Worth Dying For

by Luxie Ryder

  Bane swam back to his island and entered the cave, no more at peace than he had been when he left. If he had any sense, he would stay away until he had a grip on his emotions but he didn’t want to leave her alone and afraid any longer than necessary.

  He found her reading in the den, her hair wet and smelling again of orchids. Bane let his feet fall hard on the rock as he approached so as not to frighten her with his sudden appearance but Amber didn’t acknowledge him save for an almost imperceptible shift of her head.

  “Are you okay?”

  She nodded but still didn’t meet his gaze. “Did you hunt again?”

  “Yes.”

  “What did you catch?”

  Bane hesitated, sure somehow he would enrage her with his answer. “Wolf.”

  She curled her nose in disapproval but, as usual with Amber, it wasn’t for the reason he suspected. “You do know they are a protected species?”

  He laughed, partly due to her censorial frown but also from relief that his eating habits were all she had found to complain about so far. The thought that they were all endangered crossed his mind but he didn’t share it with her.

  “I will try to remember that.” he said, unable to remove all of the humour from his tone. Amber’s spine straightened a little and she turned her attention away from him and back to her book.

  Bane moved towards the bedroom when it seemed she had no more to say but she hadn’t finished with him. “So why don’t you hunt humans?”

  “I choose not to.”

  “But you did—once?”

  “Before I knew better.”

  “Why did you stop?”

  Bane sighed, letting his head fall back. Eyes scanning the roof of the cave, he decided how best to answer. “It’s a long story, and too long for me to tell while I am tired. Let’s say I saw the error of my ways and leave it at that.”

  She fell silent although he could tell Amber wanted to push him on for details, but she let it go. “Was it hard to stop?”

  “Yes. It still is.”

  Her green eyes got wide and he heard her pulse pick up. Bane knew he had frightened her again but he didn’t try to take the words back. She needed to know what he was truly capable of. She dropped his gaze, her cheeks aflame, and Bane knew without a doubt what she would ask next.

  “Is that why you wouldn’t have sex with me?”

  “In part, but there were other reasons too.” Bane gave up on the notion of immediate sleep and moved to the sofa opposite hers, unwilling to sit close while she insisted on pursuing the subject at hand. “I told you last night why I couldn’t do as you asked.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Please, don’t remind me.” He didn’t understand the sarcasm in her tone. “Does being a vampire prevent you having sex with any human…or is it just me?”

  He shook his head. “My kind needs to be very careful.”

  “Why?”

  Did she really want to know to satisfy her curiosity or rather to make his rejection of her easier to bear? Either way, it would not hurt her to hear the reason. He leant forwards to ensure she heeded his words.

  “Sex is the same for us as our other urges—basic and primal—and the temptation to bite when engaged in lovemaking is almost irresistible.”

  “So humans always die?”

  He wanted to lie to her, to say she was right, but she wouldn’t believe him anyway.

  “No, not always. A bite doesn’t mean death, as long as you choose the site carefully and don’t drain the recipient of blood.”

  Amber’s uncharacteristic silence hung between them, until it seemed she came to a conclusion she deemed worth sharing. “No wonder you don’t want to have sex if everyone you sleep with becomes a vampire or dies.”

  “Who said they become vampires? I have never changed anyone.”

  “But you said you have to bite.”

  Bane rubbed his head, wishing he’d never tried to explain. “I said the urge to bite is almost irresistible. That doesn’t mean I inject venom into my sexual partners.”

  “You can choose to not inject venom but you can’t choose not to bite?” He nodded. “Then you have slept with humans in the past without killing them?”

  Fool! He’d allowed himself to be backed into a corner, leaving no choice but to tell her the whole truth. “But I have never done it with anybody I cared a damn about—the risk would be too great.”

  “Who did you take the risk with?”

  He squirmed. “There have always been women who know what we are and enjoy the danger of being around us—as well as the other physical aspects.”

  “You mean prostitutes.” The disgust in her tone matched the look on her face. How strange that the idea of him paying for sex would be the one thing she could not accept out of all she had heard about him.

  He shook his head. “Deviants.”

  “Like sadomasochists?”

  “Some of them are, but mostly they are normal women—and men on occasion—who want something different and exciting.”

  “You have sex with men?” Her grin undermined her attempt to irritate him by pretending to misunderstand.

  He held her gaze, returning her smile to show he’d figured out her game. “I don’t sleep with men, but there are some who prefer them.”

  Her playful expression disappeared when it seemed she remembered what had prompted their conversation. “So which is it, Bane—you didn’t want me or rather that you didn’t trust yourself not to hurt me?”

  “I would never hurt you intentionally.” Bane got to his feet, suddenly tired again. “Is this about your ego, Amber? If it is, then know that the very reason I can’t is because I want you too much. I may not be able to control my actions because—”

  “Because I remind you of Mary.”

  She dropped her head, accepting the truth of her statement without giving him the opportunity to answer.

  He found himself in front of her, lifting her up by her arms and holding her at eye level to force her gaze to meet his. “Not because of Mary, you infuriating wench. It’s because of you.”

  Bane put her down, shaken by the confession that had fallen from his lips. He had failed to see, until that very moment, that his feelings no longer had anything to do with his dead wife and Amber’s resemblance to her.

  He had to rest before he did anything else to terrify the woman in his charge. Bane cast a glance at her, expecting to find her upset again but she seemed unaffected by his outburst. Her calm acceptance of his behaviour made his stomach churn with shame. Had she already got used to his boorish ways?

  “I’m going to sleep. Don’t forget to eat something.”

  He left her in the den without waiting to hear a reply and crawled onto sheets that smelt of her. Bane groaned into the fabric, too tired to do anything but endure the torture.

  Many hours had passed, by his estimate, when he became aware of her presence in the room. Bane steeled himself against the delicious scent of her arousal, potent enough to make him hard. Amber’s body called to him in other ways as she got nearer to the bed. She drew in a shaky breath, as if the thought of approaching him unnerved her, but still she came. He kept his eyes closed, willing her to have enough intelligence and sufficient-self preservation to turn around and leave. Had curiosity got the better of her? Bane hoped not for her sake.

  Sneaking a look at her face through barely open eyelids, he found her gaze travelling up his naked legs. He’d shed his clothing to sleep, wrapping the sheet around his waist in case she had reason to need his attention, but it had fallen away. If he didn’t move to cover himself, Amber would no longer need to doubt that he wanted her.

  Amber gasped when she noticed Bane’s erection and she cast a quick look at his face to see if he had awoken. He hadn’t moved a muscle since the last time she’d checked—except that now, his obsidian gaze locked with hers.

  The shaking in her knees intensified and a tremble skittered across her skin as her groin convulsed. Amber knew she should run back to th
e sofa and rethink her plan to seduce Malachi Bane.

  She had waited for him to return, determined to make him face her as an equal rather than his victim. What he’d done to her with nothing more than his mind hadn’t nearly satisfied her enough.

  Amber wanted him.

  Bane’s strong, muscled body lay inches from her if only she had the courage to reach out and show him what she wanted. Amber took a step closer, ignoring the hand he put up in warning. Emboldened that he hadn’t yet told her to stop, she pulled her T-shirt off, revealing her bare breasts to him.

  “Amber, no,” he groaned, but she could see by the hungry glint in his eyes he didn’t mean it. She pulled at the zipper of her jeans, holding his gaze with hers and silently pleading that he let her do what she needed to. She kicked the denim off along with her panties and closed the distance between them.

  He shut his eyes again, as if trying to blot out her image. “It’s not really me you want,” he said, his voice rough with tension. “You are reacting to an inbuilt lure, designed to pull you in so I can prey on you.”

  Amber placed her knee onto the edge of the bed and crawled over him, coming to rest with her legs straddling his. The skin of his thighs was cool against hers, his body the same temperature as the interior of the cave.

  “That’s why I came to you this way—so you would know I am here because I want to be.” She dropped a kiss on his chest. “Because I need to be.”

  Bane lay beneath her unmoving, his jaw set in a rigid line as if trying to keep control. Amber licked and nibbled at him, ignoring his attempts at resisting her and thrust her groin down onto his, gasping as his erection brushed against her sensitive skin.

  Suddenly, his fingers slid into her hair, his movements so fast that the gentle touch surprised her. But just as she thought he had accepted her—that he would give her what she asked for—he lifted her head to look at her, a plea in his eyes.

  “Don’t do this.”

  She hushed him. “You could have stopped me by now if you wanted to Bane.”

  His hand slid out of her hair and she turned her face to it, kissing his palm and trailing her tongue up to his fingers. She locked her gaze on his and sucked the tip of one into her mouth. He tensed beneath her and his eyes closed with a groan, his body shaking, as if fighting the urge to move or respond.

  Amber leant forwards, brushing her lips across his gasping mouth. Bane jerked away from her, holding her off by her shoulders. She diverted her attentions to his lower half, snaking her feet into the gap between his thighs as she moved down with the intention of taking him into her mouth. Her tongue left a wet trail over his skin and she heard the breath still in his throat as he anticipated her touch. Her head came to a rest on his pelvis and she looked at him, watching his reaction when her breast came into contact with his rigid penis.

  Bane surged up from the bed, grabbing her shoulders again and lifting her away from him. “Slowly, Amber…don’t move too fast.”

  Simply relieved that he hadn’t rejected her again, she laughed at his warning. If he came quickly, they could try again as soon as he had recovered. Her hand moved to his cock without hesitation.

  A growl erupted from the man beneath her, so sudden, loud and fierce, it scared her upright. Bane threw his forearm over his face, but not before she’d seen the long, white teeth biting into his lip.

  Amber screamed…and then things started to happen really fast. Before she had time to suck in another breath, he had thrown her to the bed and seemingly disappeared.

  She lay in stunned silence for a moment, waiting for her head to stop spinning. When it didn’t make her feel ill to open her eyes, she found herself alone and upside down on the bed. Amber rolled onto her stomach and called for Bane.

  A sound against the rock told her where he was. Amber could barely see him in the darkness, his massive frame pressed up against the stone, almost out of reach of the light, his fists clenched against his sides, defeat and misery etched into his silhouette.

  “Come back here,” she whispered, knowing he could hear.

  He didn’t move so she scooted from the bed and made her way over to him.

  “Stay away,” he said, turning his face to the rock wall. He flinched as her hand touched his shoulder but he didn’t shrug it off.

  “Bane, please look at me.” She pulled on his arm to try and turn him around but she couldn’t budge him. “I’m sorry I screamed. I am fine. You surprised me, that’s all.”

  “I told you this would happen.” He turned his head towards her a fraction, still refusing to meet her eyes.

  “I know…but I kind of forgot about your fangs. I guess I thought they would only come out when you wanted them to, and as I wasn’t going to let you bite me, I didn’t expect to see them at all.”

  He straightened and turned to face her, his mood apparently forgotten. “You weren’t going to let me?” The arrogant smirk on his face would have pissed her off at any other time but Amber welcomed it. Anything was better than his guilt-ridden angst. “And how did you think you would have stopped me?”

  “I was gonna ask you not to.”

  She could see from Bane’s incredulous expression that he thought she was crazy, but he laughed anyway. “As simple as that?”

  Amber smiled. “If you can resist the urge to hunt humans, then I know you have enough self control not to hurt me.” She wrapped her arms around his torso and pressed her face against his chest, ignoring his agonised groan.

  “I’ve never tried not to. I don’t know if I can stop it.”

  “Please try. For me?”

  Her plea hung between them and she didn’t know which way things would go, until he reached to pull her closer. Encouraged by the small gesture, she caressed his back as she kissed his chest, and slipped a thigh between his, unable to resist pushing the boundaries he was trying to maintain.

  “Is there any way I can help?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know…just stop doing something if I ask you to. And if I tell you to run, then don’t hang around to ask any damn fool questions.”

  Amber turned her face up to kiss him but he stayed out of reach. She gave her own little growl of protest, laughing out loud when he cocked an eyebrow at her as if to say ‘is that all you got?’

  He smiled and dropped his mouth to her shoulder, his hands sliding down her back and over her bottom to cradle her thighs. He straightened up, lifting her from the floor and wrapping her legs around his waist. Amber’s fingers locked onto his shoulders and her head fell back as his cold lips played across her neck, driving her crazy with need for him.

  Bane carried her over to the bed, crawling across it with her still in his arms, then turning to lie on his back with her on top of him. Amber sat up and looked around.

  “Is this where you want me?”

  “It’s safer this way.” He smiled, thrusting his erection against her and causing her to gasp. “Besides, wasn’t it about here that I rudely interrupted you?”

  “No, I think I got further than this.” Amber made to wriggle her way down his body but his firm grip on her waist stopped her.

  “I don’t know yet where my limits are.”

  Bane’s hands squeezed her hips and he lifted her up just enough to allow the tip of his penis to align with her opening, and then let her weight bring her down onto his cock. Amber shut her eyes, biting her lip to stop her from crying out in pleasure as her muscles gave way to him. Just as she took all of him in, an image like the ones she’d seen before slammed into her mind. The couple in her mind’s eye was beautiful—even her—and Bane looked like the magnificent creature he was, his fangs clearly visible.

  Bane froze beneath her when she looked at him, as if waiting to see how she would react this time. She smiled and traced a finger over his mouth. His teeth didn’t matter to her anywhere near as much as chasing the sensations he caused inside her.

  A subtle shift in the intensity of his movements made her wonder if he’d been holding back. His knees
came up behind her ass, giving him the extra leverage to take control of her body. Bane’s growl of satisfaction didn’t scare her anymore, instead it spurred her on. When her eyes found him again, his face had set into a mask of concentration, his gaze locked on the place where their bodies joined. He moved his hands, spreading her wider as he jerked up into her.

  His finger found her clitoris, caressing it with a feather-light touch that left her gasping for air and clinging to him, unable to make a sound.

  “Like this,” he whispered, “You want me to touch you like this.”

  His hand didn’t stop moving as he thrust into her again and her head fell back as another surge of pleasure rendered her helpless. She muffled a groan with the back of her hand, afraid he’d think he had hurt her if she cried out the way she wanted to.

  “Tell me, Amber. I need to hear you,” he rasped, his voice strained.

  “Oh…God,” she managed to say as the tightening in her stomach intensified and spread to her groin.

  “I know you love what I am doing to you, but I need to hear you say it.”

  What did he want from her? Amber couldn’t breathe, never mind talk. His absolute dominance left her with no choice whether she came or not. So she did.

  “Tell me,” he pleaded again.

  “I’m coming,” she whispered, sinking her nails into his arm. “Bane, oh God, I’m coming.”

  She heard his sharp intake of breath. “Yes, you are. I can feel it!” he gasped, another growl rumbling through his chest as he jerked beneath her.

  Lost in her orgasm, she didn’t have time to be scared as his torso surged upright and she felt his breath on her exposed throat. One hand tangled in her hair, pulling her head back further while the other brushed a rough knuckle across her bottom lip then pushed her face away, giving him access to her neck. She sensed the bite but felt nothing except another surge of adrenaline that intensified her climax, shutting her mind against the fear. Bane’s muffled roar of satisfaction reverberated through her ribcage and she clung to him as he came, happy for him to take whatever he needed from her.