Captive 0f The Vampires (Bonfire Falls Paranormal Romance Book 4)

by Liv Brywood

  The rasp of his tongue and the way he’s holding me break my heart wide open. I’m in love with this man, and I want him to know how much he means to me.

  “Bastian,” I cradle his cheeks in my palms. “I’m sorry I made you wait.”

  “You were scared. I get it. But I don’t want you to ever feel like that again. I swear to you, I’ll make sure you always know how much I love you.”

  “You love me.” It’s a breathless statement, and it’s all that I can manage. I knew he loved me, but this is the first time he’s said it. He’s making it real, and it’s terrifying, and exciting, and I can hardly contain my joy.

  “Of course I love you. No man in his right mind could possibly do anything but love you. You’re a queen among peasants.” His lopsided grin brings me to my knees. “Come here.”

  As he lays me on the soft grass, my hair fans out around my face. He brushes a few errant strands to the side before kissing me again.

  “Now let me love you the way I’ve been wanting to love you,” he whispers.

  He slides between my thighs and trails his fingers across the smooth flesh. As his head dips between my legs, I sigh. His mouth is hot against my sex. His tongue lays languid strokes across my swollen lips.

  Warmth pools in my core. He’s awakening a part of me Kael hasn’t touched. Where Kael’s hard, Bastian is soft and gentle. It’s not bad; it’s not better; it’s just different.

  As he glides his tongue along my slit, I moan and arch my back. With greater access, he delves into my pussy, finding and teasing out every part of me until I’m spread wide and desperate for release.

  Tension builds and builds until I’m writhing beneath him. He grips my hips and mutters something about not moving. But I can’t stop. My hips arch and retreat, searching for the perfect angle, the exact spot that will send me to the moon, and then he finds it.

  “Bastian!”

  I’m lost in pleasure as rolling waves of pleasure carry me into a state of pure ecstasy. He kisses up my body then settles between my thighs. His thick cock is hot against my wet center. And then he’s moving inside me, claiming me with one, long stroke.

  Fully seated, he kisses my lips. My salty sweetness is still on his tongue, and the erotic scent mingles with the taste of him.

  His gentle thrusts drive me wild. This isn’t a fast, rough coupling like last night, it’s slower and far more sensual. While one hand holds him up, his other caresses my breasts. He takes one plump nipple in his mouth and sucks until I’m gasping.

  The spiral of need coiling in my pussy tightens until it’s ready to spring free. I can’t take the luxurious thrusts anymore. It’s too intense. Too intimate. Too overwhelming.

  “Bastian, please.”

  He hushes me, and then strokes a hand down my hip. He grips my thigh, dragging my leg around his back. I hook my ankles behind his waist.

  Deeper now, he’s taking me further than I’ve ever been before. I’ve never floated in a realm of such extravagant beauty. His face is rugged, and sexy as hell, while his eyes are half-lidded and filled with tenderness. And he’s all mine.

  I crash into my orgasm. It shakes through my core, stealing the strength from my bones. I go limp, while he goes impossibly hard. His eyes close and his mouth clenches. He groans and drops his forehead to my shoulder.

  As he pulses his own release, he kisses and licks the place where Kael had marked me, as if accepting that connection. I want to weep at his acknowledgement. He’s not asking me to choose, not the way Kael did. And for that, I’m even more in love with Bastian.

  When he’s spent, he leans on his elbows to look down at me.

  “You’re the most beautiful woman in the world, and I can’t believe you’re willing to share yourself with me.”

  “Because I love you.” It’s still terrifying to open my heart like this, but I can’t see any other way to move forward. I need him and he needs me. Together, we could have something special, if we can work out an arrangement with the other guys.

  As much as I care for Bastian, he’s not the only man I care about. I can’t deny my feelings for the others, but Bastian isn’t making me choose. Thank all the Gods for that.

  “Don’t go back to your cottage. Let me take you somewhere else, somewhere you’ll be safe.” He means the Bear Clan’s den, but the mere thought of it brings to mind Kael’s rage, and Cobalt’s pain.

  “I need to go home. I need time alone, to think.”

  “Now’s not the time to be without protection. You need me. You need us. I’d never ask you to pick one of us over the others, but I won’t let you be alone right now. Not until we deal with the possessed crows and violent wolves. I know somewhere safe we can go. It’s not the Bear Clan’s den, but Kael won’t like it.”

  He’s asking me to trust him, and I do. So after a quick dip in the river, I get dressed then lace my fingers into his, and follow him into the forest.

  Chapter 14

  Cobalt

  I’m stretched out in my bathtub, trying to have a lazy day, when someone starts knocking on my door. I’d hoped for some relaxation after a hard day in my shop. Instead, someone seems hell-bent on ruining my night.

  “Calm down, damn it. I’m coming.” I drag myself from the gloriously warm water and reach for a towel. I dry off hastily, which causes me to drip water all the way from the bathroom into the living room.

  At the last moment, I realize I’m naked and quickly wrap the towel around my waist. I knot it securely before opening the door.

  “What is so damn important—Azealia?”

  She’s standing on my porch with her arms crossed over her chest and eyebrows knitted together. I start to go to her when all of sudden, a hairy mountain of a man injects himself between us.

  “Cobalt, let us in. Now,” Bastian says.

  “Why?” My eyes narrow. Something’s different, but I don’t know what yet.

  Azealia leans toward Bastian. Her hand rests on his forearm. The familiarity between them is like a stab to my heart. So, there's been a change in their relationship. Just my luck.

  “Please. It may not be safe for us out here,” she says.

  “Of course, come in.” I step to the side. Bastian’s barrel-chested form barges right in. He doesn’t even wipe his boots first.

  While I’m glaring at the tracks he’s making in my lovely butterscotch-colored carpet, Azealia comes in behind him. She hugs me tightly. I am gratified to see her wearing the necklace I gave her. It nestles in the hollow of her throat, glittering in the twilight.

  “What’s going on?” I pose the question to Azealia, but the burly bear shifter answers.

  “Please forgive this sudden intrusion, but she needs a place to crash for a few days. A safehouse, if you will.”

  I’m jealous of their newfound intimacy. I want to be that close to Azealia. If she’s in trouble, she should have come to me first. At least she’s here now.

  “I’ll take care of her.”

  “Hey, do you have any food?” Bastian’s nose wriggles. He glances in the direction of my open concept kitchen.

  “Neither of us have eaten since last night,” Azealia says.

  “Ah, sure.” I shrug and gesture toward the kitchen. “You’re welcome to whatever you can scrounge.”

  “Great.” Bastian stomps off toward the kitchen

  As he starts to rummage through my cabinets, I turn to Azealia. I’m dying to ask her about the obvious change in her relationship with Bastian. My dragon wants to breathe fire all over him, but of course that’s not an option.

  Are you sure? my dragon asks.

  Quite sure. Now calm down, I’ll speak to Azealia.

  Why is she with that beast? Why isn’t she our mate?

  Let me handle it.

  “Azealia...” I take her hand in mine. “You know you've always been my muse, right?”

  “Right…” She cocks an eyebrow at me. A nervous smile flitters across her face.

  “Well, I—”

  A
furious pounding at the front door interrupts me. Again.

  “Who could it be now?” I grumble.

  Azealia blows out a frustrated sigh. “It’s probably Kael. I’ll let him in.”

  “Kael?” For a moment, I stare at her back as she heads for the door, but then I dash ahead and open it myself.

  The wolf pack leader stands there. His body trembles with nervous energy. I get the feeling he loped here in wolf form, and he hasn’t quite made the change all the way back. His arms are still awfully furry.

  “Cobalt!” He glares me up and down. “Why the fuck are you naked?”

  “Nice to see you, too. If you must know, I was taking a bath when all of the sudden my home became ground central for a gathering of witches and shifters.”

  “Azealia?” Kael cranes his neck and spots her in the living room. “Out of the way, dragon, let me in.”

  “Not so fast.” I anchor myself there in the doorway, taking it up so he can’t move past me. “You can’t just barge into my home.”

  “I can do whatever the hell I want. Now get out of my way.” He growls at the end, and his teeth seem particularly pointy. But he’s not the only one who can get in on that act. Steam vents from my nostrils. My own dental work skews toward the reptilian.

  “This is my home. My studio. You’ll not set foot in here without my approval.”

  “This is the last time I’ll be nice, little dress maker.”

  “You can ask nice or you can be an asshole, but either way you’re not coming in unless I want you to.”

  Kael cocks his head to the side. He’s teetering in the balance between man and wolf. Shit’s about to get physical when Azealia’s gentle touch on my shoulder stops both of us.

  “Cobalt, please let him in.”

  I could never refuse her, so I step back from the door and gesture grandly for Kael to enter.

  “Please, make yourself at home,” I say sarcastically.

  He crosses the threshold, smirks at me, and then stalks over to Azealia. The oaf towers over her. She doesn’t back down an inch. She crosses her arms and glares right back at him.

  “How could you just run off and disappear like that?” he asks.

  “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me. You ran off with a random bear shifter after you’d come to me for help. Why would you do that to me? What if the other wolf shifters attack you again? I told you I’ll take care of you. And… I was worried.”

  Azealia's gaze softens for just a moment, then grows hard again.

  “Why would you go and tell the entire pack that I’m your mate? And anyway, you’re not my owner or my Alpha. You don’t get to dictate what I do or who I spend my time with.”

  “Azealia was attacked by wolf shifters?” I ask.

  No one pays any heed to my question. Instead Azealia and Kael continue to trade barbs back and forth. I quickly realize two things: she spent the night with him, and she has some sort of intimate relationship with him now. It’s like a punch to the guts. She’s started relationships with the other guys, but what about me? I care about her far more than these other two ever could.

  “Hey!” Kael, Azealia and I turn toward the booming voice. Bastian leans over the island in the kitchen. “I object to being called some 'random bear shifter.' Damn, Kael, we’ve bumped into each other dozens of times at the bar. Yesterday being one of those times. I bought you a PBR.”

  “And I forgave you for that shitty beer, you cheap bastard.”

  “Kael, there’s no need to be insulting,” Azealia says.

  The wolf pack leader throws off her restraining hand. He takes a step toward Bastian. “You’re just pissed because when Azealia needed help, she came to me first.”

  “I’m sure it was just a matter of convenience… or desperation,” Bastian says dryly.

  “Or she knew who could take care of her, and it wasn’t you,” Kael snaps.

  “Shut. Up.” My voice reverberates throughout the room. My entire body trembles. Steam pours from my nostrils. They watch as I stalk across the room to snatch a feathered fedora—don’t ask, it’s for a client—and thrust it in the middle of the room.

  “This.” I give the hat a shake. “Is the talking hat. You get it? The talking hat. If you have the talking hat, you can, guess what?”

  “Talk?” Bastian’s eyebrows are raised and his lips quirk.

  I glare at him and snarl, “Shut up. You don’t have the talking hat, therefore, you can’t talk.”

  “But you asked a leading question, it would have been rude not to—”

  My hard-eyed stare forces Bastian to be silent. “Right. Now you get it. The only person that gets to talk is the one with the talking hat. That should cut down on the shouting and fighting. Deal?”

  “Great.” Kael snatches the hat out of my hand. “I’ll go first. So, does that mean that as long as I’m holding the damn hat, Bastian can’t say anything back if I call him a dingleberry factory with bad breath?”

  When Bastian growls, I reach for the hat. “No, that’s not how it’s supposed to work.”

  Bastian strides over and takes the hat into his massive hand. “So, does that mean that Kael can’t say shit if I tell him he’s a nasty, sawed off little runt who spends all his time licking his own balls?”

  “That’s not the point—”

  Kael grabs the hat back from the bear shifter and sneers at him. “Hey, look, I have the hat. And it’s a good thing, too, because Bastian’s flapping jaw was about to put him in a world of hurt.”

  “Oh, is that a threat, little puppy dog?” Bastian takes the hat back as Kael smiles ruefully. “You think that you’re strong enough to protect Azealia? You’re so little and scrawny, I bet you couldn’t protect a gingerbread house from a cat high on the nip.”

  Kael takes the hat back as Azealia hides her face in her palms. “I can protect Azealia just fine, and she knows it. That’s why she came to me for help. She knew that you were probably out shitting in the woods.”

  Bastian snatches the hat back and growls. “Oh, bear jokes. Nice. You know, I could knock that pretty face right off with one swipe of my bear’s claws.”

  “Oh, do tell.” Kael grabs the hat, but Bastian refuses to release it. “You’re too big and clumsy to catch me.”

  “Dream on. I’d have your innards slopping to the ground before you could howl.'”

  “You’re just compensating because you have a millimeter peter.”

  “What? Who said that? I’ve been told that it’s quite substantial.”

  “That’s just what a guy with a small dick would say.”

  “You want to see it? I’ll back up my talk. Can you?”

  Suddenly, Azealia’s hand’s on my wrist. She drags me away from the rapidly escalating fiasco in my living space, takes me into my bedroom, and shuts the door. She places her back against it and sighs in relief.

  “I’m so tired of both of them.”

  “I’m surprised to hear you say that.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” She fixes me with an incredulous stare.

  “It means you’ve gotten rather close to Kael and Bastian in recent days, haven’t you?”

  I didn’t mean to make it sound like an accusation, but my ego got in the way. Realization flows over her lovely face, and she comes to my side. She takes my hand in hers and smiles at me. For a moment I forget all about the dick measuring contest in my living room.

  “Well, out of the three of you, you’re the only one who’s given me jewelry.” She fingers the tracking amulet I’d labored to make her.

  Suddenly, my brow is covered in sweat. How can she have this effect on me? As my cheeks burn, I strive for some way to regain my perceived lost dignity.

  “Ah, well, you know if I’d known you were so into collars, I’d have given you one years ago,” I say, trying to keep my tone light.

  She’s so beautiful. Light shines in her emerald eyes. Finely detailed freckles dot the canvas of her soft cheeks

  “You’r
e gorgeous.” I blurt out the words before I can stop myself.

  Her smile grows wider, and her eyes light up with the glow of pure happiness. I didn’t realize that she would be so pleased by my declaration.

  “Thank you. I know you want me, Cobalt. And I want you, too. Regardless of what’s going on between me, Kael, and Bastian, I need you to understand that I feel the same way toward you. It’s complicated. But that’s me.”

  “You’re not complicated, you’re perfect.”

  “Far from it.”

  “To me, you’re a goddess.” It seems like the perfect time to kiss her, so I do. The softness of her lips against mine sends a rush of pleasure throughout my entire body. My dragon is practically singing inside me.

  She deepens the kiss, opening herself to me. I take full advantage and slide my tongue across hers. She sighs and wraps her arms around my shoulders. We forget about the two idiots in my living room and focus only on each other. They don’t matter anymore because she wants me. She wants us. And if I have to share her with those morons, then that’s what I’m going to do. Anything for my Azealia. Anything for my love.

  Chapter 15

  Azealia

  The next morning, I wake up in Cobalt’s bed. I smile slowly as I turn toward him. He’s gone. I sit up and glace around the room. A folded note sits on the nightstand on my side of the bed. It’s from Bastian, which is strange. When did he come into the room? And is that why Cobalt’s missing?

  I unfold it and read Bastian’s message. He’s on his way to warn the Bear Clan about the vampires. I have no doubt we’re dealing with the ancient evil. Why they’ve come to Bonfire Falls is beyond me, but we have to get rid of them.

  Hopefully, his warning will be taken seriously. Although a shifter’s senses are generally weaker than mine, this vampire has caused a huge disturbance in the balance of our town. The shifters should all realize we have a menace in our midst.