by Emily Bex
“Alec, please listen. We still have the pills. It will take care of the main problem, the half-breed.”
Rissa tried hard to redirect his attention to the rest of the plan, reminding him of their ultimate goal. Grabbing the opened bottle of Midnight, she filled two glasses and walked to him.
“It’s not over, Alec. This can still work. We’ll just redirect our focus on the pills. You know she’ll lose the baby, at the very least, and the stress that puts on their relationship, you never know; it could still pull them apart.”
Offering him the drink, she wondered if he’d heard a word she said.
Alec could hear her talking, but only a few of her words got through. The pills, yes, we still have the pills. At least Shade won't be distracted by the idea of "fatherhood" much longer. What the fuck is he thinking? How did this fucking plan fail?
“We're not done here, Rissa, not by a long shot. I can't have my best warrior distracted. You make sure she takes those fucking pills. Even if it means you have to shove them down her throat yourself. In the meantime, I’ll think about what I want to do next. I underestimated this mortal once. I won't let it happen again.”
Rissa sighed with relief. At least she was able to keep his anger directed away from her, and his mind was already planning the next move. “Yes, Alec, of course I will. I’ll stay on top of it. I’ll leave you now. I know you have much to occupying your mind.” Turning, she headed for the door.
He looked up as she left the room. “Rissa, we’ll come out on top, my darling, we’ll always come out on top.”
Without turning around, she smiled to herself. “I have no doubt about that, none whatsoever.”
Walking out the door, she pulled it closed behind her and went upstairs to her dressing room. She needed a hot bath. She could still smell the stench of that bitch, Desire.
76
Kate was trying to get back into their routine, knowing this baby growing inside her would change everything soon, and wanting to put the whole feeder incident behind them. Shade had asked her not to start the pills right away after the feeder incident. He felt the stress of it might be too much, so she had waited another day. It was a few hours before sunrise when Shade teleported in from the Dead House, wearing his leathers.
“Mi amore?”
Kate was stretched across the bed, watching him. “Yes, lover?”
“How are you? How are you feeling?”
“I’m good.” She smiled up at him. “And you?”
That slow smile spread across his face as he looked down at her, running his hand through his hair.
She laughed softly. “You push every button, and you know that, don't you?”
He answered innocently, “Me?”
“Yes, you. You're killing me here.”
He pulled his black t-shirt over his head and tossed it aside, stretched his arms above his head and leaned his head back, stretching out his back, before he walked across the room towards her. “You don't look dead, mi amore.”
He propped his foot in a chair, bent over as he unlaced his boots and turned his head to look at her through his black curls.
Kate put the pillow over her face. “Killing me softly, lover...”
He took the pillow from her and tossed it aside, then walked barefoot to his dresser, pulled the gun from his waistband, and removed the clip, before laying it down on the dresser.
“I am warrior, my walking sin. I know how to kill hard and soft as well.”
She watched as he stripped from the soft leather pants, and stood naked before her, leaving her speechless.
He walked toward the bed, never taking his eyes off her, his curls tousled and hanging low over his face. “Bel, you are one hot mess.”
Kate giggled. “Oh, you have no idea.”
He crawled from the foot of the bed, straddling her on all fours. He leaned down, nudging into her neck, and whispered in a low, deep voice. “Ti amo.”
“And I love you. Do you have any idea what you do to me? ”
Smiling down into her eyes, his hands sliding into her hair, he took a fist-full of that red crimson and moaned. “You have any idea what you do to me, mio bel rosso?”
She bit her lip as she looked up at him. “Kill you softly?”
He rolled over on his back, moaning and clutching his chest. “Already dead and gone, so fucking gone!”
She rolled on top of him, kissing his sweet mouth. “Not too gone. I need you here with me.”
He slid his hands over her ass, cupping her softly and closed his eyes as her hair cascaded over his face, the scent of roses making his cock throb.
“Never leaving you. Have you started the pills yet? I think it is time. That's an order, minx.” He slapped her ass softly and grinned.
She wiggled her ass after receiving the light slap, which allowed her to rub against his bulging erection. “I haven't yet, but I’ll start tonight. First thing, or maybe the second thing?”
He growled, nipping her chin, sliding his tongue down her neck, and over her shoulder. “Mmm, yeah, later.”
His hand moved slowly up her body and into her hair, cupping her head as his hips rose up to tease. Pulling her into his neck, he turned his head slightly, inviting her to feed.
She nuzzled into his neck and inhaled his scent. It never failed to excite, and she licked his neck along the pulsing vein and listened to the low moan escape his throat. It was a sound that resonated deep inside of her, drew her to him. She bit hard into him and felt his body respond immediately. As she drew the first mouthful of blood into her mouth, her own body responded, starting with that deep-seated heat that burned between her legs.
Her feeding from him brought forth so many emotions. She was his to feed and protect, his bel rosso. He closed his eyes, lost in the sensations of her feeding. He ran his hand down her back, letting his fingers brush softly across her smooth skin, sliding them under her silken panties. His fingers played in the honey that flowed from her, gently rubbing and teasing her, he felt her body respond. Her moans vibrated against his neck as he slid his fingers inside her, probing that velvety sweetness that belonged to him.
As her body succumbed to the involuntary response of feeding, she drew more blood from him, trying to quench a hunger that now felt bottomless. She swallowed mouthful after mouthful, and felt his fingers probing as she moved her hips against him. They found their own rhythm as she rocked against his fingers.
She felt his cock replace his fingers and her body shivered. She wanted all of him, his blood, and his dick. Her hips rocked against him, riding the full length of his erection, first slowly, taunting in the deliberate slowness. Her own need for him drove her to increase the pace, to ride him harder, his hands gripping at her hips. She could feel his shaft throbbing inside her, as she pushed them both to the abyss. She wanted to feel him cum inside her, fill her.
He roared loudly as he came with her, and his fangs punched through, dripping and aching. His eyes opened and bathed the room in bright red light, as he laid still and heard her moaning as she lay on top of him. He licked her lips, kissing her deeply, tasting his own blood inside her mouth.
Kate could feel she had all of him, and it satisfied her soul. She was woman to his man, and she felt their connection, their bond, more than body, more than heart, even more than blood. They were one. She was still breathing hard, her heart pounding, and his blood coursing through her veins. She felt his strength in her for the first time. She licked his fangs, slowly, deliberately, one at a time, to bring him the ultimate pleasure.
His body jerked with intense pleasure as he felt her tongue on his fangs. His head was thrown back onto the pillows and his eyes closed. His cock rose like a sword, hard and straight, and he moaned with passion as his body shook once, then twice as she licked his fangs again, sucking the sharp tips into her mouth, making him come again as she lay on top of him. He grabbed her by the hair and burrowed into her neck, laying his head against her shoulder, his breathing raspy, his body released of everyth
ing.
Kate rolled off of him, a smile on her face, knowing she’d left her vampire drained, in the non-traditional sense. Her head on his shoulder, her arm across his chest, and her leg thrown over his, she purred into his ear. “Was it good for you, lover?”
Shade only grunted in response.
“More? Do you need more?”
He moaned louder, as if in pain.
“Is that a yes? Because I can give you more.” She reached for his cock and cupped it in her hand.
“Fuck!” He moaned loudly as he writhed on the bed and his fucking beast took over.
Kate teased him. “I’d never want this weak mortal girl to leave you wanting. I understand your appetite, your need. It must be so much greater than my own.”
She crawled back on top of him, sliding down his body, licking and nipping at his chest, his hips, letting her tongue glide across his abdomen as she slid her hands under his hips.
He felt her hair across his cock and his hands gripped the bedding, his body trembled.
She sat upright and straddled him, both of her hands on his hips as she slid her hands slowly up his hard, muscled chest. As she reached his shoulders, she pushed his arms upwards, above his head and held them there, gripping his wrist. Her breasts were an inch from his face as she gave him instructions.
“Grab the headboard, lover, and don't let go.”
He gripped the headboard with both hands, and she pulled the belt from his leathers and bound his wrists. He started to protest, but she lowered her mouth to his and kissed him deeply, and whispered the word, "Trust," into his mouth. She took her silky gown that lay on the bed and tied it around his eyes and leaned into him again and whispered into his ear, “Trust." She laid her body against him and slid down the length of him, knowing he couldn’t return her touch and he couldn’t see her next move. He must focus only on the sensations she created.
She straddled him once more and took an ice cube from one of the food trays Gi was constantly delivering to their bedroom, and touched the ice cube to his throat, slowly drawing it down his chest, his abdomen, and listened to him take a sharp intake of air. She held the ice cube above his belly and allowed for the slow drip of the cold water. She watched the drops of water hit his skin and run down his side.
Her lips were all over him. Her plea for trust did little to soothe Shade, but he tried to relax. He was the dominant one, and it was unsettling to play the submissive. Memories of his past kept trying to break through and he pushed them back down. Once blindfolded, his whole body went into warrior mode. His senses heightened beyond normal, his hearing crystal clear. He heard the clinking of ice against the glass then felt the cold against his throat and he pulled hard on the strap, but not hard enough to break it.
The cold made a path across his abdomen. The sensations rocked him deep, and the memories began to roll in. He tried to shut them down, but images like photographs captured in time flashed through his head. The chamber, he saw the chamber, the rack, the whip, every nature of sexual pleasure and pain, the cult, the cult. He felt the water, heard it coming. It bounced slightly on his hardened abs and ran down his side, and he roared out of control. He wasn’t the tormented, but the tormentor. He wouldn’t be caged. He wouldn’t be controlled. He inflicted pain. He didn’t receive it, except for the pain and fear of what he felt through his victims. The memory gates were opened wide, and he was flooded with the images of Sabine and the sex cult.
Kate was shocked by his roar. It wasn’t a roar of pleasure. She dropped the ice cube to the floor and folded her body over his. She licked at the rivulets of water that she had dripped on his body. She slid her hands up his chest and followed with her body until her lips were on his lips, she kissed him gently. “Shh, lover. Tell me to stop and I’ll stop. Tell me to release you and I’ll release you. I only bring you pleasure.”
She felt him settle as she slid her body back down the length of him, teasing him with her tongue as she went. She ran her hands along his inner thighs, teasing with her nails, gently scratching the surface of his skin.
Kate’s words failed to calm him, and he tried to get back to her, reminding himself where he was in time and space. Not the chamber, not the chamber. He struggled, pulling on the restraints when his beast emerged, enraged. He yanked the belt free of the headboard. His fangs punched through as he ripped through the belt with his teeth, releasing his hands and tearing the blindfold from his eyes. He glared at her, his beast wanting to attack. He was breathing hard and ragged, fighting to get control, gasping for air.
He swung his feet to the floor as she fell off of him, and he stood and paced. He knew he was scaring the fuck out of her. “Don’t ever do that again! I can’t, I...” Growling loud. “Fuck!”
Anger consumed him for doing this to her, ruining a night of passion, and his hand swiped across the dresser and knocked everything to the floor, as he teleported out instantly, angry with himself and the memories that consumed him.
Kate sat on the bed and stared after him, confused, hurt, abandoned, and afraid. His anger had never been directed at her before. She sobbed for him. Tears rained down her face and she realized he was gone. Was it something she did, or something she triggered? She shut down, retreating into herself. She curled in a ball in the middle of the bed, head to her knees, and face hidden, no longer sobbing, just dead quiet. She laid there for minutes…or was it hours… She had no concept of time as she waited for his return.
She climbed out of bed, loosely pulling on her robe, and left the bedroom, as she headed down the stairs and outdoors into the frigid night air, hoping to find him. She looked to see if she could find that glow from his cigarette. Luca appeared behind her, took her by the shoulders, turned her around and walked her back toward the house. The night air was cold and the thin silk robe did little to protect her, as he removed his shirt and put it over her shoulders. He was preparing to lead her upstairs when they heard his voice.
Shade stood naked in the doorway. “She is mine, Luca, give her to me.”
“Yes, master, I only brought her in from outside.”
Shade took her in his arms. “Leave us.”
“Yes, master, if you need me ̶”
Shade interrupted him, his voice deadly, “Leave us!”
Luca backed away without speaking, bowing his head to his master.
Shade picked her up and carried her upstairs to their bedroom and sat with her in his lap in the chair at the window, cradling her to his chest.
“I can’t...talk about this. Not right now, bel. This is not about you. It has nothing to do with you. This is about me. You can listen to me or not, but give me a sign you hear me. It’s all I am asking for.”
Kate opened her eyes and looked at him, but she didn’t speak.
His eyes absorbed her pain. Taking her hand, he held it over his heart. “I will sit here until the sun rises, holding you. You can’t hurt me any more than I have hurt myself.”
She spoke to him in her head. “Do I tell you what’s in my heart? Because I never feared you before, and I never feared the beast. When you warned me, I pushed ahead, I was drawn to your darkness. You know that. But tonight, I felt fear.”
Pain screamed through him and he laid his head back and gritted his teeth from the hell ripping through him at her words. “Your actions brought memories, bel. A past I thought I had buried but cannot seem to get out of my head. My past haunts me. You are where my comfort lies, mi amore. You are where my barriers fall. You are my strength and my weakness rolled into one. I have never travelled here before.”
She reached her hand to his cheek. “I feel your pain as I feel my own, and we’re both tortured and tormented. You by a past that is hidden from me, and me from feeling your rejection during our most intimate time together. Ripping free of that belt, tossing me aside to escape our bed, destroying things in the room, it was anger that felt directed toward me, and I hear your words. I know something I did evoked a memory. And now I feel paralyzed. What else? What else will
evoke a memory? Must I walk on eggshells? I don't know your past and you share little. How do I avoid the landmines when I don't know where they’re buried? How do I know when I've crossed the line, when I can't see the line? You underestimate my love for you. Let me heal you, open yourself to me, and let me heal you.”
“Mi amore, I don’t know what will evoke it. I don’t know how to tell you to avoid these things, I do not know myself. I have never loved this deeply. I cannot see this line either, can you please try to believe me and understand this? And I do not underestimate your love. Walk into my heart please, bel, I can’t take what I have done to you. Look at me, and tell me I am still loved. I left because I, too, feared myself. I did not know if I could control the beast. I saw your fear and felt it and it mixed with my own. It was sudden and unexpected, I was stunned and needed control and there was none inside me. If I talk of these things, of my past, will they leave me? Will they never return? I do not know the answers to this.”
She looked at his pain-filled eyes and spoke to him out loud as she slowly stroked his face. “Then know this, I’ll never leave you. I’ll never stop loving you. To have you leave me, even for this brief time, I feel gutted. It’s a pain I cannot bear. You are mine, body, and soul, for all eternity. And whatever torment you carry, I’ll also carry. There is no life without you.”
She pulled his face to hers, and locked eyes with him. “Do you hear me, lover? There is no life without you.”
Her words ran singing through his blood and he let go and felt her healing the hellish caverns he had inside. He’d fallen into the deepest holes of hell and fought to climb out, her love filled them, and made him whole. Her touch brought light into the darkest places. He kissed her like his life depended on it. It had always been about her, every breath and move he made was for her and he felt renewed in her love.
“I will never love another. You are mine, and I take responsibility for what I have done to you. I am sorry. I left so as not to hurt you. My word is my honor. I will always come back. I will always love you. Nothing can take you from me.”