I might develop a fondness for coffee after all, he thought, nibbling at the base of her nape.
Lavinia relaxed against his hard body, pampered by his caresses. I could get used to this.
This is just the beginning, my love. He trailed small kisses over her shoulders.
It is so nice, talking like this, with no need for words, she thought, then realized something that made her turn on his lap to face him. “You are my pack!” she said, her heart swelling from the sheer joy that brought her.
Adrian looked at her with a puzzled expression.
“Wolves from the same pack communicate through their minds,” she said. “I am a half-breed,” she added, trying to organize her thoughts in a coherent sentence, but after all their lovemaking, not only did her body resemble Jell-O, but her mind, too. “No werewolf clan would have accepted me.”
“My little wolf,” Adrian said, depositing a kiss on the tip of her nose.
“Since I discovered I was a werewolf, I have wished, more than anything, to belong.” She tilted her chin to catch his lips in a deep kiss. “You are my pack now.” Draping her arms over his shoulder, she locked her gaze with his. “You complete me.” A sense of profound happiness overwhelmed her, and she didn’t bother wiping away the moisture welling at the corner of her eyes. “I love you, Adrian.”
“I love you, Lavinia.” Adrian hugged her tighter, cradling her head. “Until the end of time.”
He brought her back to the bedroom then, where they made love until the full moon was high in the sky. Finally, her body reminded her she needed to eat again.
“I’ve never needed so much food in my entire life,” she said at the kitchen table, biting a large chunk from the sandwich Adrian had made for her.
“I’m glad to hear that.” He regarded her with a naughty smile from the opposite side of the table.
She had insisted on Adrian sitting on a separate chair, otherwise she would have ended up not eating at all.
“I’ll make sure our house is always well-stocked.” His gaze traveled over her naked body, making his point clear when her nipples hardened under his heated look.
You don’t even have to touch me, she thought.
No, but it’s more fun when I do, he answered.
“Maybe I should start wearing something,” she said.
“What for?” He raised his eyebrow.
“Never mind.” She laughed. “Are you hungry?”
“Always.” Like a big cat, Adrian unfurled and reached for her hand, pulling her into his lap as he had done earlier, and sitting her with his back against his chest. His fangs grazed her neck back and forth for a few heartbeats before sinking deep into her flesh. As he kneaded her breast and caressed between her legs, he fed from her.
The combination of pain and pleasure triggered her body into yet another blissful release.
I really could get used to this. And to think I was so opposed to it.
His laugh echoed in her mind, then, suddenly, he was gone from her thoughts. His body tensed under hers. It wasn’t sensual tension, though, but the kind of awareness born from danger. A heartbeat later, she heard the foreign sounds that didn’t belong to the house.
Several steps echoed from outside, getting closer to the entrance door.
Adrian shot to his feet and immediately stepped in front of her.
There’s an underground chamber just beneath this kitchen, he thought. The trapdoor is inside the pantry. He reached behind him, pushing her toward the pantry as the sounds became louder.
I won’t leave you alone. Lavinia squeezed his hand.
Lavinia—
Not going anywhere without you.
The door burst open. A huge werewolf filled the frame. The man had an angry-looking scar on his face and held a shotgun that looked small in his beefy hand.
“Don’t move,” the werewolf said, pointing the weapon at Adrian. “Silver bullets.” He stepped into the kitchen, revealing several werewolves standing in the hallway—all bulky and armed with large caliber weapons.
“What do you want?” Adrian asked, his voice calm.
The scarred werewolf turned slightly, moving the aim of his shotgun from Adrian to Lavinia. “Her,” he said. When he twisted, the design on his jacket became visible. It was the same the attackers in Rome had worn.
“Not going to happen,” Adrian said.
“Not that you have any say in the matter.” The werewolf looked over his shoulder, tilting his chin for the rest of his gang of four to file into the kitchen.
The room was large, but those men crowded the space. Pumped up on drugs, they emanated an acrid scent. The full moon amplified their already chemically enhanced rage, making them stronger. They were out for blood. And they were unstable.
A gust of wind ruffled the window curtain. Silver moon rays danced on the floor, reaching the scarred werewolf. The glass panes trembled when the man threw his head back and bellowed at the top of his lungs. With a snarl, he fired the shotgun.
Adrian pushed Lavinia out of the bullet’s trajectory before lunging at the man, who started shifting. The moonlight illuminated the rest of the gang for a moment. It was enough to trigger a shifting frenzy that affected Lavinia as well.
A heartbeat later, the weapons fell to the floor with resounding clanks. The noise jarred Lavinia’s wolf. Now that she had shifted, the full moon affected her half-breed beast even more than it did the full-fledged werewolves. Not used to stronger senses and faster reflexes, her wolf always needed a moment to gather her bearings. This time, her reaction was immediate.
Loud noises from the fight resonated all around her. Fangs clamped down on her rump. Pain exploded in her head. She jerked and snarled, biting her attacker’s flank. The werewolf turned, aiming for her neck, but she dropped low, and his jaws closed on her fur instead of tearing her hide apart. From her crouched position, she didn’t waste time and attacked, biting the wolf’s stomach. His entrails spilled out, covering her in gore, but she didn’t relent until her attacker’s heart stopped beating.
Adrian! Lavinia shouted from inside her wolf.
I’m fine, he answered her call.
She made a circle, looking for Adrian in the melee. She found him, fighting in the opposite corner.
Watch out! she screamed as a second wolf lunged at Adrian.
Adrian caved his opponent’s head with a punch before turning to the one approaching from the side. Lavinia’s wolf jumped to catch the werewolf before he reached Adrian. Biting on his hind leg, she slowed his movements, but the werewolf was stronger than her. With a jerk of his rump, he threw her against the wall. She heard her wolf’s skull hit the hard surface before her senses dimmed.
Lavinia! Lavinia! Answer me! Adrian’s shouts in Lavinia’s head kept her awake.
I’m here.
Thank the Goddess—Adrian’s relief was like a caress to her confused senses.
Her sight came back. Adrian’s hand disappeared inside his opponent chest.
A roar echoed from the other side of the room. The scarred wolf threw himself at Adrian. Lavinia’s wolf would never reach him in time. She forced a shift. Half human and half wolf, she lunged at one of the shotguns scattered on the floor. Her paw elongated into a hand as she reached for the gun.
Without thinking, she rolled, aimed, and shot.
Both the wolf and Adrian fell. The beast hid Adrian under his humongous body.
Adrian? Lavinia ran to them, grabbing the wolf by his leg, but he was too heavy for her.
Adrian? she called again a moment later, despair gripping her in a tight vise.
Give me a moment, he answered.
When the huge wolf was thrown to the side, and Adrian appeared from underneath, apparently unscathed, she let out a rugged breath that ended in a sob.
“My love,” he said out loud, taking her in his arms.
Collapsing in his embrace, she asked, “How did they find us?”
“That’s an excellent question I intend to ask him as soon as
he wakes,” he answered.
“I didn’t kill him.” Somehow, she was relieved at the news. “I’d never fired a shotgun before,” she said, raising her eyes to Adrian. “It was my first time with any kind of gun.”
37
“As I said before, you are incredibly brave, my little wolf.” Adrian dropped a kiss on her forehead.
Lavinia started to shake. Her body temperature had dropped, and he feared that she would go into shock soon enough.
“What now?” she asked.
“Let’s secure Scarface in the underground chamber, and then we’ll take a long, hot shower. What do you think?” He stroked her arms and back, trying to warm her frigid skin.
“Sounds like a great plan,” she said, her teeth chattering uncontrollably. Moving in his embrace, Lavinia turned to face the unconscious wolf. “Let’s throw him in the pit.”
With one last kiss, he released her and moved to the wolf’s frontal paws. “Open the trapdoor for me, please.”
He dragged the werewolf across the kitchen and into the pantry. As Lavinia held the trapdoor, he pushed the large body through the hole and let the animal fall with a satisfying thump.
“What if he wakes when we are upstairs?” Lavinia asked, lowering the trapdoor. “This latch isn’t going to keep him down.” She pointed at the metal latch securing the panel to the floor.
Adrian looked around, looking for something big enough. “The fridge might work.” Yanking the appliance from the wall, he pushed it into the pantry, placing it on top of the trapdoor.
Ready to wash the grime and blood caked all over them, Adrian took her hand when running steps echoed through the house. He automatically stepped in front of her still naked body, ready to kill whoever dared to threaten his bloodmate.
To his surprise, Mark burst through the kitchen door, looking as if he had run all the way from Rome. He wasn’t alone, a squad of men from the Directive Special Unit accompanied him.
“What are you doing here?” Adrian asked with mixed feelings. He was happy that the Directive would take the werewolf off his hands, but he would have rather spent a few minutes alone with Lavinia first.
“Adrian,” Mark said, stopping abruptly in the middle of the room. He briefly assessed the bodies on the floor before looking back at Adrian. “You are both okay.” Relief was written all over his face. He asked the men to wait for him outside before finally answering Adrian’s question. “Long story short, Maia informed the Wolf Council about you and Lavinia—”
“Maia did what?” Lavinia said. “She promised she wouldn’t report me to the Wolf Council!”
“She only mentioned Adrian’s name, and kept yours out of the report,” Mark answered.
“But why?” Lavinia stepped forward, her small body exposed to the rest of the room.
Adrian’s vision turned to red, and his fangs lowered as adrenaline surged through his system. Ready to fight his friend over his bloodmate, Adrian took a fortifying breath and moved in front of Lavinia, hiding her lovely form from Mark’s and the other men’s eyes.
Adrian had thought that once they bonded, his jealousy would abate, but it didn’t seem to be the case. If anything, his reactions had grown stronger in the last day, and now he felt every emotion with keener senses.
“Go ahead,” Adrian said to Mark, reaching behind him to take Lavinia’s hand, which she softly grabbed. “Why did the psychologist involve the Wolf Council?”
“Maia meant well.” Mark wearily looked at Adrian. “Lavinia wasn’t answering her phone, so Maia followed interspecies procedure. She called Lavinia’s family first, and when Lavinia kept not answering both her calls and her father’s, she had no other recourse but to inform the Wolf Council of a possible kidnapping situation.”
“I’d explained to her it was the Vampire’s Thirst, and she seemed to understand my situation well enough the other night.” Rage possessed Adrian. “She said that wolves experience the Hunger.”
Mark raised one hand in a pacifying gesture that only incensed Adrian. “Try to understand her position. Maia feels responsible for Lavinia. She is not only a werewolf like Lavinia but also the best Directive counselor in Rome. I expressly asked Maia to keep an eye on Lavinia and help her overcome her grief. You came in, acting the way you did, approaching Lavinia as if you wanted to brainwash and drain her—”
Adrian’s rage burned him from the inside out. “I’d never—”
“I know that you’d never hurt Lavinia or any other woman, but to Maia, you are a vampire—a day-walker—and, well, our race has gotten away more than once with murder. Can you blame her for taking her job seriously and trying everything in her power to save Lavinia?”
“Lavinia needs saving solely from her own race.” Only Lavinia’s soothing touch on his hand kept Adrian from snapping.
“I still don’t understand how these men found us here,” Lavinia said from behind him.
“The Wolf Council’s proceedings are open to the wolf society,” Mark answered. “Any werewolf can access the published records. It was easy to discover that members of the Caliban Clan have been hanging out at the Roman premises of the Wolf Council. Their last request was for any instance of vampire-wolf incidents.” He paused before adding, “It’s how they found about Carolina and her vampire and werewolf lovers. Someone reported them.”
Adrian felt Lavinia stiffen behind him and turned to take her in his arms. It took her a moment to stop crying.
“I thought this place was your secret hideout or something,” Lavinia finally said, her intense eyes staring at him. “How did they find us?” she repeated her question.
Adrian caressed her back. “It’s not common knowledge that I own this island, but my properties are all registered and in compliance with both mortal and supernatural laws. Accessing the supernatural data isn’t easy, but if you have a contact inside the mortal Tax Bureau, you can obtain my records for a bribe—”
“It would’ve taken some time, though, to find where we were. You said you own lots of different properties,” Lavinia said, voicing Adrian’s same thought. “We could’ve been anywhere.”
“It was actually easy. The Calibans only had to follow your steward home and torture him until he told them your destination.”
Adrian pivoted on his heels to face Mark. “Flavio—”
“He’s dead,” Mark said, shaking his head slightly. “I’m sorry.”
Adrian’s fury threatened to explode, but once again Lavinia’s touch anchored him. “He was a good man,” he said, wanting nothing more than to open the trapdoor in the pantry and unleash his rage on the werewolf.
“They flew to Athens and took a boat—”
“We would’ve heard them coming if they used a helicopter.” Adrian had wondered how the werewolves could approach the island without him or Lavinia being the wiser. “And they must have deactivated the motion sensors.”
“They did. I found the broken cables and smashed boxes while I ran up the hill.” Mark passed a hand through his hair.
“And how did you end up here?” Adrian asked.
“Maia called to warn me she had filed a report with the Wolf Council.”
Adrian couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. “And why would she inform you?”
“As I said, Maia was well intentioned and thought of all possibilities, even the one that Lavinia wasn’t answering her phone for an innocent reason. As soon as she told me, I started to call you to give you a heads up—”
Adrian remembered seeing his friend’s unanswered calls when he used his cell phone to text Lavinia on the helicopter. Back then, his mind was otherwise occupied, though.
“While I was trying to get in contact with you, I asked Collins for a special clearance and the Wolf Council’s cooperation in the matter, and I tracked down the Caliban werewolves at Flavio’s apartment. Unfortunately, I was too late to save him.” Mark’s stare remained unfocused for a moment before he added, “I commandeered one of the Directive’s faster choppers and immediately flew over w
ith the squad.”
And that explained the second riddle of how neither Adrian nor Lavinia had heard Mark’s helicopter. The Directive used state-of-the-art technology, and its fleet was famous for being both invisible and silent.
“We’ve got a gift for you down there.” Adrian pointed over his shoulder at the fridge now occupying the pantry. “Thanks to Lavinia’s fast thinking, one of the werewolves is still alive,” he said.
“I want to be present when you interrogate him,” Lavinia said.
Are you sure? he asked her through their mental link.
I’m sure, she answered.
Okay. “Okay,” Adrian repeated out loud to Mark. “But first, we need to clean ourselves.”
Mark nodded. “Go ahead. I’ll wait for you.”
Adrian pointed his chin at the squad waiting outside before subtly tilting his head over his shoulder at Lavinia.
Mark understood and walked out of the kitchen, joining his men in the hallway. “Let’s move back into the atrium,” he said before leading them away.
When they were finally alone, Adrian cradled Lavinia in his arms and ran upstairs.
Werewolves are used to being naked in front of others. It’s not a big deal, Lavinia said telepathically. Her words sounded serious, but there was a glint of amusement in her eyes.
Would you mind greatly to humor this quirk of mine and never show your body to anyone else but me? He kissed her softly. You are too beautiful for those heathens’ eyes. And I am too jealous.
It’s been confirmed. You say the sexiest things ever. Lavinia threw her arms around Adrian’s shoulders and kissed him back passionately. I can’t say no to you even if I wanted.
Thank you, my love. I am indeed the luckiest man alive. Adrian opened the shower stall and proceeded to show Lavinia how thankful he was to have her in his life.
38
“I’ll forever associate showers with mind-numbing, earth-shattering sex from now on.” Lavinia sighed against Adrian’s chest. Only his arms around her waist held her upright because she could barely feel her legs. The rest of her body, though, was a different matter. Her breasts were heavy and sensitive, and she felt the most pleasurable tingle between her legs.
A Vampire's Thirst_Adrian Page 16
