by Dia Cole
Unable to resist, I wrapped my arms around him. How ironic. I’d run away from relationships my whole life and now with moments left to live, I’d have given anything to see what could’ve been between us.
He’d been the first man to truly get me. Unlike Reed who’d always viewed me through worshipful eyes, Dominic saw all my flaws. And he still wanted me. Not for my body, like every other man. But for who I was. He’d forced me to confront my demons and showed he’d never abandon me, no matter the risk to his own life. He’d restored my faith in men. In love.
A rush of emotion threatened to rob me of my next breath. My chest felt tight. This time, there was no holding back the words. “I love you.”
A pained sound left his lips. “You’re telling me this now?”
“Better late than never,” I coughed.
He pulled away and shook his head so hard, tiny rain droplets that had been clinging to his hair sprayed my face. “No. I’m not losing you. I can’t lose you.”
My eyes fluttered shut, and I sagged against him. “Goodbye, Sergeant Pain in the Ass.”
He slowly turned me around so I faced away from him.
Good. This is what I want.
I bowed my head, giving him better access to the back of my skull. More tremors racked my body, but in that moment, there were no tears. No fear. Only a strange sense of peace and a whispered prayer that Dominic and Reed would survive.
I let out one final breath. My last thought was that death had beat Dominic to the punch, and then darkness swamped my vision.
The next thing I was aware of was of lying on my back. Something was pressing over my lips and warm fluid filled my mouth. It tasted amazing. Shudders racked my body as the numbness in my legs faded away. A rush of energy pulsed through me.
I need more.
I lapped and sucked, drawing in deep pulls of the salty-sweet ambrosia.
My eyes rolled back into my head and my muscles stretched and flexed spasmodically. Something twisted inside. My senses seemed to double.
The sound of the Biters below us competed with the sound of rain beating against the canvas above us. The scent of decay and rot grew and then faded as my focus settled on the scent of Dominic and the feeling of his pulse pounding under my tongue.
His pulse?
With dawning horror, I realized Dominic’s arm was in my mouth.
I’m drinking his blood!
My eyes opened. I shoved him away.
Impossibly, he flew into the other side of the plastic hull and slid to the metal floor. He blinked at me, a dazed expression on his face.
I looked down at my hands. There was no way I could send a man twice my size flying like that.
He has to be acting.
But he didn’t look like he was acting. His face was pale and blood streamed from a nasty-looking cut on the inside of his forearm.
Below us, the Biters reacted to the scent of blood by surging and chattering even louder.
“Lee?” he whispered, his fingers gripping the knife in front of him.
Oh, God.
I wiped my lips. A smear of crimson came away on my shaking hand. “Did I attack you?”
He shook his head. “No. I gave you my blood.”
I blinked in confusion. “Why would you do that?”
He let out a deep breath. “My blood contains the same regenerative properties as the accelerant. Look, it healed you.” He pointed down at my hip.
The black veins were gone. Giving modesty the finger, I peeled off my wet pants and the bandage. There was no trace of the virus. I blinked three times, sure I was hallucinating. The knife wound and even the original bite had healed completely.
“Are you feeling okay?” he asked with a wary look in his eye.
I wanted to tell him that I felt more alive than I’d felt in years, but I couldn’t take my focus away from his arm. The delicious scent of blood trickling down his wrist made my stomach rumble. It took every bit of self-control not to launch myself on him.
“You can take more,” he said, following my gaze. Seeming to realize that the wound was already healing, he sliced the knife down his arm.
The sight and smell of his blood punched me in the gut. Without conscious thought, I closed the distance between us. With a whimper, I climbed onto his lap and wrapped my lips around his arm. I drank him down as if I was dying of thirst. After a minute or two, the frantic need to drink faded. I lapped lazily, drunk on the intoxicating taste.
Slowly I grew aware of the fact that I was straddling him and the only thing separating us was my underwear and the wet fabric of his pants.
The heady scent of him filled my senses. Every rational thought skipped town.
New sensations built low in my belly. My nipples hardened as a fierce wave of desire crashed through me.
Unable to help myself, I rocked against him desperate to ease the throbbing ache between my legs.
“Stop, Lee.” Dominic’s large hands gripped my hips, trying to keep me still.
Not coherent enough to be embarrassed, I helplessly thrust my hips. When he turned his head to look at me, I pulled my lips away from his arm and licked the salty-sweet flavor of his neck. I followed the swell of his pectoral muscle to the scorpion tattoo above his flat brown nipple.
He groaned and shifted underneath me. When I dipped my head to taste him, his nipple pebbled in my mouth and his hard length pressed between my thighs.
I cursed the fabric between us. I needed to feel his skin against mine. My thoughts were jumbled as I clawed at my sports bra and thong. The cotton tore. Finally, cool damp air caressed my bare skin.
But it’s not enough. Not nearly enough.
I hissed in pleasure at the feeling of my bare breasts against the smooth muscles of his chest. Liquid heat pooled between my legs.
He growled. Then the scorching heat of his mouth was on my breasts.
The sensation of him sucking on my nipples set fire to my blood. I arched up to give him better access.
I need more of his lips. His tongue. His teeth.
My heart pounded to the rhythm of the rain beating against the canvas over our heads. My thighs clenched tightly around his waist.
His hips surged under me, as if he was lost to the same mindless hunger.
With a curse he pulled away, staring down up me with a gaze so intent it felt like hot licks of flame over my flesh. “This isn’t right. Lee, you’re not yourself.”
I flicked my tongue over his lips. “Need you,” I said, against his mouth.
He hesitated for a moment. His body tensed. I couldn’t let him stop this.
Not now.
“Please, sir,” I begged.
Those were magic words. His mouth opened under my assault and our tongues and lips dueled aggressively. Tasting. Devouring.
The movement of my hands took on a frantic edge. “Need to touch you,” I groaned, stroking one hand down the sculpted ridges of his abs.
Dominic’s body shuddered under mine.
I reached for his belt, and he pushed my hands away.
Making a sound of frustration, I reached down again, but he’d already freed himself. His long, thick shaft pulsed with every staccato beat of his heart.
While I watched transfixed, he slid his shaft up and down my wet folds hitting my clit with every pass.
I made inarticulate noises as waves of pleasure engulf me. The frenzied need for him overwhelmed every cell of my body. I tried to mount him, but he pushed me back down.
“Slow down.”
I made a feral sound as urgent, almost painful, need twisted inside me.
He must’ve read the desperation in my face because he didn’t resist when I rose above him again. Poised over his flesh, our gazes clashed. In the intensity of the moment, I felt him looking into my soul, seeing me as I clearly as I saw him.
Passion. Need. And more. So much more.
Then I came down over him. There was a brief pinch as my flesh resisted the invasion of his before giving way
.
“I’m your first,” he said in a strained voice as he thrust hard and buried his entire length in my body.
I forgot to breathe as he slowly rocked his hips. My breath came faster and faster as the friction turned my blood to fire. Soon I was grinding against him, increasing the pace.
“Don’t stop, Dominic. Don’t stop.” I hooked my legs around his waist to fit him even more deeply inside. The rumble of thunder melded with the wild cries coming from my lips.
His strong hands lifted my hips in time with the thrusting of his.
I arched up and plunged down on his hard flesh again and again. Taking him as deep inside as I could. “Yes. Yes,” I cried.
Dominic made an inarticulate sound. Then he was slamming into me—his unrestrained thrusts driving us across the metal floor.
His back arched. He flung his head back and gave a guttural roar.
The frantic pounding of his pulse drew me.
Helpless to resist the urge, I bit down on his neck. The taste of his blood brought my desire to a feverish pitch.
Lightning split the sky as he came inside me and I splintered into a million dazzling pieces.
7
Wow. My body continued trembling and shaking as I slowly released my jaws from Dominic’s neck.
Blood streamed from the wound my teeth had left.
“Dominic, are you okay?”
“Affirmative,” he mumbled, his lips curling up in a half grin. His eyes fluttered shut and his body slumped to the side.
Crap. He’d lost too much blood. I scrambled off him and searched for something to stop the bleeding. By the time I came back with his shirt, the bite wound had healed.
That’s a good sign. Right? At least I didn’t kill him.
I don’t know how long I sat there watching his chest rise and fall. Long enough for some color to return to his cheeks and the enormity of what had happened to hit me.
I’d had sex for the first time. And it’d been amazing. I trembled with another internal aftershock remembering the incredible feeling of Dominic thrusting inside me while I drank his blood.
His blood. Oh, God. I’d attacked him like some kind of vampire, and then practically raped the man. I wiped the dried blood off my lips with the back of my hand.
Something’s wrong with me.
I looked down at my naked thighs. Smooth unblemished thighs that now carried no trace of the virus. Dominic’s blood had cured me.
Or has it?
Unable to explain the impulse, I picked up the knife sitting near Dominic’s hand. The scent of Dominic’s blood on the blade made me salivate. It took all my willpower not to bring it to my mouth. Instead, I sliced the blade over the top of my leg. Once. Twice.
There should’ve been searing pain, not the fleeting paper cut sensation that faded in less than a second. I dug the knife in harder, piercing muscle. Again almost no pain registered.
A line of dark blood appeared, but my skin stitched together too quickly for it to pool. I was regenerating my injuries now like Dominic.
And like Eden, whispered a voice in my head.
In the distance, a mourning dove wailed. I shouldn’t have been able to pick out the soft sound over the thunder, but I did. Just like I could hear Dominic’s steady heartbeat over the clambering of the dead below.
A frenzy erupted among the creatures, sending several Biters into the beams of the play structure. Their slimy wet faces stared beseechingly up at Dominic’s body through the holes in the metal floor.
I couldn’t blame them for wanting a piece of him. Even now the memory of his blood on my tongue had me licking my lips. I’d never tasted anything as good as the rich flavor. With a start, I realized I was leaning over his prone body with my teeth bared.
I slapped my hand over my mouth and reared back. I wasn’t a monster.
Right?
Needing to get some space from Dominic, I got to my feet and found my clothes. My thong was shredded, but thankfully the sports bra was repairable. I tied the ripped side into a knot and I slung it on along with my wet yoga pants and holsters. I wouldn’t win any fashion awards, but I felt more human, something I desperately needed at the moment.
I shoved my knife back into my thigh holster. It wasn’t much, but having at least one weapon upped our chances.
Not that it’ll help us out of this mess.
Headless of the pouring rain, I padded back over to the platform walkway and leaned over the rail to get a better look at the street. Even though the dark clouds turned early afternoon into twilight, I could make out the van and the cluster of Biters surrounding it a hundred yards away. But it might as well have been miles away considering the undead horde rioting below us.
There are too many of them. We’re trapped here. We’ll never get back to our friends. Darcy will abandon Reed to die. The little girl won’t get her medication and she’ll die. And Dominic and I will die from the lack of food and water if Eden doesn’t come for us first.
Damn it. My frustration at the situation had me slapping my hand against the side of the play structure. The wet clapping sound attracted the attention of the creatures below.
Dozens of Biters moved in my direction. Instead of eliciting the usual fear and horror, they just pissed me off.
Fuck you all.
I leaned farther over daring them to come at me. But just as soon as they neared my hand, they backed away like dogs turning up their noses at spoiled meat.
Stunned, I leaned ever farther over the side. I banged my hand against the plastic again. The same thing happened.
A crazy urge to test the theory further gripped me. I walked over to the ladder. Not one Biter turned in my direction. I stepped out onto the top rung.
I looked down into their rotting faces, each one more gruesome than the next. Fear froze my fingers around the metal rail.
What the hell am I thinking?
While I was questioning my suicidal impulses, a female Biter staggered into the ladder with a clang. Ignoring my survival instincts, I went down another rung and kicked at her. The cold clammy skin of her face stuck to my foot. I shuddered in disgust and tried to shake the zombie goo from between my toes.
She spun around, her unfocused cloudy gaze taking in my flailing leg. Without so much as a second look, she stumbled away to join the frenzied horde vying for Dominic.
I let out a deep breath. Okay.
So Biters don’t want to eat me anymore. What does that mean?
I climbed down the ladder and stood next to the slide. There I fisted my knife and forced myself to stand still as scores of dead pressed against me. A teenage girl, wearing braces across her chattering teeth, knocked into my arm. Panicked, I stabbed her in the skull. She fell and was immediately trampled by the other Biters who failed to register the loss of one of their own.
My gaze bounced from my knife to the horde around me. I smiled widely.
This is a game changer.
I swung my knife at the next closest Biter and the next.
I’m not sure how much time passed, but eventually I stood over a mass of unmoving bodies. I’d taken out all the zombies, save the dozen or so gathered around the minivan.
Not bad for half an hour’s work.
And the best part was that I didn’t feel winded and my muscles weren’t strained. I let the rain wash the zombie rot from my skin. Once I felt clean enough, I headed back to the play structure.
I hesitated at the base of the ladder. Going with some weird instinctual urge, I bent my knees and jumped. I sailed through the air and made a perfect gymnast landing on the platform walkway.
Cool! I can get used to these new abilities.
“Christ.”
I spun around to find Dominic standing at the other end of the walkway. The sheen of rain covering his chest highlighted every muscle. He looked so goddamn sexy that I wanted to fling myself on top of him.
Want to taste him.
A feral growl escaped my lips.
“Lee?” he a
sked hesitantly.
The wariness in his eyes was the bitch slap I needed. I forced my eyes away from him. “In the flesh.”
He let out a shaky breath. “When I saw you jump up like that, I thought—”
“I’m fine. What about you? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, but—” His voice trailed off as glanced down at the zombie carnage below. “What the hell?”
My chest might’ve puffed out a little. “I took care of your fan club.”
He swallowed hard. “All of them? By yourself?”
“The dead don’t attack me anymore.”
“What?” He took several steps back as I crossed the walkway, his hands trembling.
The man who fears nothing, fears me.
The realization made me feel sick inside. Hurt and anger danced a tango in my chest.
This is his fault.
I pointed my finger at him. “You did this to me.”
“What?”
“You fed me your blood and it changed me.”
He shook his head in denial. “I used my blood to try to keep you from dying.”
“Well it worked, but it apparently had side effects.”
“No. It didn’t work.”
The resigned expression on his face caught me off guard. A spurt of panic flared inside me. “What do you mean?”
He looked up at me, his dark eyes offering an unspoken apology. “You died. Then after I started feeding you my blood, you…revived.”
My knees shook. “So I’m a zombie now. Like them.” The realization shouldn’t have blindsided me.
It explains so much. My freaky healing ability. How I’ve been taken off the Biters’ dinner menu. Why even now I lust for a taste of Dominic.
A look of wonder crossed his face. “No. You’re so much more than that.”
“I’m becoming like Eden,” I said in a small voice.
Dominic shook his head. “I don’t think so. Remember Dr. Zimmerman’s theory on the next stage of human evolution? I think you’re what he’s been looking for.”
It was my turn to back away from him. “What are you talking about?”
“I think the regenerative properties of my blood kept you from succumbing to the final stage of the virus.”
“How can you say that? I died and reanimated.”