“You said your mother raised you as a human?”
The warning voice in the back of her head told her to move away. The feel of his soft, soothing touch was far too intimate, far too pleasurable.
Unfortunately, her mind was no longer attached to her body.
“That was long ago,” she muttered.
“Did you pass?”
Shay grimaced. There were those demons who could pass, which simply meant being able to move among the human world without detection. Many of them without a drop of mortal blood.
The saints knew that she had tried hard enough. She would have done anything to please her mother. Anything to belong.
“No.”
The long brush strokes never hesitated. “You look human enough.”
Shay found her lashes resting on her cheeks. She never spoke of her past. Not to anyone. But with the peaceful silence surrounding them, and the tender stroke of the brush she found the words tumbling past her lips before she could halt them.
“But I don’t age as a mortal. My mother was forced to move us from place to place to make sure no one noticed that I was not growing older as I should be.” The memory of her mother sent a shaft of loss ripping through her heart
“A difficulty, for certain, but not insurmountable.”
“Perhaps not, but my strength and swiftness were. There is nothing human about them.”
He lifted another section of hair to pull the brush through. “The other children were afraid of you?”
“Yes.”
“They can be very cruel.”
Shay clenched her hands in her lap. “Not as cruel as their parents. Over the years we had our houses burned, stones thrown at us, and priests trying to exorcise the devil from me. I was even lynched one night.”
“Lynched?”
“A gang of half-wits hauled me from my bed and hung me by my neck from a tree in our backyard. You can’t imagine their surprise when I came looking for them the next morning.”
There was a long silence, as if Viper were brooding upon her soft words. His touch remained gentle, but Shay could sense a building frustration that smoldered about him.
Strange.
“Why didn’t your mother seek out help from the demons?” he at last demanded.
She turned her head, ignoring the tug on her hair as the strands remained firmly held in his hands. “My father had already been murdered by a vampire. She was trying to keep me hidden from demons.”
His eyes darkened, as if he didn’t want to be reminded she had every reason to hate vampires.
“There are demons that would have given you sanctuary. Not all are vicious animals.”
“My mother was human. She didn’t know who she could trust” Without warning her eyes filled with tears. “And neither did I.”
The brush abruptly dropped from his hands as he cupped her face in his hands.
“Shay.”
Chapter Eight
Shay forgot how to breathe as she watched Viper lower his head.
He moved slowly. Slowly enough that she realized he was giving her ample opportunity to say no. For a heartbeat she stiffened and he hovered over her lips, not touching as he waited for her to push him away.
But while her mind was desperately attempting to remind her that this was a vampire touching her with such care, a vampire who owned her as if she were a piece of property, her body remained stubbornly indifferent to common sense.
She needed his touch. No, she craved his touch.
The taste of his lips. The press of his skin to her own. The caress of his hands on her breasts.
She had never understood how a woman could allow herself to be seduced. Either you decided you wanted to have sex with someone, or you didn’t.
In this moment, however, she understood the power of simple lust. The stark need to touch and be touched, no matter how many warnings your mind might whisper.
“You must tell me yes, pet,” he murmured softly. “I will not be accused of breaking my promise. You must tell me you want this.”
His voice should have jerked her back to awareness. Back to some tiny bit of sense. Instead it poured through her like a fine whiskey.
And just as intoxicating.
“Yes.”
He caught the word before it ever left her lips, imprisoning her mouth in a kiss that sent a shock of heat flowing through her blood. She was prepared for pleasure, but the sheer power of it caught her off guard.
Oh, yes, this was precisely what she needed. What her body had ached for since she had first caught sight of Viper all those weeks ago.
She arched forward, drinking of the brandy that clung to his lips, and the cool maleness that was uniquely Viper. Still, she was not close enough. Her hands lifted to his chest, smoothing over the silk of his shirt.
He growled deep in his throat as he reached down to grasp his shirt and with one tug had ripped off the buttons to spread the silk wide.
“Touch me, pet,” he whispered against her lips. “Let me feel your hands on me.”
Shay moved back. Not in rejection, but quite simply because she wanted to see what she was touching. She had imagined what lay hidden beneath those velvet coats and silk shirts a hundred times. Now she wanted to fully appreciate the sight.
Her eyes widened and her lips parted in a silent sigh.
In the dim light his chest was broad and just as finely muscled as she had dreamed. But her dreams hadn’t included the exotic dragon that had been tattooed across the ivory perfection of his skin.
In amazement she traced the golden outline of the mythical creature before brushing over the brilliant crimson wings and dark jade body.
“What is this?” she breathed.
He shuddered beneath her gentle touch, his head lowering to sweep his lips over her cheek.
“It is the mark of CuChulainn.”
“Oh.” Shay found it growing difficult to think as he kissed his way to the curve of her ear. “Did it hurt?”
“The tattoo?”
“Yes.”
His hands trailed up her bare arms sending a rash of excitement shivering over her skin.
“No. I didn’t even feel it.” He gave a small nip at the lobe of her ear. “It simply appeared after my last battle in the arena.”
“It marked you as a clan chief?”
“Yes.”
Whatever she was about to say was lost in a haze of pleasure as his tongue ran a damp path down the line of her jaw.
“What?” he whispered.
“I don’t remember.”
He gave a soft chuckle as his hands drifted over her shoulders and then determinedly moved downward, pausing at the edge of her towel.
“I need to see you, pet,” he murmured as he pressed his lips to the frantic pulse at the base of her neck. “I need to touch you. Say yes.”
Shay shuddered as a building pressure settled in the pit of her stomach. She found it oddly erotic to be so firmly in charge of the seduction. It gave her a sense of power that she had rarely experienced. For once she was the one in control and it was as heady as the rarest aphrodisiac.
“Yes.”
His fingers briefly tightened, as if he was caught off guard by her ready capitulation, and then with a slow motion he was pulling open the ends of the towel.
She shivered as the cool air hit her skin, the faintest hint of embarrassment touching her cheeks. A thick silence filled the air and at last she lifted her gaze. Any chill was seared away by the smoldering heat that filled his midnight eyes.
“By the blood of the saints,” he rasped, tossing the towel aside so his fingers could boldly cup the small firmness of her breasts. “You are… perfect.”
Shay’s head tilted back at the sensation of his thumbs stroking over the hard points of her nipples. She wasn’t perfect. She was far from perfect. Too skinny. Her skin too bronzed. Her breasts too small.
But in this moment she felt beautiful.
Beneath his predatory gaze she felt desired.<
br />
Growling deep in his throat Viper hauled her against the strength of his chest, his lips kissing a hungry path down her throat to her collarbone. He pressed hard enough for Shay to feel the sharpness of his fangs, but she made no effort to pull away.
In this moment she trusted him.
Trusted that he would not demand more of her than she was willing to offer.
Running her hands over his chest in a restless path she reveled in the satin smoothness of his skin. It was a fascinating contrast to the hardness of the muscles beneath. Like velvet draped over steel.
Intrigued with exploring his body, Shay barely noticed when Viper gently tugged her back onto the soft mattress and pressed her onto her back. Not until he bent over her to capture a nipple between his lips.
She cried out as his tongue swirled over the sensitized tip, teasing it until her back was arched in delight. Freaking hell. It felt so good. So terrifyingly good.
“Dear goddess,” she moaned, shivering as his lips traced the curve between the mounds of her breasts before moving to torment her neglected nipple.
Her fingers impatiently tugged at the clasp holding back his hair, allowing the heavy curtain to spill over her in a fragrant cloud. The satin strands brushed her skin, heightening the heat that poured through her blood.
Breathe, Shay, breathe, she fiercely reminded herself, as his hands outlined the curve of her hips and down her thighs. His touch was cool, but she was melting beneath the heat flowing through her veins.
Tugging at her nipple with the edge of his teeth Viper eased his hand between her legs and sought the moist heat between them.
Her hands shifted to his shoulders, her fingers unwittingly digging into his flesh as his finger stroked over the sweet spot of her pleasure. She was falling into a whirlpool of sensations that were almost overwhelming.
“Viper.”
Easily sensing the faint edge of panic in her voice Viper lifted his head to nuzzle his lips just below her ear.
“Sssh… pet,” be softly soothed. “I will not hurt you.”
“I’m not afraid of being hurt,” she rasped.
“Then what do you fear?”
She shivered as her hips instinctively lifted to press more firmly to his caressing finger.
“I don’t know.”
He lifted onto his elbow and peered deep into her wide eyes. “Trust me, Shay.”
For a long moment she merely gazed into his beautiful face. With his silver hair tumbled over his shoulders and the muted light playing over his elegant features he looked like a decadent angel who had fallen from heaven.
Don’t do it, Shay, a warning voice whispered in the back of her mind. You can’t trust a vampire. Not ever.
Her lips parted, but no was not what tumbled from her lips. Instead her lashes floated downward and her arms encircled his neck in a tight grip.
“Yes.”
His mouth covered hers as his hand shifted and his finger pierced her. He swallowed her cry of pleasure as her hips left the mattress and she nearly strangled him with her arms.
He was not her first lover, but nothing could have prepared her for this. Not for the smooth expertise of his talented fingers or the demanding pressure of his mouth.
She was burning from within and she couldn’t make herself care. For this one fragile moment she wanted to be consumed. She wanted to be held in the arms of a man and feel what a woman was supposed to feel.
Thrusting his tongue between her willing lips Viper stroked her with an increasing intensity. Shay clutched at him as the building pressure deep inside arched her back.
She was close. So very close.
“Viper.”
“I know, pet,” he muttered against her mouth, his body pressing against her side until she could feel the hard thrust of his erection against her hip. “Don’t fight it.”
Her breath came in short gasps as the pleasure tightened and narrowed to one shimmering point. His finger pressed deep within her and at the same moment his thumb caressed over that nub of pleasure and the pressure hit a critical point.
Her entire body tightened and hovered a breathless moment out of time. And then with the force of a small explosion the bliss shattered through her and she was trembling from the unexpected force.
They lay in stunned silence for a long moment, Viper’s still hard body pressed against her own. Shay felt as if she were floating. As if she had been tossed into a sea of warm water and been left to gently drift to the shore.
At her side Viper shifted to cradle her face as if she were some fragile treasure he feared to break, his lips brushing soft kisses over her cheek.
Unable to move Shay at last managed to suck in a deep breath as she gathered her shaken thoughts.
“Oh… freaking… hell…”
—
Viper didn’t know why he was smiling as he watched Shay seated across the table from him.
No man in his right mind would be smiling when his body was hard and aching. And when he was facing the distinct possibility his frustrated need was going to be an unwelcome companion. At least for the next few hours, perhaps even days.
But even with his body in rigid protest he couldn’t halt the smile curving his lips. Perhaps it was the sight of Shay’s slender form so lovingly caressed by the crimson silk of her robe.
With her raven hair tumbling down her back and bronzed skin glowing against the rich material, she looked like an exotic butterfly.
Or maybe it was the amusement at the three bowls of beef stew she had managed to consume in less time than it took for him to drain his bottle of blood.
Or maybe it was the knowledge that for all of his aching frustration he had managed to breech a wall that she had surrounded about herself. She might have scuttled back behind her defenses, but he now knew that she was not invulnerable.
He had found her weakness and he wasn’t about to hesitate in using it to claim her as his own.
His.
An unnerving flare of possessive satisfaction raced through him even as he wondered what the hell was the matter with him.
Devil’s balls. He had clearly lost his mind, and he didn’t have enough sense left to care.
Glancing up from her now empty bowl of soup Shay sent him a wary frown. “I wish you would quit doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Watching me like I’m dinner.”
Viper leaned back in his seat, his gaze traveling over the length of her crimson gown.
“I wouldn’t mind a bite or two.”
She abruptly stilled, no doubt sensing the hunger that pulsed through his body. A hunger he no longer attempted to disguise.
“We have a bargain. No recreational blood.”
“I wasn’t thinking about blood.”
A swift heat touched her cheeks. Viper’s smile widened with a hint of male smugness. She couldn’t entirely pretend to forget she had shivered her climax in his arms.
“It’s almost dawn, shouldn’t you be in your coffin?” she demanded.
He gave a laugh. “It has been several centuries since I was bound to the night. Although I cannot bear the sunlight, I am capable of remaining awake when I choose.”
“How old are you?”
“Surely you must know that vampires rarely reveal their age?” he demanded with a lift of his brows. “It is nearly as well guarded a secret as his lair.”
She shrugged as she pushed aside her empty bowl. “I’ve never understood why. When you’re immortal it hardly matters how old you are.”
“A vampire’s power grows with each passing year. To know his age is to know his power.”
“So the older you are the more powerful?”
Viper shrugged. He supposed he shouldn’t be overly surprised with her lack of knowledge regarding vampires. Her mother had obviously attempted to keep her isolated from the world of demons.
“In theory, although we are like any other race. There will always be those who possess more strength, or even more intelli
gence than others, regardless of their age.”
Her tongue peeked out to touch her lips. Viper swallowed a groan. He could think of several intimate places he would like that tongue to explore.
“Vampires like you?”
Viper struggled to smother the renegade images. He was suffering enough without adding to his misery.
“Yes, vampires like me.”
Her features were carefully expressionless. “And that’s why you’re a clan chief?”
He measured his words. He sensed that any boast of overwhelming power was not going to impress this woman. Not when she was for all practical purposes completely in his control.
“In part.”
“What’s the other part?”
He smiled blandly. “My charming personality?”
She rolled her eyes. “Not freaking likely.”
He regarded her for a long moment. “Shalotts are quite similar to vampires. Do they not choose their leader with a trial by combat?”
“I don’t have the least idea.” Her voice was casual, but there was a tightness to her expression that Viper didn’t miss. “For all I know they pluck them out of thin air.”
“Surely your parents must have told you something of your heritage?”
“I was raised as a human. My mother thought the less I was… exposed to the demon world the better. After my father’s death I wasn’t even allowed to mention the word Shalott.”
Viper frowned. It was little wonder the poor woman considered herself a mongrel. Her mother had made certain of that.
“A rather narrow-minded view.”
She bristled at the implied criticism. “She wanted to protect me.”
“Understandable, but to deny you the history of your people was to deny you a part of yourself. Surely you must have possessed some curiosity?”
“Why should I? Having demon blood has caused me nothing but grief.”
“The Shalotts are a proud and much respected race,” he insisted. “Before following the dark prince in his departure from this world, they were known as the most feared assassins among demons. Even vampires feared their skills.”
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