Vampire Seduction: Real Men of Othercross

by Kyle, Celia

  “Your Honors, a moment to confer with my client?” Alena repeated her prior request, forcing her voice to remain steady.

  Her heart beat in her mouth, and most of the people in the courtroom would be able to hear how fast it raced. Hell, she was nervous! She’d never faced a real Triune before, never defended a client except in mock trials in her law classes. But Luca was her beloved. No one would work harder to see him set free, that much she knew.

  She licked a bead of sweat off her upper lip. Every instinct in her body yearned to go to him, to consume him. To be consumed.

  Get a hold of yourself, girl.

  “You’ve interrupted this courtroom with a strong claim, Ms. Falkov.” Judge Soren stared at Alena, her brown eyes shading golden as her inner wolf rose close to the surface.

  The judge’s tone delivered a stern warning. A Falkov going against her own clan to defend a Ravenna—despite the tenuous treaty between clans—was rife with potential complications. But it wasn’t as if she was high up in the hierarchy of her clan. She was a law student, not even two centuries old, for blood’s sake.

  “Yes, I did make a claim, Your Honor. Other Law states that a person on trial may defend themselves or enlist the aid of their mate during defense.”

  “Your Honors,” sneered Malone. “A law student? Really? I understand the precedent, but my dear cousin is barely old enough to read the alphabet, much less—”

  “Don’t pretend like you care if the defendant has adequate representation,” Alena snapped. “Did you tell Odofin to assign the case to Devon Sinclair? Because I usually handle all assignments, yet this one never made it to my desk. Funny, huh?”

  She’d pin her “cousin” to a wall later, clan ties be damned. She took a brief moment to panic when she realized that by daybreak the clan elders would know what had transpired here. That a Falkov had claimed a Ravenna as a beloved—in the middle of a trial, no less.

  But hell, it wasn’t like she’d done it on purpose!

  “I’m sorry, did you pass your exams when I wasn’t looking?” Malone shot back.

  “We aren’t human. Licensure isn’t required to represent—”

  “Your beloved?” Malone rolled his eyes, his tone mocking, and then he shrugged. “Your funeral. I’ll see you at the next clan council meeting, cuz.”

  The judges whispered amongst themselves, voices rising and falling as the argument turned heated. A standard enchantment cast by Judge Holloway obscured their words, but their displeasure was obvious.

  Alena used the distraction to cross over to the prosecution’s side. She lowered her voice, slapping a hand on Malone’s desk.

  “What the hell is going on, Malone? If the elders wanted to bury this case, they should have told me instead of trying to pull a fast one.”

  He refused to look at her. “Odofin had his reasons. You have yours. Keep your hands clean, Alena.”

  “From what? Clan politics or this case?”

  “It’s a little too late for either. Isn’t it? You want to go back over to your side now, nestling?”

  Alena returned to Luca’s side, thinking hard. Something more than personal dislike for her colored Malone’s agitation. He’d supposedly been benched, but all of a sudden he was trying a case—with his superior watching. They must have told him to win or else. A man in those circumstances would do, and accept, some seriously shady shit.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Luca asked when she took Devon’s empty chair. “The risk might be too great.”

  Um, duh! Either the clan kept her out of this case because they wanted her hands clean of corruption—it was always useful to have a few clan members who were above reproach—or they didn’t think she’d play ball. Which she wouldn’t have. Devon, on the other hand, didn’t give a damn. He had his eye set on political office and this job was just a stepping stone.

  The weight of Luca’s gaze was too much to ignore. She glanced over at him, considering his question. “Is there any other choice?”

  Intense blue eyes simultaneously accused and caressed her face. His words came slow and low, heavy with meaning. “There is always a choice, beloved.”

  His voice did things to her. Was it because he was hers or because he was just so damn hot? There was no denying his pure physical attractiveness. He was every inch of six-five and had a body chiseled by a life of hard labor before he’d been turned. Un-death had obviously increased his power, but his physical form—and what a form it was!—remained exactly the same since the day he’d become a vampire.

  Hunger crackled in his eyes like a summer storm. Tousled dark hair lay stark against his pale face, made all the pastier by the jail’s black jumpsuit. Or else they hadn’t allowed him to feed, which would explain the glimmer in his gaze as he stared at her like she was his next meal.

  God, she hoped so!

  “Someone really has it in for you if they assigned Devon as your counsel,” she murmured, desperately trying to maintain focus on the case and not him. “If you want to come out of this alive—don’t correct me, you know what I mean—I’m your best bet. Actually, your only bet.”

  Luca leaned back and crossed his arms, looking as if he’d just bitten into a lemon when he was expecting a juicy neck. “A Falkov defending a Ravenna. I’d think this was someone’s idea of a cruel joke if it were possible to fake a beloved. But it’s not and here we are.”

  “Hey, I didn’t ask for this.” Alena’s tone was sharp enough to draw blood.

  His expression softened. “I know, my beloved. Forgive me if my words upset you. These circumstances are… stressful.”

  She took a deep breath, exerting calm even as her senses were filled with his essence. Snapping at him over nothing wouldn’t help matters. Maybe if they could have a few minutes alone to talk—among other things—they might make sense of this insanity and come up with some kind of plan. But judging by the way Uncle Stefan glared at her, she wouldn’t be granted much leeway, if any.

  Alena leaned over and placed her lips close to Luca’s ear. Vampires had incredible hearing and she didn’t want her uncle listening in. Unfortunately, the proximity to the pulsing vein in Luca’s neck did nothing for her concentration.

  “Did you say something to piss him off before I came in?”

  Luca shook his head almost imperceptibly. She didn’t know whether or not to believe him and she didn’t have time to make a decision before the Triune members stopped their discussion and the enchantment faded. The courtroom settled down as the witch began.

  “I understand the imperative to represent your beloved, Ms. Falkov,” Judge Holloway spoke. “But do you really feel this is in the defendant’s best interests?”

  Luca slapped a hand onto the table. “She is my representative.” His flat tone left no more room for argument.

  “I want to see the mating mark,” Judge Soren demanded. “This timing is just a little too convenient, and frankly I don’t appreciate the interruption.”

  Warmth flooded Alena’s face as if she’d been caught in a lie. “There is no mating mark, your Honor. Not yet.”

  Mutters and murmurs echoed around the room as the judges exchanged knowing looks. Alena hurried to explain.

  “We only discovered our connection moments ago, Your Honors, and obviously haven’t had an opportunity to… do that. That does not invalidate my right to represent the defendant.”

  Judge Holloway leaned forward, her long white hair falling over her thin shoulders. “The same law you’re quoting demands the mate be claimed. If you’re mates, you have thirty minutes to rectify the situation.”

  “I object!” Judge Falkov looked positively apoplectic.

  To Alena’s surprise, Aya Holloway ignored him. “Thirty minutes to get the job done and come back to us an officially mated pair, and then we’ll decide whether you’re permitted to defend Ravenna.”

  The witch banged her gavel, leaving Alena to stare at the Triune dumbfounded. The least argumentative witch she’d ever met had just given her
time to claim Luca, which didn’t seem to bother Judge Soren, but her uncle was definitely as pissed as the prosecution.

  “Ms. Falkov, the clock is ticking,” Judge Holloway said with a gentle smile. “You have your recess. I suggest you use every second of it.”

  A guard stepped forward and unfastened Luca from his chair. “This way,” he growled, jerking Luca along by the chain.

  Alena hurried along next to Luca as the guard led them out the back of the courtroom and down a long, dingy hallway.

  “Last chance,” Luca whispered.

  “For what?”

  “If this isn’t one of the universe’s most colossal coincidences, this is your last chance to give up the ruse. Once we’re locked behind doors…”

  His supposed threat sounded more like a promise to her, yet he still doubted. Not that she could blame him. Having a newbie like Devon assigned to his case, her loser of a “cousin” prosecuting, her great-uncle sitting on the Triune, and finally her. A Falkov just happened to be his beloved. It smelled just as fishy to her—except for the beloved part.

  “Well, if it is all some grand Falkov conspiracy,” she replied with a smirk, “our claiming will throw a pretty big wrench into the works. Won’t it?”

  Icy blue eyes bore into her soul, and then a smile curled the corners of his tempting lips as the tension in his body melted away.

  “I’m not your enemy, Luca. As of five minutes ago, I’m your beloved.”

  “And my attorney.”

  Foresires help her, she was. Now she just needed to figure out how to claim her beloved and develop a defense strategy in thirty minutes.

  Chapter Four

  Vague astonishment that the Triune had allowed Luca and Alena a recess ensured he remained calm until they were alone. Not that he could congratulate his own self-control for refraining from ripping out the throat of the prosecutor. He’d been bound by silver chains, after all.

  Besides, more was at stake now than just his freedom. Alena’s clan elders would doubtlessly bring her before them, and that rarely ended well for the vampire who’d incurred their wrath. She was a complication they couldn’t have foreseen. Thankfully, he knew in his heart she was innocent of any plot against him. The universe just had a bitch of a sense of humor.

  The surly guard opened the door to a small conference room and then removed Luca’s chains completely before giving him a shove inside. If he hadn’t been more than ready to claim his beloved, Luca might have been tempted to slake his hunger with the burly bear shifter’s blood. Luck was on the grizzly’s side this day.

  The moment the door locked behind them, Luca turned to Alena. “Will you be safe?”

  She blinked at him. “Huh?”

  A humorless smile touched his lips. “Will you be punished for what’s happened here?”

  Her brows drew together, mouth firming. She crossed her arms and a righteous resolve filled her face. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”

  Luca sighed. So she was naïve as well as brave. Charming, to be sure, but it only served to complicate matters even further.

  “Come to me,” he said, holding out his hand.

  He wanted nothing more than to cross the room and take her into his arms, but he wasn’t an animal who couldn’t control himself. He would allow her to come to him. At least at first.

  Alena resisted, however. “We need to talk about the case before we, uh…” Her voice trailed off, and she cleared her throat, an alluring wash of rose coloring her cheeks as her arms unfolded and she rubbed her hands down her thighs.

  He tilted his head, looking at her from behind his lashes. “Pleasure before business, my beloved.”

  “It’s all business, in this case,” she muttered and then leveled a look at him. Her hands curled into fists at her side.

  “Why are you holding back? This must be just as much torture for you.”

  He admired her strength, as frustrating as it was. If she did not come to him, and very soon, he would lose what remained of his innate sense of chivalry. Instincts honed an eon ago batted at him. He batted them back. He was not his animal self. He was a man, and no one would place this woman in an untenable position, least of all him.

  “I… don’t know,” she breathed. Yet she took a step forward. It was almost enough to break the dam of his will.

  He softened his tone. “Do you want this? If you are uncertain at all, tell me now and we’ll return to the courtroom. I won’t blame you for my conviction in any way. When I am finally free again, I will court you however you see fit.”

  She snorted. “What, in a hundred years? Yeah, no thanks. I want this.” Her voice firmed with confidence. “I really do. I may not be responsible for your fate, but do you really think I’ll give you up now that I’ve found you?”

  Luca closed the distance between them before his heart beat again. He would have waited, would have held himself back if there had been even the slightest hesitation in her voice, the smallest flicker of doubt in her eyes. But in them he saw only certainty. They were destined, even though they were strangers. Enemies, by some standards, but those no longer mattered.

  Her eyes flared, fangs slipping from their sheaths as her heady scent spiked. He couldn’t tell if he claimed her mouth or she his—and he no longer cared. He was aware of nothing but the honey of her lips on his as her hands delved into his hair, holding his head fast as she pressed her body flush to his own. Luca heard a distant snarl and struggled not to rip the blouse from her body. His fingers bunched the silk at the small of her back as he crushed their hips together.

  She broke free from the kiss, half-laughing, half-panting. “Don’t tear my clothes. We have to go back to court.”

  Damn the court. Damn the Falkovs. Damn everyone else in the world. He didn’t care. He simply wanted.

  “Help me,” he murmured, forehead lowering to touch hers.

  “I’m in the same boat, buddy.” There was some attempt at humor in her forced light tone, but mostly she sounded hoarse.

  Luca cursed. The last of his good intentions to avoid ravishing her dissolved. She didn’t seem to want or need him to protect her from the fury of lust they shared.

  Besides, there was no time for romance, for anything other than primal, raw fucking. Lifting her off her feet, Luca slammed her against the wall, pinning her wrists above her head as he claimed her mouth again. Her body twisted against him, hands straining against his tight grip. Her fangs nicked his lip and she sucked on the tiny wound, taking his blood without permission.

  “Bold,” he purred, shifting her wrists to one hand in order to free himself to cup one perfect, full breast. “Will you be so forward when my cock is buried inside you?”

  “Are you kidding me? If you think this is forward…”

  “I have no feather bed,” he murmured as his mood shifted slightly, a cool wind of tenderness gentling his ferocious desire to claim her.

  “Yeah, neither do I.”

  He laughed. Her back arched. This woman had fire in her veins, not blood. The fates had given him a beloved to match his own appetite.

  “Your body is mine,” she panted. “And your blood. Do you deny it?”

  His teeth grazed her neck. “I deny nothing. Take me. Claim me.” He pulled back and smiled at her. “I am yours, mia regina.”

  As Luca said the words, he realized he meant them. She would be his queen forever. He didn’t know this woman, but his soul cried out at the brightness in her eyes, the soft curve of her lips, the gentleness when she touched the tip of her nose to his in a cute, youthful gesture. All of it said that her soul answered back. From everything he’d ever heard, that’s how it was with one’s beloved.

  “Do with me as you will. If you’re strong enough.”

  At his teasing challenge, she yanked her wrists free from his hold with a quick, professional twist that proved she’d been taught a bit of self-defense. And that she’d been allowing him to hold her captive.

  “Do you doubt it?” Her hand snaked down to his
crotch where his cock tented the shapeless jumpsuit he wore.

  Luca groaned, eyes fluttering closed, and then he let loose a string of filthy Italian invectives. “Not with your hand right there, tesoro, my treasure. I doubt nothing.”

  Her laugh was a low, throaty torment. The time for pleasantries was over. Luca obeyed her stricture not to tear her clothing, though he nearly lost patience at the necessity of oh-so-carefully peeling the jacket from her body and pulling the slip of red silk over her head.

  “Next time,” he said as he fumbled with the hooks of her lacy red bra, “I will not be confined by the indignity of preserving mere clothing.”

  Her fingers tugged at the zipper of his jumpsuit. “Honey, no clothing is ‘mere’ on my student budget. Any idea how much tuition has gone up in the last fifty years?”

  He wanted to tell her that all of his wealth was hers, but his mind was in his cock and there was no time for such practicalities.

  Alena stripped his jumpsuit down to his waist as he tried to help her out of her matching panties, but they kept getting in each other’s way. Finally, she huffed and slipped out of her underwear while he kicked off the remains of his jumpsuit. Before he could do more than pull himself upright, she’d taken him in her hand again and stroked him to the point of insanity.

  “Your fingers are torture,” he growled. The growing ecstasy was a torment he didn’t think he could outlast. But he had to. Damned if he would make a poor showing of himself during their first time together.

  * * *

  Alena couldn’t be sure who dragged whom to the floor. Luca’s attempt to restrain himself was actually pretty adorable, even if a deep line between his brows was evidence of how painful he found it. Part of her wanted to tell him not to bother, that she wanted him as much as he needed her. But her mother had always taught her it was better to start as one meant to continue, and the last thing she wanted to discourage was his instinct to behave like a gentleman.