With all the effort she could muster she tried to hide her excitement. She couldn’t reveal what he offered was something she wanted more than life itself. Struggling for composure, she reached deep inside herself and masked her eagerness behind the only other emotion that came so freely nowadays.
Anger.
“Fuck you.” She gave her arm a jerk. A futile attempt at freedom as his grasp tightened around her arm.
His eyes darkened. Under a façade of indifference she could smell his arousal. “Later, darlin’, but first things first.” He was attracted to her. The realization puckered her nipples into taut peaks and sent the most delicious ache down south.
With anger came hunger. The hunger screamed inside her to be fed. It clawed at her insides demanding to be quenched.
It would be so easy for her to give in to him and say, “Okay.” But men liked women who played hard to get. And this was a game they were playing, each with their own agenda. What his was, she didn’t know—didn’t care as long as she met her goal in the end. “Release me and I’ll be down the road.” She applied an air of resentment, while she screamed silently, Please. Please. Please. Don’t let me go.
He yanked her against him, his arms snaking around her as their chests and hips crashed into one another. His warm breath brushed across her ear as he said, “It isn’t gonna happen, darlin’.” Darlin’ came out a breathy whisper that teased the hairs on her neck. “Even now your hunger is raging, gnawing at your belly. I feel it. It calls to me.”
His feet began to move with the rhythm of the slow music. She stumbled for a moment, and then her body melted into his as if they were one person dancing instead of two.
Feel it? Called to him? Fallon was glad he wasn’t looking at her to see surprise flicker in her eyes. She knew it had to be there, because that’s exactly how she felt—surprised. How the hell could he feel what she was experiencing? But it was true. The beast had overtaken her and something more primitive rose.
She wanted this man—vampire or not.
“This is ridiculous. Just let me go.” Her request went unanswered.
His arousal was tight against her abdomen. He didn’t try to hide the fact that she affected him. After Chavez, she had made a solemn vow not to get intimately involved with anyone who couldn’t walk in the light, but there was something different about the man who held her. She wanted to touch him, feel his body move in and out of hers, his lips on her mouth, her neck, her breasts.
And she didn’t even know his name.
Still, the heat of desire burned a path through her.
“Why have you let the hunger rage so long?” His words held a note of disapproval that shocked her. Why would he care? She was no one to him—a stranger.
“It’s nothing. I can control it.” It was a silly lie. No vampire could fight the hunger.
She gasped, as his fingers slipped through her thick hair, pulling back her head so that her throat arched. Their gazes met, his was condemnatory.
“If you think you control the hunger you’re not as smart as I gave you credit for.” The firmness in his tone was a reprimand. Then his eyes slid down to the pulse in her throat. His fingertips grazed her hot skin. Immediately, her gut clenched with need. Through heavy-lids he glared at her. “Why do you torment yourself?” The softness in his concern didn’t hide the invasion he was mounting. She felt his attack straight to her heart.
She closed her eyes, fighting his mental probe for the truth. He dug deeper and deeper into her soul, throwing one barrier aside and then another, quicker than she could throw shields up to stop him. He tore down each wall as if they were paper instead of strong magic. She released a desperate cry as he mentally stripped her naked.
Then something unexpected happened. He withdrew from her mind. Instead of forcing her to his will, he pressed his lips to her ear as they continued to dance across the floor. “Hush, darlin’,” he murmured tenderly. “I didn’t mean to upset you.” His mouth caressed the shell of her ear as he spoke, sending shivers up her back. “When you’re ready to talk, I’ll be here.” His palm smoothed up and down her back.
Tears welled behind her eyelids. What she would give to believe he cared, that she had someone to cling to when memories of Christy rose too harshly for her to bear. But it was a ridiculous thought. The man who held her was a Master and that meant he was also a master of deception.
Fallon laughed the tears from her voice. “Don’t hold your breath, buddy.” A wave of relief brushed through her as the music ended and he released her. She took an unsteady step backward, feeling strangely bereaved at the loss of his arms around her. “I just need a bite and then I’ll be on my way.” Her fists went to her hips in a proud stance, when in reality she used it to stop her trembling hands. With a demeanor of confidence, she let her gaze slowly drift over him. “And, I’m a little picky about what I put in my mouth—”
A smile played at the corners of his mouth. Amusement sparkled in his eyes as he cocked a single brow.
Damn. That didn’t come out right. She should have said, “—what I eat.”
Then as quickly as his amusement appeared it vanished. “This subject is not up for debate. You will do what I say.” Spoken like a man who was accustomed to getting his way.
Fallon gave a light huff of disbelief, even as she felt success throbbing at her fingertips. Christy. Her daughter’s name rang in her mind. And for once a glimpse of hope warmed Fallon’s heart.
With a mere shrug, she released the air in her lungs. “Then let’s get this over so I can be on my way.” Cool. Collected. But the hunger inside her was building, crying to be fed and so was the lust that flared when he took her by the hand and headed for the door.
A small spark of fear sliced through her veins. What would happen if she fed then he set her free? Panic came and fled. She couldn’t let insecurity steal this opportunity from her. With that thought she knew she’d do anything to stay by his side.
I must be crazy, Adrian thought as he led the mysterious vampiress toward the door. There would be consequences to pay from his actions. The blood link alone was something to consider, and he still hadn’t figured out who her Master was. That alone should have given him pause, but it didn’t. Of course, he could have just asked her, but his pride held him back.
The chatter in the bar grew louder as the lead guitarist announced a break and the jukebox switched on. Adrian didn’t know this woman. She could be someone sent to be his downfall. Another Master seeking his territory, or revenge from someone he had possibly wronged in the centuries he had been undead. The United States had always been his home, so he’d had years to make enemies.
Or was it more elementary? Had she come to steal his heart?
The door made an eerie screech as he opened it and moved aside while holding it wide. With appreciation he watched the gentle sway of her ass as she walked past him.
As they stepped outside, the wind raised her hair and feathered it so it draped her shoulders like a black cape. For a brief moment he worried that she might be cold. But she was immortal. The elements did not affect her as they did humans. She would regulate her temperature to suit.
Still, in her current condition, he knew what the absence of blood did to a body. He had experienced the loss more times than he cared to remember. The numbing sensation of being stuck out in the snow—naked—with no hope of survival. If she wasn’t already experiencing the slow, drawn out effects by now, he doubted it would be too much longer before she felt ice cutting through her veins, that heavy ache which made one almost wish for death.
He squeezed her hand in a show of support. Haunting eyes gazed up at him as he led her deeper into the forest that abutted Little Tavern. They met no one because they left by the backdoor and didn’t have to pass the parking lot to the side of the building. Pine needles crunched lightly beneath their boots. In the blue-gray moonlight she looked sinfully beautiful. Her hand was small and fragile within his.
Again, a sense of protectiveness r
ose in him. Why? His attraction to her didn’t make sense.
What he offered her was not a wise decision. His blood was powerful. He shared it sparingly and never without justifiable cause. The exchange—and there would be an exchange, he couldn’t wait to taste her—would form a blood bond for all time. The link between them would be a tracking mechanism and open up a special mental path between them and through her, possibly, her Master.
Without warning his fangs burst past his gums, the taste of blood in his mouth. He tipped his head and let it flow to the back of his throat, awakening his beast with a roar. Dark and dangerous, it sought out the animal which lay within her.
The feminine reply was sexy as it wrapped around him. He sensed it moving just below her pale skin, teasing and taunting him.
Adrian thought he felt a drop of moisture on his hand. He glanced skyward. Heavy clouds had gathered threatening rain, as they moved into the shadows.
“Where are you taking me?” Her voice was low and throaty, a hint of arousal, but no fear apparent in her question.
And there should have been.
Even in the crowded bar he could have cast a spell to render them invisible or even planted suggestions in the minds of the humans to mask what they saw. For some unknown reason he wanted her to himself, alone. The need to mark her was becoming an obsession and all out crazy because she belonged to another.
He ignored her question and instead he asked, “What is your name, darlin’?”
She cocked her head with a haughty tilt. “Does it matter? You’re just a fly-by-night snack for me before I’m on my way.”
Rich laughter rolled from his lips. She was going to hold onto her hard-ass act to the bitter end. “A snack? Me?” She had some nerve.
With preternatural speed he pulled her into his arms and they vanished from the wooded area.
When the world stopped churning around him he held her close, his lips a breath away from hers as they stood in the middle of his bedroom. A fire burned in the flagstone fireplace, radiating warmth upon his back. “I plan to make a four-course meal out of you,” he murmured, his mouth moving across hers as he spoke. And then he kissed her.
He sipped lightly from her mouth, gliding his tongue along the seams of her full lips. His arms tightened around her as he slanted his head and pressed harder, wanting and needing to get closer. She was soft and pliable beneath his assault. He nipped at her bottom lip and her mouth parted to allow him in.
As his tongue thrust between her lips, her incisors pushed through gum and bone releasing a swirl of blood. Raw hunger sounded, forcing a low timbre from his throat. She tasted of the sweetest honey as he stroked the roof of her mouth and caressed the length of her fangs.
There was nothing sexier than an aroused vampiress. Her taste was an aphrodisiac. Her sensuality could not be compared to that of a mere human. And this particular woman shimmered with sex appeal, an energy Adrian swore wrapped him tightly around her little finger.
But he would never show his hand—at least not yet.
The female whimper that echoed in his mouth stirred his lust like no one had ever done before. Their bodies parted. Both of them were breathing hard, lust burning bright as they stared into each other’s eyes.
“Fallon.” Her tongue skimmed across her swollen lips as if capturing the last of his kiss. “My name is Fallon McGregor.”
Adrian studied her flushed face. She was beautiful.
“Adrian Trask,” he shared before taking her mouth once again, because he couldn’t stop himself.
Dammit. He couldn’t get enough of her. He drank greedily. His fingers played with the knot of leather at her back holding her halter top in place. He needed to see her naked, feel her body beneath his.
She pulled away from him, breaking the kiss. “Whoa, cowboy.”
But it was too late. The knot came free in Adrian’s hand and the scrap of material floated down her sides, coming to rest between two plump and perky breasts.
Her eyes widened in surprise. Rosy nipples grew into hard pebbles, before his heated stare.
“Remove it,” he demanded, unable to take his sight from her beauty.
“But—”
He didn’t wait for her denial. “I want you naked, beneath me as you take my blood into your veins and my cock into your body.”
“But—”
With a need to see her naked, he willed the material to disappear with a simple thought. The halter top dissolved before his eyes.
She was a tiny thing, but full of attitude.
With a toss of her head she sent her hair over her shoulders, baring her further. A small, tucked waist and curves made to be stroked enticed him. But it was her breasts, which would fit perfect in his palms, that called to him.
“I don’t remember sex being in the deal, cowboy.” Her voice was a soft rasp that stirred his blood. “Just a small bite, then I leave—remember?”
No way could she just walk out of his life. Where that thought came from he didn’t know. All he knew was for the night, she was his.
“Darlin’, I can’t let you leave until I’ve had a taste of you. All of you.” He waited a heartbeat for her refusal, a refusal that never came.
Instead, she purred, “Make it quick, lover-boy. I’m on a schedule.”
Her futile attempt to appear unmoved by his touch failed miserably when he cupped her breast. She gasped, and he felt the tremor that assailed her. Her eyes darkened. With his heightened sense of smell he breathed in the flood of pheromones she released in response.
Featherlight, his thumb brushed across her taut nipple, back and forth, again and again. “Anything worth doing right should be done nice and…” his other hand pushed beneath her hair and grasped the nape of her neck, “…slow.” He drew her head back, baring her throat.
The vein beneath her skin bulged, begging to be taken. Gently, he drew her closer, dipped his head, and ran his tongue over the vessel carrying life to her heart. It pulsed beneath his pursuit, fast little beats which gave her arousal away.
She wanted him.
“Do it,” she groaned, her hips brushed against his swollen groin. “Take me, now.”
Chapter Four
Surrender was not exactly what Fallon had in mind, even if her body said just the opposite. As she pressed her form against Adrian’s hard one, she couldn’t believe she’d just asked him to fuck her.
Orange-red flames flickered in the fireplace, matching the burn inside her, as they stood in the middle of his bedroom. Or what she assumed was his bedroom. The transfer from the bar to this new location had her head spinning—or was it the man?
“Ahhh…darlin’. I’m gonna ride you… All. Night. Long.” The little growl in his voice sent her mind into a tailspin.
If she put aside the fact that strength and power held her in its grip, how much life could she feel in the arms of someone who had been dead for centuries? Maybe even more? And right now she needed to feel life. Warmth and hope.
His fangs scraped her neck sending prickles across her arms. The vein beneath his tongue throbbed. Hunger exploded. She needed to feel the moment his incisors pierced her skin, the suction of his mouth. She knew it would trigger an orgasm to wash through her body. Not like the rolling of her stomach or the sourness in her throat each time Chavez had touched her.
And she was tired. Tired of running and of the deep, aching loneliness she felt without her daughter.
Perhaps it was because Fallon hadn’t fed for days. Maybe her strength, as well as her common sense, was on hiatus, out-to-lunch.
Add to that she was scared. Scared she would end up under Chavez’s control once more, Christy’s death would never be revenged, or that she had jumped from being one Master’s servant to another.
Yet Adrian’s touch was unthreatening, gentle, as his tongue teased her throat in slow, sensuous swirls. The firmness of his teeth scraping across her flesh was arousing. He held her tenderly, as if she was a porcelain doll. A thing of beauty to cherish, not a pl
aything as so many men had made her feel throughout her life—both alive and undead.
And he did feel alive and inviting.
Her skin hummed with sensation as he caressed and squeezed her breast, while kissing each of her eyelids lightly, before pressing his lips to hers.
There was nothing invasive about his touch. He pulled her closer and deepened the kiss. And, God, did he taste good. She compared it to the first time she had sampled Godiva chocolates. Rich. Smooth. Delicious. So exquisite, she had to have another, and then another.
When they parted, her breaths were small pants. She stared into his lust-filled eyes, knowing that tonight would be beyond what she had ever dreamed.
In all honesty, he made her feel vulnerable—strangely like a real woman—sexy and desired. No human had ever made her feel that way, even her ex-husband. Just another reason why allowing this vampire to seduce her was a terrible idea.
She was dead—well, undead.
Still, when Adrian called her “darlin’” in that deep, seductive tone, she had to admit to a spark of excitement. His fervor, the promise in his words, stroked an uncontrollable fire inside setting her pulse to speed. Heat swept across her skin. She was achy and hungry to feel his cock between her thighs, parting her wet folds, fucking her hard and fast as she took his blood.
But he had promised nice and slow. The pressure of his hard body rubbing against hers only served to drive her deeper into the dark world of surrender. A seductive takeover she felt too weak to refuse.
She wanted him.
Not only to achieve her goal that always lay in the back of her mind. But something more elemental moved within her.
Desire.
She had felt lust for every man she’d shared a night with, except for Chavez. Yet Adrian did something to her that no one had ever truly done since her transformation. He made her long to believe a future existed as an immortal. That life wasn’t just a series of unfortunate events. That she had something to live for.
Fallon's Revenge Page 3
