Jolting, I look over my shoulder.
Daniel’s eyes burn, lust darkening his stormy blue irises. They glow, vortexes that devour me. How do eyes reveal so much? A strange flicker of emotion slithers in their depths. Doubt? It’s gone, and there’s only adoration in his eyes. Am I projecting my worries and seeing things?
Bemused at my fixed stare, he grins.
His hair shines bright gold, and his skin is snowstorm white. The dark tangle of my hair, and tan skin look richer, against his cooler shades.
Hot and bothered, I flick my head back, and my hair splays over his forearm, chest, and shoulder.
He shudders.
Gaze dropping to my ass, propped in the air, he stills. A harsh sound is wrenched from him. Utter surrender. He doesn’t want this, he needs it, requires it like the liquid souls he feeds on.
Enraptured, his expression borders frightening.
I did that.
Made the predator look like prey.
Daniel’s cool breath on my neck does horrible things to me. Goose bumps prickle my skin, and I wriggle, a deprived sob choking me. He inhales. Drinking the scent of my arousal then exhales so hard his body shakes, rubbing us together in such a way I moan.
‘Calm, sweetling. I’m here.’
His nose nudges aside my head, bearing my throat. Cool lips brush my skin, feather light. This creature’s touch is delicate, for me, his Bride. I sigh my satisfaction. Fangs. Sharp, deadly, rest on the flimsy flesh at my throat, the steady pressure tantalizing.
Blood thunders in my veins.
Can he hear it rushing?
The razor sharp points slide into my skin. A harsh burning makes me wince. It cools. My tense muscles relax, and I’m boneless with delicious languor, a drugging sensation that’s warmth, safety, and affection. He draws from me. Gathering a precious mouthful that brings us closer. A long, wet swallow of the hot liquid pooling on his tongue has my toes curling.
Daniel groans. The profound sound of his delight rumbles through his body and mine, causing the lovers beneath us to writhe and moan.
My blood spurts. It crawls warm down my neck and drips onto Ben’s shoulder. Bright splashes on brilliant ivory.
Lee croons, and her power fluxes, a hot flourish ebbing and flowing like waves of a high tide. She laps at the blood drops on Ben’s shoulder. Her lips peel back to reveal dainty fangs and feline eyes flash, her lust growing desperate.
Ben hisses, face savage in its magnificence. His body grinds with maddening urgency.
Lee’s legs lock around his hips, hands flailing above her head. Grasping. Ben thrusts into her. Deliberate. Hard. Each lunge of his body has hers quaking.
I hear a belt buckle. The whooshing sound of friction as fabric slides against skin.
Daniel crowds closer behind me. He no longer drinks, just holds me steady with his mouth at my throat. Forearms flexing either side of me, his hands grab the back of the sofa, caging me in.
My fingers claw at the leather beside his. The rhythmic clenching between my thighs deepens.
His body glides into mine. He sinks. Descending deeper into the wet, closer to the burning heat. Stilling, Daniel sucks in a breath.
My mouth wrenches open in silent scream. I savour the feeling of unity. Just perfection. Divinity. I want to hold him inside me and know nothing else. Ever.
Groaning, he moves.
Slowly.
The drag of his flesh withdrawing from mine is exquisite.
He shoves back in.
Heat gushes over me. Waves of pleasure swell and crash inside me with each thrust of his hips. I cling to sanity, grasping for something as bliss tears me into pieces.
I’m parched.
Starving.
I need more of him inside me.
‘More?’ Daniel sounds amused. He leers at me in my mind. Smug I’m eager to destroy myself pursuing more of what his body’s feeding mine.
‘I want everything. Give me all of you.’
Daniel pulls me higher, forcing me onto my toes. He wraps an arm around my stomach to secure my waist. His skin is blissfully cool against mine. He yanks me closer and slams forward.
Startled little grunts of pleasure escape me as he thrusts deep and fast, impaling me until I’m a bundle of nerves jumping and snapping erratically. He finds a rhythm and pumps hard.
I grab his wrist and stare at his veins. Why do I feel the need to bite him? My teeth already mark his shoulder.
Helpless to resist, I lick his wrist.
His rhythm stalls.
Realising what I mean to do, his thoughts push into my mind frantic, frustrated, and excited beyond reason.
Gasping, he presses his wrist to my lips.
I use the last of my strength to keep us balanced. My arm’s the only thing stopping us catapulting over the sofa and landing on Ben and Lee, who are making delicious noises and radiating sexual frenzy.
The urge to taste him builds.
I bite down hard. Metallic stickiness. Intoxicating. I wish to be full of it, of Daniel. His essence floods my taste buds and nourishes my soul. Pleasure builds. Devours even as it feeds sensations so potent it might split me in two.
Daniel growls and snarls behind me. Inarticulate sounds bubble from my throat.
The ache spreads.
I’m stretched to bursting yet I want more.
Daniel moves faster, hips rocking, thighs slamming into mine. The arm wrapped around my middle squeezes. His fangs tear my skin, and blood flows. He swallows. Holds me tighter. I blanch, no longer sure I’ll survive what’s gathering beneath the surface of my skin, bubbling so violently in my blood.
Our hearts race to the pinnacle.
I crest first.
Climax.
Lee’s shriek of ecstasy, and Ben’s holler of possession are savage and deafening.
Conscious thought is blasted out the side of my skull. Mine comes pounding drums. It rolls over me like a strong wind through an open field. Thunder and light submerge my senses. I scream. My body clamping so hard on his I do myself damage. Relief surges. Rattling bone, pounding muscle, and scorching skin. I quake. I vibrate as if I’m going to phase out of existence.
My annihilation is complete when Daniel brushes his fingers over the sensitive nub between my legs.
Demands, ‘Again.’
The explosion is flawless in its obliteration, sling -shoting me into the universe to explore stars. I’m soaring somewhere bright and wild. No. I am plummeting, tumbling wildly, about to shatter in the blackness of oblivion.
Daniel erupts inside me with a primal roar.
Out of control, I let go, and the power of my wolf spirit explodes. Daniel snatches her by throat, sucking her energy into his soul so it’s part of him forever.
He collapses onto my back. We float in the balmy aftermath of our lovemaking. The sofa digs into my stomach, and his chest heaves as he gulps air to speak.
I tense when maudlin thoughts brush my mind. Fear crushes my chest then abruptly the burden is gone, vanishing into whatever void it emerged from.
Breathless, I manage an apprehensive, ‘Daniel?’
His answering chuckle is light-hearted.
That suffocating fear wasn’t his? He’s not hiding something from me. Is he? I must be imagining things. He ran, but came back, and we’re together. He’s mine now.
Ears buzzing, I tremble. My body’s wrung out and ruined. Just bloody ruined. Maybe I took more of a battering during that sharing of minds than I realised. Next time, I’ll avoid connecting mind to mind with more than one person. What a trip. Telepathy isn’t a Lycanthrope trait, so it must be coming from the Vampire power infused in Daniel’s blood.
I expect to be able to connect with him because he’s my mate, but Vampires too?
What other cool things will I inherit because of being a Vampire Bride? Dare I hope my life will be tied to Daniel’s so I can live as long as him?
Spending forever with him would mean everything to me.
“Blimey,” Lee whispers.
>
Ben kisses her stomach. She runs a hand through his dark locks, watching him sleepily, always loving.
Lifting my head weakly, damp tendrils of hair obscuring my vision, I shakily offer my hand. She claps it, equally frail in the aftermath of her lustful raging.
We hold onto each other as our mates rain comforting kisses on our flesh, soothing us, rewarding us for withstanding their passion so diligently.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Daniel scoops me to his chest and presses a kiss on my temple. I’m sweaty, weak-kneed, and sighing sweetly.
Legs unsteady he walks us to the armchair and sits. Rather his legs give out and his cute butt hits the padded seat with a thump.
He keeps me with him as he settles back. Eyes closing, his head lolls. By feel alone he pulls my jeans up.
I wriggle around on his lap to get comfortable.
Ben and Lee look reluctant to stop touching each other. Ben tugs his shirt over Lee’s head and wrestles on his trousers, leaving the fly undone. He falls against her. His cheek rests on her lower stomach, and a contented smile spreads across his face.
I nuzzle Daniel’s throat. Kiss his dimpled chin. Does he think I’ve forgotten our previous discussion? “Don’t,” kiss, “ever,” nip, “do,” lick, “that again.”
I make a loud kissing noise on the tender skin under his ear.
The muscles in his face pull into that mocking smile. “Continue to punish me then I’ll have no choice but to rebel.”
I flutter my eyelashes and slide my pinkie over my mating mark scarring his neck and shoulder. “Oh?”
He shivers. “Cruel mistress.”
Ben’s chest vibrates with repressed laughter.
Lee scowls. “It’s not funny. Harmony’s right to be, um, mad?” She can’t feign confidence in my discipline since I’m sucking on Daniel’s earlobe. “He could’ve been seriously hurt or worse.” She shares my cross look. “Neither of us has forgotten what we were talking about before.”
Ben grumbles, eyebrows plunging steeply. “Before I’m unfairly punished tell me what the man has done to warrant such harsh,” his eyes roll on the word, “treatment from his Bride, and caused such hostility from my lady love. Hmm?”
Mollified, Lee drops her head onto the armrest and hands over to me with a regal wave of the hand.
“He crossed the boundary line to go see my Alpha.” The horror of it has me remembering how cross I am. “We’re lucky he’s back with four limbs and both eyes.”
“Have you discovered why he did such a thing?” Ben is thoughtful. “I admit the chances of a positive outcome from Daniel’s actions are slim, but I’ve recently been told I should give people – including those proven untrustworthy – the benefit of the doubt.”
“How magnanimous and brave,” Daniel quips.
“I think of it as practical,” Ben replies. “Keeping friends close and enemies closer.”
“And your lover even closer than that,” Lee murmurs.
Ben nips at her stomach and his eyes twinkle.
“I want you safe.” Daniel fiddles with a lock of my hair. Running the length through his fingers, his thumb rubs absentmindedly. “Can you understand that?”
I pull my attention from the mischievous couple to my mate’s serious demeanour. “Of course. I’d do anything for you, so I understand perfectly.” I tilt my head to appreciate at his strong jaw line in the dim firelight. “Sweet as it is to know you care, what does that have to do with why you went to see Daddy? I’m perfectly safe here. Going back is dangerous.”
Daniel studies me. “You perceive your home as more dangerous than a Castle filled with my kind?”
“Daddy wants me to mate his Beta and solidify Pack security.” I worry my lip. How much should I confess? I’ve been harassing him about accepting our mating so brazenly, telling him I want freedom from the Pack and that our relationship can give me said freedom now seems wrong. Self-centred. “Sy is the Beta, and I’m sure whatever you had to say would have fallen on deaf ears. I’m struggling to understand how you’re still here in one piece.”
“It would take half your pack to render my speed and strength ineffectual. I went to talk not fight. Your Alpha knew this.”
“And?”
“And nothing. You are safe because your Alpha believes I’ve developed an obsession with you. Don’t pout at me. He was eager to dismiss a bond can exist between our species.”
“Why won’t you tell me what happened?”
Daniel purses his lips. Flashes a wicked smile. “Nagging is unattractive you know.”
“Nagging. Listen closely you bloodsucking-”
“Sorry to interrupt what I’m sure would’ve become a fascinatingly pointless argument, but what are our dinner plans?” I hear Lee’s stomach grumble. “I’m thirsty.”
“Shall I call Afzal? He stayed in town and planned to go hunting. What would you like? He’ll happily enthral you someone to drink.” Ben strokes her cheek. “I have no idea how pregnancy will affect your feeding habits.” He stills. Panic scuttles across his face. “Are you in pain?”
“Nope.” She holds his hand to her face. His fingers curl over the curve of her cheek. She leans into the touch. “I need a pick me up. Eating regularly seems the smart thing to do.”
Ben nods vigorously.
I suspect if Lee suggested massacring a whole village seemed ‘the smart thing to do,’ he’d be as enthusiastic.
“Whatever you need,” he promises, “I will call on–”
I’m not sure I can sit and watch the Vampires casually snacking on a hypnotized Human. “She can guzzle some of mine.”
Yeah, my mate is a Vampire. Yeah, he gets off sucking people dry. I need adjustment time. I’ll have to watch him feed eventually, but I want to be mentally prepared. So I don’t start freaking out.
Ben stares.
Have I grown a second head?
“Perhaps ‘guzzle’ was an overzealous adjective, sweetling,” Daniel says dryly.
“It’s a sip she needs, right? I can manage that.”
A few mouthfuls are acceptable, but if a sip to a Vampire is as a pinch of salt is to a chef then my offer will be politely retracted.
Daniel’s laughter ghosts through my mind.
Lee’s hanging jaw snaps shut. She splutters. “Yes, please. Um, what I meant to say is I tasted some earlier and I want more.” Her eyes widen. “No. I mean. God, I’m sorry. They’ve had centuries to practice doing this. Accepting an offer to feed, that is.” She exhales slowly. “What I mean to say is–”
“Thanks?”
She smiles, and nods in relief.
I don’t have a problem with her curiosity. Hypocrites are annoying. I do enough annoying crap already to let double standards become part of my personality.
I’m interested in what it’ll feel like.
Daniel bit me during sex, and the first time he drank from me meant more than sating his hunger. Are all bites designed to feel good? Can a Vampire make a bite feel platonic? Or is it a fetish you associate strongly with sex? Maybe the sexual enjoyment is nurtured into you.
Biting is an accepted part of Lycan sexuality. The males secure the females with their teeth to mount them. Blood can be drawn.
The thought of Daniel – or a Vampire known to me like Lee and Ben – biting me isn’t frightening to consent to. I’d go as far to say the idea of my mate drinking my blood, making me a fundamental part of him is a pleasant one.
Vampires’ siphoning my soul to nourish their own is where my understanding ends.
Lee slithers off the couch and slinks over to me on hands and knees. Her eyes are different, larger and feline. Her pearly fangs are bared, and I can tell she’s fighting the instinctive transformation of her face. “A sip,” she whispers, afraid of startling me into retracting the offer. “It won’t hurt. Ben will help if things slip beyond my control.”
“It’s fine.” I think hard about how to be tactful. Fuck it. “My soul is off limits. Alright?”
Nodding, she stops at Daniel’s leg and lifts up onto her knees.
She holds out her hand. With a wobbly smile, I let her flip my hand over.
Lee smoothes her pale fingers across the thin skin of my wrist. My veins deepen in colour. They throb in invitation, and my blood smells richer.
A prickly sensation crawls up my arm, spreading from her touch.
Her head lowers a fraction. Glossy hair spills over her shoulders and obscures her face. I catch sight of her pink tongue darting out to lick her lips wantonly. “Smells pretty.” She brings my wrist to meet her cold lips.
Ben rests his hand on the nape of her neck, biting his own lip with the tip of a fang as he watches.
I hold my breath expecting pain. Yeah, ouch. Her teeth sink deep, making twin delicate holes. Blood flows. My curiosity is satisfied. There’s nothing sexual between us, and that’s a relief. I’ve heard stories of Humans becoming addicted to Vampire bites, blood junkies who live to be fed on, and end up in a mindless thrall until the Vampire is kind enough to put the Human down.
Lee has swallowed more than two gulps.
I’m starting to feel woozy. Last call. I give an experimental tug.
Eyes narrowing, she snarls. Her hands clamp on my arm in a way my jaws often do as a wolf when I have a particularly tasty bone.
Though he’s swallowing incessantly, and licking his lips, Ben clasps Lee’s head. He pulls firmly. She has no choice but to release my arm. Ben kneels and whispers calming things into her ear.
In moments, Lee’s herself and peeks at me. Her face is flushed and rife with shame.
I give her a one armed hug to show I’m not bothered.
Ben stares again. “You fed my woman and child. This will not be forgotten.”
Again, I wave it off as no big deal, and lick the fangs marks she left.
Ben carries Lee back to the sofa. Setting her down, he opens her legs and situates himself between them. His palms cover her stomach tenderly.
Daniel strokes the small of my back. It’s the first movement he’s made since I made the offer to feed Lee. His mind is silent. I hope he’s okay with Lee drinking what he may consider his. Why am I worrying? He’s not the type to sit idly by if something pisses him off.
Bite My Love Dark Creature Page 9
