by TJ Michaels
“Don’t you sweetheart me, damn it. That bastard’s ass is mine and don’t you dare start in on the I-don’t-want-you-to-get-hurt crap, either. I’ve already been hurt.” She wanted to bite off her tongue when Bix flinched as if he’d been struck. When he threw up his hands and headed for the door, she felt like a total heel.
“Bix, it wasn’t your fault he attacked me. You saved my life, and I want to repay you by taking that asshole out, that’s all.”
He turned around, his fingers flexing convulsively. The man was mad as hell, but what could he say? She wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Alaana’s husband wore a sympathetic look, but said nothing. After all, the Clan Serati women were known as ferocious fighters, but not because their males wanted them to be.
“Carinian Derrickson, we of the Council agree that you have the blood right to assist in the hunt for Sidheon. However,” Alaana continued kindly, “that does not mean you must physically fight the rogue. You can defeat him by helping us on the scientific front. Leave the muscle work to the Seekers, hmm?”
“I understand, Matriarch,” Carin spoke firmly, bowing her head in respect. “But if I can’t go on the hunt, then I ask something else.” Her gaze moved from one vampire to another, silently daring them to gainsay her next words. “I want to learn how to fight, vampire style.”
Nobody seemed to think it was a strange request, so she continued, “I want to fight dirty. No holds barred.”
Alaana spoke up again. “Bix, you are the Seeker’s expert in hand-to-hand tactics. Even if this woman were not your mate, you are the best one to teach her what she wishes to learn.”
Yeah, but did he want to teach her? She knew the Council could have overruled his stand on her blood right to hunt, but none of them could overrule him on matters of her safety. No doubt this situation fell under that purview. But before Bix could speak, Carin boldly stated her case.
“Look, Bix. I’m strong and in great shape,” she stated flatly, holding up her arm to show off her rock-hard biceps. “With a little training I know I can master the ability to fight. I refuse to be a victim ever again.”
Brows pulled down into a deep frown, he practically growled at her. “Are you saying I’m not capable of protecting you?”
“Don’t be silly. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be here. But I won’t have you trying to fight a sneaky-assed vamp like Sidheon while you’re worrying about me. I’m your mate. Let me prove I’m worthy of it. Teach me how to fight.”
“Unless you have a reason not to do this, the Council agrees that you teach her what she needs to know. If it’s the price we have to pay for her cooperation, then so be it.”
With that, the Council left the apartment leaving Carin to face a glowering Bix.
The second the Council was out the door, he stalked over to her, straddled the recliner with his long legs and grabbed each armrest in a brutal grip. He leaned down until they were almost nose-to-nose.
“Damn it, Carin, of all the things to be stubborn about.”
She drew her neck back and started to snap his head off, but bit her tongue instead. She didn’t know vamps could flush until Bix’s face turned an alarming shade of red as the veins in his neck pulsed furiously. The thick ridges of bulging muscle on his arms tensed to the point of threatening to rip the armrests right off the chair. Anger and anxiety bubbled up and out of his very pores and rolled over her in smothering waves. It was disconcerting to feel the emotions roiling through him, twisting every measurable inch of his gut like a tangible thing. His anger was genuine, his fear of losing her, true and deep. Her anger and stubbornness melted. She reached out a hand and stroked his face.
“Bix, honey, I-I didn’t realize how you felt about this.”
His concern and care for her, imprinted clearly in her mind now, were potent and encompassing. Overwhelmed and humbled by the depth of his panic, she couldn’t even finish the thought. Bix loved her. Deeply. He hadn’t told her in those words but she felt it in her bones, in her heart.
“Baby, I can’t handle the thought of you being in danger,” he bellowed, then snapped his mouth shut and looked away. Breathing through his teeth with fangs fully extended, he remained quiet a moment longer.
Carin waited to see what color he would turn next. She didn’t have long to wait. He snapped his gaze back to hers, eyes blazing silver fire and raging anger. “It’s not something I can allow. Ever,” Bix rumbled like a roll of thunder off in the distance.
“Bix…”
“It would kill me if anything ever happened to you. Hell, I don’t know how I kept from going crazy when you were attacked the first time.”
“Bix, sweetheart…”
“Shit, there’s no way, no fucking way you’re…Mmmph…”
Bix found himself silenced by Carin’s mouth as she reached up, grabbed him by the collar and plunged her tongue deep, tasting him, taking him. She’d been drinking spiced mulled wine. Cinnamon and honey, damned yummy. What had he been saying? Hell, he didn’t have a clue. The woman robbed him of his senses, and when she sat up to massage the growing bulge between his legs he went up in flames.
“Oh God, Carin. Woman, you drive me nuts.”
She didn’t answer, nor did she look smug. Her expression was, well, he couldn’t quite put a label on it. Her big brown eyes held a mix of caring, deep desire and…love? But no, he had to make her understand that she would not, under any circumstances, put herself in danger. He fought for a small measure of sanity and had almost grasped it when a small gust of cool air surrounded his cock. But when it was replaced with the swipe of her tongue there wasn’t anything he could do but stand there and let her have her way with him. Powerless to stop her, his brain had shut down and his body taken over. And when had she unbuttoned his pants?
She let the recliner down, pushed him back a step and sat on the end of the chair, gobbling him up like she hadn’t had a meal in months. The sensitive, wide head of his cock bumped the back of her throat and sent a rush of molten sensation down every nerve ending in his engorged rod until he fairly hummed with need. Warm slender fingers reached down to cup his balls, sliding up and over the sensitive spot underneath his full sac until his ass tingled.
“Oh, yes. Damn, woman.”
She moaned her approval of his pleasure and his balls tightened unmercifully. Bix sank his fingers in her thick, curly hair, trying to hold a measure of sanity against the intensity of the sensation. And still she pushed him, pumped up and down his shaft with her sweet mouth following her hand along the way. Lips wrapped around the head as her tongue swirled over and under it, then plunged back down again. Oh, was he ever going to blow. But not without her.
Bix swept her out of the chair, stripped her bare and carried her to the bedroom. The reflection in the mirrored headboard held his attention. His midnight hair was all over his head, his jaw tight with unleashed passion. Eyes, dark gray and glittering with gold, expressed an urgency he’d never felt with any other woman. He licked his fangs and let his mind fall wide open to his woman’s. His own body jerked in response to the shiver of anticipation dipped into every vertebrae of Carin’s spine clear down to her luscious ass.
In one smooth move, he had her laid out on the bed and impaled on his ready length. He tried to pull back, tried to go easy on her, but the need to brand her, to once more stake his claim in her willing body rode him hard. Grasping her by the hip, he plowed into the depths of her soaked heat. Almost immediately, the honey-dipped walls of her pussy fluttered tight and milked him with a carnal ferocity bordering on exquisite pain. He sent the hot, delicious sensation of her pussy wrapped around his cock into her mind, wanting her to experience everything he did with the same intensity that assailed him. Three strokes and he was out. And so was she. They came together in a thunderous storm of steamy come and collapsed chest-to-chest, sated and sapped of strength.
When he could breathe again, he tried to lift himself from Carin’s prone body. Every muscle was exhausted and heavy. He knew he
was crushing her, but when he tried to roll away, she tightened her strong arms around his wide back and refused to let him up.
His sweetheart slept deeply, dead to the world, but still held him tight in her slumber.
“Carin,” he whispered with a soft kiss to her forehead. “Carin, baby, wake up.”
“Nooo, don’t wanna,” she whined. She was so cute. He smiled and peppered her with kisses until her eyes fluttered open. “Come on, baby, let me up. I know I’m smashing you into the mattress.”
He rolled over, taking her with him, and tucked her underneath his chin where she fit so perfectly.
“You awake?”
“Mmm hmm.” She eased deeper into the hollow of his neck.
“As you know, the clans are gathering here to collaborate on the Sidheon problem, right?”
She huffed, obviously not the least bit interested in this conversation. “Yes, Alaana mentioned it earlier. I remember.”
“There are going to be a lot of strange vamps on the estate. Promise me you’ll be careful.”
“Fine, I promise,” Carin purred distractedly, and then stretched like a sleek cat. A cat filled with his cream. Curling her legs around his, she yawned and snuggled closer, reaching for sleep.
Bix pushed up on his elbow and glowered down at her. “Damn it, I mean it, Carin. Be careful. Not every clan is known for their good deeds.”
“Yeah? Like who?” Another yawn.
“Like those asshole Hatsepts. They’re real bad boys, baby. If I’m not around, or Alaan or Elder Serati, then a friend of mine will keep you company. Her name is Tameth. She’s a Seeker.”
Wide awake now, Carin fairly crackled with excitement. “A female Seeker? Hey, that means she can kick vampire ass, right?”
“Right, sweetheart. In fact, she’s the only female Seeker stationed in the Western territories.”
“Are there other lady warriors?”
“Yeah, all Serati Clan females, and all overseas, thankfully. They’re a fucking handful, unlike anyone else I know,” he drawled sarcastically.
“I am not a handful…well maybe just a small one.” She giggled as he nipped at her ear. “So what about this Tameth chick?”
“She’s going to teach you to fight instead of me.”
“What? Why?” Carin sat straight up, her expression clearly alarmed and hurt. She thought he didn’t want to help her learn to defend herself.
“First of all, you’re projecting again. You’ve got to learn to keep a rein on your thoughts, sweetheart. Second, Tameth won’t go easy on you, while all I’d be thinking about is not hurting you.”
“Okay, well that makes sense.”
Her grin split her face as he explained. In a couple of days, Tameth would begin Carin’s self-defense training along with psychic and telepathic exercises to help her control the habit of projecting her thoughts. She would also show Carin some lower body defense moves to give her upper body injuries a little more time to heal.
“Then it’ll be on to kick-butt city,” Carin squealed, showering Bix’s sweaty face with kisses. He rolled his eyes and gave up the fight. Well at least one of them was happy about it. Damned woman.
Chapter Fourteen
Carin dropped into a solid horse stance and balled her fists, ready to box. Her sweat covered T-shirt stuck to her back. Even her bare feet stuck to the workout mat as she shifted her weight from one foot to another. “Don’t go easy on me, damn it. I can take it. Besides, it’ll never become instinct if you don’t make me work for it.”
“I won’t risk Bix’s wrath by thrashing his mate,” Jaidyn said calmly, bobbing from side to side as Carin aimed for the targets on his hands. He was Alaana’s personal guard on loan to Carin today while Tameth was in yet another meeting with Bix, Alaan and the V.C.O.E. security forces to prepare for the arrival of the clans.
“First of all, we’re not bonded yet. And second,” she grunted, aiming for his head with her left foot, “mate or not, what Bix don’t know”—a perfect back spin off her weak foot—“won’t hurt him.” The last was said with a loud yell as she pounded into Jaidyn with a closed backhand to the head followed by a left hook.
Carin grinned. Obviously Jaidyn needed no more incentive to protect himself from her thrashing. He wouldn’t hurt her, but she knew the perfect roundhouse kick to the center of her target, mainly anywhere on Jaidyn’s upper body, was the end of her freebies.
So far she liked being a vampire’s woman. The injuries from the attack by Sidheon and his goons should have landed her in the hospital for months. Yet thanks to the DNA of Bix’s blood, and making love to him, of course, she’d healed at an incredible rate. Dr. Lyons assured her that she was almost as good as new, and all in just a few weeks. Amazing. Already her eyesight was sharper, her speed and reflexes quicker.
And she was completely pain free…until Jaidyn tossed her over his hip, and she landed with a deep thud flat on her back.
“Owww, that hurt. Damn.” The fading scar from the knife wounds across her back throbbed.
“Dr. Carinian?”
Oh now what? She rolled over on her stomach, looked up and stifled a groan.
“Matriarch Serati sent me to inform you that you are ten minutes late for your breakfast appointment.” The voice was cold and flat. The face it belonged to was pretty, but just as emotionless.
“Thanks, Natasha. I’ll head up right away.” Carin gave the woman a small, tight smile, bounced up off the floor and wiped her face with the hand towel Jaidyn offered. Lord knows she was sore and likely had a nice bruise on her back from the little trip over his hip. But bruised or not, she wasn’t stupid. There was no way she’d let Natasha see she still had some healing to do. She turned to Jaidyn and bowed. “I’ll see you this afternoon for our follow-up session.”
Jaidyn took his towel from her fingers and motioned towards the door. “I will escort you to Mistress Serati’s suites.”
“I’m perfectly capable of going by myself. Geez, what is it with you guys and all the escorting? I can barely take a pee by myself,” Carin complained, straightening her workout clothes and wishing her battered tailbone belonged to somebody else.
“It’s called being the mate of Jon Bixler, ma’am,” Jaidyn replied, pointing to the middle of her chest with a wry grin.
At the deliberate reminder of Carin’s new station in vampire society, Natasha turned on her heel and stalked out the door, her face an out-and-out storm cloud. Her heels click-clicked on the polished hardwood floor of the sparring room and Carin wondered if the woman could fight.
A conspiratorial grin appeared on her sweaty face and spread wide when the twin to her smile stretched across Jaidyn’s face. “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”
“Of course I did. I am loyal to Bix. He has saved my ass more times than I can count. I would not be worth my salt as a Seeker if I passed up an opportunity to bedevil that woman for her cattiness when you were barely conscious, and her petty whining to the Council. The wench is in need of a spanking. And not the pleasurable kind.”
“Did you say wench?” Carin chuckled.
“I am a bit old-fashioned,” he said, motioning her out the door, showing more teeth, if that were possible.
“How old-fashioned are we talking?”
“Born 1620 in Gascony, France.”
“Wow, have you ever seen a Musketeer?”
“Sweet Carin, I trained the Musketeers.”
“Really? No way! Say, how much longer do you think you’ll live?”
“Probably a couple hundred more years. I am getting up in age even by our standards.” He grinned.
Once upstairs, Jaidyn knocked on the door to his Matriarch’s apartments and entered. Ralen greeted them at the door and left the apartment with Jaidyn. Carin automatically headed for the small table out on Alaana’s covered terrace as she’d done every morning since Bix had let her out of bed. A small fireplace built into the stone wall kept the area warm and allowed them to enjoy the snow-covered mountain valley ove
r breakfast. In the mood for a hot, sesame seed bagel, cream cheese and orange slices, Carin filled her plate as Alaana poured her a steaming cup of hot chocolate. Now this was a great reason to mate with a vampire. She’d been lactose intolerant for years before Bix came along. Now, she could eat anything she wanted. And right now she wanted loads of cream cheese mixed with strawberry preserves and chocolate made with real steamed milk. Oh baby, this was the life.
After a sip of her hot bit of heaven, she sat back with a sigh. “Ms. Alaana, you should really try some of this. It is to die for,” Carin crooned, rolling her eyes up to the sky in sated delight. Alaana lifted a beautiful ceramic snifter in salute, then took a sip. Carin was sure it was some kind of beverage laced with blood. She curled her lip, not the least bit interested in trying any. Sorry, nothing but a taste of Bix could beat out hot chocolate in her book.
“Have you made any progress in the lab, my dear?”
“Of course,” Carin replied, slathering more whipped cream cheese on her bagel. “But why don’t we kill two birds with one stone. After breakfast, let’s do my psychic training thing up in the lab while I fill you in on what I’ve discovered. It would be easier to show you what I’ve found than to tell you.”
They talked about typical girl stuff over breakfast and once the dishes were cleared, the two headed for the door of the Matriarch’s suites. Carin opened the door and took a quick step back when Jaidyn appeared as if the very hounds of hell were on his heels. They obviously weren’t going anywhere without him.
Gesturing back and forth between Jaidyn and Alaana as they moved towards the wide curving staircase, Carin asked in wonder, “Where’d he come from? Did you…?”
“Yes, child, I called him telepathically. Pretty soon you’ll be able to do the same with Bix at any distance, any time without letting everyone else hear you. You’re already pretty good at controlling your psychic shields.”
“But I thought only bonded couples could do that,” Carin asked in wonder.
“Jaidyn and I are bonded.”