by Talyn Scott
“How does she feel?” Searlas had only taken her ass once, never her sweet sex.
“Scalding hot around me, tight as a glove,” Niall described, swallowing roughly. “But the question is, how do you feel, my Nevesta?”
“I want you to move,” she pleaded, curling her hips to encourage him. “I want to come again, all around those hard ridges.”
“I want that, too.” Niall’s first thrust became a second. Then each thrust grew longer, plusher, slower, and bolder with every pass. The room filled with the sounds of her wet pussy smacking against his pelvis and thighs.
Searlas spotted her pink-tinged arousal dripping down Niall’s heavy balls, and his fangs lengthened at the scent of her blood, specifically that considered virgin. He wondered if it was a vampire thing, but lost himself for a moment when his pelvis pushed against her ass, his cock a volatile monster waiting for its turn.
In the white haze of his mind — a place where anger and rage did not exist, but pleasure and claiming ruled the creature Searlas had become — he sensed the blood rushing through Jenny, the call to sink into her vein, and the overriding need to release into her as she spilled her life’s essence into him.
So the next thing he knew, he was at her throat, the tips of his fangs poised and ready. Then right when Niall grunted as Jenny cried out, her body convulsively jerking up and down, her pussy drawing off Niall beautifully, Searlas bit down.
As his fangs sank into her neck, he tapped a delicious vein, securing her by wrapping his arm around the front of Jenny’s shoulders. Rolling faster, up and down the outside of her dark crevice, Searlas took his eyes off the sight of Niall fucking Jenny and allowed his vampire to luxuriate in his mate’s taste. Let his mind drift in the white haze as her delicious nectar filled his mouth. She tasted nothing like Eagan, Searlas realized, her flavor tart and sweet like dark cherries, the same as her pussy. He hoped that, apart from Niall, he would never be forced to drink another.
Remembering himself, Searlas drew away from Jenny after only a few swallows, and jacked up his thrusts in time with Niall’s. He grunted, or maybe that was Niall, when that telltale zap hit the base of his spine, working through his balls as they contracted with their first show of seed.
“Niall, Searlas!” cried Jenny, her tiny claws raking Niall’s shoulders.
The Gryph cried out right along with her, his wings tightening along with his face as he shoved his load deep inside her. In the span of seconds, Jenny tumbled over again, her words incoherent, a jumbling mess Searlas wouldn’t bother to decipher. There was no need, since anyone could tell she was boneless, well-sated.
Thoroughly loved.
“Jenny climaxed so hard,” Niall said as he dragged in a breath, “she blacked out.” He eased from her body, Jenny’s virgin blood evident on his cock and legs.
“My uncle once told me females, even mixed bloods, will come so furiously that they nearly rip off their mates’ dicks.”
Niall looked down at his cock, half of it turning a deep purple. “Nearly?” His smile was wide, his bronzed face relaxed for the moment. “What a fucking ride I just took.” He lifted Jenny in his arms, carrying her to the soft bed. “I can sense aftershocks in my filaments.”
Searlas peered at Niall’s feathers. “Hey, you’re right. They’re shaking.” He took a quick jot to the bathroom, snagging a towel to put under Jenny.
“How much did you drink from her?” Niall asked as he accepted the towel and placed it under Jenny’s adorable ass.
“A few swallows, I couldn’t resist.” Searlas let his eyes drift, checking out Jenny while she was sleeping. Her scars weren’t nearly as bad as she thought, but they were there. A reminder of the agony and fear she felt one fateful night when her life changed.
Searlas would always remember the former creamy perfection of her skin, though, specially when the moon had hit it just right, but she was still his Jenny now. Always would be. And the way she looked right now still turned him on so much that he couldn’t think straight for the rush of blood in his cock.
“Since I’m older and stronger than you, I can survive on less blood,” Niall explained as he took leisurely licks up Jenny’s thighs. “Therefore, you can take from me instead of Jenny. I can afford to give more for your newly Undead body.”
This made sense. “I appreciate the offer.”
“When you first approached me, you agreed we would become family.” Niall leaned and lapped the inside of Jenny’s opposite thigh, cleaning her of blood and semen. “Family takes care of one another.”
Niall could have easily taken Searlas out of the equation. And legally, there wouldn’t have been much Searlas could do. But he had to ask, “You told Jenny you were taking her to live inside the Dynasty Empire.”
“Yes.”
Searlas rubbed the back of his neck. “You may have agreed to call me your co-mate but I’m Undead.”
“Undead reside there.”
As much as Searlas loved that Jenny had saved him, he still hadn’t come to grips with what he’d become. “You’re a royal and I’m the byproduct of your race — part of castoffs mostly used as servants.”
“The only thing you need to worry about is protecting Jenny and, after this is over with, quitting your job.”
“I have to work.”
“Not because of money,” Niall corrected. “My gold is plentiful.”
“I’m a male of honor,” Searlas whispered furiously. “I work.”
“Instead of arguing over this now, I think the first thing we need to do is get you away from Syon,” Niall said. “There’s no way Jenny will continue to pay this Blood Debt.”
“However long Syon keeps me, whatever he makes me do, you must keep Jenny far away from him. He’s risked her haphazardly for this mission and probably previous ones.” But what did Searlas expect? Syon led the vampire soldiers, was known to be a ruthlessly effiencent.
Niall stood, his wings unable to stretch out in the smaller room, but that didn’t make him less intimidating. “Even if I cared not for what happened to you, Jenny would be destroyed if you were taken from her again.” He put his hands on Searlas’ shoulders, both males naked but neither of them cared. It was a fact of co-mating and they would easily adjust. “My Nevesta will never be destroyed, she’s already come too close.”
“But - ”
“Leave Syon to me.”
Searlas could do nothing other than nod. He didn’t think anything was going to be easy when it came to Syon. But families were built on trust. And although he wouldn’t let Niall handle everything as he was trying to do tonight, Searlas would accept a measure of help and return trust.
“Can you handle first watch?” Searlas asked as he gathered his weapons, slipping them into his secret holsters.
“Sure, I’m wide awake.” Niall cocked his head. “Where are you going?”
Searlas looked over his shoulder before he opened the door. “During my last patrol I spotted a warehouse just a mile south of here, hidden behind a water plant.”
“If you’re suspecting what I think you are, you need backup.”
Searlas lifted his lips, but it didn’t feel like a smile. “I worked investigations before I became Undead. Now, I’m more powerful.”
Niall crossed his arms over the massive chest made for suspending his body during flight. “You will be back before dawn.”
Searlas could have said something snotty, like why is Niall instigating a curfew on a grown male, but he knew why the Gryph insisted in that royal, arrogant tone of his. “She won’t even know I left her side.”
Chapter 18
Joint Faction Facility
Marco Island, Florida
“Maestru’s on his way,” Sage said as Jayce stormed through the door.
“I’m not waiting for your Coven Master, Vojak.” Gage entered the meeting room, kicking a folding aluminum chair with enough force to embed it in a far wall.
Never flinching or even raising his odd green eyes, Sage kept going thr
ough the digital footage that Jayce had discussed with him earlier. “Then my decisions are limited.”
Eagan and Bane walked through, their long gaits and blue-black hair turned the heads of nearly every woman they passed, but their lethalness was the real thing of beauty, and it came in handy on nights like this. “Have you found the missing footage?” Bane asked without preamble, Jayce’s Beta always sharp, always ready to go without question.
When Jayce opened his mouth, Sage cut off his reply, “I don’t think there’s missing footage.”
Jayce’s hands came down on the table. Hard. “I know what I saw.”
His fingers hovering on the laptop’s keyboard, Sage finally met Jayce’s eyes. “So do I. There’s no missing footage.”
Gage shook his head. “That doesn’t make sense.”
Sage stood and slid his leather coat from his shoulders, it hit the chair with a muffled but distinct thud. The fact that he was shrugging off several pounds of weapons did not mean he was so comfortable with the werewolves that he was stupid. Jayce had seen the Vojak in battle on many occasions, and his hands moved like the strike of a snake. A venomous one.
“Yes, a vampire tampered with the cameras,” Sage explained, cocking his head as though listening to someone. Hopefully, it was Maestru coming through to deliver a name. “By a Vojak spell any of us learned as a child.” He crossed those massive arms. “Its fog, similar to the way we mist, adds a layer of covering when we go in and out of crowded areas, particularly those with humans.”
“Show me.”
A vapor started rising from the floor, its grey cloud whirling and whirling until it encompassed Sage’s entire body. He completely disappeared without exactly misting, because with Jayce’s superior vision, he could still see Sage’s outline.
“Like a magic trick, you drop the smoke pellet and disappear.”
“If I were to mist during the spell, I would really disappear.”
Jayce surmised, “So whoever went in and out of Searlas’ room used this.”
“And also Jennifer Wulfstan’s,” Sage offered. “I cross matched the time stamps though, nothing turned up. However, the same trickster moved in and out of her room, in exactly the same way. So, there’s no missing footage to hunt down. This is it.”
“And since none of us can make out who’s behind that fog,” Gage said, leaning against the wall in near defeat. “We’re back where we started.”
A high-pitched scream interrupted them from behind the wall, followed by a low sobbing wail, as though a male were pleading for his life. Or maybe pleading for someone to stop the torture and end it, Jayce thought.
Completely ignoring the screams of pain, Sage disagreed, “How can we be back where we started? We know the same vampire who might have Mastered Searlas also spent time with Jenny.”
Eagan nodded. “That connected some serious dots.” He looked a Jayce then, his eyes shamed with remorse. “Alpha - ”
“Unless it’s pertinent to what we’re discussing, I don’t want to hear it.” Jayce’s Alpha Beast was in no mood for apologies or for any other sappy shit. It wanted the same thing Jayce wanted — to find Jenny. “If you want — ”
“Evening all,” Maestru greeted, gliding over the floor in the way of vampires. Not only did he smell of vampire blood, it splattered his clothes and one side of his face.
Bane looked him up and down. “Prey trying to get away again?”
Ignoring Bane, Maestru kept his eyes on Jayce while peeling off stained leather gloves used only seconds ago to torture and maim. “I don’t have a name per se, but I have an interesting bit of intel for you.”
Jayce leaned closer to listen. When Maestru finished, it took everything Jayce had in him not to go into full transformation and tear shit up. “You will put a stop to this on your side.”
Maestru bared fangs smeared in blood. “I already have.”
Turning to Sage, Jayce asked as an afterthought, “Did you locate any of Searlas or Jenny’s blood?” As patients of the Joint Faction Facility, Jenny and Searlas had had vials of blood taken over the coarse of their treatment. Unlike human blood, immortal blood didn’t thicken or age outside of the body, and remained fresh for samples as long as it was kept properly.
Sage held up a finger, while patting down his leather coat with his other hand. “One was found for Searlas.” He produced the vial, holding it up in the light. “Jennifer Wulfstan’s records, however, were all wiped clean.” Sage raised a golden eyebrow. “And I mean clean.”
“At least, we know why.” Jayce lifted the vial, tipping it back and forth. “Can you deduce Searlas’ Master from this vial.” Not that Jayce needed conformation for what he and Maestru suspected.
“No,” Maestru was the one to answer. “But as old as the sample may be, there’s still a possibility of tracking Searlas.”
“Not by scent,” Bane offered. “That’s not enough to go on.”
“Yet a vampire who feeds from another creature or human…”
“Can track him or her,” Gage finished.
Bane slid out his phone. “I’ll call Dru.”
Maestru barked, “I don’t care whether he’s your co-mate or not. My Coven’s doctor will not be shot into a possible war zone when other vampires can drink that blood and possibly hunt Searlas MacGelton.”
“Then find us one!” Bane shot back.
Sage protracted a claw, pierced the vial, and knocked the contents back with a lick of his lips.
“Well, that’s one way of doing it.” Jayce motioned for Eagan and Bane to join him. “Stay with Sage,” he directed Gage. “Form a hunt and retrieval. And by the way, you’re grounded on this one.”
“Searlas is my blood,” Gage dared to argue with his Alpha.
“Because of this situation, I will forgive your outburst. This time. But I can’t risk you out there when half of your head will be drifting back to Miami, your werewolf clawing at you to get back to your pregnant female.”
Gage took a fortifying breath then nodded. “I’ll work it from here.”
Jayce, Eagan, and Bane misted high over Marco Island, spreading their molecules and heading back to Sanibel. Jayce glanced down at his home, wondering if Ardan was keeping Tatum, Mike, or Bren up with his teething.
“You want to stop at the house?” Bane asked him.
Jayce shook his head. “A minute delayed might cost Jenny her life.”
Bane looked resigned as the three solidified on Archer’s side deck, where he shared a home with his new mates, Kalen, Mason, and Jude. Instead of knocking, Jayce called them with his mind. Seconds later all appeared, apart from Jude who’d been called away to track an obstinate Youngling.
“Well, I see some guilty faces.” Jayce turned to a wide-eyed Kalen. “I don’t blame you, female, for how your males accepted that you were going to work for the vampire task force, so if you want to head back in the house, go ahead.”
Kalen pushed her hair behind her ears. “It’s not that they let me, I insisted.”
Archer wrapped his arm around Kalen. “We were going to tell you, Jayce.”
“Oh yeah, baby brother? You were going to tell me.” His werewolf flared, deigning to take Archer into the marsh and teach him why the Alpha of North America shouldn’t be crossed. But he didn’t have time for that. Later, however, he’d make all the time in the world. The same way Bane would for Mason. Sometimes life’s lessons could come no other way but slow and painful. “You would go rogue before I allowed any of you to work for or continue working for the vampire task force.”
When Kalen opened her mouth to argue, Jayce cut her off, “So you want to join Jenny?”
“You know about her, too?”
Jayce pushed down his Alpha Beast again, riding out the burn. He’d let it stew, release it at just the right time for maximum impact on the upcoming battlefield. “I know Jenny’s been missing for over a week, and I can’t find her.”
Kalen cupped her mouth with a trembling hand, saying nothing.
&n
bsp; Mason scrubbed his face. “Do you have any intel?”
“I sure do.” Jayce stepped closer. “Before I share, tell me all about Commander Syon.”
Searlas glanced at his watch, realizing the sun would rise in less than three hours, a time in which he would go dead until it set for the evening. He’d promised Niall that Jenny wouldn’t miss him — that he’d be by her side before she awoke, and he hoped to God he would keep that promise. But something had been niggling him regarding the warehouse, which is why he broke in, and that something called to what was left of the werewolf buried so deep inside his body that it practically stayed dormant.
Descending another flight of endless steps, Searlas easily navigated the darkened corridors with his enhanced vision. But if the humans here, whom he could scent from outside, had thought to escape, they’d never manage such a labyrinth of mazes with their limited human capabilities. After all, Searlas had slipped a few times, and he had more agility than a mountain lion.
When Searlas reached what he presumed was the bottom level, the scent of females, all various species including human, slammed into him so hard that he burned from sensory overload.
He paused a moment, catching a looming shadow on the wall. A familiar shadow that grew larger as the air became colder, damper. But a cry for help diverted his immediate attention.
Bolting forward, Searlas moved so quickly his feet felt as though they were vanishing from his body. Is this gliding? he wondered as he followed the stomach churning sounds of clanking and scraping chains. Then another plea for help echoed to his right. Turning, Searlas wanted to call out to them, tell the females he was coming, but knew better than to give away his location.
That damn shadow was still on his ass.
He fought to keep his breathing even as the air grew thicker, even damper with its mustiness, hanging around him like a nasty blanket. When finally he hit a corridor leading to a circular room. No windows, of course, since this part of the warehouse was below ground, and the only other door adjacent to the circular room stood barred by chains.
