by Kim Loraine
I shrug. “That’s not a problem. We all assumed they’d be starting that sooner rather than later.”
“It’s a problem if they decide to come after other creatures like they did before.”
Taking a long breath, I drag a hand across the nape of my neck. “That was thousands of years ago. None of the original threats are even alive any longer.”
“That we know of.”
He’s not wrong. I haven’t met a witch in person, but all the stories lead me to believe nothing but darkness comes from them. “Anything else you care to drop on me before you get out of my home?”
He chuckles. “I think that should suffice. Keep your mate under control. The last thing this area needs is more attention being drawn to the vampires.”
I nod, and before I can say a word, he’s gone. Thank fuck.
“Damned aristocrats,” I mutter under my breath.
“He’s royalty?” Claire asks, her voice catching me off guard. I should have sensed her when she woke. Damn Lucas for distracting me.
“Technically. He’s the bastard son of our king. Lucas Blackthorne is basically a spoiled rich prince with little to no responsibilities.”
“Isn’t that the best kind?”
She looks like heaven wrapped in my shirt with her hair tumbling down her back. And she smells like me. Exactly as it should be. I hate that she’s even entertaining the memory of Lucas. “I don’t want to talk about him. I want to discuss what happened last night.”
Claire pads over to where I’m standing and cocks her head to one side. “Which part of it?”
“The part where your heart started beating for me.”
“We already discussed that.”
“We didn’t come to an agreement. You needed a fucking minute, if you recall.”
She swallows and crosses her arms over her breasts, but that only serves to shorten the length of my shirt on her, baring more of her perfect thighs. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“I want you to let me be the mate I’m supposed to be for you.”
There’s a flash of pain in her eyes, as though my disappointment hurts her. “I don’t know how to let that happen. It feels so much like I’m being forced to want you. That’s not who I am.”
She’s so strong and stubborn. “Maybe you’re looking at this the wrong way. Instead of seeing it as a trap, try looking at it more from the perspective of love at first sight. It’s just…meant to be.”
Her lips quirk, but then she flicks her gaze away from me. “The one and only time I gave in to that idea, I got my heart broken. Love at first sight isn’t real.”
“Really? What about Elaine and Mattias? Your cousin couldn’t deny her feelings. Neither could Matt. They fell hard and fast and rode off into the night together.”
The fight leaves her an instant after she opens her mouth to protest. “Laney is different.”
I take her hands and bring them to my chest. “She’s not. You’re feeling everything all at once. Your change, your mating connection, your hunger. I understand it’s too strong, but I need you to stop running from this. We don’t have to have a mating ceremony, we don’t have to do anything, but I need to be able to see to your safety. Can we at least come to an agreement on this?”
I feel the change in her body as soon as I offer a compromise. “So, you want to take it…slow?”
“If that’s what you need, yes.”
“Really?” The disbelief in her tone almost has me laughing.
“Yes. What’s a few weeks of you figuring out you’re in love with me when we have eternity?”
She narrows her gaze. “I’m not in love with you.”
“You will be. I promise.” I stare her down, not closing the distance between us, but making sure she feels our connection. “Now, we need to discuss feeding without killing.”
“I thought you only wanted me to feed from you?”
Those words send a rush of arousal straight to my cock. The thought of her lips on my skin again, her teeth piercing my vein and the pull of her mouth as she feeds… God help me, I want her right now. My instincts scream at me to lay her across the kitchen island and feast on her sweet pussy until she’s soaked in her own pleasure. Then I can claim her properly. Sink inside her as she takes my blood.
“Wow,” she breathes.
That breaks me out of my fantasy. “What?”
“Your eyes turned pitch black. Is that what I look like when I’m hungry?”
I nod.
“So…you need to eat?” She glances at the empty bottle of blood and the two glasses on the counter.
“No.”
“Then what’s with the demon eyes?”
“I’m not hungry for blood.”
Her cheeks turn a soft pink. I’m sure if she were still human they would be flaming red. “Oh.”
I fight my desire for her and back away. “I’m sorry. It’s not something I can control.”
“Don’t apologize. It’s kind of flattering.”
“Is it? How you confuse me, woman.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know how to do this. I want you too. I just don’t know if that’s because I genuinely like you, or because my body is forcing me to need you.”
“Maybe it’s a bit of both. The difference between you and me is, I’m not resisting what my body is telling me is right.”
She steps closer, pressing her palm to my toned abdomen. Even through the fabric of my shirt, her touch sears my skin. I stare into her eyes and watch the pupils dilate until there’s nothing left but black where the color once was.
“Claire?”
“Brandt,” she whispers.
“I thought we were taking it slow.”
“So did I.”
Then my mate collides with me, her lips on mine in fevered, desperate kisses, and all is right in my world.
6
Claire
Brandt’s kiss is exactly what I need. He’s gentle but firm as he takes control of my hunger for him and threads his fingers in my hair. His tongue nudges past my parted lips, the taste of him rich and sweet. Am I being stubborn and resisting something inevitable? Maybe.
My breasts ache for his touch, my thighs clench in anticipation of wrapping around his hips. I want everything with him, right the hell now.
“Claire,” he moans against my mouth. “I want you so badly.”
“God, I want you too.” I thought kissing him might help ease the pain of desire burning in my core, instead it fanned the flames.
He slides his hands down my neck and over my shoulders until they circle my waist. Then he lifts me until my bare ass hits the cold marble of the countertop. I let out a squeak of protest, but it’s quickly dampened when he drops to his knees and parts my thighs.
“I’ve been dreaming of tasting you here. Lie back for me,” he murmurs as he kisses his way up my inner thigh.
“Oh, God.” I tense, but the instant his lips find me, that tension bleeds away and is replaced by beautiful pleasure. My back arches, my toes curl, and when he adds a finger inside me as he sucks on my swollen bundle of nerves, I cry out.
“You taste like pure, sweet sugar.” I would yell at him for denying me my orgasm, but the feel of his breath across my clit sends tingles racing through me.
“Then keep going if you like it so much.”
He devours me, pumping two fingers inside my body as he targets small circles around the tight bud between my legs. I feel it building, waves of euphoria all converging at my center. Then, like a bomb, I explode into fragments of light and pleasure.
He backs away, pulling his fingers from my still pulsing core, and I let out a whimper of disappointment. “You stopped. Why did you stop?”
“Because the first time I have my mate is not going to be on a cold kitchen countertop.”
A shudder of longing runs through me. “I wasn’t complaining.”
He stands and smiles, giving me a flash of fang. “I’ve served you, but we aren’t fucking tonigh
t. You said slow. This is anything but.”
“Why are you backing off now? You’ve been waiting for this since I woke up.”
“You were right. We need to wait until you’re ready. Everything is too heightened for a new vampire. I remember when I was turned. It all burned so brightly, and I was ruled by my desires. I don’t want you regretting anything between us.”
His pants do nothing to hide the straining erection between his legs. I sit up and stare at him. “Are you sure?”
Glancing down his body, he chuckles and adjusts his cock. “It’s nothing I haven’t been dealing with since you first fed from me.”
That makes me want him even more. What is wrong with me? I just let the man who turned me into a vampire eat me out on his kitchen counter. I was one thrust of his hips away from letting him take my virginity. Something I’ve held on to all these years because I hadn’t found anyone who deserved to know me in that way. Now, I’d been a stone’s throw away from letting a vampire I barely knew inside my body. I need to calm my hormones down. He’s right. I’m keyed up, highly sensitized, out of control. I have to get out of here, clear my head.
Standing, I straighten my clothes and hop off the counter. My head spins, and I wobble on my feet, but Brandt’s hands settle on my shoulders. “Whoa there,” he says, steadying me.
“I’m not sure… It’s just…” I don’t know how to ask him for what I need.
“You’re hungry. You need to feed.”
He smells so damn good. My fangs elongate in my mouth and everything in me focuses on the rhythmic thudding of his pulse. “I’m sorry, I can’t…”
“You can.”
“I don’t want to.”
He sighs and stares at me. “Why are you resisting?”
“I lost control.” I feel drugged. I hate it. I want to be able to make decisions with a clear head. My thoughts rush back to the person I fed from. His body crumpling on the pavement. Lucas doing, God knows what with it. “I…I think I killed him.”
“You did.” He shrugs. “It’s part of the process of turning. We’ve all killed.”
“Oh, God.” My stomach clenches. “That’s the problem. I don’t want to kill people.”
“You don’t have to. But control comes with practice.”
Practice? I don’t want to practice eating people. “Are you serious? This isn’t like learning how to ride a bike. I. Killed. Someone.”
“Yes, you did. It’s too bad. It could’ve been prevented if I’d forced you to stay.”
“Don’t start making this all about you.”
“If it’s about you, it’s about me. That’s how our connection works.”
I let out a strangled groan of frustration and push away from him. “Just when I think you’re starting to understand me, you get all possessive and controlling. I need independence. I need to be able to breathe.”
“You don’t need to—”
I hold up a hand. “God help you if you try to tell me I don’t need to breathe.”
“Technically…” he begins, but trails off. “Look. If you need freedom, you are going to have to get out of this town. We can go somewhere isolated. Somewhere no one will find us and you’ll be able to roam free. You can feed from me, learn to hunt animals. Gain control.”
I look at him standing mere feet away from me, and all I can see is the place on his throat I want to be feeding from. My hunger is a wild thing, untamable. I know he’s right. If I were to come across a human right now, they wouldn’t stand a chance. Even though my heart doesn’t want to hurt another person.
“When do we leave?”
7
Brandt
“Thank you for taking me to get my clothes.” Claire’s voice is soft as we drive through the winding mountain roads.
“You needed to have something to wear. Until you’re able to keep yourself from making a massacre of Target, that means I do what I can to get you your possessions.”
In truth, she almost lost control when we went to her landlord’s home. I used my ability to compel him to give Claire and I permanent invitations into the home she’d been renting. It was touch and go, but my mate was able to get a handle on her hunger. She doesn’t give herself enough credit.
We've been traveling the better part of four hours. Claire is desperately hungry but refusing to feed from me again. I think she's afraid of what it makes her feel. A bond. A connection between our souls. She doesn't want to admit how much she needs me. That’s fine. I can wait. No matter what, I'll always be hers—and she'll be mine.
"How much longer do we have to travel this way? I thought vampires were fast," she whines.
I glance around at the interior of my Land Rover and shrug. "I like to take my time. Sometimes it's best to blend in rather than get where you're going as quickly as you can."
She lets out a snort. "So, you're telling me you’re the tortoise in this situation."
I cock my brow. "What?"
"The tortoise and the hare? Slow and steady wins the race and all that?"
"How could a tortoise win against a hare? Why are they racing?"
I'm having fun teasing her. For all she knows, I'm an ancient, out-of-touch vampire she's going to have to drag kicking and screaming into our current century. I'm not. I'm a willing adapter, a technology lover, a science groupie.
She lets out a frustrated sigh. "Ugh, God save me from oblivious old guys."
"I was the one who saved you, Claire. And God put you in my path as sure as he sent Mattias to Elaine."
She goes quiet for a few moments as we drive the dark streets, through the mountains and toward the only place I can keep her safe while still teaching her how to live this new life. My cabin in the Cascades is off the grid. Completely cut off from society, solar powered—ironic, I know—and without the need to cook we are the perfect inhabitants. If she won't let me, her mate, provide nourishment from my vein, she'll learn to hunt animals.
"Are we finally here?" she asks, staring at the cabin dubiously.
"This is my safe place. No one knows about it. No one will find us here."
"Charming," she says. I don't miss the sarcasm dripping from that one word.
"I think we need to clear the air about something," I say. "We left because you don't want to kill everyone in town."
She nods.
"But we went the long way so you and I wouldn't risk exposure. There are hunters around the area. They're after all of us, but they don't want to help us, Claire. They want to see every last vampire turn to dust."
"Do we really turn to dust? " she asks. Her eyes widen with genuine fear, and I don't feel the least glimmer of guilt at scaring her.
"Yes, we do. Sunlight burns, silver is poison, decapitation and a stake through the heart turns us to ash."
"Silver? I thought that was for werewolves."
I shake my head and chuckle as we both open our doors and exit the car. "Werewolves?"
"If we exist..."
"You assume all other supernatural creatures must as well."
She nods, and her cheeks turn a slight shade of pink.
“There are witches. I know that for a fact. The rest, I can't say for certain." I drag a hand through my hair. "There could be shapeshifters, demons, any manner of creature. I have never seen one. But up until the day I was made, I had no knowledge of vampire-kind either.”
"How many other vampires are there?"
I frown and open the door to my cabin. "Thousands? Maybe more. There are clans all over the world."
"Clans? Like in Scotland?"
"Exactly. We're each fiercely loyal to our families, and ruled over by our king."
"The Blackthornes? One of them is King?”
I laugh and switch on the lights, illuminating the rustic space. “Yes. A Blackthorne has been king of our region for centuries.”
"And are you like... some kind of royal?"
I shake my head. "No. I' m... I guess you could say, common.''
She looks me over, an a
mused expression on her lovely face. "You're not common from where I'm standing." There's a hint of flirtation in her tone, and it sends desire through me in the worst way.
I step closer, closing the door behind us as I approach her. Eyes wide, she stands her ground and takes a sharp breath.
"What are you doing?" she asks, nipples hard and visible through the fabric of her top.
"I'm going to kiss my mate."
She licks her lips and trains her gaze on my mouth. "What makes you think I'll let you?"
“You let me kiss your pussy only hours ago. Surely your lips aren’t off the menu.” My hand travels up her arm, over her shoulder and across the delicate skin at her throat. "I need to kiss you, then you need to feed. Your hunger is palpable. It fills the room like a living, breathing thing."
"I'm not that hungry." She swallows and locks gazes with me, her eyes betraying the lie.
"Even if we weren't joined, I'd know that wasn't true. You're so hungry you can't even keep your fangs retracted. You want my blood, you need me to serve you."
She squirms and lets out a low moan when I press our bodies together. Then my lips find hers. Soft, pliant, exactly what I imagined them to be. She is perfect. Crafted for me by God himself. My future, my forever.
She breaks our kiss and stares hard at me, need radiating from her. “Please?" she begs.
I won’t deny her. She’s asking for everything I want to give her. Offering my throat, I cup the back of her head and ease her toward my skin. The instant her fangs pierce my flesh, a wave of arousal hits me and I groan. She stiffens for a moment, but I murmur, “Go on, Claire. Take from me.”
My cock is a length of steel in my jeans, desperate to be inside her, to finish what we started, to join our bodies as mates should. Intense pleasure starts at my erection and builds until it sends tingles up my spine as she presses her body to mine and her hand slides over the bulge in my pants. She lets out a soft moan and I grip her around the waist, lifting her easily and carrying her to the couch. I move to place her under me, to press my body over hers so I can part her thighs and sink inside her once I rid us off these pesky clothes.
