"Yes," she breathed as her head dropped against his chest and her legs wrapped around him.
He understood exactly how she felt as a sense of completion stole through his body. The scent of her washed over him, the pulse of her blood caused his fangs to tingle with the urge to taste her but even as the thought drifted through his mind, it vanished. For now it was enough to simply be inside of her, to feel her against him, and to take solace in the relief that her body gave to him.
He'd enjoyed being in control up to this point but now he realized that he'd never really been in control at all. She'd always had complete control over him, she just didn't know it, and now all he wanted was to feel her hands on him. Stretching behind her, he released the knot in the bra and pulled it free. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she pressed her mouth against his throat.
The salt of the sweat that slicked his skin was actually pleasant tasting as she kissed his neck. The storm she'd thought his mouth and fingers had so expertly put out before was rapidly growing within her once again. He was like a hurricane, powerful and all-consuming as he swept her up. She clung to his body and rhythmically rode out the storm that his possession of her created.
Joy and love swelled through her and she almost cried from the force of the emotions swamping her. Love, she was in love with this powerful man that had taken possession of her heart and body. She lost herself to the demanding rhythm of his movements as he propelled her to higher and higher levels of pleasure. Her fingers dug into the flesh of his back as another splintering orgasm tore through her. She almost screamed out loud but his mouth was on hers again as he thrust into her one more time and released his own growl of pure satisfaction.
CHAPTER 15
Ethan rolled away from the window and stretched out his hand for Emma but even as he was reaching for her he knew that she wasn't there. He shot up in the bed and tossed the blanket aside. Following her scent, he made his way into the living room and then beyond to the patio where he had made love to her last night. He spotted her lithe body slicing through the pool seconds before her head popped above the surface. A smile curved her mouth when she spotted him standing next to the water.
"Good morning," she greeted as she rested her arms on the edge of the pool and tilted her head to look up at him. "You just like walking around naked don't you?"
"You're one to talk," he said as he knelt before her. He brushed the wet hair back from her forehead and admired her ass and legs as she treaded water.
She turned her cheek into his hand and kissed his palm. "I was going to make breakfast but you don't have any food here."
He knew there was no food in the fridge, but he was glad he'd made sure to take the blood out of it and store it in the garage before she'd come over last night. "We're not much for shopping."
"So I discovered."
"Are you hungry?"
She shrugged and ran a hand over his thigh. The muscles bunched beneath her palm, causing her to forget all about the rumbling in her stomach as her hunger turned more carnal. "Yes," she murmured.
He grinned at her as he slid into the pool. Emma swam backward but he caught her quickly and pulled her back by her foot. She let out a little squeal as his hands moved steadily up her leg until he grabbed hold of her waist. Her mouth was wet and tasted of chlorine as he kissed her but he couldn't get enough of her.
Emma arched her hips against his, but he grabbed hold of her waist and spun her around. A gasp escaped her, her hands curled around the concrete side of the pool. One of his arms wrapped around her stomach as the other slid up to fondle her breasts. The water, and his hand sliding over her skin, was a delicious sensation that made her skin tingle all over. She cried out as his mouth seared over her neck and his cock slid into her. The pangs in her stomach were completely forgotten as his body enfolded hers and she lost herself to him.
It was sometime later before she drifted back to earth and the pool water around her. Ethan's arms were still wrapped around her; his breath was warm against her neck as he held her close. "You may be the death of me," she murmured.
His chuckle made her smile as she leaned against him. "I could say the same to you." Her toes curled as she turned to kiss his cheek. "We should get you some food."
"Aren't you hungry?" she asked.
"Not right now." He said as he reluctantly withdrew from her warmth. As soon he was out of her body all he wanted was to be back inside of her again. A feeling of possession crashed into him so strongly that he was unable to move for a minute and he had to fight to keep his fangs retracted. She was his and the driving urge to mark her as such caused his vision to blur and his body to shudder.
"Ethan?"
"Hmm." It was the only sound he was able to get out as he nuzzled her neck and inhaled her scent. He was playing chicken with the devil right now he realized, but he still couldn't bring himself to pull his mouth away from her neck.
"I've never felt like this about anyone before." She couldn't look at him as she said the words; she couldn't even believe she had uttered them. She felt exposed, vulnerable, and raw as she ducked her head away from him. "I didn't mean..."
"Neither have I." Those words finally brought back all of his control, finally brought him back to what he wanted to be when he was around her, a good man. A man that didn't think about blood, death, and destruction, but about her and just how happy she made him. His fangs were completely retracted when he kissed her neck this time. "Neither have I."
Tears of joy and relief burned her eyes as his hands stroked over her stomach. "Come on let's get you out of this water, you're starting to resemble a raisin," he teased.
He kept his arm around her as he swam over to the stairs and walked out of the water with her by his side. He retrieved towels from the cabana and gave her one. The massive towel she wrapped around herself nearly encompassed all of her small frame. "I'm leaving in two weeks," she said.
His hands froze on the towel; the strangest sensation shot through him and it took everything he had to suppress the snarl that almost tore from him. He inhaled a shuddery breath as he strained to retain his composure. It wasn't something he wanted to think about but it was something that was going to have to be addressed, and soon. She didn't know it yet but he didn't ever plan to let her go.
"I don't want this to end Emma."
Her smile lit up her entire face as she looked up at him from under spiky, wet lashes. "Neither do I."
He used the towel to pull her close and kissed the tip of her nose. "Then we will figure it out."
Emma grabbed her dress and underwear from where they had fallen last night and followed him inside. She took a shower and emerged from the bathroom to find him sitting on the bed, also freshly showered. It felt weird to slip the dress back on but she didn't have any other choice as he rose from the bed and handed her a bag that she tossed her underwear into.
"A toothbrush would be beautiful," she muttered.
He laughed and looped his arm through hers as they left the house and made their way back to where she was staying. "My brothers are arriving in two days so my place is going to get a little crowded. Hopefully Jill and Mandy won't mind my company."
"Jill might be chasing after your brothers."
"I don't think Ian or Aiden would complain."
Emma unlocked the door and pushed it open. The home was unusually silent but the aroma of maple syrup and bacon was wafting from the kitchen. Her stomach grumbled loudly in response to the delicious scents. "They must have gone to the beach already," she said as she dropped her shoes by the door and hurried to her room.
She changed and joined Ethan in the kitchen where he pushed a note toward her. She recognized Jill's girly handwriting on the piece of paper; the note confirmed what she had already assumed. Opening the cabinets, she grabbed a box of cereal and two bowls. "I'm not hungry," Ethan told her.
She glanced questioningly at him over her shoulder but put one of the bowls back. Pouring herself a bowl of cereal she added some milk
and walked over to sit next to him at the breakfast bar. The rumbling in her stomach began to ease as she eagerly filled it with food. A loud bang outside froze her with her spoon halfway to her mouth. Ethan's head turned, his jaw clenched and for a second she thought he actually sniffed the air. Then he was rising to his feet and moving so rapidly toward the door that it would have been a normal person's jog, but he was still only walking.
Emma was just coming around the breakfast bar when he pulled the door open. His muffled curse, and the abrupt stiffening of his shoulders should have prepared her, but she wasn't at all prepared for the spectacle of the dead cat on the stoop. Emma's stomach turned at the unnatural angle of the poor animal's neck. Her mind still wasn't comprehending what it was seeing, or why the cat was there, until Ethan bent to examine it. With his body out of the way, her eyes were drawn to the large red slut scrawled across the blue door.
It felt like her mind was wading through quicksand as it tried to process everything that she was seeing. Then she spotted the paper that Ethan was pulling away from the cat. "Ethan..."
"Stay back Emma." She barely heard him but there was something about the tone of his voice that made her freeze in place.
His upper lip curled into a sneer, he went to crumple up the paper but she stopped him. "I want to read it."
He glanced at her over his shoulder. "I'm not so sure that you do."
Emma threw her shoulders back and stretched out her hand. "I'm not backing down from anything he does."
Ethan glanced at the paper and the dead cat before reluctantly handing her the note. Emma hated the shaking in her hand but she couldn't stop it as she took the paper from him and unfolded it slowly. She recognized Tristan's hastily scrawled writing immediately. You're still mine, no matter who you fuck. Next time it will be his body on your doorstep. I'm watching you.
Emma's stomach twisted, it took all she had not to throw the meager contents of her breakfast up. She'd known that Tristan wasn't right in the head, that there was something sinister within him, but she had never expected this. That poor cat. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she took in the broken body of the innocent animal. At the same time rage swelled up within her but she wasn't sure if she was more infuriated, saddened, or terrified right now.
Ethan rose and took a step toward her but she held up her hand to ward him off. "You should stay away... He's not... He can see..." she choked out as her gaze went over his shoulder to the door beyond him.
"I don't care," Ethan said and wrapped his arms around her.
Her hands flattened against his chest as she tried to push him away but he refused to let her go. Despite her good intentions to keep him away, she found her fingers curling into his shirt and pulling him closer. "You should be running from here, you should be getting as far from this insanity as you can. You're in danger..."
"No I'm not," he said forcefully. "And I am not going anywhere. No matter what happens I am staying by your side Emma."
"Ethan he's obviously unstable, look at the cat." She took a shuddery breath as she fought not to completely fall apart. "We should call the police."
His hands flattened on her back as he pressed her more firmly against him. "There's no proof that he did any of this Emma, I know you thought you saw him that day but we don't know where he is, or where to start looking for him. There's not much that the police can do."
She frowned at his words. "But they can start looking for him. With his prior history if they can find him on the island than they may be able to do something."
Ethan's mind spun as he tried to come up with some way to keep her from going to the police. It was the normal thing to do, it was the human reaction to something like this, but the last thing he wanted was human interference. He was determined to find this man and seek out his own revenge. He'd been trying for years to keep his murderous impulses restrained but he was willing to let the monster inside of him feast on the bastard tormenting her like this. But if humans were involved, and Tristan went missing, they might look to him.
"And if I don't report this now and it escalates they'll question why I waited," she continued.
None of the reasons that ran through his head sounded like a plausible excuse for her not to go to the police without sounding suspicious or unsupportive. He'd just have to make sure that Tristan's body was never found. "Ok, I'll call them. Why don't you sit down and try to relax a little," he said as he led her over to the couch. "Do you want me to get you anything?"
Emma shook her head as she sat numbly on the couch. She realized she was still holding the crumpled note and dropped it on the table as if it had burned her.
***
By the time the police left Emma felt completely drained, another shower and a nap sounded like two of the most pleasant options in the world to her. Ethan was in the kitchen when she emerged from the shower, the delicious scent of grilled cheese drifted to her and though sleep had been her next goal, comfort food seemed much more preferable right now.
She settled onto a stool at the breakfast bar as he flipped one of the sandwiches in the pan. "I scrubbed the front door," he told her.
A pang stabbed her heart and some of her appetite dwindled away. "Thank you."
"The police will find him, it's not that big of an island," he said reassuringly.
Emma hoped so; they had at least seemed concerned about the situation, competent, and they had promised to keep an eye out for Tristan. Ethan placed a plate with two sandwiches on it before her. Resting his arms on the counter he bent down to look her in the eye. "We're going to get through this," he told her. "Now eat."
Emma picked up one of the sandwiches and began to peel the crust from it. "Thank you, for everything. I think most people would have run screaming for the hills at a dead cat on a doorstep and the knowledge of a psycho ex."
"Yeah well I've got a lot of crazy things in my life too."
"Like what?"
Ethan took a deep breath and watched as her small fingers deftly peeled the last of the crust from the sandwich. "Like nine over protective and extremely nosey siblings and a crazy house I share with some of them. Believe me it's rarely quiet and they're always into one thing or another. My parents are so in love that at times it's sickening and their crazy friends from college also stay on the property with us, along with my brother-in-law, when he and Isabelle aren't traveling."
"Your parent's college friends live with you too?" she asked in disbelief.
Ethan had never found it odd that The Stooge's had stayed with them over the years, but he could see how it would be odd to an outsider. To a human. "They never really grew up," he said with a forced smile. "I guess we should have called them The Lost Boys instead of The Stooges."
"They never got married?"
"The Stooges?" Ethan snorted. "No. Believe me, when you meet them you'll understand why."
Emma paused in the middle of biting into her sandwich to look at him. When she met them, a shiver of delight went through her at his words and the unspoken promise behind them. "Why do you call them The Stooges?"
He smiled as he rested his elbows on the counter before her. "Yet another thing you'll understand when you meet them."
She grinned back at him and took a bite of her sandwich. Her smile faded away as her thoughts returned to the events of the day. "Your life may be chaotic but there were no dead things being left on your front porch."
One day she would understand that there were plenty of dead things and blood in his life, but she had enough going on without dumping even more horror into her lap right now. He would probably have to do it sooner rather than later from what he'd heard about the beginning of his parent's relationship, and what he'd witnessed with Isabelle and Stefan, but right now all he cared about was keeping her safe.
She finished off the first sandwich and began to methodically peel the crust from the next one. "No dead cats at least," he said.
"That's always a bonus."
When she was done with the second sandwic
h, she began to pick at the crust on her plate. "You pull the crust off just to eat it?"
Her forehead furrowed as she glanced down at the plate. "I never really thought about it, it's just something I've always done. I guess it is kind of weird."
"Not at all," he assured her as he leaned forward to kiss her. "Do you want another one?"
She thought about it for a second before shaking her head. "No, I'm good."
The door opened and she turned to watch as Jill and Mandy entered the house. "Why is there a bucket of water and a sponge outside?" Jill's eyes were riveted on something Emma couldn't see as she asked the question.
Emma wasn't ready to deal with their concern yet, but she knew she had to. "I forgot about those," Ethan said as he walked around the counter toward them.
Grabbing the plate full of remaining crust, Emma made her way over to the trashcan and dumped them inside. She heard Ethan talking with her friends but she couldn't make out what they were saying. When Mandy and Jill appeared on the other side of the breakfast bar she knew they'd already been given the rundown on what had happened. Mandy looked as if she was trying not to vomit and Jill was about three shades paler than she had been yesterday.
"Are you ok?" Jill demanded.
Emma didn't know how to answer that question. "Of course she's not ok. I swear Emma if I see that asshole I'm going to kill him!" Mandy declared as she stormed around the counter and hurried over to her. Emma was consumed by the urge to cry as Mandy and then Jill threw their arms around her and huddled close. "Don't worry hon, we're going to keep you safe. That piece of shit won't dare come around the three of us."
Ethan cleared his throat from the doorway. "Ok four of us," Mandy amended.
The warmth and security of her friend's arms helped to ease her anguish even further. She wiped at her eyes as she stepped away from their embrace. "Thanks guys, but I think it would be best if you stayed away from him. He's even crazier than he used to be. I don't understand this," she said with a shake of her head.
Untamed (Vampire Awakenings, Book 3) Page 15
