by Eve Newton
“FUCK!” I yell as the feelings become too much, and I succumb to the pure ecstasy that crashes over me.
Chapter 33
Lilith
I’m roused out of a half-doze by a soft rap on the door. I couldn’t sleep with all the concerns and questions racing through my head about what happens after we do the spell to bring us together. I sit up, hoping it’s Mason, but my senses tell me it’s not. Climbing off the bed, careful not to disturb the two sleeping men on either side of me, I frown and pull my robe on, tying it tightly as I pad over to the door.
“Hannah,” I say, opening the door. “You’re back.”
I was kind of dreading this moment. She and Lloyd were hot and heavy not all that long ago. They were together for many years, but it ended in quite a mess if the rumors were anything to go by. Can’t say that I’m disappointed though. It was only after Lloyd finished with my second cousin that I started to see him differently. Available, for a start. I’m no homewrecker.
“Hey, Lilith, can we have a quick word?” she asks quietly.
I look back at the men, still fast asleep. “Sure,” I say, turning to her and stepping forward, forcing her to move backwards. I close the door quietly. I’m not such a bitch as to rub Lloyd sexed-out in my bed in her face.
I move further down the hallway towards the small arched window that overlooks the side of the property. I can see the full moon glowing through the window and shiver. I have no idea if Mason needs to shift on a full moon. It also raises the question of my Wolf side. Do I shift? I suppose I must, somehow. I push it aside to deal with Hannah.
“What’s up?” I ask.
She purses her lips. “I heard about you and Lloyd,” she starts.
I can’t help folding my arms defensively across my chest. I wait for her to continue. Anything I say will sound trite and insincere, or bitchy and mean.
“He isn’t the right guy for you, Lilith,” she says after an awkward pause.
“I don’t think that’s for you to decide,” I reply stiffly.
“He is so much older than you, and you are the Vampire Queen. Shouldn’t you be with a Vampire?” Her reasoning is desperate, and it rankles me.
“Who says I’m not also with a Vampire?” I ask, waiting for the shocked look that does, indeed, come my way.
“You—you…” she stammers.
I glare at her to continue digging herself a hole.
“Uhm,” she says.
“Look, Hannah, Lloyd and I are in love. We are perfect for each other. Nothing you can say will make me change my mind about that. I’m sorry that you’re still hurting, but he is mine now.” I push past her, needing to end this conversation.
“I will do whatever it takes to get him back,” she says quietly, almost menacingly.
I pause with my hand on the door handle. “I’d advise against that. It will only cause you more pain.”
“Don’t take me on, Lilith. You don’t want me as your enemy.”
“I’d say that you don’t want me as yours,” I respond and turn the handle, pushing the door open and stepping over the threshold. I close the door quietly before she can say anything else. I breathe out and lean against the door.
“Problem?” Axl asks quietly, turning over in bed and sitting up.
“You’re awake?” I ask to buy some time.
“I wasn’t asleep when you snuck out of here,” he says, dropping his feet to the floor. “Used to sleeping during the daytime.”
I snort. “Yeah, sorry. This will be strange for you.”
He holds his hand up and looks at the ring. “Do you think it will really work?”
I can hear the note of hope in his voice, but I ignore it as I get the feeling that he would deflect if I called him on it.
I push off from the door and walk slowly towards him. “My mom wouldn’t have given it to you if she wasn’t completely sure.”
He shrugs and drops his hand.
Standing in front of him now, I untie my robe slowly. He peels it apart and places his hands on my hips, dragging me slowly closer until I climb into his lap. His cock is already raring to go. I bite my lip to hide my smile, clasping my hands on the back of his neck. He leans back slightly to regard me closely.
“Who was it?” he asks.
“Lloyd’s ex,” I reply with a twist to my lips. “My second cousin.”
“Ooh,” he snickers softly. “Drama.”
“Drama I could do without. She wants him back.”
“He loves you; you don’t need to be worried.”
“I’m not,” I spit out, more pissed off at her than him. “It’s just annoying.”
“You never have to worry about that with me,” he says quietly.
“I don’t believe that you have no old lovers that want you back,” I inform him loftily.
“I don’t, believe it or not.” He shrugs as if he doesn’t really care. “I’ve never cared about anyone enough to get that involved,” he adds after a pause. “Trust me, there’s no one.”
He seems quite adamant about it, so I smile and kiss him softly.
“Ride me slow, this time,” he murmurs against my lips, taking his cock in his hand and positioning it at my entrance.
I rise a little bit to allow him access, staring deep into his eyes as he penetrates me. Gasping quietly, I start to move my hips, slowly, sensually, giving him exactly what he asked for. He closes his eyes in bliss, his lips parted as he enjoys what I’m doing to him. Unable to help myself, I ask, “You’re a paradox, you know that?”
His eyes pop open and he smirks at me. “Yeah? Why’s that then?”
“You like to fuck hard when you have the control, but you want me to go slow,” I whisper.
He chuckles. “Doesn’t that make sense, though? I’m the Big Bad, baby. I demand savage and brutal fucking when it’s about you. It’s what you crave, it’s part of the Vampire inside you and I want to give that to you, show you what it’s like to fuck hard. When it’s about me? What can I say, I’m a sucker for passion.”
I rotate my hips, seeing the pleasure fill his eyes. “Mm,” I murmur. “I like it all ways. I want you to fuck me harshly, hurt me to bring the pleasure. I want to fuck you with my Vampire speed until your dick nearly snaps. I want you to go slow and ignite the burning fire inside me that I have for you until it bursts into flames of lust. I want to ride you gently, as if you would break in my hands. I want it all with you.”
“I would give you the world if you asked for it,” he says, fisting his hand tightly into my hair and yanking my head back to expose my throat. “Make a demand and I will deliver, my Queen. I am yours eternal and nothing will ever get in the way of the hunger I have for you.”
“Fuck, you have a way with words, you asshole,” Lloyd complains, making me laugh and pull against Axl’s grip to look over his shoulder at my woken Warlock.
“Can you beat that?” I challenge.
“Has he told you he loves you yet?” Lloyd asks slyly.
I shake my head, a smile dancing across my lips.
“Then I’ve got him beat. I love you, Lilith. You are my everything.”
“I can’t say that you just stepped on my declaration, mate,” Axl says, his hands dropping to my ass to drag me further onto his cock. “I have those words, Queenie, but now isn’t the time to use them. I want to say it and have you say it back. I don’t think you’re ready yet.”
“Christ, could you be more perfect?” Lloyd mumbles, getting to his knees and reaching over Axl’s shoulder to cup the back of my head, drawing me in for a deep kiss.
“Only if you’ve got a little sugar for me as well,” Axl snickers, dropping his fangs and biting into my neck without another word.
I giggle as Lloyd pulls back, his face a picture.
“Nice,” I comment as Axl slurps hungrily and messily from my vein, causing rivers of blood to glide down my neck and in between my breasts. “That’s an image that I won’t get out of my head for a while.”
“You an
d me both,” Lloyd mutters, looking away, but I can’t tell if he’s interested or the opposite.
When Lloyd places his hand lightly on the back of Axl’s neck, I gasp. Axl moans softly, causing a vibration to shoot through me. I clench around his cock with a cry of ecstasy and lose myself once again in the beauty of this meshing of bodies, only lamenting the fact that Mason isn’t here with us.
Chapter 34
Mason
I spit the black bile into the basin and run the water to wash it away.
“Fuck,” I mutter. This black magick is kicking my ass. Not that I’ll admit that to anyone else.
“Bitten off more than you can chew, Wolf?”
I grimace at the shadow of my reflection in the dark bathroom and ignore Philip’s voice. I can’t deal with him right now.
“You can always give it back to that little slut you’re trying so desperately to protect. But you’re not very good at that, are you?”
“Fuck off,” I snarl out loud.
“Do you know what she’s doing with those other men while you are in here suffering? She is letting them use her like a whore. She’s forgotten all about you.”
Pressing my lips together and pushing away the fear that he is right, that I’m losing her by being so hesitant, I breathe in deeply. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. So fuck off out of my head.”
“You can’t protect her from me. She is evil and vile, and I will stake her in front of you so you can suffer how I’ve suffered.”
“Don’t you think I already know the pain of that loss?” I whisper, glad that I can’t see the pain etched into my features. “And you’ve got it all wrong. Lilith is the sweetest, most loving creature I know. There isn’t an evil bone in her body.”
“She is a Vampire. The Queen of them,” he spits out.
“Doesn’t make her evil.”
“Oh, but you are, aren’t you, Killer? You know what it's like to take a life.”
He is taunting me with the sins of my past. I know it but it doesn’t make it hurt any less.
“Nothing to say?”
“I’m sorry about Laura,” I choke out, the guilt swamping me in its clingy, slimy vines.
Silence.
“And what about the others?” he replies stiffly.
“It was a mistake. One I have to live with.”
“You are so full of shit, you know that. Apology really not accepted for murdering my wife. I’m coming for you, Wolf and I will tear your heart out and burn it after I’ve made you suffer in ways you can’t even imagine. You and that Vampire the woman you can’t stop thinking about is fucking right now.”
Gathering all of the resolve and inner strength I have, I slam my hands down on the counter and grip it tightly. “Get. The. Fuck. Out. Of. My. Head!” I roar.
I close my eyes in relief, knowing that I’ve kicked him out. For however long, who knows? He is learning too much by digging around. I can do the same, it can help Lilith, but I can’t get past the overwhelming pain he feels that I caused him. Sucking in another labored breath, I stumble towards the door. I need to get outside. I need to shift and run.
Yanking the door of this enormous, luxurious bedroom open, I trip into the hallway. I look back to where Lilith’s room is. All is quiet and dark. It’s late. I can see the full moon glowing through the window at the end of the corridor. I’m not a slave to it, but the urge is intense to shift.
Taking the stairs quickly, I cross the entrance hall and stop dead at the voice that drifts in from the left. “You’re new. Where did you come from?” she slurs.
I turn to see a blonde woman slightly inebriated and swaying gently in the doorway that leads to the drawing room.
She doesn’t give me the chance to say anything as she staggers towards me, a drunken smile on her face. “You’re hot,” she says with a growl. “Wolf, yes?”
“Yeah,” I mutter, turning back towards the front door.
“Mm,” she says, grabbing my arm and using me to haul herself in front of me again. She runs her other hand up my chest. “Delicious.”
“I’m taken,” I state, stepping back and lightly brushing her hand away.
“What a shame,” she says with a mournful sigh. “If you were mine, I wouldn’t let you out of my bed, never mind my sight.” She gives me a lewd look. “She’s a fool. Who is she? I’ll kick her ass for letting you out all alone.”
“Not necessary,” I say, trying to duck around her to get outside. I don’t want to risk pushing past her in case she falls on her ass and takes it as a threat. I can smell the magick emanating from her skin. She’s no amateur magick wielder.
“Humph,” the woman mutters and apparently forgetting all about me, she stumbles back into the drawing room.
I breathe out in relief that it didn’t turn nasty and open the front door, slipping out silently. Making my way over to the far back corner of the grounds, I strip off my clothes and leave them in a neat pile next to a big bush. I stretch my back out and then I let the Wolf emerge slowly. I drop onto all fours and feel my bones changing, my skin stretching, the fur growing. I shake my head and take in a deep breath. My Wolf senses can smell everything around me, my vision sharpens, my hearing clear. I snuffle at the ground and then set off in a dead run to the opposite corner of the grounds. It’s not the open forest but it will have to do.
As I run past the far side of the mansion, I stop. I can smell Lilith all over.
I follow her scent to a big constructed spring in the ground with a deep, velvety pool surrounding it. Lilith is floating on her back on the surface, naked and alone.
She twists her head, sensing me. She stands up, the water lapping just high enough to cover her hips. “Hi,” she says softly.
I lick my lips, but don’t move any closer to her. I shouldn’t have come here. I should’ve carried on, ignoring her scent. But how can I? We are meant to be together.
“Shift,” she whispers. “Come to me.”
Against all my better judgment, I do as she asks, shifting back to my human form.
Her eyes laser over me hungrily. I want her so badly at that moment, I take a step forward and then another until I’m sloshing through the water towards her, eyes never leaving hers.
I stop about a foot away, trying desperately not to look at her magnificent tits. I want to devour her nipples with my mouth, kneading them harshly as I claim her mouth in a heated kiss I know will be the end of me.
“Why don’t you want me?” she asks so quietly, I barely hear the anguish in her voice.
“Fuck, Lilith,” I mutter. “I do. You have no idea how I feel when I stand this close to you.”
She moves in even closer. My breath hitches when she places her hands on my chest. I reach up to grip her fingers, my skin searing under her touch. I close my eyes and for a moment enjoy this moment that I’m going to have to crush.
“I’m here. I’m ready,” she whispers. “Please.”
“I can’t, Lilith. Not yet. If I allow myself to touch you in the way that my entire body is crying out for, I will lose myself in you. If I do that, if I get lost, I will be useless to you. I won’t be able to protect you.”
“I told you I don’t need you to protect me,” she says annoyed.
“And I told you that I will do it, anyway. When we kiss for the first time, when we make love, I want to be clear headed. I want to know it’s the right time and that you are safe. I can’t lose you,” I whisper the last four words, hoping that she accepts what I’m saying without me having to explain further.
“You aren’t going to lose me,” she says.
“You can’t promise me that. I can’t…Lilith…I just can’t. My heart can’t take it. Do you understand that?”
She hesitates, taking that in. Then to my relief, she nods. “I understand. Whenever you are ready, you can come to me knowing that I accept our Fate and that I am ready to consummate this bond, tying us together.”
“Thank you,” I murmur, not having anything else to sa
y. I’ve already said too much. I didn’t want her to know how much I fear losing her before I’ve even got her. I don’t want her to see me as weak, but right now, I can’t be strong. I can’t do what she wants me to do and have the presence of mind to guard her from all harm. I know enough about myself to know that. Using all of my inner strength, I pull away from her and turn to slosh back out of the pool before I lose my mind and impale her on my achingly stiff cock with the water rippling around us.
I leap out of the pool and with my back turned, I shift once again to my Wolf form and race off, already feeling the loss of her touch. She has consumed every part of my being but keeping her at arm’s length will prevent me from falling into a drowning obsession of needing to be with her irrevocably. Without the taste of her, I can hold on to the shred of sanity that still grips me enough to see us through this threat and to keep her safe.
As I run further into the grounds, I feel eyes on me. I slow down and turn my head to the left slightly.
“I’m Ember,” a small, dark-haired woman says, stepping out of the shadows. “Mason. We need to talk.”
Chapter 35
Lilith
Heaving a pitiful sigh, I haul myself out of the pool and onto the side, settling on the big fluffy towel that I remembered to bring with me on my impromptu midnight swim. I pull it up around my shoulders, trying desperately to stay put and not chase Mason down and jump on him. I’d figured before tonight that he had suffered a deep loss which was confirmed by his words. I wish that somehow, I could convince him I’ll be fine, that he doesn’t have to worry. But I understand. He is an intensely brooding male. I have a feeling that when he finally allows himself to fall into a proper relationship with me it will be possessive, all-consuming and thrilling as fuck. I shiver at the thought and then stand up. I need to get back inside. Dawn is coming and I need to sleep before we do this spell later. I have to be focused and clear.