by Cora Zane
“Leave it.” The command stopped her cold. His eyes watched her like a viper. The robe fell open when he stood up, and she drank in the sight of his lean, chiseled body. “We are not done yet.” He walked around her and across the room to a gold metal screen covering the wall on the right side of the fireplace. He touched a switch she hadn’t even noticed was there, and the gilt screen slid aside. It was the door to an elevator. If he hadn’t shown her, she’d never have guessed. “Get up.”
She did as he said. “My clothes…”
“You don’t need them.”
He expected her to walk through the house wearing nothing but high heels? She glanced at the discarded dress and was about to make a grab for it anyway when he called her down.
“Eleni,” his voice was stern, “I haven’t fucked you yet and I’m becoming impatient.”
Was he trying to make her uncomfortable on purpose? She didn’t want to question his motives, but Rubio had gone out of his way to put her in more uncomfortable scenarios than she cared to remember. And he had done so out of spite. She sincerely hoped that wasn’t one of Julian’s secret kinks.
Feeling exposed and a little awkward, she braced her hand on the side of the leather chair to help pull herself to her feet. As hard as it was for her to trust him, she had no real choice but to give her new Biter the benefit of the doubt.
Julian stood aside to let her into the narrow elevator. When she was inside with him, he slid the grate closed and pressed the button to take them upstairs. As soon as they were in motion, he turned to her and pulled her close to him. Ah, to feel a woman in his arms again, one that was his for the taking, not a borrowed vein from Marguerite’s harem. He found her mouth and kissed her, nipping those full sweet lips still salty from his essence. The warm satin of her skin enticed him to slide his hands along hips and around to the smooth mounds of her buttocks. He pulled her taut against him, flesh to flesh, and nearly groaned. He traced his tongue along her throat, taut amusement curling through him when she stiffened ever so slightly at the gentle scrape of his fangs.
Looking down between them, he ran his finger beneath the side strap of her thong. “This is the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.” Her stomach muscles tensed when he traced his fingers over the sheer fabric, his middle finger sliding soft as a whisper along her moist slit.
“Does that feel good for you?”
“Yes,” she said, breathing in sharply when he repeated the action once more before he slipped his fingers beneath the lace edge of her panties and stroked his way through her folds to find her clit.
Eleni clutched at his shoulders as if hanging on for dear life. Her hands bunched in the fabric of his satin robe while she ground herself against his sure fingers.
She was vaguely aware that the elevator had stopped. But she didn’t care. His mouth was on hers, his hands driving her toward sweet oblivion. Their breathing mingled together in a harsh symphony.
“Oh…” She leaned her head back, heart galloping, frustration driving her toward orgasm. She was so close, so close to coming, the rise of desperation in her blood, needing only a little more to push her over the edge. Instead of giving her the release she craved, he withdrew his fingers, kissed her throat, and stepped back.
“Julian!” she panted, the air cool against her bare skin without his body shielding her. “You…Julian, please…”
“Not yet,” he said, and she felt herself growing peevish with him.
“You’re a tease…” she chastised him, breathless.
To her surprise, he chuckled, a deep, rich sound that danced over her skin and sent a small thrill spiraling straight to her core. Gone was the man who had seemed so angry with her when she had first arrived.
“Do you want me to fuck you in the elevator?” The opposite door had already slid open, revealing a long hallway. He reached out and pushed back the gold grate that barred them inside and gestured down the hall to a set of carved double doors. “My room is just there.” Taking her by the hand, he lured her from the elevator, pulling her up close against his body. “I’d much rather see you naked and panting while splayed across my bed.”
She almost moaned aloud at the mental picture he created with those words. His eyes darkened with a promise of pleasure. Eleni nodded quietly, allowing him to guide her from the elevator and along the shadowy corridor in the direction of the master suite.
A minute later, their bodies tangled together, touching, kissing, caressing, they stumbled through the doorway into Julian’s room. Someone had come up before them to prepare the suite for them. The fireplace blazed, sending orange light high across the dark blue wallpaper, illuminating an antique armoire and a massive four poster bed arranged along the wall facing the fire. Shadows danced in the corners, over sullen tapestries and flowing blue drapes.
Julian bumped the door shut with his knee, and guided Eleni back through the windowless room to the bed. With quick, questing fingers she tried to push the robe back over his shoulders, but his arms were caught in the sleeves, and he made no move to let her slip the garment from his body. No matter, she trailed her hands over his chest and down to his taut abs, reveling in the feel of his muscles jerking at her touch. She couldn’t keep her hands off of him.
The cold satin comforter touched the back of her legs and she shivered. Julian’s gaze zeroed in on her nipples as they peaked, and he leaned forward to flick his tongue over one taut bud then the other.
A ripple of pleasure cascaded through her, and she threw her blonde head back and sighed. Julian growled under his breath, and leaned forward to lick her from throat to chin.
“Are you offering your blood to me, mon amour?”
“I yours to take, all of me,” she whispered, her body so hot she thought she might burn to cinders if he didn’t fuck her soon.
Whatever game he played with her, she was no match for it. He seemed to be able to turn his emotions on and off with a switch. First he hated her, now he made her feel beautiful and desirable. She had assumed he would dismiss her after he’d exerted his dominance over her downstairs. Instead, he caressed her breasts, her hips, and thighs, at last turning her around and pushing her down onto the cool mattress so that her ass pointed up into the air.
“Such a perfect view,” he said, the words rumbling low in his chest. He kissed the right cheek, then the left, nipping playfully with his teeth. Then he began to tug at his robe, and at first she thought he intended to strip it off, but all he did was remove the fabric sash.
“What are you doing?” she asked on a breath.
“Put your hands behind your back.”
Her heart thumped harder, faster. Shaking, she did as he told her, and felt him wind the strip of satin around her wrists, binding them together. She turned her head to the side to try and get a glimpse of him, but he was too far out of her field of vision. He struck her ass cheek sharply for her efforts, and she stiffened in surprise.
Another growl rumbled from him. “I didn’t give you permission to look at me.”
Despite his fierce tone, he rubbed her stinging flesh with the soothing palm of his hand.
“Sweet Eleni, I’m going to enjoy fucking you,” he said, his voice a deep rumble of need. “Just the sight of you makes my cock hard. Tell me, is that what you want? Your vampire master to fuck you? Tell me how much you want it.”
Eleni swallowed hard, struggling for words. She did want it. More than she cared to admit. Her answer didn’t come fast enough, and he struck her tender buttocks again and again, making her cry out in little mewling notes.
“I didn’t hear you. How much do you want me?”
“More,” she gasped when his massaging hands stroked and soothed her heated bottom, “more than anything.”
Her answer must’ve pleased him. The bed dipped as he shifted his weight, moving so he could drag the straps of her thong down her thighs. He left her panties half way down, so that the fabric stretched taut between her parted knees. Cool air brushed against the hot wetness of her pus
sy, and in those brief moments, he didn’t touch her. The lack of his hands on her made her feel empty and alone. She moaned, needing him to fill her, to give her some kind of release. “Please, Julian…more.”
He massaged her inner thighs in slow circles with his thumbs, moving higher with each pleasurable movement, until she was dizzy with need. Aching for fulfillment, she moaned a little as he approached her inner thighs and lingered there, rubbing, teasing her, the tips of his fingers faintly grazing her swollen nether lips. It was sheer torture, the way her pussy throbbed for him.
At last, he slid a finger into her, probing deep, where she needed him most. A breathy shudder wracked her body at the high, hot feelings that flashed through her.
“Good, is it? You’re so wet for me,” he commented breathily. “I wager I could make you come with a few strokes like this.”
Her heart beat faster as his fingers explored her moist slit, spearing through her pussy lips to find her swollen clit. He massaged it in sweet, small circles that felt so good it sent a surge of blood throbbing in her temples, the sound a heady drumbeat in her ears. She rubbed herself against his strong fingers in desperation. She was so close to coming, poised right there on the edge, aching for it, needed to come, anything to release her from this carnal spell.
Eleni whimpered when his fingers left her body. He had pulled back to remove his robe..
Her eyes drifted shut, her body tense, her upper lip beaded with cool sweat while she waited for him to mount her from behind. At once, his hand was on her back, urging her to tilt her hips. Trembling, she complied. He spoke guttural words she could barely make out, but the fact that he was driven to swear in her name aroused her all the more.
Behind her, he nudged his cock against her slick opening, and she wiggled back toward him, urging him to take her. Eleni cried out in bliss when he thrust into her hard, just the way she hoped he would.
“Ah, yes,” he hissed, on a sharp intake of breath. Her inner walls clutched at him, and in response, he groaned loudly, his hands biting into her hips. He began to ride her in long, slow strokes.
The hot, rhythmic penetration was all she could take. The moment Julian reached around her to rub her clitoris, she shivered as sweet release flowed through her in a heated rush, breaking down all her defenses, launching her into a mad spiral of pleasure.
Goosebumps peppered her flesh as she came, her body convulsing in rapture.
“That’s it. Come for me,” he murmured against her shoulder, kissing her there, scraping her with his teeth as his stabbing thrusts grew harder, more frantic.
Ripe fear curled through her. Her whole body tensed in anticipation of his bite. Julian uttered what sounded like an erotic obscenity then sank his fangs into her shoulder.
Never before had it felt as heady or potent as this. His fangs lit her up like liquid fire. Pure lust blazed through her veins. Her nerves sang with minute vibrations, and colored light pulsed behind her closed eyelids. Her lips formed an O as she fought for breath. In an instant, her entire body tensed and released, a second, blinding orgasm flared through her, growing brighter and more intense until her thoughts scattered into shivering, pulsating oblivion.
They collapsed together on the bed, their panting breaths mingling together. Julian released her, his tongue swiping over the tingling bite wounds before planting a quick kiss on the back of her neck. He rolled off of her, and stretched out alongside her on the mattress.
After a moment, Julian eased up on his elbow and released the binding around her wrists. Having her arms free again was blessed relief. Eleni’s muscles burned from being in one position for so long, something she hadn’t noticed until now.
She turned over onto her back and rubbed her wrists, grateful for the cool air that brushed against her overheated skin. Beside her, Julian rested with his arm flung over his eyes. The skin from just above his elbow was a weathered brown, the color of distressed leather. The sight of it startled her. Not because the scars were gruesome, or that she hadn’t known he’d been burned a long time ago, but because the wounds weren’t imagined. They were real, and somehow that seemed impossible. Julian had such a dominant personality, it seemed as though he should be immune to physical harm.
The burn scars chased up his arm, and along his left side. She couldn’t see much more than that, but she guessed the withered discolorations must cover most, if not all, of his back. It made sense now why he hadn’t wanted to remove his clothes for her—the scars bothered him. He obviously hadn’t wanted her to see them on their first night together.
Eleni gave herself a mental shake. The last thing she wanted was to seem disrespectful, or to upset him by staring. Worst of all, he could come to the conclusions that the burns could in some way affect her ability to bond with him.
Julian’s breathing had grown deep and regular. Perhaps it was for the best that he slept. Feeling awkward, she sat up on the edge of the bed and looked around for something to wear. If she remembered right, her room was straight down the hallway, past the balcony overlooking the front foyer, and at the end of the opposing corridor. Surely, she could find her way there on her own.
There was nothing nearby save for Julian’s black robe still draped across the end of the bed. She grabbed it, eased off the mattress, then flipped the robe around her shoulders. It was far too large. The hem touched the top of her feet.
She’d folded the front together, and was searching the floor for the belt Julian had discarded when she looked across the bed and saw him sitting up on his elbow, watching her. “Where are you going?” he asked.
“I…I was going to return to my room.”
“No.” Julian threw back the sheets, and was out of bed in an instant.
Her heart leapt when he prowled toward her. He grabbed the front of the robe by the lapels and stripped it back over her shoulders so that it slid easily from her body onto the floor. Julian snatched it up and balled it into a wad of fabric before tossing it into the corner of the room.
Eleni opened her mouth to explain, but Julian cut her short when he swept her off her feet and carried her back to bed. “If it were my wish to dismiss you to your room, I would do so,” he said as he returned her to the mattress. “But this is our first daylight together. You will sleep here with me.”
Chapter Six
Eleni woke feeling sluggish and hazy brained. Disoriented, she stared at the gentleman’s chair along the shadowy wall by the bed, and when she noticed the black sash tossed across the bentwood arm, she remembered Julian’s touch, his heated kisses. She propped herself up on her elbow and looked around, noting that a fire still burned in the gas fireplace. She shoved her hair back from her face, wondering what time it was.
Julian slept beside her, pale and silent, the black satin sheets pooled around his waist. At the sight of his muscular chest, her heart did a somersault. One night with him, and already he had given her so much pleasure.
Her gaze lingered on his ripped abs, and the dark trail of hair that disappeared beneath the covers. Reaching back, she laid a hand on his muscular chest. His skin felt cool, and his breathing was so shallow one might think he was not breathing at all. Not wanting to wake him, she withdrew her hand, and contented herself with staring at him.
All her life she’d been around handsome men, but Julian’s dark good looks made her weak inside. In awe of him, she trailed her gaze along his chiseled jaw, dark with a day’s growth of beard stubble. His shiny black hair fanned out across the pillow, beckoning her touch.
He slept with his hand behind his head and tucked beneath the pillows, the unguarded pose exposing the burn scars along his left side. Even if she hadn’t known about his scars before her arrival, it wouldn’t have mattered to her that they were there. They didn’t seem to pain him, and they didn’t detract at all from his raw male beauty.
Of course, a vampire’s ideal beauty differed from a human’s perspective. Eleni had been taught that vampires prized perfection from the time she was old enough to understa
nd what her role in life would be. For vampires, their bodies had to last them through hundreds, and in rare cases, thousands, of years. Preservation of their looks was important to them, and they prized in themselves the same kind of flawless beauty they looked for in a blood mate.
To Julian, his scars must seem like unforgivable flaws. A needless shame, in her opinion, but at least now she could begin to understand why he sent away his entire harem.
She was grateful he had made an exception for her, even if he had only accepted her because she was a blood gift from Dominic. However, that didn’t mean she was foolish enough to surrender her heart to Julian. There were two sides to people. She had learned that lesson the hard way. Eleni stared at her new Biter a moment longer, then pulled back the sheets and climbed out of bed.
She wrapped herself in a satin sheet that had fallen off the bed during the day, and padded quietly across the room to the door.
Out in the hallway, she walked toward the open balcony overlooking the grand entrance. A faint glow clung to the stained glass window of St. Vincent, the gemstone colors radiant in the dying light of day. She passed in front of it, looking down over the silent entryway as she crossed into the west wing of the house. Walking past the empty silence of so many uninhabited rooms disturbed her. A house of this size was not meant to be empty. The lack of laughter and idle chatter made the chateau seem less like a place for the living, and more like a mausoleum.
A chill passed over her when at last she turned the corner. Trying to ignore the empty row of adjoined rooms, Eleni fixed her eyes on the double doors to the suite Julian had set aside for her. Even then, she couldn’t quell the sense of oppressive loneliness and an almost queasy sense of fear. The silence and stillness made the hall seem almost haunted—with what, she couldn’t guess. Not ghosts, she was certain of that, but perhaps centuries of bad memories had left an impression.
Eleni reached the double doors, and grabbed for the handle. She entered the room without a second thought, and yelped in surprise at the sight of a woman standing in front of her closet door in a bright blue dress.
