by Tia Wylder
That hope started to fade though. Tyler was going to be with us for a year while he recovered and that was a long time to live with that kind of tension in the air. Things progressed slowly, like the pace of a high school relationship. We flirted almost constantly in those first few months. Then there were mornings when I was cooking breakfast that he would come out of the shower wearing nothing but a towel around his waist.
I stole a glance every time he walked by. My heart started racing when I traced a line down his chest and towards his waist. Part of me always hoped the towel would accidentally slide off. When Jacob was sleeping, we would put on a movie or watch one of my cheesy reality TV shows. As the nights went on we started sitting closer and closer until one night, after several glasses of wine, I found myself laying against him. His arm was draped over my shoulder. I felt comfortable and safe for the first time since Axel left.
It had been over eleven months since he left. They stopped talking about draft-dodgers on the news, but he never came back. Either they found him, or he really did just run away. I didn’t want to think about that, though, I wanted to exist in this moment.
Tyler reached up and ran a hand through my hair. A gentle chill ran down my spine as he delicately massaged my shoulders. On the TV, two contestants on a cooking show were fiercely arguing about the proper way to use turmeric in a dish.
“Jackie, can I ask you something?” Tyler asked.
“Sure, what’s up?”
“It could just be me, but I feel like there’s been something between us over this last year. I didn’t want to say anything out of respect, but I can’t stop the way I feel about you,” he said.
My heart froze solid in my chest. I felt it too, but I was hoping this moment would never come. I didn’t want to choose, I just wanted things to go back to the way they were.
“It’s not just you, Tyler, but I, I don’t know what to do,” I said.
I sat up and looked at him. I stared into his emerald eyes and I realized that even after all this time living with him, I still didn’t know him, not really. Of course, after several glasses of wine, my judgement was impaired to say the least.
“I’m going to kiss you now,” he said.
I felt his fingers run through my hair as he pulled me toward him. At some point, I just let go and gave in to my desires. I fell into his kiss and felt his lips press against mine as his coarse stubble rubbed across my cheek. His confident hands slipped under the t-shirt I was wearing and pulled it up over my head. We broke apart for a moment and I saw a fire in his eyes. Whether it was passion or simply desire, it was a look that I severely missed.
We fell back into each other’s arms. His hands unclasped my bra and it fell to the ground. He cupped one of my breasts in his hand as he laid me down on the couch. He broke our kiss and buried his lips in my neck, gently kissing as he traced a path to my breasts. He took one into his mouth as his tongue danced around the nipple. With his other hand, he deftly undid the button on my jeans and pulled them off of me, along with my panties.
He threw them both to the floor as he pulled my legs apart. He planted a kiss on my knee, then my inner thigh, and then his tongue slid into me. He gripped my legs to steady himself as he wandered up and began tracing circles and lines with his tongue. With each movement my body shook with ecstasy. Pure pleasure exploded through me as Tyler dug his fingers into my thighs. He showed no signs of slowing down.
I grabbed a pillow from behind me and used it to muffle the moans that eventually became shrieks of uncontrollable pleasure. I lay perfectly still as he stood up from the couch. My legs twitched and shook in the aftermath. Tyler pulled the pillow off of my face and grabbed my shoulders. He sat me up and stood naked in front of me.
“Your turn,” he said.
I reached out and took him into my hand. He reached up and pressed his hand against the back of my head. I opened my mouth and let him slide in. He pushed me forward until all of him was inside my mouth. He held me there for a moment before letting me go. I pulled back and wiped my mouth. He was getting rough, but I actually liked it.
I wrapped my hands around his ass and pulled him toward me. I slid him into my mouth, felt his hips rock backward and then thrust forward again. I let him set the rhythm as my hand descended between my legs. Two fingers, moving slowly, I kept my mouth open and let him thrust into me as my fingers danced.
Muffled cries escaped my lips as I felt another climax rising within me. I pulled him into my mouth as a tidal wave crashed over me. I pulled him out to catch my breath as my legs shook uncontrollably. I felt Tyler grab me by the shoulders and pulled me to my feet. He spun me around and pushed me forward. I threw out my hands to stop the fall and landed on the back side of the couch. I was bent over; he spread my legs apart and reached forward. His hands grasped my dangling breasts and twisted the nipples playfully. I heard him tear open a condom as I stood there in front of him.
I was still trying to catch my breath as he furiously slapped my ass with a loud crack. I let out a cry of both pleasure and pain as he stepped forward and threw himself into me. He gripped my waist tightly to hold me in place as he rammed and thrusted into me. My hair shook all around me. My body crashed into the cushions with each powerful push.
The pleasure and ecstasy crackled within me like thunder and lightning. Tyler’s true nature was animalistic. It was exciting, but also scary. He seemed to lose control as he came. He slapped my backside two; three, four times before he pulled out and I fell onto the couch. He didn’t fall onto the couch with me, didn’t hold me in his arms like Axel once did.
Instead he walked away, washed off, and went to bed. He had his way with me and now he was finished. I felt dirty, like I had been used and thrown out. I took a scalding hot shower that night and when I went to bed I used the pillow to muffle my sobs. I just wanted things to go back to the way they were.
Chapter Six
Axel
I should have died on that stretch of road in the middle of nowhere, but I didn’t. The bullet they shot me with was pulled out, and when they patch me us they decided against putting another one in my head. Instead they offered me a choice: rot in jail for the rest of my life, or take on an impossible mission.
If I somehow pulled off their mission, they would let me go back to my family. I would have to go deep undercover behind enemy lines. It would take a year, easy. I was part of a team, all of whom posed as immigrants defecting from the states. We had military training, but they didn’t know that. We all had different stories; some of them even had a fake family to go with their fake names.
I was a loner before, and I was going to be a loner again in this new life. It wasn’t too hard to fool them. They expected a bad boy with an attitude problem and an issue with authority. That’s exactly what they got. I almost didn’t make it over the border, spent some time in a holding cell after taking a few swings at a military man, but it was worth it. He was an asshole, and my cover was more believable than ever.
I was assigned work at one of their factories producing weapons and ammo on an assembly line. It was mindless work, but they had me steal small samples on a weekly basis. It was never enough to really cause a problem, but enough for them to get a leg up on the enemy. That, of course, wasn’t my ultimate mission.
No, I was just biding my time until the real target showed up: the General of the EOF, chosen by representatives of its countries. The brains of the operation as it were. He was due to tour the factories at some point during my stay. It took almost a year before they gathered us all in the main hall and announced that the glorious leader of the EOF would be coming to tour our factory.
I didn’t sleep a wink that night. The mission involves killing the General, but that was just the beginning. Once it was done, we had to get out on our own. That way, if we’re captured, they could deny involvement. We were all draft-dodgers, but now, we were all going to do this together.
The phone rang in my one-bedroom apartment on the morning of the tour.
I picked it up with a shaking hand.
“Oh-four-seven-two-six-victor-Charlie-Zulu, checking in,” I said.
There was silence on the other end for about ten seconds. I thought I heard someone’s breath crackling in the speaker.
“It’s just us,” a voice said.
“Sir?”
“Don’t ‘sir’ me, none of that matters anymore. Blackwell, they’re all dead.”
If everyone else was gone, that left myself and our squad leader, Patterson. He was undercover as a bodyguard for the General. Another of our agents was supposed to get a job catering the event, and still another was supposed to sabotage aspects of the plant to create an accident. We had multiple options for taking out the target, but now we were down to two: Patterson could kill the general himself, or I could try and come up with another plan.
“How do we proceed?” I asked.
“Report to your shift like usual, I’ll be at the General’s side. We’ll just have to improvise.”
I put the phone down and went through my usual routine to get ready for the day’s work. I was at my post, ready and waiting when the bells rang and the lines started up. The equipment they used was outdated and the items we were assembling were volatile. Other men have died on the line because of a misplaced firing pin, a loaded clip, or a botched grenade.
The door to my section of the factory swung open and a loud voice declared the arrival of the General. We were told to keep working like it didn’t matter. We had to showcase our skills to him and ensure that everything was being done properly. Despite the grinding metal gears and the hum of the machines, I somehow heard every single footstep, moving to the beat of my heart.
I made brief eye contact with Patterson. He eyed me with a glare as if he expected me to have done something by now. As the General approached from behind, I deftly assembled a grenade and placed the trigger pin beside it, as per protocol.
“Excellent time,” the General said.
I continued working as if he hadn’t said anything. He walked past me, along with Patterson. When the next grenade came, I assembled it, placed the trigger pin inside, and then pulled it out. The timer started. I threw the pin at Patterson. It hit him in the back of the head as the grenade slid down the assembly line. He spun around and looked at me as the General continued walking.
I pointed to the assembly belt and Patterson immediately understood. He dove away from the General just as the grenade detonated in a massive fireball. Smoke rushed past me as I was thrown to the ground. The factory alarms blared all around us as I struggled to climb onto my feet. Patterson appeared and helped me stand. My ears were ringing and my vision was blurry.
“That was some quick thinking,” Patterson said.
“Yeah, now comes the hard part.”
From within the swirling smoke, the General emerged. His face was burned and charred. I could see shrapnel protruding from his legs. He lurched toward us and grabbed Patterson by the neck. They tumbled to the ground as Patterson struggled to push him off. I reached down and pulled the pistol from the General’s holster.
He was growling words that I couldn’t understand. His lips could barely move.
“Blackwell, shoot! Do it now!”
I aimed the gun at the smoldering General, but I had trouble pulling the trigger. This would be my first time killing someone.
“Do you want to see your family again?” Patterson asked.
I pictured Jackie and Jacob. That I was all I needed. I squeezed the trigger and put two rounds into the General. Patterson stood up and took the gun from me.
“Hesitate again and I’ll leave you behind. Let’s go.”
We left the factory in all of the commotion. The military was moving in from every angle. The place would be on lockdown in mere seconds.
“How are we going to get out of here?” I asked.
Patterson looked around.
“Find cover, they should be here any minute.”
I followed Patterson to an outcropping hanging over a supply cache. Bombs started falling from the sky. The factory was awash in flames as we hid behind a stack of steel crates.
“An air strike? I thought they wouldn’t come for us?” I asked.
“Not until the job was done! The men on a suicide mission are the most desperate, and the most creative!” Patterson shouted.
“You knew?” I asked.
He nodded as he grinned. “Yeah, but I’m not a draft-dodger. Consider your sins absolved.”
I shook my head. Yeah, maybe one sin, but not all of them.
Chapter Seven
Jackie
Tyler was sweet at first, even loving. As time went on, though, he started to become angry. Ever since we made love, he became more distant. He seemed angry all the time, and he drank every night until he passed out. I hated thinking about it, but it seemed like he was acting for the past year. A part of me wondered if he only wanted to sleep with me, so he forced himself to be nice.
There were times when we got into arguments, and I was terrified that he would hit me. I wanted to say something to Lisa, but how could I tell my best friend that her older brother was an abusive asshole? Up until then, he hadn’t laid a finger on me, but I truly felt like he was one argument away from hitting me.
He loved going out to sports bars to watch the big games. Being a professional athlete, he was always dragging me out to the bar when his team was playing. He was too persuasive, so I usually went and hired a babysitter for Jacob. He was, after all, paying for everything. He loved to hang that over my head.
We were at the sports bar; sitting at a table, and Tyler was downing his fourth beer as he pointed at the screen and called out random player’s names. I watched him drink another, and another, and another, until the game was over. He paid his tab and we left the bar. He was too drunk to drive like most nights, so we walked home.
About halfway back there was an alley that was largely deserted. Tyler grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into the darkened alley.
“I can’t believe I never thought of this!” he shouted.
“What are you doing?”
“Take off your panties,” he said.
He started undoing his pants and I realized what he wanted.
“No, absolutely not! You’re drunk, we’re going home!”
That was the moment. He pulled back his hand and struck me across the face. Pain lit up across my vision as I fell against the wall. I was in shock, stunned, as he started unbuttoning my shirt.
I reached out to push him away, but he was too strong. He closed his fist and hit me again. My head shot back and hit the wall. The alley was spinning as I felt him undressing me.
“You should have listened,” he whispered.
I felt his dirty hands clawing at me. I wanted to fight back, but everything was blurry and the pain was unbearable. Tyler disappeared. I felt his hands leave me as he tumbled to the ground. I stood up from the wall and turned to face him.
Another man was lying on top of him. He sat up and started punching him repeatedly. I saw blood spewing from his nose with each subsequent hit. I ran over and grabbed the person by the shoulder.
“It’s fine, don’t hurt him!” I shouted.
The man turned to face me. It was Axel.
“You?” I asked.
He stood up. “Jackie, it’s me, I’m back!”
I threw up my hands and walked away from him. He chased after me. I felt his hands on my shoulders. They were rugged, but gentle at the same time.
“You think you can just show up like nothing happened?” I asked.
“Baby, it’s not like that. I don’t know who that asshole was, but please, let me get you out of here. I’ll explain everything.”
I wasn’t ready to welcome Axel back with open arms, but I didn’t want to go home with Tyler either.
“He knows where I live,” I said.
Axel’s eyes lit up. “He lives with you?”
“It’s complicated.”
“I’m
sure it is. Here, I have a car. Let’s go home to Jacob and I promise I’ll tell you everything.”
“What about him, what if he comes for me?” I asked.
Axel laid his hand on my cheek, just like he used to do when we first started dating. I felt scars on his face. They were new and fresh, which made me wonder what he had been doing all this time. I looked into his eyes and I saw that love that we shared, burning brighter than ever.
“I’ll take care of him. From here on out, I’m going to protect my family, whatever it takes, I’ll never leave you again,” he said.
I smiled as he took me into his arms. I didn’t know why, but I felt like I could believe him. I loved him with all my heart. It was like he never left.
Tamed By My Alpha Vampire
Chapter One
There’s this dream that I have almost every night. It’s so vivid and beautiful, but then it becomes a terrible nightmare just before I wake. I shed a single bloody tear each time I’m wrenched from my dream and placed back into my accursed existence. In my dream, I’m walking through the halls of my mansion. The windows are open and sunlight gushes through them in bright columns. I can see the particles of dust dancing through the light like fireflies. I step through the light and feel the warmth of the sun brush my skin like the touch of a lover’s fingertips.
I can feel my heart beating in my chest. Thundering forward like a proud stallion. I can feel blood coursing through my veins. I feel life bursting out from within my soul. I want to run, shout, dance, and see the world around me, but I don’t. I continue walking calmly down the hall. The house is empty, but for once I don’t feel alone. My heart races faster as I approach the intricate doors that lead outside. There’s a table to the left of the door. It has a painted finish that depicts vines growing across the surface and down the legs.
