Abby remained unmoving beneath him, hesitant to do this in front of him, but then he pushed her finger into her again and groaned above her. She was helpless against him. She’d yet to deny him anything he asked for in bed and she wouldn’t deny him this.
Leaning back again, he kept his palm against her and his eyes latched onto their hands. This time, she didn’t need him to guide her but slid her finger into her herself. His cock jumped, and an enticing bead of liquid formed on the head of it as he released her hand. He never tore his eyes away from her hand as he reclaimed possession of her breasts with his large palms.
Abby’s legs fell further open as coiling tension built within her. Bending low, he closed his mouth over her other nipple and bit down. Abby screamed as his fangs pierced her flesh and her body fractured apart. She was panting when he grabbed hold of her waist and lifted her up.
She didn’t have time to gather her scattered thoughts or stop her legs from shaking before he spread his knees on the bed and thrust her onto him. Tremors from her first orgasm still wracked her when the full feeling of him inside of her caused another one to rock through her.
“I’m going to fuck you for hours,” he murmured against her ear. “You’ll scream my name so loud the entire house will hear it.”
She had no doubt about that, but sadness filled her when she realized he would not be taking her with him.
* * *
Abby knew he was gone the minute she awoke. The emptiness of the bed and the absence of his mind brushing against hers caused her to curl into a ball. She shoved her knuckles into her mouth to stifle her sobs. She hadn’t realized how much his mind had been intertwining with hers since the bond had been completed between them, until now. He’d become a constant, welcoming, comforting presence to her.
She could still feel him at the edges of her mind, but not as strongly as she had these past couple of weeks. Maybe distance had somehow dimmed the connection between them, or maybe he was shutting her further out. She suspected it was the latter, and he was trying to keep her protected from what he was doing.
She lay for an hour before finally forcing herself from the bed and into the shower. Lying around crying wasn’t going to help any. Climbing from the shower, she dressed before returning to their room. Her eyes fell on the letter propped against the lamp on the bedside table. She’d been too out of it with misery to notice it earlier.
She practically flew across the room to pull it off the stand. Her hands trembled as she unfolded it. Don’t worry about me, dove. I’ll be back in no time and you can yell at me then for not saying a proper good-bye.
She hastily wiped away her tears when someone knocked on her door. She knew it was Vicky before her sister opened the door and poked her head in. “Oh, Abby,” she said when she spotted the tears in Abby’s eyes.
“I’m fine,” she hurriedly assured her. “Really.”
“No, you’re not.” Vicky shut the door and walked into the room. She plopped onto the bed beside Abby and threw her arm around her shoulders.
“I am,” Abby insisted, unwilling to unleash her burdens on her sister.
“Stop saying that. I’m not going to break, come on, lean on me too, like you always used to.”
“You’ve been through so much—”
“And so have you. I know what you went through to find me, know how difficult it can be when a mate is discovered. Being chained to a wall might actually be preferable to the experience.”
Abby snorted then sniffled and wiped at her nose. “It might be.”
“Seriously, Abs, treating me like I’m going to break is getting old. I’m not going to fall apart, I promise. I’m going to be stronger than I ever was, and I’ll have better taste in men.
Abby couldn’t help but laugh. “No, you won’t.”
“No, I won’t,” Vicky admitted. “But I may go all ‘hit it and quit it’ with them, so they have no shot of discovering I’m a purebred, or maybe I’ll stick with humans. They’re malleable and easier to beat up.”
“Solid plan.”
“It is. Now lay it on me. What has the awful ass done?”
Leaning against her side, Abby told Vicky everything she’d been holding back for the past six years. From the first time she’d seen Brian, to all the clunky attempts at other men in her life, to his dead wife and children, even sharing the fact that he didn’t want children now and was taking care to make sure it didn’t happen.
Once the dam broke, it unleashed a torrent that was unwilling to be stemmed. Brian may not like her talking about these things with someone else, but Vicky was her sister, and she so badly needed someone to talk to. When she was done, Vicky frowned as she stared at the far wall and swung her legs back and forth.
“I think we’re both better off being single,” Vicky finally said.
Abby chuckled and swung her legs in rhythm with her sister. “Maybe.”
“He cares about you, Abby. It’s so clear in the way he watches you. Half the time he looks completely awed by you; the other half makes even me blush.”
Abby laughed and leaned against her. “I love him.”
“No shit,” Vicky replied. “Have you told him that?”
“No, it’s the first time I’ve actually admitted it to myself.”
“You were always the romantic in the family. Always dreaming of finding your mate and thinking it was so great when Isabelle found Stefan, even when it looked like it might destroy her.”
“Don’t remind me.”
“But daydreams and fantasies aren’t real. You have to work at real life, and you can’t expect him to be the first one to say he loves you or to realize it. He’s already lost one family; I’m sure the idea of losing another one terrifies him enough that he’s going to keep his heart protected as much as he can. He’s also been alone for a long time, and with you, he’s getting one big-ass family. That can’t be easy to accept.”
Abby bit her bottom lip as she pondered Vicky’s words. “When did you become so wise?”
“Every once in a while I have a good idea. Don’t get used to it.”
“Never,” Abby promised.
“Why didn’t you try to find Brian sooner? When we were kids, all you talked about was finding your mate. If you suspected he was yours, why did you wait so many years before contacting him?”
“I was afraid I was wrong, and he would reject me, or I was right, and he really was as awful as everyone said. I believed it would be better to stay away, until I was older.”
“And what would have happened when you were older?”
“I have no idea,” Abby admitted. “Maybe I would have been better able to handle him.”
“I think you could live to a thousand and still not know how to handle that man.”
“I think you’re right. What happened to him before, what he lost, what do I do if he never changes his mind about children? I never wanted the brood Mom and Dad have, but I would like to have at least one or two.”
“That I don’t know,” Vicky said. “You’re going to have to work that out with him, but it doesn’t have to be right now.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
Vicky released her and leapt to her feet. “Come on, let’s see if we can solve the maze, or go punch something; that’s always a good time. Then we’ll go swimming. You can’t sit here and wallow. I won’t allow it.”
Abby smiled at her as she shoved herself to her feet. Vicky looped her arm through hers and propelled her toward the door.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The wind blew his hair back and chilled the exposed skin of his face and hands as he looked up and down the busy street before turning right. This wasn’t the normal hustle and bustle of a city; this was the movement of people and vampires who skulked through the shadows, studiously trying to avoid the law or death.
“Hey, baby,” a woman with a red-painted mouth and blue eyes greeted him as he walked by. “Fifteen dollars and I’ll make you forget all other women.”
Brian’s skin crawled at the idea of touching the woman, let alone in a sexual way. “Fifteen dollars, and she’ll make you holler,” Declan quipped from behind him.
Brian shot a look at the vampire over his shoulder. In the dim radiance filtering from the few unbroken streetlights, the red in Declan’s dark auburn hair shone like blood. His strange, almost silver, gray eyes twinkled as he winked at the woman who had been trying to pick up Brian.
The woman grinned at him and stuck out a bony hip. “I’ll make you holler for free, baby,” she offered.
“I bet you would,” Declan replied. The woman grinned at him enough to reveal her blackened and missing teeth.
“That is enough to make any man holler,” Brian said before taking a left into another back alley.
Two humans in the middle of going at it didn’t look up as they walked by. All he wanted was to get back to Abby, but before he touched her again, he was going to scrub his skin for an hour. He couldn’t allow her to be exposed to any of this. Right now, he kept her mostly blocked from his mind; he didn’t want her to accidentally glimpse or sense something she shouldn’t.
These two humans and the woman back there were the best of it. In the shadows, he could hear others having sex or fighting. The rancid stench of death emanated from something far larger than a rat or stray dog between the brick walls of the alley. Music played from somewhere, but the bricks surrounding him distorted the noise and made it sound as if it came from everywhere at once.
At the end of the alley, he made a right as he followed the call of a soul he’d only encountered once before, and it was before the man had taken a turn for the worst. It had been fifty years since he’d seen Drake, but he clearly recalled what Drake looked like; there were few as ugly as he was.
Stopping before a warehouse, Brian crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned against the wall. They weren’t in the main part of the city, but a large suburb about a half an hour outside of it. It had been possible for him to track Drake to the winding streets of this forsaken town, but he was still struggling to keep a hold on him.
“What is it?” Killean demanded gruffly from behind him.
Brian glanced back at the other vamp, his gaze remaining steady on Killean’s golden eyes. Many often glanced nervously away from those eyes, if not because of the feral gleam in them, then because of the mask of indifference Killean often wore. The scar that marred his face also caused some to turn away from him. The scar sliced straight down Killean’s right eye from his deep brown hairline to the center of his cheek.
How he hadn’t lost his eye was a mystery to Brian, one he’d most likely never know the answer to. Killean hadn’t been fully mature when the scar was obtained, but it still should have healed and faded away. However, the blow had been deep enough to leave him marked for the centuries of his life. He wasn’t about to ask Killean how he’d gotten it. Killean had the warmth of a tomb, and conversation was often a lost art on him. Besides, Brian didn’t overly care. Many wore scars no one would ever see, including himself.
Brian turned away from him. “Drake’s moved.”
He stood for a minute, searching through the sickly souls in the area. Some of them were still vibrant; he assumed those belonged to the well-fed vampires feeding off the humans and vamps who weren’t as powerful as them.
“Where?” Killean demanded.
“This way,” Brian said with a jerk of his head and led them through a series of more rat-infested alleys. He’d scrub himself for two hours before touching Abby again. He’d never allow her soul to be tarnished by the hideousness of this place.
Stopping in the alley, he stared across the street to a club with a sign that read, Vampyre in dripping red blood. “Humans are so stupid sometimes,” Declan said as he watched a couple hurry down the stairs.
“Not going to argue with that,” Brian replied. “He’s in there.”
Killean cracked his knuckles, the only enthusiasm he showed over finally locating Drake. “Call Ronan.”
Declan already had his phone out and pressed to his ear. He shook his head before sliding it into his pocket. “Voicemail. He and Saxon must still be taking care of that nest of Drake’s men.”
“Sounds like Drake is all ours then,” Killean said and stepped from the shadows. He strolled across the street toward the club.
Brian glanced at Declan who shrugged. “Ronan’s got his own fun right now; we’ll take ours.” Declan grinned as he slapped Brian on the shoulder. “You’ll be back with your mate in no time.”
“Let’s get this over with then.”
Brian walked beside him across the street as Killean descended the stairs. About the only thing Killean did get excited about was killing, but then, so did he. Brian followed him down the stairs and stepped into the poorly lit club. Declan and Killean fanned out, their gazes sliding over the crowd as they searched for Drake in the crush of humans grinding against each other to the rhythm of the sensual music flowing from the speakers beside the stage.
On the stage was a band of vampires with their faces painted white and streaks of blood trickling from the corners of their mouths. The blood was real, but the humans didn’t care or notice as the lead singer swayed back and forth with his microphone. The band members behind him played a keyboard and guitar.
Humans danced on the stage amongst them, swirling to the flow of the changing lights and the beat. A human woman with her face painted white and fake fangs hanging over her bottom lip held out her wrist to the guitar player. She cried out in ecstasy when he sank his fangs into her. Brian had heard about clubs where people pretended to be vampires, and he realized that was exactly what these people believed was happening here.
“Really stupid,” Declan muttered.
“This way,” Brian said and shoved his way through the bodies.
Fury ate at his gut as he tried to remain focused on Drake’s soul, but it was difficult to stay locked on him in this crowd of vamps and humans. The asshole was not only risking exposure with this place, but he was also targeting vampires like Abby. If it were the last thing he did, he would make sure Drake died this night.
Walking along the back wall, he continued to search the crowd, but his ability kept pulling him to the center of the wall. He stood before it, frowning as he studied its smooth black surface. “What are you doing?” Killean demanded from beside him.
Brian rested his fingers against the wall, searching for something that would explain why he was drawn here. “There’s something here.”
“A wall,” Killean said slowly.
“My ability has never failed me before. It may not be able to pinpoint someone every time, but it’s never misled me. Right now, it wants behind this wall.”
“Interesting,” Declan murmured and stepped beside him. His gaze ran over the wall then to the end of it. “This way.”
He turned and led them down a hallway with bathrooms and a few backrooms off of it. Drawn to the first backroom, Brian turned the knob and stepped inside. No one was within the room of cleaning supplies, but he instinctively knew there was more to it. Walking around, he searched the shelves and walls for anything that would somehow get them behind the wall.
He was about to go and find a sledgehammer or dynamite when he heard a click. Killean stepped away from the wall that swung open. Dim light, from the room they were in, spilled into the hall beyond the door. Killean reached into his black trench coat and pulled out two stakes. Declan swung a crossbow out from underneath his coat, and Brian pulled his own stakes free.
Adrenaline pulsed through his veins, and his fangs tingled in anticipation. He’d told himself he’d kept Abby shut out because he didn’t want her to experience the places he did, but he knew it was because of this. She couldn’t know how much he enjoyed and thrived on the rush of the kill, no matter how deserving that death may be.
He stepped into the once hidden hallway with the others. As soon as they moved past a certain point, the door began to swing shut behind them. He glanced up in
search of cameras but saw none in the hall. The door must close on a sensor or timer. Declan took a step toward it and reached out to stop it from shutting.
“Leave it,” Killean murmured.
Declan’s hand fell to his side as the door clicked shut. Brian didn’t bother to look back; he’d tear this place apart with his bare hands if it became necessary to escape. Voices floated from behind the closed door at the end of the hall. The closed rooms they passed on their way toward the voices all held the faded scent of someone within them, but he detected no heartbeats behind the closed doors. All of the known vampire purebloods had been accounted for as of this morning, so it wasn’t their scents he detected.
Killean was actually smiling by the time they arrived at the end of the hall. Declan’s face had become unreadable as his eyes remained fixed on the door before them. Brian’s pulse thrummed in his ears. He grabbed hold of the handle and looked to the others. At Declan’s brisk nod, he jerked the door open.
The dozen or so vampires within didn’t immediately react when they glanced up from the cards in their hands. One actually lifted his hand in greeting before the smile froze on his face. Before they could react, Declan released a bolt from his crossbow that went straight through the closest vamp’s heart. Startled shouts finally erupted in the room as the vamps leapt to their feet. The card table they’d been sitting around was flung into the air, chips and cards scattered around the room as they charged forward.
Brian swung out, driving his stake into the chest of the one who leapt at him before spinning away to grab another’s head. He yanked back with so much force that the vamp’s spine tore from his body before he collapsed at Brian’s feet. Palming the vamp’s head in his hand, he smashed it against the next vampire who charged at him.
The vamp flew across the room and crashed into the wall across from him. Through the pulse of blood pounding in his ears, he heard the door behind him close.
The Vampire Awakenings Bundle: Books 1-5 Page 140