by Amanda Vyne
Turning in his seat, he reached out and cupped his hand behind her head, the press of his large hand making her scalp tingle. Burying his fingers in her thick crop of short hair, he pulled her face closer. The burn of his breath fanned out over her lips as though he meant to kiss her. Yet he only pressed her forehead to his and clenched his eyes shut. His chest rose and fell with the short, quick breaths.
“I would have slain her. Severed her head and left her corpse to rot on her steps.” His words were low and soft against her lips. “For only an insult and a hint of what her role might have been in your past.”
Kel searched his face, his regret and determination swelling over her through their connection. Opening her mouth on some kind of retort, she found his fingers suddenly pressed against her parting lips and those seething eyes boring into hers.
“I have not finished,” he whispered. “I can feel your revulsion for this bond.” A muscle ticked in his jaw and his teeth clenched around his next words. “For my family. Yet I cannot change that either is so.”
Her feelings for the Ferrar marshal were confusing. She desired him with a strength that floored her but she was clinging to her hatred for his family. He was not the monster she had created of his father yet his father had sacrificed her innocence for his concept of purity. How could she consider being the bonded daughter of his House? How could she condemn any non-pureblood children she bore to that possible future?
It felt impossible, yet there were times when the need to crawl inside him, to feel his heat surround her was a hunger that clawed at her relentlessly. His remorse seeped through her to sit heavy in the bottom of her stomach, sickening her. He did not want this bond any more than she and that hurt.
It shouldn’t. She understood why he regretted their bond, knew what the cost might be for him but it still left her aching. She felt…rejected. Somehow unworthy. And that was what hurt. It made her feel like that pitiful little girl screaming for her mother on the dark, cold steps of a Triumvirate home. She didn’t want to ever be that girl again. Never.
It felt as though her chest were caving in on her, and she squeezed her eyes shut against the burning, afraid of what it meant. She needed some space. She couldn’t breathe. Most of all she needed to get away from him and the heaviness he brought on her. Kel jerked away from him, threw open the car door, and clawed her way from the confines of the sports car. Her chest heaved as she drew in great lungs full of fresh air, trying to calm herself. She wanted to shimmer into the safety of her apartment. To have some distance, to curl into her misery in the privacy of her own fucking apartment.
“No.” Gabe shimmered next to her, his voice hard. A hollow snap of metal echoed like a bullet in the deserted parking garage. “No running.”
Eyes snapping open she looked down at her wrist in disbelief. He’d slapped a damn silver cuff on her wrist. Bastard.
“Let me go.” She wanted to sound firm and in control, but her voice escaped on a near sob. It made the humiliation of his rejection that much more painful.
His hand tightened on the base of her skull, pulling her back to him, against his chest. “Never run from me.” His lips brushed her cheek, tasting her tears on his tongue. She never cried. Not since…she’d made a promise to herself. She couldn’t allow him to make her break it. He couldn’t have that much of her.
“No,” he said again; his voice snapped over her with the sting of a whip as he slammed the car door shut and pressed her against it with the hard heat of his body. A gasp burst from her as her arousal flared hot, making her burn. His cock pressed hard against her belly as his lips moved to her ear, his breath teasing. “You belong to me now. Every day of your past. Every fear. Every feeling you feel.” He slid one hand down to her hip, fingers biting into flesh to hold her as he punctuated every word with a thrust of his cock against her. “Mine.”
Oh God, she throbbed between her legs. Her nipples tingled. She was dying from the hunger that spread from low in her belly at his words. Even as she shook her head, denying his claim, she was widening her legs to fit him, seeking a firmer touch. Dying to draw out the sensation, to gain satisfaction.
“Yes.” He breathed against the taut flesh just below her earlobe, raking his teeth over the skin, soothing the sting with his tongue. She shivered. A delicious, muscle-relaxing shiver that distracted her from the feel of his fingers at the zipper of her jeans. “I won’t ever let you go now. I never give up what is mine.”
His hand delved into the back of her pants, the heat of his palm searing her flesh as he grasped the globe of her ass.
“And you are mine.”
Kel wanted to deny him, to resist his touch, but it felt so good. His fingers stroked her backside, skimming the crevasse between her cheeks. The strokes grew longer and longer until his fingers slid lightly through the wet folds of her pussy.
She closed her eyes, couldn’t bear to see his face. His hunger crawled through her, yet so did his disappointment. She could hardly blame him. She wasn’t what he’d wanted. She wasn’t pureblood. Hell, she was far and gone from pure altogether. And fuck it if she didn’t feel lacking because of it. Because of him. Her fists clenched in anger even as her belly tightened at the hot, wet slide of his mouth down her neck.
Suddenly her fangs exploded into her mouth, and she gasped. He smelled so wonderful, and she couldn’t help the small slide of her tongue over one sharp fang as a painful hunger seemed to swell inside her. She could no longer tell if it was his or hers.
He pulled back to look down in her face. She could feel his eyes on her, searching. She wanted to clench her eyes tighter, turn her face away from the disappointment she was sure would be etched across the tight angles of his face, settled deep in those eerie eyes. Yet she refused to completely fall into that well of inadequacy. She was who she was because of her past, because of the laws he protected.
Forcing herself to look in him in the eyes, she gave a small rebellious lift of her chin as the words of denial rose to her lips.
Reaching up with one hand, he ran his thumb over her lip, silencing her. His eyes dropped to follow its path. “It’s too late for resistance, little one. Too late for both of us.”
A low growl rumbled from his chest into her, and she felt something dark and dangerous brush against her mind through their connection. His eyes seethed with a new intensity; a dark ring of red flared around his pupils. Like flames. His scent became stronger, and Kel almost growled herself as her body responded in kind.
Her fangs throbbed insistently as her hunger clawed at her. Her eyes dropped to where his pulse thudded heavily against the taut flesh in his neck. Oh God, she wanted. The hunger she felt bordered on pain.
“No, not like this.” His voice was a low rumble of sound that skittered across her nerve endings, making the fine hair rise on her arms. A dull ache expanded in her chest with that rejection and his eyes fixed on hers. Searching.
Kel tried to jerk away but he held her firmly. He seemed to be fighting himself. His eyes slid shut and a tremble coursed through his lithe frame. “I’m sorry but I can’t. It’s not meant to be this way.” His hands jerked her away from the door and pulled her into the hard heat of his body. “But, God, I need…” A louder growl erupted from him as he roughly turned her around to press her down over the gleaming hood of the sports car. Slapping her hands down against the smooth, warm surface to steady herself, she felt a little thrill race through her at the sudden movement. Hot breath fanned the curve of her shoulder and neck before his mouth closed hotly over the sensitive skin, fangs pressing but not piercing.
His hands were hot on her stomach; one pulled the edges of her unzipped jeans back to rub small circles low on her belly, and the other pressed slowly up beneath her tank to lift the heavy weight of her breast in his callused palm.
Arching against his hands, she rested her head back against his shoulder, reaching up with one hand to bury her fingers in the silky fall of his blond hair as his lips worked their way down her neck. Two finger
s pinched and pulled and rolled her nipple as the fingers of the opposite hand circled closer and closer to the slit that soaked the silk of her panties.
“This belongs to me.” He breathed against her neck, his tongue soothing the sharp caresses of his kisses. He reached across to pinch her other nipple as his fingers dipped into her slit, sliding wetly over the sensitive bundle of nerves swelling in demand for his touch. He groaned against her neck, the wet heat of his tongue sweeping across her skin. “So hot and wet. Your arousal. Your hunger. Mine to do with as I please. Mine to satisfy.”
The broad tip of his middle finger slid through her slick folds, circling the damp opening that spasmed hungrily around her aching emptiness before slowly gliding up to her clit and brushing lightly over it. He was teasing her, and she jerked her hips against his hand with a small sound of frustration.
“Ferrar,” Kel warned as he pulled his hands back to caress her belly again. His thumbs slid along the edge of her hip bones, hooking her jeans and slowly sliding them down her hips. So slow. Every movement was calculated to drive her higher, to draw it out.
“So sweet,” he murmured thickly as he quickly unzipped his pants and pressed his cock against her.
“Damn you, Ferrar.” She slid the words through her clenched teeth as she rocked her hips back to feel the heated flesh of his hard cock between the cheeks of her ass.
“Damned? Yes,” he whispered softly against her frantic pulse as he nudged the tip of his penis into the slick folds beneath the full curve of her bottom, making her gasp at that first kiss of heat. “We were both damned the moment I tasted you”
Kel felt a sharp stab of pain from his admission, but it was swept away as he surged upward past the slick folds of her pussy, pushing the head of his cock just past the clutching ring of muscles with a low groan that vibrated through her. He was so big, pressing just into the swollen folds, stretching and burning her. It sent a frisson of excruciating heat radiating up through her belly, into her limbs as her fingertips pressed into the hood of the car, claws beginning to extend. She wanted to deny the pleasure, to deny the need but she was helpless. And that shamed her more than his begrudging acceptance of their bond.
Her hands slapped down on the now-cool surface of the hood once more as he angled her forward to press deeper into her, his hands wrapping around the flare of her hips to pull her ass in closer as he slammed up into her. Destructive waves of pleasure crashed violently through her. She cried out as her claws extended completely, gouging into the hood as his powerful thrusts rocked her into the car. His movements became more frantic; the sounds of their flesh thudding wetly against each other drove her ravening hunger hotter inside her and a chill crawled over her flesh.
Kel threw her head back on a low sound as the first crest of release hit her. Her muscles suddenly clamped down hard around him, sending waves of electricity rioting through her, making her tense with the sudden intensity of the feeling.
“Let it go.” He breathed hotly against the back of her shoulder, his cock pressed high and firm inside her. Heart thundering in a crazy beat that throbbed throughout her entire body. She felt suspended, vulnerable, and she tried to jerk back from that dangerous precipice. “Don’t fight it.”
Then he pulled back and thrust hard through the contracted muscles of her core, pressing against her womb and stopping. Her entire body tightened and the pleasure grew taut. She dropped her head to press her burning forehead against the cool hood of the car as her body jerked hard.
“God, Kel. Want it like I do. Need it as much as I do. Stop fighting.” The last was an inhuman growl as he slowly withdrew until only the head of his cock was inside her. Gripping her hips tighter to anchor her, he began to rock the throbbing head of his cock back and forth through that ultrasensitive ring. A low, keening wail broke past her lips as the intensity suddenly snapped free, whipping crazily through her. A white flash of pleasure consumed her senses as her climax washed over her again and again, her body clutching at him in short, hard pulses.
“Mine.” His voice was rough, and she felt him press his forehead against the center of her back, felt his resolve to not taste her as his orgasm washed over him in a hard burst. “Mine,” he growled again as he surged up into her body one more time, his seed spurting in heated jets inside her.
They stayed like that, his body bent over her as they tried to gain control again. Now that the powerful craving was momentarily satisfied, she felt his remorse swell through their connection, smothering her, magnifying her own bitterness. Her claws slid back into their sheaths as she continued to grip the hood, her fangs pulsing in her mouth with an aching need left unfulfilled. Heart pounding a frantic tempo in her chest, breath hissing past her parted lips, she looked down at the gleam of the silver cuff on her wrist. She could still feel the thickness of him pulsing deep inside her and the gentle waves of her own pleasure. This was too much and yet not enough. She still felt…unsatisfied. She needed to get away from him. Away from this sense of inadequacy and frustration that clawed at her. Away from the hunger.
Gabe caught her hand before she could release the damn cuff. “It’s too late, baby. It doesn’t matter what we thought we wanted before. You belong to me. All of you.” His voice was a soft whisper now as he slid gently from her body, reached down to ease her jeans back up over her hips. Turning her, he tenderly straightened her tank and pulled her into his arms. “Even the hurt.”
The dimness of the parking garage gave her a sense of intimacy as he slowly glided his hand up and down her back. She leaned into his strength, accepted his comfort for long moments as she examined this new feeling that was slowly blossoming in her. Something light yet frightening in its intensity. Something from which she knew she could never escape.
GABE FELT HER pain. He didn’t need their connection to know he’d fucked this up. Hurt her. The beast their bond awakened in him left him without control where she was concerned. He was a fucking marshal, for God’s sake. He had been entrusted with the laws and traditions of his people yet he would have killed in anger. For revenge.
Her resistance to their bond only made the fucking beast worse. The relentless drive to claim her, to prove his possession of her had become central, eclipsing almost all rational thought. Except one. He’d managed the presence of mind to deny her instincts to claim him by taking his blood. But, hell, she only accepted him when he overwhelmed her with her own attraction. He didn’t want that final and sacred exchange to occur over the fucking hood of a rental car in a parking garage.
Fuck! She would never understand what she saw as a rejection. She flouted the laws of his people, her people, with every word and act, whether she knew it or not. The short hair. The piercing. He suspected they were her way of denouncing the culture that had condemned her. How was she to understand his need to share his blood in a more traditional way, without any regrets or recriminations? How could he even expect her to accept it, accept him, let alone his House, after what had happened to her in that fucking Triumvirate home? He didn’t even understand how his House, his father, could have condemned a child to such atrocities.
Even now her hurt and confusion ate at him, despite her attempts to pull away from their connection. Away from him.
But it was too late. Even without the overwhelming craving of the beast inside him, he was no longer willing to let her go. There was no returning from this. He would find a way to make it work.
“Just let me go.” He absorbed the pain of her softly spoken words.
“I can’t.” His warm fingers wrapped around her wrist and pressed the release mechanism on the silver cuff, letting it fall into his palm. “I’m sorry, baby. I truly am.”
Kel didn’t acknowledge his whispered words or the feel of his lips brushing over her hair as she silently shimmered out of his arms.
Gabe braced his hands against the sports car, hanging his head. The dim light reflected over the gleaming hood and he frowned. Two sets of gouges marred the surface. With a finger he traced on
e thoughtfully. Claws.
She was Guardian as well as Sanguen. He’d been so absorbed with the fact that she was a crossbreed he’d been focused on pressing her to accept the part of her that was like him that he hadn’t thought about the part of her that wasn’t. His people viewed Guardians in a worse light than even crossbreeds.
Gabe flattened his palm against the gouges with a curse. There had to be a way to make this work.
Chapter Six
“What is this place?”
Kel glanced back at Ferrar. He stood tall and solid behind her, a pair of dark sunglasses obscuring most of his face. It was just before noon the following morning and there was just enough cloud cover to offer him some protection from the sun. Not that it mattered to her.
It wasn’t like she asked him to come along anyway.
“Haven House.” She reached out and pushed the doorbell. Usually she just shimmered in, but Gabe was unfamiliar to the ladies inside and ultimately they had to grant him entrance.
From the corner of her eye, she watched his reaction. She didn’t know why she should care, but somehow it was important to her. Haven House was important to her. He was noting the peeling paint around the windows and the rusted metal railing, his expression unreadable. It was nothing like what he’d come from. House complexes were usually kept in immaculate condition. From the outside it didn’t look much different from the Triumvirate home they’d visited last night, but the inside more than made up for its lack of aesthetic appeal.
Peering briefly at him from behind the mirrored lenses of her sunglasses, she tried not to shift uncomfortably under the weight of his gaze as they slowly trailed over her short, frayed jean miniskirt and tall black boots again. He’d been preoccupied with the skirt this morning back at Incog. Maybe pureblood girls dressed more appropriately, but she dressed as she damned well pleased. This morning his body language was very proprietary, like what happened the night before had suddenly given him a legitimate claim on her. He was crowding her by standing too close. It was driving her nuts. She was still battling an edgy hunger that was left over from their confrontation last night. She just wasn’t so sure she was ready for another go-round just yet.