by M. L. Briers
“Of course. I’m a vampire, we naturally dislike, distrust and disembowel everyone we come across…”He teased back and saw the slight shock meet with amusement on her face and was grateful for it. It meant she wasn’t still emotionally numb over what she had learned earlier. “Oh wait, forget the last one.”He added with a playful roll of his eyes.
“You’re strange.”
“Creepy and strange, well I’ve been called worse…”
“I can imagine…”She snorted a small chuckle and he berated her with his eyes.
“And you used to be such a sweet child.”
“Where’s the fun in that.”She retorted. Dismissing the thought that maybe life had gotten in the way of her sweetness. Perhaps she would have still been somewhat sweet if she hadn’t been orphaned, brainwashed and harboured a burning desire to know her past. But he’d done what he considered his best for her, and he was probably right. She didn’t regret the life she had with Jill’s family growing up, and living with him and Wesley probably wouldn’t have been the best place for her. So how could she throw that back in his face?
He must have been debating the same thing as she was, because his hand found her wrist and he wrapped his fingers around it bringing her to a stop. “Tell me I did the right thing by you.”His dark eyes were intent on her face, but he couldn’t read her. She had her shields firmly in place and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to get behind them.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“I wished I had kept my memories…”She gave him the honest answer. There was no point in mincing words. She could feel him mentally tapping on her shields to get in, but she kept them firmly in place. “But, you did the right thing.”Petra waited for his reaction, but there was none. He had his vampire face on, blank.
“Good enough. Let’s eat.”He announced starting off for the house and taking her with him, his hand still around her wrist so as not to give her the option to refuse him.
“Who?”Petra shot back, making him hesitate in his stride. She saw the small smile that turned the corners of his lips upwards and heard a small chortle that she thought came from those deep red lips and wondered at it. Her mother’s lover, her stepfather, the vampire.
“And where have you been?”Jill practically demanded. Her small hands were placed on her shapely hips and she looked a little dishevelled as Petra was swept into the living room on the vampire’s leash, or his hand around her wrist to be precise.
“Promise me you won’t venture outside without Wesley or me.”Jerome had turned in place and was staring down at Petra as if he was reading her very soul. Trouble was she still had her shields firmly in place and he wasn’t getting past those suckers.
“Of course.”Petra had already crossed her fingers behind her back. Warding off the bad karma from the lie she told. It may have been a childhood game, but she knew it was founded in Fae practices, as were a lot of everyday things in life.
Satisfied with her answer, Jerome disappeared across the room and left her alone with Jill. “You crossed your fingers.”Jill whispered in an accusing tone and watched a small smile lift the corners of her friend’s mouth.
“Of course.”She answered just as innocently as she had to her stepfather. “I take it by the way you look, you’ve been fending off the advances of your wolf mate.”Petra looked slightly more amused that Jill wanted right now.
“Not so much fending off…”Jill admitted with a slightly sheepish smile. Her eyes told Petra that whether she liked it or not, Jill had enjoyed every single moment of it. The mating pull would only get stronger for her, as it was with Petra, and she could feel it inside her, like gnawing frustration that needed to be silenced. There was only one problem with that, to silence the need she needed to partake in the actual ritual of mating, and that could be a little tricky as she’d rejected her mate.
“Good for you. The sooner you get it over with…”Petra offered and Jill nearly bit off her own tongue in a rush to quash Petra from continuing.
“Really, from the woman who sent her mate away?”Jill knew it was a low blow the moment the words came out of her mouth and Petra’s face dropped like a brick. “You look like I just kicked your cat.”
“Ran it over with a steamroller more like.”Petra informed her before she’d even considered her answer. It just popped out. There seemed to be an outbreak of that lately, she thought, as Jill grabbed her by the wrist and led her towards the sofa that dominated the centre space of the room. Why people kept feeling the need to lead her around like a small child, she had no idea, but it was happening a lot today.
“Sit.”Jill informed her forcefully, and then she did feel like a small child. It felt a little strange, being on the opposite side of their relationship. Petra was usually the one who took Jill by the hand and sat her down for the chat, whatever the chat may be. But she dropped into the soft cushioning and waited to see what it felt like to be on the other side of it.
“Look, I’m all for female assertiveness and freedom of choice, but this is your mate you’ve sent away…”Jill left the words hanging there as if she was expecting Petra to rush in with some statement to bat that logic out of the park. When there was no response she continued. “From what we know he wasn’t even involved with the attack on the coven.”
“Do you have a point, because you really should have gotten to it by now?”Petra heard what she said and it was nothing that she hadn’t already thought about herself. But when Brad entered the room, Petra eyed him with as much warmth as a rattlesnake.
“I have a point.”Brad offered. He saw the way Petra tensed just with his presence alone and decided not to make the short journey across the room towards them. He didn’t want to ruffle her feathers anymore than they already were.
“Maybe now’s not the best time to make it.”Jill bit out, reaching for Petra’s hand in a show of solidarity.
“No, let him make it.”Petra was always crowing about listening to all sides before rushing to judgement, could she really be hypocritical now? She might not have wanted to hear it. She might just feel like burying her head in the sand and shying away from all things Lycan for a very long time, but that really wasn’t in her nature.
“Dale’s a good man, and a fair one. We would both have been pups when the attack on your mother’s coven took place, and I’m sorry your mother and aunt got caught in the crossfire, but that wasn’t Dale’s doing.”He watched for signs of emotions, but came up empty. She wasn’t giving anything away, at least not to him. “You may have been under a death threat from the blood feud, but I know Dale, mate or not, he wouldn’t have acted on it unless you attacked the pack.”
“Good to know.”Petra offered curtly. Pulling herself to her feet she looked down at Jill. “Apparently, I’m to be kept prisoner here for a while so I’m going to go find me a bedroom.”She announced, not waiting for anyone’s reply as she started off across the room and out of the arched doorway before the deep melodic tones startled her.
“He’s right you know.”She turned to find Jerome propping up the hallway wall with his shoulder. His arms were folded over his broad chest and his eyes were intent on her. “Dale’s a good alpha and a good man…”
“So he has my stepfather’s seal of approval…”Petra bit out. The approval of a vampire for a Lycan, this was going from the sublime to the surreal. All she needed was a fairy godmother to pop up and she could just throw caution to the damn wind…
“I’m biased in your favour.”
“I thought you were cooking.”She didn’t need to go into this now.
“Apparently my cousin got there first.”
“Let’s be grateful it wasn’t the Lycan or it would probably be squirrel on the menu.”She made for the staircase, signifying in her mind at least that the conversation about her mate was over.
“He is your mate. You won’t find it so easy to dismiss the mating pull.”Jerome cautioned, making her foot hover over the first stair as she hesitated with her hand on the solid wood of the stair rail.
>
“I can give it a damn good try though, right?”She didn’t turn to look at him for fear that he might see the uncertainty in her eyes. She was sure it was there, because it was definitely rearing its ugly head inside of her. Damn Fate, damn the mating bond, and damn her mate. But she knew it wasn’t going to be that easy.
Jill knew that when Petra wanted to be alone there wasn’t much point in trying to persuade her otherwise. Jerome had told her that Petra had gone to one of the bedrooms and she was happy with knowing that for now, Petra didn’t seem to want to break her fake promise not to go outside. But being in a stuffy old mansion with two vampires and a Lycan knocking around inside the walls didn’t exactly fill her with the warm glow of security that she was looking for. But she also knew that the feeling of anxiety within her was probably more down to the mating pull than being made a meal of by her hosts.
“Looking for me?”Brad teased. Appearing out of nowhere and causing her heart to double tap her ribs made her even more anxious as she glared up at him.
“Hardly.”She snapped back. Perhaps exploring the house hadn’t been her brightest idea to date, because now she was once again alone with her mate in a secluded hallway, vulnerable and as horny as hell… That’s sooo not good…
“Perhaps on a subconscious level…”Brad teased her again. He was in a playful mood; she guessed wooing his mate was his idea of fun, whereas she would have preferred to be feet up in front of the TV watching anything that didn’t involve reality shows and plastic people.
“I want to hit you over the head with a shovel and bury you in the back garden?”Jill bit out, aiming for a little acidity in her tone but not being able to muster it. Damn, but this mating pull thing was wreaking havoc on her ability to be a total bitch. How long would it be before she was all gooey and soft around the damn edges for the man? It didn’t bear thinking about.
“I was going to go with; you want to curl up around my body and…”
“Let’s not continue with that thought.”She snapped out, cutting him off before he instilled anymore erotic thoughts into her mind. It was actually doing pretty well all on its own just then, much to her dismay, or not really dismay, in fact there wasn’t an inch of her that didn’t have a warm glow to it.
Her mind spun as well as the speed induced vertigo he’d created within her as he snatched her up and her surroundings became a blur. Jill wrapped herself around him instinctively, instinctively feeling the need to grab onto the closest solidity and that would just so happen to be his body, and boy was he solid. Her mind might have been in turmoil but it still recognised the hard muscles of his body that tensed and released as he moved. Goddess, but to see them doing that would be… dangerous… she warned herself. She already had a mental picture of him naked and that was enough to have her pulse thumping and her inner muscles clenching, what would the real thing do?
The sound of wood on wood thumping in her ears let her know they had reached his goal a moment before her back was being pressed against the softness of a mattress and his body was caging her in from tip to toe. Damn, but it felt good, too good, not good enough, more, a lot more, way more, oh hell, but I’m a goner! It felt as if time was of the essence and she didn’t have a moment to lose. Her hands reached for the material of his top that was barring the way to her touching his skin, and she wanted to touch him, needed to touch him, as if her life depended on that touch, and she yanked his top up his chest as he pulled back to help her.
Jill’s eyes feasted on the rise and fall of his muscles as he discarded his clothes, all of them, he didn’t just stop at his top, and she made absolutely no move to stop him. There was the odd squeak that rolled up her throat and escaped her lips, but that was more to do with the drooling aspect of seeing his gloriously sexy body being uncovered and nothing to do with a rush to panic that this might be moving too fast. It couldn’t move fast enough.
“If I’m going too fast…”Brad realised the fact that he was stripped naked and she wasn’t. He also noted the fact that her eyes were practically eating him alive and he felt the rush to pride that his mate found him desirable.
“You kind of are…”
“Crap, really?”Brad was mortified. He’d mistaken his enthusiasm for hers, but she didn’t look too distressed. If anything there was a look of glee on her face and a twinkle in her eyes.
“No.” She snorted her amusement as her words sunk in and his eyes flashed with disbelief. The low growl that rumbled through his chest held her spellbound for a long moment, long enough for him to crawl up her body like a predator stalking its prey. A very manly and extremely sexy naked predator, whose muscles rippled beneath his skin as he came for her. “Now don’t go getting all snappy…”She chuckled, unable to contain the sheer glee at his approach.
“Just a little bitey.”He reached for her top and yanked it up from her body and over her head, catching her completely by surprise and leaving her slightly breathless as her back hit the mattress again. Brad dipped his head and ran his tongue over the heated skin of her abdomen, between the crevice of her breasts that her bra created, and up over her collarbone until he nestled his face between her shoulder and her neck, taking in her scent. He gently pressed his blunt teeth into her skin, growling gently and making her putty in his hands.
“Bitey’s good…”Jill confessed. She could feel his hands travelling down her arms until he found her wrists, encircling them with his large hands he pushed her hands up above her head and pinned her beneath his body. “So very, very good…” She knew he was looking for her submission, her permission, and he had it. With every fibre of her being, he had it. Less than twenty four hours after she’d met her mate she was his and they both knew it.
Brad could scent her arousal. Feel her body responding to his, and as her shields dropped away, he felt so much more. Passion, desire, need, every emotion that flowed through her reached out to him, and he growled longer, harder and deeper, showing her that he was in charge of their mating. If she was Lycan he would already have been inside her, but she was human, and he would coax her body to the very edge of bliss before he took her.
He released her shoulder and used his tongue to sooth her skin, it may have soothed that, but it drove her insane with wanting more as she squirmed beneath him. He pushed her hands together and snagged her wrist in one hand. Looking down over her with the kind of smug grin that she might have wanted to slap away on anyone else, on him it was just as sexy as hell. He lifted his hand and flicked out his razor sharp claws. The sight of those talons made her catch her breath, and before she could protest he cut the thin bridge of fabric that held her bra together between her breasts.
“Are you insane? Do you know how much that was?”She gasped, furrowing her brows and trying to remember exactly how much that little item had cost her.
“I’ll buy you a new one…”He retracted his claws and dipped his head, taking the hard bud of her nipple into his mouth he sucked, nipped and laved the flesh with his tongue… A guy that can multitask…
“It was on sale…”She dismissed the thin piece of fabric, what he was doing was worth more to her than gold. Her body was on fire with pleasure just from his mouth, and as she arched her back off the bed towards him, she hoped to the Goddess he was that good at multitasking elsewhere…
He gave a low, deep rumble of a chuckle against her flesh and she shivered from head to toe. She preferred it when he growled at her, but the chuckle was good too. Now if she could only get him to do that lower…
Brad moved down her body. His hand released her wrists and in a heartbeat her skirt was peeled down her thighs, along with her panties and was gone. Bonus. His large hands rested against the inside of her knees and he opened her to him. The deep growl sending shivers up her spine as he pushed her legs back and settled in between her thighs. The feel of his breath against her inner thigh was excruciating teasing. Higher. He ran his tongue up and over her soft skin, and then it was gone, and she caught her breath.
With one long sw
ipe of his tongue he tasted her. From the tight puckered hole of her backside, dipping slightly into her needy channel, up over the sensitive folds and then… Bingo! He swirled around the sensitive nub of nerve endings and closed his lips, sucking it into his mouth and sending her hips upwards from the bed as she moaned with the pleasure. One hundred and eighty. Home run. Dunk shot. Score. Goal! …
Brad slung one hand over her hip and held her where he wanted her. With the other he started to tease through her folds, and downwards, as his fingers rimmed the wet heat of her channel. All the while he worked over that wonderful nub, nipping, sucking, teasing and then soothing it with his tongue. Pressure, pain and then so much pleasure that she thought she just might go insane. When his fingers pushed into her, she definitely had to worry for her sanity, her mind screamed with wanting him inside her and nothing else would do.
“Brad, I need…”She didn’t get to finish her request. He released her instantly and she was expecting him to climb up over her body, sink into her with that long, thick hardness that she hadn’t been able to take her eyes off. But there was nothing as the long moments ticked by. Jill opened her eyes and tipped her head to stare down her own body at him. Jet black eyes greeted her, the intensity of his gaze made her shiver, but it was nothing compared to the sight of him as he buried his face against her sex and started again, only this time he was more ferocious in his assault on her senses.
He took her hard and fast back towards her release, and this time when he stopped, when he pulled away she watched him climb up over her body, his muscles rippling under smooth skin as her eyes locked on the thick hardness that stood proud from his body.
‘Mine.’
“Watch me take you.”The feral growl of his words sent a long hard shiver through her as he slipped one hand beneath her lower back and he lifted her hips towards him. The hard press of his manhood against her channel made her want to thrust her body onto him, but he held her in place, as he slowly pushed into her, inch by inch by inch. Just watching his length disappear inside her as the feel of him pushing deeper and deeper, opening her around his thick shaft, and sheathing him inside the tightness of her inner walls was the single most erotic thing she’d ever experienced.