Undeniable

by Doreen Orsini

  “God, Diana, you’re beautiful.” He wanted to bare his fangs and roar with victory that she had been born for him, that no other could rival his mate.

  He loved the way her breath hitched when his fingertips brushed over her breast as he explored every inch with the faintest touch. They tripped over her hard nipple, slid below and lifted her breast. She arched her back, all the encouragement he needed. Her cry when his mouth took possession and drew her nipple deep into its heat startled the horse into taking a few nervous steps. Sebastian mentally calmed the beast as he delved into her mind and absorbed her reactions.

  He knew when she felt his cock grow even harder, felt its length burn into her hip. He knew the moment a void opened deep in her core and demanded he fill it. His teeth grazed her skin, bit down gently around her bud. Completely merged with her mind, he felt the tendrils of heat spiraling down to her swollen pussy. Wherever his body, his mouth, his hands touched her, her skin sizzled.

  Feeling her body’s reaction and his at the same time heightened his desire and inflamed him more than he’d thought possible.

  Weaving one hand through his hair, she held his head to her breast, while her other hand slid between them and tentatively touched the bulge in his jeans, then traced the length of his cock.

  Sebastian groaned and lost the battle to control his fangs. She whimpered, a little fearfully he thought, when he grew larger beneath her hands.

  Unwilling to frighten her for any reason, he released her nipple and trailed kisses up to her neck. He licked the vein that now throbbed in time with her heartbeat. She pressed her bare breasts into his shirt.

  Take me, Sebastian. Please, I want…I want…I need you. Take all of me. Make me yours. Please, Sebastian, please.

  When he heard her thoughts, when she spoke to him in a way she thought he couldn’t hear, once again he nearly rent the night with a roar that would surely have sent her screaming for help. He kissed the tiny cut on her neck that remained from their sojourn into the woods earlier. Slipping the tip of his fang into it, he absorbed the maelstrom of sensations that swept through her body as he tenderly drew her blood into his mouth.

  He shifted her until she straddled his lap. He wouldn’t take her here, but he would please her. Grasping her hips as he supped on her neck, he ground her pussy against the hard ridge of his cock.

  Sebastian covered her mouth and muffled her screams when she climaxed with a violence that almost knocked them both out of the saddle.

  When she came to her senses, he planted tiny kisses along her jaw as he re-clasped her bra and buttoned her shirt. Without a word, he shifted her back into position, took up the reins and nudged the horse into an easy trot down the path. They made their way around a bend and came upon her horse. Blood dripped from a scratch on his flank.

  Sebastian’s heart felt like it had exploded and ripped free of his chest. Someone was trying to kill Diana.

  She leaned back against his chest.

  He kissed the top of her head, breathing in the scent of jasmine and her arousal. Every muscle twitched to soar into the sky, find whoever had attacked his mate and tear their throat out. Trapped by her ignorance of his powers, he drew her even closer into the protection of his embrace.

  “Will I see you tomorrow,” Diana asked, tilting her face up to kiss his neck.

  Would his absence save her? Leave her vulnerable? Was she safe during the day?

  He heard a twig snap on his right and, jerking the reins to the left, shielded Diana with his body.

  “Would you relax. You’re acting like someone’s out to get us.”

  He tore his eyes from the dark shadows and looked down into the shimmering dawn that always dwelt in Diana’s eyes. Grasping her to him, he sent a silent plea to Mina, asking, begging her to offer a prayer to her angels for him. For Diana.

  The feeling that someone watched their every move stayed with him the rest of the night.

  Soaring over Diana’s house, guarding her as she slept through the last few hours before dawn, he scanned the area for any mental or physical clue, but came up empty. Few vampires could shield themselves from him. Only one could leave no clues of her presence.

  Chapter Eight

  Nearly a week after she’d met Sebastian, Diana tilted her head back over the inner tube and gazed up at the multitude of stars blanketing the sable sky. The fingers of one of her hands skimmed the surface of the cool water while those of her other rested in Sebastian’s warm palm. The river shimmered, reflecting the sparkling lights above. Fireflies twinkled along the shore like faeries dancing in celebration of another hot summer night.

  “Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, wish I may, wish I might get the wish I wish tonight.”

  “That’s three, goddess. I thought you could only wish on the first star you saw.” Sebastian hooked his leg with hers.

  “I made an agreement with the man on the moon when I was thirteen,” she said, giggling. “He gives me two extra wishes for every, well, for every night I dance for him. I figure I have a few hundred wishes coming to me.”

  “You’re blushing.”

  “I am not,” she said, splashing some cool water on her burning cheeks.

  “You’re definitely blushing. I can see it.”

  Diana stared at his face, then frowned. “No you can’t. It’s too dark, even with the moonlight.”

  Sebastian rolled over onto his stomach, then reached out and hooked his arm around her tube before it could float away. “So tell me about this dance. It must be pretty special to warrant a wish.”

  “It’s just a dance.” She wondered how he’d react if he knew she danced naked for wishes. When she shrugged, he laughed.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “I just thought of the kind of dance I’d grant wishes for.” He tugged on the edge of her tube, spinning her until her head was even with his. She hung her head back and stared up into eyes that never failed to entrance her.

  “If I were the moon,” he said, rising up on his elbows, “I’d want you naked while you danced, then I could touch every inch of your skin and bathe you in my light.”

  He cradled her head in his hands and leaned down. Brushing her lips with his as he spoke, he added, “And when the sun rose and sent me back into hiding, I’d suffer every second of the day, knowing its rays now caressed my goddess.”

  Diana rose up and closed the minute gap between their mouths. No one had ever spoken to her like this. Like she was truly a goddess, an endearment he used in place of her name more and more often. Their lips met, tenderly embraced. The passion that coiled in her body whenever she so much as thought of him unfurled. She raised her arms, wrapped them around his neck and moaned until his lips parted and his tongue gave her what she craved. Over the past week, she’d grown addicted to his kisses and spent their time apart counting the minutes until he wrapped her in his arms and crushed her trembling lips with that miraculous mouth.

  How could his kisses taste so sweet, gratify a need that bordered on pain? She nibbled at his lower lip, then moaned when he slid it into her mouth. When she sucked it in deeper, a rumble rose from his chest. Her heart pounded. Every muscle clenched. She suddenly heard the animals, birds and insects surrounding them, smelled the pine trees, wild flowers and earth along the bank rushing past as the current picked up speed and seemed to hurl them down river.

  His hands left her face, skimmed down her neck, over her shoulders, then cupped her breasts in a way she could only describe as possessive. She thought she heard him saying her name, chanting it reverently, knew it had to be her imagination since his lips never left hers. Liquid heat slid between her nether lips, so hot she expected it to sizzle as it slid into the cool water.

  Silently she begged, pleaded and implored him to rip off the bathing suit that had suddenly become too coarse against her sensitized skin and make love to her out here beneath the gaze of her beloved moon.

  Sebastian wrenched free of her grasp, slid off his tube and disappear
ed below the water.

  Diana cursed and clenched her fists. Still moving with the current, she waited for him to surface. As long seconds passed with no sign of him, her nails dug into her palms. “Sebastian!”

  He shot up out of the water at least thirty feet away and let out a roar that sent the birds in the surrounding trees shooting into the sky. Although his roar and the sight of his black tee-shirt clinging to his chest enflamed her desire to the point where she too considered submerging into the river to extinguish the inferno engulfing her body, her stomach lurched. He sounded a little too much like a wild animal.

  She watched him disappear beneath the surface and fought to contain the panic closing her throat. A second later, faster than anyone she knew could have swam such a distance, he shot out of the water a foot away from his tube.

  “Will I ever see this dance,” he asked as he swiftly caught up with his tube.

  Still unsettled from his roar and the speed of his return, she closed her eyes. “Maybe if you stay around long enough, I’ll show you.”

  Sebastian settled back into the tube. “Oh, I’m not going anywhere.”

  He sounded so sure. She wished she could feel the same way, should since her grandmother held no doubts that the man floating down the river beside her was indeed her soul mate. But ever since she discovered the truth about Luna and Colette, Diana found herself wondering about everyone she met. Especially those she only saw after the sun set.

  She had yet to see Sebastian during the day. His excuses always made sense, but her doubts grew with each passing day. “I never knew they had midnight tubing. It’s amazing how many things you’ve introduced me to. Midnight horse trails, all night fairs. Restaurants that serve six course dinners in the wee hours of the morning.”

  Holding her hand under the water, Sebastian tugged and brought her tube closer to his. “You just have to know where to go. Are you enjoying this?”

  “I’m loving it.” Something soft bumped against her butt. “It’s a little scary, though, when you can’t see what’s under the water.” She rolled onto her stomach, rested her cheek on the tube, and glanced over her arm at Sebastian. He flung his head back, dunking his hair into the water, then turned. His eyes met hers.

  She drew in a sharp breath at the desire burning in his gaze. He always wanted her. Never hid his desire.

  Never went further than foreplay. She yelped when something slid under her stomach.

  “You have nothing to fear, Diana. I’m here.”

  He didn’t say it in a boastful way or like a man flexing his muscles; he said it as calmly as if he were commenting on the weather.

  “You know, there’s bears up in them there hills,” she mumbled with an exaggerated twang, “and they’s mighty big.”

  “Not big enough to get past me.” He rolled over, wrapped his arm across her back and brought her tube closer. “If you’re really scared, we could always bring our tubes to that pond at your house.”

  Diana laughed at the lecherous look he cast her way. “Is this an elaborate plan to get me naked in the shower again?”

  “I have a photographic memory,” he said, his voice growing deeper with every word. “I merely have to look at you to remember every detail of that night.”

  Heat enveloped her wherever his burning gaze lit. She rolled onto her back, needing to feel it travel over her breasts, down her bare stomach to the spot where the river rose up to cool the fire in her pussy.

  “Anyway, that bikini really doesn’t leave much to the imagination. You’re shivering. I told you to keep your clothes on.”

  Diana humphed. “I’m shivering because I thought you drowned.”

  Sebastian glanced at the scratch on her neck. He’d sipped her blood each night over the past week, only enough to satisfy his hunger during the daylight hours and relieve the throbbing that seemed to annoy her more and more. If he continued, she would notice that the scratch never fully healed. He reached out and brushed his knuckles over it. “You’ve been at this again. That twitch is still bothering you?”

  “It’s not so bad. Well, most of the time.”

  He wondered how long it would take before she noticed that his presence aggravated her twitch until his mouth gently sucking on the open sore appeased her body’s need to merge completely with his. No one had ever tampered with the timing of the bonding ritual. He and Diana were only a week into the first stage…one night merging their bodies and blood followed by a month of denial. He needed three more weeks.

  As soon as he’d discovered that Diana was his soul mate, he’d gone to Tobias, requested and received approval to pass minor amounts of blood to appease her. Luckily, for him, his elder had a knack for being vague. Sebastian found a loophole and used it to rationalize sating his own hunger. Tobias, more likely than not, meant feeding the hunger that could destroy Diana’s mind and body. While the pulsing vein in her neck annoyed her, it wouldn’t harm her body or mind.

  But Tobias had only said to appease her and sucking on her neck certainly seemed to do just that.

  Sebastian! His mother’s enraged voice sliced through his thoughts.

  Ignoring her, he pulled Diana’s tube closer, lifted her out and, dragging her under the water, drowned himself in her kiss. His mother could wait. There were too many hours left to enjoy with Diana before dawn broke over the mountains. When he felt her hands slip into his pants and cup him, he decided he’d spend every second of every night with this goddess before giving her up to the damned sun.

  As the weeks passed, his mother’s voice summoning him became more and more insistent and rattled his thoughts.

  * * * * *

  “I’ve been calling you for weeks. How dare you ignore me? I can’t believe I had to resort to using this human gadget to speak to my own son.”

  Sebastian gripped the phone. “You know I’ve been busy. I have to watch Diana constantly during the night hours, just in case she’s helping her father.”

  “You’ve been out with that slut every night for a month and you still haven’t decided what to do?”

  Sebastian winced and held the phone away from his ear. The distance prevented Olympia’s angry voice from piercing his ears, but did not stop her rage from slamming into his head. “I’m supposed to find Nostrum’s weapon, aren’t I?” he coolly asked.

  “Yes, but you were only given a week. Let me send Diego. He’s itching to get his hands on her.”

  “Send him and I’ll return him to you with a broken neck. I have the elders’ approval to take as long as I need, Mother. If you go behind my back or do anything to hinder me from uncovering more information, I swear I will personally bring you before the elders for usurping their orders.”

  He strode into his kitchen and glanced out the window. Tonight Diana had plans that didn’t include him, plans she’d refused to discuss. Jealousy had kept him awake all day. By the time the sun’s last ray shining over the mountain ridge above his home had blinked out, he was already dressed and heading out the door. The thought of someone else kissing her lips, touching her body enraged him.

  But what he couldn’t handle, what nearly sent him over the edge was imagining someone else feeling her body quiver as she laughed at his jokes, someone else listening to her wish upon a star or speak to the moon as if it were her dearest friend, someone else wiping the tears she shed from some scene in a movie.

  Someone else watching her eyes darken with desire.

  The emptiness and despair that overwhelmed him when he so much as thought of never again sharing those times with her shook him. The moment the UV sensors on his roof had chimed, he’d bolted out his door, slamming it so hard behind him the hinges had cracked. The sound of the phone ringing and the possibility that she’d changed her mind had sent him running back into the house like some lovesick fool.

  When he’d heard his mother’s voice, a new, more terrifying fear took root. Without him, Diana would be helpless against Olympia or any vampire she sent her way. All month Diana had survived acc
idents that could have turned deadly. “One more attempt on her life, Mother, and you’ll have to face me.”

  “Now, Sebastian,” his mother said, her voice taking on the tone of a doting parent, “you know I would never do that.”

  He went to the front door, opened it and stared out into the darkness, probing for some clue of Diana’s whereabouts.

  “You have to watch out for that witch, Sebastian. Mark my words, she’s the weapon! You’re all the proof I need.”

  His mother’s voice drew him away just as he imagined he caught Diana’s scent on a breeze. He frowned at how strong it seemed, as if she were just over the ridge separating his home from Marek’s.

  “Me? What the hell are you talking about?” He raked his hand through his hair. He had to get off this phone. It no longer mattered where Diana had gone tonight, he had to find her. He hadn’t tasted her blood the last few nights, his guilt over manipulating Tobias’ words getting the best of him.

  His hunger drove him mad. Nothing soothed it except Diana kissing him, Diana wrapping him in her warmth, Diana relieving some of the pressure by feeding off the gash he opened in his mouth just before bringing it down to meet hers.

  Just last night, he’d even chanced leaving before dusk to find her. Luckily, the sun’s rays were too weak to do any harm. Drawing in a deep breath, he shook his head. Could she be so close? It didn’t matter. Wherever she was, he’d soon find her. Nothing mattered but seeing her, feeling her. “I’m fine.”

  “Are you? Are you sure you’re not delaying the punishment because she’s worked her wicked spells on you? Are you sure she doesn’t already have you so twisted that you’ll follow her anywhere?”

  Sebastian’s heart stilled. Anywhere?

  His nostrils flared as another gentler breeze surrounded him with her scent.

  “Sebastian!”

  Sebastian clenched his hand until the phone shattered. Slamming the door behind him, he set out to follow that scent anywhere it led until he found his mate.