Ravaged (Vampire Awakenings, Book 7)

by Brenda K. Davies

  “We have to go,” Aiden said to Maggie.

  “But I can help!” she protested.

  “Is there a chance someone who comes here could recognize you?”

  “Yes,” she reluctantly admitted.

  “Then we have to go. Right now, your job thinks you have a concussion. If they find out you were here—”

  “I can’t lose my job.”

  Aiden hoped she wouldn’t return to her old life, but if the possibility of losing her job got her moving, he would use it to his advantage. “No, you can’t.”

  Not to mention, if he stayed here much longer, he might feed off one of the injured. His fangs pricked, and his mouth watered at the prospect. His eyes latched onto the blood trickling from a cut on a man’s forehead. He struggled to keep himself under control as he nudged Maggie toward the door.

  The police started filing into the restaurant as the two of them crossed the lobby to the elevators. Aiden steered her away from the police and toward the stairwell. Maggie kept her head down as more shouts sounded from behind them. He hurried her up the stairs.

  Opening the door for her on the third floor, Aiden held it as Maggie stepped out of the stairwell and into the hallway. Fire licked over his veins, and his thirst grew with every step he took toward their rooms. He sniffed at the air while listening to the beat of hearts behind the closed doors lining the hall. The idea of hunting so close to their rooms wasn’t one he liked, but he couldn’t go far from Maggie, and he had to feed soon.

  He didn’t care if he snapped and killed a human; they meant nothing to him. He would live with the rotten stench until it faded from him, but he couldn’t take the chance he might go for Maggie. He should have known this was coming and prepared for someone to watch over her while he hunted, but it was too late for that.

  Stopping outside his room, he slid the key card into the lock and pushed open the door for her. Instead of following her into the room, he backed away to put more distance between them. He had to leave her before he couldn’t.

  Maggie frowned when she glanced over her shoulder at Aiden standing in the hall. His fisted hands caused the muscles in his forearms to bulge. He looked as predatory as the night when the Savages attacked them, but she had no idea what had put him into this state.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  He rested his hand on the doorframe but didn’t go any closer to her. “The blood, downstairs. It’s been a while since I fed.” He could barely get the words out as the prospect of blood caused saliva to fill his mouth. “I have to. Now. I need you to stay here. I won’t leave this floor.”

  Maggie glanced at the hallway behind him. “You plan to feed on some of the people in those rooms?”

  “Yes.”

  “You can’t.”

  “I have to.”

  “But there are families—”

  “I’ll stay away from the families. I don’t feed on children.”

  “They might panic.”

  “They’ll never know what I’m doing. I’ll take the memory from them.”

  She knew he had to feed to survive, and looking at him, he had to do it soon, but to do it to unsuspecting people felt wrong. “It will hurt them,” she said.

  “No, it won’t. I promise you, they’ll never know what’s going on. They’ll never remember it, and there won’t be any pain.”

  “But—”

  “Maggie, if I don’t feed now, I could lose control and attack someone, or worse, I could hurt you. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “No buts. This is how I survive. I must feed if I’m going to keep you safe, and that is the most important thing to me.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I care about you.”

  The blunt way he stated it robbed her of all further protests. That sentence wasn’t a line coming from Aiden. She believed him when he said it, just as she believed he wouldn’t cause any suffering to anyone he drank from tonight. If they experienced a fraction of the pleasure she’d received from his bite, then they would know only bliss.

  Her pulse quickened as she recalled the ecstasy that flooded her when his fangs sank into her throat. She yearned to feel that again, but more, she didn’t want anyone else sharing the experience with him. She gulped when his eyes fell to the vein in her throat and red flashed through their green depths.

  “What of me?” she whispered, unaware she was going to ask the question before she did. “What about my blood?”

  His head bowed, his shoulders heaved as his fangs extended. He craved her blood more than a dying man sought Heaven. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”

  “Don’t you want it?” She should be jumping for joy he’d prefer not to use her as a human blood bag, not feeling dismayed that he may go elsewhere.

  When his head lifted again, Maggie couldn’t stop herself from taking an abrupt step back. No green remained in his eyes, only a vivid ruby red blazed out at her. She edged further away when he bared his fangs. The razor-sharp points glistened in the hallway light. Her heart was going fast enough to win a race against a horse, but instead of turning and fleeing into her room, she stopped backing away.

  Aiden had been there for her today, and she would be here for him now. She had no idea what this was between them, but she wouldn’t turn him away, and she wouldn’t let him seek from another something she could give him.

  “Aiden—”

  “I thirst for your blood so badly I can barely think, but you don’t know what you’re asking. It won’t be enough; I’ll want to feed from you again.”

  “Will you hurt me?”

  “Never.”

  “Then I’m offering my blood to you.”

  “You don’t know what you’re saying.”

  “There are many things in this world I’ll never be able to understand or help with, but I know a small fraction of your need for blood, and I can help. When you bit me…” She paused as she tried to think of the right words. “When you bit me, it was a rush of pleasure, unlike anything I’ve ever known. I want to be the one who nourishes you. Don’t go to someone else; come to me.”

  Aiden’s hand dug into the doorway as he realized jealousy tinged her words. Perhaps she had come to care for him too, or at least she cared for him enough to offer him this.

  “I’ll want more, Maggie,” he said again. She had to understand that.

  “I’ll give you what I can, when I can, for as long as we’re in this.”

  He should walk away from her. She didn’t know what she was getting into with this, but he couldn’t resist her, and if she was willing to give him her blood, she might eventually be willing to stay with him forever.

  Releasing the doorframe, he entered the room and closed the door.

  CHAPTER 31

  She wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans when the door closed with an audible click. The hallway light cut off, and with the drapes pulled over the windows, she couldn’t see him.

  She was in this room with a predator who required her blood and would take it from her. Any sane person would flee; she didn’t move as she listened to Aiden prowling closer. If she escaped into her room, she believed he would let her go, but her feet remained planted on the ground. She couldn’t deny she was terrified, but she also couldn’t deny she’d been desperate to experience this with him again.

  When he stopped before her, he stood so close his body warmed hers and his breath whispered against her face. His hand encircling her nape caused her to gasp. She hadn’t heard him move.

  “You can change your mind,” he said.

  The husky tone of his voice sent a shiver down her back. “I won’t.”

  He pulled her gently forward, and she braced herself as she waited for him to strike as he had in the ambulance. Instead, his lips moved over her forehead in a tender caress. The rigidity of her muscles eased as he kissed her cheek before his lips settled on hers. Standing in the hallway, he’d appeared starved, yet now he seemed more concerned with puttin
g her at ease.

  She opened her mouth to his tongue and sighed when it slid inside. He kissed her with the leisure of a man who had all the time in the world. He tasted of whiskey, but beneath that, she detected the faint hint of clove. When his hands slid around to grip her ass and he lifted her, she wrapped her legs around his waist. The rigid evidence of his erection sent delicious shivers down her spine when it rubbed between her thighs.

  I didn’t expect this to happen. But as she thought it, she knew she lied. She’d known when she offered her blood this is where the night would lead them.

  Aiden groaned when Maggie’s legs locked around him and she rubbed against the head of his swelling cock. He continued to kiss her, delving deeper into her mouth as she rose above him before sliding back down his erection. His kiss muffled her sensual cry. When she repeated the motion, her nails bit into his nape.

  In two strides, Aiden carried her over to the dresser and set her on it with the mirror at her back. Breaking the kiss, he pulled back to take in her flushed face and swollen lips. She stared breathlessly up at him, looking so enticing it took everything he had not to tear her clothes from her.

  Take it slow; savor her.

  He traced her bottom lip with the tip of his finger before bending to nip at it. She didn’t flinch when a bead of blood formed there. He slowly licked her blood away. That small influx of blood calmed him more than all the beatings, sex, and death he’d received and given over the years.

  Minutes ago, his body had been waging war with itself, but she gave him peace. Having done nothing to deserve her, he would do everything he could to keep her.

  He nipped at her lip again and swallowed another drop of her blood. Releasing her bottom lip, he kissed his way over her skin and down to her throat. Maggie braced herself for the brief pinprick his bite brought with it, but he still didn’t strike. Instead, he ran his tongue over her vein before gripping the bottom edge of her sweater and lifting it to reveal her stomach.

  He stroked her flesh in a slow, teasing manner from the bottom of her bra to her jeans and back again. Her skin came alive where he caressed, and every part of her screamed for him to ease her torment as he sucked on her throat, but still didn’t bite.

  When Aiden pushed her sweater higher, she lifted her arms for him, and he pulled it over her head. Her lacy black bra revealed more of her flesh than it hid as her nipples were visible through the material. He circled one of his fingers around her dusky areola and growled when her nipple stiffened beneath his ministrations. Her breast was slightly larger than his hand when he cupped it and bent to flick his tongue over her hardened nipple.

  Maggie’s eyes had adjusted enough to the muted light filtering around the drapes for her to watch him as he teased her. One of his fangs scraped her breast before he lifted his head to gaze down at her. She could see the outline of his fangs against his lips as he undid the clasp at the front of her bra.

  He inhaled sharply when her breasts spilled free. His fingers skimmed her shoulders when he pulled the straps of her bra back and slid it off her. She had no doubt he’d slept with many women over the years, yet he gazed at her as if she were Aphrodite come to life. Maybe he made every woman feel like that, but she didn’t think so. Whatever this was between them, she sensed it was unusual.

  “So lovely,” he murmured before cupping her breasts in his hands and bending to kiss one nipple before turning to the other.

  A growing wetness spread between Maggie’s thighs; her head fell back as he ran his tongue over her breast. His fangs scratched her skin before he sank them into her, just above her nipple. Arching her back, she thrust her breast deeper into his mouth as the brief pain of his bite faded and ecstasy rose to replace it.

  Releasing his bite on her, Aiden rose, yanked his sweater off, and tossed it aside. Her heavy-lidded eyes opened to watch as he stroked her belly before lowering his hand to the button of her jeans. He slid the button free and pulled the zipper down.

  Maggie traced the dips and ridges of his abdomen. His skin rippled beneath her touch as she learned his body, memorizing every detail of him. When she cupped his erection through his jeans, he pushed his hips into her grasp and planted his hands on the dresser next to her as she stroked him.

  Releasing him, she undid the button and zipper of his jeans and slid them down his hips a little. Without any underwear to hold it back, his erection sprang free to stand proudly out from his body. Unable to resist, she took it into her hand. Hard and hot, she marveled at the size of him and grew wetter with her need to have him inside her. She stroked his shaft before tracing the supple skin on the head of his cock and the thick vein running up the side of it.

  He seized her wrist, halting her movements. Maggie froze, she didn’t know if she’d somehow pushed this supernatural being too far. Tension radiated from him, his vast aura of power rippled across her skin. Then, he closed her fingers more firmly around his shaft and guided her hand over him.

  “Fuck,” he groaned.

  After another stroke, Aiden pulled her hand away from him before he came in her palm. He bent to lift one of her feet and pulled her sneaker off. He let it fall before removing the other one. Her hips rose off the dresser when he tugged her jeans and underwear down her thighs.

  The excitement building within Maggie became a tumult she could barely contain as he tossed aside her jeans and stepped closer again. His body warmed hers as he trailed his fingers up her inner thighs, his eyes following every move he made.

  Aiden discovered two freckles marring the creamy perfection of the skin on her inner thigh. Those freckles looked to be spaced about fang width apart, beckoning him to bite her there. Between her legs, her neatly trimmed auburn hair did nothing to hide the fact she was already wet with her want for him.

  Lowering himself between her legs, he placed a kiss against the two freckles before sinking his fangs into them. Maggie’s legs slid over his shoulders and drew him closer.

  “Aiden,” she breathed as he drank deeper from her thigh than he had from her breast.

  Releasing his bite, he kissed and licked his way up her thigh to the juncture between her legs. Maggie’s head fell back when his tongue flicking over her clit sent a current of ecstasy through her. She gripped the edge of the bureau as he slid a finger in to stroke her in an unrelenting motion that matched the demands of his tongue.

  Her hips rose and fell, matching his pace as every nerve ending in her body came alive. Then, her body came apart, and she cried out as an orgasm rocked her. She’d experienced orgasms before, but she’d never truly experienced one that made her toes curl, her nerve endings sing with pleasure, and her entire body bow before going limp.

  Aiden rose over Maggie, his control fraying as he tugged impatiently at his jeans. She’d calmed him before, but now the taste of her blood and her release on his tongue were pushing him to the brink of madness. He had to be inside her, possessing her.

  He kicked his sneakers off, yanked his jeans down his legs, and threw them aside before stepping between her legs again. She smiled lazily as she reached for him. Aiden captured her wrists before she could touch him and pinned them to the mirror behind her head. Maggie’s eyes widened, but she didn’t thrash against him or tell him to stop.

  She couldn’t touch him; touching was not for him, not during sex. It didn’t matter this was Maggie, that she was far different and more important than anyone else he’d been with, he’d waited too long. His darker inclinations had clamored to life within him and were moving beyond his control.

  He kept her wrists pinned as he held her gaze and pressed the head of his shaft against her wet center. Then, he drove forward until her wet heat enveloped him. Sheathed deep inside her, all his malevolent impulses vanished as he experienced the tranquility she gave him.

  “You feel so good,” he said and lowered his head to rest it on her breast. She was incredibly wet and ready for him, but the tightness of her muscles gripping his cock made him realize, if he moved too fast with her, he
would hurt her.

  A feeling of completion stole through Maggie as she adjusted to the size of him inside her. Needing to touch him, she jerked against his restraining hold.

  His hands briefly clamped on her wrists as old habits surged to the forefront. However, this was not some stranger he didn’t want to touch or be touched by. This was Magdalene. When he released her, she lowered her hands to cup his face. He turned his lips into one of her palms and she cupped his cheek.

  “My Magdalene,” he murmured as she ran her fingers over his cheekbones.

  It had been years since he’d been touched with care during sex. Even before his maturation he’d stopped wanting affection from his partners. When he’d been in high school, he hadn’t offered promises of future calls to the girls he slept with. Once he started having sex, he’d avoided dating anyone from his school because there would be too many complications, and he’d known none of them was his mate.

  As he’d gotten older, there had been less contact between him and his partners. Some women touched him to hold onto him, and he’d handled them when he had to, but there had been no caring in those caresses, only necessity. Over the past six months, the contact had become rarer.

  Their touch had disgusted him.

  No, he realized, he’d been disgusting. He’d been as unworthy of any kindness from them as he was of his family’s understanding and support for him. If those women knew the things running through his mind while he’d been with him, they’d have run screaming. Often, he’d considered giving in and tearing their throats out so he could bathe in their blood.

  He didn’t deserve for anyone to care for him, especially not Maggie, but her hands on him soothed his ravaged soul in ways he’d never known possible. No thoughts of killing or inflicting pain went through his mind; he only experienced the wonder of her. She made him crave more of her caresses as her fingers moved over his shoulders and down his back. Unable to stop himself, he withdrew his cock partially from her before sinking inside again.

  Maggie hadn’t expected her recently quenched passion for him to return so fast, but it sparked to life until it became a wildfire. One of his arms locked around her waist, and his other hand cupped her nape as he took possession of her. Despite his total control of her body, and the strength of this supernatural being, she felt like she held him in the palm of her hand, as if he was somehow more vulnerable than her right now.