Theo quickly rinsed off, his storm cloud blue eyes dark. Then he shut off the water and kissed me hard, suddenly lifting me out of the shower and setting me down on the floor. He dried us off as I quickly put a handful of conditioner on my hair, then led me into the bedroom.
He pushed me back on his bed and climbed on top of me, his erection straining against my thighs. He kissed me softly, slowly, his hands cupping my breasts, rubbing the nipples so they hardened in his hands. I gasped, and he licked me, stroking me with his tongue, opening my mouth to his, as he rubbed himself against my thighs and then slid his body between them. I wrapped my legs around him and arched my back, trying to slide him inside. Oddly, he drew back from me.
“What?” I moaned, writhing beneath him, wanting him to enter me.
Theo kissed my neck, then moved lower to my breasts. Again, I came off the bed, arching my back. He reached out with one hand, pressing me back to the bed, as he slid the other into me. He moved his hand gently, his mouth still busy at my breast. I writhed harder, trying to push his hand away, to draw him up against me.
Then I felt his hand spreading my thighs and the first thrust of his tongue inside me. I jerked slightly and shuddered as he held me there, licking me, touching me like he never had before. Too soon, I was meeting his thrusts with my own, and the orgasm broke over me, leaving me trembling in his arms.
Theo crawled his way back up my body, kissing me as he came. “Did you like that?”
“God, yes,” I panted.
He kissed me again and suddenly slid himself into me as far as he could go. I cried out from the shock of it, so close to my orgasm. He lifted my hips up to slam himself into me again, moving fast, roaring out his pleasure as he came.
Satisfied, he rolled off and pulled me into his arms, kissing me tenderly. I rubbed against him suggestively, sliding my hair across his face. He let out a sigh of pleasure.
I pushed him back from me. “Lay down on your back.”
Theo lay on the bed, a question in his eyes. I kissed his neck, biting down slightly, and his breath came out in a hiss. I kissed my way down his chest, paying special attention to the scars with my lips, running my fingers through his golden chest hair. Then I ran my hands down either side of him to the spot where his legs met his torso and gripped him hard. He began to sit up, reaching for me as I took the whole of him into my mouth.
His back arched instantly as I enveloped him, driving himself into me with a cry. I moved back instinctively to avoid choking, then began sucking him, sliding my tongue over and around his manhood. His body began jerking under me, almost frantic to get deeper. Ardently, I slid my lips down again to take him into me as far as he could go and began moving quickly in rhythm. He thrust into me, gasping with eagerness, clenching and unclenching his muscles. Theo made as if to pull me up, but I splayed my hands against him to hold him immobile and moved still faster. He screamed, arching his back, his fingers like claws tearing the sheets as he drove himself deeply into me, his body spasming, almost choking me. I tasted him on my tongue as he spurted into my throat, the warmth almost burning me. I swallowed, still moving on him, as he continued to shudder and spasm. He groaned and put his hands on my shoulders, still flexing weakly as he finished.
A second later, he slid out of me and rolled me over onto my stomach, still kissing my shoulders and back. He pushed into me again, pulling my head back to kiss me as he drove into me repeatedly from behind. I groaned, loving the feeling of his muscles bunching and lengthening against my body.
His movements became quicker as he kissed my neck. His mouth opened, then came the press of his fangs.
I jerked in sudden fear. His fangs sank into me slightly as he bit down, not breaking the skin, but holding me still. I relaxed slightly, and he moaned, moving faster. Within minutes, I was close again, and then I was there with him as we cried out together, the sudden heat blinding us as our bodies orgasmed simultaneously.
As our hearts slowed, we just laid there and breathed.
He kissed me delicately, rubbing my inner thigh possessively. “That was amazing, Sar. What you did to me ... I’ve never done that before.”
Tears came to my eyes then, that I had been the first to give him that feeling. “I’m glad you liked it,” I said huskily.
He held me for a short time, while I listened to his heartbeat. Then he kissed my earlobe, tugging on it with his teeth.
“You know what I’m going to say,” Theo teased.
I drew a sharp breath, then let it out slowly. “Say it.”
Theo sat up, pulling me onto his lap. He kissed me lovingly, one hand running down my back and the other holding my face loosely, so that he was looking at me from only a foot away. He gave me a tender smile.
“Again, Sar. I want you again, my love, my wife, my Sar.”
“Yes,” I sighed, closing my eyes and moving in for another kiss.
He let out a laugh. Startled, I opened my eyes and frowned at him.
“That’s not the right line,” he said lightly.
“You’re right,” I replied with a smile. “I’m yours, Theo, as many times as you want.”
* * * *
I was awakened by the dogs’ hungry whining. As I got up to feed them, Theo stirred next to me, and it all came rushing back.
I’d found Theo. He still loved me. We’d been married yesterday. We’d made love so much that this morning my body was bruised and sore. And to my shame, I’d never called Danial to tell him any of it.
First things first: feed the dogs.
I got up slowly, my muscles aching. Being careful not to disturb Theo, I grabbed my robe from my bag and took care of the dogs. Then I looked out at the sunlit morning and debated what to do about the mess I’d just made of my orderly life.
I’d have to move out of Danial’s place again and bring the cats with me. Elle most likely wouldn’t want to come live with Theo and me, not with the way she felt about Danial. Theoron I’d promised to leave in Danial’s care...
Guilt hit me like a fist. I was a terrible, selfish person to have disrupted everyone’s life. Everyone had been happy with how things were or at least content. No matter what Danial had said to me before I left, he was going to be hurt. Elle and Theoron would be too, even though the latter was so young ...
Horribly, I didn’t care. At least, not enough to want to undo the last twenty-four hours. I loved Theo, and I wanted to be with him. Everyone would just have to adjust.
Selfishness wasn’t usual behavior for me, which led me to introspection. With a flicker of unease, I admitted that my love for Theo was so powerful, so strong, that it left almost no room for loving anyone else. I loved Elle, Danial and Theoron, but not like I loved Theo. Whether some of that had to do with the dream we’d shared twice now, or was due to the person he was, I wasn’t sure.
Still, I owed Danial and Elle the truth now, this very morning. Danial been through enough with having a brother like Devlin; he didn’t need trauma from me, too. Elle had been worried her whole life about me leaving her like her biological father Theo had. She’d never known her natural mother Tawny, who’d died just days after she was born. Theo had been taken from her, too, making her ultra-protective of me. While Theo would never replace her adopted father Danial, Elle needed to know I was coming back and bringing her natural father with me.
I checked my cell phone. There were three messages on it, one from Danial and two from Terian, asking if I was okay.
I dialed Terian first. He picked up on the first ring. “Sar, are you okay?”
“Yes.” In that one word was everything I was feeling.
“You found him.”
“I found him, Terian. Again, in no small way, thanks to you. I married him yesterday.”
“I’m happy for you both, even though I’m going to miss you. But you’ll be safer with him than with Danial.”
“Is Danial up?” I asked, dreading the answer.
“He’s asleep, but he said if you called I was to wake him up.
Hold on.”
I was sick with guilt and anxiety. “Put him on.”
After a few moments, Danial came on the line. “Sar, are you okay?”
“Yes,” I said sadly. “I found Theo.”
There was no reply for almost a minute. “You’re with him now, aren’t you?” he finally said with a sigh. “He wants you back.”
“Yes. I married him yesterday.”
Danial’s sharp intake of breath sounded loudly, and then the receiver was covered for a few minutes. Then came the soft sound of a door shutting.
“Sar?” Terian said cautiously. “You still there?”
“Yes,” I said, upset. “I’m here.”
“Danial said that he understood. That this is probably best, all things considered.”
Knowing that was true didn’t make it hurt any less. “Tell him I’m sorry. Tell him as soon as we can figure out a few things, we’ll be heading back to New York.”
“Aren’t you staying out there?”
“I’m not staying out here states away from my children,” I replied forcefully. “We’ll work something out.”
“Then I’ll see you in a few days,” Terian said. “Call and check in every day.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“Yes. That request came from Danial, not from me.”
I hung up, tears sliding down my face. I cried a little, feeling like a bitch for hurting Danial after all he’d done for me. Then I dried my eyes, rationalizing that I’d done the right thing by being honest.
I washed my face and got breakfast started. As I was finishing up, Theo came out of the bedroom and stood in the doorway for a while, watching me.
“Do you want three eggs or four?” I asked.
“Five,” he said hungrily. “You wore me out, wife.”
I laughed. “I’ll put them in now. Grab some plates and start loading before it gets cold.”
Theo began filling two plates with pancakes, toast, bacon, and sausage. When I finished making the eggs, I brought them to the table and divided them up between us, giving him the lion’s share.
“This is great,” Theo said between bites. “I missed your cooking.”
“I’m glad you like it,” I replied. “I missed cooking for you.”
Theo pushed back his clean plate. “What do you want to do today?”
“Wrong question,” I said quirkily.
Theo looked at me oddly. “What do you mean?”
“I mean reality took a vacation the moment we met up again, and this morning it’s back in full force. I just called Danial to tell him I’ve found you, and we’re back together. I also told him I was heading back shortly with you.” I paused to let that sink in. “Despite we’ve had a good time, we’ve got a lot to decide and the longer we delay, the worse everything’s going to be.” I sighed. “What I want isn’t this, but this is what we have to do.”
“I get it,” Theo replied, taking my hand in his. “I feel the same way. All I want to do is eat and make love with you, until you tell me that you can’t take anymore. But you’re right. I need to know what you want and to tell you what I want and see if we can’t agree on what to do.” He paused. “First off, do you want to live with me out here? Or do you want to go back to the Northeast? It sounds like you want to go back.”
“We need to go back. Elle needs to see you, and so does Danial. I have my old house, though the cats are still at Danial’s house. I’ll have to get them and my stuff. But what about your house? Do you have a job you love here?”
“I don’t own this place. I rent it. I have no job. I’ve just been carving to pass the time as I healed.” He grimaced. “What you see on my body now is nothing compared to how bad it was.”
I didn’t want to ask for details. He could tell me if he wanted to, when he was ready.
“I’d like to live at your house again,” he said. “We were happy there.”
“Good.”
“Will Elle want to live with us once she knows I’m alive?” Theo asked hopefully.
“No,” I said sadly. “She may not forgive me for leaving Danial and coming to you, even though she knows what you mean to me. She thinks of Danial as her father and calls him Dad. She blames you for taking my love from Danial and likely, for he and I separating now.”
“That is the truth, all of it,” he said, sighing. “I haven’t been much of a father to her.”
“I should have gone with you that night,” I said. “I—”
“Sar, you would have been killed or taken prisoner. Weres were not the only live goods that Gene dealt in.”
That was chilling. I shivered slightly.
“I can handle Elle needing time to get to know me as a friend, if not her father. But what about Danial?” he said, his eyes boring into mine. “Are you going to continue to work with him? Terian say you’d quit your job at the metal fabrication plant.”
“I’d like to, but that’s up to him,” I said slowly. “He’s upset about you and me, though he said he understood. If it’s just the money you’re worried about, all of your savings are intact.”
“That seems amazingly understanding of him,” Theo said suspiciously. “Why isn’t he fighting harder to keep you, especially as you’re the mother of his child, Theoron? It’s almost as if he wants you with me.”
“From being with him so long, I was beginning to turn,” I admitted. “But I’d promised him I’d stay in spite of that, though Camlyn told me to go. It was because of that Terian told me you were alive.”
Theo stared at me for a moment with a worried expression. “How close are you?”
“Very close, according to Camlyn.”
“Why are you calling your doctor by his last name?” Theo asked curiously.
“After all we went through during my pregnancy with Theoron, we got a little less formal,” I replied. “I won’t go into detail, but it was unusual, to say the least.”
“Well, you won’t be donating any more blood,” Theo said, matter of fact. “That will help. That and time away from Danial.”
His comment might have been the truth, but I didn’t like the way he’d stated it, as if I had no say. “Speaking of health, I heard your words to Aspen. Should I get tested by Camlyn?”
Theo colored. “I’m sorry. We can both be tested, of course. I was never unprotected with Aspen except as a cougar. According to what Dr. Camlyn said to me in the past, STDs are hard to transmit in animal form, especially for you to get from me, as you aren’t werecougar. But it’s possible, so yes, we both should get checked out, just to be safe.”
Prompted by his confession, I started to say I had only been with Danial. Theo cut me off. “Sar, I know you were only with Danial. But are you back on the pill?”
“No. Danial stopped taking the potion once I was pregnant with Theoron.”
“Then you may be pregnant,” Theo said, both scared and very excited.
I closed my eyes. How to say that there wouldn’t be any children for him and me, not ever? “I’m not pregnant,” I said finally, willing myself not to cry.
“You might be,” he said, this time not trying to hide his excitement. “It’s okay, Sar. I’d love that, especially now we’re married and—”
Theo realized I was bawling, sobbing like my heart was breaking. He hugged me tightly.
“Don’t cry,” he said soothingly. “It’s okay. You’re scared, I know, but you don’t have to be. What happened to Tawny won’t happen to you—”
I couldn’t stand it anymore. “I can’t have any more children, Theo,” I blurted forcefully. “I was hurt having Theoron. We can’t have children.”
Theo went rigid against me. “It doesn’t matter,” he said finally, holding me. “Not to me.”
“You’re lying,” I said tearfully. “I can hear it in your voice.”
Chapter Four
“I’m disappointed,” Theo admitted after a moment. “But that’s all. I love you, Sarelle. I’m not going anywhere because of this or anything
else you might tell me.”
“What if Aspen comes back to you in a few months and tells you she’s pregnant?”
“Sarelle, she was on the pill,” Theo said, irritated. “I made sure, after what happened with Tawny. And in human form, I always used protection myself, too.”
“You trusted her?” I asked skeptically.
“I told her what happened to Tawny, making it as graphic as possible, then went with her to get a supply of pills. She didn’t want to die or have a child. She just wanted to have sex.”
That last statement made my stomach turn over, as I visualized again finding them together, Theo moving on her. Still, I’d had a child with another man, so who was I to bitch?
“We’ve settled enough for this morning,” Theo said leading me to the bedroom. “Let’s get some more sleep, then revisit this in the afternoon.”
We lay down, wrapping our arms around one another. I buried my face in his chest and shortly fell asleep. We awoke after four in the afternoon.
“Do I seem any different to you?” I asked. “When I told you about my being close to becoming vampire, you acted as though it wasn’t a complete surprise to you.”
“I thought that you lasted longer with me than you had before,” Theo said finally, studying me. “Your skin is a little colder, too, Sar. Only a few degrees or so. But otherwise no. You’re just as wonderful as I remember you being.”
“Thanks for the compliment,” I said, giving him a kiss.
“Do you want any more Chinese?” he said, getting up.
“Go ahead,” I said. “I’m not that hungry.”
Theo nodded and left the room, the dogs at his heels. As the minutes passed, I began to feel oddly uneasy.
Theo came back in with a smile that faded when he saw the expression on my face. “What is it?” he said, sitting down and putting his arms around me. ”You look scared.”
“Part of me is afraid this is a dream. That I’m going to wake up back with Danial or back in my motel room alone.”
He gave me one of his broad smiles. “After all this time, you know we can’t just have a normal dream of one another. God knows I wanted to when I was alone and hurt. I don’t know why, but it’s something to do with the dream we shared twice now, I’ll bet on it.” He held up my hand, showing me his ring on my finger. “I gave you this as a symbol, so you’d know you’ll never be without me again. Not on this earth.”
Taken For His Own Page 4
