Calling for a Miracle [The Order of Vampyres 2] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Michaels, Lydia

  * * * *

  Larissa watched Cain go and turned with a thoughtful smile. When she noticed Eleazar watching her closely, she stilled.

  “It amazes me, that after the way we spent our morning, I can still make you blush.” She turned and noticed David standing by the door, trying hard to pretend he couldn’t hear them. “David, go home,” the bishop said and David left without a look back. “Come here.”

  Slowly, Larissa turned to him. He placed his hands gently on her throat and leaned down to kiss her. He then proceeded to remove her bonnet. “Eleazar, it’s the middle of the day. Anyone could walk in.”

  He looked to the double doors and suddenly the storm door of the foyer slammed closed and the sound of the bolt locking tight echoed through the quiet house. “No one will disturb us.”

  She tried hard to hide a smile, but failed. He turned her around and began unraveling her hair. He tsked when he removed a pin. “How on earth you females walk around all day with pins in your head is beyond me. Do you not prick yourself?”

  She giggled. “Sometimes. It takes practice to place them just right.”

  “The English have to have a better invention than this.”

  One braid came undone and tumbled over her shoulder. Larissa sighed at the release of tension. “Since when are we permitted to use English technologies?”

  “Since the female I love is walking around with sharp objects in her head.” The other braid came down and he sighed. “Your hair is perhaps going to be the bane of my humility. It is one form of vanity I cannot help but take pride in. Beautiful. Turn around.”

  She turned to face him and he looked at her with such need she thought his gaze would smolder right through her. He needed to shave. The dark shadow covering his strong jaw was quite uncharacteristic of him.

  “Take off your gown,” he commanded in a gravelly voice and her eyes went wide.

  “It is the middle of the day. We are in your foyer,” she whispered.

  He gave her a wicked smile. “I had better warn you now. I waited many, many years for you. Now that I have you, I do not think I will ever stop wanting you. Morning, noon, or night, if the desire strikes I intend to have you. And as far as where we stand, well, I plan to take you on every free inch of this house, every uncluttered surface, and perhaps even some cluttered places. Now, have I made myself clear? Because the idea of tearing your gown away until nothing but my flesh is covering yours seems quite enticing as well.”

  She was already breathing fast and her mouth had gone very, very dry. No one had ever spoken to her like that, said such wicked words. If anyone else had suggested such things to her she would be appalled and a bit afraid, but with Eleazar she was simply aroused. Uncontrollably, undeniably aroused. She felt as though a trapped bird beat its small wings wildly in her belly and felt her fangs extend. Moisture seeped past her folds and down her thighs. She smiled at him and he began to purr.

  “Ferleicht we should pray about your arrogance. I am much younger than you, Bishop, and quite quick.” Her own voice had gone raspy and her accent grew thick. “If you wish to get me nochich, naked, you will have to catch me first.”

  His head tilted down as his eyes turned feral and the side of his mouth kicked up. In a very low whisper, he leaned close and said, “Run.”

  She did. Her feet carried her swiftly through the house that was still quite unfamiliar to her. At first she didn’t hear him behind her. She moved through one long hall and wondered if she should have kept to the living quarters of the large home. She decided it was too late to turn back when she heard him coming after her. Larissa passed many doors. She paused outside of Eleazar’s office and looked back. She heard nothing. Had he stopped chasing her?

  She panted and looked toward the council hall then to the door of the holding block. She looked once more toward the way she had come, but did not hear Eleazar. Deciding she should move before he caught up with her, she quietly ducked into his office and shut the door until only a thin crack was left to peek through.

  “Looking for me?”

  She shouted and jumped. Her hand went to her heart as she turned and found Eleazar watching her as he leaned casually against his desk. “How did you get in here?”

  “Ah, you may be young, but being old has its benefits as well.” The door slammed closed behind her and she heard the lock click. “Last chance, bellissima. I want the gown off.”

  She felt like small prey trapped under the paw of a lion, but rather than fear she only felt delicious anticipation. “And what will happen if I disobey my mate and soon-to-be husband?”

  He pursed his lips and scratched his chin. “Oh, I believe I could think up a few ways that will have you remembering your place, especially when you tried to sit down on your pink bottom after said punishment.”

  She gasped. “You wouldn’t!”

  “I would and you would love it. Shall I show you?”

  “No!”

  He raised an eyebrow much like he had that first night at the club when he found her. “Fine.” In the next instant her apron and gown were torn from her body, yet the bishop did not move a muscle. She gasped and her hands instinctively covered her naked breasts. His slow gaze moved from her bare feet up to her eyes. “I do miss your English panties. Perhaps we will add them to the list directly under hair pins.”

  Larissa was shaking with desire. She looked at Eleazar. He seemed in complete control. Her eyes moved over his dark pants and paused when she noticed the bulge giving away his arousal. He cleared his throat and her eyes jerked to his and she blushed.

  “Come here to me.”

  Unable to ignore the command in his voice, Larissa slowly walked over to him. He did not move from where his hip leaned against the desk. She stood in front of him, breathing fast, and slowly lowered her arms. Her nipples puckered and his eyes became transfixed on the tight, pink tips. Without warning, he grabbed for her. He took hold of her wrist and spun her around until her backside was flush with his arousal and his arm holding her wrist banded across her ribs. His other hand reached for her hip and yanked her closer. He ground himself into her bottom and she moaned. Eleazar placed a soft kiss upon her bare shoulder. “Ah, what you do to me,” he whispered as he slowly licked from her shoulder to her ear, sending goose bumps spreading across her chest and belly.

  The hand at her hip coasted to the center of her thighs and tugged her undergarments loose until they fell to the floor. His fingers teased over her moist curls. “Spread your legs, Larissa.” She moved her feet to quickly do as he said. His fingers coasted over her wet folds, but did not penetrate her. She felt herself growing crazed. She wanted to impale herself. He continued to kiss her neck and shoulders, and nibble at her ears. She gripped his arm below her breasts and would not have been surprised if she was breaking his skin with her claws.

  After he had teased her to a point of torture, she had begun to whimper, needing him inside of her. He chuckled in her ear and the hand between her legs disappeared. She was not above crying and was prepared to do just that when she suddenly heard the sound of him undoing his pants. He shifted behind her and soon the feel of coarse fabric was replaced with soft, warm skin. His cock pressed in the cleft of her bottom as he slowly dragged the backs of his fingernails up her spine, sending chills to her shoulders and back down to her toes.

  His scent filled the room, strong, rich, and full of need. No other sound but their breathing broke the silence. Daylight filtered through the window shades leaving them only a few inches from exposure. They stood in the small path of a shadow.

  He began to sway with her as if they were dancing. Quietly he whispered, “Her eyes as stars of twilight fair; like twilight’s, too, her dusky hair.”

  “Did you write that?”

  “No. It was written by an English mortal called Wordsworth.”

  She sighed. “What else does he say?”

  His hand slowly slid to her breast and began plucking at her nipple. His other hand swirled softly over her belly.
“You are ‘A violet by a mossy stone half hidden from the eye—fair as a star, when only one is shining in the sky.’” His fingers traveled lower and began to coast over her sex.

  She moaned. “I have never heard anything so beautiful.”

  “Then I shall give you the book that holds such words as a wedding present.”

  She smiled then slowly turned in his arms and kissed him. The kiss moved from a sensual dance of tongues to an emotionally driven inferno of need. She gasped into his mouth as he lifted her.

  “Wrap your legs around me, bellissima.”

  She felt his length nudge her sex. “Please, Eleazar. I have never known such wanting.”

  He growled and his kiss became demanding. Her bottom landed on the cool surface of his desk and his hands went to her face. Cupping her jaw, he tipped her head back and continued to make love to her mouth. His hands reached down to her hips and yanked her to the edge of the desk. Her surprise was soothed as she felt him pressing into her heated core.

  “Place your feet on the edge, Larissa.” He lifted her legs, one at a time and positioned her feet where he wanted them. She held tight to his neck so not to lose her balance. The position left her completely open to him. He looked down to where their bodies touched. “Beautiful. Don’t let go.”

  He plunged into her so deep she cried out. As she kept her hand tightly gripped about his neck, she let her head fall back. Her body rocked with every plunge. Her hair swept across the desk and tickled the flesh of her buttocks. Eleazar’s hands held her bottom as close to him as possible while he thrust into her.

  Larissa’s moans echoed through the office accompanied by Eleazar’s rumbled sighs and the muffled slap of their moist flesh. The scrape of the desk along the floor alerted them that they were moving. He lowered her back to the desk and gripped the other end of the wooden surface to hold the piece in place. Suddenly she felt what he was feeling and moaned. He smiled, telling her he felt her pleasure as well.

  He pounded into her with such force she felt as though she would shatter into pieces eventually, but he never let her go. He cupped her body to his as if it was a chalice filled with sacramental wine. Unable to hold on to her control any longer, she instinctively pulled herself up and sunk her fangs into his neck. He let out a roar of pleasure and began to drive into her, pounding her body back and holding it close at the same time.

  She drank from his vein and felt her body begin to tremble with his. She moaned as his rich blood traveled down her throat and he thrust into her with such force she had never known such a connection could exist. He stilled, seated deep inside of her, and rotated his hips. The drag of his pelvic bone across her oversensitized sex threw her into complete euphoric bliss. Her mouth ripped from his throat as she threw her head back and cried out her pleasure. His cry echoed her own and she suddenly felt his seed filling her womb.

  He held her by the back of her neck as her climax carried on and licked a trail from her breasts to her throat. “Mine,” he growled just before his teeth pierced her skin.

  Chapter 39

  Winter had arrived. With the month of December came the biting southerly winds. The snow had barely melted before more was sprinkled from the heavens to form a mantle of white upon the fields. It was the cycle of time repeating itself, but for once, all of the places Abilene had been before appeared different forevermore.

  The snow seemed dreary and oppressive when the sight of its pure glaze once filled her with joy. The white branches of the trees she used to see as fingers praying to the heavens now only seemed inert, crippled relics devoid of life. What vibrant colors of living foliage once concealed, now lay bare. She saw the unhindered distance, thinking it to be mocking her of the coming eternity.

  Jonas had not returned to her. Like the ground hidden under a month’s worth of weather, Abilene’s heart had been buried so deeply it now felt encased in ice. Would she ever return to the woman she once was? She honestly did not know.

  As she took her broom to the front porch to sweep away the dusting of snow that had edged the wood, she paused and place her hand upon her belly. For there, she held a secret. A part of her past she would treasure above all else. Pray God, she not lose this one. This was all she had left of her darling Jonas. The only love she had left to give, after loving all the rest, belonged to this third son. He would be called Jonas and he would be strong with blue eyes that showed like ice under the reflective sky on the most breathtaking day. He was not like the others. She knew he would someday come to this world and be held lovingly in her arms. He would come once this winter passed, into a season of rebirth and awakening. It was in that time that Abilene would finally step out of this mourning shade winter had pressed upon her and into the warm, growing light of summer and start anew.

  Annalise and Adam’s son would be a fine playmate for her child. And Larissa’s daughter would soon follow. It seemed in spite of the loss Abilene had suffered, life was thriving around her family. God had indeed blessed them, and Abilene was coming to understand that no blessing was without sacrifice.

  She pulled the rocking chairs to one side of the porch and swept as she reflected on her family’s blessings. Gracie had served as a wonderful companion over the past few weeks. She always seemed to know when Abilene needed distraction and when she simply sought quiet repose. Cain had been gone for some time now, but checked in often through Annalise.

  He was making progress in his campaign to rid the woods of evil. Her new son-in-law, Eleazar, was pleased with his progress, although he had not gone into specifics among the females. Abilene was glad for her daughter’s mate. The bishop was showing her that although he was a male defined in duty and honor, he was also an extremely loving mate to Larissa. She had never seen her daughter shine with such joy and contentment. While Larissa was slowly blooming with her own child she had also taken a kindness to the Foster children.

  Dane was a nice boy who Abilene believed favored her Gracie. While Cybil was always quiet and never uttered a word, she was also helpful. Abilene would sometimes find her looking sad and when she would ask what was wrong, the girl would look at her and gently press a fist to her heart. Abilene realized this was the girl’s way of referring to Cain. Cybil missed her son.

  There had been no reports of finding Isaiah and Cain had said he would not return until his job was done. Their pacifist beliefs made it difficult to imagine her son battling violence, so she tried not to think on it too often. The fact that Anna had not suffered any injuries was testimony that Cain was safe. Adam worried terribly for his mate’s safety and their unborn child, but Cain had sworn he would do his best to not allow anything to harm Anna. There were no guarantees, but she knew if Cain said he would do his best, he would.

  Abilene had swept her way to the back of the house along the long wraparound porch. When she heard the gate open and swing closed, she turned and began walking back to the front. The sound of the broom falling from her slackened fingers and hitting the planked floor did not even register to her ears. There, before the gate, looking humbled and unsure, stood Jonas.

  A thousand words flashed through her mind, yet none of them passed her lips. He looked thinner, a bit sadder, and as if he had ventured through the gates of hell and back.

  “Hello, Abilene.”

  “Jonas.” His name was a breath, a ghost passing through that tickled her lips.

  “You look well,” he said quietly, making no move to farther enter their yard.

  A laugh-like sob broke her composure and her body began to shake. Tears burned her eyes and throat. She swiped at her eyes with irritation. How dare her tears blur this vision? It was just as she had dreamed it, him coming to her, standing at their gate. She wanted to see him, but her tears continued to cloud her vision.

  “Have you waited for me?” he asked. “I was unsure of my welcome. If you wish me to leave, you only need to command it and I shall go and never bother you again.”

  “Jonas,” she sobbed angrily. “Don’t you dare come he
re to me and then threaten to leave again.”

  He smiled, but there was so much pain in that smile, so many burdens pressed into the creases of his eyes that she worried he would never fully heal from what he had seen and been through over the past few months. “I will never leave you if you wish me to stay, my darling Abilene. Never again.”

  “So it is done?”

  He looked down in an attempt to veil his sorrow. Jealousy knifed through Abilene’s heart that another woman had known him in a way he should have always been solely hers. And to see him so filled with grief over not being able to keep them both, it tested her strength to not hold his calling against him.

  “I have come to many realizations on this journey, Abilene.”

  “And what have you realized?” She suddenly feared that he had returned only to finally say good-bye, that he had found his true mate and she was the only female who would ever truly own his heart and soul. What about my heart? What about my soul? Abilene wanted to scream, but remained silent.

  “I have learned that every male can only have one true mate in his lifetime.” Abilene fought to stay upright. So this was it then. He had gone to his mate and learned that their vows were nothing more than child’s play in the eyes of God. He then said, “You are my true mate.”

  At first she did not hear him. She merely stared down at her skirts billowing over her ankles and boots. When she realized what he said, she looked up and breathed, “What?”

  “You, Abilene. God had called me to another so that I could serve him in ways no other could. It was my uncle who destroyed that woman’s family thus making her grandchildren my responsibility. The Almighty was merely using me as His servant to correct a few wrongs. He called me in a way he knew I would never be able to ignore. He needed a miracle and I was called to deliver it.”

  “I do not understand.”