by BJ Wane
“Two, which should’ve been a cakewalk for him. But apparently, he hasn’t fed in days, if not longer. That, coupled with weeks of ignoring his body’s sexual needs, deleted his strength as well as his powers.”
Grace heard the blame in his voice, saw it in both Jon and Damien’s faces as they looked at her. Guilt and despair had her reaching out to touch Jacob, her hand encountering cool flesh, her gaze noticing for the first time that he showed absolutely no sign of life.
“Oh, God, no,” she whispered as her heart turned over in her chest and tears fell unchecked. “He’s dead?”
“No,” Damien quickly assured her, heartened by the devastation on her face. He wasn’t sure of her feelings before, but now he had hope they were strong enough she wouldn’t let Jacob die. “He refused our blood, which would’ve gone a long way in replenishing what he’s lost and healing him. He’s given up, Grace.” They didn’t have time to mince words or spare her feelings. She had to make a decision, and she had to make it now. “He needs both blood and sex to survive. It’s up to you whether he lives or dies.”
Grace watched both of them leave the room, closing the door quietly behind them. Memories assailed her as she struggled to remove his blood soaked clothes. Waking bound in Mason’s bed, the look on Jacob’s face when he first spotted her there, the humiliation and terror the first time Mason forced himself on her, her climax while riding Jacob’s bike and exploring his body, the panic when Mason revealed his fangs and she realized she was the victim of a vampire, her body’s constant response to Jacob despite him being a vampire also. Desperation, fear and urgency made her task easier as well as cursing both Damien and Jon for leaving her to do this alone.
“They could’ve at least helped me strip him,” she angrily muttered as she jerked and pulled to get his jeans off his legs. Rationally, she knew they had left the decision totally up to her, hadn’t done anything, including removing his clothes, to assist her in making this choice. “As if there ever was another choice,” she said aloud, finally succeeding in removing the last of his clothing only to cringe at the sight of the blood smeared across his stomach and streaked down his neck.
Running to the bathroom, she soaked a washcloth with warm water and raced back to his side, gently bathing away the bright red evidence of his wounds, surprised when she revealed both punctures were wounds barely discernible. Obviously, whatever his friends had done had worked in sealing the wounds and stopping the bleeding, it just hadn’t been enough to heal him from what he had already lost, lost because of her and her cowardly fears in accepting what had been right in front of her face all this time.
Through his patience, caring and constant denial of his own needs, Jacob had finally succeeded in breaking through her fears, only had she come to her senses too late? Looking down at his still body, touching his cool skin and noting his pale complexion, she felt her heart start to shatter, felt as if she was already too late. Then she remembered how brave Abby had been to seduce Damien out of his death sleep, to bring his body alive with her hands, mouth and body, and how close they’ve been since.
She wanted that, she needed that, and, by God, she was going to have that. Damien said it was up to her whether her mate lived or died, and if that was true, he was going to live. Stripping off her night shirt and panties, she crawled onto the bed next to him, her hand shakily tracing the rose tattoo wrapped around his right bicep. Shy, mousy Grace had never attempted to seduce a man, never came on to one and never initiated sex, but the thought of losing Jacob was tearing her apart. She might not be a raging diva, but she was the one he wanted, and not only was her body telling her unequivocally that he was the one for her, but her mind had finally accepted what her body had been telling her since she first laid eyes on him.
Lowering her head, she kissed his cool, unresponsive lips, refusing to allow his lack of response deter her. Her hand drifted from his arm to his chest, her fingers plucking at the gold nipple piercings that had so intrigued her when she felt them while riding behind him on his motorcycle. The contrast between his bad boy image and the steadfast, loyal man she had come to know was an intriguing, enticing combo that she had become powerless to resist.
This was the first time she had seen him naked, and she not only liked what she saw but liked what she felt lying next to him, touching him. The freedom to explore him was a heady feeling as was the knowledge that she supposedly had the power to bring him back to her. He had sacrificed enough for her, she wouldn’t let him succeed in making this one, final sacrifice. It had taken her awhile, but she finally realized that, with him there was a chance to grow whole again.
Grace replaced her fingers with her lips, tonguing first the small hoop then the nipple it was pierced through. His small bud hardened under her lips and tongue, giving her the first sign of hope. “Feels good, doesn’t it Jacob,” she whispered against his flesh, her lips brushing his nipple as she spoke to him. “I can’t wait for you to do this to me. I know I’ll love it as much as your body loves it. Come back to me, Jacob.” She kissed her way over to his other nipple, softly licking that one until it was as hard and distended as its mate. Using her teeth, she yanked on the piercing, wondering if that hurt and, if it did, if he liked the pain as much as she had liked the pain of his hand slapping her ass.
That last incident had been the eye opener, she now realized. When what should have been revolting as well as humiliating had turned out to be anything but, she should have admitted that all her ill-conceived notions not only about sex, but about Jacob, had been wrong and not waited until he had given up on her. She would make it up to him, she vowed silently as she moved down his torso, kissing his rigid stomach, licking his small wound as if she could soothe the pain, before continuing down.
Crisp, curly brown hair surrounded the base of his jutting erection, another definitive sign that he was still with her despite there still being no sign of life otherwise. Smiling above the smooth mushroom cap of his crown, she murmured to him, “See, Jacob, you don’t want to leave me any more than I want to leave you. Forgive me, please, and come back.” Opening her mouth, she gently engulfed his cockhead, moaning at the exquisite feel of having him in her mouth. Grace had little experience giving blow jobs, but the few her one boyfriend had talked her into and through were enough to give her the basics of what men liked in oral sex. Lots of tongue, tight suction and deep throating. She wasn’t in a position to gift him with the last one, but she could definitely give him plenty of the first two.
Gripping his shaft with her hand, she squeezed lightly as she swirled her tongue over his soft head, tasting a small drop of pre-come that made her shudder with pleasure. Over and over she stroked him, learning his shape, his size, dipping below the ridge to tickle the sensitive underside before taking more of him in her mouth. He felt like silk covered steel against her tongue, his size stretching her lips and filling her mouth uncomfortably, but the slight discomfort only seemed to heighten her pleasure, her body responding heatedly as much as his was starting to warm under her.
Bobbing up and down on his shaft, she took him deep, stroked him faster, and sucked him harder as his warming flesh spurred her on. Moaning again, she rubbed her aching nipples over his hair roughened thigh, but that only made them ache more. Her pussy felt as swollen as his cock, her juices seeping as much as his small slit, and with a groan of reluctance, she released him and crawled back up his body.
“Jacob, please, help me. I need you so much.” Straddling his hips, she grabbed his cock, held it up, and slowly lowered herself onto him, worried that this first penetration would trigger a bad memory. As soon as his cock slipped inside of her, her pussy responded with a gush of pleasure, her body accepting his cock as quickly as it had rejected Mason’s. The feel of him stretching her, filling her wasn’t anything like the painful thrust of Mason’s unwelcome intrusion into her body.
Just as she was beginning to despair of Jacob rousing enough to join her, she saw his hands twitch, watched with hope and pleasure
blossoming inside her as his hands came up and went unerringly behind her to clasp her buttocks in a tight grip. Even though his eyes remained closed, his chest heaved with a deep breath as his hips lifted, thrusting his cock deeper inside of her.
Hunger and heat pulled Jacob from a dark abyss where he felt nothing into a chasm of light and sensation. He fought off the urge to open his eyes, wanting to wallow in the pleasure of this dream world for as long as possible before returning to cold reality. Soft lips rasping over his sensitive nipples sent a jolt of pleasure straight down to the head of his straining cock, accompanied by the sound of Grace’s soft voice. Now he knew he was dreaming because there was no way his Grace would be sliding her plush, naked body over his, no way she’d be tormenting his nipples as she told him how much she wanted him to reciprocate. It wasn’t possible that his Grace was moving her mouth down his body, her lips leaving a heated trail in their wake as she ventured lower. A soft kiss on his abdomen made him recall feeling the excruciating slide of a blade being buried deep, reminded him the way his depleted state had made him too slow to respond to the second attack.
His dream became even more surreal when those soft, plump lips closed over the head of his cock, that tongue tentatively, erotically exploring every inch of his engorged flesh, igniting an uncontrollable fire that would be impossible to put out before long. Jacob’s heart started beating again, his lungs filling with air, his body warming as soft, round thighs straddled his waist and an even softer pussy slowly enveloped his straining erection in liquid heat, her wetness the only thing keeping his cock from burning up.
Awareness surfaced with the sound of her broken plea for him to help her, and as his hands filled with the softness of Grace’s buttocks, he had to at least consider this was no dream. Opening his eyes, he could no more prevent a physical jolt of shock at seeing his mate sitting on his cock than he could the lowering of his incisors. It’s a fucking dream, he sternly tried to convince himself as he lifted her then slammed her back down on his rigid shaft, his balls wasting no time drawing tautly, his palm adding to the pleasure with deep, scorching pulses that mimicked those of her vaginal walls closing around him.
Needing to take control, even if it was only a dream, Jacob flipped them over, his glowing eyes now looking down into Grace’s startled, aroused blue orbs. The feel of her soft arms and thighs wrapping around him followed by her softly whispered yes, confirmed his original belief he was dreaming. There was no way his shy, fearful, reluctant mate had seduced then welcomed him into her body with such uninhibited abandon. Disappointment warred with relief as he drew back and thrust in again, burying himself to the root in her moist heat. As much as he would give for this to be real, he was so far gone with lust and burning hunger, there was no way he could be as gentle with her as he knew he would have to be their first time together.
Mind appeased, he let the pleasure and need consume him, fucked her with short deep jabs, intent on gaining release and nothing else.
Grace relished his return to the living as much as her body was accepting and relishing his hard possession. He hadn’t said anything, and she suspected, from the wary, disbelieving look that had changed to first disappointment then relief, that Jacob wasn’t quite aware this was real. That was okay, she thought as she wrapped her limbs around him, there would be time for them to explore each other under better circumstances. Now, it was imperative she give him what he needed to survive, and that included her acceptance as well as her body.
“Yes,” she whispered in his ear, her body screaming with need her mind had spent the past few weeks shying away from, terrified of the pain, each thrust taking her out of reality into mindless pleasure. This time, with this man, with this vampire, there was no pain when he ejaculated, only head to toe, body enveloping ecstasy that spiraled even higher when he sank his teeth into the side of her breast, the storm now raging outside in tune with the storm of pleasure bombarding her senses. That she was feeding him the nourishment he needed to survive was a heady aphrodisiac that sent her tumbling headlong to a higher plane she never imagined existed.
The moment he sank his fangs into her succulent flesh and tasted the sweetness of her blood, Jacob’s body grew taut with pleasure and renewed strength. His orgasm burst through his consciousness, the pleasure so powerful he knew it had to be real. Taking a few more much needed swallows of her precious blood, he closed his pricks with a swipe of his tongue, slowing his thrusts as the remaining tremors of his climax slowly ran down. The gush of her release followed by the spasming of her pussy milking his cock, told him he hadn’t been so far gone that she hadn’t enjoyed their first time together.
Unfortunately, his body was still healing from his wounds, and now the approaching dawn was forcing his body to shut down again just as he realized this had been no dream. Giving in, he reluctantly rolled off of her and had barely laid back when the darkness overcame him again, only this time he knew it would be the temporary sleep of his kind following injury, not the self-imposed death spiral he had been attempting before his mate pulled him back.
Chapter Sixteen
One minute Caitlin was standing outside in the tour office parking lot, having just seen the six tourists safely on their way back to their hotel, and the next she was dizzily clinging to Luc and standing in the wide foyer of a palatial plantation home. “What the hell?” Pushing away from him, she looked around at the unfamiliar glossy tile floor and wide sweeping staircase that would put Scarlet and Rhett’s grand staircase to shame and knew she had never been here before. “What have you done? Where are we?” She was really, really trying not to panic at suddenly finding herself in a strange place.
“Relax, Cat.” Luc let her back away from him, admiring the way she was trying to hide her fear and was coping with the traumatic events of the evening. Her independent, strong-willed nature was battling with common sense trepidation and disbelief in dealing with the revelation that her lovers were vampires. “This is our home. We’re just a few miles outside of the city. This place has been in Damien’s family for generations and sits on over twenty-five protected acres. You’ll be safe here, which is why I brought you.”
“Safe from what?” Caitlin had no trouble remembering the soulless creatures who had attacked her, and was honest enough to admit to the obvious differences between them and Luc, Jon and their friend, who could possibly be dying right now because he had come to her aid. That didn’t mean she was going to roll over and become some kind of vampire groupie or sex slave, even if her body betrayed her by responding as if that was a grand idea. “And exactly how did you get me here?” She was still trying to orient herself from everything going gray before landing here with dizzying rapidity.
“What’re you thinking?” Luc asked softly, his eyes lingering on her hard nipples. Her white, low cut blouse did nothing to disguise the way her body was reacting to the nearness of her mate, something she couldn’t run or hide from no matter where she was. His own body was primed and ready to go, liking the way she looked in the calf length skirt as much as he liked how she filled out a pair of tight jeans.
“Damn it, Luc, I don’t care what this connection is you and Jon seem to think we have, I’m not going to become some vampire’s pet. I want to go home. Now. And not the way you brought me. Don’t you have a car?” One part of her was surprised at her bravado in facing down a paranormal being that she had always assumed were figments of Hollywood’s imagination and legendary folklore rumors of the unexplainable. But growing up in the bayous of New Orleans where children’s bedtime stories and school essays consisted of voodoo spells, vampire myths and ghosts, all of them steeped with enough historical fact as to make one consider their merit, it wasn’t too much of a stretch of her imagination to learn some of it was true.
Luc knew he’d get nowhere browbeating her, so he tried applying logic. “It’s late, Cat. Why don’t you stay and get some rest and we’ll explain more to you when we rise this evening.”
“Luc and I will be happy to
tuck you in,” Jon said from behind her as he came down the stairs with Damien. A battle with rogues always left him ready to fuck and hearing Caitlin arguing with Luc only got his blood pumping hotter. “Caitlin, this is Damien LaRue, our leader and your host. Damien, Caitlin O’Brien.”
Great, just what she needed, Caitlin thought with a touch of hysteria, another cream your panties vampire to distract her. “Nice to meet you, Damien, no, Jon, you can’t tuck me in and Luc, I still want to go home. In a car. I’ve always been safe at the bar. That is until you two showed up.”
“Well, you’re not now,” Damien replied, his tone short and clipped, answering for the twins. They didn’t have the time to woo another reluctant mate, not if Isabelle was ramping up her attacks. “I would think you would know that after what almost happened tonight. My best friend is dying because of his mate’s refusal to accept him or the danger all of you are in. You’ll stay here and allow Jon and Luc to accompany you to and from work until we find a way to rid all of us of this threat. After that, you’ll be free to return to your home.” Damien turned to head back upstairs and spend some much needed time with his own mate, but his conscience got the better of him on the second riser. Pausing, he glanced back around at Caitlin. “I give you my word that you’re safe here from all of us, and nothing will happen between you and your mates without your consent.”
Caitlin wasn’t sure how, or why, but Damien’s reassurances were more convincing than Luc’s. Maybe it was the grief etched on his face that made him look so human and vulnerable that had her nodding her head so easily in agreement, or maybe it was a small sense of guilt over the dire condition of their friend, a condition he wouldn’t be in if he hadn’t come to her defense, that was making her give in. She looked at Jon and Luc, glad that Jon’s eyes held a hint of green mixed with brown that Luc’s amber eyes didn’t have, giving her a way to tell them apart.
