“Are you…are you naked?” She whispered, half shocked, half amused.
His sexy voice gave a short laugh.
“Check and see,” he said.
Oh hell, Ember thought to herself. So much for a good night’s sleep.
Chapter Eight
Every space of skin that touched Kai was on fire and the more Ember refused to pull away, the stronger the heat the spread her grew. She drew in a ragged breath and bit her lip in the darkness, daring to feather her fingertips across his stomach, feeling the smooth, rippled skin.
His muscles tensed and she hoped with everything she had that he was just as affected as she was—this pull, this bond was maddening.
“Careful,” he growled, an arm snaking around her neck as his strong hands gripped the base of her skull and his fingers threaded in her hair. Ember closed her eyes against the sensation of it. “I am a man known for his control, but this—this is getting dangerous, anasa mou.”
Those affectionate words were her undoing. She knew with every fiber of her being that they were meant for her—for only her. Just like this magnificent creature underneath her. By some twist of fate, Malakai Arkos was meant just for her.
She was molten to the core at the thought of it.
Of its own accord, her back arched, pushing her stomach and chest against his and she slowly pulled herself along his body toward his face. She went in search of his lips, but trailed soft, delicate kisses along the way. Stopping just above his belly button, then near the top of his rib cage, and one for each glorious pectoral muscle. His free hand was splayed across her lower back while his fingers kneaded the very edges of her backside. The other hand urged her head closer toward his, but not before she ducked below his ear and tasted him there, too, with a kiss and a gentle nip of her teeth.
“You’re going to be the death of me, woman,” he hissed.
“And you’re going to bring me to life, Malakai Arkos.”
That got another strong reaction out of him. Both hands instantly cupped her face and he moved her to within just inches of her own.
“What are you saying, Ember?”
She heard his rapid intake of breath and felt the tension in his hands as they wrapped around her face and neck. Her words must have him on the brink of ecstasy—or the edge of torture.
What did her words mean? Was she crazy even considering opening the bond between them, this man she hardly knew?
Yes. She was certifiable and she couldn’t wait another second to be really and truly his.
“What I’m saying is,” she breathed, pressing her hips against the swell in his boxers. Oh, but the man was huge, she thought with a shudder. “Make this thing between us real. Kiss me. Bite me. Fuck me, Malakai. Just do something before my head explodes from all this pressure and need. I’m going insane and I need you. All of you. Beside me. Inside me.”
In an instant, Kai’s strong body had her flipped onto her back against the mattress, his weight and his heat pressing into every inch of her skin.
“Such a filthy mouth, my angel,” he said, his lips dancing against hers between the words. “I cannot wait to put such a beautiful thing to better use.”
Kai’s tongue broke through her lips and searched her mouth like a savage, wakening her own primal response to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gripped the back of his head by his hair.
Damn, but the man could kiss.
He broke contact after a few minutes of mind-busting kissing and trailed his lips, and the tip of his fangs, against the sensitive skin of her neck. Her back arched instantly at the amazing sensation.
“Not yet, angel,” he whispered against the vein that pulsed. “I have work to do.”
She quivered beneath Kai. Would he get to work already? At this rate, she was going to spontaneously combust from all the ache.
“Do you like this shirt?”
What kind of question was that?
“Not particularly. Why would —“
She didn’t get to finish. Before she could ask, Kai had ripped the tank top down the middle, exposing her from the waist up. She was grateful she’d skipped the bra and panties after her shower.
Her tiny shorts were next, and with amazing speed and dexterity, he had them bunched around her ankles before he tossed them off the side of the bed. Kai leaned up on his elbow for a half second and Ember prayed with every fiber of her being that he was getting rid of those boxers that remained between them.
Kai’s heat and weight returned, flush against her body and this time she felt the fire of his arousal against her core and along her belly. He was huge. Ember moaned despite herself. How was she going to survive a night with this man, let alone an eternity?
Their lips sparred once more, this time the stakes were even higher and the assault on her senses was more brutal. She smelled Kai. She felt Kai. She tasted Kai. And he was intoxicating.
Kai abandoned their kiss to move lower, stopping right at Ember’s full breasts, which he had been kneading mercilessly with his hand. His lips and teeth assaulted one rosy peak and then the other, pushing Ember even closer to the edge. The more he teased her, the more she was powerless to do anything but writhe her hips against his erection and dig her nails into his back.
“My angel,” he rasped. “This will be over before it begins if you aren’t careful.”
Ember couldn’t help but laugh—loving the idea that she was affecting him half as much as he had her addled and wanton.
“Then get on with it, vampire,” she demanded. “Because I’m about to come apart at the seams.”
Kai chuckled, his mouth still teasing a nipple.
“You’ve got the coming part right, woman,” he growled. “You’ll be sore and hoarse by the time I’m done with you.”
Before she could respond, Kai trailed kisses south, down her sternum, across her belly and hips, and stopped right at her core.
For all the heavy breathing that had been going on, Ember found she couldn’t fill her lungs while the heat of his breath lingered just at her very center.
And then, he consumed her, body and soul.
His tongue danced along her very core and she sucked in a breath while her back instinctively arched her hips up toward his mouth.
“You are sweeter than I ever imagined, angel,” Kai whispered between intimate kisses. Just when she’d found her bearings, he hooked both of her knees up and over his shoulders, spreading herself to him and giving him full access to her very center.
One hand gripped the sheet beside her and the other found a handful of hair at the back of his head, urging him on.
Ember had to bite her lip to keep from moaning and crying out so loud that she would wake the entire mountain.
Kai was ruthless with his tongue, plunging in and out of her while his lips worked her clit into oblivion. Gently, he pressed two fingers inside of her and worked her from the top and the inside, manic and tender at the same time.
Her orgasm was on her in an instant and she put her own hand over her mouth to keep from screaming out loud. Her legs shuddered across Kai’s shoulders and she collapsed back into the mattress. Tenderly, Kai released Ember’s legs and slowly marched up her body.
“I think what you just did to me is illegal in a few states,” she half laughed.
Kai didn’t say anything as he brought his mouth to hers. The taste of her on his lips was intoxicating and in seconds, her body was demanding more from him. It wasn’t done with Kai and neither was she.
“Please,” Ember whispered into Kai’s mouth. He stilled at her words, like caged beast about to be freed. “I need you inside me, Kai.”
His tongue plunged back into her mouth while he readjusted her so that her legs wrapped around his waist.
“I’m going to fuck you hard, Ember,” his scratchy voice sent shivers down her body. “Then when my cock is deep inside you, I’m going to bite you. And then you’ll be mine forever.”
Shit. He’d just undone her and they hadn’t even
really gotten started yet.
“Words, words, words,” she teased, biting his lower lip between her teeth. “You’re all talk and no action, Kai.”
Her teasing words spurred him into swift action. One second he was whispering beautiful, dirty things in her ear and the next the engorged tip of his erection was pressing into her opening. This was happening, Ember’s mind raced. Really, really happening.
“Mine,” he growled next to her ear and in the next moment, he pushed hard into her, and she was his.
Ember hissed in appreciation at the sensation of being filled to the brim with Kai, all the way to the very center of her. Her body ached as she adjusted to his thickness and length and she clenched around him, willing him to give her a moment.
He obliged.
And when her hips started their grinding and pushing once more, Kai slowly started the dance. He was slow and methodical, pulling nearly all the way out of her before filling her again. In and out. Slow and torturous, but just the rhythm Ember needed to build a momentum of passion and ecstasy.
It didn’t take Ember long. The wave built and soon she was rabid once more, clinging to Kai, digging her nails into his shoulders, arching her back against him, and pulling him as deep into her as she could.
“Oh god,” she moaned as the pressure inside her built.
“No, love, Kai,” he whispered, the smile in his voice. “Are you ready, angel? Are you ready for it all?”
She didn’t hesitate.
“Yes,” Ember was mindless with need. She needed Kai to take her over the edge. “Please, Kai. Please.”
Kai’s rhythm slowed inside her and she held her breath, momentarily nervous about what was to follow. Would it hurt? Would she cry?
His lips dragged across her jawline to the tender spot on her neck where the artery pulsed in rhythm with her heart beat.
The strokes of his body inside her own intensified and he leaned the pressure against her in just the right way that she was right on the edge within moments. It was coming and she writhed beneath him, begging his body for her own release.
“You are mine, Ember,” he spoke the sweet words against her neck. “Body and soul you are mine for the rest of our immortal lives. I love you, anasa mou.”
He plunged into her, as deep as he could go and half a breath later, Ember felt the twinge of his fangs piercing the skin of her neck.
And then—Ember felt everything at once. Her body exploded from the inside out and the orgasm wracked through every cell in her body. She clenched against Kai, crying out his name as his fangs and his body claimed her.
Ember shattered, over and over and Kai found his own release moments later.
He tensed and barked her name as he spilled his seed into her, his body wracked with the same spasms that had overtaken her.
It was glorious. It was breathtaking.
Ember saw stars swimming in front of her eyes, and then she saw nothing as darkness overtook her and she tumbled into unconsciousness.
Chapter Nine
He took to his role as nursemaid surprisingly well, despite the jabs from Aksel, who had attempted to explain to Melody what happened.
“You bit her?” Ember’s little sister sat at the kitchen table two nights later, incredulous that Ember had actually invited the bite.
“Multiple times, actually,” he said, just to get a rise out of her. Aksel snorted beside him.
“When will she be…you know…okay?”
When Melody fretted and chewed her lower lip in worry, Kai could see the Terzi family resemblance between the sisters. She looked just like Ember.
The process of awakening the ancient soul that had spent so many years dormant wasn’t exactly an easy one. Her body had broken and reformed itself piece by piece over the past two days and she had been asleep for most of it—waking up only to drink what she’d dubbed “vampire juice boxes.”
Another miracle of modern vampire science—synthetic blood with all the right ingredients for a newly turned ancient. It helped her control the bloodlust and the violence that usually followed a transformation—but no modern medicine could take away the agonizing first few days and it was nearly undoing Kai watching Ember so vulnerable.
Once Kai had Ember comfortable and sleeping again, he left her in the loft and went outside to join Aksel on the porch. The bond had opened a channel between Kai and Ember and now he felt what she felt, no matter how far away he was. Even though he’d wanted to spend every second during her transformation at her side, the truth was there was still a war going on against his kind and New Dawn agents were tearing the area apart looking for him.
His second was on his cellphone with his back toward Kai. Everything in his body language told him that it wasn’t a good conversation. Kai’s senses sharpened suddenly, as if the threat that Aksel was downloading from his phone conversation was actually in the woods around Ember’s cabin.
Aksel ended the call and turned to face Kai, his face stricken.
“Raph’s team was ambushed last night on patrol around Melody’s apartment,” he said and Kai frowned.
Melody? His blood chilled. If they knew about Melody, then they knew about Ember, too, and they were out there hunting for the sisters now, just like they hunted Kai and his clan.
He swore.
“Casualties?”
Aksel shook his head.
“Raph’s hurt pretty bad but Cyrek thinks he’ll pull through. But they got Talos. Yanked him from the wreckage of the vehicle and disappeared with him.”
Kai swore and shoved his hands through is dark hair, his mind racing.
“Where are Raph and Cyrek now?” He asked.
“They’re with Nick and his team at the hotel right outside town,” Aksel replied.
Shit. This was bad.
Just as Kai was calculating their next move, Aksel’s phone shrilled. He glanced at the number and answered it quickly. From where he was standing, a few feet away, Kai heard the chaos on the other end of the line. Loud pops of gunfire and yelling.
Aksel listened to the voice, one of their men, giving the report, and hung up as he sprang into action.
“New Dawn found them at the hotel,” he said as he ran past Kai toward the house. “I need to get my gear and go help them before it’s too late.”
Kai’s mind raced. His team needed him right now—New Dawn agents were closing in and it meant their deaths if the goons got their hands on them. But his mate—his Ember—was incredibly vulnerable and every fiber of his being screamed that she needed to be by his side. That it was his duty to be with her through every second of the transformation.
He was at war with himself and wasting precious time.
Kai swallowed a rush of fear, reasoning that Ember’s cabin was still well hidden and that they’d be safe long enough for Aksel and him to get their men out of danger. Once they had, Kai would return and move Ember and Melody somewhere safer, even if she was still in transition. It would work, he assured himself over and over as he went inside to collect his weapons.
Melody stood in the center of the living room, watching the two men move like blurs of light.
“You’re leaving me here?” She hissed at Aksel. “I can’t protect Ember if something happens. I’ve never even been in a fistfight in my life!”
Kai didn’t miss the look of conflict that burned in Aksel’s dark gaze. There was something there between them—something had passed between the two of them already—and his second was just as torn about leaving Melody as Kai was about leaving Ember.
“You’ll do what you have to do, Melody,” he said, a stern look on his face. Kai knew what he was doing—he was refusing to show any emotions to keep Melody angry and aware. If she gave in to her fear or her self-pity, she would likely fall apart.
Kai moved to stand in front of Melody now.
“She’s had everything she needs for the day,” he said, pointing up to the loft. “She’s weak as hell, but she should be getting stronger and stronger. If you sense a
nything, Melody, and I mean anything out of place—you get in her truck and you two drive as far away as you can. Aksel and I will find you, no matter what.”
Twenty minutes later, they were down the mountain and Kai’s mind refused to settle—refused to focus on what possibly lie ahead of them. He’d given Ember a soft kiss on her sleeping mouth when left and he couldn’t shake the overpowering feeling of dread that surrounded him. Something was off and the sooner he and Aksel fixed this mess, the sooner he could get Ember out of this town and safely locked away on his island to properly recover.
Within the hour, they’d made it to the Lookout Inn’s parking lot and straight into a warzone. Kai’s men were pinned down inside a room on the second floor with New Dawn mercenaries strategically placed behind cars and other large forms of shelter.
His team had their natural abilities on their side—hard to kill, supernatural speed, and the precision para-military training Kai had insisted on. New Dawn had sheer numbers and weapons on their side.
Kai and Aksel abandoned the Land Rover a block away and moved in silence through the darkening streets. Long accustomed to fighting beside each other, together the two vampires were a lethal unit all in themselves.
At the impending bloodshed, Kai’s fangs lengthened and his body primed for battle. They flanked to the sides of the New Dawn positions and began the methodical incapacitating of Rouvin Scala’s hit squad.
Kai chose an unfortunate soul who’d picked a spot behind a pickup truck by himself. Alone. His attention focused on the Arkos men on the second floor, he didn’t hear Kai approach or have time to react when his head was ripped to the side, forcefully severing his spine.
The body slumped to his feet and Kai picked up the rifle. With their abilities, weapons were overkill, but it was still difficult for him to let a good one go to waste—or end up in the wrong hands.
ROMANCE: PARANORMAL ROMANCE: The Vampire´s Bride Awakening (Alpha Male Shifter Kidnapping BBW Romance) (Paranormal Young Adult Protector Romance) Page 4
