by L. J. Red
He stared at her, finally letting all his emotions show in his eyes, fighting centuries of hiding his emotions and keeping a blank mask up between him and the world. For the first time, he let everything pour down the soulmate bond with no hesitation. He let her see all the need he felt for her. All the care, the love, and the desire to protect her, keep her safe. He shook with the force of it and he knew that, in this moment, she had the power to raise him to heights he had never known or destroy him utterly.
Chapter 31
Sparrow stared up at Jacob, overwhelmed with just how much trust he was placing in her. She couldn’t believe what he was offering, and how impossibly difficult it must be for this fierce warrior to make himself so vulnerable.
He wanted to give her everything, everything he was, and there was no way on earth she was going to reject that. There were no words to express how she felt, so instead, feeling ripples of anxiety running through her, she stretched up onto her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his lips, expressing all her feelings, her joy, that he would stand beside her, her relief that she had misunderstood the conversation between him and Lucian, and her unbridled acceptance of the bond. He didn’t want to reject or destroy her; he wanted to keep her safe.
She felt the bond open on his side, and she stripped the veil away from her side and welcomed the emotions she was feeling from him. Love, so much love. She lost herself in the feel of his lips on hers, the pleasure of pushing herself against him, and the emotions running down the bond between them, thick and fast. If this was merely a taste of what it would be like once the bond was claimed, she couldn’t imagine how she would be able to stand it.
After what felt like an age, Jacob leaned back and stared into her eyes.
“We will find him,” he promised. “We will find the hunters and we will find Roman, but it will take time. We went to his territory but there was nothing there. Just ash and dust from the dead Radiance vampires.”
“Dead?” Sparrow whispered.
“Yes, he killed them.” A shudder ran through Jacob. “He killed his own people, just like when the Ravagers attacked the Sanctuary, all of them struck down where they stood.” He shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense. We don’t know why he did it, why he would kill his own people. He is insane.”
I know, Sparrow thought. I know why he did it. Sick realization dawned. He did it through their minds, through their souls, through the bond he had as their leader. He drained their powers just like he had drained the rescued vampires. He took control of them just like he had taken control of the rescued vampires, just like he was trying to do to her.
That was it, she realized with a sudden jerk that pulled her entire body taut. She leaned back from Jacob. That was how she was going to defeat him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Nothing is wrong,” she said in wonder. “I just… I know now. I know how to defeat Roman.” The name slipped past her lips so quickly and without thought that the constriction in her throat wasn’t able to catch it.
For a second, she didn’t realize what she had done, and then the realization tore through her as Jacob’s eyes darkened with the knowledge.
She had done it. She had warned him.
She felt Roman’s rage echo through her mind and his focus suddenly turned on her, but it was too late.
“Roman,” he whispered.
Yes, Sparrow thought. Not HUNT, not a poison, but Roman in my mind using the bond. Her throat tightened under Roman’s mental grip, but the soulmate bond between them was as open as it had ever been and she sent all her feelings to Jacob, all the tension and worry she had been feeling finally easing. She didn’t need to keep this a secret any longer. Sparrow sent as much feeling as she could through the bond. She couldn’t speak her fears, but Roman had no way to control the soulmate bond. He couldn’t stop her.
Jacob raised both his hands to her cheeks and kissed her again, a kiss of absolution, of forgiveness. “I’m here,” he whispered. “What do you need?”
She knew exactly what she needed. She finally understood how she could fight back against Roman’s grip on her mind. She didn’t want to waste any time thinking about it, planning or deciding, because the moment she did, Roman would have a chance to rifle through her thoughts and see what she intended to do.
The bond between her and Roman was focused and sharp. The other rescued vampires were dead, no Radiance vampires left to distract them. It was just him and her.
Whatever Roman had done to boost his powers with the sacrifice of his vampires, it had twisted somehow, perhaps because they were the last two left. It had gone into the Bloodline and she could sense the vast well of power just there for the taking, almost within her reach.
She felt Roman’s flicker of horror as the realization trickled through him as well and he began to storm into her mind, tearing and destroying everything he could touch. He would leave her an empty husk.
He had centuries of skill. She couldn’t fight him in the same way, she had no hope of entering his mind alone, but she had one thing on her side that he would never have. She had her soulmate. She raised her hands to Jacob’s shoulders, staring up at him intently. “Claim me,” she said.
Jacob didn’t hesitate. She knew he could feel her resolution clear and heavy through the bond and there was no time to waste. His fangs sank into her neck. She didn’t feel pain, she didn’t feel pleasure, all she felt was pure power running through Jacob, through the soulmate bond, in an infinite loop. The infinite power of the soulmate bond bolstered her and gave her the strength to firm her spine and push back against Roman’s unbearable pressure. She shoved hard, pushing Roman back out of her mind, out of her soul, tearing him out of her body. Her vision cleared, the white edges disappearing. She felt strength rush back into her limbs and she gripped Jacob tight, his teeth in her neck, urging him to seal the bond, to bring them closer together almost into one body, one heart, one soul, so that together they could destroy Roman once and for all.
Then, faintly appearing in the landscape of her mind, she sensed the rest of the Shadows. The entire bloodline spread out above her like a starry night’s sky. Each point another vampire, all of them turning their focus toward her and Jacob, meeting their minds and understanding instinctively that the battle against Roman was not happening in the streets of Chicago but was happening right here in the mindscape of the bloodline bond.
Sparrow shut her eyes and the world around her disappeared. She was pure energy focused inward, a formless presence in the bond. She and Jacob were held between the two Bloodlines, Roman on one side and the Shadows on the other.
She felt Roman push down upon her, almost cracking her focus. Splinters appeared like cracks in glass. If he broke through, if he broke her, then the bond between Jacob and Sparrow would give him a foothold into the Shadows’ mindscape. He could destroy the entire Bloodline from within.
Fear flickered through Sparrow and her focus wavered. Roman got a clawed fingernail of purchase. He was going to take her. He was going to break through. She wasn’t strong enough to stop him and all the Shadows would be exposed to his insidious, evil power.
She stretched out, reaching for Jacob, and there his was. Right here with her. She felt his calm and steady resolution, his belief in her flowing through her body, and she knew that he would never let Roman win. She reached up into the night, catching every starry point, each of them one of the Shadows, all of them sending their power down the bloodline bond. Lucian, Dana, Neal, May, Talon, Eden, Rune, and Brigit, each bonded pair, the soulmate bond making them more powerful than normal vampires, and further out the two new recruits, their pale light rippling as they sent every shred of their power toward Jacob and through Jacob to her. Sparrow took it all, wrapped up all the friendship, the loyalty, and the love and threw it at Roman.
It hit him square. She felt him rock back, somewhere out in the city. Crashing down on the ground but not beaten, not yet. He gathered his shreds of power, desperate to bri
ng her down. He was going to strike back. It wasn’t enough.
Then she felt Jacob reach through her mind and offer something up to her trailing tangling strands of gold. She gathered it up, gripping the tangling, fiery threads of the soulmate bond and stretched them out into an unbreakable wall that pushed Roman up out of their bodies, out of their minds, and together they stepped out of her mind and into Roman’s.
Everything around them was brittle and cold. Every edge cutting. Roman’s entire mind empty of emotion, of feeling. No love, no friendship, no pleasure, no pain, no guilt, no remorse. Nothing but an implacable hunger for power.
Sparrow looked around her at this bright shining wasteland in horror. Roman had turned himself into something so far outside of human that even their presence in his mind burned him. He couldn’t bear the love and loyalty they shone with. That was why he had been forced back by the soulmate bond every time, and that was how they were going to destroy him. She turned to Jacob’s presence in her mind and welcomed him in, filling herself with his love and his devotion, with the passion that rose between them. It shone brighter and brighter, reflecting off the facets in Roman’s mind. She could feel him screaming in pain, unable to understand the emotions running through him, more and more, and then, with a motion as simple as reaching out and snuffing a candle, she broke Roman’s hold on her and flung her arms wide, love exploding out of her and burning him away until he was gone.
Far away, across the city, she felt his body tremble and shatter into dust.
She slammed back into her own body and opened eyes grainy with exhaustion.
Jacob pulled his teeth from her neck and she looked up at him. “It’s done,” she said in wonder. “He’s gone.” She searched her mind but she could find no hint of Roman, only the steady, warm presence of the Shadows and before her, Jacob, shining like a bright star. Her entire world.
It was truly over. She never had to fight Roman again. He was never going to hurt anyone else. He was no more. She reached up and kissed Jacob victoriously. Their fangs knocked in their desperation to feel each other, reaffirming the fact that they were still alive. That they had done it. That they had survived.
The bond was fully open, wide and shining, and she felt her feelings running through it magnified ten thousand times. She sagged back against the door, losing herself in a delirium of relief and joy.
“You did it,” he said, looking down at her with eyes shining with love and pride.
“We did it,” Sparrow said, gripping him tightly. “All of us, we defeated him. He’ll never hurt anyone ever again.” Joy filled her aching chest. She kissed Jacob desperately and with wild abandon. They had won. They were safe.
Chapter 32
Sparrow didn’t remember exactly what she said to Jacob in the moments after their kiss. The next few hours passed in a dream. She felt the Shadows returning, all of them reeling from the fact that the fight was over, exhausted from the power they had just spent on the mental fight. The memories, the meetings, they all merged into a feeling of relief and togetherness. It took her a while to finally come back to herself and realize it was just her and Jacob, they were alone together, wrapped up warm in a chair by the window. If she focused, she could feel the pinpoints of the other Shadows nearby. Some in their rooms or down in the courtyard below. All of them close and together, all of them reeling from the win.
She turned up her face to Jacob and met his eyes. How had she ever thought them icy and cold? The blue inside them now was warm and full of pride. Not just warm, she realized, as her body awoke to his proximity, but hot. She felt his desire for her through the bond. It rose in her limbs and sparked an answering desire within her. He was so gorgeous and he was all hers. A thrum of possessive want drove her up against him. She turned in his arms, pressing her body to his, her breasts against his chest. She kissed the side of his jaw and then square on his mouth. He let loose a rumbling growl of approval as if he liked the possessive side of her.
“There’s no getting rid of me now,” she said, grinning at him.
“That’s good,” Jacob replied, “because I never want to get rid of you. This is exactly where I want you. Right here in my arms.”
She arched against him, feeling wanton and alive, wanting to explore the full stretch of the bond in every way possible.
“Right here between your legs, I think you mean,” she said, raising her eyebrow as she pressed her body against his. Her hips met his and the hard shaft between his legs was impossible to ignore. His eyes darkened with lust and she felt a thrill that her actions could elicit such obvious want from him.
“Careful,” he said, “I don’t have much control left.”
Sparrow smoothed his hair back from his forehead and caught his eyes. “I don’t want your control,” she said. “I just want you.” It felt like everything had been leading up to this moment. Everything since their first meeting, Jacob covered in blood, cutting down the attackers, and now with Roman finally in dust, they could relax into the bond. They could experience everything they were to each other.
Jacob tucked his hands underneath her thighs, curling around her ass, and lifted her bodily from the chair. He carried her to the bed, laying her down and bending over her. His broad form blocked out the light, casting her in his shadow. That was exactly where she wanted to be, she thought, and she felt the edges of the shadows tremble and twitch under his command, coming in around them soft and warm, as if they had actual weight. She wanted to be wrapped up in him, in his power, in his body, in his scent. She never wanted to leave and she never had to. This was her home and she had a place here for as long as she wanted it. And since she was a vampire, forever meant a very long time.
They shed their clothes, returning to each other, every moment apart torture. She lifted her mouth to his and kissed him, licking between his fangs. He coaxed her deeper into the kiss, a hot, heavy slide of lips and tongue. Fuck, she wanted him. She could drown in this, just lie here under him and never leave. But soon her insistent need began to make itself known. A slow curl of desire started in her belly, a heavy ache in her breasts, wetness between her legs. He lifted his head and scented the air. She blushed, embarrassed to know he could smell her arousal, and pressed back into the pillows.
“No,” he whispered, brushing a finger across her cheek. “I love it. I love that you want me. Don’t be ashamed.” He rocked his hips so that his erection pressed hard and heavy against her. “I’m not ashamed of how much I want you,” he said, his voice full of dark promise.
“Then take me,” she whispered. “I’m yours.” She saw his eyes flare and a burst of possessive desire echoed down the bond at her words.
“Yours,” she repeated. “Always.”
He kissed her once more, reverently, then reached to wrap her legs around him, pressing close to her hot, wet core. He dropped his mouth to her neck, her collarbone, the curve of her breast, leaving tantalizing kisses in his wake. Her body came alive under his touch. She wrapped herself close to him, feeling him thick and hard between her legs. She wasn’t going to let him tease her like before in the shower, and on a wave of wanton need, she rocked her hips up, her hands going to his waist and pulling him inside her, desperate to feel him. He grunted, his face tense, and she knew he was trying to hold back from pounding into her. “Do it,” she whispered. “I won’t break.” She was a vampire, super-humanly strong. She could take it, and fuck, she wanted him, totally wild and with no restraint. She wanted him to lose himself in her. When he opened his eyes, the white-hot lust in them took her breath away, and he thrust into her, hard enough that she could feel every inch of him within her.
“Yes,” she gasped, clutching him so tight her nails broke skin, and she felt blood slick down his back. Jacob didn’t even seem to notice. He rocked into her, harder, faster, deeper with each thrust until all she could focus on was the slick glide of their bodies and the growing weight of her orgasm tightening like a coil in her core.
He bent, sought out her mouth, the s
lide of lips, of skin, slick and hot and fast. Fuck, yes, this was it. It was perfect. It was everything she wanted. She let go, gave herself over to the pleasure in her body, and deep within her chest the soulmate bond unfurled, lighting up every place they touched. Her pleasure echoed his, growing fiercer, burning through the last of their restraint until she was rising to meet him, clutched tight to him, her muscles flexing, legs wrapped around him, sweat glistening on his skin and their scents smearing together. She was surrounded by him, his scent, his presence, his body.
The bond stretched open between them and Sparrow felt the beginning of his orgasm spark and grow then rip through him, down the bond and slam into her with the weight of a freight train, rocking her head back, stealing her breath. Her muscles went taut, her vision blacked out as she screamed his name into the rafters.
She let go. Let go of everything. Pure sensation. No start, no end, just turning on and on forever. Sparrow was pretty sure she passed out. When she finally came back to her body, she was lying against twisted sheets, Jacob beside her, his body curled protectively around her own.
She barely had the strength to open her eyes, let alone move. She managed, with extreme effort, to turn her head to look at him.
“That was amazing,” she said, her voice hoarse from screaming.
“Thank you,” Jacob said, and there was an undeniable smugness to his words.
She couldn’t deny that he had reason to be smug. She was pretty sure he’d broken her. She didn’t think she could remember how to walk, not for at least another couple of days. “I don’t think I can move,” she said.
Jacob slowly rolled over until he was on his elbow looking down on her. He lazily traced the line of her neck, her collarbone, down to her breast. “I’ll just have to carry you everywhere,” he said with a grin. The teasing line of his fingertips over her sensitized skin was too much and she raised a heavy hand and knocked him away.