by E A Price
He didn’t even complain when she doused herself in a whole bottle of perfume to hide his scent on her. Or at least, he didn’t complain out loud. Inside, his damn beast wouldn’t shut the hell up, but the tiger missed the most important aspect of what she was doing – how much he would enjoy re-infecting her with his scent.
The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and he halted. Ryder pounced, grabbing someone lurking in the shadows. Ryder was mildly surprised to find the vampire from the club he had visited with Juliet languishing in his paws – the one who had been wearing a turtleneck and a scowl. Wearing another turtleneck. Vampires could be woefully lacking in up to date styles sometimes.
“What the…”
Turtleneck smacked him – hard and ran away. Ryder stumbled and fell into the trash. Bastard really took the wind out of him. This vampire was stronger than he had ever encountered. He’d met a few before, but this one was something else. He must be pretty damn old.
“Ryder!”
Juliet rushed to him just as he was peeling himself away from a half-eaten egg sandwich. Yeah, just what he wanted – for his lady to see him bruised and covered in garbage.
Juliet pulled him to his feet. Worry etched even more deeply into her face.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” he grumbled brushing his clothes.
“Are you sure you were not injured?”
“I’m fine,” he reiterated with a little more edge than he meant.
His body was fine, or at least he would heal within a couple of hours, but he didn’t like for his mate to see him as weak. Part of him believed she didn’t think they could be together because he couldn’t actually protect them from the consequences of them being together in the first place. He didn’t want her to know he’d been smacked down so easily at the first hurdle.
Get it together warned his beast.
Ryder took a deep breath and adopted a pained look. “You’re right; I’m super injured – right here. You’re going to have to kiss me better.” Naturally, he was pointing to his crotch. Easiest way to show her he was okay – annoy the hell out of her.
Yep, there was what he believed to be the special look of irritation she reserved for him on her heart-shaped face. “I believe you,” she said in a flat voice, “you are clearly okay, but what happened?”
He rubbed his chin, trying not to flinch too much. It wasn’t broken, but he swore his jaw was a little loose now.
“Caught some guy lurking in the alley. Thought he was following me. Grabbed him, he clocked me and ran.”
“Oh? Who was it?”
“Some vampire.” He didn’t bother to mention they had both seen him before. No need to worry her too much.
Juliet nibbled on her bottom lip. “I wonder why.”
“He might not have been following me – he could have just been hanging around the alley, smoking or jacking off or who knows? I might have imagined him following me - I am pretty crazy after all.”
“While that is true, why would he attack you and run away?”
“Probably because I put my hands on him. Vampires don’t exactly do well with confrontation. I once had a vampire challenge me to a duel because I gave him a funny look.”
“Just a funny look?”
“That and I stole his car and accidentally drove it into a lake.” Not his fault. His girlfriend at the time was doing some sinfully distracting things to him that he had half a mind to suggest to Juliet.
“Charming. Why a duel?”
“Duels were all the rage when he was alive. We used pistols, stood back to back, walked ten paces and shot at each other – the whole ten yards.”
Juliet's lips twitched; she was trying not to laugh. “Did you win?”
“Not at all, he shot me. Those old-timey pistols are harder to work than they look. Vamp was pretty cool after that, though.”
“You’re changing the subject to distract me.”
“Yep. My first instinct was to strip and have you swoon at my perfect naked bod, but we don’t have time for you to ravish me in the alley right now.”
Her exasperated look took over. “You’re so thoughtful.”
“You know it, sweet thing.”
He attempted to pull her into his arms, and she resisted, shying away. His beast growled. He thought they were behind this, thought she was finally warming to his touch, even craving him.
“Don’t look so cross,” she chided, “you just smell like… well, like garbage.” Her small nose wrinkled.
His tiger chuckled, and so did he. “Yeah, I guess I do. I better take a shower and…”
“Let me guess,” she interrupted in a cynical, dry voice, “you’ll need someone to scrub your back?”
“See? We are so in sync.”
His nose tickled as he fought past the usual alley smells – garbage, urine, vermin – and noticed that Juliet’s scent was off.
In spite of her reticence, and grumbles that he smelled worse than old socks that had been marinated in garlic and onions, he managed a deep inhale of her neck. Male vampire. His tiger howled, and his muscles rippled as he tried to push the shift.
“Who do you smell like?” he demanded.
Juliet looked away slightly sheepishly. “Erik Andersson.”
“Who’s Erik Andersson?”
“An ex.”
“Ex-boyfriend?”
“No, an exterminator – of course, an ex-boyfriend. He’s a vampire, a little younger than me. He works as the assistant to one of the elders I met with.”
“Humph. Don’t like him,” he complained a tad petulantly.
Juliet shrugged. “He’s a reasonably decent male.”
“Wow, can’t believe I don’t like such a reasonably decent male. How long did you date?”
She sighed at the questions, but at least she answered them. “About three years.”
His beast huffed – loudly.
“Yes, it didn’t last long,” she added.
“You kidding? My longest lasted six months, and for the last two we were barely speaking – if we had been speaking, it would have only been four months.”
Juliet’s brow creased ever so slightly. “I see.”
“How long was your longest?”
Her lips curled down. “I was with my Master for over fifty.”
He let out a whistle. “Fuck, that’s a long time.”
“Too long,” she muttered. “Are we going to stand in this alley gossiping like schoolgirls all night?” Juliet pointedly looked up and down the alley, her pretty mouth making a moue of discontent as she noticed the dead rat.
“No, let’s go.”
He tried to slip his arm around her but she wasn’t keen, so he settled for holding her hand.
“How’d your meeting go?”
“Better than expected. I just repeated what I told Julien. They accepted it, but they weren’t happy. But then, they’re more than a thousand years old; nothing makes them happy anymore.”
He grunted and walked a little quicker. Good. The whole mess over Carrie’s death was done with. They could move on with their lives and forget all about the elders and the other vampires.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Juliet called into work again. She wasn’t going in. Again. She was feeling a little guilty about neglecting her duties, but really, hadn’t she deserved her time with Ryder? No matter how short lived it had to be.
Emily had been particularly irritated and bombarded her with numerous questions about what she was doing instead - all of which Juliet refused to answer. Juliet was getting a little fed up with her. A good assistant was one thing, but Emily was starting to get a little too zealous over Juliet’s private life.
Juliet and Ryder were lying in bed, enjoying the afterglow of their lovemaking. Her heart was practically trying to hammer its way out of her chest as he gently stroked her breasts. Two fresh teeth marks adorned his neck, a tiny bead of blood trickling out of one of them.
“How long has it been since y
ou went home?” she asked, curious about where he grew up. It was hard to think of him as a little boy. Hard to think of him as a little anything.
Ryder grunted, his fingers gliding over her skin. “Haven’t been back since I left.”
“What of your family?”
“We were never close.”
“Do you see any of your siblings?”
“Saw my youngest sister at a grocery store a few years back. Just by chance. She hugged me, cried a little, said she missed me and never wanted to see me again.”
“Oh, my.”
“Eh. She had a new life, didn’t want any reminders of her old one. Had like six little monsters running around her feet, tripping her up.”
Juliet looked down at her pale fingers pressed against his chest. “Don’t you want that?”
“A new life?”
“Monsters running around, tripping you up?”
“Never thought about it,” he admitted honestly.
“But you might start thinking about it one day.”
“I don’t dwell on things I can’t change.”
Juliet twisted her neck to look him in the eye. “Really? I keep telling you we can’t mate, and there’s nothing you can do about it, but you don’t believe me.”
“Not the same thing,” he grumbled.
“Were you born this argumentative, or…”
He cut her off with a kiss, but she didn’t complain. Why start complaining now? He pulled back and let out a growl – a distinctive growl that she had come to know very well over the past week. She now knew he had a number of different growls, an angry growl, a hungry growl, a derisive growl and many others. This was a lusty growl. It meant he wanted her, right that second no matter what.
Juliet giggled. Well, she wasn’t about to say no!
Ryder grabbed Juliet’s wrists, pulling her to sit up. He grabbed her hips, pulling her roughly into his lap. She groaned as he rubbed his hard length up and down her wet slit. Eagerly, she shifted her hips forward, and he let out a fiery snarl as she forced herself down his length.
Juliet moaned and could barely contain herself as she quivered on him. He was so gloriously big, so perfectly right for her. Her hands clasped at his warm chest as she rocked against him, lifting herself up and down, dragging herself up his delicious thickness and plunging down again. With every downward movement, he bucked his hips making her squeal in ecstasy. His hands spanned her small waist, and his mouth found her breasts, lavishing them with attention as she rode him with abandon.
With every bounce and flutter of her sex around his, he growled around her flesh. Juliet moaned with the effort and pleasure she found with him. It wasn’t long before she was working harder and faster to bring herself to completion, and he let her. Let her do and take what was needed to get her there. In five hundred years she’d never been with a lover so unselfish, so keen to ensure her needs were met before his.
With guilty glee, she found herself becoming the selfish one during their lovemaking, and she admitted as much to him over dinner. Or at least, while he was eating a pizza and she was licking her lips after draining a pint from him. Ryder just laughed, leered at her and then took her over the kitchen table, again making sure she repeatedly came before he did.
She could almost believe he really did care about her, that they really were meant for one another. But it was just sex, even if it felt like more at the moment.
Juliet was almost there, tingles spiraled in her sex, and she hugged and clutched at his invading member more and more. Her pleasure curled, and curled inside her, twisting, turning and shaking to be released.
It didn’t take much. His teeth tweaked her nipple, and she reached her peak.
“Ryder!” she cried as her body erupted.
Her body quaked, and for a moment she felt free. It was bliss to feel so unencumbered by any of the worries of everyday life. Right then and there, nothing else mattered to her but being with him.
Juliet collapsed on his chest, and Ryder left a shiver of kisses over her shoulder. He hadn’t found his own release yet, he still twitched inside her, waiting patiently for his own end.
“You’re beautiful,” he breathed.
“So are you.”
Ryder’s laugh shook every part of her and made a certain part of her tremble, begging for more. He grunted and with very little effort tumbled her onto her back and started thrusting again, kindling a second climax.
His movements were more powerful, more demanding than before and he drove inside her with a violent passion. He caught her hands, twining their fingers and pressing them back into the mattress as their bodies collided.
Juliet was content to let him take her as he pleased. Her body was as soft as cotton at that moment, and she watched him through hooded eyes, moaning his name over and over.
She wanted to tell him how much she adored being with him; how he was more important to her than any male she ever met. But she held her tongue. Still half-convinced he would tire of her and leave soon. Even if she knew that he was it for her. He may find a mate, bond and have cubs, but she had already decided that she didn’t want another lover after him. Nobody could ever compare.
Juliet whimpered as her second orgasm washed over her, curling her toes and exhausting her in the most delicious way.
She thought she saw a flicker of relief in Ryder’s eyes, just before he bellowed and poured his own release inside her. He had been waiting for her. He refused to finish before she did. He really was unlike any male she ever met.
Through her blissful haze, she noticed Ryder over her, fangs drawn, ready to sink to her neck. As they touched her skin, she froze.
He was going to bite her! He was trying to bond with her!
With a wrench, Juliet screamed and threw him off her body, tossing him across the room.
“Are you insane?” she yelled.
Ryder shook his head as he rolled to his feet. He looked like he was coming out of some kind of fog.
Juliet ran into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. She scrambled to look in the mirror, rubbing her neck. It was fine, he barely touched her, but that had been close.
How could he have been so stupid? Her chest heaved as she desperately gasped for air.
Stop it! She snarled at herself. You’re not human; you don’t need to breathe – stop trying to pretend you are. Even worse, when she forced herself to stop, she felt pain and had to start again.
Good lord. First her heart, now breathing. What on earth was happening to her?
“Juliet?”
There was a faint tapping on the door.
“Go away!”
“Juliet, I’m sorry.”
“Yes, you should be. Go away. Leave me alone!” She wished she could hide the emotion from her voice, but it was too much.
She expected something. Some more pleading, some angry demands to be let in. Some door breaking. Nothing came, and it was a relief.
How could he have been so thoughtless? She told him the risks. He knew them as well as her. So why did it take her so long to stop him? Why was stopping him so difficult, to begin with?
Over the years she’d heard the terrible tale of Master’s brother, Alexsander and his wolf shifter, Rose, and knew of a few attempted vampire-shifter couplings that ended in tragedy, but actually, the truth was starting to seem ridiculous.
She knew the official line – they were magical beings, and their magic is incompatible, yadda, yadda, yadda – but wasn’t it all rather… far fetched?
Yes, in a world filled with undead creatures that sucked blood, people who turned into animals and others who rose from the grave and had their own bowling leagues – zombies seemed to enjoy bowling for some reason – little seemed outlandish. But she had to admit to a few doubts about the supposed history of her people, particularly in the face of Ryder’s adamant declarations that they were mates. But was she really willing to risk her own life and the lives of countless other vampires?
Her stomach roiled. Stomac
h cramps! What the hell was wrong with her?
Chapter Twenty-Six
One week later
“Why are you following me?”
The vampire actually jumped – as much as any vampire could be startled. His eyes widened marginally, and he faltered ever so slightly in his step as Ryder appeared from behind the dumpster.
Grrr. It was turtleneck again. There was no way it was a coincidence. Turtleneck was definitely following him. There was no way he would keep turning up at the random places Ryder had been – Kalinda’s magic shop, the library, and the several locations he ended up at while trying to find the library.
Turtleneck wasn’t overly stealthy. He could slink and be quiet like any vampire, but he was hardly practiced at hiding himself, and frankly, wearing turtlenecks screamed that he was up to no good.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” sniffed the vampire.
Turtleneck tried to step past him, and Ryder squared his shoulders. “The hell you don’t. Got a crush on me, princess?”
The vampire curled his upper lip, and a little of his wariness ebbed. “Not even if I was starving.”
“No, you prefer female lions.”
Anger flared in the male’s eyes. “Out of my way.”
Ryder smiled coldly and stepped aside. “Sure thing, buddy. See you around.”
The vampire glided past him.
“I know you’ll see me.”
The male snorted but didn’t stop.
Asswipe growled the tiger. Should have grabbed him and shaken him until he gave up the reason he was there. Nah, the guy would probably put up a hell of a fight, and he still wouldn’t get any answers. The vampire wasn’t trying to kill or kidnap him – if that were what he wanted he would have already done it. He was a low threat at that moment. Besides, Ryder had more important things to worry about.
Namely, a mate who refused to talk to him. Now that was okay for the first day – he was willing to give her some space – but it had been a week, and he was getting sick of it. Okay, so he was still sneaking into her house while she slept so he could watch her… watch over her and keep her safe. Plus, he was tailing her to work. He was around her all the time, but all the progress he had made was completely kaput.