by Terry Spear
“You wanted to let him go, didn’t you? The newly turned vampire.”
“Yeah. He could have vanished. I think he wanted me to end his existence as a vampire. Maybe he hated what he had become, and he couldn’t reconcile himself with what he was being forced to do. Why not leave and fight the hunters further? I mean, he was fighting us, but he gave up when he didn’t need to at the point of my blade.”
“You all had us worried.” Zachary rubbed her back.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I’m sure your brother was thinking you were getting soft on vampires because some of your friends and relatives are vampires now.”
“Not on your life.”
Zachary chuckled.
Pasha couldn’t stop thinking about everything though—about how her family and others would take over and reestablish their family in the city. How they would feel about living here now that they’d lost so many of their loved ones. How the dynamics between family members had changed with her brother and sister being turned and her brother taking charge of the family. How his mate would have a baby that was a combination of hunter and vampire.
“I can’t believe Rachael can have a baby with a vampire.” Pasha didn’t know why she mentioned it to Zachary. He would have the same issue if he mated a huntress. She guessed she said something to him about it because she couldn’t stop thinking about it and she couldn’t ask Rachael. Her sister-in-law was probably worried enough over it already. Pasha hadn’t wanted to ask Danai either because she may be concerned about the same thing if she mated a hunter like Michael. None of them knew what would really happen. “I didn’t even think vampires could have offspring.”
“I suspect it’s a rare occurrence. It would be really bad for us if the rogues could turn humans and have their own offspring.”
“True.”
“I know of only one case that Crystal told us about. The vampire had been born a vampire of vampire parents. They were all ancients. He was ostracized by the rest of his kind for being different.”
“Oh. Like hunters turned into vampires. But you haven’t heard of any hunter-vampire matings that have produced children yet?”
“Not that I know of.”
“You know, we’re going to want to reclaim our homes once the vampire threat is finished. I didn’t know if Adonis might have told you already. I mean, he hasn’t said anything about it to me, but I know him. We’re not just seeking revenge and to settle the score and then we’ll return to Dallas.”
“I thought as much. I don’t blame you and your family for wanting to return and reclaim your homes. I would have felt the same if I’d been you.” Zachary kissed her on the top of her head.
“In your hunter clan, how many know you’re a vampire now?” Since two of her family members had been turned and the others in her family were just glad they had survived and were helping them to fight back, she thought Zachary could find a home with them there.
“Just my uncles, dad, Michael, Rachael, and your family.”
“So the others in your clan might not accept what you’ve become.” She was thinking about the hunter who had nearly killed Adonis, trying to tell everyone he was a bloodsucking vampire now. Some of his outrage was because Adonis wanted Rachael for his mate. But some of it was because he just hated vampires and to him, Adonis was a rogue for lying to them just as much as Piaras had been. But Adonis and Rachael had eliminated Piaras! The hunter hadn’t done anything to make that happen and protect Rachael from the threat. With the hunter having been banished from the clan, there had to be some hard feelings among some of the hunters who had been friends of his. How would that affect Zachary if they knew he was turned also?
Zachary sighed. “I’d say there’s a good chance some might not accept me for what I’ve become. We could see a real rift between factions. You’ve seen the good we can do. But for some, that might not be enough.”
“They think you’ll suddenly side with rogues and allow them into hunters’ homes,” she guessed.
“Right. They don’t understand that the hunter in us is alive and well, just as protective of the hunter families as always.”
“Then maybe you would want to stay here with us. Danai and Adonis understand you.”
Zachary smiled.
“What?” She assumed his smile was because she didn’t include herself in that, but they were just like him so she meant they would truly understand what he was going through. She was just learning what to expect. Just like he was.
“You’re right. And if Michael and Danai mate, he’ll stay here also. My father would understand if he feared there’d be revolt within the clan. He and my uncles wouldn’t want that. We could be a real help to our clan, but I just don’t see it working out that way.”
“Do you wish things could have been different? That you were never turned?”
“I wouldn’t have done anything differently to rescue you, even if I’d had a crystal ball and knew how it would have ended. At first, yeah, I was overwhelmed by the prospect of having been turned and losing you all at the same time. Not that you were committed to me at the time, but I sure hoped a courtship would result. When I was lying in bed in pain, I was miserable, knowing what I’d become. Especially when I saw you and knew how much you’d hate me for it after all you’d been through. And then Anthony was standing beside you, trying to get you to court him. I knew that was the best thing for you, but I couldn’t help how growly I felt.”
“He didn’t come to my rescue and risk his life for me like you did. My brother told me how you were adamant about coming to save me.”
“And your family.”
She smiled and kissed his chest. “As an aside. But your mission was to save me.”
“Adonis told me you were a wild cat.” He sighed. “I’m glad you came out of it unscathed.”
“Not totally unscathed. What if I had been the one who’d been turned? Do you think you would still have wanted to court me?”
“Hell, yeah. Just like Michael wants to with Danai.”
“They’re not really together,” Pasha reminded Zachary.
“Danai’s a good fighter. I’m sure that’s why she wanted to protect the kids. Michael…he’s really not into kids all that much. Not yet, anyway. And he knows getting rid of the threat will help protect the kids anyway.”
Pasha snapped her fingers. “She’s testing Michael.”
“What?”
“Sure. She was seeing how he’d react to protecting the kids.”
“Well, he failed the test, I guess.”
“It might not be that at all.” She settled against Zachary again. “I knew Danai well before the change, but now, she’s a different person. She used to boss me around all the time, older sister, you know, but now she’s…well, withdrawn. I know she’s angry with me because I caused all this mess to begin with.” Pasha fought crying over it. She’d fought it ever since her whole family had been swept up into this mess with her. Then a tear fell, and she quickly wiped it off Zachary’s chest.
He took a deep breath and ran his hand soothingly over her arm. “We all make mistakes, Pasha. Mine would be giving you up to another hunter like Anthony. Or anyone else, for that matter.”
She raised her head to look at him, to see if he was sincere. She couldn’t believe he still wanted her despite the way she’d reacted when she’d first learned he was a vampire.
He smiled down at her and kissed her lips. “You’re the only one for me, if you can get over my being a vampire.”
She chuckled. “I think I’m over it.”
“You don’t know how glad I am of it.”
Chapter 14
Zachary began kissing Pasha and she was kissing him back, the adrenaline rushing through their blood, growing hot with passion.
Now this was what she’d wanted when she’d thought he was a hunter. And only a hunter. She just had to school her way of thinking where the vampire part of him was concerned.
She gave into her more primal huntress
need to have a hunter mate, kissing him hard on the mouth, needing this after all that had happened. Needing to feel the love a hunter could feel for her, the solace he could offer her. She wanted to relieve the tension she felt in killing the rogue vampires and knowing more had to be done.
She kissed Zachary with abandon, craving what he could offer her now. The future was still the future, uncertain for both of them. She didn’t want to think about it right this moment. But she did want him to know how she felt about it.
“No commitments,” she said, “but I want this between us right now. I need this.”
“I’m willing to give you anything you need, when you need it, Pasha.”
“A hunter after my own heart.”
“I sure hope so.”
Then they were kissing again, and he turned her onto her back and kissed her lace bra-covered breasts, his hand sliding over her nipples, making them peek and wanting more of his touch. She offered a soft moan of happiness. She couldn’t believe how wonderful his touching her felt. For the moment, she didn’t even think about the vampires or the upcoming battles. All she cared about was being with the hunter in the throes of passion.
He kissed her throat and she rubbed her body against him. He growled a little and instantly she wondered if his vampiric teeth would unsheathe. So much for not thinking about him in terms of being a vampire now.
“You’re safe with me,” he ground out, sounding a little frustrated.
She would have laughed if she hadn’t been just a tad bit worried. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I don’t bite on first dates.”
She laughed then and he smiled, easing the tension between them, but the sexual tension increased. She slid her hands up his chest, loving the feel of his strong muscles that got a good workout. The same with his biceps as she felt them up while he massaged her breast with one hand, and then leaned down to kiss her mouth.
Their tongues tangoed and then as much as she was trying not to think about it, she tentatively used her tongue to check his teeth, no vampiric canines coming out to give her pause.
He smiled, tasted her tongue again, and then he reached behind her to unfasten her bra and pulled it off and tossed it. He moved his hands down her waist and pulled down her panties and then he removed his boxer briefs. Sliding his hand down her, he reached her clit and began to fondle her. She hoped he wanted to do more than that. Just having sex with him didn’t mean she agreed to a mating. But she wanted the closeness, to feel him deep inside her, to release all the tension she was feeling, both from this, and the job she was doing here.
He cupped her face and kissed her mouth with possessiveness, and she responded with the same kind of possessive need. His hand moved lower until he was stroking her eager nub with his thumb again. Heaven on earth, she could so get used to the hunter making love to her.
She moved against his hand, wanting him to stroke her harder and he quickly fed into her need. No one had ever touched her like that, and she could lose herself in the hot feelings he aroused. Everything about him—the hot and sexy smell of freshly soaped skin, the muskiness of their heightened sexual intrigue, the touch of his hard body against hers, his finger now stroking her sensitive nub—made her think of him and only him.
She marveled at the strength of his angular face, his half-shuttered eyes, his remarkable mouth, light, silky hair caressing her chest as he moved to lick and suckle a nipple. She bucked against him, the sensation of his finger stroking her and his mouth on her sensitive nipple driving her mad. His tongue teased at her taut nipple and she groaned out loud.
This was what she’d been missing her whole life! Him, driving her toward the peaks of mountains, making her almost beg to be finished off. Then he slid a finger between her feminine lips and began to stroke. Oh…oh…yes! Could it get any better than this?
His finger slick, he began to stroke her again, his mouth commandeering hers, his cock stretched out to her, telling her just how much he needed release. He was gorgeous, mate material. And she couldn’t help but think of having beautiful children with him.
Why did he have to be a vampire?
Or was it the vampire in him that made him such a hot lover? The combination? It didn’t matter. He’d started a fire in her that was building by the second. She was absorbing every bit of his touch, relishing it, wanting it to end and not to end. How crazy was that?
She ran her hands through his gorgeous, silky blond hair, streaks of lighter strands mixed through it from the time he’d spent in the sun. And she was glad for that—that he could still be out the sun. She had to remind herself he wasn’t all vampire.
She licked at the seams of his lips, but suddenly, he was tight-lipped, and her eyes widened as his were darkened and filled with lust. Had his teeth extended? She realized she had never seen his vampire teeth, and she wouldn’t have thought having sex with him would bring them out. Anger, sure.
If she were to live with what he was now, she had to know. Did sex make the teeth unsheathe? Was he lusting for her sexually and to bite her?
She pressed her tongue at his mouth, telling him in no uncertain way that she wanted entrance, that she had to know what he was hiding from her, if he was.
He let out his breath, and worse, he stopped stroking her. Maybe he thought if she saw his extended canines, she would want him to stop trying to bring her to climax! No way in hell.
“Let me in,” she said softly, still combing her fingers through his hair. She was trying to prepare herself for what she would see. Wicked, pointed, long canines that could tear into a body with vicious precision. And she had to control her reaction, school her expression so she didn’t look startled or afraid.
She wasn’t afraid of him! But it didn’t mean staring at those wicked canines so close to her face wouldn’t give her a bit of a pause.
He smiled. She stared at his dangerously long canines, meant to penetrate a vein and allow for the vampire to drink his pleasure.
She reached up and touched one of his canines with her finger. He pulled back a little. “Careful, Pasha.”
Her gaze switched immediately to his. If he broke the skin on her finger, would he have no control over wanting her blood? Would he be able to stop if he did have a taste of her blood? Or would he drain her, unable to control that new wild part of him?
She hadn’t considered that scenario.
“I don’t know,” he said, his voice hushed, concerned, maybe a little upset, as if he could read her very thoughts.
She carefully touched her tongue to one of the sharp teeth, not the point, but the slick sides. It was like any tooth really, except longer, sharper, wickeder. Of course, the purpose of such a tooth didn’t settle her concern either.
Yet she hated seeing the turmoil in his eyes, the defeat, the need to feel she saw him as a hunter and not an abomination. He was waiting, seeing if she was going to accept him or reject him. She was glad he hadn’t pulled away in defeat.
She smiled at him and ran her hands over his strong arms. “If you don’t finish what you started, I’m going to bite you.” Seriously, she would.
He smiled again then, showing off his canines fully, and she began to kiss him, and he was back to stroking her nub. It didn’t take long for her to heat up from zero to hundred in practically a flash of time. She was pressing her clit against his finger, wanting this before he decided they should wait to get to know each other better.
Then she was slamming into the mountain peak, the orgasm taking her to the top and over. Floating, the waves of climax crashing through her. She felt wondrous!
When he looked like he was going to pull away, except for kissing her again, she grabbed his hip and pulled him toward her, telling him he was making love to her all the way. None of this pleasuring her and that was it.
“Are you sure?” His canines were still extended.
“Will you bite me if we go all the way?” She did have some sense, she supposed. As much as she wanted to be there for him, she wasn’t ready t
o be bitten and turned.
“I haven’t made love to a woman since I’ve been bitten,” he said, honestly.
“Then we’ll have to just see what happens, won’t we?”
“Are you sure?” he asked again.
“If you don’t—”
“You’ll bite me.”
She smiled. “You’re a quick learner.”
Then he pressed his cock between her legs, no more asking if she was sure.
Even though she wasn’t really. She could just imagine him being so wrapped up in the sex, he’d go to bite her, she’d scream, out of self-preservation, and the hunters would come running. Then what?
But he began to drive into her like a man possessed, as if he needed to get this over with before he did something they’d both regret. She wanted him to slow down and enjoy it, but she didn’t want him losing control, so she went with it, kissing his mouth with passion, running her hands over his muscular back, and lifting her pelvis to make a greater connection.
This was even better than his finger thrust inside her.
His teeth were still fully extended, and he tilted his head to the side, grazing her neck with his teeth. No, no, no, keep thrusting and finish this, don’t bite!
Then he groaned and spilled his seed inside her. His heartbeat and hers were racing madly, his teeth still extended as he licked her neck. Don’t. Do. It.
He was still thrusting into her until the last, and then he moved off her and pulled her out of bed.
She thought he wanted her to go sleep somewhere else, that he was too close to losing control. But then he hauled her off to the master bathroom and turned on the water in the shower.
Hmm, she was ready for this.
“I’m surprised your father wanted me to continue courting you,” Zachary said, as he snuggled with Pasha in bed after they’d showered. He couldn’t believe she had allowed him to continue to make love to her, even after his darn fangs had extended. He hadn’t wanted to show them to her, wanting to control them in the worst way, but concentrating on pleasuring her had made it happen.
