by Kari Gregg
When Garrick brushed his lips over her pulse point, she couldn’t stifle a soft moan. Her fingers threaded into his hair—to hold him there or yank him away she didn’t know, because as soon as her hands filled with his soft, dark curls, she could think of nothing beyond petting him, stroking him.
Tingling want skittered through her. Her hips shifted restlessly, rubbing against his rigid cock.
He stroked his cheek against her skin and purred against her throat like a well-fed cat. “Your vampyr needs to mark me, Kate. Craves it. Do you?”
She didn’t know what she wanted.
She just knew that she did. “Please.”
His mouth opened over her neck. His tongue traced a lazy trail over her skin so that her flesh burned for him. So that she burned. Her back arched, bringing her body close to his, seating his dick against her wet pussy—where she most wanted him to be.
She hated the stupid clothes she’d insisted on. They should be gone. She needed them to be gone so she could feel him against her, feel him gliding hard and deep into her. “Rick.”
He groaned. “I love you, Kate.” He sucked the tender skin of her neck into his mouth.
He was so hot and so hard, his lips unbearably soft. Kate’s mind spun past her. Drunk on sensation, she couldn’t think, couldn’t think—
His teeth slid into her.
She cried out.
“Bébé?” Luc leaned over Garrick’s shoulder, hovering over them both. Concern sparked in his dark eyes.
She sucked air into her lungs, panting through parted lips as Garrick sipped at her. Where she expected pain, she found desire. Mind-numbing, soul-consuming desire that ate at her far more rapaciously than Garrick’s gentle sampling.
Cradling Garrick’s scalp in her fingers, she shoved his mouth hard against her throat.
Garrick needed no further encouragement. He growled once, low and deep, then gulped from the wound he’d made. “You feel it too. The passion, the power. There is nothing we cannot be together.”
“Ease back, Garrick. Her body can’t afford this,” Luc said, but his voice sounded far away and at the moment, unimportant.
“Say yes. To me, to us.”
She whimpered at the licks of need that pulsed through her every time his ravenous mouth drew at her neck. The pleasure built like a flash fire, intense and violent, catching her up in its heat, destroying her.
“Listen to me, Garrick. Listen and heed me. You’re killing her.”
“Say yes.”
Darkness crushed in on her, flirting with her vision so the urgent lines grooving Luc’s face blurred. Her fingers felt cold and awkward in Garrick’s hair. Her lashes drooped and shuttered her eyes.
All that mattered was his husky voice in her head, the insatiable pull of his mouth on her throat.
“Kate?”
“Do you understand me, Garrick? Release her. It isn’t time!”
She smiled. “I don’t want you to stop.”
“Your vampyr is very strong.” He chuckled against the punctures he’d made. “But Luc’s right. I’m killing you.” Garrick kissed the wounds, sending another frisson of pleasure through her, but Kate was too drained to shiver or sigh.
“That wasn’t so bad.”
“I have my moments.”
* * *
Kate curled in a chair in the rooms she shared with Luc, trying and failing to read Jane Austen while Luc studied squiggling loops of topographical lines on the map he’d stretched over a desk. Luc had discovered the bundle of maps and other assorted papers at their door shortly after waking. Heavy red ink traced the swamp’s entry points, the most accessible exit routes in green—
Garrick’s escape plans.
In case Krystiyan or the others tracked them to Louisiana.
Luc penciled notes directly on the map and sometimes scrawled on scattered sheets of parchment surrounding him.
The scratch of lead jangled Kate’s fraying nerves.
Stupid vampires.
Stupid bloody war.
“He’s hunting, chère,” Luc said without glancing up. He leaned over the map instead. “You’ll be more at ease once he returns.”
Kate scowled at her guardian.
Tried to focus on her brand-spanking-new Kindle.
Though she probably should’ve started on the new Susan Elizabeth Phillips instead, Pride and Prejudice was her favorite of the classics. The Bennett sisters never disappointed.
But Kate couldn’t concentrate.
Her skin felt too tight for her body.
Her pulse raced.
She’d shivered inside Garrick’s sweatshirt only yesterday, but even the plain black T-shirt and plaid boxers Luc had fetched from Garrick’s rooms upon waking that evening felt oppressive and sweltering.
Luc sighed. “The wait would be more comfortable if you’d change into the clothes his weres procured for you.”
When they’d returned from the library the night before, her closets had been stuffed full. Hangers had been draped with midriff blouses and flowing skirts in every color of the rainbow, sheer fabrics and stunning silks. When she’d lifted her fingers, tips skating over the filmy material, her heart had skipped a giddy beat at the decadence.
But…
When Kate had slid one of the dresses free, she’d gaped at the provocative cut.
Her cheeks heated.
Though the soft cotton of Garrick’s T-shirt abraded her skin and the loose fit of his boxers felt too binding, she wouldn’t so much as look at the sultry dresses and skirts. No matter how much the smell of him lingered on the clothes she’d borrowed or how greatly that scent taunted her.
Kate refused to wear the other clothes.
Any of them.
“You’ve been sealed, bébé. You can’t run from that forever.”
“I’m not running.” She tossed her Kindle aside. “I’m just not cooperating.”
He arched an eyebrow. His mouth curved. “You can’t defeat millennia of biological evolution either.”
She rose from the chair, crossed her arms, and glowered at him. “Maybe I’m a fan of intelligent design.”
“All right.” He laid his pencil aside. “Then you were both intelligently designed to mate once your bite transferred your mark to one other.”
She sniffed in disdain.
Kate didn’t understand this marking business, and she didn’t particularly want to.
Luc sighed. “The virus adapts to our bodies and our unique histories over time, but even in the beginning, minor mutations operate as a signature that allows us to distinguish between each other. Though Garrick and I spent two hundred years hunting together, and though I fed from him often, his vampyr remains very different from mine. Those differences allow us to speak to one another.” Luc tapped his temple.
She raised her hand. “Don’t start.”
“You must learn and accept.” Luc’s lips thinned. “The virus operates as a filter in our minds, only allowing us to link with those of our kind with whom we are most intimate—vampyr we’ve shared blood with.”
She stepped back when he rose from his seat, her heart abruptly stuttering in her chest. “I mean it, Luc. Stop it.”
“Mating increases the intensity of the link exponentially. When you tasted him, his virus became part of your body, but the bond was fragile. If I had run with you then, Garrick would have followed, but without your virus in him to cement the link, we might have evaded him. That is no longer possible. You’ve fed too deeply. We’ve no other course except to allow your mating to proceed.”
“So that’s it? I don’t have any choice about it?” She considered throwing the damned Kindle at him. “I’m stuck with a guy I don’t even know if I like until I die, which just for kicks will be,” she said, angling her head to the side in mock contemplation, “a hundred gazillion years from now.” Her lips curled to a tart smile. “Wonderful. Peachy. Thanks.”
“Temporarily, yes, you’re stuck with him. I told you that biting triggers our ma
ting instincts and warned you to go nowhere near Garrick.” Luc glared at her. “Instead of, for instance, rolling around on the couch with him like a hormonal teenager the moment my back is turned.”
Kate scowled. “There were extenuating circumstances.”
“His weres kept me busy for only fifteen minutes, chérie.” Luc crossed his arms over his chest and frowned thunderously. “Fifteen minutes. If I hadn’t returned early when I suspected the weres spying on me suggested Garrick wasn’t as physically incapacitated as I’d believed… Good God, bébé, what were you thinking?”
She winced, principally because at the time, she hadn’t been.
Thinking, that is.
But Luc wasn’t nearly done yet. Not by half. He’d been ranting and railing at her since the night before, and his ire had thus far shown little sign of lessening. Kate squirmed in her seat, wishing she’d kept her big mouth shut, and at the same time, fighting the urge to slap him silly. He and Garrick both. The wretches.
“What if I hadn’t evaded my were babysitters as easily as I did? If I’d taken ten minutes more to reach you? What would I have found in the library then?” Luc paced the bedroom of their suite, body tense, his steps rigid. “Mark my words—you would’ve been blood-mating.”
“I would not!” Kate protested, though she had no idea what blood-mating was. Didn’t sound fun, so no matter how far she’d crossed the line, she was pretty sure she wouldn’t have taken it that far. Rather than owning up to her share of the mess, she stabbed an accusing finger at Luc. “We were just kissing until you showed up.”
Of course, this was all his fault.
Kate hadn’t quite worked out how yet, but she was reasonably confident that Luc and Garrick were entirely to blame.
Luc’s snort of disbelief argued otherwise. “You wanted him? So much you couldn’t abide three simple rules? Fine. You have him, and I’ll tolerate no more complaints about it.”
Kate leaped to her feet in righteous indignation. “Freaking werewolves threatened me. Werewolves, Luc!”
He rolled his eyes. “They challenged Garrick as your potential mate, not you. You were never in any legitimate danger.” Luc’s eyes narrowed. “Linked as we are, you knew nothing would keep me from you if you were at risk.”
She glanced away. Did she know that? Really?
Luc flinched. “Kate?” He crossed to her, drawing her into his arms and against his chest. “I’ll always return to you, anytime you need me.” He brushed a rough kiss at her temple. “Mating with him won’t change that.”
She hugged him to her, comforted by his touch, his scent. She hated that Luc was furious with her and was furious with herself for being so foolish.
“I worry for you, chère, because you were mortal short weeks ago. You don’t yet know how our world operates or your place inside it.” He pushed out a long breath. “But your ignorance isn’t entirely responsible. You made a mistake, yes, but new instincts drive you.” His muscles uncoiled. “Your vampyr is far stronger than I suspected, but I should’ve recognized that. You’ve shown signs from the beginning.”
She tipped her head up to stare at him. “Signs?”
“Others have not followed.”
Her nose wrinkled. “Other vampires, you mean. But there have been others. Tobias—”
Luc waved a dismissive hand. “He wasn’t looking for you. He was running from headhunters and other rogue vampyr. We traveled the same roads to avoid them. Considering how far we traveled to reach Garrick’s sanctuary, crossing the path of a rogue was unavoidable.”
“But—”
“We’ve been at Pridemore over a week. The estate should be crawling with vampyr seeking a mate by now, but none have answered the call. Because you are not drawing them.”
More vampire voodoo hoodoo?
She blinked at him. “I beg your pardon?”
“It’s no mythological power, no ‘hoodoo,’ as you call it.” Luc smiled down at her. “It’s simple biological engineering. Vampyr females are rare, an instrument of population control. Too many of us would endanger our human prey population or, God forbid, stir the humans from their complacency to hunt us. What good would be served if all lived, only to die of starvation or worse?
“So, in his wisdom, God created males who cannot survive long into full adulthood outside a pair-bond, perhaps to spare us an eternity of solitude. But there is also a scarcity of women susceptible to the virus. Males who survive infancy focus their entire being on mating: learning skills necessary to protect and provide for a mate, building a sanctuary for her, but most importantly, competing against one another to find her. They absolutely will not stop until they have mated. Or died.”
Kate shuddered in quick fear.
Luc mentally chuckled. “Garrick is old, powerful, cunning. You need never be anxious that he will fail you.”
“He will fear it enough for you both.”
Kate’s lips thinned to a waspish line. She didn’t want to think about Garrick. “What does this have to do with me attracting other vampires?”
“Vampyr, chérie. Not vampires.”
She cocked an eyebrow at him. “Whatever.”
He grinned. “Females are scarce and after the infection, very weak, but from the moment the transition has ended, females summon males to them.” When she opened her mouth, he touched a gentle finger to her lips to silence her. “Another biological tool of survival. Females need mates as much as our men do.”
“I don’t need a mate.” She frowned. She didn’t like that idea. Didn’t like it at all. “Why should I need Garrick when I have you?”
Luc rested his cheek on the top of her head. “I am your guardian, Kate. I gladly give you the blood of my body, and I will fight to the death to protect you. There is nothing I will not do for you. I’ll love you until I die.”
She fidgeted in his arms, almost wished she could tell him she loved him too. But she didn’t. She barely knew him. Worse, she was scared of him. Not as scared of him as she was of Garrick. But a vampire was a vampire was a vampire.
Curiously, though, she believed him. In his twisted vamp way, Kate believed that he did love her. That he would protect her. “Then I don’t need anybody else. As long as I have you.”
“Finding a ward eases our loneliness, but it only delays the inevitable. In many ways, becoming your guardian has intensified the attraction to turn, keep you for myself. It’s what makes mating so perilous, not just to the warriors who fight one another to reach you, but for guardians as well. If I were a few decades older, my temptation might’ve proven too terrible to resist.” He tipped her chin up with one long finger to force her gaze to his. “You need Garrick. To protect you from me.”
Fear slithered through her. It iced her veins and made her head ring. “You wouldn’t hurt me.” She gulped. Not Luc. Anyone but Luc. “I don’t believe it.”
“Right now, no. Thank God for Garrick. He steadies me. He’s so damned noble. I’d rather die than disappoint him.” Luc laughed. “But if the temptation grows stronger than Garrick’s hold over me…”
He shook his head. “You’ve taken my blood too often. You’re completely vulnerable, your mind an open door to me.” His lips curved, but his smile quavered. “Lucky for us, your vampyr has already chosen, so neither of us need worry. The fact that no other vampyr have tracked us here proves it.”
Kate closed her eyes against the anxiety twisting her gut. Luc’s Yoda-like platitudes meant little to her. Only the threat. The screaming, terrifying threat that Luc might one day turn against her too. “I don’t see what that has to do with anything. We’re in a swamp. Nobody’s going to find us in a swamp.”
“No human,” Luc corrected. “But an unmated vampyr male?” He kissed the tip of her nose.
Her eyes flashed wide.
“For an unmated male, no hiding place is too remote.”
Her stomach clenched. “But how?”
“Some of the pull is pheromones. This I know, because I followed your scent do
wn the tunnel at David’s stronghold. But I was already close. Scent only pinpoints a female’s exact location. The initial draw happens here.” He tapped his head. “The virus awakens some part of the female brain that screams like a siren. We all sense it. We know when a female has become vampyr. We all, from the newest fledgling to elder warrior, follow that signal. Where we are, what we are doing is immaterial. Africa, Europe, Asia, the moment your transition ended, you should have begun luring vampyr the world over to you.”
“And therein lies your power.”
She averted her eyes from his. Power? What power?
If she had so much power, she’d thus far been able to exercise little of it.
“Garrick found us—found you—before your transition had finished. His senses were so attuned to yours, he tracked you before you should’ve been capable of calling males to you. Your human mind can’t understand it, but he really does love you. There is nothing he wouldn’t give you, nothing he would deny you.”
Her lips thinned. “Except freedom.”
“If doing so wouldn’t mean your destruction, I don’t believe he would deny you even that.”
“He would die. Do you understand? He would set you free if he had the power to do so, though it would mean his death. But he would gladly do it, because you wished it. Do you not comprehend the danger you pose to him?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m hardly a threat to Garrick.”
Luc snorted. “Because you do not love him!”
“Our males need the hope of the pair-bond to sustain them into full maturity, to prevent them from turning out of despair as Tobias and so many others have, but after the transition, our women feel nothing for us except horror and stark terror.”
Kate’s lips pursed.
She could hardly argue with that.
“You are hesitant, but the vampyr inside you is not. Your vampyr scented Garrick as one strong and powerful enough to protect you. Your new instincts drove you to take his blood in spite of your apprehensions. And mine. Your vampyr marked Garrick as your mate when you took his blood and she will not stop until you’ve given him what he needs. Not just your blood and your body, but all of you. Your heart and your mind.”