by E. M Reders
“That wasn’t your fault. He would have gotten to me eventually. He was obsessed. Are those girls okay?”
“Yes, they both survived.” I could hear the silent just he withheld.
We laid together; I curled up against him as he explained all about what had happened and how they had found me. Looking around, I asked. “Where are we, anyway?” He had explained a lot of things but what he hadn’t told me was where we were.
“My place.”
“Your place?”
“I didn’t want to take you back to the club, in case...”
“In case what?”
“In case Gideon was there and demanded you feed him.”
“What?”
He knew? How? Panic grasped me as I began to slide away from him, attempting to leave the bed, but he quickly put a stop to my movements.
“It's okay.”
“How did you...”
“Know? Chad told me. It was his idea actually to take you elsewhere. Gideon was pretty pissed when you disappeared and demanded that we contact him as soon as we found you. It didn’t look as if he was planning on going anywhere until we got you back, and Reese had overheard him demanding to feed on you last night and we didn't want to risk him getting to you while you were in such a weak state.”
“Thank you.” He might not know it, but Gideon would have fed from me, even if that meant me dying – which was highly likely with the way Vince had been feeding on me. “How did Chad know?” I didn't think anyone suspected that I fed Gideon. No one had ever said anything, not until Vince anyway.
“They all knew. Every time he fed on you, they smelt the fresh bite.”
“Oh.”
“Why, Eve? I know how much you hate him, so why do you feed him?”
“It’s complicated.” Very complicated, and something I could not and would not talk about.
“Try me.”
I remained silent, biting the inside of my mouth to keep from saying something that I would regret, but as the silence stretched on I realised that I had to tell him something. “When I met him, I had nothing. No food or water. No money. No shelter… Nothing. He gave me all that.”
“And all you had to do was feed him?”
“Yes. I am to feed him and only him once a week. Though lately with everything that has been going on I have missed feeds, causing him to demand more from me.”
“And that's why you made me promise not to bite you? Because of him?”
“That… and other reasons.”
“What other reasons?” he demanded, sitting up and staring down at me.
There were many. The secret of my blood being the one he couldn't be allowed to know, but I had to tell him something, one truth at least. “I hate it. I hate the bite. It hurts so much, Thayne. Every time the pain, the bite, seems to get worse.”
Rage burned in his eyes and shock filled his voice. “He feeds on you even though you hate it, fight it? I'll kill him. I'll fucking kill him!”
If only that were possible. “No, Thayne, you can’t.” No one could, not as long as he was feeding on me… though, Thayne had killed Vince after he had fed from me? But still, it was too risky. “I couldn’t bear the thought of you fighting him, of putting yourself in danger like I know you did last night.” Instantly his eyes softened and he pulled me back into his embrace.
“I could have lost you. You have no idea how scared I was. Eve, you have come to mean more to me than anything else in my life. All I think about is you. All I dream about is you. And I know you feel the same way.”
“You do?”
Nodding. “Yes. I can feel it,” he signed, tracing circles over the tops of my breasts, sending tingles of need to my core. “Every touch of your skin and I feel your want, your desire, your need. I feel the same. I want you so badly it’s like a physical pain to be apart from you.”
As I gazed into his eyes, I realised that holding back was pointless. He knew how I felt and I could see in his eyes that he was speaking the truth about his feelings for me. And hadn't everything he had done for me expressed his feelings for me also? He had saved me. Faced an insane, highly powered vampire for me. Not that he knew about the highly powered bit. But still, he had done more for me than Gideon ever had.
To Gideon, I was just food and a way to get to the top. If only I hadn't made the promises that I had. Because that was something I was very strict about; I always kept my promises, my vows. So no matter how much I hated it, I would continue to feed Gideon and not give my blood to the one vampire I truly trusted not to abuse the power it would give him. But there was one thing I could give Thayne… Me. My heart, my soul and my body could all be his. Just not the power giving liquid that ran through my veins.
Cupping his jaw – that still held just the slightest hint of a fading bruise to it – I released all of the emotions that I had been holding back over the past few weeks as our connection grown and asked him for the one thing that I wanted more than anything. “Thayne, make love to me.”
His eyes widened in shock briefly, him never expecting those words to leave my mouth. After only a moment’s pause, he trailed his soft lips down my neck, my breath catching in my throat when they lingered, his tongue flickering against my pulse.
He wouldn't? He had promised.
Before I could even begin to panic, he moved on, working his way down my body to my breasts.
“You have no idea how long I have dreamed of this, of having you naked beneath me.”
He wasn't the only one.
Capturing one of my nipples in his mouth he sucked hard, the pull and pleasure of it going all the way to my clit. When he was satisfied with the attention he had paid to that breast, he moved on to the other, loving it with the same amount of tongue and teeth as he had the first.
Pushing his fingers through my feminine folds, he moaned. “Fuck you're wet. Ever since the first time I scented your arousal I've longed to taste you, to have you coming on my tongue.” His eyes turning wicked. “Think it's about time I got a taste, don't you?”
Oh yeah, I did.
Kissing his way down my body, he settled between my thighs, nibbling at one and then the other. His mouth seemed to touch everywhere but where I wanted him most at that moment. “Please,” I begged.
Chuckling, he gave me what I had asked for. My back arched and pleasure blazed at the first touch of his lips upon my bare pussy. “Fuck you are divine.”
Fisting my hand in his hair, I rocked my body against his mouth, his thrusting tongue. Soon his fingers replaced his mouth at my centre and his tongue began flickering against my clit, his sharp fangs grazing it, giving me a small bite of pain. Strangely enough that little sting pushed me right to the edge.
“Holy shit!”
“That's it, sweetheart. Let me taste your sweet nectar.” Sucking hard on the small sensitive nub and thrusting his finger into my channel in a quick rhythm, curving them at the perfect angle to rub against the sweet spot inside.
It was too much. I couldn't have stopped myself even if I wanted to. My orgasm took over, and I cried out as my body clamped down on him as he drank from me. I was lost. My subconscious separated from my body and floated away, up into heaven.
When I finally came back down to earth he was above me, his hard cock in hand rubbing against my over-sensitised clit.
When had he stripped off?
He must have read the question in my eyes. “I can be very fast when I want to be,” he teased. “But don’t worry, I can make things last too.”
“Bad, Thayne. Very bad.” Him and his lines.
Face going all serious, he asked, “You sure about this?”
As always he wanted to protect me, make sure that this was what I wanted, even though I could see the desire and need in his eyes. Lifting up on my elbow, I reached out and took him in hand, stroking his hard length, forcing a groan from his lips. “I'm sure.” Smiling, I aligned his shaft with my weeping core. He didn't need telling twice.
Thayne
I had never seen anything sexier in my life than Eve lost in bliss, breaking apart in front of me, her rich cream upon my tongue. It was the most erotic sight I had ever beheld.
I wanted more. Needed more.
Rising from the bed, I used my speed to quickly rid myself of my jeans and crawled up her body. There I waited, rubbing the head of my length through her wet sex teasingly, waiting for her to come back down to earth. Seeing the surprise in her eyes when she finally opened them I laughed. “I can be very fast when I want to be. But don’t worry, I can make things last too.”
“Bad, Thayne. Very Bad,” she giggled.
Gazing down at her, catching the fast fading marks upon her neck from Vince, I asked, “You sure about this?” She had been through so much in the past twenty-four hours; I needed to make sure that she really did want this.
Flashing me a seductive smile, her eyes dark with desire, she reached down between our bodies and took me in hand, pumping my cock a few times.
Fuck did her hands on me feel good.
“I’m sure.”
That was all I needed to hear. She didn’t know it, but from this moment on she was mine. Well and truly mine. Never again would she be alone. Never again would she fear. I would always be there for her, protecting her.
With a growl I positioned myself at her entrance, pressing just the tip inside her tight centre. Moving slowly, weary of how tight she was, I pushed forward. “More,” she panted, wrapping her legs around me and doing her best to drag me further into her body.
“You’re so tight. Sweetheart, I don't want to hurt you.”
“You won't. I promise. Please, Thayne. I need you.” And with those words I lost all sense of control.
In one quick thrust, I was in, my hard length encased in Eve’s warm, wet, pleasure giving body. “Fuck baby. You feel so good.” As I withdrew from her body, she moaned in distress, her nails digging into my back as if to stop me from leaving. As if I would want to be anywhere but here, buried deep inside her.
When I stroked back in she sighed in relief, her hungry lips seeking mine. I lost myself in her kiss, in the feel of her sex pulsating around me, gripping me as if in desperation.
I was close. My balls pulled up tight in desperate need of release. But I couldn’t, not yet. I would be damned if I let myself find relief before she did. Angling my hips, I thrust deep, her little gasp of surprise letting me know I’d hit my mark. Repeatedly I hit her G-spot, grinding against her with each stroke to rub against her clit.
“I can’t hold it off,” she cried, her whole body trembling with her coming release.
“Then don’t, sweetheart. Come on my cock. Let me hear you scream.” Picking up the pace and reaching down to pinch her hardened nub, I gave her the push she needed.
“Thayne!” With her pussy clamping down on me I couldn’t hold back any longer. With a roar I followed her over the edge, filling her with my seed, marking her as my own. My Eve. My Love. My mate.
Eve
A warm glow seemed to be buried inside me, warming through my previously cold and lonely body and filling me with happiness. Never had I imagined this, that I could feel this way about anyone, never mind a vampire. As I laid on my front, my head rested on my arms, Thayne rubbed his hands over my back, kneading the sore and aching muscles caused by the previous night. My eyes had just begun to drift shut when his hands stilled upon my shoulders for a moment. Lightly, his finger traced over the scar hidden within the tattoo upon my right shoulder blade, the only physical proof of my past.
“What’s the tattoo stand for?” he asked, his digit continuing to follow the path of the scar, completely ignoring the sparrow inked into my skin.
The device that had been planted in me to track me had been pretty deep. Gideon had had to drive the knife deep to get at it. He had also used a silver blade – a metal which affected me almost as much as it did a vampire – meaning that it had been slow to heal and scarred.
That scar I saw as a sign of my past, a terrible reminder. My first and only trip away from the club had been to a tattoo parlour to get it covered. I hated the sight of it. I hadn’t had any idea when I had walked into the tattoo place what I had wanted, but after going through a couple of books and talking to the artist, she came up with the perfect thing, a design that meant something to me. “Freedom.”
“From what?”
I didn’t answer. Instead, I rolled onto my side and curled up beside him, taking comfort in his presence, in his arms. I didn’t know how long I would be able to with my continued silence. I wanted to tell him, to explain the truth of what I was, but I couldn’t. My fear of his reaction was too great. Everyone that had ever known what I was had used me, hurt me. And there was also the fact that if he asked me, I would freely give up my blood to him… and that fact was absolutely terrifying.
Signing, he wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. “It’s okay.”
But it wasn’t. I needed to open up to him, to trust him with my secret the way I did my body, but I couldn’t. And I knew deep down in my gut that he wouldn’t stick around with secrets between us.
Thayne
The sun was a good hour from setting, but something had pulled me from my sleep. Opening my eyes, I gazed down at Eve curled up asleep against me and smiled, the past few hours replaying in my mind. Instantly I was hard again, more than ready to go for round three, or was that round four? Hell, I didn’t care. All I knew was that I would never get tired of being buried balls deep in her sweet, hot sex. She was it for me. She was my everything. Almost losing her had shown me how painful my existence would be without her now that I knew the joy she would bring to my life.
Remembering the disturbance to my sleep, I listened more closely to the room around me. There was some kind of buzzing coming for somewhere. But what was it? It was like some strange vibrating noise that was coming from somewhere nearby. It would stop for a moment before taking back up again. Still tired and worn out from the events of the past night, it took me a few more minutes to click on to what was causing the noise… My phone.
Gently, I slid from the bed, not wanting to wake Eve, and made my way over to the chair where I had left my jacket.
“Where you going?” she mumbled sleepily, reaching out blindly for me.
“I'll be right back. You go back to sleep. I'll only be a moment.” Whether she heard me or not, I had no clue as she was once again passed out cold.
Digging the phone out of my jacket pocket, I moved to the door and down the hall before taking the call. “What's up?”
“We got the results back from that blood you sent us,” Brad informed me, not beating around the bush.
“And?”
Before he could answer there was a commotion in the background, then suddenly I was no longer talking to Brad but to Sebastian, one of the red-eyed Masters I would not want to fuck with, and luckily someone I called a friend. The guy was pure power and scared the shit out of me. Not as much as his sister Sabrina did, though. Now that was one scary fucking female.
“Where did you get it?” his voice snapped down the line.
“It was hidden in a box in his office. Why?”
“We need to know where he got it from. If he bought it, found it, or if he has a true source.”
“Why? What is it?” I suspected there was something off about it, but their reaction was not quite what I had expected. “Is it not human?”
“No, it’s human. Just a very rare kind of human, one we believed extinct millennia ago. The vial contained Feeder blood, Thayne. We have to know where he got it from.”
“Feeder blood? But they’re just myth.”
Feeders were what we now called humans that were used for their blood and blood alone. Some vampires kept humans in their homes specifically for feeding. Some even breed them, but that had been made illegal when the new Master system had been forged. But there was an ancient story, a myth among my people, that there had once been a race of humans that had been true Feeders. Their bl
ood was said to be stronger than other humans, more pleasurable and sustaining for the vampire that drank it. But it was a myth. Such humans did not exist. Did they?
“A myth now perhaps, but not always.”
“What do you mean?”
“I will explain soon, but right now I need to know where exactly you found it?”
“It was in a box in Gideon’s office with a couple of other vials and a tracking device that had been removed from someone.”
“Tracking device?”
“Yeah. I’ve done some digging and found a contract to find a human Owned whose last known location was the club. I’m pretty sure the device I found is the one that was embedded in the missing human.”
He was silent for a beat, and I knew he was thinking, the cogs in his brain spinning a mile a minute. “I would never ask this of you if I did not think that it was important, but I'm afraid I must. I need the name of the vampire that put out that contract.”
“You know I can’t do that.” Never once had I given anyone private information on any of my clients, or of any potential clients. Not that I was planning on taking the job, but still, it was not something I did.
“I knew you would say that, which is why I am ordering you as a member of the Council of Masters to do so.”
“Ordering me?”
“That is something I never wanted to do and swore I would not, but if these two things are connected we need to know. Gideon should never have been able to best Denton. You know that. We must decipher how he managed to gain the strength to do so, and so far this blood is the only clue we have. I’ve been doing a little digging myself into Gideon, and I do not like what I’ve heard. I need to discover the truth, and I need that name to do it. I promise if this vampire and their missing human has nothing to do with this, then they will be none the wiser of us knowing that they put out the contract.”