Nicu (The Dark Shadows Book 5)

by Ariel Marie

  “Holy shit! Nicu!” Teague shouted into the phone. Nicu could hear him gaining the attention of someone in the background. “Where the fuck are you?”

  “Fucking Kentucky,” he announced. “It’s taken you fuckers too long to come get me.”

  “Kentucky? I’m tracing you now—” he was cut off.

  “Nicu?” Toma’s deep voice came through this time.

  “Toma. Lock on to my location and bring every Shadow and warrior for the vampire nation. I have the location of Sodan.”

  “You don’t have to say it. Teague has your location and he’s putting out calls now.”

  “Adrian and Angel?” Nicu hesitated on asking what he really wanted to find out. He had prayed for his brother and his mate.

  “They’re okay. Angel made it and is doing fine.”

  Nicu let loose a breath, thankful that his brother would be okay. “How soon can you get here?”

  “Give us a few hours,” Toma said. “Just stay out of trouble until we can rescue your ass.”

  “Took you long enough,” Nicu snorted. “A fucking human female helped me escape.”

  “A human?” Toma questioned.

  “That human group, the Rebels, were here.”

  “You’ve got to be shitting me,” Toma cursed. “Stay out of sight and away from everyone, including the Rebels.”

  “She’s still with me,” Nicu admitted with a deep sigh. He ran a hand through his hair as he realized he didn’t really know what to do with Samara. He was met with silence on the other end. “Hello?”

  “Yeah, I’m still here,” Toma answered in disbelief. “Is she—”

  “No,” Nicu growled into the phone, cutting his brother off. He knew exactly what Toma was about to ask. “Get your asses down here. It’s time to end this war—for good.”

  He wouldn’t even think of it. Now was not the time to think of taking a mate. He would get Samara to safety, then they would go their separate ways.

  Chapter Nine

  Samara

  Samara held in her breath at the sound of the door opening to their room. She paused as she stood in the bathroom in nothing but her towel, and put her ear to the door. Sure footsteps walked into the room, stopping right outside the bathroom door.

  “Human.” She jumped at the sound of Nicu’s voice.

  “Vampire,” she responded back. Two could play that game. She ensured that the towel was tucked tightly before she opened the door and found him staring down at her through the small opening.

  “Here are some clothes,” he said, thrusting them through the door.

  “Hey,” she exclaimed as the door knocked her back a few steps. “Hello! I’m naked underneath this towel.”

  He paused with his hand stretched out, holding the clothes, and she would have sworn his eyes darkened at the mention of her being naked.

  “You don’t have anything I haven’t seen before,” he announced.

  “Well, you haven’t seen me before so have some decency!” she declared, her fist gripping the towel tighter. “Didn’t your mother teach you manners?” She snatched the clothes and slammed the door shut, then promptly flicked the lock.

  Did vampires have mothers?

  “I got you clean clothes, didn’t I?” Nicu’s voice floated away from the door. “I could have left you in the dirty ones.”

  He had a point. She looked down at the filthy clothes on the floor and sighed. The jeans and long sleeve T-shirt would do. There were no clean undies, but she refused to put on the now dried, mud-caked panties that she had taken off. Looked like she would be going commando until she got home.

  Home.

  Without Stefan.

  How could he be dead if Maya and the other Rebels had just seen him with the versi?

  She needed answers.

  She threw the clothes on and found them to be close to her size. The jeans were a little snug in the hips and ass section, while the shirt gripped her boobs a little too tight. She grabbed her pack from the floor and found a utility knife.

  Samara sliced the neck to create a V to give her girls a little breathing room. Satisfied that she looked half decent, she quickly braided her long dark hair into two french braids to allow her hair to air dry.

  Minutes later, she emerged from the bathroom, feeling slightly human again. Samara knew she couldn’t hide out in the bathroom forever, and sooner or later, she would have to face the vampire.

  The room was pitch dark, with only the moonlight trickling in through the blinds.

  “My brothers should be here in a few hours. You should try to get some sleep.” Nicu motioned to the bed from his position in the chair. He had pushed the chair from the desk over to the corner and sat with his legs spread out in front of him.

  “I need answers,” she said, not arguing about a nap. Samara crawled on top of the bed. “How do you know that Stefan is dead?”

  Nicu released a sigh, and she watched, fascinated, as he ran a hand through his hair. He sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees before he began speaking.

  “I’m not sure how much the Rebels told you, but I can assure you that they don’t know as much as they think they do. Necromancers are powerful beings that feed off of a living being’s energy…” he began, then paused.

  “And you think that’s what happened to Stefan?” she whispered, tears blinding her.

  “I think that if your brother was seen with a necromancer or versi, he himself is now a versi. Versi are the necromancer’s puppets. A necromancer will drain their victim of all their energy, essentially killing them. By doing this, the necromancer can control the person’s body, like a puppet.”

  A sob broke through as the floodgates opened. Her body shook as she visualized her twin’s last moments. She knew that the emptiness in her chest was due to him no longer being alive. Her chest might as well have been cracked open and half of her heart slashed away.

  She was now alone in the cruel, hard world. She didn’t want to believe that Stefan would leave her, and never would she have imagined that he would be taken from her in this manner. They were supposed to grow old together and take the world on by storm.

  Despair filled her as she thought of going through life without her twin. The sobs came harder. They were everything to each other; two puzzle pieces that fit perfectly together. He was the ying, she was the yang.

  A set of muscular arms scooped her up and lifted her as if she weighed nothing. She was settled against a hard chest while she cried her heart out. Here she was, with a vampire, who didn’t owe her anything. This hardened warrior, who had yet cracked a smile for her, was sitting in a rundown motel in the middle of nowhere, offering her comfort.

  Samara shifted her head and found it stuck in the crook of a very masculine arm. The smell of a popular soap drifted into her nostrils.

  What the hell?

  She tried to move her arm, and the memories flooded her. Asking Nicu questions, figuring out what had happened to Stefan, then the waterworks show.

  How embarrassing.

  Samara closed her eyes briefly, appalled at her breakdown. Stefan wouldn’t want her blubbering away like a baby at his death. He would tell her to get her crap together, pull up her big girl panties and be strong.

  She needed to move. Her body pressed up against Nicu’s muscular chest wall was awakening her desire for him. She thought she had that under control. Whatever it was that passed between them in the woods must have been a figment of her imagination.

  When was the last time she was just held? It felt good for once, to just pretend that she had someone who would hold her, protect her, and fight her battles with her. But this was not real. No matter how good her head felt resting against Nicu’s broad chest, or how good it felt to have his arm tucking her into him, she would have to face reality.

  This was a pity hold, and it wasn’t real. What else was the poor man to do when there’s a sobbing female losing her shit over the death of her brother, her last living family member? Even though he was
a hardened warrior, somewhere deep down, he must have a heart.

  According to him, his brothers would be here to rescue them, and she would probably never see him again. She glanced up, and even in the darkness, she could see the outline of his face, thanks to the faint light floating in through the blinds.

  His thick, dark hair was short, but long enough that her fingers craved to run through it to test its thickness. Long eyelashes—ones that any woman would pay big money for—covered his piercing blue eyes. Her eyes drifted down to his lips and she sighed. Such a kissable mouth. He had a mouth that she wanted on hers, and countless other places on her body.

  Should she?

  She wondered what he would do if she stole a kiss. She knew he had fangs, and she was curious if they were present at all times, or did they hide in the gums and descend when he needed to feed? Samara had watched enough vampire movies to know the basics of what she thought had been a myth. Would he want to bite her? Would she let him?

  She had already lost everything that meant something to her in this world. Once she got home, she would probably cry and scream at first, but would then rebuild her life. What was one stolen moment that would probably hold her over for a day, a month, a year, or even a lifetime?

  Fuck it.

  She threw caution to the wind and did what she had fantasized of doing since earlier that day.

  She kissed him.

  Chapter Ten

  Nicu

  Nicu counted down the hours until his brothers would show. He laid in the bed, holding the sobbing Samara until she cried herself to sleep. But now, he suspected that she was awake. He kept his eyes closed, only pretending to be asleep while she fidgeted in the bed. He may be a hardened warrior, commander of the Dark Shadows, but his mother and sister would have his head for not offering any comfort to a female who had just learned that she’d lost her last living family member.

  Her twin, no less.

  It didn’t take a psychic to know that her brain was running a mile a minute. So he waited. He figured she would get up from the bed, since the original deal was for him to take the chair while she took the bed.

  Her next move left him speechless. Never had he thought he would feel such soft lips cover his. Supple lips attempting to coax a response from him.

  He froze.

  He couldn’t engage in sexual relations with her. The minute his brothers arrived, they would rain down hell on the necromancers. But, right now, his cold heart was slowly cracking by a little sliver of a human female.

  A growl escaped from him as he took control of the kiss. He took advantage of her gasp, needing to have a taste of her. Her small tongue met his, inviting him in. He closed his eyes tight, needing to be closer to her.

  He gripped Samara’s face in his large hands and followed her as she rolled onto her back. He quickly settled in-between her legs, breaking the kiss only to trail kisses along her jawline, down to her neck. As tempting as it would be to pierce her flesh with his fangs, he resisted.

  It had been years since he’d laid with a human, and had to remember he couldn’t let go. Humans were delicate, and could be broken. He pulled back and stared down into Samara’s dark eyes.

  “Samara, we can’t do this,” he said gently.

  “Please,” she begged, gripping the back of his head and bringing it down to hers. “Just one night. I need this. I’ve lost so much.”

  He stared down at her, lost in her desperate gaze. He was more powerful than this small human, but somehow, she was able to overpower him. Her soft lips brushed his softly.

  His control snapped.

  His cock was hot and hard for her, entrapped by the jeans he had taken from the motel’s lost and found.

  This time, he kissed her. It was hot and hard as he dipped his tongue inside of her hot mouth, controlling every part of the kiss.

  “Clothes off,” he demanded. Sitting back, he pulled her shirt over her head, revealing her large, naked breasts. She quickly kicked her jeans off.

  His fangs threatened to descend at the sight of her naked body lying prone on the bed. He stood and discarded his shirt, then slowly unfastened his jeans.

  The moonlight streaming in-between the blinds provided enough light for him to see her caramel skin. Her full breasts stood up at attention, showcasing her dark areolas. He ached to take her brown nipples into his mouth.

  He cursed as he pushed his jeans down and stepped out of them. He, too, had taken a shower and didn’t have clean underwear to put on so he opted to go commando. The borrowed clothes from the hotel’s lost and found would do.

  He let loose a deep growl as his eyes locked onto Samara, and her eyes were focused on his aching cock. She licked her lips, like she wanted to have a taste of him.

  As if reading his thoughts, she scooted to the edge of the bed, before sliding down to kneel in front of him.

  “Samara,” he murmured. He groaned as her small hands gripped his hardened length. “You don’t have to do this.” He released a deep breath as he stared down at her.

  Her eyes were wide and full with emotions, as they turned away from his cock to look up into his eyes.

  “Please,” she whispered again.

  “Shit. You do have a fuckable mouth,” he murmured, running a finger along her jawline. Who was he to stop a female who practically begged him to allow her to suck his cock?

  She wasn’t just anyone, a voice in the back of his mind said, but he ignored it.

  “Open your mouth,” he commanded.

  She hastily complied, gripping the base of his cock with her hand as he guided the swollen tip into her mouth.

  He held back a shout as she swallowed, bringing him further into her mouth. She pulled back and used her tongue to stroke his length. She paid special attention to the head, while leaving a wet trail along the underside of his cock. He was gentle as he guided her head back and forth, as he slowly fucked her eager mouth.

  His head fell back as she continued to work him with her delicious tongue. The slight vibration from her moans of pleasure caused him to grip her hair tighter. He pushed even further, needing her to take more of him.

  “Swallow me,” he instructed, and let loose a curse as she took the addition with no problem. The tip of his cock hit the back of her throat. She tightened her grip on the base of his cock as she followed instructions.

  He groaned as he looked down at her, finding her eyes closed with a look of pure pleasure etched on her face as his cock slid in and out of her mouth.

  His cock swelled even more. He gasped, increasing his thrusts, loving the feel of her small hand sliding along his shaft in sync with her mouth. The tingling sensation at the base of his balls increased. His legs trembled as she continued the pressure as she sucked the mushroom tip, while running her hand along his hard length.

  “Samara, I’m going to come.” He gripped her hair tighter. He needed to know he had her permission to release his load into her mouth.

  She opened her eyes and he saw the permission there. He shouted as he filled her mouth with his release. She didn’t release her grip on him as she swallowed everything he offered her. Her beautiful brown eyes gazed up at him, brimming with satisfaction.

  He wasn’t done with her.

  Not by a long shot.

  Chapter Eleven

  Samara

  Samara cried out as Nicu’s thick length slammed inside of her. His massive size stretched her walls further than they had ever been stretched before. No words could describe the sensation. She groaned as she shifted her hips, loving the feel of him inside her. Nicu pulled back from her and repeated the motion, eliciting a breathless gasp from her.

  Moving from the floor to the bed had been a complete blur for Samara. Nicu had her bent over the side of the bed, and slid into her in one strong motion, using his vampire speed.

  “Oh my God, yes,” she screamed as he wove his fingers in her hair, holding her in place. She couldn’t believe how deep his cock reached. It was just all too much. Sex for
her had never been this intense before. Her body shook from the pleasure that coursed through her.

  She would probably die from orgasm overload.

  She tried to scoot away, but his other arm shot out and gripped her at the base of her neck, while his chest pressed against her back.

  “Don’t run from me.” His growl in her ear caused her walls to clamp tighter around his cock as he thrust harder. “I would never hurt you,” he murmured. She could feel the scrape of his teeth along her neck. “Just feel me, my cock, as I thrust into your tight little pussy.”

  She could feel even more moisture where they were joined. Just the thought of his dirty words had her core pulsing. A fine sheen of sweat covered their bodies, allowing them to slide easily against each other as he continued to thrust inside of her tight channel.

  She knew that he spoke the truth. Deep down, she knew he wouldn’t hurt her. She relaxed into his hold, giving him complete control of her body. Nicu suddenly let her neck go. His hand slid down her body and probed her slick folds, seeking out her hidden nub. He rubbed her flesh, bringing her to the brink of orgasm.

  It had been a couple years since Samara’s last sexual encounter, and right now, Nicu was quickly destroying any and all memories of her past lovers. This was a sexual possession. Each area of her body that he touched became his.

  “Nicu,” she moaned as he pulled completely away from her.

  She instantly felt incomplete and wanted him back inside of her. He flipped her over onto her back. Her legs instantly spread wide as he guided his cock to her opening again. This time, he bent his head closer to her. She could see his dark crimson eyes as they locked on hers, and she knew that it wasn’t a trick of the light.

  He was not hiding from her what he was.

  A powerful vampire.