by Susan Hayes
Gareth’s voice was the whisper of a broken man. “If I do this, you swear to leave my family alone?”
“You have my word, half-breed. Kyra is mine now. Why would I care what the rest of you do after we’re gone? You’ll never find us.”
Kyra watched the light go out of Gareth’s eyes and he nodded once in her direction. “Come get your gift, Kyra.”
She straightened and walked the short distance between them with every bit of grace and power she could muster, desperate to maintain the masquerade. She could feel her feet squish inter the blood-soaked carpet, every step taking her farther away from Vlad. Finally, she stopped and reached out a blood-streaked hand for the sword, praying her trembling hands wouldn’t give her away to the monster behind her.
Gareth tensed, his gaze still lowered to her feet, and she nearly turned and ran as she sensed him gathering his strength, preparing to keep the fatal promise he had made to her. As the hand that held the sword moved upward, he finally lifted his head and met her gaze, determination filling his haunted eyes. Knowing she had only this one moment, Kyra winked at him and mouthed the words “I love you.”
For a terrible second she thought he didn’t see it, or worse yet, didn’t believe. But then, for the briefest moment his eyes widened with understanding. A heartbeat later his expression was as blank as a stone wall as he offered her the sword, hilt first. “Take it and go. And when we meet again, I will keep my promise.”
“If we meet again, half-breed. My master will kill you.” Kyra’s voice rang out with a bravado she didn’t feel, and she turned her back on Gareth, the sword firmly in her hand as she strolled again through bloody remains on the floor. Vlad was waiting for her, a hoarfrost-and-icicle smile on his bloody lips as he gestured for her to come stand at his side.
As she joined him she lifted the blade, pretending to admire it as it gleamed and shimmered in the moonlight that streamed in through the ruined wall. “Pretty,” she murmured, turning it again so that light rippled down its length. Then she wrapped both hands around the hilt and whipped her body around, driving the point of the blade into Vlad’s chest with a thrust that had all the force of her body behind it. She felt the blade grind and slide over bone as dark blood, thick and cool, poured over her hands. The handle grew slick, and she struggled to push it deeper, but then her side exploded with fiery pain as dazzling red and yellow flares filled her vision. She felt herself flying, and then everything stopped with a jarring thump and she felt nothing at all.
Gareth moved faster than he’d ever done before, but he wasn’t fast enough to stop the blow that sent Kyra flying backward. He roared, summoning the others as he threw himself after her, somehow managing to put himself between her already-battered body and the jagged splinters of wood and masonry that waited at the end of her trajectory. Pain lanced through him, but stronger than that was his need to protect what was his. He landed hard, absorbing most of the shock of the fall with his body. He sucked air back into his winded lungs and gently set Kyra down in the corner of the ruined room, pausing only long enough to see that she was still breathing before he turned his attention back to the creature who tried to kill his woman.
Vlad lay on his back, pale hands wrapped around the blade still buried deep in his chest. Ringing him were the others. His parents, Dale, other faces he didn’t recognize in the shadowy darkness. No one had thought to turn on a light. He heard whispered words as he staggered back to his feet, a low, musical chanting, and Gareth knew they were ensuring the vampire couldn’t somehow escape.
They parted so he could get to Vlad, their eyes on him as they continued the repetitive chant. The air was thick with magic and the smell of death, and Gareth, his lungs and body already abused, found it hard to breathe as the darkness crowded down around them, unable to breach their small circle.
He took hold of the sword in both hands and twisted it viciously before drawing it out of the vampire’s chest. Rivulets of dark blood poured down the blade and he flicked it once to clear it before raising the blade over his head. He brought it down with crushing finality, severing Vlad’s head from his body. The chanting stopped. Between one word and the next, there was silence.
“Sunrise will cleanse this room of their remains.” Gareth left the sword where it was, the edge buried several inches into the floor. “Kyra needs me now.” He turned and found Anna and a red-headed woman with a startling streak of white running through her hair already crouched by Kyra’s side, wrapping her in a quilt from their bed.
“She’ll be fine. There’s a room down the hall where we can treat you both.” The redhead rose to her feet with grace, stepping aside so he could lift his mate into his arms and cradle her close. He tried and failed to ignore the blood and bruises that covered her. He lifted her higher and brushed a kiss to her temple, her spicy perfume filling his senses. It seemed stronger than before, richer. Questions and concerns raced through his head, but he knew they could wait until both of them were recovered. They had time, now. He could be patient.
18
Kyra woke up to warmth and light. Sunlight streamed in through the windows, falling across the bed she lay in. “I am getting very sick of waking up from involuntary naps,” she muttered as she tried a tentative stretch and winced at the resulting aches.
“I bet.” She heard Gareth’s familiar low rumble beside her and rolled over to face him, her heart lighter for hearing his voice. He was in bed with her, his chest bare and still discolored here and there with bruises and half-healed scars.
“You’re all right?” she asked, her hands already reaching for him, needing to feel him and reassure herself he was there and well. “And he’s well and truly gone?”
“A bit battered and bruised, but I’ll live, which is more than can be said for Vlad. You did it, Kyra, you pierced his heart and I finished it. He’s gone.” He reached for her then, his expression tender as he drew her in close for a kiss. “I thought I’d lost you.”
“So did I.” She melted into his arms, craving his strength and warmth. When skin met skin, she realized they were both naked beneath the sheets, and she molded her body to his. Tears rolled down her cheeks, flavoring their kiss with the tang of salt. Finally, she leaned back and cradled his unshaven cheek with her hand. “All I could think was that it wasn’t fair. I’d only just found you, and I was going to lose you, lose everything. And then when he forced me to drink and I was still myself, I was so worried you’d do what you promised and kill me before I could make you understand it was still me and not some blood-sucking monster.”
A shudder went through him. “It was a near thing. I was determined to keep that promise no matter how much it hurt, no matter what it cost. Kyra, when I saw you wink, for a moment it just didn’t register. It shouldn’t have been possible.” He turned his head and brushed a kiss to her palm where it lay against his face. “Another second—” He broke off, his voice thick with emotion. He kissed her again and then he asked, “How’s your neck? The rest of your injuries are minor, but he—where he bit you, it’s a nasty wound.” She reached up to touch the tender spot on her throat, unsurprised to find it covered with gauze. “It’ll heal,” Kyra murmured, twining a bare leg around his thigh, ignoring the twinges of discomfort the movement brought. “It will all heal. But I still don’t understand. Why am I still me? I should be a vampire by now, shouldn’t I? I remember what he did, all of it.”
A flicker of embarrassment crossed Gareth’s face. “Yeah, about that.” He paused, and Kyra could feel his cheek heat beneath her hand. “I certainly hope you meant what you said about wanting to be bound to me, because you are, utterly and completely.” Concern and smug satisfaction warred for dominance over his expression, and satisfaction won. “You’re mine.”
“How? When? I thought you didn’t know how to do that?” Questions flew from her mouth and she stared at him, her happiness nearly overwhelming her ability to think. Joyful thoughts fluttered through her head like butterflies. I belong to him. With him. Always.
“I assumed it would be something blood-related, after all, that’s how it works with vampires.” He folded her free hand into his and squeezed it lightly. “Last night, you and I—we forgot to use protection.” He gave her a sheepish look. “We got a bit carried away, but as it turned out, that’s what saved you.”
“Unprotected sex saved me from being a vampire?” Laughter bubbled up, and she didn’t even try to stop it. When she stopped giggling, Gareth was grinning at her, nodding.
“For vampires, blood is everything. But dhampir are living beings, and so there’s more than one way to create the chemical bond, or rather, more than one type of fluid transfer.” He gave her another sheepish look. “At least that is how my mother explained to me when I asked how this was even possible.”
“Your mother knows?” Kyra groaned and closed her eyes. “This is going to be written down in some archive somewhere, isn’t it? All of it. Our sex life is going to be a matter of public record.”
“Well, not quite public, but yes.” Gareth’s voice dropped to a husky growl and he rolled them both over so that she was straddling his hips, his hands already smoothing over her torso to cup her breasts. “Since that’s the case, I vote we make it a very, very memorable entry. If you think you’re recovered enough, that is.” He arched a brow at her in challenge.
“Oh, I think I can handle you.” She leaned into his hands, her nipples already stiffening to eager peaks beneath his palms. “But I’m not done with my questions yet.” She tensed her thighs and lifted herself off of him, wriggling her ass against the insistent, rock-hard shaft trapped between them.
“Ask quickly, then.” He groaned and bucked his hips playfully, though he was still careful to keep her steady above him, and his touch was gentler than usual. “Your curiosity isn’t the only thing I want to satisfy right now.”
She wiggled again, feeling him tense beneath her. Heat pooled between her legs, and she knew he could feel her growing wet with need. “You and I are bonded.” Slowly she inched her hips back toward his groin, biting back a moan as his cock slid between the folds of her labia, caressing her clit. “Does that mean I’m like you, a dhampir?”
“No.” He groaned, fingers his plucking at her nipples, rolling the nubs, making them tighten further. “Well, a little. You’re immune to a vampire’s blood now.” He sucked in a hissing breath and tried to arch his hips higher, almost entering her until she pulled her hips away at the last minute. “Tease,” he muttered and sat up suddenly, his abs standing out in relief as he nipped one breast lightly.
She gasped, fingers sliding through his cropped hair and holding his head to her breasts. “No other special powers?” Instead of answering, his hands gripped her hips, moving her over the thick length of his cock as his mouth found one nipple and sucked it into his mouth, tongue already busy teasing the peak. Need, raw and urgent, slammed through her, and she moaned, her control slipping a notch, and for a moment she forgot everything but the feeling of being with him, on him, around him.
He lifted his head and released her breast finally and answered the question she had almost forgotten she’d asked. “We think you’re immune to their glamour, too. No more nightmares, no more getting into your head.” Hazel eyes meet hers and she nearly lost herself in their green and gold depths. “Otherwise he’d have known what you were going to do last night and stopped you.” His voice was tender as he drew her down slightly and feathered the gentlest of kisses to her throat just at the edge of the bandage. “Promise me you’ll never take that kind of risk again, sweetheart.”
Kyra nodded. “I promise. From now on, we face everything together. All of it. Everything. Together.”
“Together,” he agreed, nuzzling the soft skin just below her ear, sending sparks dancing along her skin. “I love you, Kyra.”
“Me you, too.” She let her pleasure at his words bubble up over like champagne as she turned her head and caught his lips with hers, letting their tongues tangle for a brief minute before pulling away. She shimmied down his body slowly, enjoying the touch of skin on skin.
When she was kneeling between his thighs, he reached for her, trying to draw her back up his body. “Come back here!”
She shook her head and put a hand on his chest, pushing him back. The muscles of his chest and abs flexed slightly, and he laughed as she threw her entire weight into the effort and accomplished absolutely nothing
“Pushy, pushy.” He teased her as he finally relented and lay back on the bed, hands tucked behind his head as he watched her from his new position.
“You have no idea, yet,” she informed him archly as she settled herself onto the bed, enjoying being in control. Her head bowed lower and she blew a puff of air over his cock and heard his hissing intake of breath.
“Do your worst, little hellcat.” He tossed out the taunt as her tongue swirled over his scrotum and up, measuring every inch of him. He groaned and she wrapped her fingers around the base of his cock, the shaft feeling like velvet over steel beneath her hand. She pumped once, twice and then wrapped her lips around the tip of his cock and lapped at the dewy drop already welling up. The muscles of his thighs tensed, and she heard a low growl of encouragement.
She hummed a note of pure contentment and took more of him into her mouth, letting her jaw relax as she opened herself wide to take him all in. Inch by inch she devoured him, until she could feel his cock touch her throat and she could inhale his musk with every breath. He moved, one big hand coming to rest on the side of her head, his fingers lightly massaging her scalp in time to the bobbing of her head.
“So good.” He groaned. “You do that so— Holy gods!” His compliment ended with a curse as she arched her throat slightly and swallowed, taking him deeper still. So full she could barely breathe, she nearly laughed aloud at his reaction and a few stray chuckles vibrated around him, drawing another string of breathless curses. Kyra swallowed again and then retreated slowly back up his length, letting her tongue dip and swirl over his skin every inch of the way.
When her lips touched his glans, she glanced up and met his eyes, reading the need that nearly glowed in their hazel depths. Reveling in this moment, she returned all her attention to his cock, laving and licking, her head bobbing now as she fisted him, mouth and hand working together. His hips nearly came up off the bed and she let her teeth catch him slightly in punishment, slowing her rhythm until he stilled himself again.
“I was right.” He was panting now, his voice a low rumble. “You’re going to be the death of me, little hellcat.”
She released him with a final lash of her tongue. “I hope it’s a long, slow death then. Say, sixty or seventy years?”
“Deal.” He sat up and lifted her easily, settling her into his lap, hands on her hips to steady her as he moved them both back to the headboard. He drew her thighs apart, drawing her down until she was straddling his hips again, a smile playing on his handsome face as he leaned in and kissed her until the world faded away and there was just the two of them, together.
She was so beautiful it took his breath away. Gareth drank in the sight of the woman who had turned his world upside down. The sunlight danced in her bed-ruffled hair, bringing out the pale gold that shimmered among the strawberry and rose-red hues. Her neck and shoulder were both bandaged, and he could easily trace the outline of Vlad’s fist in the spectacular bruise that was blooming over her rib cage where he’d struck her. Any other woman he’d known outside the Brotherhood would have crumbled when faced with what she’d had to deal with over the last few days, but not Kyra.
“You’re breathtaking,” he whispered against her lips. “Beautiful, brave. My sister was right, you’re kick-ass.”
Her blue eyes narrowed, and she shot him a warning look. “Call me ‘kick-ass Kyra’ just once, and I’ll have to kill you.”
“Never,” he promised her. “You’re my little hellcat. Have been since the moment we met and you pulled a gun on me.” He let his hands drift from her hips to the curve of h
er ass, loving the feel of flesh filling his hands as he kneaded and stroked her. When he lifted her up and settled her over his cock, she laughed and wriggled, helping line up their bodies. As she slid down over him it was like coming home.
She mewled with pleasure and moved her hips in a slow, sinuous twist that sent his lust into overdrive. “Hang on.” He growled a brief warning and then he was lifting her high and lowering her down onto his cock, needing to move, to take her and make her his all over again. He felt her arms wrap around his shoulders, and then her mouth was on his, eager and wanting.
She fell into the rhythm with him, using her legs to lift with him, her inner channel gripping and pulsing around his cock. He moved them faster, and the bed creaked in protest. Her breasts bounced lightly against his chest and her kiss went on so long his lungs burned. Sweat slicked their bodies and he leaned back to take a breath. Their reflection caught his eye and he turned to look, his body nearly cramping with the tension as raw lust arrowed through his veins.
“Kyra, look.” He nuzzled her face, showing her the mirror, nearly coming right then and there as he watched her face heat, her body convulsing with pleasure, gripping his cock so tightly he could barely squeeze through the muscles clamping down around him. Her gaze met his in the mirror, and she smiled a dangerous smile he knew would always lead to trouble. One hand left his shoulder and slid between them and she rocked back, trusting him to hold her as she pressed two fingers to her clit. He could feel her fingers slide against his cock as he went deep again, and his balls tightened in response.
Her breathing came in short, sharp pants and her head fell back on a moan as he lifted her high and lowered her hard. Two thrusts, then three, their bodies came together, and then she was coming apart in his arms, her eyes glazed over and her face flushed as she lost herself in her moment of release. Her shuddering body held his so tightly it bordered on pain, and then Gareth erupted, pumping his seed deep into her body as he came on a cry of triumph.
