Pursued: A Vampire Syndicate Paranormal Romance (The Vampire Syndicate Book 1)

by Rebecca Rivard

  “Please,” she whispered.

  I dragged off my cap and dropped it on the sand, followed by my sunglasses. “Please, what?” I gazed down at her, unsmiling.

  She raised on her toes to set her lips to my ear. “Please fuck me.” A husky murmur. “That’s what I want. You. Right here, right now.”

  Heat balled at the base of my spine. I slid a hand into her wet boyshorts, palming and squeezing her ass.

  Why not?

  I wanted her. Bad.

  And we were alone on the private beach with an enforcer guarding the only access. The only boats I’d seen in the past half hour had been fishing boats taking tourists out to try their hand at catching tuna or other game fish, and the captains knew to stay far away from Gabriel Kral’s cove. The motorboat I’d seen had already disappeared around Montauk Point.

  I searched her face. Did she really want me, or was this just another ploy? Gods, I wished I could read her like I could other humans.

  “Gabriel, please.” Her fingers dug into my shoulders. “Stop teasing me.”

  Oh, yeah, I liked hearing her beg.

  “Shh.” I cupped her throat with my other hand. A light, barely there pressure.

  She could’ve easily escaped me. But she remained where she was, tense and quivering, as I rubbed my thumb over the pulse jumping beneath her jaw.

  My eyes went vampire, increasing my focus so that I saw every detail of her face. The amber striations in her deep brown eyes. The slight chapping of her full lips. The trail the single tear had left on her creamy olive skin.

  Her eyes widened, and I knew she saw the blue ringing my irises. Her own pupils darkened, heated.

  My other hand was still on her ass. I slid a testing finger deeper between her cheeks to where she was hot and wet. Her breath sped up.

  My blood flamed. “You want this.”

  Her throat moved beneath my fingers. “Yes,” she breathed. “God, I want it so bad.”

  “All right, then. But we do things my way.”

  She blinked up at me. “What do you mean?”

  I didn’t speak, just reeled her back in.

  13

  Mila

  Gabriel’s kiss was slow and open-mouthed. The unhurried kiss of a man who knows a woman is his, and that he can do anything he wants with her.

  He slid his tongue over mine, tasting, sucking, nipping. Encouraging me to taste and nip him back. One hand was on my butt, his fingers warm and strong. The other remained on my throat.

  I swayed into him.

  He’d always liked to play with my throat. It was a power thing for him, I think. He wanted me to trust that he wouldn’t hurt me. Or maybe it’s that for a vampire, the throat and neck are extra erotic.

  It got so just the touch of his fingers on my throat could get me hot, and today was no different. His grip was so gentle, yet controlled.

  Heat pooled in my belly, between my thighs. I skimmed my hands over his broad shoulders and down the sculpted muscles of his back, learning him all over again. He was bigger than I remembered, harder.

  The wind swirled around us. The sun beat down on my skin. And still he kissed me until I clung to him, weak-kneed and wanting.

  He halted long enough to spread the cotton beach blanket on the sand. He laid me down on it, and then his powerful body covered mine.

  Strong fingers cupped my face. “You’re warm enough?”

  “Hot. Boiling.” I pulled him closer, kissing him with all the desperation in my heart, his gold bracelet heavy on my wrist.

  It can’t be removed.

  I flashed back to the night he’d sworn the blood oath to me. I’d been excited, nervous, a little afraid. Still, after thirteen months together, I’d been sure we could make it work.

  But within twenty-four hours, it had all come crashing down…

  Don’t think.

  I wrapped my arms around him as tight as I could, twining a leg around his hip to urge him closer still.

  He was all lean, hard heat, his skin dusted with sand and salt, his short dark hair mussed from the ocean and my fingers. He smelled like the outdoors, sharp and masculine.

  When he broke the kiss, I whimpered and tried to pull him back.

  The corner of his mouth lifted in a maddening smirk. “Easy, sweetheart. There’s no hurry.”

  He lifted onto his hands and knees to crouch over me. His hands moved knowingly over my body. Electric sparks shot from my breasts to my womb. I shivered with sheer pleasure, and he frowned.

  “Let’s get these wet things off.” He helped me out of the bra and boyshorts, then removed his own shorts and lay back on top of me. Now it was just skin to skin, the two of us warming each other.

  He licked his way across my breasts. He hadn’t shaved, and his stubbled jaw abraded my tender skin in an exciting way. Sharp teeth scraped over my nipple.

  I braced for a bite, but instead, he sucked on the tightly furled tip. I went hot, then cold, my body overwhelmed with sensation.

  I bit my lip and dug my nails into his back, trying not to cry out, aware that Andre or one of his men were probably listening.

  Gabriel gave my nipple another hard suck and then moved to the other one. His mouth closed over me, warm and wet. Pleasure arrowed straight to my clit.

  I couldn’t hold back anymore. I bucked and moaned, a soft, needy cry.

  He put a hand on my hips and pressed me back to the blanket. Hovering above my body so that I could feel his cock, a slight, teasing pressure when I wanted all of him.

  He licked the underside of my breast. “You want me.”

  I slid my fingers into the heavy silk of his hair, stroked his nape. “You know I do.”

  “No, I don’t know that.” He stilled to look up at me. “You left, remember.” His voice was expressionless, but a muscle worked in his jaw.

  My chest squeezed. I’d known I’d hurt him, but I was just beginning to understand how much. “I’m sorry.”

  There are some things you just can’t apologize for. Gabriel must have thought so, too, because he ignored me to continue, “I used to think about what I’d do if you came back. Picture all the ways I’d punish you.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said again. “But you know it was for the best.”

  A low growl. “Best for who, damn it?”

  I opened my mouth, but he set a hand on my lips. “No, don’t answer. You’ll just lie to me, and I can take anything but that.”

  Hurt stabbed me. I sucked in a breath.

  You, I said in my mind. It was best for you.

  His eyes shuttered, but he didn’t apologize, just released my mouth and resumed kissing my breasts.

  Pleasure danced over me. God, I ached for him. But not like this.

  I turned my head to stare out at the ocean. “Fuck you,” I said wearily.

  He gave a dark chuckle that rippled straight to my core. “Oh, you will fuck me, Mila. Any way I want.” He slid a hand between my legs, testing my wetness. “You’re ready now, aren’t you?”

  I stubbornly set my mouth. Lord, this was messed up.

  Me lying to him.

  Him wanting me even though he didn’t trust me.

  And Andre listening to it all.

  But a few yards away, the ocean ebbed and flowed hypnotically, the breeze off the water teasing my damp nipples. Above us, seagulls wheeled and screeched, white shadows against the bright blue sky. It was so wild and beautiful out here, like we were the only two people in the universe.

  And I wanted him, so bad. Three years I’d been alone, afraid even to have a drink with another man because I didn’t know who to trust—and besides, I didn’t want anyone but Gabriel.

  Let him be suspicious—he had a right to be. He could even punish me, because I had a feeling I’d enjoy his kind of punishment.

  “Very ready,” I rasped in a voice that didn’t sound like me at all—and lifted my arm from my eyes to pull him closer. He captured my wrists in mid-air and pressed them to the blanket on either side of my he
ad.

  His thumb caressed the gold bracelet on my left wrist. Both our gazes went to it.

  It can’t be removed.

  When he’d clasped it around my wrist, I’d felt so owned, and not in a good way. No, I’d felt like a body, a thrall—not a person. Once, he’d talked of taking me as his mate.

  And yet, he’d remembered that I loved daisies…

  Gabriel’s gaze returned to mine. “I want you to leave your hands there on the blanket. Understand?”

  Don’t think.

  I gave a jerky nod.

  “I could hold you down,” he continued. “But I want you to restrain yourself.”

  Excitement shivered over my skin. My heart sped up, my nipples tightened even further. “And if I don’t?”

  “Then I get up and walk away.”

  I glanced pointedly at his cock, flushed and heavy above my mound.

  “Oh, I can do it,” he assured me. “Control is something that was pounded into me from a young age.” When I flinched, he added, “And no, my father didn’t hit us. He didn’t have to—he’s very good at getting his point across.”

  His mouth moved lower, trailing hot kisses down my neck and around my breasts. “Yes or no, Mila?” A leisurely lick to the underside of my breast.

  Pleasure seared through me. I struggled to get the next words out, but I needed to know. “So you’d let me go. Just like that.”

  “Mila.” Remorse flitted over his good-looking face. “I thought you understood—you can’t leave now.”

  “Oh.” I blinked. I had understood, but hearing it stated straight out was…daunting.

  But what did it matter? I probably wouldn’t get out of this alive anyway.

  Sorrow pressed on my chest, a heavy, smothering weight.

  “Hell.” He released my wrists to raise back onto all fours, his expression regretful. “I warned you that the blood bond is forever. But it’s not just the bond, it’s that everyone in the Ruby saw you accept it. We’re connected now, Mila. To the vampire world, you’re an extension of me. If you leave this time, you’d be dead or enslaved in less than a week. But everything else? That’s up to you. We can fuck or not. It’s your choice.”

  I swallowed hard, and then reached for him.

  Because if it was up to me, I’d choose Gabriel. Always.

  He caught my hands and sat up, thighs bracketing mine, and pressed a kiss to each palm. Taking his time, like I was something precious.

  Tears stung my eyes. I hurriedly blinked them away.

  He brought my left hand to his face and rubbed his cheek against it, his night beard a velvet rasp against my palm.

  “Is that a yes?”

  I rubbed my thumb over his cheekbone. “It is. Yes.”

  He gave a hum of approval before pressing my hands back down on either side of my head. “But we do it my way. Okay?”

  My fingers curled into my palms, but I kept them where they were. “Okay,” I replied. “Yes.”

  He gave me another kiss and then sat back on his heels again, gazing down at my naked body. The sunlight haloed his head, leaving his face in shadows.

  Gabriel. My dark, seductive angel.

  My breath hitched. For a long minute, he just looked, as I remained where he’d put me, hands on either side of my head, my legs stretched out along the blanket.

  My breasts grew tight, heavy. A pulse beat between my thighs. There was something so erotic about being open to him like this, waiting for him to touch me.

  At last, he began stroking his fingers up and down my body. Pleasure slid through me, warm and lazy. I floated on it, light as air.

  He kneed my legs open and crouched between them. His mouth replaced his fingers. Kissing me everywhere—lips, neck, breasts, navel, the points of my hips.

  When he reached my sex, he gave it a long, leisurely lick and then turned his head to nuzzle my inner thigh. I instinctively bent my legs, opening to him even more.

  “There’s a vein here,” he murmured.

  My mouth dried. “I remember.”

  He’d told me about it one moonless night in a cozy little house he’d rented in the woods for us. By then, I’d been crazy in love with him. He could’ve done anything he wanted with me, but he’d said he’d wait to feed from me there. That it was something he’d decided to share only with his mate.

  Teeth scraped over the sensitive skin. “D’you remember what else I said?”

  I nodded wordlessly.

  “Tell me,” he said against my thigh. “What did I say?”

  I moistened my lips. “You said it would feel incredible when you fed from me there. That it was how vampires bind their thralls to them. That it feels so good, the thrall will do anything to get it.”

  “You do remember.” His tone was darkly satisfied.

  When I lifted my head, I saw his incisors had lengthened. The vampire was showing his fangs.

  I shivered with a mix of fear and excitement. This man was a predator in a sleek, hard-muscled body, and all that power, all that strength, was focused on me.

  He scraped the tips over my other thigh. So carefully.

  But I jolted at the sharpness, and he licked the small wound. “Shh, Mila. It’s all right.”

  He continued playing with me. Sucking, nipping, licking, until I was dazed and moaning.

  My fingers were knotted in my hair now, clenching and unclenching. It was the only way I could stop myself from reaching for him.

  He kissed his way back up my body. “Keep your hands like that,” he ordered. “I like how it lifts your breasts to me.”

  His teeth rasped over one soft curve. So delicately, I knew it would barely leave a mark. And yet, he was marking me. Everywhere…

  At last, his mouth reached the spot where I most craved his touch. He gripped my ass, his lips and tongue worked their magic on my sex, teasing and tormenting.

  It was perfect, and then it was too much. I rocked my hips up to him, muttering broken pleas. The sun—the heat—was inside me now, searing my spine, lighting up my nerves.

  I arched my back and whimpered his name as a climax exploded like a fireball through me.

  I was still catching my breath when he thrust inside me, slow and firm. My sex contracted around him, drawing him deeper.

  He gritted my name. “Mila.”

  “Yes.” I twined my arms and legs around him, holding him close, as he stroked in and out of me. Long and hard and perfect.

  A second shock of pleasure bore down on me.

  He took my hands from his neck and, twining his fingers through them, pressed them above my head so I was stretched out beneath him.

  His mouth moved against my ear, muttering wicked, erotic words. Telling me to take him, all of him. Saying that he’d never let me go now.

  “Mine,” he growled. “My thrall. My woman.”

  My breath sobbed in. “Oh my god, ohmygod, ohmygod.”

  He nibbled his way down the side of my neck, sending heated sparks to my breasts, my clit. I angled my head for him, but he didn’t feed, just kept his teeth on the skin above my carotid.

  I wasn’t sure if it was a promise…or a threat.

  He swore on one of his dark gods and then with a final firm, perfect thrust, stilled deep inside me, filling me with hot spurts.

  My body constricted around his, and I came yet again in an explosion of light and pleasure that went on and on until I cried out his name. Begging him to stop, and in the next breath pleading for more.

  Gabriel hung over me, chest heaving, and then rolled onto his back, bringing me with him so I was nestled against his shoulder. I heaved a sigh, wrung out and satiated, my body warmed from the sex and the summer sun.

  For a time, the only sounds were the slap of the waves and the sound of our breathing. I combed my fingers through the wiry dark hair on Gabriel’s chest.

  Gradually, his last words penetrated my relaxed, happy haze.

  Mine. My thrall. My woman.

  Was that all I was to him?

&
nbsp; I closed my eyes and rolled onto my back, facing the sky. On my wrist, the slim gold bracelet seemed to press into my flesh.

  Stop it. You have no right to be hurt. You left him, remember? Not the other way around.

  I’d told myself I’d done it for him. His parents had made it clear that I was a liability, that Karoly Kral had had a hard enough time just getting the Syndicate vampires to accept his three dhampir sons as his heirs. As the crown prince, Gabriel was expected to choose a vampire mate. If he blood-bonded with a human, or worse, mated one, he’d constantly be fighting off challenges.

  But now I wondered if maybe I’d run away as much for me as for Gabriel? Because he was right; deep down, I’d been afraid. I’d loved him—so much it hurt—but the blood bond was a serious commitment, especially with the man who’d one day be the Kral Syndicate Primus.

  Accept the bond, and my life would never be the same. Accept it, and I’d never be free.

  Gabriel rolled on his side to face me. He traced my lower lip with his finger before continuing down the center of my throat. I turned my head and attempted a smile, but my expression felt as stiff and artificial as a china doll’s.

  “It’s not money, is it? Not this time.” The finger moved down my breastbone. “They got to your family.”

  My smile faded. I stilled, heart pounding in my ears. For a few minutes, I’d forgotten Andre or one of his people might be listening. Hopefully the pricks had gotten an earful.

  Jesus, I was terrible at this. Gabriel was too smart to fool for long, which actually gave me hope. Still, I couldn’t admit it, not with them listening in.

  I opened my mouth. Closed it.

  “Shh,” he murmured. “You don’t have to say anything. But it’s the only thing that makes sense.”

  I shook my head. “No. You’re wrong.”

  He set a finger on my mouth. “No lies, Mila. Give me that much, at least.”

  I thought of Joey and moved Gabriel’s hand away. “I’m not lying.” The words tasted sour in my mouth.

  He eyed me without speaking before rising to his feet and holding out his hand. “Time to go back. I have work to do.”

  “Yeah.” I took his hand, even though the cool, impersonal way he offered it—like I was just another throw-away thrall—slashed at my heart.