The Bite of Winter

by Lauren Smith

  As the decades spun faster and faster past them, he and Conner had grown apart. Connor withdrew into himself and his guilt at living on while his family had died. Until Lara. She had been the key that had brought them back together. A true mate to both of them. He and Connor started enjoying life again, feeling so close to human that it had seemed to be a miracle. Ian’s own despair had waned in the burning light of Lara’s jubilant life.

  But that also ended, as all things must. Seamus had murdered her in cold blood, and they’d been too late to turn her. Her death had forced Ian and Connor apart again. And yet they stuck together. In the end, they had no one else to turn to.

  Zoey was still watching him, with eyes that reflected an old soul. A soul that seemed to see right through him.

  “Did I fall asleep?” Zoey murmured.

  “Only for a few minutes. Go back to sleep.”

  She blinked, her eyes drifting from his face to his body, over his bare chest and pajamas. He couldn’t help it when his body responded and his cock twitched in anticipation. A delicious burn swept across her cheeks, and she pulled the covers up to her chin.

  “Are you…are you gonna sleep here too?” There was something so intimate about sleeping next to someone. More intimate than sex. When two bodies occupied a single space, both relaxed and were at their most vulnerable, limbs tangled together, their dreams free to weave together, tying the two people closer than anything else ever could. He knew that for her to sleep next to him would be a sign of trust.

  Ian leaned forward, curled his fingers into the comforter’s thick white fabric and peeled it away from his side of the bed.

  “I’d like to if you don’t mind.” He made a show of fluffing a pillow and then met her shy gaze with a steady one of his own, hoping it would reassure her.

  “Do vampires sleep?”

  “When dawn comes we do. It’s hard to wake us. We’re very groggy if we don’t sleep.”

  “Oh…so it’s close to dawn?” Zoey started to sit up, but Ian leaned over her and placed a palm on her shoulder, urging her back down into the bed.

  “Dawn is a few minutes away. Is it okay that I sleep here? Next to you?” He wanted her to say yes, to throw her arms around his neck and cover his face with kisses. It was a foolish dream, to want her to genuinely desire him. But it had been so long since he’d known a woman’s touch in affection, not because of the influence of his glamour.

  Ian waited as she weighed her options. Emotions danced across her expressive face, giving her feelings away in ways she never realized. Her fear, worry, and concern soon turned to desire and eagerness to be with him. He could read every one of her subtle expressions and each fascinated him. It had been many years since a human had captured his interest like this.

  “Ian…about what happened in the bathroom, before you went to get the food—”

  “I enjoyed it. A lot. If you aren’t ready, then you have but to say the word. Just let me sleep here, let me hold you so I know you are safe.” There weren’t words to tell her how much he needed that.

  She’d been so close to death. He’d been lucky enough to bring her back. He was just beginning to realize how fortunate he truly was in saving her. She was a puzzling conundrum of sweetness, independence, creativity and compassion. While she’d showered, he’d taken another look at her art and couldn’t wait to ask her a thousand questions about why she chose to sketch and photograph things and people the way she had. Her understanding of the world around her, seeing things others never bothered to look at, fascinated him.

  Now that he’d talked with her and kissed her, he couldn’t imagine the light of her life being snuffed out like a candle. It would be too much like Lara and he couldn’t lose Zoey like that. It was a thought that he knew would haunt him for years, knowing she would someday have to die, as all things did, all except creatures like him and Connor. He just didn’t want it to be soon, and not while she was with him.

  Vulnerability, fear and need all warred in her soft, sad eyes. Their chocolate depths were filled with heartbreaking memories, weighing him down with a single look. What he wouldn’t give to inspire those eyes to spark with life and laughter once again. To turn the sadness he’d glimpsed in her portfolio to pictures and sketches of joy, of beauty.

  “Why do you care about me being safe?” Her eyes watered. “No one’s cared…not since my family died.”

  A second later, Ian was in the bed, Zoey’s body tucked in his arms as he cradled her against him.

  “You need someone to care about you, love. I want to be that person. So let me.” He used his fingertips to brush the hair back from her face. Her skin was as soft as the petals of a new flower, like velvet beneath his fingertips. Her pulse beat a rapid rhythm in the delicate blue vein in her neck. Out of pure instinct, his fangs began to lengthen. He struggled to fight off a wave of hunger. She wasn’t to be bitten, though Connor had already tasted her. The healed puncture wounds on her neck made his anger flare to life again.

  “What’s the matter?” she asked, an edge of worry in her tone.

  “Connor bit you. I don’t like seeing you hurt.” He touched the skin where she’d been bitten but she didn’t flinch. “I should pound him into a bloody pulp for that.”

  “It doesn’t really hurt. I’d say getting knifed was far worse.” She was trying to joke, but it was no doubt a mask to hide the memory of her violent attack.

  “You’ve got to stop saying things that break my heart, lass.” Ian pulled her even closer. They were pressed together, skin to skin, from chest to toes and it heated his blood in a way he’d forgotten was even possible.

  He rubbed his knuckles over her cheek. Her lashes fluttered and she leaned into him. When she looked up at him, disbelief mixed with exhaustion and humor shone in their depths. They were such a lovely shade of brown—light, almost cinnamon red under the lamp light. He’d never seen a shade of brown so warm and animated before. It fascinated him.

  “This is crazy. I’m in bed with a vampire who just wants to cuddle.”

  “Well, I want more than that, but the last thing I wish to do is force you.” He stroked her lower lip with the pad of his thumb.

  She glanced up at him. “Every time you touch me, I get this wild urge to kiss you.” Her admission made her blush.

  With a heavy sigh, he tightened his arms around her. “Zoey, there’s something I must tell you about me and Connor. About vampires.” He prayed she wouldn’t turn away, wouldn’t run from him after he’d explained things.

  “Okay.” She dragged the word out, as though attempting to calm herself, but he didn’t miss her increased heartbeat.

  “Vampires have a magnetic pull to them. Most of us call it a glamour, because with prolonged exposure, a mortal will begin to see things fuzzily, so strong is the desire to be with us. Like clouding your senses. It helps to lure prey to us and make them aroused. Willing. ’Tis hard to tell what’s true desire and what is from this pull.”

  “A magnetic pull?” Zoey asked, brows drawn together as she seemed to puzzle her way through the information.

  “Yes. We used to consider it magic, but I think perhaps it is more compared to animal pheromones. It acts on a mortal subconsciously, but powerfully.”

  “Vampire mojo,” she whispered to herself. “I was right.”

  “Vampire mojo?” Ian almost laughed, but sobered when she answered him with a grave nod.

  “I couldn’t figure out why I was terrified of Connor chasing me, but the second he was close to me, I just wanted him too much to care about how frightened I was.”

  Ian stroked a hand along one of her arms, seeking to soothe her. “That’s why I was furious with Connor. He took advantage of you, knowing how you would react.”

  She shook her head. “No, he didn’t. I remember him asking me if that’s what I wanted, and there was this moment of clarity, like that crazy desire had bee
n lifted, but I still wanted him. Just like I still want you,” she added the last in a shy little whisper.

  “You want me?” He was too afraid to hope it was true. But how was he to know? Too many years had been wasted in his early years after turning, as he’d tried to figure out whether a mortal woman was truly interested in him, or whether it was the work of the glamour. Aside from Lara, it had always been the glamour, and that realization had always been painful.

  “I do, but I’m so afraid that you don’t want me back, that it’s just my appeal as a walking Happy Meal that draws you in.” Her words would have made him laugh, but the fear of rejection in her lovely eyes cut him soul deep.

  “You are irresistible, Zoey. If I didn’t hear that sweet little heartbeat thumping so madly against my chest, I’d have to question whether or not you might be the one with a glamour.”

  Her skeptical little scoff had him grin as she wrinkled her nose. “I doubt I’m irresistible.”

  “You know…a man might call that a challenge.” He couldn’t help but stare at her lips, drawn to the movement of her tongue slipping out to wet her lips. What would it feel like to have that tongue lick him, or those lips wrap around his cock as she sucked him into oblivion? She would be a natural, with her sensual curiosity. A devious, but shy smile danced across her lips. She was new to this sort of teasing, but he sensed she was enjoying it. She was challenging him, but not outright.

  “A man? But not a vampire?” she asked.

  Ian’s lip’s tilted up into a smile. She was brave enough after all.

  “Be warned, Zoey. You challenged me.” He curled one arm around the back of her neck, pillowing her head as he rolled on top of her. Her knees were locked together, but when he lowered his head and stole her lips, she softened. A few more seconds at the opening of her mouth, and once he’d gained entrance, her legs fell apart. He slid his hips between her knees and groaned as he settled into the cradle of her thighs.

  It had been years since he’d allowed himself to truly enjoy a woman’s body like this. She was built perfectly, small, compact. He loved spanning his hands over a woman’s full thighs as he licked at her center, and he would do this with Zoey before long. Yes, he would thoroughly taste her in every way possible.

  He coaxed her lips farther apart to slide his tongue inside. Her startled gasp made it impossible to resist deepening the kiss further. He wanted inside her mouth, inside her. He desired her, wanted to possess every part of her, even her heart…as foolish and dangerous as that was.

  Zoey’s hands explored his back, shaping the contour of Ian’s muscles. He purred like a tiger at her eager touch. She tilted her head back, exposing her throat. He could hear the excited clatter of her heartbeat. He nuzzled her neck, then licked the spot where her pulse beat against her skin, the place where Connor left puncture wounds. The faint taste of dried blood was still there, calling to him like a siren’s song. The urge was too hard to fight. He rubbed his hips against hers, grinding against the heated core of her body which was now blissfully bare to him since the shirt had ridden high on her waist.

  Ian dropped his head and gripped her neck with his teeth, letting his fangs hold her still. He didn’t break the skin, but his need to bite, to mark his prey was overwhelming…

  Prey!

  No. Zoey wasn’t prey. She was his charge. She needed his protection. Ian let his fangs recede as he stared down at her. Her eyes were glazed over with desire. Her lips were swollen from his kisses and all he wished to do was to keep nibbling them like succulent fruit.

  “Do you believe me now, Zoey? My sanity is practically in shreds.” He pressed his hard shaft against her, both thankful for the shield of his pajamas and disappointed he couldn’t slide against her slick sex and feel it against his cock.

  The temptation would be too great. He’d sink into her, take the innocence he knew was there and not give her the proper love-making she deserved for their first time together. Sure, she was acting well enough as though she knew what to do, but he knew a sensual innocent when he saw one. Despite his body’s needs, it was too soon. She deserved to be seduced, courted, wooed. He would give that to her, even if it killed him. They both deserved to know what lay between them wasn’t the result of the glamour, but from true desire. His heart gave another strange little tug and he winced, breathing almost painfully for an instant.

  “Why’d you stop?” Her hands rested on his shoulders, her fingertips caressed his neck.

  “Because you’re tired and need to rest, and I won’t be able to stay awake much longer.”

  Zoey’s lips formed the most adorable pout. “But I don’t want to stop.”

  “I know, love, I know. But you’re exhausted. There’s plenty of time later.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “Go to sleep.”

  She scowled. “No.” Her brows drew down in a line and her lips plumped in a deeper pout than before.

  He narrowed his eyes and focused, using his power of influence. “Go to sleep, Zoey.”

  She continued to scowl, but it was lessened by a heavy yawn. Her lashes batted up and down wearily.

  “Did you just vampire voodoo me? I’m…” Another yawn broke her words apart. “Can’t keep…my…” Her lashes fell and stayed fanned out over her cheeks. Her breathing slowed, as did her heartbeat. Her hands dropped from his neck to her sides.

  Ian’s body screamed in frustration. He focused on maudlin thoughts of the years when he and Connor had been mortal. It stilled his body’s needs and brought him down from the blissful high of kissing Zoey. Kissing her was like looking up at the night sky, seeing endless stars or submerging himself in the ocean, feeling the waves roll past his body. It was powerful, unending, bigger than any one person.

  With just one simple brush of his lips on hers, he no longer felt like Ian Kennedy. He wasn’t an immortal, wasn’t a man, he felt like something more, something greater. It made him want something, something he’d dared not hope for since he’d been turned. He dared not breathe the word. He wasn’t ready and neither was she.

  Instead he focused on Zoey and her power over him. The way she overwhelmed his senses. He’d never been that aroused, that lost in the moment with any other woman, except with Lara. He forced his mind away from those memories. She was many years gone and Zoey was here. Sweet, vibrant Zoey. It was time to start over, to live his life again. Seamus and Connor be damned. He was going to enjoy this Christmas.

  Chapter Six

  Connor O’Shea lay on his back in bed, glowering at the ceiling. One palm rested on his stomach, the other behind his head, providing a cushion. He was mad enough to punch something, but he wasn’t that sort of man. He never let his temper manifest in anything but his words.

  His father had used his fists, and Connor swore he’d never be like that. When a woman got his ire up, he tended to seduce, and then fuck her into blissful submission. Zoey wasn’t like other women. It wasn’t just her body that held him fascinated. It was the way her emotions flitted across her face, so full of expression, of meaning. After nearly two centuries mortals had become faceless, nameless, a means to an end for him. A way to survive. But not so with Zoey. He’d tasted her blood and what he’d seen through the connection, one he hadn’t meant to allow, would have knocked him flat if he hadn’t been on the bed.

  A vampire could connect to their prey while feeding, but as a vampire grew more disciplined they could shut out the connection. He had been too lost in his game of capture and claiming of Zoey that he hadn’t been prepared to block out her memories.

  They’d rushed through him in wild, brilliant flashes, like summer lightning striking in the distance. Warmth of a noon day sun upon his skin, the sound of wind chimes tinkling in a faint breeze, the excitement of blowing out birthday candles, a room heavy with the scent of sugar and melting wax.

  A hundred days of light and laughter had embedded themselves into his soul. She’d given him a gift o
f her life and she’d never known it. A mortal life with mortal blessings. One he could take into the darkness of his own heart. His chest squeezed and he huffed, suddenly short of breath. What a strange sensation. He hadn’t ever done that before…except once, long ago with Lara. That had been a time when his body had seemed to revert back to its most human state, almost human at any rate. Did that mean…?

  No, Lara was my true mate. And Lara is gone. This is fascination, nothing more. An echo of what I lost.

  He didn’t know what to do about Zoey. She was fiery, passionate, yet she seemed too sweet. He preferred his women wicked, wanton, willing to try anything in bed or out. He doubted Zoey would ever be so bold…

  Yet her eyes had darkened with such fire when he’d brought her to climax. Her sheath had been tight, wet and so hot it scorched his fingers. She wasn’t a virgin, no, but she was damned close. The right man, or former man, could tempt her to release the wanton woman he’d seen in those eyes.

  He’d known right away she hadn’t been with a man in quite some time. The look of shock on her face when she’d come—like she’d never felt such a violent outburst of pleasure before—nearly undid him. It would have been heaven to sink into her wet center and feel her walls clench down around him. He’d have taken her slow at first, built up to a blinding, pounding rhythm and have her screaming for more, harder and harder until they both collapsed in exhaustion from ecstasy.

  Connor snarled and leapt out of bed. “Fuck!” He stalked out into the hall and into the bathroom. He stepped into the shower and cranked the knob over to cold, praying it would shock him out of his state of need.