He curled up beside her, long blond curls still wet from the shower. She shuffled over to rest her head against his shoulder. He was naked as well, she realized with a start. She would have moved away, but his arms closed around her.
“Do you want me to leave?” he whispered in her ear. His hot breath set off tinges of desire that shot straight to her core.
“No. I want—” She struggled to find the words for what she wanted. Love, acceptance, companionship, truth. Dante offered it all.
“Shh,” he said, in his burnished voice. “I know what you want.”
He pulled her hard against him. She felt the velvet brush of his chest hairs. She freed a hand and ran it over the muscles in his back, marveling at how he could feel so soft and inviting and yet so very hard and masculine at the same time. Recognizing kinship, her blood called out to him. She didn’t flinch away when he gently urged her lips apart and began to stroke the inside of her mouth with his tongue. The tips of his elongated incisors grazed her questing tongue. She pulled away from him.
“If we’re products of the same experiment, why am I different?”
He drew back and even in the dim light, she could see the reluctance in his eyes. “We’re not necessarily products of the same experiment. I suspect they were aiming for a human-looking offspring with all of the superhuman vampire characteristics. But Jeremy couldn’t control the outcome of his research. Even between the two of us there are vast differences. Essentially you’re a modified human, but there are certain limitations to your abilities based on your physique. In my case, I’m an enhanced vampire. I turned out to be faster and stronger than even his feral operatives.”
“You got something unusual in the mix. Something Jeremy couldn’t replicate. I’d wondered what made you so different.”
“Now you know.”
“I would have stayed more or less human if I hadn’t drunk your blood.”
“Maybe. At least until Jeremy conducted more experiments and began to test them on you.”
For a moment there was silence between them while they brooded on this new reality. Then he closed the distance between them and brought his face down to hers again.
He brushed his mouth teasingly across her lips and she opened them to his gentle invasion. At the same time, his hands drifted over her shoulders and down over her breasts.
His mouth followed the path of his hands, teasing first one peak and then giving equal time to the other. She arched against him, wanting more of what only he could give. And he obliged her.
Xandra reached between them, cupping him and tormenting him the same way he’d teased her. He moved out of her reach, positioning himself over her. She spread her legs, giving him access to her very center.
“Xandra,” he murmured, pressing against her entrance.
Though she couldn’t see him in the darkness, just the memory of how large he was sent a shiver of desire through her. She tipped her hips, allowing him to ease inside her. This time she was ready for him. The gentle intrusion made her gasp. Dante pulled out, then eased inside her again.
He matched the rhythm she set, each thrust taking him deeper. Her body seemed to flow toward him, seeking things she didn’t even have the words to ask for. She felt the tension and fear she’d been holding inside the whole time she’d been in Jeremy’s custody drift away from her.
Dante quickened his pace and her body responded. Desire coiled tight inside her. Her entire being seemed centered on that magic place where their bodies joined.
“Xandra,” he whispered again in her ear. She heard the strain in his voice as he held back from the one thing she knew his body craved as strongly as hers did.
“It’s okay,” she reassured him. And heard his rough groan in response.
Poised on the precipice of orgasm, her body jerked at the touch of his razor-sharp teeth. But he eased her fears with another of those burnished whispers. “Trust me.”
With one deep thrust, the tension inside her shattered. Pleasure washed over her in dizzying waves. She felt the pressure of his teeth, and then the brief pain as they punctured her skin.
Xandra cried out, then remembered that Alix slept in the bedroom across the hall. She bit down on her own lip to stop from crying out again as she rode the crest of her passion.
Dante’s lips moved against her neck, each gentle pull setting off more waves of rapture. She felt her blood flowing into his body, each pull of his mouth fostering a deeper hunger within her.
She opened her mouth, not sure how to proceed. But somehow knowing instinctively what she needed, he cupped his hand beneath her head and urged her closer.
Reaching up, he drew a nail over the thin skin on his neck. Blood welled up in the shallow wound. Wetness touched her lips. She smelled the life force that ran within him and tasted its copper-salt mixture. It called to her, an impulse that couldn’t be denied. All her life she’d been waiting for this. For him.
Her tongue darted out, briefly tasting him. Dante moaned in response. His own lips tightened on her shoulder as her mouth closed on his neck and she sucked gently.
His blood trickled over her lips and down her throat like hot electricity. Sparks shot through her entire body. Bliss followed in its wake. She bucked against him. Still joined, her body convulsed in yet another orgasm. It was like she’d never breathed, tasted or enjoyed pleasure before.
Hot blood flowed down her throat, into her stomach and out into her bloodstream, wiping away all that Jeremy had done to her with his needles and his tortuous experiments. She felt her body healing.
She wanted this peculiar sensation to go on forever. She didn’t want to stop. But she knew she had to. After what seemed like an eternity, Dante pulled his mouth away from her neck. She raised her head, his blood dripping from her lips.
With a smile he leaned down and licked the crimson drops away, stealing them back. He kissed her, hard and insistent. She tasted a mixture of their blood.
“I’m sure Alix heard us,” she said, suddenly embarrassed. If Alix had any idea what they were really doing in the bedroom across the hall, she’d be horrified.
Dante laughed, rich low laughter. “Hopefully, she’s a deep sleeper.”
Xandra realized she could see him clearly, even though neither of them had turned on a light. In the darkness he looked like a disheveled, burnished, completely sated god. His blond curls had dried in haphazard waves, further disarranged by running her hands through them. They tumbled down over his shoulders. The softness of his hair contrasted with the strong line of his jaw. Tiny lines framed his full lips, giving her the impression that he laughed often. She wished she could capture this image of him forever.
She sagged against him, strength leaving her completely now that he’d eased the tension in her.
“Now you’re going to sleep,” he said.
She murmured her agreement. Her last words for some time.
***
Someone hammered on the bedroom door. Xandra leapt from the bed, reaching for a lamp, or a figurine, anything that might be used as a weapon. Dante pulled on his pants and fastened his holster.
Like a golden panther, he padded to the door and pressed his ear against it. “Yeah?”
“Got some action outside,” said a muffled voice from the other side of the door. “Think it’s time you took the women-folk and left.”
Must be one of the undercover cops who had joined them earlier. A glance at the gray light leaking in from around the curtains told her dawn hadn’t yet arrived. She couldn’t have been asleep more than an hour.
Women-folk, she thought wryly, indeed. She looked human enough. She doubted Dante had told the other officers the truth.
“Get the car ready,” Dante ordered him. “We’re going to plan B.”
“Plan B?” she asked.
“Moving to the next secure location.” He sprang across the room and rummaged in the drawers, coming up with a pair of loose yoga-style pants and a knit top. “Here, put these on. Best if you’re not
seen in the same clothes.” Silently she obeyed while Dante donned the rest of his clothes, shouldered his knapsack and drew his gun.
Another knock sounded at the door. “Xandra?” Alix’s voice sounded strained. Xandra opened the door to find her standing there wide-eyed.
Dante circled Xandra with one arm and gripped Alix with the other. The arm around her ended in a hand that held the gun. They moved quickly down the hall. In the garage, she heard a car engine start. Another car, the one the other officers had been driving. Dante bundled them into the car—some kind of sporty SUV—then jumped in the driver’s seat. “Get down,” he ordered them.
The garage door opened. Dante gunned the engine and sped out, followed swiftly by the car they’d come in. The officers in the other car tailed them closely.
But they weren’t the only ones. No sooner had they turned onto the residential street, Xandra heard the roar of two other cars following them.
The car driven by the police officers roared off in front of them. One of the cars pulled out to follow it, fooled by the bait-and-switch technique.
“Stay down,” Dante ordered. “It won’t take them long to figure it out.”
Xandra risked a quick glimpse out the window. A dangerous-looking black sedan tailed the officer’s car. They had yet to shake its dark gray twin.
“Down, Xandra,” Dante said.
She ducked back under the window and crouched on the floor as he gunned the motor. The screech of tires followed them down the block. “Give me your gun,” she said.
“I can’t.” She heard the tension in his voice as he sharply twisted the steering wheel. The car labored as it tried to climb an on-ramp to the highway at full speed. “It’s a police-issued firearm. I can’t give it to a civilian.”
“I’m hardly a civilian.”
“You aren’t a member of the force. And you’re no longer one of Jeremy’s operatives. Even if you were, I couldn’t loan you my weapon.”
“Then let me drive.”
Apparently, the black sedan had seen through their ruse, because she heard the roar of a second engine as it struggled to catch up with them. The highway had leveled out and the SUV surged ahead. She heard a pop, and then a sharp ping as a bullet ricocheted off the SUV’s fender. Alix screamed.
With a quick glance over his shoulder, Dante tossed her the gun. “I’ve changed my mind.”
She caught the gun mid-throw and thumbed the safety off. Swiveling around in her seat, she took aim at the black sedan. But it sped ahead, effectively sandwiching them between its gray twin. Torn between the two equal dangers, she decided the gray sedan behind them was closer. She flipped the switch to roll down the power window and took aim. Bracing her hands on the open window, she took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger. Her shot went wide, hitting the left fender. The sedan swerved but held the road.
Ahead the black sedan monopolized the passing lane, leaving them nowhere to run. A man in a black combat uniform leaned out the window, aiming for a second shot. Dante already had his foot to the floor. The SUV’s engine screeched to keep up with the speed he demanded of it. She heard another pop. Dante wrenched the steering wheel. The SUV grazed the gravel shoulder, sending a plume of dust into the air. The bullet hit the front fender. She didn’t think it did any damage, but a glance behind showed another would-be assassin leaning out of the gray sedan behind taking aim at her.
Xandra took another calming breath. “Slow down a bit.”
He shot her a look that said he thought she was crazy, but he didn’t waste time asking her to explain herself. The SUV slowed, putting them closer to the gray car behind. “Please,” she chanted, bracing her hands on the window once again. The operative in the gray car smiled in triumph, leaning farther out the window to get a better shot at her. Uttering another silent prayer, she squeezed the trigger. Her bullet hit the operative in the hand. Above the roar of the SUV’s engine, she heard him scream. The gun fell from his hand, hitting the pavement in a shower of sparks. Distracted, the driver of the gray sedan swerved dangerously, hitting the shoulder. The car bucked from side to side as he tried to regain control of the vehicle.
The driver’s attempts failed and the sedan hit the guardrail. Metal scraped against metal in an earsplitting shriek, followed by the sickening sound of metal folding in on itself. The airbags deployed, effectively blinding the driver. The car skidded along the guardrail for a few more feet, then came to an abrupt stop. Steam hissed from its radiator.
Dante gunned the engine on the SUV, putting them ahead of the black sedan, whose occupants had turned momentarily to glance at the ruin of the gray car. For a moment, Xandra hoped they’d stop to help their fallen comrades and forget about them. But the black sedan sped up. Coming abreast of them, the driver slammed the sedan into the SUV’s side. From the back seat, Alix squeaked in terror.
“Get down,” Xandra ordered her. Alix crouched on the floor.
Xandra vaulted into the backseat. Hitting the controls for the rear driver’s side window, she rolled it down and leaned out. Taken aback by this sudden maneuver, the marksman in the black car swiveled around, trying to keep her in his sights. Through the back window she noticed the other jeep. Finally realizing their ruse had failed, the police officers were racing to catch up with them.
She took aim at the operative now leaning out of the window of the sedan aiming straight at them. He fired first. She ducked. The bullet streaked through the car in a rush of air, blowing out the window on the far side of the SUV. Alix screamed for real. Dante cursed violently under his breath.
Encouraged by his success, the operative in the black sedan took aim again. Xandra ducked again. But from behind she heard the rumble of the jeep racing up behind them. The jeep rammed the rear bumper of the black sedan, sending it careening across the highway and throwing off the marksman’s aim. Dante added a sideswipe of his own as it swerved back in his direction.
Taking advantage of Dante’s bold move, Xandra braced herself against the rear window and squeezed the trigger, aiming for the sedan’s front tire. Her bullet hit home. She heard a loud pop as the tire exploded. The car skidded dangerously. The jeep added a little impetus of its own with another ram to the sedan’s bumper.
The driver of the sedan valiantly tried to keep the car on the road. He nearly had the car straightened out when Dante sideswiped him once again. The sedan swerved off the road and tumbled down the grassy median that divided the two sides of the highway.
Xandra winced at the sound of tearing metal as the car overturned, hitting the low hill twice before it came to rest on its roof, its wheels still turning. Steam billowed out from the radiator. Flames shot out from under the bent engine hood. It would be only a matter of time before the gas tank ignited as well.
Dante slowed. The jeep followed.
But before their cars could reach the accident scene, the two operatives inside had loosened themselves from their seatbelts and the airbags. Limping across the remaining lanes of highway, they disappeared into the woods.
Dante skidded to a stop well back from the burning car. Behind them the jeep had already come to a halt and the officers were racing across the highway after Jeremy’s operatives.
Dante wrenched open the SUV’s door, making as if to follow them. “Stay here,” he told Xandra and Alix, who was still crouched on the floor, holding on for dear life.
“Here!” Xandra handed him the gun, butt first. He took it from her with a smile.
“I’m going to search the car.”
Xandra grabbed his sleeve. “No! It’s too dangerous.”
“They might have left something useful to us.”
She glanced again at the burning car. The undercover police officers were climbing back up the embankment, shaking their heads.
“It might be all we have to go on,” Dante said.
Xandra looked again at the black sedan. “I’m coming with you.”
Chapter Twelve
The first of the officers reached them. He shook
his head. “They got away, sir.” He looked really disappointed. “I don’t know what was with them, but they moved like the wind.”
Dante’s eyes narrowed in suspicion and from the brightening dawn sky. “Feral vampires?”
The officers looked uncomfortable, and Xandra realized for the first time how Dante must feel being one of the few vampires the police force hired.
“Could be,” the officer admitted. “But that’s your area of expertise, sir, if you don’t mind me saying.”
Dante nodded. He turned back toward the smoking vehicle.
“Wouldn’t go near the car, sir,” the other officer added. “If the gas tank catches fire, it could blow.”
“I’ll take that under advisement.” Dante turned to Xandra. “Stay back.”
“No, I’m coming with you,” she repeated. Now that she’d discovered the true nature of her bond with Dante Rodriguez, damned if she’d be letting him out of her sight. He held the clues to everything she was.
“If it blows, Xandra, you’ll be killed.” He put his head close to her ear. “Don’t think because you have a measure of vampire blood that you’re invincible. The truth is we don’t really know.”
“We’ll make it quick then.”
He shot her another glance full of exasperation, but he allowed her to tail him to the car.
The sedan rested on its roof, its door bent in at impossible angles and the roof crushed beneath the weight of the car. The overwhelming smell of gasoline permeated everything. Something was on fire under the engine hood. She hoped it wouldn’t spread to the gas tank. At least not while they were standing there. Dante hauled on one of the doors. Metal protested but didn’t give. She motioned to the window she’d shot out. Dante walked around the car and peered in. She followed him.
Splashes of blood covered most of the interior, spread by the car rolling over. It looked like someone had mixed up paint by rolling the can. Dante reached inside. He touched the blood, smearing it on his fingertips before bringing it to his lips. “Should you—” she started to say, then fell silent.
Feral Passion Page 17
