Gene began to twitch in Simon’s hold, telling Simon without words that he’d taken enough. Still, he drank. He drank until Gene’s body went limp and he became dead weight in Simon’s arms.
Simon retracted his fangs from the asshole’s throat. Power coursed through his veins as Gene’s blood rapidly renewed him.
He gripped Gene by the sides of the skull and ripped his head from his neck before tossing the offensive piece of garbage to the floor. Gene’s body dropped with a thunk.
Returning to the kitchen, Simon found Vlad standing in the same spot he’d been earlier.
“Roman has taken Sawyer and Madison back to the compound.”
Simon tore a paper towel free from a nearby roll and wiped his mouth clean. “Thank you for coming.”
Vlad dipped his head. “Tales of Svetlana’s notorious games have been brought before the elders time and time again. Yet, they did nothing. Since they are gone, it is my place to put a stop to her. Besides, Nita has demanded I take care of the situation before it becomes a problem to our…clan, if you will.”
“Your clan?”
Humor sparked in Vlad’s eyes. “It’s a bit of a challenge at times, but it has worked out far better than I’d ever imagined. The shifters guard our lands by day and the vampires by night.”
Simon could only stare back at Vlad with a blank look. Since the known existence of the first vampire, there had never been a shifter and vampire mating. Yet it didn’t seem so strange coming from Vlad.
Vlad pushed away from the counter. “Angelo and Shon will meet us back at Roman’s compound. They are out tracking Svetlana.”
Simon had to lock his teeth together to keep from snarling. “I can’t return to the compound while Svetlana is on the loose.”
“And what do expect to do if you find her? You’ll only end up back in her clutches once again.”
Knowing Vlad was right, Simon pinched the bridge of his nose. If he were being completely honest with himself, he’d rather face running into Svetlana than to face Madison when she awoke. “We need to torch this place.”
Vlad jerked his chin toward the basement. “Are you planning to burn the human alive?”
Simon thought about the giant of a man he’d left in the basement. He couldn’t leave him alive. Now that the guy was no longer under the influence of Svetlana he would be a liability. “We’ll take him back to the compound,” he found himself saying. “Roman can decide his fate.”
“You are growing soft in your old age.” Vlad pulled a lighter from the pocket of his black pants and moved to the window to set the curtain on fire.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Madison sat alone in her room, staring at the light spilling from the bathroom. She’d awoken the night before to her worst nightmare. Simon had turned her into one of them.
Sounds had become magnified, and her vision was like something out of a science fiction movie. She could see the dust motes swirling through the air from the darkest corner of her room.
Her throat felt parched, and she had never been as hungry as she was in that moment.
A soft knock sounded on the door, followed by Lydia’s hesitant voice. “May I come in?”
Lydia, bless her, had been there when Madison came to the night before, lending her strength and attempting to explain the changes that were taking place in Madison’s body. But nothing had helped. Not Lydia’s gentle touch nor her insistence that everything would be alright.
“Come.”
The door opened and Lydia stepped into the room. She moved slowly forward, coming to a stop next to Madison’s bed. “May I?”
Madison slid over to give her some room.
Lydia took a seat on the side of the mattress. “Are you ready to talk?”
“Not really,” Madison responded numbly, “but I doubt you’ll go away until I do.”
A soft smile appeared on Lydia’s pretty face. “You know me so well.”
Clearing her throat, Lydia continued. “I can only imagine how hungry you must be.”
Madison’s stomach clenched. She couldn’t remember ever being so hungry in all her life. But the thought of food sickened her.
“Your body wants blood,” Lydia informed her, speaking the words that Madison dreaded to hear. “The longer you wait, the more dangerous you’ll become.”
“Dangerous?”
A sadness entered Lydia’s sky-blue eyes. “Unfortunately, yes. At least until you’re able to control the thirst.”
Nausea rolled through Madison’s gut. She’d become the very thing she never wanted to be. A monster, a fiend depending on the blood of others to sustain her.
Lydia lowered her gaze as if reading Madison’s thoughts. “I know what you must think of us…”
“I’m sorry,” Madison rasped, pulling her knees up and hugging them against her chest. “I think Roman and you are two of the best people I know. It’s just that, I never wanted this for me. I wasn’t meant to be a vampire.”
Lydia raised her gaze. “Neither was I. And yet, here we are.”
Madison rested her chin on her knees. “Do you ever wish you could change things…go back to the way they were before?”
“No. I mean, don’t get me wrong. It was scary at first, but I couldn’t imagine being any other way now. And I would gladly die a thousand times over if that’s what it took to be able to spend an eternity with Roman and Jacie.”
Madison attempted a smile that wouldn’t come. “I’m happy for you, Lydia. But we’re different, you and me. And I’m not sure if I can do this.”
Lydia paled. “Please don’t say things like that. I know you’re afraid, but if you can just give it a little time, you’ll come to see that it’s not as bad as you’re imagining it to be.”
“I don’t know—”
“Please,” Lydia whispered, cutting off the rest of Madison’s sentence. “Promise me you won’t do anything rash.”
Madison stared into her friend’s worried eyes for long moments, unable to speak the words she knew Lydia wanted to hear. “Where is Simon?”
“He’s in the security hub with Roman. Shall I go get him for you?”
With a nod, Madison straightened her legs and pulled the covers up over her lap since someone had changed her into a nightgown.
Lydia reached over and gently squeezed Madison’s fingers. “I’ll send him right in.”
“I’m here,” Simon rumbled, stepping into the room the second Lydia got to her feet. “I was about to knock when I heard my name.”
Madison’s stomach fluttered at the sound of Simon’s voice. As much as she wanted to hate him for what he’d done to her, she couldn’t find it in her heart to do so.
She waited until Lydia left the room before speaking. “Svetlana?”
“Still at large.” He moved hesitantly toward the bed.
Fury, unlike anything she’d ever felt before, slid through Madison with the knowledge that Svetlana still lived. “If it’s the last thing I do, I will remove her beating heart from her rotted chest.”
“I’m sorry, Madison…for everything.”
Madison swallowed hard and looked away. “It’s not your fault. You tried everything to make me stay away.”
The bed dipped with Simon’s weight. “You have to feed. I know that’s not what you want to hear right now, but it doesn’t make it less of a reality.”
“I know.” She returned her gaze to his handsome face. “How’s Sawyer?”
A muscle ticked along Simon’s jaw. “He’s fine. In fact, he’s already out searching for Svetlana.”
Simon’s incredible scent surrounded Madison, coupled with the delicious smell of his blood. Her gaze lowered to his neck.
A faint growling sound came from deep in his throat. “Madison, I need you to listen to me.”
Madison didn’t want to listen. Something was happening inside her. A warmth began to spread through her, growing hotter by the second until it became scorching in its intensity.
The scent of Simon’s bl
ood grew sweeter…more intoxicating, until she could think of nothing else.
Her gums itched and her teeth ached. It took a moment for her to realize that she had fangs, and they were elongating by the second.
She moved with lightning speed, searching for the source of that sweet ambrosia, the only thing that could slake her unbelievable thirst.
Simon’s arms shot out, catching her before she could find her mark. “I need you to understand something before we do this. Once I’ve said what I need to say, you may drink all you want.”
Madison could barely hear him over the roaring in her ears. She understood he attempted to explain something to her, but she was no longer listening. Her body needed what she knew only he could give.
She was suddenly flat of her back with Simon looming over her. “Madison!”
Blinking up at him, she attempted to breathe through her mouth to dilute his effect on her.
“Good girl,” he rasped, the evidence of own hunger resting on his bottom lip in the form of snow-white fangs. “Taking my blood is going to create a certain need for me that you will find hard-pressed to contain.”
Svetlana’s words drifted through Madison’s mind. Mate with me.
More confusion poured through Madison’s fevered frame, along with copious amounts of heat. It raced through her veins, beginning in her face and ending at the juncture of her thighs.
“Do you understand what I’m trying to tell you?” Simon stared down at her, his eyes burning with a fever of their own.
Madison no longer cared what Simon tried to explain. She only knew that she needed something, and he was the only one who could give it to her.
She shot up from the bed and locked onto his neck, her eyes rolling back in her head with the first drop of his blood that exploded onto her tongue.
He stiffened for a heartbeat and then flipped her over until he lay beneath her.
The arms holding her so tightly suddenly relaxed to slide around her back. And just like that…he surrendered.
Chapter Twenty-Three
If Simon Le Blanc had ever wondered what heaven felt like, he didn’t any longer. He had entered its gates, in Madison’s arms.
The feel of her mouth at his neck, her weight lying on his body, and the heat of her center warming his throbbing erection had to be the most unbelievable feeling he’d ever felt.
She latched on more firmly to his throat, her hips moving restlessly on top of his.
He knew what she wanted; what she needed, even if she didn’t.
Simon had heard her conversation with Lydia as he’d stopped outside the door to knock. If Madison thought for one second that he’d allow her to end her existence, she was sadly mistaken. He would do whatever it took to assure that she lived, even if it meant mating with her to achieve it.
He also understood that she would despise him for it. Well, hate him if she must, at least she would be alive.
God, but she felt incredible. Simon wanted nothing more than to flip her over and sink his fangs into her throat, even as he would thrust his erection inside her body.
A moan escaped her and her hips began to rock against him with a force that surprised him.
She abruptly pulled free of his neck, reared back, and yanked her nightgown over her head. Her beautiful whiskey-colored eyes swirled with blood, giving them a scarlet appearance.
Simon was lost. The sight of her beautiful breasts heaving above him severed his hold on reality.
He grabbed hold of her panties, tearing them in his haste to get them off.
She quickly raised up enough to drag them down her hips and off her legs before ripping his own jeans down his thighs.
Without waiting for him to completely remove the offending denim, she threw her leg over him and wrapped her hand around his erection.
Simon could feel the heat swirling behind his eyes as more blood rushed to his pulsing shaft.
Madison guided him to her hot, wet center, and impaled herself onto the thick head of his sex.
A cry wrenched from her, but she didn’t slow, she shifted her hips and took him deeper into her body.
She was instantly back at his neck, her fangs piercing his flesh, even as her vaginal walls closed around him in a vice that locked his teeth together.
In all his years of being a vampire, Simon had never prematurely spilled his seed. But he was in danger of it now.
His hands shot around her waist in an attempt to slow her movements. She only rocked harder against him.
Simon lost control.
The room turned a dark shade of red, and the sound of his heartbeat drowned out the voice in his mind demanding he slow down.
A snarl tore from his lips. The skin on his neck ripped in his haste to dislodge Madison from her hold.
He flipped her onto her back, jerked her legs up over his arms, and drove into her depths with vampiric speed.
She cried out with his sudden entry, her legs wrapping around his back and her hips meeting his downward thrust.
Simon dropped his weight over her, nudged her face to the side, and struck. His fangs hit their mark, sinking into the vein with the precision of a cobra.
Her potent, mind-blowing taste, slid down his throat, driving him even further over the edge.
A kind of wildness overtook him in that moment. He found himself in front of a dresser with Madison bent over the top of it and no inkling of how he got there.
He gazed into the mirror to find Madison staring back at him with lust burning in her scarlet-colored eyes.
“Son of a bitch!” Simon wrapped his hand in her long, red hair, kicked off the jeans still hanging from one of his legs, and thrust into her warm, wet depths once more.
Nothing could ever come close to the feel of Madison’s slick vaginal walls milking the seed from his pumping shaft.
He inched almost completely out of her, bent his knees, and penetrated her again, flexing his hips with every upward thrust.
The motion brought Madison to her toes; sexy, delicious moans escaping her beautiful mouth.
Simon held onto her hair, unable to look away from her reflection as his body continued to dominate hers. “You’re mine, Madison.”
A shadow passed through her eyes, but she didn’t stop or push him away.
“Mine!” Simon released her hair, locked his hands around her waist, and jerked her back to meet his wild thrusts.
A roaring began in his ears and his vision darkened even more. His blurred around the room, taking her on every piece of furniture in their path.
Madison screamed with the arrival of her orgasm, her slick vaginal walls locking onto his ever-pumping shaft nearly crossing his eyes.
Simon could no more hold back his release than he could stop the sun from rising the following morning. It exploded from his body in violent jets of ecstasy that stole his ability to stand.
He dropped to his ass in the chair behind him, taking a now limp Madison with him.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Madison’s heart felt as if it would burst from her chest. Simon had just taken her in ways she’d never imagined herself capable of doing. At one point, he’d held her suspended from the floor, her ankles over his shoulders, and her back resting on one of his arms while he’d penetrated her again and again.
He stirred behind her. “Madison?”
Though she couldn’t see his face, she could hear the hesitancy in his voice, knew that he had regrets.
It didn’t matter; not in that moment. Madison would deal with her plight later. For now, she had an insatiable need and Simon was the only one who could fulfill it.
The heated sensation she’d experienced on the bed built again, followed by a tingling in her lower extremities.
She could feel the pulsing in her abdomen becoming almost painful in its intensity.
Still physically connected to Simon, Madison closed her eyes and rolled her hips. “Don’t talk. Not yet.”
His arm came around her chest to tug her back against hi
m. He tightened his hold on her and drove upward, seating himself deep inside her body. His lips brushed her ear. “Is this what you want?”
“Yes!” Madison could only hold onto to his muscular arm while he pumped into her, his free hand slipping around her waist. It coasted lower until his palm cupped her smooth mound.
He spread her thighs wider with his knees, opening her for his probing fingers.
The feel of him stroking her most sensitive flesh while he thrust into her depths again and again sent Madison hurdling back toward another mind-blowing release.
She felt fevered, anxious, and more turned on than she’d ever imagined possible.
Madison’s body convulsed with the orgasm exploding through her. She had no voice, no direction, and no control over her muscles. Simon alone orchestrated the outcome of her climax and she only prayed he didn’t stop.
“Fuck!” Simon barked, increasing the speed of his driving hips.
Madison’s scream was muffled by Simon’s large palm clamping over her mouth. But he didn’t stop, nor did he slow. He continued his upward thrusts until she nearly blacked out from pleasure overload.
Her back was suddenly on the carpet with her legs draped over Simon’s wide shoulders. “I’ve been wanting to do this for years.” He dipped his head and closed his mouth over her incredibly throbbing center.
“Oh, God…” Madison moaned, unsure if she could bear much more. Her body was on pleasure overload, spiraling out of her control with every moment she remained in Simon’s arms.
He swiped his tongue upward, circled her swollen bundle of nerves, and Madison surrendered to the insanity once again.
Her hips jerked with every pass of his masterful tongue. His lips nipped and sucked, taking her higher only to back off before she peaked.
“Simon, please,” Madison rasped, pleading with him to give her the relief she so desperately sought.
He was suddenly in her mind, coaxing her with his deep, sensual voice. At any other time, Madison would have blushed with the darkly descriptive words spilling through her psyche—not tonight. They only fueled her desire, her need to come.
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