by Rachel Lee
Luc waved her grandly toward her desk, right next to Creed’s in front of the windows. “Please, madam.”
“I, um, changed the sheets for Dani,” Yvonne said. Then she rubbed her eyes and headed for her desk.
Luc didn’t say another word. He was past pretending a damn thing. In a flash, he scooped Dani up and carried her into the bedroom, kicking the door closed behind them.
He put her on the bed with reasonable gentleness then opened the small refrigerator Creed kept near the bed. He pulled out a bag of blood, extended his fangs and started drinking. And he made sure Dani could see.
But when he was done and had tossed the bag into the biohazard container he found no revulsion on Dani’s face.
Well, that hadn’t worked. Although he supposed it had been only a faint hope.
“Talk to me, Luc,” she said quietly. “Just lie here and talk to me.”
Lie with her and talk? He was quite certain he’d never heard a more ludicrous idea. “You jest.”
“No, I’m serious. Obviously I’m tormenting you in ways I don’t understand. And I can’t say I’m exactly happy about it, either. So maybe we just need to talk.”
“We’ve been talking. I keep getting the feeling you don’t really hear.”
“I hear. I get it.”
“You couldn’t possibly get it. I told you we were playing with fire. This is the kind of fire that could immolate one or both of us. That’s the part you don’t get.”
“And we might all be dead in a few days if these rogues have their way.”
That sounded logical, and that alone should have warned him he was utterly illogical right then. Moving cautiously now, he came to the bed and stretched out beside her. Her scent was heady enough that he didn’t even need to touch her to set off a fresh storm of hunger.
If he had half the brain he’d always credited himself with, he’d put a hundred miles between himself and this tempting delicacy before he lost whatever was left of his soul.
She spoke tentatively. “So claiming is bad?”
“Only when it ends.”
“And you don’t want to risk that again.”
“Most assuredly not.” He sighed and rolled onto his side, judging that it was safe to just look at her. Face-to-face, but not touching. Safe, perhaps, but not wise. Those oddly colored eyes of hers still drew him, and he had to force himself not to look at the pulse he could hear throbbing in her neck. Finally, he settled on looking at her crystal wolf’s head, a reminder of the gulf between them, of her insecurities—which he seemed to be doing his best to feed. Hell. “Most of us try to avoid it.”
“But you can’t control it?”
He shrugged. “I never had cause to think about it before. Natasha and I claimed one another and it was right for us. We thought we would have eternity together. We did not.”
“You certainly wouldn’t have eternity with me,” she said, her voice dropping. “That much is obvious.”
“Well, I could change that, but only if you wanted. And still, little wolf, there are no guarantees. Your family would disown you. Are you prepared for that?”
“I don’t know.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “So you see, it’s better not to risk it.”
“What will Creed and Jude do? They have human mates.”
“The time will come when all their resistance to changing Yvonne and Terri will vanish for fear of losing them. Both of them have already said they want to change.”
“I see.” She closed those hypnotic eyes of hers and sighed. “Can I be honest?”
“But of course. I have been honest. I tell you of my darkest secrets, I make no lies about what I am—a predator who wants to make a meal of you. Someone who can take you to the stars and then leave you in despair for the rest of your days. I have told you of all the ways I could harm you. And your kind have at least taught you all that is worst in vampire nature.”
Her eyes popped open and she glared at him. “Stop it. I judge you by what I see.”
“And what you feel, which is seldom a good guide. I made you feel things I shouldn’t have. I failed to maintain restraint.”
“I didn’t exactly help you, did I? I think I was at least half-responsible.”
“But you don’t know.”
She scowled. “I’m not an idiot. I’ve heard all your warnings. But now I want to know the truth.”
“I’ve been giving you nothing but truth. Truth about what?”
“I want to know what’s wrong with me.”
“Wrong with you?” He could scarcely believe his ears. “If there was something wrong with you, we wouldn’t have this problem!”
“Shh,” she said quickly. “You don’t have to yell.”
“I wasn’t yelling. I’m stunned. You have brought me to my knees. I’m clawing for some vestige of self-control so that we don’t both wind up hating me forever, and you think there’s something wrong with you?”
“Is it because I’m lycan?”
“Mon dieu,” he groaned.
“Well, you keep calling me little wolf.”
“An endearment. One that is special to you. It is not a curse, condemnation or complaint.”
“Oh.” Then she astounded him. The corners of her mouth lifted just a little, making her look almost impish. “So I don’t revolt you. I bring you to your knees?”
“Most assuredly. Never in two centuries has anyone brought me so close to madness.”
“No one has ever said anything so nice to me before.”
More to astonish him. “Never? Are they blind?”
“Well, I’m not exactly attractive.”
“Who told you that?”
“No one.”
He suddenly caught on. “Because you never changed?”
She nodded.
“So…” he asked slowly, “no boyfriend ever?”
“No.”
“No lover ever?”
“No.”
“Mon dieu,” he said again, this time in wonderment. Then conscience pierced him again. “I should not be your first. I cannot do that to you.”
She bit her lip. “Luc…”
“Yes?” He hoped he sounded encouraging because he didn’t want to wound this woman any more than he evidently already had.
“Luc, I don’t know how…what… Do you want me to beg?”
That placed him squarely on the horns of a dilemma. To leave would wound her, however right that choice might be. To stay… He could do it, he decided. If he just didn’t drink from her, it would be safe enough.
He could make her dizzy with pleasure without ever taking her to that place she would never forget. Surely he could maintain that much control.
“You don’t have to beg,” he murmured. “You don’t have to know how or what. It will be my honor to show you the way.”
A long shuddery sigh escaped her, her eyelids drooped, and she moved infinitesimally closer. Never in all his long, long years had he ever been offered something so precious as what he was being offered now.
Be careful, Luc, he warned himself. Then he gave up the battle.
Dani felt suspended in anticipation so intense that everything else flew from her mind. She hardly knew what had driven her to this point, what had caused her to make herself so vulnerable. She knew she wanted Luc; she knew she had never felt a longing so intense for anyone ever.
But she was equally certain she didn’t exactly know what she was longing for. She had never made love with anyone, had never even come close. What if the only reason she was attracted to Luc was because he was the only person who had ever seemed to want her?
But that was a thought she didn’t want to have now, not as his golden gaze passed over her from head to toe almost as if he could see through her clothing. The touch of his eyes had an almost physical impact, causing her to draw a sharp breath as if she needed more air than the universe could provide.
She suddenly wished she weren’t wearing ordinary clothes but some sexy confection
like the ones she’d often looked at in the stores but had never bought because there’d never been a reason.
But that didn’t seem to be bothering Luc, she realized as she saw his gaze begin to darken. He leaned toward her and stole her breath once again with a kiss. When he lifted his head, he looked down at her from eyes gone completely black.
“You do indeed madden me, ma chère.” He sprinkled kisses on her face. “I am not sure I can restrain myself.”
“Why should you?” Her voice sounded throaty and thick, hardly surprising since her entire body seemed to be filled with heavy, warm syrup. Her pulse now beat as strongly between her legs as it did in her heart.
“Because a woman’s first time should not be rushed. I should take my time, opening you like the finest of wines, lingering over you for hours.”
She caught her breath at the thought.
“However,” he said, “with all that is going on, we might be interrupted at any moment.”
Sad but true. Her heart hammered heavily, and her body felt on the brink of some amazing thing.
“Which risk do you want to take, ma belle? That I move too fast, or move too slow?”
Remembering their rough and ready near-mating in the snow, she didn’t doubt for a moment that fast would be fine. Not the way she felt now.
“Just don’t keep me waiting any longer.” It was a whisper, hard to get past her lips. She felt so vulnerable, so frightened by this step, yet so eager.
A quiet laugh escaped him. “Then you shall see how fast a vampire can move, little wolf.”
She didn’t know what he meant until she felt her clothes disappear so fast that it was almost magic, so fast she barely had time to realize what he had done. The next thing she knew, he was lying beside her, naked, as well.
Naked and so very beautiful. Did being a vampire make them perfect? For perfect he appeared to her, his pale skin slightly ruddy, his muscles clearly defined. The kind of body that men spent hours in a gym to approach.
She caught her breath, looking him over with astonished but hungry eyes. No flaws. Not a one. How was that possible?
Then she realized he was looking at her in quite the same way, drinking her in with his eyes, and she blushed hotly, feeling it all the way to her toes.
He smiled. “That blush drives me mad.” Reaching out, he caught both her wrists then held them with one hand above her head. She felt exposed and helpless in the most delicious way, and the throbbing between her legs grew until she felt little else.
Until he touched her, tracing her cheek, then her neck with his fingers. Ripples of delight ran through her and she closed her eyes. His fingertips paused at the pulse beating in her throat.
“That,” he said huskily, “calls to me in ways you cannot imagine. Your pulsebeat. The sound of your heart pounding. The flow of the warm blood in your veins. Ah, you feel so warm, you smell like a garden of delights.”
She shivered with pleasure as his touch trailed lower, finding the peak of one breast. He touched her there gently, brushing back and forth until she nearly cried out for something harder, stronger, needing more than she knew how to describe.
“You blossom for me,” he murmured, then followed his fingers with his mouth, sucking her nipple, gently at first, then harder.
She gasped, arching toward him, wanting to clutch his head for fear he would stop, but he still held her wrists prisoner.
Each pull of his mouth was echoed with a throb between her legs, and she felt herself grow damp with need. Every nerve ending sizzled in time to her body’s demand for more, and more.
He obliged her. His mouth remained fastened to her breast, first one and then the other, as his fingers traced light circles that moved ever lower, across her midriff, approaching that nest that no one had ever touched before.
Another gasp escaped her as he nipped her nipple, not hard, just enough to sting a bit. Pain turned instantly to a conflagration of pleasure.
Beyond thought, now a bundle of needs she didn’t fully understand, she twisted toward him, throwing one of her legs over him, opening herself to any touch he chose to give her.
His gasp further enflamed her, and she tried to press even closer, but then his fingers plunged between her legs, stroking her most delicate flesh.
At first the touch seemed almost too painful to bear. An instant of shock nearly threw her out of the moment, but then the surprising pain transmuted, becoming at once pain and ecstasy, pulling her further upward into a place she had found only once, and not like this.
Everything was more intense, more exquisite, this time without any clothing as a barrier. The merest touch of his breath, his hands, his mouth…every whisper across her skin felt like a match being struck.
The moisture between her legs eased the path of his stroking fingers. She felt him slip one inside her, then cup her tightly until she moaned and rubbed herself against him.
He released her wrists at last and she tried to find him with her own hands, her own mouth, needing to share all that she was feeling. One hand found his rigid staff, the other pulled his face to her neck.
She needed more, so much more. She wanted him to drink from her again, too, to take her to that place where she hadn’t been able to tell them apart.
Instead, he pulled his head back just a little, silently refusing her request. But he denied her nothing else. With his hands and mouth he taught her her body’s secrets. He lifted her to a high pinnacle until fear joined passion as she wondered if she would ever reach the summit.
The ache in her was so hard it almost hurt, yet it pulled her along, undeniable.
She needed…she needed…
Then between one instant and the next she exploded. Her body spasmed so strongly that she went rigid and helpless.
His relentless fingers never stopped. When he slid down and captured her clitoris with his teeth and tongue, she thought she would die from the pleasure and pain of it. With licks and nips, he taught her that this was a summit she could reach more than once.
Until at last she lay exhausted and spent, surrounded by the cool arms and legs of a vampire.
She couldn’t even move. Nor did she want to. His hands trailed over her gently, almost soothingly, bringing her back to earth.
“How do you feel?” he asked softly.
“Amazing,” she admitted. Then she felt a pang. “But what about you?”
“I drank from you the other night. For me it was as if I were you.”
Her heavy-lidded eyes opened at that. “Still?”
“Still.”
“I wish…”
He stopped her with a finger over her lips. “Don’t wish it. Please. Don’t even ask that of me.”
So she swallowed the plea, and at least for now admitted he was right. For now. She couldn’t risk causing him any more pain unless they were both certain of what they wanted, and while she was growing increasingly convinced, she was sure he was not. He didn’t want to risk another claiming, and who was she to put him in a place where he might, unless she was positive she wanted him forever?
Just thinking of forever brought back memories of her pack. They would never forgive her. Her mother might, but Lucinda was right: the rest of the pack might not be able to accept such a thing.
But she didn’t want to think about that right now. She didn’t want to think about anything except how marvelous she felt, and how good it felt to be lying with Luc like this.
As if circumstances would allow that.
There was a knock on the door. In the blink of an eye, she found herself covered to her chin beneath blankets. She looked around, startled, and saw a quick blur as Luc dressed.
In less than five seconds, he was answering the door. She heard Creed say, “Jude wants to take the women to the cabin. The rogues are starting to circle in around the morgue.”
“All right. When?”
“He wants me to take them as soon as possible. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get back before dawn.”
; “Best, perhaps, if you stay with the ladies.”
“Yes. But you need help here.”
“I think we can handle it with the assistance of Dani’s pack. The important thing is for the two of you to protect your ladies.”
He closed the door and reappeared, sitting on the bed beside Dani. “You must prepare to go, ma belle.”
“No.”
He arched one brow. “No?”
She shook her head. “You need me to ensure my pack doesn’t consider you two a threat. If I disappear, there’s no telling how they’ll react.”
“I don’t want you exposed to this danger.”
“I’ve already been exposed to it, and right now I have a score to settle.” She supposed he could smell the fear that was seeping into her body, but she wasn’t going to let him use it against her. Nor was she going to let it rule her. She knew her pack. She knew how deep their loathing for vampires ran. If she simply disappeared, no explanation would be enough.
“Tell Creed to take Yvonne and Terri. I’m staying.”
“Dani…”
She shook her head, hoping she looked as determined as she felt, despite the fear that had begun to course through her.
“I could not bear losing you, little wolf.”
“My pack will protect me. The question is whether they’ll protect the two of you.”
And that really was the question. Scared or not, she knew with absolute certainty that she would never forgive herself if her pack turned on Luc. Never. And there was only one way to guarantee they wouldn’t.
She also had a score to settle. She hadn’t allowed herself to think much about the attack on her, having chosen instead to bury it at the back of her mind to deal with when the threat was gone. But she realized that in one other way she was truly lycan: nobody was going to get away with nearly killing her.
She lifted her chin and stared straight into Luc’s eyes. They had darkened again, no longer the beautiful golden color, but instead they had become windows on the night.
“I must go with you,” she repeated. “I’m the only one who can protect you from my pack. I’m the only one who can make sure you don’t have to kill one of my family to save yourself. Do you think I could live with either outcome?”