She hissed and glared at him over her shoulder. “I could have taken it off.”
Pasting mock surprise on his face, he laid a hand on his chest. “Where’s the fun in that?” Not waiting for her response, he went into the bathroom and washed off his pocketknife. A pair of tweezers would have been handy. And some gauze. He grabbed a face cloth instead. “Do I need to sterilize my knife or find some antiseptic?”
“I’m a vampire. Disease doesn’t plague us.”
He shrugged off her prickly tone, betting she was as gentle as the sound of her name on his lips. “Good, because I can’t provide either.” On his knees, he straddled her legs and leaned forward to examine her wound. He planted his palm between her shoulder blades.
“What–” She struggled under him. “What are you doing?”
“I don’t want you to move.” Using his shifter strength, he shoved her flat against the bed and wiped the blood away. “Stop wiggling so much. It’s distracting.”
“Not like you can do more damage.” Her words came out muffled.
“No, but you’re turning me on.”
She went limp, her breathing heavy and strained.
He couldn’t help but chuckle. This shitty day was getting better. Using the tip of the pocketknife, he gently probed her wound. “Tell me if it hurts.” The hole in her flesh was deep. It appeared as if her backbone had absorbed the impact of the bullet. Damn, vampires were tough.
A few years ago, he would have fainted at the idea of digging out bullets from damsels in distress. So much had changed since the small pack of omegas hired a Nosferatu warrior as a teacher.
Eric had become alpha of Chicago and married his high school crush, serious Robert fell in love with a slayer, of all things, and Tyler finally found the balls to ask Katrina to marry him.
And Daedalus stole Sugar’s heart.
Not that Sam had ever owned it. She was better off with the wealthy and powerful vampire. Safer. Sam just fucked everything up.
His heart didn’t belong to anyone but himself.
The knife clinked against metal and Clementine jerked.
He wiped the area clean to get a better visual. “The bullet’s entrenched, but I should be able to ease it out with a few simple cuts. This will hurt. Maybe I should call Daedalus first and have him knock you out with some Nosferatu mental voodoo.”
She laughed. A quiet, sorrowful sound that grabbed him low in the gut. “I can take the pain. I don’t need my master to hold my hand.”
There it was again. Master. The title irked him more than it should. From what little he knew of vampire society, most weren’t free. Their masters owned them, kept them under control, so the human population wouldn’t fear and hunt them like the old days. It had never occurred to Sam that Daedalus owned some. Bet the others didn’t think about it either.
Clementine clenched the sheets in her hands. “I’ll do my best not to scream.”
“Don’t worry. In this part of town, they’re used to it.”
As she twisted around to glare at him, he pried the bullet from her flesh and popped it out.
Eyes squeezed shut and mouth open in a silent scream exposing her delicate kitten-like fangs, she shuddered under his body.
His heart wrenched at the sight and a wave of nausea rocked him. He didn’t get off on pain. Though, he’d love to see that expression on her face once more, but this time in ecstasy, not agony. He shook his head. He could be a sick bastard sometimes.
Fresh blood pooled in her wound as she squirmed once more. “Get off me.” Her ass bucked against his cock, sending a jolt of lust straight to his balls.
He’d never had a vampire–odd, considering his low standards. As long as it was female and willing, he’d bed anyone once. Letting his fingers trail along her skin, he held her down a little longer. A small subliminal suggestion of what he could offer.
“Asshole.” She rolled him off with a sharp twist of her hips.
He fell next to her. “At your service.” Sticks and stones couldn’t break his bones, and name-calling wouldn’t hurt him.
Clutching her tattered shirt to her chest, she sat on the edge of the bed and dialed the room phone. “Master?”
Sam moaned and rested his forearm over his eyes. It was better for her to explain what happened. He didn’t need to hear more bitching from the Nosferatu.
“We’re at Motel Twelve by the park. Sam’s car wouldn’t start and I was too injured to walk.” She remained silent, listening. “My car was too damaged to drive.”
Squeezing his eyes tight, he kept quiet. God, he hadn’t even thought to take her car. It didn’t seem in that bad of condition. He peeked at her. She’d lied for him.
“Sam’s taking good care of me. The bullet is out and he’s offered to feed me.” She raised a questioning eyebrow at him.
He nodded, a little dumbfounded. Gratitude and shame knotted his chest, considering only a few minutes ago he’d been thinking of her as just a possible fuck.
“Okay, we’ll be here.” She hung up. “Daedalus will come as soon as he has Sugar settled at home.”
* * * *
What was with the human worship? It sounded like a party in the background as she’d spoken with her master. Someone else besides him could watch Sugar for the thirty minutes it would take to retrieve them. The room darkened as her vision tunneled. She gripped the edge of the bed and shook her head.
“Clementine?”
“Lightheaded.” She waved Sam’s hand away. His touch stirred too many unexplainable desires. They’d barely met, under terrible circumstances. However, her skin still tingled wherever he’d touched her.
Closing her eyes made the dizziness worse. How much blood had she lost? She glanced at Sam, who lounged on the bed in his torn clothes. “None of this fazes you, does it? The fighting, the running, the gunshots?”
He shrugged. “A few years ago, it would have. Life’s hard in the pack. It’s adapt or perish.” He eyed her as if trying to figure out what species of bug she belonged to. “Thanks for explaining things to Daedalus. We don’t get along too well. He’s not my biggest fan.”
A hot flush washed over her. From lack of blood or from his gratitude, she wasn’t sure. Drinking from him, pressed against his strong, muscled body, would be a fantasy come true. What female hadn’t dreamed of a wild shifter in bed?
Except when imagination and reality collided, all her hidden insecurities suddenly jumped out and did the conga. She was plain for a vampire: short brown hair, little boobs, too much junk-in-the-trunk. Not exactly a vixen of the night those stupid human movies portrayed.
She needed to feed and Sam had agreed to her backhanded request. Licking her lips, she knelt on the mattress. “Where would you like me to bite?”
A crooked, sensual smile spread across his mouth. “Are you always this polite to your meals, Clementine?”
“Of course. Just because we’re not human doesn’t mean we have to act like monsters.”
He tugged his shirt off, exposing a hard muscled chest, and then lifted his chin, offering her his jugular.
Hunger growled to life in her body. Overpowering. Fast. Bloodlust seized her, and any semblance of control disintegrated as her vision went red.
Rich fluid coated her tongue. Salty and warm, it eased the cramps in her stomach. She sank her teeth deeper into the source of her bliss, and then popped open her eyes.
Swallowing reflexively, the warmth spread from her stomach into her starved system. She lay on top of Sam, his arms and legs sprawled across the bed. She released her clenched bite on his neck. Oh crap, had she killed him? “Sam?” Her voice trembled and she shook his shoulder. How much had she drank?
He still had that sultry smile on his face as he peeked at her under heavy lids. The dark chocolate of his gaze melted over her body. “Hungry?” His flesh healed where she’d bitten him.
Something dripped from her chin. She swiped a hand across her mouth and stared with widening eyes at the blood on her palm. “Mercifu
l heavens, I’m an animal. I’m so sorry.” The apology didn’t cover her horror. She hadn’t lost control since she’d been a fledgling. “The blood loss–it’s been a long time since the lust has gripped me so hard.” Desire to lick her palm almost overwhelmed her. She needed to feed more.
“I’m used to being fed upon. We’re Daedalus’s main source, but I like your style of feeding better.” He ran his hand over her bare spine and quirked an eyebrow at her. “The wound is gone?”
Now that she’d fed, her body healed fast. Tissue had knitted together, growing seamless, smooth skin where her injury had been. “Yes.”
He raised his chin and offered his neck once more. “Better to feed from me than attack the housekeeping.”
She licked her lips. Straddled over Sam’s hips, she couldn’t ignore his erection pressed against the juncture of her thighs. Desire to rock against it swept through her body. Hanging her head, she took a shaky breath. She was in over her head.
He brushed his fingertips over her hair. “Is there someone else?”
She gave a sharp snort of contemp. “No.”
He rose onto his elbows. The motion made her lean back, sliding her pussy over his cock. An electric itch ran over her nerve endings and set butterflies loose in her stomach.
“Do you have someone? Umm…a mate?” She’d sound stupid if that was the wrong word. They didn’t have shifters around Pal Robi, so she had to go by things she’d read in magazines and books.
“No. I’m a bit of a loner.” He rested his hand on her thigh. “I gather you might be more interested in a full course meal than just a snack.”
She stared at his nice-boy-next-door handsome face and the knots in her lower back tightened. Oh hell, when would she ever receive another chance like this? Biting her lower lip, she nodded. She could use a good, no-strings-attached fuck, the kind that left a woman limp and too exhausted to think. And Sam seemed like the kind of male who could provide those things and more.
However, Sam contained all the right amounts of dominance and tenderness that attracted her on so many levels she couldn’t even count them. She’d grow strings. She knew she would. And like he said, he was a loner.
Ever since her master had dragged her into this mess, she’d been on the run. Pal Robi was a security company he’d created, but it was a front for vampire government, a seat of power for the Prime of the northeastern part of America. Some idiot had thought he’d gathered enough supporters to take it away from Daedalus, even sent one of the best slayers after him.
Now, who owned the slayer? Who had a large pack of wolf shifters at his back? And who’d just obtained a list of names of potential traitors on a thumb drive stolen straight from Pal Robi computers by little old her?
Daedalus would triumph. He always did because he took risks such as helping a pack of omega shifters. Maybe it was about time she took one too.
She rocked her hips, rubbing Sam’s hard cock against her more sensitive areas. “Yes, I think I deserve a full course meal–and dessert.”
Chapter 4
Sam tensed and fisted the sheets of the bed as Clementine rubbed against his erection. The way she gazed at him and called him dessert sent all his blood rushing to his cock. It throbbed, trapped behind the zipper of his jeans. He hadn’t taken a lover in months and all those pent up urges suddenly roared to life.
Her veil of innocence vanished as a spark of mischief twinkled in her eyes.
She unclipped her bra and tossed it to the floor with her torn t-shirt, setting her perfect handful-sized breasts free. Rosy pink nipples perked in the cool air, her pale skin flawless.
He sucked in a breath. His inner beast howled as a wave of her scent rolled over him. Clementine stirred his animal nature. After months of uneasy quiet, his beast responded to this vampire like she was more than a packmate.
Taking slow, deliberate breaths, he calmed his beast. She’d be theirs. No point in tearing the rest of her clothes off and scaring her away. Delicate creatures like Clementine needed caressing, not crazed animal fucking. The muscles in his back and arms twitched with the effort to not pin her to the bed until the beast finally retreated. Just a little. But enough. He rested his head back on the mattress and reached for the bouncy temptations of her breasts, wanting to twist those little buds until she panted for more.
A sharp slap to his hand stopped him. “Ouch.” He jerked his hand back. Her strength and speed were more than he would have guessed, but then again, she’d tossed him on the bed like he weighed nothing when she’d fed from him. That was sexy as hell.
“I didn’t give you permission to touch me.” Her sweet smile transformed into something more sensual.
He grinned back, enjoying this side of his new bedmate. Resting his hands behind his head, he relaxed into the pillows. “I might like this game.” His beast remained close to the surface, waiting to pounce and play with the half-naked vamp. A growl rumbled within his body. “For now.”
“I don’t play with my food.” She grabbed his t-shirt and pulled it over his head with one swift motion. “I devour it.” Licking a solid line along the center of his chest, she trailed her hard nipples over him as well.
Desire flared hot as his head was jerked back by her hand tangled in his hair. The sting of her delicate fangs triggered his balls to clench. He moaned. Pain and pleasure made sex a sharper experience. It drew him into the moment, setting his worries aside, and kept him there. Living in the now, hot and sweaty.
He ran his hands along her back, his vixen too entranced by blood to reprimand him. The erotic touch of her lips on his neck was like nothing he’d experienced. Daedalus was the only vampire who’d fed from him prior to tonight. Nothing sexual in that bite.
She tugged at his hair with one hand while caressing his shoulder with the other. Her bite more tender than predatory.
Relaxing into her embrace, he fluttered his eyelids closed. Ever since Katrina’s old pack had attacked their home six months ago, he hadn’t taken a female to his bed. He’d been pretty carefree with his partners, but didn’t have the time to waste anymore. He needed to prove to his friends, and to himself, that he took his role as Sigma seriously.
So, he took a backslide with Clementine. The sacrifice was worth it.
“You taste better than I’d thought.” She eased her hold on him and trailed a line of kisses along his jaw. The soft brush of her lips, her words, lit a hole in his chest he hadn’t been aware existed. “I’m going to do terrible things to you, Sam,” She whispered close to his ear.
A shiver ran down his spine. “Promise?”
She laughed, the sound a little uncertain. “I’ll do my best.” Directing her kisses south, she moved over his chest, along his abs, and stopped just below his navel where she focused on undoing his pants.
Trying to keep his breathing even, he followed her progress, leaning onto his elbows the closer she came to his cock. He fisted her short, brown curls, a wild mess, and jerked her head up. “Let me.” With one hand, he unbuttoned his fly, then slipped the waist band over his hips. Cool air slid over his hard-on, his need to sink into the warmth of Clementine’s pussy peaked into a commanding urge.
Stroking his cock with her small fingers, she traced the veins running over his shaft. “Are all shifters generally this thick?”
He groaned and arched into her ministrations. “I couldn’t tell you.” Fuck, she knew all the right things to say. He chuckled; of course she did. She was probably a hundred times more experienced than him and four times his age.
Sighing, he rolled his eyes. “Don’t play coy with me.”
She jerked her hand away, a deep red flush spread across her cheeks right to the tips of her ears.
Frowning, he wanted to kick himself in the ass for wrecking the mood. He tilted his head to the side. “You’ve never been with a shifter?”
“No. Where would I have met one? Pal Robi is all vampires with a few human employees.”
He aimed a rolling growl at her, almost purr-like. �
��A virgin?” He already knew the answer, but needed to return the confidence he’d stolen from her, especially if he wanted her hands back on him.
“Hardly.” She gripped his dick tight, the flare of determination in her narrowing eyes. With deliberate grace, she arched over his cock, her mouth hovering at his tip, and then at a leisurely pace she grazed the sharp edge of her fangs over his pulsing shaft.
He couldn’t look away. Oh shit. Not while she used her teeth to scrape along his sensitive flesh. “Be nice.”
Warm lips sealed tight around him. At an achingly slow pace, she slid him deeper into her mouth. Deeper still, until her throat engulfed him, then she swallowed. The fine muscles convulsed around him, squeezing tight.
Sam flung his head back, digging his heels into the mattress. “Fuck. Yes.” Something could be said for talent.
She stroked him in and out of her mouth, sucking him closer to the edge. The combination of soft tongue and sharp teeth had him at Clementine’s mercy. He’d have promised her anything to have her never stop.
She tugged his jeans off and squeezed her slim body between his thighs, cupping his balls in a firm grip.
He looked down, watching his cock slip out from between her wet lips. “More.” He wasn’t beyond begging.
* * * *
Clementine loved the blazing unspoken demand in Sam’s eyes. She grinned at his plea. “Not yet.” Fear never tainted his sensual musky scent. If anything, her fang play seemed to excite him more.
She allowed her fingers to linger over the pulse in his groin. “Would you like me to bite you here?”
He swallowed visibly. “Yes.” His smooth skin appeared untouched where she sensed his blood pulsing through him. He really told her the truth about never having a vampire lover. She’d fed enough to quench her need, but his taste was addictive. His blood was so full of strength and power that it thrummed through her body.
With precise aim, she pierced his femoral artery. His blood flowed once more. The flavor differed from humans. It filled her weak body, healing her, replenishing all the blood she’d lost. And all from two bites. This third was a bonus.
Sigma Page 3