by M. L. Briers
“We can’t fight it.” He said quietly, too damn quietly, she found that her ears were straining to listen to his words, but then he was a vampire.
“I wasn’t trying to fight it-”
“Just slow it down a little?” He reached up with his other hand and cupped her cheek, the pad of his thumb stroked downwards and brought her eyes right back on his.
“Something like that.” She agreed.
“I have all the time in the world,” he smiled as she blew out a small laugh, and she couldn’t help the small smile that touched her lips.
“I noticed that about you.” She was willing to play along for the moment.
“You did?” He was too – he always like to play with witches, they made life more fun, but he really liked playing with her. Doing this dance.
He liked this newfound intimacy, this easiness between them. The world outside could have been going to hell, but he didn’t care – this – this was what mattered now.
“You know that I’m not going to go insane if you walk away from me…” his eyes narrowed a little as he put that out there to test the waters. He wasn’t a shifter, he’d struggle a little with his bloodlust, but at his age…
She nodded, but didn’t say anything. “But I am going to follow you to the ends of the earth and back to try to make you mine.” He assured her, and he meant every word.
“Stalker,” she played it light and he grinned. He guessed the shoe was on the other foot now – now he knew how it felt…
“Always and forever.” He assured her.
“Isn’t that a song?”
“Yeah,” he smiled. He didn’t think she’d know that song – it had been a favourite of his at the time. “And it’s very apt now.” He said, leaning in and placing just the smallest of kisses on her cheek.
“I’ll have to listen to it some time.”
“I have it downstairs…” he saw her eyes flash with amusement, a little witchy mischief mixed in there too.
“Let’s go get it.” She started to turn but he caught her, and kept her in place. She smiled, but there was a little guilt there too.
“Not right now,” he smiled back. She rolled her eyes up to the ceiling and turned, breaking his hold on her everywhere.
“I guess I should eat then.” She gave a small shrug off her shoulders.
“I think I should go do the same.” He backed away from her.
Most men only had to worry about controlling their libido – Connor could feel his lust for the taste of her blood on his tongue, and he had it under control, but he didn’t want to push that control too far.
“Hungry?” Her eyes flared with amusement.
“Don’t be mean,” he warned. “Play nice or it’s gruel for your next meal.”
Connor made it to the door without losing his mind and turning back towards her. Stalking back that distance between them and taking her within his arms again – kissing her senseless – and having the taste of every inch of her, body, mind, soul, and blood on his tongue.
He would have patted himself on the back, but this torture wasn’t over yet, and he would have looked pretty damned stupid doing it.
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“You eat like a sparrow or are you one of those women that refuses to eat properly around their man?” Connor dropped the cover back down over her plate and she eyed him from the other side of the bed. She looked good, propped up by feather pillows, with her back against the headboard and one of his books in her hands. She might have been lost in those pages as she ignored him, but he didn’t think so somehow.
“I always wanted to be able to read a book upside down,” he offered and saw a small grimace on her face as she noticed too. A slight bit down on a curse, followed by a small sigh, and she finally dropped the pretence.
“It’s a gift.” He offered no judgement as she dropped the book to her lap and turned her eyes up to his.
“I eat just fine when I have an appetite, which I don’t know.” She offered back with another small sigh.
“Careful of all that sighing, you wouldn’t want me to think you were depressed – I might do something stupid – like let you out.” Connor gave her a knowing look.
“Asshole,” she bit out.
“I think we established that already, but I’ll thank you again.”
“Oh, you’re entirely welcome. Butthead.” She tossed the book away into the middle of the bed and folded her arms.
“You are not getting out of here. Sigh, curse, bitch, rant, rave, try to claw my eyes out, attempt an escape. No way, Nada. Not happening, get over it.” Connor informed her.
“Yet.” She snapped back.
“Maybe never if I have my wicked way,” he teased, his eyebrows doing push ups on his forehead.
“Just a walk to the toilet for the condemned woman would be good.” She rolled her eyes.
“That’s easy,” Connor shrugged. “It’s right there.” He pointed to an arch in the brickwork and she snorted her contempt for him.
“I don’t like you right now.” She had a sing-song quality to her voice that brought another smile to his lips.
“I’m uncaring,” he offered back in the same tone.
“Yes, yes you are,” she sat forward and crossed her legs, dropping her arms and motioning towards him. “If you had one little bit of feeling-”
“Ohhh, don’t say it,” he was going overboard with the amateur dramatics, he knew it, and so did she, but he couldn’t help himself. “I might rush to prove you wrong.”
“Screw you,” she shot back.
“I’m hopeful.” He grinned and she reached out and fisted a pillow, tossing it at him. He captured it and frowned. “Is that the best you’ve got without your…” he gasped. “Magic?”
Vicky bit down on a curse, reaching for the book and tossing it at his head. He ducked out of the way.
“When I get my magic back-”
“Yes, yes, I’m sure I’ll be on my knees with the pain, and the suffering, and the zapping…” He grinned again. Then he tossed the pillow back at her head and hit her square in the face.
She gasped indignantly and snatched it against her chest. Offering him the kind of death glare that he was glad she couldn’t put any magic behind.
“You really are a-”
“Asshole?” He looked surprised. “I’ve heard that somewhere before, oh wait…” he pointed at her and she took one long deep breath and let it out on a scream that could rival a banshee.
Connor groaned as his hands went to his ears and the pain bounced around inside of his head. He rolled his eyes to the ceiling and groaned again when she didn’t stop…
“Ok, ok…!” He groaned out – finally happy when she ran out of breath. He watched her chest expand and he pointed his finger at her again… “Don’t…”
She let wail. The sound echoed off the stone walls and into his very bones. The look on his face, a cross between pain and when you looked in the mirror the morning after the night before, was pure amusement for her, and it tickled her funny bone, because she started to chuckle and that put an end to her screaming…
Connor slowly lowered his hands and rolled his eyes once more…
“Damn… I can still hear it…” he said and she chuckled harder. Covering her mouth with her hand as he brought his eyes to her, enjoying seeing her smile, if not the reason for it.
“You know these stone walls are like a damn echo chamber?” he offered- motioning around them.
“Great acoustics, thanks.” She gave him the double thumbs up before she started to giggle again.
“A deaf vampire is not the same as a deaf bat…” he offered and brought more chuckles to her lips.
“Poor baby,” she babied him with her tone and he groaned again – feeling the pressure in his ears level out and his hearing click back to what it was before she imitated a banshee… he shook his head and blinked his eyes at the sudden pop inside of his eardrum…
“Sweet talk won’
t get you far…” he stopped and looked up to the ceiling, then he smiled. “Oh, wait, yes it will.” He gave her a wicked grin and she snorted back.
“My room. My bed. My bathroom…” she motioned with a finger over to the arch. “You get… the rest of the dungeon, out there.” She shrugged happily.
“It’s my bedroom. My bed. My bathroom, but I’m willing to share because that’s the kind of guy I am.”
“A prisoner doesn’t share with a jailer,” she grinned back.
“A mate shares everything,” he upper the stakes and saw her blink at his words a couple of times.
“Hmm, even bank accounts and castle deeds?” She grinned wider and he frowned for a moment, then he narrowed his eyes.
“If I say yes…?” He left that question hanging.
“I’ll say thank you.” She chuckled and he nodded.
“Why am I not surprised?” He teased.
“I’m a girl and you’re a rich older man…” she giggled as one of his eyebrows arched.
“But you can’t kill me off with sex and take the money,” he smirked.
“I could…” she shrugged, trying for innocent, and he rolled his eyes up in his head.
“Fine. Take it, it’s yours.” He opened his arms and motioned around him. “So, what do I get in return now that you own land and have a juicy bank account?”
“A thank you.” She smirked back.
“And in what form would this thank you be given?”
“Verbally.”
Connor shifted in place and looked down at the bulge in his jeans, and he heard her snort.
“As in the spoken word,” she ground out, but she was still playing.
“Hopes – dashed. Spirit – broken.”
“I doubt it…” She sighed then. “Oh come on, Connor, let me out.” She gave him a hopeful look, one that might have won the day had it been any other day that there wasn’t a threat to her life.
“Nope.” He kept it short and sweet.
“Fine.” She tossed herself backwards on the bed and landed in the softness of the pillows. “I definitely don’t like you.”
“Right now, you keep forgetting the follow on words.”
“Bite me,” she poked her tongue out at him, but he was already starting around the bed. “Sometime never.” She added and brought him to a halt beside her. “Follow on words are good.” She teased and watched him crack his neck.
“That’s not…” he was shaking his head and trying to get a hold of himself. He hadn’t really believed her, not really, and yet it had set one foot in front of the other without him even thinking about it.
Connor leaned down over her. His eyes locked with hers and he saw a small frown play across her forehead as the amusement in her eyes dwindled but didn’t die completely.
“Be careful, my little witch mate,” he cautioned as his eyes narrowed on hers.
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CHAPTER SEVEN
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“Or you just might bite out of spite?” Vicky’s eyes held amusement again.
“Out of need. Out of desire to taste your blood upon my tongue.” Connor’s voice held her attention as did his eyes. He noted the way her lips parted, just a little as she sucked at the air…
“Worried?” He asked, knowing better. Her cheeks had flushed colour and her lids had lowered slightly, and now her breathing was all over the place… no, that wasn’t worry.
“Not in this lifetime.” She offered back, but she didn’t elaborate and he did not want to push her into doing it.
He was worried, worried that he might hear the answer to the unspoken question of whether she was referring to him biting or to them bonding as mates – forever mates – and forever for a vampire was a very long time.
Just at that inopportune moment the mobile phone in his back pocket went off and he could have cursed at the timing. He pulled back up and reached for it. Fisting the damn thing and looking at the number on screen.
“Problem?” He asked into the handset and Justice’s deep tones came back at him and rubbed over his last nerve.
“We’ve got a sighting of your friend, Vane. Between the clan land and your place.” Justice informed him. “I’m not sure that he’s alone.”
“Understood.” He offered as his eyes scanned her face, memorising every inch of it. “Stay out of this, Justice.” He offered before shutting the phone off and offering it to her.
“What’s this, the prisoner gets to make a phone call?” She teased, but his eyes held no amusement. She pushed up onto her elbows and frowned, sensing the shift in him. “What’s-?”
“If I’m not back by morning, call Morgan and tell her to get Chelsea over here to open the door-”
“Connor-?”
“No, listen.” Connor offered calmly. “Tell her to come with all of the damn pack. Not alone. I’m sure Justice will give you sanctuary until he can get you out of the country. He know the combination to the safe.”
“Wait!” She bit out as he started to move towards the door. “Stop!”
“I’ll see you soon.” Connor offered back lightly, but she wasn’t entirely sure that he meant that, that he believed those words.
“You can bite me!” She shouted out as he started to pull the door closed behind him and she saw him stop in place…
He turned back to look at her then. He was smiling, but that smile didn’t reach his eyes… Regret reign there.
“I’ll hold you to that,” he said. Slamming the thick door behind him as she shot off of the bed, knocking the tray and the remnants of her dinner to the floor…
“Connor!” She hammered her fists against the door once more… but to no avail. He was already gone.
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Connor went out the same way that he’d brought Vicky in. Up and over the roof and up onto the thick branch of the old oak tree that had served him well over the years.
He had one aim. One intention – to take out Vane and live happily ever after with his witch mate who would one day allow him to turn her into a vampire…
But even Connor knew that the best intentions never always worked out well or went to plan.
At any other time in his life walking into this situation with Vane wouldn’t have even registered as a blip on his worry scale, but things were different now. He’d met his mate, and in the grand scale of how long he had lived alone and without her, this was just a heartbeat in time.
He couldn’t lose her without even knowing her – that could not have been fate’s plan, and if it was, then fate was a cruel and heartless mistress.
He knew that his life had never been about working for the betterment of mankind or anything so lofty and noble. He had no reason to be proud of the man he had become in his second birth – of his vampire persona, and fate didn’t owe him a damned thing…
But he wanted to believe that fate had watched, waited, and noticed that he was a far better man now than he had ever been, in life or death.
Maybe she was fate’s reward?
Maybe she was fate’s two fingered salute.
But, if he was to be damned to hell for all of eternity, then he wanted to go there with something of her to remember…
Just a little more time with her…
I know I’ve had lifetimes more than I should have… but, come on, let me get out of this and live to love another day.
Connor bit down on his need to curse aloud when he saw the white wolf stalking from the woods as if it was just any other night, and he was any other beast out taking the damn air. He scanned the area for signs of Vane and dropped down to meet the animal.
“What part of stay out of this didn’t you get?” Connor barely whispered, but it was enough for Justice to hear him.
The wolf tossed its head up and Connor wanted to groan, he’d never asked Justice why he did that, but he kind of got the feeling it was the wolf’s way of giving him the middle finger of rebuke.
“Leave now.” Connor demanded.
&
nbsp; The wolf turned his head at the same time that Connor had with the sound of heavy paws coming towards them. Tyler’s bear could not be quiet if he tried.
“You brought slow-bear?” Connor wanted to head butt the nearest tree trunk to wake himself up from the nightmare that he found himself in, but Justice nudged him and tossed his head in another direction…
“Oh for the…” Connor bit out at the sight. All around him, from every direction they came, more and more beasts. Wolves and bears…
“You bought the clan?” Connor wasn’t sure who was more stupid – him for commenting or the alpha for doing this.
He felt the ripple of the wolf in change beside him and a heartbeat later Justice was there in his human form.
“I didn’t bring them. I told them what was happening and they came.” Justice shrugged.
“So, nobody could find two brain cells to rub together?” Connor bit out.
“Shut up and find Vane so we can go back to bed.” Chelsea whispered as she stalked in behind him and rested down on her haunches.
“Oh God, not the witch.” Connor bit out, practically rolling his eyes within his head.
“Let’s kill this bloodsucker and get you mated.” Justice grinned and Connor did a double take.
“Somehow I don’t think it’s going to be that easy.” Connor admitted. “How’d you get the bears here?” Connor asked.
“Cole, Marshall, and Landon wanted to…” he whispered back, but before Connor could say another word, all hell broke loose.
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The first attack came without warning and it was waged against the bears. Landon and Marshall were tossed across the clearing as if they weighed nothing.
Three vampires stalked across the way towards them. One vampire on either side of Vane, who was taking all of Connor’s attention, as he set his sights on ending that man.
“Get everyone the hell out of here,” Connor ordered Justice, as the man shifted into his beast beside him, but Connor was already pushing off. His mind was made up which vampire he wanted to slay first, and Vane thumped a hand against his chest, spitting out venom from his eyes as he aimed right for Connor.