him to take it. His heart and his mind knew that. But his body... The rising heat in his gums told him his body had a mind of its own.

  When Nick’s fangs shot out, longer and sharper than they’d ever been, she pulled her hair over her shoulder and smiled at him. “Will you drink from me now, Nick?” she whispered, the clenching of her slick sex around his thick cock telling him exactly how excited she was. But he had to keep his fucking head!

  “No,” he groaned, shaking his head...and wishing he could shake some kind of sense into her. “Don’t ever ask me that again. You have no idea what you’re doing, Lainey.”

  “It’ll be okay,” she said breathlessly, the rolling movement of her hips nearly making his eyes roll back in his head. Holding still like he was, he could feel every little ripple inside her...the seductive rhythm of her pulse making him want to howl, and God only knew that couldn’t be a good sign. “I trust you,” she told him. “I know you won’t hurt me. I don’t know why you even think you could.”

  “Damn it,” he growled, his fingers biting into her hips so hard he knew they’d leave bruises. “For once in your life just shut up!”

  But he was simply wasting his breath. He should have known she wouldn’t listen to reason, especially when her eyes got that hot, determined look in them. Before Nick realized what she was doing, she’d reached down and dug the pad of her thumb into one of his fangs. He was still shuddering from the scorching drop of blood she’d left in his mouth when she lifted her thumb to her pale throat, smearing a seductive line of crimson down the side. “Do it, Nick. I dare you.”

  “You reckless little bitch,” he growled, already surging up as he fisted his hands in her long hair and jerked her toward him. She screamed when they came together, his fangs thrusting deep into her tender flesh with a sharp, searing pop. He growled with violent, mind-shattering pleasure as her blood pumped out over his tongue, hotter...sweeter...and more intoxicating than anything he’d ever known. He’d thought for sure that, if they ever got to this point, she’d panic and start trying to pull him off. But she didn’t.

  Instead, she curved her fingers around his head and held him tighter to her, her husky voice thick with emotion as she groaned, “More, Nick. Oh, God, more.”

  And so he took more, greedy...driven...ravenous for every drop, until he knew he was nearing a point he wouldn’t be able to come back from. Somehow finding the strength to stop, he tore his mouth away, struggling for breath as he sealed the wounds. Then he lifted his head and stared down into her flushed face, knowing damn well he had to look like a monster to her. Glowing eyes, bloody mouth, his fangs still dripping beneath the cr
imson curve of his upper lip.

  Still angry with Lainey for pushing him, Nick gave her a dangerous look that said Scared now, little girl?

  But, really, when was he going to learn?

  “No,” she drawled with a sly, cat-ate-the-canary smile. “I’m afraid you’ll have to keep trying.”

  With a stunned, gritty laugh rumbling deep in his chest, Nick held her bright, challenging gaze as he slowly dropped back down to the bed and spread his bent knees farther apart. He rubbed his hands over her lush hips and squeezed, loving how soft and feminine she was, then started to move, thrusting up into all that hot, slippery wetness as she reached behind her and braced herself on his thighs.

  Fascinated by the sight of the pale curls on her mound meshing with his black ones whenever he slammed up against her, Nick ran the pad of his thumb through her soft hair. “You’re so damn sexy, golden girl.”

  There was a smile in her voice as she said, “I’m glad you think so.”

  “I know so.” Tilting his head back on the pillows, Nick closed his eyes and simply savored the sensation of driving up into her lush, sumptuous heat again...and again, utterly lost in her. Watching her through his lashes, he said, “I could stay inside you forever, Lainey, and still not get enough.”

  “Then do it,” she whispered, bracing her hands on his chest as she leaned forward, staring down into his face. Her eyes filled with hot, vibrant desire as he continued thrusting inside her. “Stay inside me forever, Nick. I’d be more than happy to keep you here.”

  He groaned her name, fisting one hand in her hair and pulling her down to his mouth. As he sank his tongue into that warm, sweet haven, he tried to put into the ravaging kiss all the powerful, confusing feelings he couldn’t put into words. And she was right there with him, relaying emotions with her lips and tongue and the salty taste of her tears, making him want to rage against the unfairness of what was coming.

  “I’m going to come in you so damn hard,” he growled against her lips, needing to imprint himself on her so deeply she’d never be able to forget him. “You ready?”

  “Yes!” she hissed. “Do it now. I want to feel it. Want your heat deep inside me.”

  He cursed, completely undone. With both hands firmly gripping her hips, he moved with inhuman speed, pumping up inside her as he came in a heavy stream of violent pulses. The end of the world probably wouldn’t have left him so shattered, their heat-glazed bodies twitching with aftershocks of sensation.

  Barely able to move, Nick took her with him as he rolled to his side, loving the way she hitched her leg over his hip to keep them together. He anchored his hands on her ass for the same purpose—and, well, just because he loved gripping it. The woman had an ass to die for, along with all the other mouthwatering parts of her.

  As he licked his lower lip, where he could still taste her blood, her eyes turned smoky. “Did you like doing that?” she asked, her soft fingertips tracing the shell of his ear.

  “You know I did,” he rasped. “If you were mine, I’d be at your vein and buried deep in this hot little body so often you’d probably never even make it out of bed.”

  “Mmm. Sounds nice.”

  With a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth, he asked, “Did you know your accent is strongest just after you’ve come?”

  She gave one of those soft, throaty laughs that made him think of sex, though that could pretty much be applied to everything about her. “Are you serious?”

  “Mmm,” he murmured, squeezing her beautiful ass. When she’d laughed, he’d been able to feel it around his shaft, and he wanted to feel it again. “Especially when you’re screaming my name like a banshee.”

  She gave another throaty chuckle as she lifted her hand higher, brushing his dark hair back from his face. “Does it bother you?”

  “Your accent?” he asked, lifting his brows.

  When she nodded, he told her, “Of course not. I think it’s beautiful.”

  “When I first moved out to California to be close to Ryan,” she said with a quiet laugh that was softer this time, “he’d introduce me as Daisy Duke to everyone.” Her eyes glistened with tears. “He could be such a smart-ass, but I’m...I’m going to miss the hell out of him,” she finished with a broken sob. And as the dam broke and her tears came in a hot, blinding rush, Nick tightened his arms and held her hard against his chest, determined to see her through the storm.

  * * ** * *

  She must have dozed for a bit because the first thing Lainey realized as she opened her eyes was that the wolves were clawing at the door in a frenzy now, no doubt able to hear or smell what they’d been doing inside the bunker. But she’d been so wrapped up in her wicked-as-sin vampire, she hadn’t even noticed. Make that a sinful, saintly vampire, considering the way he’d held her through her tears. She’d known men who practically ran at the first sign of crying, but Nick had just held her tighter, his lips moving against the top of her head as he murmured comforting words that she’d felt more than heard.

  Now, she felt him lift his head for a moment, and when she realized he was looking at the clock again, she scooted back enough to see his face. “What happens when your brothers get here?”

  “Then you’re safe,” he said, locking his dark blue gaze with hers.

  “But what happens...with us?”

  His jaw hardened as he rolled to his back, staring up at the ceiling. “There can be no us, Lainey. You know that.”

  She braced herself on an elbow beside him. “Is it just sex then?” she whispered, trying not to let him see how deeply his words had devastated her. “Because it...it felt like more to me.”

  There was a long, pain-filled pause before he finally gave her an answer. “It is more. But that doesn’t give me the right to destroy your life.”

  “Destroy it how?”

  He turned his head to look at her, his deep voice rough with frustration. “Christ, haven’t you been listening to a single word I’ve said? I’m a killer, constantly surrounded by death. Courting it. Hunting it. I’ve taken more lives over the years than you can even imagine.”

  “You’re not telling me anything that I don’t already know. But that’s your job, Nick. It doesn’t define you.”

  “It doesn’t matter how you look at it. I’m not a good man, Lainey.”

  With a frown, she snapped, “That’s such bullshit. There’s a difference between killing something for pleasure and killing it because it needs to be put down.”

  He watched her with a hooded gaze, the barest hint of a smile on his hard, sensual mouth. “You’re assuming I don’t enjoy it.”

  “I’m sure you enjoy the hunt,” she offered quietly, sensing just how closely he was studying her reaction. “The challenge of tracking down your target. But that’s different from enjoying the kill, Nick. It doesn’t make you a monster.”

  For a moment, she thought he was going to make some mocking comment about how blind or naive she was. But when he finally spoke, his low voice held an odd note of wonder in it, as if he didn’t quite know what to make of her. “There are many who would disagree with you, Miss Maxwell.”

  “Then they’re idiots,” she said, lifting her brows. “And anyway, you don’t really care what they think, do you?”

  Moving in a blur of speed, he rolled her beneath him, his lips brushing against her ear as he said, “Just leave it, Lainey. Please. I don’t want to spend the time I have left with you arguing.”

  Tears burned her eyes at the painful reminder that their time together was limited, but she willingly opened her legs to him, letting him press against her. His long, thick erection nestled against her tender, swollen folds, and he groaned so deep she could feel it.

  “I love how unbelievably warm you are,” he rasped against the sensitive side of her throat. “Can’t get enough of it.”

  “Aren’t female vampires warm?”

  “Not like this. Not like you.” He lifted his head, a strange look in his deep blue eyes that made her heart hurt. Roughly, h
e said, “Unless they embrace true emotion, they remain cold. Both physically and emotionally.”

  “Sounds lonely,” she murmured.

  “It’s just the way we are, Lainey. Very few of us end up like my parents.”

  “Are they happy together?”

  A crooked smile lifted the corner of his mouth. “Ridiculously happy. It’s enough to make you sick if you don’t love them.”

  “That’s sweet.”

  “Not as sweet as you,” he groaned, kissing his way down her chest until he’d reached the sensitive tips of her breasts. Then he kissed his way even lower. He was ruthless in the pursuit of her orgasms, making her come again and again until she was utterly boneless with pleasure.

  They made love five more times as the day progressed into late afternoon...and late afternoon slowly turned into evening. Each time, he took her in increasingly revealing positions, pushing her until she’d given him every part of her. Until she was devoid of shyness and insecurities and worries about her figure.

  As the hour grew later, she knew he was keeping a close eye on the clock but wasn’t sure what he was waiting for. Some kind of sign? Or a specific time?

  Eventually, they pulled themselves from the sex-wrecked bed and took a long, enjoyable shower that consisted of lots of laughter and sensual moans of satisfaction, then put a meal together in the kitchen. With each minute that passed, Lainey could feel Nick’s tension increasing and wished there was something she could do to reassure him.

  The howls of the werewolves were growing steadily louder, the screech of their claws against the door coming more and more frequently. The monsters were growing restless with the rise of the moon, and she should have been terrified. But it was impossible to feel anything but pleasure when she was in Nick’s arms, their bodies so close she could feel the pounding of his heart against hers.

  “They’re angrier now, aren’t they?” she asked, lying beside him on the bed. “Hungrier?”

  “It’s the moon,” he said in a dark rasp.

  She braced herself on an elbow. “Can you feel it? The moon’s pull?”