Pulling her close, he kissed her hard and deep, her body molding to his. Although his gums ached where his fangs were hidden, they stayed where they belonged and didn’t descend. Maybe she was right. Maybe he could control himself. Her abrasions were bloody, so if his dark nature really were uncontrollable when it came to her, he’d have already attacked by now. And probably killed her.
Hope sprang in his chest, and he kissed her with renewed passion. Maybe a future together was possible.
A soft, feminine moan escaped her as they fell onto the couch. Without breaking the kiss, he undid his jeans and cursed against her lips when the zipper got stuck. He felt, rather than saw, her smile. By the time he got it unzipped and shoved his jeans past his hips, she’d already shimmied out of her thong. Yay, elastic. A man’s best friend.
Grabbing a condom from his wallet, he quickly sheathed himself. Although a vampire couldn’t get a human pregnant or transmit disease, he hadn’t told her that yet and he sure as hell wasn’t going to stop to explain it now. He always carried them anyway. Expecting that a woman he’d just met would be okay with him going bareback had douchebag written all over it.
Brain fogged with desire, he slipped a finger into her liquid heat. Damn. She was slick enough for him already. Her breath hitched as she arched her hips, giving him easier access. “Ah, yes. That’s perfect, baby.” Adding a second finger, he then brought his thumb up and rubbed her sensitive flesh, loving the sounds she made as she moaned into his mouth. She rocked against him seeking her release, her inner muscles starting to clench and pulse around his fingers. He pressed her clit harder.
“Oh my God, Mateo,” she said breathlessly, digging her fingers into his shoulders.
She was coming already. Having forgotten how quickly she responded to him, he smiled as he nuzzled and licked and kissed her.
When her spasms stopped, he slipped his fingers out, reached for her hand and pulled her to her feet. While that orgasm had been beautiful, he planned to give her another, more powerful one. She looked at him quizzically, but said nothing when he turned her around, placed her hands on the arm of the sofa and grabbed onto her hips. Although she knew he was a vampire, he still didn’t want to frighten her in case his fangs emerged in the heat of the moment.
Cock throbbing, he positioned himself at her slick entrance and nudged just the tip inside. “You okay with this, baby?” He wanted her to know that she could change her mind.
She glanced over her shoulder, lips parted, eyes at half mast.
Tangles of dark curls splayed across her shoulders, inviting him to pull her hair. Thank you very much. I think I will. He ran a hand up the lovely curve of her spine and grabbed a handful of silky locks.
Her gaze met his, and she nodded.
“Say it.” Especially now that she knew the truth about him. After he left, he didn’t want her to look back and have any doubts that she wasn’t one hundred percent on board with this.
“Yes, Mateo,” she whispered softly. Then she added, “Please.”
Christ. He nearly lost it right then and there. He loved how she instinctively responded to his more dominant nature. He nudged her legs wider. Then in one thrust, he shoved into her impossibly tight channel.
A strangled cry escaped her throat as Mateo entered her from behind, filling her completely. He was bigger than she remembered. And thicker. She let out a long, ragged breath as her body adjusted to this incredible intrusion. Once inside her, he held himself still and nuzzled the back of her neck, giving her inner muscles a chance to accept him. She felt a surge of molten heat as the ache inside her grew. Even though she’d just climaxed, her body craved more from him.
He gave a low chuckle and pushed deeper, taking advantage of her additional lubrication. “That’s it. Take me all in, baby. You’re almost there.”
A delicious tension, starting in her fingers and toes, rushed inward toward her core and sought release. Without any more from him than this, she could almost, almost have another orgasm. She was right there on the edge. Good Lord, the man had a lot of self-control. More than she did. She rocked against him, ready for him to break her into pieces.
“Impatient little thing, aren’t you, Selena?” he growled into her hair. “You’ll come when I tell you to come.” Strong fingers dug into her hip bones, holding her right where he wanted. Her body trembled with eager anticipation.
His dominant nature was unapologetic, and although she’d never admit it aloud to him, deep inside, she secretly loved it. But unlike the Subs from the books she read, she would never completely give in to him. She liked the friction between them too much.
“Then how about this?” He withdrew until the ridge of his cock was pressed against her swollen, sensitive clit, and before she could answer, he drove into her with a force that tore another cry from her throat.
He thrust, hard and demanding, his pelvis slapping her ass with every stroke. Intoxicated with lust, she shifted slightly until the thick ridge of his erection was rubbing relentlessly against just the right spot.
He groaned. “Damn, Selena. You feel fucking amazing.”
“You…do…too.”
He reached around, one hand moving to her breast and one between her legs. She gave a soft moan as he twisted her nipple between his finger and thumb and did the same to her clit. Her release—it was right there. Please don’t stop.
“There you go,” he growled, as if he could read her thoughts. Shifting his hand from her breast, he grabbed a handful of her hair again and pulled. “Come for me, baby. And I want to hear you scream.”
It was if he’d pressed a button. Her feminine muscles clenched on their own around him, independent of anything she told them to do. Her body gladly surrendered to his demands.
“Yes, Mateo,” she gasped, fingers digging into the arm of the sofa. Oh hell, yes.
Something snapped then and a huge, thunderous orgasm slammed through her, making her scream. Successive waves of pleasure spiraled upward, setting off fireworks behind her eyelids, and every muscle spasmed. She’d never felt anything like this, not even when they’d been together before. Just when she thought her climax had peaked, Mateo groaned loudly and his whole body tensed behind her. Pulsing with his own release, his thick cock pushed against her inner walls and sent her impossibly higher.
When it was over, he didn’t pull out right away. They stayed in place like that, hearts pounding, skin slick with carnal sweat.
What had happened between them was nothing short of amazing. Although they’d been apart for years, she felt a more intense connection to him than she’d ever felt before.
“Damn, Mateo,” she said breathlessly. “That should be illegal.”
He pulled out of her then and discarded the condom. She turned, expecting him to react, to laugh, but instead his gaze didn’t meet hers.
The truth had drawn them together on a deeper, more powerful level. But she feared it would now only tear them apart.
Chapter 10
The helicopter arrived an hour after sunset the following day, landing in a nearby clearing to the north of Broadmoor. The first one off the aircraft was a beast of a man in a black tank top that showed off his tattooed biceps and cargo pants with pockets that made his muscular thighs look like tree trunks.
“That’s Zeph,” Mateo yelled above the sound of the rotors. “Irritating as fuck sometimes, but a total stand-up guy. Best partner I’ve ever worked with.”
Zeph smiled broadly as he jogged over to where they stood at the edge of the trees, clapped Mateo on the back, then surprised Selena by giving her a giant bear hug. “So you’re the woman who’s been under Mateo’s skin all this time.”
She felt the blood rise to her cheeks.
Mateo shot her a look that said, see what I mean? “I still can’t believe you did all this on such short notice,” he told the man. “I owe you, brother.”
“Of course,” Zeph said. “If a dude can’t count on his friend to drop everything and put a squad together to capture
some bad guys, who can he count on?”
Zeph introduced them to his sister, Brenna, and her fiancé, Finn, the pilot.
Chestnut-brown eyes sparkling with mischief, Finn gave Selena a fist bump. “A fellow human and sweetblood. Niiiice. Glad to know we’re not the only crazy ones here.”
Pretending to be offended, Brenna shoved him playfully, then turned to Selena. “I hope you don’t mind that I came. I’m not a Guardian, so I won’t be going with them on the raid. Thought maybe you’d like some company.”
Or maybe Mateo didn’t want to leave her alone while all this went down. Selena smiled. It would be nice to talk to another woman, one who was a part of Mateo’s world. She liked them already.
Zeph wrapped a muscular arm around his sister’s shoulders and gave her a hearty shake. “Admit it, sis. You came cuz you missed your baby brother.”
Brenna poked him in the ribs, hard, and he jumped away from her, holding his side and laughing.
Mateo rolled his eyes. “What was it like growing up with this guy?”
“Just like you’d imagine,” Brenna answered, tucking a lock of flaxen hair behind one ear. “A nightmare. A complete and utter nightmare.”
Finn, who was absently playing with a chain he’d pulled from his pocket, snorted.
“I’ll have you know,” Zeph said, “that she used to drag me to the shops and I had to pretend to be her boyfriend. You know, hold her hand and shit. Thought it would increase her social cred if people thought she was dating a total stud.”
Brenna made a sound of exasperation. “You’re such a narcissist. See what I had to put up with, you guys?”
Zeph winked. “Notice how she didn’t call me a liar?”
Selena then met the other two Guardians. Roxy was about the same height she was, with dark blond hair and beautiful golden eyes. The woman pulled the neck of her shirt down, exposing an infinity tattoo with a rose. “I’m your resident dakai expert.”
“No shit,” Mateo said, giving a low whistle.
Roxy nodded. “I worked undercover in a sect back east. I’ve thought about having it removed—Santiago hates it—but I figured it might come in handy sometime.”
Kip was the most reserved one in the group, and from what Selena could tell, the youngest. His smile was genuine but guarded, and after quickly shaking her hand, he moved away and stayed off to the side.
On the walk back to the mansion, Selena was surprised when her phone beeped. She didn’t know there was any coverage up here. It was a missed call from her dad. Hanging back from the group, she hit redial. He wasn’t into long phone conversations, so she knew this would be quick.
“Hey, Dad.”
“Where are you? I stopped by the kitchen, but you weren’t there. And I stopped by your house. Marcella wants me to order a cake for her nephew’s birthday.”
Irritation pricked at the back of her neck. The woman couldn’t contact Selena herself? In addition to all the handyman projects she was having him do around her house, she was now having Selena’s father do her errands too? It ticked her off that her father was so smitten by this woman that he couldn’t see how he was being taken advantage of. He was a smart, intelligent man. Couldn’t he see what was going on? Love could be blind sometimes, she thought, then laughed inwardly at the irony. After all, she was the one who had fallen for a vampire.
“I…ran into an old friend.” She hesitated, deciding whether to say anything more. She couldn’t exactly tell him the truth, nor did she have time for a lengthy explanation of half-truths that would satisfy him.
“Oh? Who is that?”
But she couldn’t flat-out lie to her father, either. “Mateo. He’s back in town for a few days, so I’m…up at Broadmoor right now.”
Silence.
Had the call been dropped? “Dad?”
“I’m still here,” he said, his tone flat.
“I knew you probably wouldn’t be happy to hear that.”
Mateo, who’d been walking ten to fifteen feet in front of her, turned around. “Everything okay?” he mouthed, a concerned expression on his face.
She nodded, gave him a thumb’s up. He smiled and turned back around.
Her father exhaled slowly on the other end of the line. “I’m just…surprised, that’s all.”
“Yeah, I can imagine. But we’ve had some really good talks.” Now wasn’t that the understatement of the year, she thought as she ducked under a low branch.
There was another long stretch of silence—a pregnant pause, if ever there was one—before her father spoke again. “Honey, I’m only going to say this once, because it’s your life, and I can’t live it for you. I respect the choices you make for yourself. But are you sure he’s not just going to break your heart again? He put you through hell the last time.”
She thought about it for a moment. No, she couldn’t say with any certainty that her heart wouldn’t get broken again. But at least she knew the truth now. Four years ago, Mateo hadn’t left because he didn’t love her. He’d left because he did. “Dad, I appreciate your concern, but I’m a big girl, okay? So when does Marcella need that cake?”
Back at the mansion, the group gathered in the sitting room, and Selena told them what she knew about the research facility. How to get there. The surrounding area. The layout of the building—what little she’d seen of it.
“It was always Ms. Karza waiting for me in the lobby,” she said. “No one else. She tasted the samples there, and that’s where I delivered the food for their events. Never to a kitchen or a conference room. Citing security clearance issues, she said her employees would set up the food themselves.”
“There wasn’t even a receptionist?” Zeph dwarfed the piano bench he was sitting on, making it look more delicate than it was.
Selena shook her head. “I never saw anyone else, actually. Wait. I take that back. The first time I catered one of their events, I did see a few people. Three women walked across the back of the lobby, behind where Ms. Karza was standing, but that was it. I never saw anyone else.”
Roxy leaned forward in her seat and steepled her fingers. “Do you happen to remember what they were wearing?”
Selena had to think for a moment. It had been several months. “White smock-like robes. I assumed they were some sort of lab coats since it was a research facility.”
“That’s what they wear to a purification ceremony,” Roxy said. “They do them at every full moon.”
“Purification ceremony?” Selena asked, not sure she really wanted to know.
“It’s a blood ritual they perform to break their fast. They celebrate with food and drink afterward.” Something about Roxy reminded her of a college professor who was passionate about what she was teaching.
“Yeah, Selena’s food,” Zeph said. “Bitches.”
“And her blood,” Mateo added through gritted teeth.
My blood. Selena swallowed nervously and rubbed her throat as she tried to make sense of it all.
Roxy nodded. “It would appear so.”
Kip cleared his throat, breaking his silence. “You don’t think DBs found her and came to her house at night? Or took her back to their den? That’s what they usually do.”
“I didn’t detect any DB scent at her house,” Mateo said. “They didn’t come for her there.”
“I’m confused, though,” Selena said. “If they took my blood here, how did it get on the black market in New Orleans?”
“I suspect this particular sect is working with Darkbloods,” Roxy answered. “Unusual, but not unheard of. The DB network is more extensive than the Agency likes to admit.”
“Yeah, and it helps that the Agency is so fucking corrupt in New Orleans,” Mateo said with contempt. “The DBs down there are selling blood that comes from everywhere.”
Zeph nodded at Mateo’s assessment, “Unfortunate, but true.”
“Got blood you can’t sell on y’alls home turf?” Mateo said in a fake Southern accent. “Come here and we’ll sell it for ya.”
/> Selena’s throat went dry. That confirmed it then. She’d been an unwitting blood donor for a cult’s macabre ceremonies, not once, but several times.
Mateo cursed and put a protective arm around her. “I’m going to fix this, Selena. It’s never going to happen to you again. Never.”
She just hoped that Mateo was right.
Chapter 11
It was almost ten o’clock by the time the group headed back to the helicopter. Finn estimated it would take fifteen or twenty minutes to get to the compound. And if things went well, Mateo told her, they could be back by midnight.
Zeph looked at him as if he were crazy. “More like right before dawn.”
They were almost to the edge of the forest when Mateo turned around and jogged back. “I almost forgot.” He reached in his pocket and threw her a set of car keys. “But please don’t go anywhere. I need you to hang tight until this is all over.”
She smiled at his protectiveness. “Don’t worry. Brenna will keep me in line.” She kissed him again. “Be careful.”
Once she and Brenna were back inside the mansion, they scoured cupboards, closets and shelves, looking for a deck of cards or a game they could play.
“Can you move those for me?” Brenna asked, pointing into a cupboard.
Selena looked over. “Those candlesticks?” They didn’t look very heavy.
Brenna nodded. “They’re silver. We’re highly sensitive to silver—it weakens us, much like the sun does. I’m surprised Mateo’s family even has them.”
Selena moved the candlesticks out of the cupboard. Right behind them were a few board games and several decks of cards. A few minutes later, they were sitting at the table in the kitchen, drinking herbal tea, eating crackers, and playing gin rummy.
“So, if you don’t mind my asking, how did you and Finn meet?”
Taming the Vampire: Over 25 All New Paranormal Alpha Male Tales of Contemporary, Military, Shifters, Billionaires, Werewolves, Magic, Fae, Witches, Dragons, Demons & More Page 123