Afterward, he wet down his shirt and used it to clean up some of the blood on the wall and bathroom floor. He tossed his clothes, including his socks, into the washer, added extra bleach and detergent, then turned it on.
With fresh clothes and a shower, he sure didn’t look as bad as he felt. He hurt all over. All over. Like he’d been beat up when he was unconscious. Like how he felt the day he had woken up after having his wisdom teeth pulled. That day his cheeks had been so swollen that he could have sworn the dentist had taken aim and punched him just for fun.
First, he would try to call Anne and tell her about this crazy lady, and then he would see about having Monika help him with his stuff. If she’d have him back, that is. And if all else failed, well, he could always promise Gary a night of drinks and a free dinner. Hell, Gary owed him at least a place to stay, after all the trouble he had caused him. If it wasn’t for Gary, this bitch wouldn’t be stalking Anne, he’d have a cell phone, and he wouldn’t feel so tired and drained of energy. He just hoped there wasn’t some medical condition that would spring up at an inopportune time. Like that time he and Gary went down to Mexico. That would really suck.
Robert picked up the landline and dialed Anne’s phone. All he got was voicemail. Again. He left a message asking her to call him on the house phone, then he called Monica. Monica sounded annoyed, and when he asked where Anne was, she called him a dipshit and hung up. He called Elena and told her he wouldn’t be in, then sat down to wait. Surely Anne would call sometime today.
About an hour later, he got a call from Anne.
“God, you sound far away,” he said. “Where are you?”
“Umm the connection just isn’t very good here. I’m at a friend’s house. They live in Healdsburg.”
There was a lot of background noise. He could hear someone talking and the peel of church bells. He didn’t remember hearing bells before in Healdsburg.
“Well, I’ve missed you.”
“Umm.”
Robert knew she wasn’t listening to him, or she would have protested his sentiment. There was the sound of something rustling in the background.
“Are you okay, Anne?”
“I’m perfect.” More rustling. “Ah, Robert, I need to ask you a very important question.”
“Shoot. I’m all ears.”
“Will you renounce your marriage vows?”
This was not what he expected. Anne was going to go through with this.
“Please, Robert.” She sighed one of her very best, long, sighs. “If you have ever loved me, please say you will fully release me.”
Should he set her free? Should he say no? “Could we talk about it? I’m real sorry about everything.”
“No, it’s over. Let’s face it, you love Monika. Go be happy with her. I want you to be . . . happy.” She gasped. “Please, please, just tell me you agree to end our marriage. Release me, Robert.”
“But in my own way, I love you Anne. I know if we went to counseling, we could revive our marriage. I’ve learned my lesson.”
“Please, Robert.”
“I can take anger management classes. I think I’m a sex addict, Anne. There are twelve-step meetings for this. I’m willing to become a changed man.”
“I don’t want to change you,” Anne said. “I want you to let me go. I’ve released you with my full heart. Please do the same for me. Please, Robert.”
It was against his better judgment, but it was the right thing for Anne. He’d messed up things enough, put her through enough. He could do this.
“Okay,” he whispered, surprised the word came out of his mouth.
There was a pause. It sounded like she was whispering to someone.
“Okay, what?” Anne said breathlessly.
Had she been running? “Okay I release you! Jeez, that sounds funny. But I still love you.”
He was crying, actually crying when he heard her say, “Robert I did love you too, once. Thank you.”
He knew Anne thought she had hung up the phone properly, but the line remained open. Robert could hear the passion play going on and could not help but recognize the moans of his young wife being completely sated by someone else. Another man. Someone named Marcus.
It was a fitting end to his short marriage.
After a few minutes, he softly laid the phone back on its cradle. He looked at his crotch and wondered if he ever would feel aroused again.
Then he remembered he had not told her about that strange woman with the oral fixation. Well, if she was with a man, perhaps that guy could protect her. He should at least warn her.
He redialed the phone and got her voicemail.
“Anne, forgot to let you know. There was some woman here who wants to know where you are. She is a real bitch. Uh, honey, I want you to be happy and I’m sorry. I’m gonna need a few days to clear out everything—” Then the line on the other end went dead. He wasn’t sure his message was left, after all.
Perfect.
They lay on the massive four-poster walnut bed. Anne loved the feel of the deep red satin quilting against her bare back and buttocks. She spread her arms to the sides, and Marcus found them. He pinned her fingers with his and then brought them back to his lips. His warm body sheltered and protected her, covering her torso and thighs. She knew he tried to touch her flesh with as much of him as he could, and what he couldn’t touch he had kissed over and over again.
She stared up into his coppery eyes, committing to him for all eternity. She was so willing to become the mate he had searched for his whole life. He had pleasured her with his mouth, whispering incantations to her sex, making her quiver as he lapped and sucked her juices. She wondered if the blood was still there. God, she hoped so. She hoped so that she could be fertile for him. That she could be the vessel of his passion, the keeper of his progeny, the holder of his soul.
Her breasts glistened in the late afternoon Italian sun. She barely could remember the events of earlier today. She was in his home, the home of his ancestors. He’d brought her here, flying through the large mullioned windows overlooking the family vineyard, placed her on the bed, and walked around back and forth. She had disrobed button by button, hiking her clothes up here and there. He’d refused to touch her, making her remove each item of clothing until she was writhing on the bed naked with a need between her legs as deep as the Grand Canyon. That’s when he’d asked her call Robert.
He was lapping between her creamy thighs when she sat up with a little “Oh” like she did sometimes when the excitement of his tongue was too much for her. But this time she held the little phone out to him and asked Robert to repeat something so he could hear it.
“Okay, I release you! Jeez, that sounds funny, but I still love you.” She could have kissed the man. Marcus laved the space between her thighs, then whispered something she felt take hold inside her womb, where it stayed warm and coiled. Some magic glam or spell that waited to receive him and his seed.
With reverence, he stowed the phone on the side table. She felt the muscles at his back move under his tanned flesh, felt his torso press her breasts against him. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her hair from her neck. He licked the length of her as she moaned and wrapped her legs around his waist, arching up to meet him. His long kiss claimed her again, as they both pricked each other and drank the combined blood, their tongues washing over teeth and gums, covering all the surfaces of their mouths with the elixir of their love.
“Marcus. At last, Marcus.”
He groaned and whispered something to her she didn’t understand. Words in a dialect she didn’t recognize, something ancient. And she heard music between the timbres of his deep voice. Was she dreaming this? She felt him press against her slick opening. She needed to be filled with the strength and power of him.
He looked down, then kissed her eyes, the sides of her face, under her ears, and in the valley under her chin. “Will you fate to me forever?” he breathed. She could smell the blood on his lips. “Will you love me, allow m
e to give you my seed, protect you? Will you share my bed, my pleasure, my family, my life for all eternity?”
“God, yes.” It was everything she’d always wanted. He was everything she’d ever wanted in a mate. She added demands of her own. “Will you love me forever? Will you let me give you children? Never leave me, Marcus. Hold me for all eternity.”
“Yes. I claim you for my own, in the ancient way, as you own me. You are . . . mine.”
He pulled her hair aside, angled his own throat for her hungry access.
“Now,” he groaned.
She bit down at the same moment she felt his fangs sank into her neck, at the same moment his cock thrust inside to the hilt. His plunging entrance sent her body into spasms as her insides stretched to receive his huge gift. His blood was sweet, tinged cinnamon. It awoke every cell in her body. His scent warmed her heart, made it flutter as the blood filled all her cavities. She drank without holding back, loving the sound of his ravenous sucking, feeling the strong muscles of his back and shoulders as he took her blood into him, as he ground into her and rhythmically played her sex until she felt a glow below her waist. His deep thrusts demanded she give him all of her. Passion ignited a flame long held low in her belly—something that had been lurking there her whole life. The warmth traveled up her spine, made her thighs and knees tingle, made her press her neck into his hungry mouth. She wanted to be taken, and it wasn’t anything like what she’d felt before.
He stopped, brushing thumbs over her cheeks, wiping the tears of joy from her eyes. Awash in the scent of their love, she felt him spasm. Every drop of his seed refreshed and coated her willing womb.
They kissed, barely touching, tenderly speaking a language she didn’t realize she spoke, nor did she understand, but when his eyes filled with tears, she knew he heard her ancient message to him, the male of her life. For the rest of eternity. He continued to thrust into her.
“My beloved,” she said as she angled her neck. “Take all of me. Take as much as you can. I give myself to you in every way possible.”
He was staying hard inside her and she could sense something was happening. Perhaps he was going to come again. All of a sudden a golden light shone from their joining, enveloping them in a warm electric pulse of energy. Marcus shuddered. Anne’s muscles clamped down on him and her whole body began to shake in a wrenching orgasm that left her gasping for air. Their shouts echoed off the paneled ceiling surfaces. The faces of the monkeys overhead smiled down on them.
Marcus rolled over and pulled Anne on top. He held her body at her hips, moving her up and down his shaft as he arched into her, then filled her with more of his seed.
Her thirst for his neck brought her forward, breasts pressing against his chest as she drank at the base of his throat. His fingers urgently clutched at her hair, moving it aside again. His tongue warmed the other side of her neck as his fangs plunged in to mark her again. The twitching his cock made deep inside her forced a series of spasms. She lowered herself onto him, deep and hard. He brought her feet up to his shoulders and held her ankles while she rode his bucking frame. He bit her right wrist and took from her. He licked her ankle and fed from her there.
She wanted him to fill her from behind, something he seemed to understand without her needing to communicate to him. He smoothed over her rear with his large palm, turning her body on her knees so she could present her peach to him. He leaned forward and sunk his fangs into her labia, kissing and sucking, then lapping with his tongue. He placed himself at her violated opening and she felt a delicious pain as she took him in. He rode her, whispering ancient words that made every cell of her flesh tingle with delight.
At last they collapsed into a sweaty pile of arms and legs. She allowed her wet body to be crushed in his embrace. He wouldn’t let go, even as she tried to tug the satin coverlet over them so they wouldn’t get cold.
“I will do it. I will keep you warm,” he said.
And it was true. As he tasted the side of her neck again and rubbed her breasts with his massive hands, she warmed to the touch of his flesh all over her body.
He’d pierced her body and drank her blood from numerous places, but she smiled to think she hadn’t counted the wounds he had made.
I am indeed fully satisfied, sated.
A faint beeping sound interrupted their nap. Marcus grabbed her cell phone that lay on the floor, then raised it to her face so she could see the battery had died. He placed it back on the night table. She felt a twinge of regret that perhaps she had not dealt with Robert properly. There was a part of her that felt sorry for him. She had loved him, once. She was honest with that statement, at least.
She looked up at the man who gazed down at her, the mysterious man who filled her with wonder. Tracing the profile of his face along his hairline, she let her fingers dance across his lips. She rose to meet those lips. His strong hand held her, pulled her to him, and then let her head fall back. He kissed the arch of her neck that she extended for him. He licked the two little holes he had made in the heat of his passion, when he had claimed her, where she would have him claim her again an hour later, where she hoped he would claim her every day for the rest of eternity.
He drew himself to sitting position, holding her in his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck, happy to be draped against his body. She inhaled his maleness, the scent of their lovemaking, and the scent of their blood for each other. She kissed his wound, stroking up the sides of his thick neck with her fingers.
His arms enveloped her as he bent his head to rest on the top of hers. “Ah, my pet. You are mine at last. Fully mine.”
“Yes. Always, Marcus.”
He produced a small black box. Anne was surprised at this, and looked around the bed to see where the box had come from. She searched his smiling eyes, then planted a kiss on his lips as he rubbed a hand along her thigh. He moved two fingers lazily along her flesh to find her wet opening and stroked her there while she popped open the box. His fingers stopped while she took a deep breath.
“Oh, my. Marcus. It’s . . . lovely!” A large emerald glittered and glowed in an intricate setting. The ring looked very old. The stone was almost the size of the nail on her little finger, in a deep forest green color, surrounded by a circle of smaller diamonds.
“The stones are new, but the setting belonged to my mother. I think it belongs on your finger, now.”
He took the ring and held it as she placed the fourth finger of her left hand into it. A perfect fit.
“I bought this very rare emerald while I was waiting to be able to come to you. It reminds me of your eyes, my love. I slept with it every night.” He held his hand over his heart.
Anne looked at the physical evidence of their fating and what it meant to him. He had brought her his past and laid it at her feet. “Oh, Marcus. I am touched beyond belief. I accept this ring, but I have nothing to give you in return.”
He didn’t speak, but instead put a warm hand on her belly. She could feel his heat radiate up throughout her whole body. She knew she would bear him a child from tonight. The wheels of the future had been irrevocably set in motion.
She righted herself, then straddled him, clasping her arms behind his neck as she leaned her breasts to his bare chest and sought the heat of his mouth on hers. Her tongue tasted the soft breath of a moan coming deep from inside this man. She was overwhelmed with the rising tide of her emotions that were taking over her body in waves. Her heart felt stretched to bursting. She hoped there would never be an end to the way she felt this evening.
Marcus lay back as her hands traveled over the rippled landscape that was his chest. Her sex awakened to the knowledge of the need between her legs again as she rubbed against a growing hardness. She closed her eyes as she felt him move against the little knob that sought attention. His powerful hands lifted her up slightly and she sighed at the brief cold, parting between their bodies. Then he set her down on top of his shaft.
“Oh, yes, Marcus.”
Anne’s b
ody rocked back and forth as he massaged her breasts, pinched her nipples, squeezed her buttocks, and caressed her thighs. Every inch of her was worshiped, explored, conquered, kissed, and caressed. The penetration of his shaft deep inside set off a long, undulating orgasm. Marcus was a demanding lover, but not easily satiated. He watched her experience the ecstasy that was theirs before he would allow himself to release again.
She was on fire with the touch of his cock inside her, where it needed to be, where it belonged, where it always had belonged. Every drop milked from him as he shot inside left her thinking it still wasn’t enough.
They rested, Anne covering him with her body. “Do you have any plans for the next week?” She smiled, holding her hair back with the hand that bore his mother’s ring.
“Well, we should announce the Council’s decision to the family. I think you should meet my other brothers. And my other sisters. Perhaps we’ll have a gathering.” His finger outlined her nipple, and he watched as it hardened to his touch. When he stilled, it softened, and he played with it again. “And there is a fating ceremony we should plan after that.”
“Is it a wedding?”
“It is an important acknowledgement of our fating, and recognized in the chapel. You know the one. Where I first saw you.”
Anne frowned. “You saw me in a chapel? I thought you saw me in town.”
“Yes, remember, when you came to the chapel in Genoa? You lit the candle and wrote a prayer? That’s our fating chapel.”
Anne sat up. “Wait a minute. You were there? The only other people there were—”
“Yes.” His fingers laced down her spine. He stopped suddenly.
Marcus thought himself a fool. Things had moved along so rapidly, and in his haste to make sure the Council saw her fating blood, he had forgotten to explain to Anne about Maya and the claims Maya had on him. He had been so confident the Council’s decision would have given him the right to pursue Anne in the fating that he had forgotten to tell the one person who did not know about the boy and the history of his relationship with the boy’s mother. He could see Anne stiffen. He had made a very grave mistake, one he hoped he would not pay as dearly for as he deserved.
Honeymoon Bite (Golden Vampires of Tuscany) Page 18
