She arched her brow mockingly. “And become a blood sucker?”
Why wasn’t that thought as nasty as it should be?
Cadan pushed his fingers wearily through his hair. “They are energy forms, Bliss. They survive on our blood; their incredible power is shared with us, their knowledge, their ability to heal us to keep us from aging. It’s all given to us freely. They provide us with the ability to take in more blood, to replace what they lose. It’s a small exchange.”
“It’s eternity,” she whispered, thinking of her brother.
They were the last of their family. They had no one but each other.
“It’s more than just immortality,” he told her softly. “It’s the chance to live all your dreams, all the adventures you’ve ever longed for. A chance to save a race of beings who are so much more than humans will ever be, Bliss. They deserve life as well.”
Bliss stared back at him, confused. Aching.
His voice vibrated with his belief, with his love of life and who and what he was. He was as free as the wind, as wild as a storm. All the things she had longed for herself. And he could give her the chance to know it all.
“Give me a chance,” he finally said. “We’ll take it slow and easy, Bliss. You have time to decide if you can bear immortality with me. If you can live with the battles we’ll have to fight. But your choices are limited; unfortunately, it will come down to accepting the banshee in my head, or the one my enemies would force on you. Because hosts are what they search desperately for, female hosts they would kill their own for. And I won’t let them take you. Not as long as I live.”
Silence stretched between them as Bliss tensed at this new bit of knowledge.
“You know, Cadan,” she swallowed tightly, “I’m beginning to regret the fact that the books are wrong. Because honestly, right now, I could get very, very inventive with a stake. And I’m not talking the cooking kind.”
She turned away from him and stomped to her bedroom.
“I need a shower. I need peace. Go away and at least let me think without the temptation of your cock making it worse. Go bite somebody or something. Just leave me the hell alone.”
Chapter Eleven
Hours later, after Cadan informed her he was indeed going to go bite someone, Bliss slipped from her apartment and walked the short distance to the bar her brother owned and tended.
She couldn’t believe the course of events she had managed to bumble her way into. It was just her luck. The man of her dreams and he sucked blood to live and came with enemies that she didn’t need.
The thought of those enemies sent a strange shiver up her spine. Then again, the sudden silence of the night wasn’t helping. Her steps faltered as she stared around the deserted street. It was never deserted.
“Well, look at the little pretty we’ve found, boys. And doesn’t she just stink of our wayward son, Cadan?”
The group of men stepped from the shadows of the alley, blocking her access to the bar, crowding her toward the inky blackness they had come from.
Bliss stared at them, her heart in her throat, fear exploding through her chest. She had once thought she couldn’t know more terror than she had the night she had seen Cadan feeding from Marissa’s neck, but she had been wrong. That had been no more than shock, no more than surprise, because terror sounded like a serpent’s hiss, smelled like death and stared at her with strangely red, glowing eyes.
Bliss moved back quickly before jumping to sidestep one of the three men waylaying her. A chuckle, dark and deadly, sounded an instant before one of the creatures blocked her escape, smiling back at her, his fangs long and sharp, deadly and shining in the moonlight.
“She’s a pretty little breeder, Mordan,” one of the others spoke up, the middle dude, the one with the red Mohawk that looked like a rooster’s comb in the center of his head. If blood didn’t stain his chin, lips and hands then she would have laughed at the picture he presented.
Then, the words sank into her head. Breeder? She didn’t think so.
“Look, I’m sure you guys could show a girl a real fine time, but I have other plans tonight.” When all else fails, smart-ass them. Bliss winced. She really didn’t think it was going to work.
“She’s a saucy one, Mordan,” the tall, muscular creature that had blocked her moments before murmured softly. “She would make an excellent warrior. Not just a breeder.”
“Neither is on my list of things to do this year,” she retorted as she backed further away, aware that each step took her away from the bar and the chance of rescue.
“Only the breeding will be required,” the leader assured her smoothly.
“Yeah, well, that’s the one I have the most exception to.” She stilled the tremor in her voice and in her knees. “Tell you what, check with me next year when my biological clock is getting closer to ticking. Maybe I will have changed my mind.”
“By this time next year, you will have whelped and bled dry your first young and be growing heavy with the second,” she was told coldly. “Breeders are chained in our cells, taken regularly, their young used to strengthen our warriors. You will be a very fertile breeder. I can smell the ripeness of your body…”
“Damn, and here I showered and everything.” This wasn’t happening.
She danced just out of reach of the hand that shot out, intent on grabbing her close. The muttered curse assured her that they were quickly running out of patience. This had not been her week, she thought with hysterical humor. First, a horny vampire intent on breaking her heart and making her just like him, and now this.
“You know, this is really not fucking fair,” she yelled at the three approaching monsters.
Yep, she would agree with Cadan now. Monsters really did exist.
They paused as though surprised she had dared to scream out her fury in such a way.
“Life was not meant to be fair,” the one called Mordan observed.
“Fucking blood sucking philosopher—just what the hell I needed tonight. I wanted to get drunk. Dead dog puking drunk and you are messing up my plans. Do you hear me? I don’t like this.”
She hated having control taken from her, and she sure as hell didn’t like being called a breeder or being informed of exactly what that entailed. She preferred to choose the father of her children herself, thank you very much. And if it was all the same to these blood sucking morons she wouldn’t mind a bit if any children she had lived into old age rather than be killed by their mother. Not that she really believed that one, but the way her week was going, anything was possible.
“This mate your son has chosen does not seem very sane, Mordan. Is there not a chance of that insanity infecting the symbiot that would be bred from her?” the one on the end asked suspiciously.
“Insane?” she snapped backed. “I’m not insane, you are. I’m perfectly reasonable. I think this sucks. Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I’ve been mad enough to get dog drunk? I don’t like having it ruined.”
Were they weak-minded or what? She stepped back further as the one called Mordan watched her carefully.
“Cadan would not choose for his mate one so weak as to be insane,” he informed the others. “Smell her. She reeks of him. Even now his seed searches for fertile ground.”
She trembled. “God, this is so unreal,” she muttered as they began to progress again. “You are breaking the fucking rules. Every damned one of them. Dead people don’t procreate. Vampires are not alive. This is not real.”
Mordan reached for her again. Bliss let her scream shriek through the night. Hell, she had a healthy set of lungs, or so her father had always claimed. Surely someone would hear her.
“Let me go, you freak.” Her shirt ripped as she tore herself loose from the fingers that snagged the material.
She ducked the next arm and took off running.
“Help me!” The night seemed to swallow her screams.
Chapter Twelve
For the first time in recent memory the street wa
s deserted, the drunken fools normally laughing and falling all over themselves mysteriously absent. Bliss had taken no more than a few steps when she was caught from behind, a hand coming over her mouth as she opened her lips and bit down, hard. She screamed, scratched and clawed, kicking out with her feet and struggling violently as she was dragged back to the alley.
“You bastards. Sons of bitches. I’m going to get me a symbiot and fucking kick your asses. I’m going to rip your fucking balls from your bodies and shove them down your throats, you stupid rule breaking blood sucking creeps…”
She was still cursing when she was abruptly torn from the arms holding her and lifted against a hard, familiar chest. Laughter echoed in her ear, warm and inviting, as one strong arm circled her waist and held her firm.
“Bliss, baby, your language.” Cadan laughed in amusement as her arms clawed at him, desperate to hold onto him and terrified that he was so well outnumbered that he couldn’t possibly save her.
“Damn you,” she cried against his chest. “I’m not a breeder. And I won’t kill my babies, Cadan. And there aren’t going to be any babies because I’m going to castrate every damned one of you.”
She realized she was crying, sobbing against his chest as he held her close to him. Warmth surrounded her, not just in front of her but all around her now, as silence seemed to stretch throughout the street.
“I’m well fed, Father,” Cadan said softly with an innate, curiously lethal danger that had her nerve endings fraying more than they were already. “Well fed and well defended. Would you prefer to fight another day?”
Bliss turned and stared at her would-be rapist in fury.
“That’s your father?” she asked him, her breath hitching with her tears. “I have to tell you, Cadan, your family sucks. And not in a good way, either.”
Cadan’s laughter was low, brooding. “Meet my father, Mordan, my brother, the sloppy bleeder, Angus, and my uncle, Kiran.” Kiran, of course, being the strange one who had doubted her sanity.
“It’s not been a pleasure,” she muttered, holding onto Cadan with a desperate grip.
“We will have her eventually, Cadan,” his father warned him mockingly. “She may yet carry that female bitch Cerise, but that will not save her anymore than it saved the last host she possessed.”
“Ahh, but there you are wrong,” Cadan promised him lightly. “The last host didn’t like feeding. I will ensure Bliss has no such problems. Imagine her, Father.” His voice dropped, filled with humor, with triumph. “Cerise is one of the oldest, the strongest, as is Aldon. Well fed and healthy, they were the leaders for a reason. Bliss will know a power you can never comprehend. And she’s perhaps just a bit irrational on top of that. She could sweep through your warriors like a plague and leave you lying in your own waste. That I am looking forward to in ways you can never imagine.”
Okay, it sounded good, Bliss thought, restraining her shudder. Not realistic, but a hell of a threat.
Mordan snarled in fury. “Cerise is an insipid bitch. She can not defeat us.”
“Not alone,” Cadan agreed. “Not without her mate. But she has found her mate now. She and Aldon will only grow in strength. The host who shall shelter her is my woman. The power will grow, Father, our strength will be tenfold. Run. Run hard and run fast, because next time we meet, your blood will flow and vengeance will finally be mine. Both for myself and for my mother and sisters who loved you so unwisely. You will die.”
Bliss could feel the hatred pouring from Cadan then. Black menace emanated from his hard body, swirled in the air like currents of electricity and snapped dangerously around them all.
“You guys are so melodramatic,” she said, trying to still the tears of rage and fear. “You seriously need to chill out.”
Mordan’s gaze swung to her, his frown dark and promising retribution.
“I will cut your tongue from your mouth when I finally take you, bitch,” he snarled. “You will be on your knees whimpering for mercy when I have finished with you.”
Her fingernails dug into Cadan’s waist, holding tightly to him, terrified that if she let go of him he might leave her to fend for herself.
“Or cutting off your tiny balls, you fruitcake,” she snapped. “Don’t you have things to do? Graves to dig or something? I thought vampires were smarter than this. Someone needs to give you guys lessons on how to do it right.”
“She reads too many fiction novels.” Cadan sighed. “I’m trying to break her of this habit.”
His laughter soothed her, stroked over the terror-laced nerves and brought a measure of calm to her racing heart.
Mordan sneered before casting his son a dark, malevolent look then turning and stalking away. The brother followed closely behind, though the uncle stood silent, watching the scene with faint amusement.
“Do you think you can avoid the battle to come forever, nephew?” he asked curiously. “Mordan grows more powerful by the day and more angry. Allowing your woman to taunt him in such a way is foolhardy.”
His voice was like a mellow spring, rippling with subtle power and wrapping around them now in a way it hadn’t when the other two had been present.
“Watch your own back, Kiran, and I will watch mine,” Cadan told him softly. “As long as you fight alongside my father, we are enemies. Nothing more.”
“And yet, those who carry your blood have not shed a drop of it by your sword,” Kiran said softly. “Something else stays your hand, nephew. Such foolishness could mean your death.”
“And perhaps you see what you only choose to see,” Cadan drawled with an edge of laughter. Did he never take anything seriously? “I will bid you goodnight now. I have a woman to prepare, and a symbiot shrieking in my head. And you might want to collect your dead on the next street over. I believe Father is now missing several of his warriors, as well as the symbiots who inhabited them. They’re getting lazy in their feedings these days.”
Kiran’s eyes narrowed. He nodded abruptly then turned and strode quickly away, following the route the others had taken and leaving Cadan and Bliss alone with the night surrounding them.
“Well, that was interesting.” She still hadn’t let him go and she wasn’t about to for a long while. “I have to say, though, your family doesn’t impress me much, Cadan.”
He breathed out deeply. “For this, I cannot blame you,” he said wearily as both arms enfolded her. “I’m sorry you were frightened in such a way but I have to say, I did warn you.”
“You would be an ‘I told you so’ type,” she grunted as she felt his lips press against her hair.
He could say it all he wanted to as far as she was concerned, as long as he kept her wrapped in his arms, kept her sheltered from the terror of realizing everything he had told her was completely true.
“I am a realistic and very weary type,” he finally told her. “And I must feed quickly, Bliss. I will take you to the bar…”
“No.” She gripped his lean waist tighter. “Are you kidding me? There isn’t a chance in hell I’m letting go of you. Those guys meant business, Cadan.”
“I am well aware of this, Bliss, but I must feed. I cannot wait any longer or I will grow weak. Unless you’re willing to watch, then we have no other choice. I promise it will not take long.”
“Do you have to fuck them?” She remembered Marissa and jealousy blazed within her.
He chuckled gently. “No, dearest, I haven’t taken another since you completed me that first night. But the act is still erotic, sensual. There is no hope for that. The adrenaline-laced blood is more powerful and lasts much longer than that which is taken from a body at rest. You will learn this yourself.”
She felt his hands smoothing over her back as he spoke, attempting to calm the surge of emotion running through her.
“Why can’t you just take my blood?” she whispered.
“Because, you must be strong, at your most healthy to accept the symbiot later. If I feed from you, it will weaken you. At the time of the bonding, we’ll
take blood from each other. And though that will be part of our sensuality, we always need to feed from others. There is no help for that.”
“You wouldn’t be jealous, watching me do that to another man?” She was barely aware of him leading her to the bar.
“I would never allow you to fuck another man, my love.” His voice hardened a bit at the statement. “But watching you arouse him, feed from him, would make me mad to have you myself. Yes, that I could handle.”
She could hear the arousal in his voice now.
“I want to watch.” She tried to ignore the heat in her pussy at the thought of watching Cadan touch another woman. It was depraved. “For purely clinical purposes,” she assured him. “I need to see how it’s done before I decide if I can do it.”
“Hmm.” The soft sound of curious reflection was followed by a suspicious tremor in his chest.
She was certain he was laughing at her.
“No more little rips like Marissa, though,” she told him. “She could be carrying nasty germs. Get someone clean at least.”
“Clean, huh?” He cleared his throat. Yep, he was laughing at her. “Would you perhaps prefer to choose dinner for me?”
She grimaced at the description. “Might as well.” She sighed. “Other than when you picked me, you’ve had lousy taste in women.”
“Do you think so?” They entered the bar, standing close, staring around at the crowded room, listening to the cacophony of sound as Bliss tried to convince herself that she was indeed safe now.
“I know so.” She breathed in deeply and patted his chest comfortingly. “Don’t worry, honey, I’ll pick you out a tasty little morsel. I have excellent taste in people. You’ll see.”
Chapter Thirteen
He had to agree she had excellent taste in choosing women. He wondered if that was a good thing, though.
The woman was a fiery redhead, small in stature, with full ripe breasts, though not nearly as fine as Bliss’s were, he thought as he held her in thrall, his gaze locked with Bliss’s as he bent his head to the woman’s neck. There was no question that he would attempt to fuck the woman. Not that she wasn’t well prepared. It had taken very little to arouse the seductive beauty. But Bliss’s promise to cut his balls off if he attempted to fuck the woman still echoed in his head.
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