by Poppet
Are you inside my head? I ask him.
Yes.
Why?
Because then I know how to please you, petal.
To emphasize this notion he grinds into my pelvis with the accuracy of a master. My gasp escapes even though I was trying to suppress it.
He's just so, so, perfect. I was once really afraid of him, of his size, but maybe we are all afraid of perfection. It highlights our flaws.
I'm so ordinary - why me? Out of all the women in Belgrade why did he wait for me?
He breaks the kiss, leaving my lips oddly numb.
“I fell for you the first second I saw you, Zaria. I'm neuri, when we set our heart on something it's a commitment we can't break.”
Commitment?
But the thought is shattered when he manipulates my body into another crest of excruciating pleasure, sending a shock wave through my blood and sinking claws of ownership into my spine, into my soul, into my heart.
Closing my eyes, trying to recapture my lost breath and aim oxygen back to vital organs, the world gyrates when he swings me and carries me the rest of the way, draping me on the couch and pulling himself out of me, replacing the loss with a heat completely different, sanctifying the rest of my skin.
The dark hair that usually falls onto the tips of his eyelashes now fans onto my leg as his tongue marks me on its path to throbbing sensitivity.
Oh god! He's going to kill me with pleasure overload.
His hands are free because his wide shoulders force my legs apart for him. It leaves hands dangerously free. My nipples are thumbed to arc wonder right through me in the white heat of desire's whiplash.
My forehead prickles when he targets three zones simultaneously. Bucking, squealing, my voice is so far away, so removed from me as I'm assaulted with sheer euphoria. Then teeth gently gnash the pinpoint of my arousal.
He lifts his head after the merciless lick and bite, showering breath over my skin, pulling my attention back to him with the magnetic aura of his focus.
I'm summoned and can't look away. My eyes are releasing tiny tears in their outer edges from the emotional flood of this night.
“You screamed my name.”
Did I?
“It was unconscious, but you did it,” he smirks indulgently.
His smile could powder diamonds as he maneuvers to hook elbows on either side of my hips, holding me flat with the weight of his arms resting on me. “Zaria. How long have you been fantasizing about me?”
“Excuse me?”
How the hell would you know?! You can't know. It's impossible.
Shoulders come closer as he moves to cover me, his eyes never leaving mine as they atomize with dragonfly green and impossible peacock blue.
It's over for me. I realize too late I'm being compelled.
Immobile, I am lost in his unnatural eyes as he infiltrates my body, licking every blood vessel and vein with his ethereal power, “How long have you been dreaming of me doing this to you?”
“Since... you... uh... kidnapped me.”
“That was months ago, Zaria. Tell me what I want to know.”
“I can't help it. I … dream... of you.”
“Ah, I see this. The images in your head are compromising. Why didn't Darise pick up on it?” he rumbles and vibrates in a whisper, like a low level earthquake shaking my body.
It's the voice of a thief before attack.
“He works the night shift, I work for Pravus during the day. I guess... I don't... know.”
“How long have you loved me?”
“I... from then. From the day you told me about how the vampyre destroyed your world. I wanted to hold and kiss you and make it all go away. I wanted to soothe you better. I would have done anything to ease your pain.”
He releases my mind and I become aware I'm trembling.
With gentle yet demanding hands he curls me into the curves of his body. One long leg imprisons my hip, keeping me still when he slides into me from behind. Lips excite the back of my neck when his hand fists my hair and wraps it over his fingers, lifting my thick locks away and effectively strapping me to him, inside his hold and command.
Caught, I'm pinned while he strokes in and out of me, his skin rushing blood to my spine where it rubs across my body with each motion.
“Zaria,” he says, as if he's discussing the price of potatoes.
“Yes?”
I don't know why but this is making me nervous. His demeanor has changed. He morphed from delicate to dominating in the time it took him to own my mind.
“You're pregnant,” he says into my ear, running the tip of his tongue under my earlobe and pressing it to my now hammering pulse.
“What?!”
“It's destiny darling. You only obsessed over me because I am the one person on earth who turns you inside out. The one to tunnel your blood and send shivers to your toes. I proved it to you the first day I met you, and I proved it again tonight.”
“Destiny? But if Darise knows I'm pregnant he'll never let me go.”
God! A vampyre child? My countrymen will disown me.
My soul turns to brittle ice at the thought. Tension rides into me like foam cresting in a raging sea, but he holds me fast, taking the pleasure he didn't have in the passage. How he disengaged I don't know, because he couldn't the last time.
Oh god! I'm fucking pregnant!
“With my babies,” he purrs.
It's so soft and intimate, so deeply dipped with a baritone of adoration and love that my heart sledgehammers brutally into my ribcage.
“Yours?”
That's rubbish. I'm on contraception and tonight is our first time together.
“Zaria, Darise told you he controls his body, didn't he?”
I nod, my thoughts spiraling into chaos.
“All supernatural men do. I control mine too, and I know the second I gave you my children. It locks us together forever, Zaria. Ryan initiated you with the book of Love. It made you official when you voluntarily opened the pages and read the words. Not only are you pregnant with my babies, and have been for approximately one hour and thirty-two minutes, but this also makes you part-neuri. You won't die, Zaria. Not until you choose to.”
It hits me.
“What do you mean babies?”
He said it like there's more than one! What about my choice in this matter.
“Contraception is useless against us. Two boys are buried where no one can reach them, locking us in a promise only love can break. It wouldn't have worked if you didn't love me Zaria. I knew the secret, I just didn't know how long you've loved me for. I didn't fully appreciate how deep your love was. I mistook it for the love of a friend, of two people who've been through unearthly tribulations together. But your love is in fact the kind carved into the bones of your skeleton, your love for me penetrates that deep. Your body accepted because your heart already has, your spirit already did.”
He's feeling so good inside me right now it's hard to concentrate. I'm tingling from the sensation and it's hammering relentlessly into my legs and messing with my heartbeat.
As if sensing it, he changes rhythm, twisting and positioning my body so I'm encompassed with pumping pleasure, each slip and slide and wet hard dive into my body so it's slapped with his brings me closer to the ledge, and I'm barely holding on with my fingernails.
“I could disengage in the passage because you are now my other half. I could release you because you willingly opened your soul to me. The second your body accepted mine completely and let me bond us, it set us free from that particular clause.” His tone is becoming ragged, the fist in my hair tightening and pulling me closer as he creeps to the precipice himself.
Stop talking... I'm about to cum.
“Ryan wanted your light, and I swore I'd protect you. You chose me Zaria, not him. This was the only way.”
His body probes mine deeper, glimpsing paradise advancing fast, opening the gates to utopia, and I feel his whole body tense behind me, the heavy leg
on my hip pushes me mercilessly into the soft padding and he wracks in pulsating waves, his breath strangled and chaffed.
The lips in my neck press hard and his teeth pinch my flesh.
“One more rite, Zaria, and we'll be free of their interference.”
Rite?
But I'm thrust over the barrier, free falling back into the orgasmic drug flooding my body and tripping my mind into the space of weightless rapture.
Lost inside the communion with him, merging and dancing through spiritual sunbeams and shadows, our souls entwine round and round and round until I'm dizzy and can't breathe.
He anchors me with sharp pain on the side of my throat, below my ear and close to my jaw, and then I'm inhaling mint and marshmallows, tasting it in my mouth. When I open my eyes the world is washed in faded jade with glowing aqua edges.
It tingles and tortures, fusing through my marrow and branding me with his spirit. It's warm, gentle, unique and empowering.
The pressure on my neck becomes a focal point, like being injected with fire and fun, it's exhilarating and enticing.
Then it blanks my mind when the pleasure drowns me, immersing me so completely in his scent and power that I'm sighing and shaking, my nipples painfully hard. My body's slick walls vibrate uncontrollably around the vast muscle plummeting through it.
Floating on clouds of aqua mist and skies brilliant with petrol green, I'm in a hallucinogenic state staring at the room as if it's alive, everything glowing and vibrant, the colors brilliant.
His lips lift, the bite ends, and the room fades back to the dull insipid palette of human perception.
“You saw through my eyes, Zaria. I've claimed you as my mate.”
“You bit me,” I state to the wall I'm staring at with a gorgeous Marilyn Monroe blowing her flirtatious kiss at us, oddly barren without the bite of his teeth drugging my system.
He finally releases the strapping hold of his hand in my hair. He's invaded every aspect of me with the very essences of his being.
It's impossible and it's incredible. I think I was in a car accident on my way here and am having the best dream in the world while I lie in a coma.
“Yes, I bit you. You have my mark on you now and it means they will never corner or manipulate you again.” Lifting up and leaning over me, his touch is gentle when he tilts my chin so I'm forced to look at him. “You are free, Zaria. Free to be with me. No more complications and no more bullshit.”
“I was free... I think you just closed the door to the cell. You didn't give me a choice.”
“You made the choice. You knew, because you've touched this truth. You even mused it was destiny. I believe it is destiny. I've never loved a human before. I've never cared so much for anyone. This was fated. I simply made it official so my brothers Ryan and Sveta can fight over Božena instead of you.”
“Who's Božena?”
“The woman you saw Darise with.”
It makes me instantly tense, and he mercifully withdraws his body from mine as I clamp up.
“Am I really pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“Twins?”
“Yes.” This time it's said with pride in his voice.
“I'm not ready to be a mother.”
“They'll wait. They'll only grow when you're ready for them.”
“What?”
“Yes Zaria, you have a choice.” Flopping his body over mine, his kiss is as sweet and soft as a shy teenager. “I'm not a monster, I just adore you enough to protect you every way I can.”
They'll wait? Wow. Okay.
“For how long?” I frown, drawn back into the nightmare paradise of his opalescent eyes.
“They can wait a decade.” His hands entomb my head and strong thumbs press into my cheeks, “You screamed my name. God I adore you!”
Pockets of kisses are rained across my face, his chuckle so delighted and sexy that I find myself smiling.
“Tell me you love me... again. Say it to me instead of my back.” His eyes look instantly as strained as his voice.
“I love you,” I whisper, squashing my cheeks into his hands when I smile.
“You are so perfect. I'm the luckiest neuri in Serbia.”
That would make me the luckiest human. Pleasure like I've endured this night could kill a woman. Or make her Kali crazy. Beyond insane, the kind of looney that scares psychopaths.
He laughs, rolling me with him, “It's time I parched your other thirsts and replenished your body with sustenance. Coffee?”
Okay, now it's definitely official. Call a press conference. I have just found a perfect male.
“I'd love some coffee,” I say through a cheek aching smile.
Cradling me in the crook of his arm, lifting me to stand with him, he pauses, staring down and into me with such severe tenderness it makes my blood ache, “Stay with me tonight?”
I nod acceptance. I'd already decided I would if it was offered. The very last person I want to face when I'm feeling this wonderful, is Darise. He's a problem that can wait for tomorrow.
His hand laces fingers through mine and clasps possessively, and I'm mesmerized yet again by the joy in his vivid aqua and dravite eyes.
*
Zauran:
Walking into the cavern of pre-dawn darkness holding her hand, feeling her vitality chasing up my veins through my skin, I hope I've done enough to keep her safe.
Will Jowendrhan come after us? Will Ryan back down?
I have a bad feeling slithering in my soul; something supernatural is coming. Shit is going to hit the fan, I just hope it's not because I stepped on a vampyre ego tonight.
Stepped? Ha, I fucking stomped it into dust.
Chapter 10
Božena:
Jowendrhan catches me again, using his weight and strength to snare my arms and pin me to the black wall. These passages are dim, deliberately. They're a haven for illicit activities and a lot of deep breathing.
“Božena, we need to stop meeting like this, it's turning me on.”
Rough around the edges with a hint of domination play gets my blood pumping, and it acts on my mind the way an opiate would. It sedates me, kicking my docile gene to the forefront, the one that has willing victim tattooed on her scars.
It's like having survival palsy, no matter how much you think you are in imminent danger you are paralyzed to run, weakened so you can't fight, helpless but to watch it all happen and submit to the inevitable. I find it exciting when a man can be gentle and dominant simultaneously.
But Jowendrhan is no man, he's a vampyre.
“Get lost, Jo.” To back up my words I lift my leg and stamp the heel on the tip of his boot, wrestling my wrists inside his grip and struggling against him, but it's futile.
I wouldn't stand a chance against him if he really means it, not unless I grow wings and become an angel.
Shadowing every one of my writhing movements with biting strength, somehow snaring me closer, he leans into my chest and destroys the breath in it, leaving behind an accelerated heartbeat. “Come on Božena, don't be like that. Why are you staying when you could be at home, with me, unleashing the wildcat floating in your blood.”
Pressing closer he sniffs softly with his nose next to my eye, “You love a fight, I can smell it.” Placing a kiss on my cheek, his baritone dances with me, “You love the hunt, I know you do. You're a hunter, like me.”
It's all spoken with his skin pressing into mine, chin to cheek, him aiming his low secret into my ear as intimately and quietly as possible. It makes me feel like we're in a veil of seclusion where nothing can save me and no logic will penetrate.
It's seductively clandestine and forbidden.
Bucking off the wall and thrusting both arms violently down to break his hold, I manage to get away from the wall, but my wrists are still caught in his hands.
Stepping further away, contorting myself in the process, I stare up into his now brown eyes and brown hair. “You're delusional Jo.”
“Am I?”<
br />
“Yes. Just back off or I'm going to start screaming so two demon bouncers can come and kick your ass.”
His grip punishes even more when he reclaims the space between us to flex chest muscles at me, “I'm not delusional darling. We kissed remember? I'm your sponsor in here. And because you exchanged body fluids with me I can hear your thoughts, smell the cortisol flooding your system...” He dips his head and whispers into my ear, “And smell the erotic reaction you're having to a mild display of aggression.” Teeth start massaging my earlobe along with evocative heated breath, “You're hot for me.”
I am horribly horny, but I'm not here for Jo, I'm here for Darise. Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.
He traces two blunt fingertips down my spine as he stands tall and releases me, giving me an inch of merciful air.
“When you change your mind, just call,” he winks, turning and vanishing inside the shadows clinging to the walls.
They camouflage him so well it gives me the fear of knowing your stalker is right in front of you if only you could see them.
I sense him there, watching me from his throne of darkness.
Exhaling, running a shaky hand through my hair, I retrace my footsteps to the bar. Pravus has changed a lot in the time I was away from my homeland, but the dim lighting, strange scents, and red strobed lights remain the same. The closer I get to the main area the more lighting is supplied, flashing the muted red light in time to the beat of the music. Black red – black red – black – red.
It's enough to make you feel high when you've had one drink too many. Meandering past couples comprised of supernatural men and human women, I smile. Darise said this place is now owned by a neuri alpha, and all these yummy men are neuri.
This used to be a vampyre bar. It serves their men, not females. Only human women gain entrance, and only supernatural men come here to flirt and fuck their way into human hearts.
I wonder how many women even know this? They probably think they've walked into a supermodel bar with calendar gorgeous eye candy lining the walls and circling like hungry raptors around the dance floor.
We're prey.
“Everything okay?”
