by Tina Folsom
But the biggest change was visible in Roxanne’s face. Colored contacts Blake had quickly sourced from the large vault below Scanguards HQ, which carried everything from fake mustaches to silver bullets, had turned Roxanne’s grey eyes into stunning emeralds.
Professional stage make-up had changed the height of her cheekbones and plumped up her lips to make them as full as Katie’s. A slightly darker foundation made Roxanne’s skin color match Katie’s. With a kohl pencil, Katie had redrawn Roxanne’s eyebrows and shaped them so they were identical to her own. Roxanne’s nose was longer than Katie’s, but with the creative use of different powders and blushes, it now appeared shorter.
“Wow.” Luther let out a stunned breath. “The resemblance is uncanny.”
“Yeah,” Wesley added. “That’s totally creepy.” He looked Roxanne up and down. “You look like Katie. And that’s totally weirding me out.”
Katie suppressed a smirk. She’d noticed how Wes had looked at Roxanne earlier. Apparently her brother had a crush on the sexy vampire vixen.
“As long as Roxanne doesn’t have to talk, I think we’ll be fine,” Katie said. “I’m afraid we didn’t have time to work on her accent.”
“I’ve lived in this country for over three decades. I doubt even a whole semester of elocution lessons would get rid of my accent, dear,” Roxanne said.
“I find your accent charming,” Wes replied. “Don’t ever lose that.”
Roxanne didn’t verbally reply to Wesley’s comment, though her lips lifted into a soft smile. “I guess now the waiting begins.”
Luther nodded. “I just checked in with Blake. They haven’t heard back from Forrester yet. We still have a few hours until the exchange.”
Katie sought Luther’s eyes. “Do you, uh, could you, maybe…” She felt awkward trying to ask Luther in front of the others. “There’s something…” She motioned to the ceiling, indicating the upper floor.
Finally Luther seemed to understand. “Oh, yes, of course, there’s something we’ll need to take care of. Uh, excuse us.”
As Katie turned she caught Wesley’s eye roll. But to his credit, her brother didn’t make a snarky comment, though he knew what this was about: she wanted to be alone with Luther.
Because this would be their last time.
Luther didn’t speak, didn’t even take her hand as they climbed the stairs and walked down the corridor to her bedroom. She entered ahead of him and sensed him following her. When the door snapped shut a moment later, she just stood there in the middle of the room, not moving, not turning around.
She felt his hands on her shoulders, cupping them. His breath at her nape. She shivered.
“Katie,” he murmured.
“I don’t want to talk. We both know this is goodbye. Don’t make it any harder than it is.”
“Then tell me what you want.”
“Make love to me and pretend I’m the only woman in the world who means anything to you.”
Luther sighed. “Oh God, Katie.” He molded his chest to her back. “I wish I’d met you twenty-five years ago.”
“Let’s not look back. I only want to live in this moment.” She turned in his arms, facing him.
“Will it be enough?”
She forced a smile. “It’ll have to be.”
Luther’s hand came up to stroke her cheek. “You’re everything a man could wish for. Brave, beautiful, and loving.”
“But it’s not enough, is it?” she asked.
“On the contrary. It’s too much. I don’t deserve all that.”
“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”
“Because I know how this will end. With me hurting you, hurting both of us.”
“History doesn’t have to repeat itself.”
“What if it does?”
She put a finger over his lips. “I don’t want to think about what might happen. I just want to feel.”
He acknowledged her demand by blinking his eyes.
Katie let her hands slide to his chest, finding the buttons of his shirt. “I want to remember everything about you.” She popped the first button open, then the next. “I want to kiss every inch of your body.”
Beneath her palms she felt Luther’s heart beat frantically. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and a strangled moan came over his lips. Katie opened his shirt and stripped him of it. She ran her fingertips over his scars.
“You’re beautiful,” she murmured and meant it. His pectorals flexed under her touch, responding to her caresses.
“I’m scarred, baby. There’s nothing beautiful about it.”
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” She brought her lips to his chest and pressed open-mouthed kisses onto his marred skin. “I wish I could take the pain away that you had to endure when you got these scars.”
“When you touch me, I don’t remember any pain.” He sighed and dropped his head back. “I only feel pleasure.”
Katie licked over the angry ridges on his skin. Luther smelled of power and pure maleness. He excreted a scent that drew her to him like a moth to the flame. And she didn’t care if this flame would burn her, because the pleasure she obtained by being with him made it all worth it.
She ran her hands down his torso, until she reached his pants. Luther’s next inhale was audible, and she felt him tense under her hands. Eager to explore him, she opened the button of his pants and slid the zipper down. Slowly, she pushed his pants down to his ankles.
Her eyes fell on his groin. Underneath the boxer briefs a large bulge was visible. It stretched the black fabric to capacity. Licking her lips, she placed her palm over it. Heat suffused her hand, and his cock jerked against it as if it wanted to leap into her hand.
Luther groaned.
She squeezed his hard flesh briefly, then hooked her thumbs into the waistband and pulled his boxer briefs down, letting them drop to his feet. His cock sprang free, curving up against his belly. His balls pulled up tightly. For the first time she could truly admire him. The times before he’d never given her a chance to look at him for long, taking her so quickly that she didn’t have time to look her fill. She made up for it now.
Thick purple veins wound around his shaft, adding to its thickness. The root sat in a thick nest of dark hair. Moisture leaked from the soft tip of his cock, making the mushroomed head glisten.
Katie reached for him, wrapping her hand around his steely length.
Luther hissed out a breath. “Fuck, baby.”
“I’m gonna lick you now and take you into my mouth,” she told him.
With one hand he cupped her cheek, pulling her face closer and dropping his forehead to hers. “You do know that if you do that, I’m going to lose control, don’t you?”
“I figured as much.”
“Are you prepared for what I’ll do when that happens?”
“Are you?” she challenged. Because she was ready for his bite, ready for the ecstasy he promised.
“What if I can’t stop?”
“You stopped before.”
He shook his head. “Because I knew I would have you again. But tonight—”
“Just pretend this is not the last time.”
Katie made a motion to drop to her knees, but Luther stopped her. “Wait.”
She gave him a questioning look.
“Take off your clothes.”
While Luther rid himself of his shoes and stepped out of his pants and boxer briefs, Katie pulled her top over her head. When she reached for the front clasp of her bra, he gripped her hand.
“Leave your bra and your panties on.” He ran a lusting look over her. “Goddamn, woman, what you do to me…”
She unzipped her pants and shimmied out of them, kicking off her shoes in the process. Finally, wearing only her black lace bra and matching bikini panties, she dropped to her knees in front of him. She felt sexy and desirable, kneeling in front of him like this, hearing him breathe heavily as if he were running a marathon.
She reached for his cock, brushing
her fingers over the underside of it and back again.
“Fuck!” Luther hissed.
She scooted closer, bringing her mouth to the tip of his swollen shaft. She darted out her tongue and licked over the velvet-soft head, gathering up the moisture with her tongue. When she swallowed his taste, her nipples hardened, chafing against her bra, and her clit throbbed uncontrollably.
She felt Luther’s hand on her head then, combing through her hair, caressing her scalp tenderly. “Oh, baby.”
Again she licked over the head of his cock, leisurely, so she could catalogue its texture and shape, burning it into her memory. She swirled her tongue underneath the rim of his cockhead, eliciting a loud moan from Luther and causing him to tighten his fingers around the back of her head. But he didn’t force her, didn’t pull her head toward him.
Instead, Katie was the one to wrap her lips around him, slowly swallowing the tip of his cock and sliding down on his hard rod until she could go no farther. He was only halfway inside her mouth, but it was all she could take. He was too big.
Katie took a breath through her nose and relaxed her jaw muscles, then wrapped one hand around his root and withdrew gently, her lips puckered around his hard flesh, her tongue sliding along its underside. Her other hand lay braced on his thigh. A thigh she felt trembling now.
“Oh, Katie!” he cried out. “You’re killing me.”
She let him slip from her mouth, only to pull him back into it, sucking harder this time, while her hand moved up and down his erection in sync with her sucking motion. There was something about his taste that made her want more. She felt him starting to thrust, slowly at first, but beneath her hands she sensed the vampire wanting to burst to the surface. Every time she slid down on him, she felt him shudder, and every time she pulled back and withdrew, his hips flexed and he demanded more.
He was putty in her hands, surrendering to her mouth, her lips, her tongue. And for the first time in her life she knew what it was like to be powerful. To be strong. Luther gave her that power. He made her whole again. As if his cock in her mouth was the instrument that infused her with strength.
Katie licked him more feverishly now, eager for his surrender. She brought her second hand to his balls, cupped him, and felt another shudder travel through his body. His cock jerked in her mouth, and anticipation made her own body tremble.
“Stop!” Luther cried out and wrenched himself from her mouth.
He pulled her up by her elbows, and an instant later she found herself bent over the chaise longue, her torso pressed into the cushions, her ass pointing in the air. Luther ripped her panties off, tearing the thin material into shreds.
“Now you’ve done it, Katie!” he ground out. “Shouldn’t have sucked me like that.”
He sounded different now, his voice raspier, his breathing choppy.
“You didn’t like it?” she teased, though she knew the answer to her question.
Luther plunged into her from behind, seating himself in her channel, before he answered, “You know as well as I do how much I liked your mouth around my cock.”
But she barely heard his words, because his hard cock stretching her robbed her nearly of all her senses. “You feel good, Luther, so good.”
He gripped her hips firmly and pulled her toward him, slamming his cock forward at the same time, doubling the impact. All air rushed from her lungs, making her gasp.
“See, Katie? Do you see now what you’re doing to me?”
But she couldn’t answer, because he began to fuck her fast and furious, plunging deep then withdrawing, his hands on her hips imprisoning her so she couldn’t move. Couldn’t escape his unrelenting cock. He stretched her to capacity, his erection touching places inside her that sent hot bolts of pleasure through her body. Her breasts were still imprisoned in her bra and rubbed against the cushions with every thrust Luther delivered. Her nipples were hard peaks begging for relief.
She collected all her strength and pushed herself up so she could bring one hand to the front clasp of her bra. With difficulty she managed to open it just as Luther plunged deeper into her, making her land back in the cushions. On his next withdrawal she succeeded in freeing her breasts from the cups and shucking the bra.
“Fuck, Katie!” he called out and pulled out of her.
“No!” she protested. “Don’t stop!”
He gripped her legs and turned her onto her back, his eyes wild, his fangs extended. His gaze landed on her naked breasts, and she could see him salivate.
“Fuck me, Luther, please!” she begged.
He rolled over her and plunged his cock back into her. Katie let out a contented sigh, relieved that he filled her again. Without him, she’d felt empty.
Luther was riding her hard and fast. She’d never known that such wildness could give her such pleasure, but with every hard thrust and every withdrawal Luther was driving her closer to the edge. Her entire body began to tingle. All her nerve endings seemed to awaken with awareness. And inside her a fire began to burn, slowly making its way to the surface.
“Yes, Luther,” she chanted, pressing her head into the chaise longue and arching her back, offering him what she knew he desired.
A growl came from him, then his breath caressed her breast and teased her nipple. When she felt the tips of his fangs scrape against her skin, she shivered with pleasure. He drove them into her, causing her a split-second of pain, but it vanished as quickly as it had come, making way for pleasure.
She felt him pull hard, feeding from her. Some of the blood spilled from his mouth, so greedily did he drink from her. She felt it trickle down her breast. But Luther didn’t seem to notice. He continued to drink, while farther below, his hips thrust back and forth.
Katie let herself go. Luther feeding from her lulled her into a trance, while his pistoning cock sent waves of pleasure through her body. Her clit throbbed. Then her body erupted in a symphony of ecstasy. She heard nothing but her own heartbeat and Luther’s moans. Her sex spasmed and she felt Luther respond in kind. His cock jerked inside her. Then she felt it: his hot semen filling her as he continued to move inside her. Slower now, but no less tantalizing.
She felt cool air waft against her breast, then a hot tongue lick over it. Katie lazily opened her eyes and watched Luther lift his head from her breast and retract his fangs. His eyes were still glowing red, but the moment he met her gaze they turned back to their rich brown color.
Katie opened her mouth to speak, but no words came over her lips, because the only words she wanted to say were ones he didn’t want to hear. Instead she lifted her hand and ran it through his hair. It was damp from his sweat.
He held her gaze, but he, too, was silent. After an eternity, he rolled off her and stood.
She looked up at him, drinking in his perfect male form for the last time, before he turned his back to her and began to get dressed.
I love you, she mouthed silently behind his back and pushed back the tears that threatened to expose her true feelings.
41
Luther looked over his shoulder at Katie, who stood in the hallway, watching him and Roxanne getting ready to leave.
“Give me a moment,” he said to Roxanne and crossed the distance between him and Katie with four long strides.
Wesley retreated into the living room, giving them privacy.
Luther put a finger under Katie’s chin and tilted her face up. There was so much he wanted to say to her, but words failed him, just like they’d failed him when they’d made love. He’d sensed it then, in fact had felt it growing inside him over the last few days and nights. The feeling that he couldn’t live without her. That she was meant for him. That he was meant for her. He didn’t want to acknowledge it, because it was impossible for something like that to happen to him. And to happen so fast.
And why should it? Most vampires only got one chance at finding their mate. Why would he of all people get a second one, when he knew he didn’t deserve it? Or was it all an illusion that would be ripped
from his hands the minute he grabbed for it? He’d been down that road once before with Vivian. And he was frightened to take that same path again. What if it led him to the same horrible end? So he could be punished once more.
“Katie,” he murmured, unable to turn his feelings into words.
Tears rimmed her emerald eyes. Her breath blew against his face, so sweet, so tempting that it nearly tore his heart in two.
He pulled her into his arms and brought his mouth to her ear. “I can’t promise you anything, but I want you to know that what’s between us means something to me.” He took her hand and pressed it against the place where his heart beat out of control. “You are in here.”
She sniffled. “Luther,” she choked out.
He pressed a kiss to her forehead, then turned quickly, worried that he wouldn’t be able to leave if he saw her cry. With long steps he walked to where Roxanne stood. He waited for a moment until he heard Katie join her brother in the living room. Then he opened the door and took Roxanne’s hand to lead her outside into the dark.
Pretending to be as affectionate with Roxanne as he’d been with Katie was hard and felt unnatural, but in case they were being watched, he did it nevertheless. He was glad when they were finally sitting in Katie’s Audi and driving toward the waterfront to meet up with Blake’s team.
~ ~ ~
Luther pulled up at the abandoned pier and killed the engine. “Showtime.”
Roxanne nodded. “Let’s do this.”
They exited the car. Blake was already waiting for them. Luther looked around. He saw nobody else.
“Where is everybody?” Luther asked as Roxanne stopped next to him.
“The team is in place.” Blake motioned toward the water. “The exchange will take place on Alcatraz. It’s not exactly the kind of place we were counting on. We had to scramble to set everything up.”
