by Unknown
Yes, he wanted to share, but it was so damn hard. With the possibility of trusting the detective, came his biggest fear.
Losing her.
What if one day she woke, knowing he was a mistake? There was no doubt in his mind that Flynn was meant to be her human mate. It was obvious. From the day she had met him, he called to her. It was evident when he watched them. Jolie glowed around him, and the detective came alive when she was near. This was the daily proof he faced, while trying to convince himself that she was his.
It was hard to not believe that he was in the way.
Jolie was loyal enough to do as he asked. Deep down, Jacques knew that all he needed to do was say the word. Jolie would sacrifice her heart for him.
Damn him!
He wanted to in the worst way.
Jacques had never been this afraid in his life. He’d faced armies, unspeakable odds, and death. Now, he feared a human-one he could make or break.
“You didn't come to our quarters,” she began.
Roughly, he cut her off. “Again, I needed to think.”
“Jacques, I’m sorry. Please don’t leave me!” she sobbed, burying her face in his throat as all the emotion flooded from her in a wave. “I need you. I’ll do anything to keep you here with me. Please don’t discard me.”
“Mon Dieu, Jolie!” Her words touched and damaged him at the same time. She was feeling his emotions, once more shared between the three of them. “I’m not going anywhere,” he reassured, pulling her to his chest. There was guilt reverberating through him that he was unnecessarily torturing both her and Flynn.
“Why are you hurting like this? Please talk to me and don’t shut me out. When you throw up this wall, it hurts.”
“I don’t want to stand in the way anymore of you loving Flynn.” It was blunt, simply said, and it crushed him. His lifelong fear of being sent away was there, staring him down. Yet, he had to give her the choice.
He had to believe in the frailty of love.
Life was all about the decisions you made, and this had to be hers. Like Jolie was giving Flynn a choice, he too would do the same.
“I want you to know that you’re free to love him and forget about me. We’re both kidding ourselves. You’re well aware that the day you met him, he was your mate. I’ve felt it in your mind, I can see it when he looks at you, and I won’t stop you from being with him. I’ll sacrifice my heart for yours. It won’t be easy, but I’ll trust that fate knows better.”
Jolie stared at him, unsure what to say next. Yes, Jolie was well aware that the detective was the one she was supposed to mate with. When she was near him, everything in her reacted to him. By their people’s customs, he was the one she should be with, and yet…her heart led her down a different path for a reason.
She loved them both.
Jolie wanted to have it all.
After years of fighting for everyone else, she wanted this one thing as her own. It wasn’t like their kind hadn’t done it before.
Why couldn’t she go there?
Who would stop her?
At her lack of response, he lifted her from his lap to place her on the couch. He had said what he needed to, now he would walk away. There was no way he could remain, knowing that he was replaced. Escaping to the wall of windows, he stared out at the night. Resting his forehead against the glass, he closed his eyes and slowly began to die inside.
Jolie saw his pain reflecting back from the window, and everything in her ached for the vampyre before her. This was the first time, in a long time, that she had seen Jacques rattled like this.
This had to end.
Jolie composed herself before going to him. Silently, she approached, standing so very close to his body.
“Jacques, I love you.”
Silence.
“Look at me, Jacques.” She was a little surprised that he actually listened. When her eyes met his, there was so much pain.
“He’s madly in love with you, and won’t act on it because he’s a decent man. He holds back what fate wanted, all because of me, Jolie. I’m the barrier to his and your happiness. We’re watching him fall apart under the weight of it all, and it’s my fault. I’m the reason.” It shamed him that he had just betrayed the man by telling her what they shared.
“Jacques, you underestimate us both. Flynn is a very kind soul. We’ve seen his goodness in everything he does. He wouldn’t want you talking like this. I know him well enough that he would be hurt to know you were suffering.”
“I’m well aware of how good he is,” Jacques replied bitterly. There came a moment when Jacques hoped Flynn would be evil, calculating, and nothing more than the typical human. Instead, the truth was there, staring him in the face.
Jolie would be safe with him.
That’s all he wanted in life.
Well, that and her undying love, but fate wasn’t always kind. He knew that personally.
“Do you love him, Jolie? I need to know. I need to hear what lives in you. Please don’t make me look. I deserve your words. I don’t want to be a thief who has to steal your thoughts. If you’ve ever felt anything for me, now’s when you’ll trust me with the truth.”
She wouldn’t deny anything. “I do love him.”
Jacques’s eyes filled with emotion.
Here it was.
The truth was free.
Jolie wouldn’t let it go at that. “I also know, without a shadow of a doubt, that I love you too. You must think so very little of me, Jacques, that you’re willing to throw yourself on the sword for my happiness. I happen to be able to love you both equally. I love you for your strength and ferocity. I love Flynn for his charm and sweetness. You both own my heart. It’s split down the middle. Neither of you owns more than the other. I have a deep propensity to love the men in my life.”
He admitted his own truth. “I just want you to be happy.”
She took his face in her palms and stared into his eyes. “Do I look unhappy? When we wake, am I sad? Do you ever find me weeping in misery at my choice?”
“No.”
“I love you both, but Flynn has to move at his pace, not mine. I absolutely would have had sex with him tonight, but neither you nor him were ready to make that move. If he took me in that sweaty romp, there would be guilt. If I didn't give you two time to make the decision together, it would break us. Genevieve is coming, Jacques. We can’t afford to be divided. I’m only as strong as the warriors I surround myself with.”
He measured her words. “He needs a more physical connection with you. It’s killing him.”
“Do you see why I love you both? He’s worried about you being hurt, and you’re worried about him. You two are so very much alike, Jacques. You’re both the loves of my life. He’s human and meant to be my mate, and you’re the vampyre I’m mated to. I wish you would trust me.”
“I do.”
“If you were to be separated from me, what would happen, Jacques?”
“I’d die.”
She ran her thumbs across his lower lip. “That sounds like something a true mate would feel, no?”
He didn't disagree.
“What would happen to our Flynn?”
Jacques saw what she was doing. Jolie was offering him a way to see that neither man should be forced out. They were both meant to be right there.
“He left once and couldn’t stay away. I think that says it all.”
She stared at him. “If you left, Jacques, would you be able to stay away?” Jolie needed to know what to expect.
“No. Jolie, you’re re my everything.” He buried his face in her hair. “I couldn’t go on without you. I’d rather die.”
“You don’t have to, my love.” She kissed him. “If Flynn comes to our bed, you won’t be leaving. He’s not your replacement, because it doesn’t work that way. We’re mated, so that makes us one cohesive unit.”
Her fingers ran up and down his back, but instead of soothing him, it was making him crazy.
“Jacques,”
she purred, as she rubbed her body against his. The tension was leaving him, and instead, it was replaced by excitement. Leading him to the couch, Jolie pushed him down so he could sit.
“Jolie!” His body shook as she slid onto his lap.
If he needed proof of what she was feeling, so be it. Jolie was more than willing to show Jacques what lived in her. He may have not been picked by fate to be her pre-chosen mate, but she selected him.
That mattered far more.
Jolie Harcourte was the mistress of her own journey.
Nipping his throat with her teeth, his entire being quaked beneath her. Oh, he was getting heated up, and that was more than okay with her.
Jolie wanted him and knew she always would.
“I love the way you feel in my arms,” he admitted, as her fingers and mouth got busy on his flesh.
What he wanted was a hard and fast ride by his mate.
What he was willing to offer was anything she wanted or needed.
For this woman, he’d sacrifice anything.
As Jolie began to unbutton his shirt, inspiration struck. Without warning, Jolie raked her claws down his chest, shredding everything in their way. When it came to turning Jacques on fast, there was one sure fire way to do it.
Pain.
He loved the call of beast to beast. It was primitive and very much who they were. Sex for them was hardcore, rough, and something filled with passion.
Throwing back his head, Jacques’s body bucked beneath hers. Here was his mate, and she was reaching into her bag of tricks to remind him of just that.
Well, bring it on.
It was hard to not notice his erection tightening against her body. When his eyes opened, she grinned wickedly at him. Dragging her tongue across one sharp point of her fangs, she waited, watched, and studied her prey.
Jolie felt his erection tighten more as she watched him take in her gleaming bared fangs.
The hunter had become the prey.
He couldn’t breathe and all thought died in his brain. The only thing Jacques could focus on was the blood on her lips. Watching it bead off the tip of her pearly white incisor, he was driven to madness.
What he wouldn’t give to lick it away and taste her.
“Oh no, I seem to have cut my lip.”
He blinked. One minute, his eyes were green, but when they opened, the black had taken over, proving what they both already knew.
She was baiting a monster.
“I see that,” he hissed, his fangs descending into his mouth as the scent of blood wafted into the air. “Let me take care of that for you,” he offered, slowly bringing his mouth close to hers.
When his tongue lapped away the crimson drop, she shivered.
Pulling back, he stared at her. The artery in her neck throbbed and everything slowed around him.
He could pick up her scent.
There was the telltale glint in her eyes.
It was time.
Without warning, he attacked. His mouth sought hers, stealing whatever he wanted.
No one would stop him or could for that matter.
She’d lured him in with the heady mix of lust and want, and he was helpless to control it. As his hands slid deep into her silky hair, he used it as a way to control her.
“Jolie,” he hissed, breaking away from her mouth. Her eyes had bled black as proof of her arousal.
It was going to get wild.
Someone was going to get hurt.
Pushing her off his body, they crashed to the floor barely missing the ottoman. With one hand, he pinned her to the ground, refusing to relinquish her hair. With the other, he tore at her clothes, rendering them to tatters.
Nothing mattered.
The demon within was now in charge. They were both going for a very hard ride.
Jolie struggled beneath him, not to get away, but to get him free from his clothing. Jacques was pressed against her body as the scent of their blood mingled in the air. He was holding her head trapped by her hair, and she already knew why.
He was thirsty.
When his free hand had given him access to her nakedness, he began helping her set him free. When her fingers found, stroked, and closed around him, he was more than willing to follow her into hell and back.
The truth lived in all this pain and sex.
She was still his.
This was one thing she couldn’t fake. Her reaction to him was genuine. Before, she didn't lie. Jolie did want him.
“I need you,” he hissed, bringing his mouth down to her throat. Like a cat, he lapped at her neck, finding just the right spot. It was calling to him. Her blood was right there, waiting for him to just steal it away.
“Jacques,” she whimpered, giving in to him, as she let the alpha male above her have control. It was her way of proving that he was needed in their relationship. Yes, the females were more likely the killers, but for this moment, she wanted him to feel what he did for her.
Did to her.
“I don’t want foreplay,” he muttered, struggling to keep from tearing into her throat. It was so tempting. As his erection throbbed, it seemed to be timed to the blood flowing through her veins.
“Please, Jacques,” she begged.
Before the words were free from her mouth, he was moving. Slamming himself into her, Jacques tore a gasp from her lips.
“Jolie,” he whispered, as he found his way home. He was sheathed deep within her body and waiting to take her.
It wasn’t going to be gentle.
They were both too far gone for that.
“Oh, God,” she whispered, as her head was still pinned to the floor. Jolie could feel him throbbing deep within her, and all she wanted was to feel him take her.
Hard.
Fast.
Without mercy.
“Tell me you want me,” he demanded, tightening his fist in her hair. “Tell me that no matter what, you’ll always need to feel me in you.”
How could he think otherwise?
Jolie’s body betrayed her as goose bumps covered her flesh. They went from her toes to her hairline.
“Say it,” he hissed, refusing to move in her until she gave him what he wanted.
“I’ll die wanting you,” she vowed. “You’re my Jacques and first love.”
“I want to hear you scream for me,” he whispered, trying to ignore the need to drink from her. When he pulled his face from her throat, he admired his prey.
Her pale lean body was stretched beneath him, as he pinned her to the floor. She couldn’t move to find any satisfaction, and that’s exactly how he wanted it.
This was how he desired her.
He saw the swell of her breast and decided to just sample a little of his prize. Lapping across it, he sunk his fangs deep into the creamy swell. As he began gulping greedily, her body bowed, forcing his fangs deeper.
Her hands found his hair as she fought the need building in her. “Please, Jacques. I can’t survive like this.”
He knew Jolie’s weakness. Whenever they came together it was like a storm. Now, he was making her wait.
It was perfection.
“Please,” she whimpered, as he continued to drink from her.
He took his time, despite wanting to do nothing more than pound himself into her body. She was his in that moment, and while it may change tomorrow, for now, he had his prize.
When she moaned, he finally pulled his fangs from her flesh. Staring her in the eyes, he licked his lips.
“I told you to scream,” he said, right before finding her throat. It was so unexpected that she gave him what he wanted.
Only when she succumbed did he begin moving. He took her repeatedly, enjoying the tightening grip.
She gasped at the continual invasion.
Jolie was ready to shatter apart. From his lower body taking her mercilessly, to his mouth claiming her throat, it was all bliss. Nothing felt better than being trapped beneath him.
It was the only prison that could ever contain her
.
Marginally, he allowed her some motion as her hips met each and every thrust from him. They came together time and time again, sharing the pleasure.
It was hard not to be in heaven. Jolie tasted like the sweetest nectar across his tongue, but he knew he needed to stop. Jacques was dangerously close to draining her too much. Ripping his fangs from her throat, he stared down at her, covered in blood.
It excited him to watch the wound close up, leaving just the blood that he couldn’t swallow fast enough.
When he released her hair, she turned her head and pulled his mouth to hers. With her lips and tongue, she made love to him, driving him wild.
Thrusting into her, he could feel her shake. She was about to fall, and he knew it. Finding that perfect spot, he continued the assault until her mouth was torn from his.
Jacques’s name was on her lips, while Jolie’s blood was still on his.
“Oh God!” she moaned, as the world around her exploded. The colors and pleasure swirled.
He stopped to watch her struggle to resurface. This was far from over. Jacques had taken what he wanted, and now she was going to give him more.
Whether she liked it or not.
The beast in him demanded everything that she had to offer.
As he saw her try to focus, he rolled, placing her on top. With his arm he shoved the ottoman out of the way. Now, he’d let her use him and find even more pleasure.
“Ride me,” he hissed, as she leaned over him and did what he asked.
For him, Jolie would offer up anything she owned.
As she slammed down repeatedly, his moans of pleasure built her right back up.
“Mmmmm, Jacques,” she whispered, having him focus on her.
“I love you,” he whispered.
His body bowed as she tightened around him.
“I love you too,” she offered right back. There was no denying it.
Using his hair, Jolie pulled him into a sitting position. As she continued to bounce in his lap, she moved the black silky strands to the side. She was getting close, and before the eruption, Jolie wanted to taste him across her lips.
“Take all of me,” he offered, getting excited at what was coming. His body was starting to tingle, and Jacques knew that he was going to explode the second her fangs broke his skin.
