Bound by Darkness: The Alliance Series, Book 3

by Davies, Brenda K.

  “Stop me,” he said as he kissed her silken hair and cupped her cheeks to lift her face to his. “At any point in time, tell me this isn’t what you want, and I’ll walk away.”

  His words came out as more of a plea than a command, and she realized she had to stop him because he couldn’t do it himself. And no matter how far this progressed, he would stop the second she told him to.

  And if she didn’t stop this, she knew what it would mean. She’d be linked to this tormented man for the rest of their lives as only death would separate them. Being bound to Killean in such a way would be the most challenging thing she’d ever endure in her life. Was finally satisfying the needs of her body and learning what he could teach her worth that?

  Yes, she believed it was as she craved being bound to him. Maybe it was because she was a vampire seeking her mate, but she suspected it was because this man infuriated and stimulated her more than any other. She relished the excitement and uncertainty he brought to a life that was nothing but dull and certain before he walked into it.

  There was no love between them, but there was trust and growing mutual respect, which could bloom into love if they allowed it. And she didn’t doubt that though being bound to him would be difficult, it would be completely worth it. He was abrasive and ruthless, but he was also proud, strong, and a man deserving of love and goodness in his life, even if he didn’t see that yet.

  Think, Simone. This can’t be undone.

  But she’d been thinking her whole life. It was all she’d been raised to do. For once in her life, she wanted only to feel and experience things, and no one could make her feel as much, or as profoundly, as Killean.

  Though his thighs straddled hers, Simone pulled herself up a little higher to press her lips against his. This kiss was the most irrational, condemning thing she’d ever done in her life, and she found herself smiling as she clasped the back of his head to draw him closer.

  He was hers, and he would be forever. No matter what the rocky road ahead of them entailed, and it would be rocky, she would traverse it with him.

  A pang of trepidation went through her over what was to come, but excitement took over when he pushed her down onto the bed. Propping himself up with one hand, Killean leaned over her until his skin was sliding against hers in the most erotic of ways. Simone squirmed beneath him when his other hand ran over her hip before dipping between her legs.

  She instinctively rose to meet his touch when he stroked her sex, and Killean growled against her mouth when he discovered how wet she was for him. My mate. The words played on a loop in his head while the recently released Savage part of him thundered through his veins.

  That more volatile part of him wanted to take her right now and seal the bond before she could change her mind. He fought the growing impulse as he slid a finger into her sheath and nipped at her lip when her muscles gripped him.

  No matter what the worst of him clamored for, he had to make it as easy as possible for her when he took her. There would be no way for her to entirely avoid the pain, but he wouldn’t inflict any unnecessarily on her to satisfy his carnal urges and the demon within him.

  Simone gasped when he slid another finger into her, stretching her further. The sensation wasn’t unpleasant, and she found herself rocking against his hand as she rapidly approached the release he’d given her before. Breaking the kiss, Simone turned her head to the side, and her body arched as she splintered apart. Her fingers dug into his back as she cried out in ecstasy.

  Killean watched the bliss playing over her features as her muscles contracted around his fingers. Slowly, he removed them from her and, grasping his dick, guided it to her entrance. It throbbed in his hand, and if he weren’t careful, he’d spill the second he settled inside her.

  Panting for breath, Simone gradually came back to her body when she felt something hard prodding against her once more. Her haze of euphoria slid away as she met Killean’s vibrant red eyes. With his jaw set, his scar was more visible as his skin pulled taut over his cheekbones. She sensed the savagery within him as he held himself above her, but instead of being afraid of it, she rested her hand against his cheek and spread her legs wider.

  When the tight muscles of her sheath enveloped the head of his cock, Killean couldn’t stop himself from surging forward. Simone yelped when he buried himself inside her, and her fingers clawed his back. Some of the madness clamoring at his veins eased as he gathered her in his arms.

  “I’m sorry,” he murmured as he kissed her ear. “Give it a little bit, and the pain will fade. Do you want me to stop?”

  As much as it hurt, the last thing she wanted was for this to end. Maybe it wasn’t as pleasant as it had been before, but she relished the feel of his arms around her. “No.”

  Simone buried her face in the hollow of his throat while she tried to adjust to the feel of him inside her. Compared to what Joseph had done to her, this pain was nothing, but she’d still been thrown off by it after such enjoyment. Then Killean withdrew partially from her before slipping back in. Simone wanted to pull away at the same time she found herself melting further into him.

  Killean somehow managed to restrain himself from thrusting into her until he found his release. It had been so long since he’d been with a woman that he felt like an untried youth. Except those women had meant nothing to him, and now he held his mate in his arms. His excitement and his rising need to complete the bond was making it difficult to maintain his control.

  When her legs slid around his waist, and her fangs scraped his flesh, he pulled her hair back to expose the creamy expanse of her throat. He sank his fangs into her, and her blood filled him while he filled her. Her lips skimmed back, and Killean nearly came when her fangs pierced his flesh.

  Joined, her thoughts coalesced with his as the mating bond encompassed them. There would be no escape from this, but he didn’t want to escape.

  Overwhelmed by the beauty of the moment and everything happening between them, tears slid down her face as she gave herself over to the emotions Killean emitted. His hunger, desperation, and brutality battered her, but so did his awe over what was transpiring between them. She hadn’t realized how far into the darkness he’d slipped, or how much he needed death, and her.

  She vowed to do whatever it took to get him through this battle he waged. Her hands slid into his hair, and she cradled him as he thrust forward and shuddered against her. Deep inside her, she felt the pulsations of his release binding her further to him.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Killean caressed Simone’s back as she lay against his chest. Her hair, spread out like a fan around them, tickled his skin as she slept soundly. Her breasts against his flesh were a temptation he gritted his teeth against succumbing to. After their first time, when he’d been unable to stop himself from finding his release inside her before she orgasmed, he’d waited a bit before taking her again and making sure she came before him.

  Turning his head, he gazed at the light filtering around the edge of the drapes. It would still be some time before the sunset, but he would have to feed soon. Simone’s blood and the mate bond helped calm his incessant need for death, but he’d unleashed the demon when he started killing humans, and it wouldn’t be completely caged again.

  Before, the idea of spending the rest of his life battling the beast would have been daunting, but with Simone at his side, it didn’t seem like such an impossible task. It was one he could and would conquer.

  Simone whimpered and nestled closer. Her fingers twitched on his chest before she settled down again. When she woke, would she regret what they’d done?

  The demon within him reared its ugly head at the possibility, but nothing could undo what was done. He was a bastard for taking her and completing the bond, but he’d give her the best life he could. He would keep her safe, and he wouldn’t let the worst of himself taint her.

  Simone stirred again as boots sounded on the walkway outside. Killean’s fangs lengthened, but the boots passed by and went to
the room next door. He heard a knock before a murmur of voices.

  “Killean?” Simone whispered.

  “Hmm?” he asked as he turned his attention back to her.

  “Are we going to get out of this?”

  “I will get you to safety,” he vowed.

  “And then what will we do?”

  “I have no idea,” he admitted. “I don’t think Ronan will take me back, and I don’t blame him if he doesn’t. I’m a killer; he shouldn’t trust me.” I don’t trust me.

  “I trust you,” Simone said.

  He smiled as he kissed the top of her head. “That’s because you might be crazier than me.”

  Simone chuckled. “Not likely.”

  “I own some properties we can retreat to if it becomes necessary, but I don’t want to back away from the war with the Savages.”

  Simone had known she was binding herself to a warrior when she gave herself to him, but she hated the idea of him out there, fighting Savages while he teetered on the edge of becoming one.

  “Can you handle fighting that war?” she asked.

  Killean wanted to assure her he could handle anything, but she’d fed from him, they were bound to each other, and she would learn the truth if he tried to keep it from her. Besides, he couldn’t bring himself to lie to his mate. “I’m not sure, but I have to try.”

  “I can’t lose you.”

  “You won’t,” he vowed. “If it becomes too much for me, I will back away, but you will never lose me, Simone.”

  Despite the reassurance of his promise, dread churned in her belly. “Things have changed so much in the past couple of weeks. I never expected my life to take this direction.”

  “Do you regret what happened between us?” he asked and braced himself for her answer.

  “No! I don’t even regret being captured and changed. I’m freer now than I’ve ever been.”

  “Yet you just sealed your life to mine.”

  “And I’m still freer,” she said. “I was so good at being perfect. I was the best student, the best seamstress, the best cook, and the best future wife there ever was amongst the hunters. I was so obsessed with being this perfect automaton that I never stopped to question if any of it was what I wanted for my life.”

  “And was it?”

  “No. Marriage to Nathan, or any other hunter, was a duty I would have carried out to the best of my ability, and I never would have stopped to think about me.”

  “So, what do you want for your life?”

  “Now, once we’re free of this mess, I want to explore our future together. I want to learn to protect myself and help you against the Savages. I want to avenge my friends and the hunters Joseph has destroyed. I will help put a stop to the evil Joseph is trying to spread through the world.”

  Killean gritted his teeth at the terrifying thought of his mate fighting Savages, but she’d been denied so much in her life that he didn’t have the heart to deny her this too. “Fighting a Savage takes a lot of training,” he said.

  “It’s a good thing I’m immortal and have a lot of time then. I am going to learn to fight, Killean.”

  “Yes, you are,” he agreed. He hated the idea of Simone battling a Savage, but she would learn how to defend herself better. “But it could be years before you’re good enough at it to take on a Savage.”

  “Then it’s a good thing I have plenty of time.”

  “And some vampires never become capable of doing such a thing; they just don’t have the talent.”

  “I’ll be good at it,” she stated. “I’m a fast learner, and I’m good at everything I’m determined to learn because I never give up, and I practice until I’m close to perfect at it.”

  He did not doubt that.

  “I won’t be the dutiful wife or mate,” she said. “I don’t have to cook for you, but I’m not sewing for you either.”

  The definitive way she said it made Killean smile. “I won’t ask you to.”

  “I want more from my life than being your mate and the mother of your children. Though I’m looking forward to both those things; I want to find something for me too.”

  Killean’s hand stilled on her back. He’d spilled in her twice. Their child could be forming inside her now, but while the possibility excited him, it also terrified him. What kind of father could he be while walking the thin line between monster and man? He’d have to make sure he didn’t come inside her again until they were free of Joseph and not until Killean knew what he would become.

  “And what do you want for you?” he asked.

  She lifted her head to smile at him. “I don’t know. I haven’t found it yet, and the unknowing is so freeing.”

  She was about to lean down and kiss him when a loud bang from the room next door yanked her back. Killean sat upright and tossed the sheet aside before rising to his feet in a move so fluid she barely saw it.

  A muscle throbbed to life in his jaw when he strode toward the wall separating their room from the one next door. Another loud bang sounded, and the landscape picture on the wall beside the door rattled.

  Killean caught the coppery tang of blood on the air before the door separating the two rooms burst apart in a shower of wood splinters. Killean blocked one of the shards from burying itself in his eye as a burly man tumbled into the room.

  Fisting his hands together, Killean lifted them and hammered them onto the man’s back before the man crashed into him. Air exploded out of the man’s lungs in a loud grunt before he crumpled to the ground. Putting his hands beneath him, the human tried to rise, but Killean planted his foot on the man’s spine and pushed him down before turning his attention to the other room.

  A human with a blackening eye poked her head around the shattered remains of the door. The woman’s lower lip trembled when she gazed at the man before her eyes slid to Killean.

  Rage blistered through Simone at the lascivious look in the woman’s gaze when it raked over Killean’s nude form and the woman smiled. Keeping the sheet clasped against her chest, Simone glowered at the woman as she rose from the bed. Killean’s head turned toward her, and his eyes flared red.

  “Get dressed,” he commanded.

  “You get dressed!” Simone retorted as the woman’s attention remained on him.

  “I can’t let this guy up. Get dressed, Simone.”

  “I’m not leaving you alone with her!”

  Her jealous and defiant nature would have amused Killean if he didn’t sense something wrong with this situation. “I’ll be fine,” he said. “Go on.”

  Simone turned her scowl from him to the woman and back again.

  Simone go, he sent the thought into her mind. Hurry.

  The urgency she sensed in his words pushed aside her anger; she hated leaving him out here with her, but something wasn’t right. Simone gathered the sheet closer against her, grabbed the bags of clothes, and stalked into the bathroom.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “What’s going on here?” Killean asked the woman. The man tried to rise again, but Killean kept him down.

  “It was just a little fight,” the woman said.

  “The bitch cheated on me!” the man spat. “Her lover just came to the door.”

  The hair on Killean’s nape rose as he recalled the boots clunking down the walk earlier. “And just where is this lover?” he inquired.

  “Gone,” the man said. “I scared him off!”

  Why hadn’t he heard that part of this argument? Killean wondered as he tried to see past the woman and into the room, but all he saw was a piece of a bureau. He scented the air, but he didn’t detect the rot of a Savage on it. However, his instincts were screaming at him that something was wrong here, and he never ignored his instincts.

  The woman’s eyes narrowed on the man, and stepping into the doorway, she planted her hands on her hips. “Oh, and you aren’t banging that waitress from Tilly’s?” she demanded.

  “I’m a man; I’ve got needs.”

  “And I’ve got needs too, o
nes you aren’t fulfilling!”

  “Slut!”

  “Two pump chump!”

  The man jerked beneath him again; this time Killean almost let him go. He didn’t care if they killed each other, but he couldn’t shake a sense of wrongness here, and he might need them.

  He glanced at where his jeans lay in a heap on the floor. He didn’t care who saw him nude, but running around naked wouldn’t keep him off the radar of Joseph’s followers. The door to the bathroom opened, and Simone stepped out in a pair of jeans and a gray T-shirt.

  “Can you get me my jeans?” he asked her.

  “Gladly.” She hurried over and snatched them off the floor before handing them to him.

  When Killean lifted his foot off the man, he went to rise, but Killean shoved him down again. “I’d stay down if I were you,” Killean warned. “I’m not in the mood, and if you don’t kill each other, I’ll gladly kill you both.”

  The woman chuckled, but a sliver of dread ran through Simone. Killean was dead serious. He lifted his foot and again the man tried to rise. When Killean shoved him down, his chin and nose bounced off the floor and blood spilled from the split skin of his chin.

  “Hey now! Don’t hurt him!” the woman cried, and the man grunted.

  The woman stepped further into their room as Killean tugged his jeans on and returned his foot to the man’s back.

  “Simone, come here,” he said and extended his hand to her.

  She almost balked against the commanding tone of his voice, but the desperation in his eyes froze her. Killean was too wound up for her to fight him on this; he might completely unravel if she did. When she clasped his hand, he pulled her against his side before releasing her.

  “You,” he said to the woman. “Come here.”

  Killean sent his power out to trap the woman’s mind but her eyes didn’t glaze over and she remained defiant.

  “I’m not listening to you!” she retorted.

  “Shit,” he muttered as he looked from Simone to the man at his feet to the sunlight filtering around the edges of the curtain.