Honorable Rogue

by Linda J. Parisi

  Hunter shook his head. “There’s no need to bother them.”

  Tori lifted her chin, and he could feel the ice inside her matching the chill of his gaze. It was pretty obvious. She wanted to know how he had known what she was thinking. Her whole body locked. “I think you’d better leave.”

  “I can’t.” A flash of regret ran through him. “The rogue wasn’t alone, and you’re a target now. Whether you want to be one or not, I’m duty bound to protect you.”

  “Fine.” He felt the thread of anger as it filled her belly and would have admired her fortitude if the circumstances between them had been less dire. “I can take care of myself. I release you from whatever obligations you feel you carry. Leave.”

  Hunter smiled. Strange. He didn’t feel sad. Nor angry. Responsible? Absolutely. Guilty? Without a doubt. Resigned? How could he not feel this was entirely his fault? Had he left her alone at the wedding, had he not taken Sam’s advice, she wouldn’t be a target now.

  “I can’t.” He shrugged out of his coat to reveal the huge bloodstain on his shirt. “I seem to have a bit of a problem.”

  He swayed a bit as he put the garment on the couch. He turned, and Tori motioned if she could lift his shirt. He nodded.

  His gaze followed hers. There was no wound. Just a wide expanse of pale skin. No mark. Nothing. Her fingers grazed the skin of his belly, and he sucked in a deep breath.

  He swayed again.

  “You need to sit down,” she told him.

  This time Hunter’s smile turned sad. “No, Doctor. What I need is your blood.”

  Chapter Four

  “Excuse me?” What had started out as a night she wanted to remember had now turned into a nightmare. “I don’t think so.”

  Tori pulled her cell out of her pocket. She didn’t even have time to blink before her phone was plucked from between her fingers. Stunned, she asked, “How did you do that?”

  He ignored the question. Instead, he addressed the giant issue filling her mind. “Stacy explained to me I have no clotting factors in my blood. Which means I bleed a lot when wounded. However, I heal very quickly. As you just noticed.”

  “‘Stacy explained,’” she muttered, trying to wrap her head around what was happening. ‘Stacy explained’? Her heart pounded, and she took a deep breath. She could feel her hands trembling and decided fear wasn’t acceptable. So she donned her scientist hat. Second question first because the scientist in her became fascinated. She’d deal with her human half later. “Explained what?”

  “Since I don’t make my own blood cells…” he continued. “Well, you can see my predicament.”

  Predicament? Stacy? Tori shook her head. Vampires. Boogeymen. Childhood nightmares. Television shows. Now there was a thought. True Blood. Bill and Eric and Sookie all sitting in her living room having a party.

  Back up a little bit, Tori, and try to be fair. Wait a minute. Fair? After the way he’s behaved?

  He stared at her, his posture almost military but his shoulders hunched and his features resigned. Okay. Not the nicest—whatever—in the universe. He’d taken her privacy and made a mockery of it, he’d taken advantage of her body without her permission—, although she’d kind of asked for it—but, thank goodness, didn’t mock it. And he had been trying to protect her, trying to save her life, even if it was his fault she’d been in danger. But damn, it would be nice to know what the hell was going on before she offered up what was hers and only hers, so to speak. “What do you expect me to do? Just open up my neck for you to take a drink?”

  Okay, that was weird.

  He stiffened. The sad in his gaze turned to hurt. “No.”

  Startled, the words popped out of her mouth. “Why not? You’re a vampire, aren’t you? Don’t vampires take what they want?”

  He drew himself up and turned cold. “Kind isn’t something I’m used to.”

  Kind? Tori caught his gaze. Completely sincere. How was that possible? “All right. The sarcasm was uncalled for. Then again, maybe not. You haven’t exactly been very nice. Kind is a two-way street.”

  “I’m beginning to realize.”

  “But you need to understand. I don’t believe a word you’ve said. Not really.”

  “Very well. Point taken. So, I’ll ask a favor in return.”

  “What?”

  “Accept that I’m not used to dealing with humans nor am I used to dealing with human emotions. I appreciate your confusion,” he replied, his head cocked as if he were listening to words she couldn’t hear. “Sometimes truth isn’t exactly truth. It becomes what we want the truth to be. However, I still need your blood and would appreciate your consent.”

  Tori gaped. “You mean, if I didn’t say yes, you’d go away?”

  He shook his head. “No. Think of your worst addiction, and then multiply by ten thousand. And you still wouldn’t understand my need.”

  Addiction. Right. She was talking to a vampire who was telling her he needed her blood in the most terrible way but acting wounded because she didn’t believe a word he said.

  “Right now you’re trying to convince yourself of a fact you feel shouldn’t exist. I assure you. I do exist. I am still flesh and, well, not as much blood as I’d like. I need your help.”

  Seemed as though, Tori didn’t have much choice. The oath was clear. “Very well. You have your duty. I have mine. I’m a doctor. Even though I deal with the dead, my oath is to heal the sick, which I suppose includes feeding wayward vampires.”

  There. In the furthest recesses of his gaze, behind the hurt. Anger. And yet you reap what you sow, don’t you?

  He lifted his chin. “I expected no less.”

  Okay. Now she felt guilty. After all, according to him, he’d just saved her life. Tori held out her wrist. “Here.”

  He didn’t say no.

  Tori’s townhouse opened directly into her living room, where they were standing. A set of stairs on the left went up to the second floor and the bedrooms. She wondered if she shouldn’t start running up them, then bolt the door.

  “Perhaps you should,” he murmured.

  Not giving her a chance to answer he reached out, grabbed her arm, and led her to the couch, pulling her down next to him as he sat. His finger traced the inside of her arm. Tori shivered. Even if her mind didn’t quite remember his touch, her body sure did. She could feel her cells expanding, opening, inviting him to drink. And that wasn’t the only thing opening. Heat invaded her belly. Desire seared through her. Her legs fell open. Was she really so cheaply bought?

  “What are you doing to me?” she choked out.

  “Giving you what you want. In exchange for what I want.”

  Oh my. That was…arctic.

  And yet all she could feel was heat, the need to grab his hand and shove it between her legs. Was this possible? Then she realized. He’d said he’d drunk her blood before, and the same thing had happened. She’d gone nova. And yet she didn’t know anything about him except his name. And he was about to bite her flesh.

  Bite her flesh. Seriously?

  He skimmed his lips across the underside of her wrist. Her veins answered the call, and a particularly large one popped up. How did he do that?

  The clinical side of her watched in absolute fascination as his incisors grew. Then there was a pinch, and whoa! Instantaneous high. Her head began to spin. She sank back into the couch and realized he could do whatever he wanted to her and she wouldn’t care. Actually, she wanted him to do anything and everything—and more than once.

  He stopped drinking and lifted his gaze. “No, you don’t. You’re already angry with me for taking advantage of you the last time.”

  With her nipples like tiny pebbles, her bones filled with jelly, and her insides a mass of yearning, Tori didn’t even question how he knew. She needed release, a hot, hard, mind-blowing release. She whispered breathlessly, “You can’t leave me like this.”

  “True. Not taking care of your need would be cruel. And, despite your feelings for me, I won’t.
”

  Her feelings? What did that mean?

  He pulled her up onto his lap, and all logic flew out the window. He continued to drink but not as fast or hard as before. Her head rested against his shoulder. Between the euphoria and the lightheadedness, Tori had lost all her inhibitions. She leaned in and nibbled on his ear lobe. He sucked in his breath, and Tori felt immense satisfaction. Two could play this game.

  Only it wasn’t a game. Since a gown wasn’t fun to drive in, Tori’d changed into an oxford and jeans for the ride home. First her shirt buttons. Then the button on her jeans. She slipped her tongue out to taste him. Cool to the touch, not salty like normal skin. But as he sipped, as his cells flushed with the warmth of her blood, his skin heated.

  Once he finished, he lifted up and his head bent. He nipped and sucked down the line of her neck, but he didn’t bite. Tiny shivers raced down her chest. Her nipples steeled as his palm, coarse and rough, kneaded her breast.

  Both swelled. Her chest expanded. Yearning. And then she realized. Beneath her leg. Something else was growing, expanding. Hard. Demanding.

  Tori wanted him inside her. Pounding. Like the beat of her heart. Like the flow of her blood.

  His hand slid down to cup her mound. She twisted and turned completely out of control. She sought his mouth. He turned away.

  Trying not to be hurt by his rebuff, Tori sprang up off his lap. Maybe vampires didn’t kiss.

  She shucked her jeans in seconds flat. She bent over and unsnapped his pants. And then she looked up.

  Storm clouds swirled in his gaze. Behind them lightning fired. Thunder rumbled. Heat and longing, the likes of which she’d never felt before, seared through her. She freed his cock and pushed his pants down before drawing him into her mouth. He tasted so damned good. Just as a man should. Slightly musky with a hint of testosterone. Damn. It’d been so long since she’d been with a man. Really been with a man.

  He moaned and pulled her up by her shoulders. Desire could either soften a man’s face or strengthen it. His features steeled.

  She scrambled up onto his lap, centered his cock, and took him inside her body one excruciating inch at a time. Full. Huge. So incredibly delicious. Her muscles wrapped around his entire length and squeezed.

  “Not yet,” he choked out. Strain tightened his cheeks. Cords stood out on his neck.

  Fat chance. Tori lifted up onto her knees and slammed down onto his lap. His breath hissed through clenched teeth. Again. Even harder than before. He moaned. Pulling her close, he lathed her nipple with his tongue. Then he bit down on it with his front teeth.

  Tori moaned until he was almost out of her body, then slammed into her. “Yes,” she cried out. “That’s it.”

  Pressure built. She lost contact with all reality except the joining of their bodies. All she wanted, all she could think of was reaching the top of the mountain and jumping off. And then she did with a familiar banshee cry.

  He moaned. She did the same, only louder. The world exploded in pleasure. Again. And again. And again. He stilled and slammed her hips down one last time. He cried out, thrusting deep inside. Then she collapsed on top of him. The world spun. And dimmed. And she drifted off into darkness, her body sated yet her psyche unfulfilled. But not before she saw satisfaction suffuse his features and a hint of warmth fill his gaze.

  Chapter Five

  Hunter lifted Tori off his body carefully, as if she was made of the finest glass. Fragile yet strong. To be protected yet not needing protection. Because she was fearless. Because she cared. Because she rushed to help a ruthless vampire leader, not knowing who he was but knowing her life was in danger.

  Her fortitude tugged at him. She tugged at him. Although he’d been careful, she’d matched him movement for movement. Most women couldn’t take all of his length inside their bodies. Tori could.

  How fascinating. How wonderful. How perilous.

  Hunter placed her on the couch and fixed his clothes, regretting taking advantage of her. Yet from the moment he’d first seen her at the wedding, he’d known she was different. Something inside her pulled him to her as no one had before, and his attraction to her frightened him. He was a vampire and she a human; the two should never mix. And yet he couldn’t help himself.

  Was it simply the call of her blood or something more? He had no right to ask, and he should never have indulged his fantasies. With a darkness from the past menacing him, with a member of The Council making it very plain Hunter wasn’t trustworthy and rogues threatening his cell, he’d placed an innocent in grave danger.

  Hunter dressed her quickly, marveling at his response to her yet again. His blood quickened, pulse pounding. He stopped to admire her long, tanned legs; the sweeping curve of her hip; and the dark nest that had brought him so much pleasure this evening.

  He shook his head. Desire was a necessary evil, one satisfied quickly and forgotten. But with this woman? He shuddered. Victoria Roberts could prove to be more dangerous than a rogue. From the moment he’d seen her, he’d wanted her. He still wanted her.

  Hunter took a second to remember. She’d put all the women at the wedding to shame as her gown had seemed to glide over every muscle. She’d carried herself with effortless bearing. And those damned legs of hers, showing through the gap in her dress every time she’d moved.

  She’d taken his breath away.

  His head lifted as he buttoned the last button of her shirt. Mercedes had returned and nearly reached the house. A light knock at the door brought him back into the present. He walked over to the doorway and opened it. “Enter.”

  “Sir.” He nodded. “No sign of any other rogues. The two vampires we’re following have headed north toward the mountains and the woods. If there was anyone else with them, we’re not picking up any sign. I would never doubt your word, of course, but if there is a third vampire, he is not with them.”

  “Prudent. A worthy adversary.” And, if the man behind these attacks was who he thought it was, just the beginning of the game. So be it. “Some instincts never die.”

  Mercy frowned. “Sir?”

  “Self-preservation.” Her frown deepened, still not understanding. “Animals are easier to feed off of. Fewer humans means fewer witnesses.”

  “Yes, sir,” she nodded. “I’ll remember that.”

  He watched his lieutenant draw in a deep breath and hide a smile. The room reeked of lovemaking. “Comment?” he challenged.

  “Umm.” She coughed, and her gaze skittered away. “No, sir. Sorry.”

  She looked down to see the staining on his shirt, then up to search his face, alarm filling her gaze. “I’m all right, Mercy.” His mouth quirked. “And now you understand the, um…?”

  She grinned. Hunter allowed a slight smile in return. “You and your men are released from duty tonight. Go feed and take your pleasure. I’ll drive the doctor to the compound by myself.”

  “Are you sure you should go alone, sir?” she asked with a quick frown. “My men and I are more than happy to accompany you.”

  “I know. I’ll be all right, Mercy. I don’t believe there will be any further danger. My guess is this bunch won’t want to double back tonight. We’ll have trackers out in case they do?”

  “Of course.” Mercedes seemed affronted by the question. “The Lady Samira texted me.

  She says she will be waiting for you at the compound.”

  Texting. Internet. Instant gratification. Hunter wondered if he’d ever get used to this modern era. “Excellent.”

  He walked back over to the couch, bent down, and lifted Tori into his arms. Mercy opened the front door for him.

  Tori’s head curled into his chest, her cheek resting right over his heart. A sear of tenderness ran through him. He stiffened and shook his head. Tenderness had no place in his life and never had. Life equaled survival and nothing more. Period.

  He placed her in the car like a valued treasure. Once on the highway, he was able to think.

  Casperian.

  Master. Tormento
r. Breaker of spirit. Destroyer of soul.

  Hunter thought back to his human existence. He’d killed without remorse, without regret. The taking of a life in the arena had simply meant another day of survival. It was the nights that had killed him. Slowly. Moon by moon. Sold to the highest bidder. Male or female. He’d meant no more to them than a cow or pig. He’d been there to satisfy a hunger. His body had been given away so his master could watch. No, not for the sex, although he’d often thought that was part of it. No, for the power over another human life. They could do anything they wanted to him. And Casperian had controlled it all.

  Hunter glanced over at the woman sitting in his car, remembering her soft, brown gaze and the steel in her spine. “Don’t make me feel,” he begged.

  Strength and honor. From one so fragile. She had no idea who or what he was.

  The miles sped by. The highways were mostly deserted this time of night. Still, he knew to be prudent. So much easier than getting caught. Although the idea of a chase, drinking from the officer to fill his reserves, then making him or her forget had a great deal of merit.

  He reached the Palisades and glanced down at her again. Soft wisps of hair curled about her face. He sighed. No good was going to come from this night. None at all.

  Once he reached his home the gates of the compound opened, and he pulled the car inside. Sam was there to greet him when he reached the house. She opened the car door, took in the sight of his shirt, and asked, “Hunter? What happened?”

  Loath to expose his past, Hunter hesitated as he got out. “Someone I long thought dead seems to be very much alive and very much a vampire.”

  Shock filled Sam’s face followed by complete dismissal. “Impossible. I know every vampire created. No one else from your time exists.”

  “I’m afraid you’re mistaken, Sam. This vampire knows things from my past no one knows. Not even you.”

  “Not possible,” she reiterated. Although this time she frowned.