Tall, Dark & Heartless: A Pyte/Sentinel Series Novel

by R. L. Mathewson

  Chapter 30

  "Sex?" she repeated in a daze.

  "Mmmhmm," he said, pressing one last kiss against her neck before he stepped away from her. "Eat," he said, gesturing to the bag of blood in her hands.

  "What?" she asked, absently licking her lips as her eyes trailed over his chest, making him chuckle. She was so damn responsive to the simplest touch. That knowledge had him biting back a groan. This was going to be one lesson he fully planned on enjoying.

  "Eat, Danni," he said, once again gesturing to the bag.

  She shook her head as if to clear it. "But, my teeth-"

  "Are down. Drink so that we can move on with this lesson," he said, reaching for the button of his jeans and noting the way her eyes followed the movement.

  "Drink, Danni," he said in a soft seductive whisper as he undid the button.

  "Drink, right," she said with a small nod as she forced herself to focus on the task at hand.

  He watched as she reached up and ran her finger over the tips of her fangs and sighed. "Sex," she mumbled to herself. "Gonna have to remember that," she said as she brought the bag to her mouth.

  "What are you going to have to remember?" he asked absently as he reached out and helped her by taking the bag from her and giving it a light squeeze to force the blood to the top of the bag to make it easier for her to puncture it without making a huge mess.

  "To be careful when I'm going to have sex," she said, frowning down at the bag as if she still wasn't sure how she should go about it.

  He had to chuckle at that. "I'm not going to care if your fangs are down during sex." In fact, it would probably turn him on even more, especially if bit him while she-

  She snorted as she carefully took the bag away from him. "I'm not talking about you, Caine."

  "Then who the hell are you talking about?" he demanded, doing his best to keep his temper at bay. He was mistaken. She wasn't talking about having sex with another guy. He'd obviously misheard her.

  "If I ended up seeing a man, a human," she clarified, further pissing him off, "then I don't want to scare him off and I really don't want to lose control. So I'm going to have to learn how to control this thing," she said, absentmindedly gesturing to her face as she continued to study the bag of blood, "so that I don't hurt him."

  "I see," he said through clenched teeth as he watched her sink her teeth into the bag. He watched impassively as she took her first swallow and gagged.

  "Keep drinking," he said, reaching out and forcing the bag to remain where it was while she glared at him, but she didn't drink, he noted.

  Did she really think that he was going to stand by why she allowed other men to touch her? He'd kill any male that touched her and really she should know that by now. Maybe this connection wasn't as strong on her end yet, something he hadn't considered. Perhaps he should test it out.

  "Then you have no problem if I have sex with other women," he mused as he noted as her eyes turned red, glowing with intensity before the last word left his mouth. They narrowed on him as a cute little growl escaped her.

  "Don't like that idea?" he asked, feeling somewhat comforted by her reaction, but he wouldn't be completely satisfied until she realized that she was his mate, his to touch, to protect and to fuck. Once she realized that she wouldn't want another man, never mind allow one to touch her.

  She yanked the full bag off her teeth to answer him. "I don't care," she said, but he noted her hand tightening around the bag, squeezing out some of the blood and knew that she was probably having a few murderous thoughts of her own about any woman that touched him. Good, they were making progress.

  "Are you sure?" he asked, his lips twitching with amusement as he watched her trying to control her rage.

  "Yes," she practically hissed.

  He shrugged like it was no big deal as he took the bag of blood away from her and carefully tossed it into the trash, making sure that blood didn't splatter everywhere. "Then I guess we should get on with the lesson."

  "Let's," she bit out tightly.

  "Retract your fangs," he said as he reached for his zipper and slowly pulled it down, loving the way she struggled not to watch.

  When he had it down she admitted, "I can't."

  "Then I'm going to have to show you, but first you're going to have to clean up." At her questioning look he explained, "You still have traces of blood on you," he looked pointedly at the blood drying on her hands and arms. "You need to be able to focus and if you can scent blood it's going to make it more difficult."

  She looked down at her hands with a sigh. "Fine," she said, marching past him and stepping into the shower stall. He wasn't too surprised when she adjusted the temperature and made it hotter. She did seem to enjoy hot water.

  Maybe when everything was settled he'd take her to his villa in Italy. He hadn't been there in decades, but it used to be one of his favorite places. It was large, beautiful and boasted several hot springs. He could just imagine Danni lounging in the one overlooking the ocean. She-

  Would never go there, he reminded himself as he made quick work of stripping out of his clothes. Once he showed her how to control her teeth and eyes, which he planned on accomplishing tonight, he was going to take her to her new home. He'd called in about a dozen favors from Jax and now had the perfect hideaway for Danni.

  It was an old home the pack hadn't used in nearly a century and it was absolutely perfect for her. The house was deep in the woods and the nearest neighbor was a hundred miles away. The property spanned several hundred acres of woods and it was completely inaccessible except by foot. The property was also surrounded by government protected property so he didn't have to worry about anyone finding her.

  He'd have blood dropped by helicopter twice a week and whatever supplies she might need, but other than that she'd be on her own for a while. He had a few things to take care of and once he was done he'd check up on her. He'd do his best to stay with her for a week or two, but he knew even that might be a bit much. He wasn't at the point in his life where he needed a solitary life yet and it wouldn't be fair to her to make her think that she could get him to stay. He also wasn't ready to settle down with a mate. Danni would hate being alone, but that didn't matter.

  With a resigned sigh, he joined her in the shower. He ignored her pointed look to leave and quickly washed up, admittedly enjoying the show as she washed herself. They'd hit the airport tomorrow, fly to Washington and make the hike to her new home. Once she was settled he'd leave. Getting her up there and settled would probably take a week and he damn well planned on enjoying his mate while he did it, starting with tonight's lesson.

  ******

  "I'm ready," she said, tightening the large fluffy white towel around herself before she gestured for him to get on with it.

  "What's the rush?" he asked with a chuckle as he tossed his towel aside and walked towards her with a predatory gait.

  "No rush," she lied as she forced herself not to stumble back into the bed or the very least lick her lips as she ran her eyes over his body. The man really was a work of art. Her tongue couldn't decide which playground to visit first. There were the tan sculpted muscles, that delicious tattoo dying to be traced or should she start with the piercing held up proudly by his jutting erection? This was about getting control, she reminded herself.

  She needed to learn how to control herself at least well enough to get to Pennsylvania without being noticed and if she had to have sex with this man to do it then that was just the sacrifice that she was going to have make, she thought holding back a smile as he stepped past her and slowly walked around her. His gaze felt like a caress that sent shivers throughout her body and damn if her fangs didn't slide down again.

  "You're letting your emotions control you," he said in a chiding tone. He stepped in front of her and met her eyes dead on. While she was turned on and unable to hide it, he didn't have that problem. He was obviously aroused. The thick cock pointing at her clued her into that, but his eyes were still a beautiful gray
and there were no points in his mouth peeking out. "No matter what's going on with your body you need to be able to control your eyes and fangs," he said, moving to walk around her again, this time pulling her towel away.

  "And you think sex is the key to learning how to do that?" she asked in a disbelieving tone even as she felt her body ready itself for him.

  His chuckle was deep, sexy and irritating. "I know it is, baby," he said softly as brushed his fingers across her bottom as he walked past her.

  "How?" she asked, hating how her voice suddenly sounded breathless.

  He shrugged as he made another pass to walk around her and somehow she managed to force herself to keep her eyes forward even as something else brushed her bottom, this time earning a startled gasp from her.

  "Sexual arousal is one of the body's strongest reactions. It's also one of the most difficult to ignore and when the body is desperate for release in the way I'm going to make you in a few minutes," he explained softly, making her nipples ache in response, "it's harder to control how our body reacts and even more difficult to focus on anything else. After I'm done with you, you're going to be able to control your other side even when you're angry, hungry," he said slowly as he walked past her once again, "or need to be fucked," he whispered in her ear as he traced between her cheeks with the piercing.

  She had to bite her lip to stop herself from moaning. How did he do that? How did he turn her on more than any other man and bring her close to begging for it? Maybe that was a good thing, she decided when he placed his hands on her hips and held her as he continued to tease her bottom with his erection. If she could learn to control her reaction to Caine then she had a fighting chance of keeping control around humans.

  "How do I push my fangs back?" she asked, surprised that her voice sounded so normal when she had a gorgeous man teasing her like this.

  "Run your tongue over your teeth," he whispered in her ear, his warm breath teasing her skin as he continued his sensual assault.

  "That's all?" she asked, swallowing nervously.

  "That's all," he promised as he pressed a kiss against her nape.

  Not really expecting much, she did it and was surprised when they slid back up. "I did it!" she said excitedly.

  "Now the eyes," he said, pressing a kiss to her shoulder.

  She frowned at that. "How do I do that?"

  "Control what you're feeling, Danni."

  "How?"

  "Ignore your body, Danni. Ignore what you're feeling, what you want and most importantly ignore what I'm doing to you," he said as if it were really that easy. "Take control, Danni."

  "Take control," she repeated slowly, taking a deep breath and releasing it as she forced her mind away from what he was doing and what she felt. She used the techniques her doctor showed her to escape the pain when the cancer medication didn't work. Although it didn't completely take away her pain, it did help to make it tolerable.

  She evened out her breathing and focused her eyes on the wall, noting that it was tinted in shades of red, but slowly, ever so slowly the red began to fade until the wall became a light green. "I did it!" she said excitedly, barely aware of what Caine was doing behind her.

  "Good," Caine said approvingly as he released her hips walked around her until he was once again in front of her. "Now let's see if you can maintain that control," he said as he reached out and ran the pad of his finger around her right nipple and just like that her eyes burned as everything once again went red.

  He chuckled as if her lack of control amused him and of course it pissed her off. Her jaw clenched tightly almost to the point of pain as she struggled to force her mind away from his touch, her body's reaction and the need to make him eat his words. Slowly, the red began to fade away as Caine continued to circle her nipple almost lazily.

  "Very good," he murmured just before he flicked her nipple, turning her vision into dark shades of red and pissing her off with that smug little smile of his.

  "Try harder, Danni. You need to control it," he said, giving her nipple a slight pinch that had her knees shaking before moving on to the next one.

  "I am trying," she gritted out.

  "Not very hard," he mused as his other hand joined the party.

  She licked her lips as she fought against the urge to melt into him. She ignored how good his touch felt as she once against focused on controlling her body. She looked over his shoulder at the wall, but that was no longer helping so instead she focused on the tattoo trailing up his neck and along his jaw.

  It took a little longer to ignore the way he teased and caressed her nipples, but somehow she managed. This time she held her control for several minutes and even when he moved his hands to cup and caress her breasts she didn't lose control.

  "Very good," he murmured, leaning forward and taking one of her nipples into his mouth, suckling it gently as he traced the swollen tip with his tongue.

  As she reached up and gripped his shoulders to steady herself her gaze flickered red. She licked her lips as she struggled not to close her eyes and focused on the top of his head as he drove her out of her mind, but still she held on. Eventually her eyesight returned to normal and when it did she couldn't help but smile and release a little moan of pleasure.

  With one last lick he released her nipple and stood up, keeping his hands right where she wanted them. "Good," he said approvingly as he continued to caress her breasts.

  "Can you drop your fangs now?" he asked in a bored tone as he looked down to watch what he was doing.

  "You haven't explained how to do that yet," she reminded him as she willed one of his hands to move lower to another place that needed him.

  "It's all about focus, Danni. Focus on everything you're feeling, your wants, needs and desires. Then step back and allow the change," he said, sounding as if he was in a trance as he watched his hands mold her breasts.

  She blew out a breath as she tried to do just that. When nothing happened after a minute she started to become frustrated and he must have sensed it.

  "Just focus on what I'm doing, baby, and what you want me to do," he said, but that didn't seem to help. She'd fought too hard to get control and now he was asking for the impossible, for her to just let it go.

  "Hmm, I guess we'll have to approach this in a different way," he murmured as he allowed his hands to drop away. He walked over to an overstuffed chair and sat down, uncaring that he was naked or had the biggest erection she'd ever seen as he got comfortable.

  "You notice that my eyes aren't red, don't you, Danni?"

  "Yes," she said, still struggling to drop her fangs. Why the hell couldn't she do this?

  "That's because I'm in control. It took a long time, but now I don't react unless I want to, something you need to master," he explained as he looked her over and still his eyes remained a beautiful grey steel even as his cock jerked in approval.

  "That's not exactly helpful at the moment, Caine. Give me something I can work with here," she said, forcing herself not to panic. She hated having a weakness, any weakness and the man knew that.

  He cocked his head in an assessing manner. "Think of all the women I'm going to fuck after this," he said crudely and God help her if that didn't get her eyes burning and her fangs dropping in an instant.

  Caine grinned smugly as if her reaction to that little announcement somehow amused him. She couldn't hide the fact that it made her want kill any woman who so much as glanced his way. This was crazy and she knew that, but she couldn't help it.

  "Like I said, baby, it's all about control and you don't have it," he said tauntingly.

  "Oh?" she said, forcing herself to focus as she ran her tongue over her teeth and had to stop herself from doing a victory dance then and there when they slid back up, "and you do?"

  He met her gaze dead on. "Absolutely."

  Maybe it was time to make him lose that control, she thought, biting back a smile. "I bet I could make you lose it."

  "There's nothing you could do to make me lose contr
ol, Danni. Nothing," he said, sounding so damn sure of himself that she almost believed him, almost.

  Chapter 31

  "Oh God," Danni said, gasping as she pulled the bag away from her mouth for what was probably the fifth or sixth time. After making her little announcement, she gave him a smug little smile as she returned her attention to eating, or rather in this case, drinking. Once she bit into the bag and took her first pull on the cold blood her smug little smile was replaced by a rather amusing expression of shock and disgust.

  "I can't do this," she mumbled to him or herself, he didn't care.

  "Yes, you can," he said, placing his hands over hers and pushing the bag of blood that she'd barely put a dent into back towards her face.

  She stubbornly shook her head even as her face squished up adorably. "I really don't think I can, Caine. M-maybe there's a vegan alternative out there somewhere for Pytes. Maybe fruit juice, milk shakes, or hell, I'd even be willing to try wheat grass," she said in a rush as he forced the bag closer to her mouth.