Nyx shook her head. “I know what I saw. And what was with the fangs? I noticed you had fangs.”
Denger scrubbed his face with his hand. No wonder Nyx had avoided him. To a mortal who had no clue as to what hunted them in the dark of night, seeing an undead being taken down would look like a murder in their eyes.
“If you give me a chance I’ll explain everything,” he said in a gentling tone.
“So you admit you have fangs. Show them to me.”
“I don’t think that would be a good idea right now, Nyx. You’re already upset.”
“And you don’t think I haven’t been driving myself crazy for this past week wondering if all I saw was actually real and not some kind of delusion? I need to see if I didn’t imagine you having fangs. That I haven’t been reading so many vampire romances that I have now lost my marbles and I’m picturing the man I had started to feel something for as one.”
Denger gave her a closed-mouth grin. “You like vampires, huh? Even though I’m not one, I guess you’ll like these.” He opened his mouth and allowed his fangs to extend to his bottom lip.
“Oh God,” Nyx said weakly. “You are a vampire.”
When her face got even whiter and she seemed to weave in place, Denger crossed the remaining distance between them and caught Nyx before her knees gave out. He gathered her close and carried her over to the couch. Sitting, he arranged her so she sat across his lap.
“I guess that wasn’t such a great idea after all,” he said, rubbing his hand up and down her arm. He cupped her cheek and forced her to look at him. “I’m not a vampire.”
“Then what are you?” she asked in a quiet voice.
“I’m one of Ra’s Chosen. The Egyptian sun god picked me, along with my other fellow warriors, to protect mortals from the undead that would steal their souls. An 96
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undead is what you saw me take out that night. They are what mortals first called vampire. They have no souls and are literally the walking dead.”
“Mortals? You mean you’re…” Nyx couldn’t seem to finish the sentence.
“Immortal. I was once mortal like you until Ra picked me to be one of his warriors. He gifted me with immortality and a few other things.”
Nyx’s hand shook when she lifted it and placed it on his chest. “If Ra is real, a real ancient Egyptian god, then how old are you?”
“Centuries. Remember when you asked me if I’d seen the pyramids when I lived in Egypt? Well let’s just say I was already one of Ra’s Chosen when they were being constructed.” When she didn’t say anything but continued to stare at him, he said,
“Talk to me, Nyx.”
She swallowed. “So you’re an immortal warrior protecting mortals from the undead.”
“Yes.”
“Why me?”
Denger blinked at the sudden change of subject. “What?”
“If you’re this gifted warrior, why did you pick me to…date? I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not all that special. I’m sure you could have found a woman who comes with a lot less baggage.”
He brought up his other hand so he held her face in both his hands. “Oh, but you are special to me. And you will always be. Already you mean more to me than anyone else ever could. You’re my mate, Nyx. You’re the woman I’ve been waiting to find for thousands of years. I’ve been alone for far too long. You’re the one who will make me feel whole.”
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Chapter Thirteen
Denger could have knocked her down with a feather right then and there. His mate?
This immortal warrior who had lived for thousands of years called her his mate. Her mind was still having a hard time digesting what he’d told her about his not being a vampire, and that an ancient Egyptian sun god had handpicked him to protect mortals from the undead, the real vampires. It was almost too much for her mind to take in. But seeing his fangs extend, that was something she couldn’t explain away. Right now she couldn’t see them but Nyx knew they were still there.
She ran her gaze over Denger’s handsome face. He really was one of her vampire heroes who had walked off the pages of one of her romance novels. Only he wasn’t a vampire, he was one of Ra’s Chosen. It was all so surreal. Being held in his arms again showed how much she’d really missed him. She wanted to snuggle closer, burrow her way under his skin and not come out. But she wasn’t quite ready to let their relationship start up again where it had left off. She needed more answers.
“How do you know I’m your mate?” she asked. “We really don’t know each other that well. Though I have the feeling you know more about me than I do you.”
“At first, I knew I would find you soon when my blood hunger increased. That’s the first sign. But I didn’t know you were the one until I literally ran into you in front of the bookstore. I looked into your eyes and I knew.”
“I’ll admit you made an impression on me then as well. You’re the first man to spark my interest in that way since Derek died. But that still doesn’t mean we’re meant to be mates. And what is your blood hunger?”
“It’s my blood hunger that is saying you are my mate. Even though I’m not one of the undead, I still need to feed on blood to stay strong. Usually a once-a-week feeding 98
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from a donor of my choosing would be enough. Now since I found you, my need for blood has increased. My need for your blood and only your blood.”
Nyx swallowed. “And if you don’t get my blood?”
Denger dropped an arm to her waist and caressed her cheek with a finger. “I can no longer feed from a donor. Only your blood will sustain me now. Blythe thinks it’s her father’s way of making sure mated pairs stay together. Feeding from a donor only increases my blood hunger. The more I try, the worse it will get until I have extreme blood hunger. Then I’ll starve and my body will start to eat itself for the blood it needs. It won’t kill me because I’m immortal, but it will weaken me and I’ll be in pain until I get the blood I need.”
It was starting to be too much again. Blythe’s father was Ra? She stored that bit of information away for later to mull over and concentrated on what he described as his blood hunger.
“So since I’m your mate you can only feed from me?”
“Correct.”
“And if you don’t, you’ll starve?”
“Correct again.”
Nyx looked more closely at Denger. She didn’t think it was her imagination, but he looked as if he’d lost some weight since the last time she’d seen him. “You’re already starting to starve, aren’t you?”
“I won’t force you, Nyx, but I’m in the extreme blood hunger stage.” He grew silent for a second, then said, “Don’t get upset with me, but I fed from a donor before I came here.”
She frowned. “Why would I get upset? Obviously all it did was cause you pain.”
He gave her a guilty look. “Well, there is one thing I didn’t tell you about what happens when I feed. We usually seek out women as donors for a good reason. The feeding is arousing for both the one being fed and the donor.”
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Nyx stiffened. “Are you telling me you had sex with a donor and then came straight here to me?”
“No! No, I didn’t. The woman did nothing for me. She wasn’t you. I couldn’t even force myself to bite her until I pictured it was you I was holding. I may not have found any pleasure in it, but she did.”
A surge of jealously raised its ugly head inside her. With it came the knowledge of how strongly Nyx actually felt about Denger. No way would he be allowed to sink his fangs in anyone but her. As usual, when she set her mind to something, she never looked back or held off. Denger was hers, damn it and she was keeping him. Sitting up straighter on his lap, she turned her head, pulled her short hair away from her neck and angled it toward him. “Bite me. Now. And if I ever find out you’ve bitten another donor, I’ll hand your balls to you on a pla
tter.”
Denger burst out laughing. “Bloodthirsty, just the way I want you.” He then turned her face back toward him and grew serious. “If we do this, I’m going to sleep with you. I want my cock inside you as well as my fangs. I’ll also want it all—you as my mate for all eternity.”
“How can we have an eternity?”
“Ra can give it to us, just as he gave it to Mehen and Set with their mates. Once we become mates, he’ll grant you immortality along with your own set of fangs. You’ll then have to feed from me as I have to feed from you.”
A shiver of pleasure shot through Nyx. You would think she would be squicked out about having to feed from Denger but it didn’t bother her. “How exactly do we become mates, other than sleeping together?”
“A blood exchange will form the mating bond. We’ll then be able to feel each other inside us, hear our thoughts and we’ll be able to communicate telepathically.”
“Whoa,” she whispered.
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Talk about the ultimate commitment. She’d do it, though. She was a romantic at heart and always believed in love at first sight. She’d just never experienced it before. With Derek, they’d started off as friends before they’d become serious. How she felt about Denger had been different right from the start. And what had her wanting to make this giant leap even more was Denger being immortal. She would never have to worry about him getting sick and dying, leaving her behind. He would never grow old. He would be as he was now, strong and healthy, forever.
Nyx captured his face in her hands and kissed him. She then pulled away until there was a breath of space between their lips. “If you want an eternity with me, who am I to turn that down? How about we start it right now?”
Denger took her by the waist and turned her on his lap so she straddled it facing him. His eyes grew heavy with arousal and his fangs suddenly peeked past his upper lip. There also was an impressive bulge in the front of his pants.
“You don’t have to ask me twice,” Denger said with a growl before he kissed her. His mouth moved over hers, devouring her. He sucked her tongue into his mouth. This time he let her sweep the inside thoroughly. She twined her tongue with his before she licked each of his fangs. His hips rose off the couch to grind against her pussy that already ached for him.
Desperate to have him inside her, Nyx sat back and yanked Denger’s shirt over his head. She licked and kissed his chest as she worked on his pants. Once she had them undone, with his help, she pushed them down past his hips. Slipping off his lap, she stood and quickly stripped out of her clothes while Denger kicked his shoes and his pants off.
She licked her lips when she saw his thick erection jutting out from his body. “God, I need you inside me.”
“And I need to be there. Don’t make me wait any longer to have you.”
Nyx climbed back on his lap. She put her hands on the tops of his shoulders and rubbed her pussy along the length of his cock, coating him with her juices. Once she 101
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had them both moaning, she angled her hips just so and took him inside her. She sank down on his shaft until he impaled her to the hilt.
Lifting up on her knees, she started to ride him. She arched her back, sinking down on him over and over again. Nyx looked Denger in the face. His upper lip was pulled back revealing his extended fangs. Her pussy clenched at the sight of them. She leaned in to lick and then suck on one of them.
The moan that punched out of Denger was loud and long. He surged up into her, meeting her strokes, lifting her knees right off the couch with the force of it. Nyx’s climax edged nearer.
Panting, she cupped the back of his head and led him to the side of her neck as she rode him faster, harder. “Now, Denger. Bite me now.”
He licked her skin then sank his fangs into her. As he drew on her neck, the most intense orgasm Nyx had ever experienced rocked through her. A keening moan escaped her when Denger surged up into her one final time. His cock pulsed deep inside her and he filled her with his cum.
After a few more pulls on her neck, that caused delicious aftershocks in her pussy, he withdrew his fangs and licked where he’d bitten her. Feeling as if all her bones had melted, Nyx fell forward onto his chest with her head on his shoulder.
“I don’t think I can move,” she said against his skin.
Denger chuckled. “You can stay there as long as you want.”
Once she regained her breath, she sat up. His softening cock was still inside her.
“Do you want me to drink your blood now?”
He ran his thumb along her bottom lip. “Not yet. I want you to talk to Blythe and Desiree. They were once in your shoes. They’ll be able to answer any questions you have.”
Nyx brushed a kiss across Denger’s lips, then slid off his lap. “All right, let’s go.”
“You want to go talk to them now?”
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“Yes. There’s one thing you should know about me—once I set my mind to something I don’t back off until it’s done. I want you. All of you. So we’re going to do this tonight.” She bent over, picked up his jeans and threw them at him. “Get a move on.”
Nyx then got to see how fast one of Ra’s Chosen could get dressed when under pressure.
* * * * *
Once Nyx was dressed with shoes on, he quickly ushered her out of the apartment and out the front entrance. With their fingers laced together, he started them walking at a brisk pace to Ra’s Chosen’s headquarters. Nyx’s blood had completely eased his blood hunger. His gut no longer pained him and he felt stronger than he ever had. That she had agreed to be his mate when he’d come so close to losing her, he wanted to shout to the rooftops that she was his.
Nyx yanked on his hand. “Slow down. Not everyone has super long legs as you do. And where are you taking me? I thought we were going to your place.”
Denger forced himself to walk a little slower. “We are. It’s just down on the next street.”
When they crossed over from Nyx’s street to his, Denger came to a stop in front of the headquarters. She cocked a brow in his direction. “This is it?” At his nod, she shook her head. “I drive past this building everyday on my way to work. We’ve been practically living on top of each other for years without even knowing it.”
At the chain-link fenced gate, he pulled her close and put his arm around her waist.
“Hard to believe, isn’t it? You wanted to know how I got inside your locked apartment?
Ra gave us warriors the ability to unlock any lock with our minds. Watch.” He threw the lock with his mind and the gate slid open on its own. Denger then guided her through it.
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“I’ll have to remember that little trick of yours,” she said. “I guess if I ever get angry at you and decide to lock myself in a room it won’t stop you from coming in if you want to.”
He smiled. “I hope you never get that angry at me. If you think that was a nice trick, let’s see what you think about this one.”
Tightening his arm around her, Denger flashed them inside the headquarters, right into the main hallway. Nyx stumbled against him, looking a bit disoriented, but quickly recovered her balance. That was part of the reason he hadn’t flashed them directly from her apartment to the headquarters—she’d already had enough on her plate right then to handle. He wanted to make the short walk to allow her time to have everything sink in better.
“Holy crap. What did you do?” she asked with awe.
“I have the ability to bend time and space. I flashed us inside Ra’s Chosen’s headquarters.”
“Now that must come in handy.”
He then watched her look around at the walls and floor that had been painted to resemble the stone used for the Temple of Amon Ra at Karnak in Egypt. The hieroglyphs and pictures, the telling of Ra’s exploits, had been hand painted by Takan. The warrior had taken years to paint most of th
e walls inside the headquarters. Nyx whistled. “Whoever did the paintings on the walls is a real artist.”
Denger got her moving again, guiding her toward the personal quarters. He stopped in front of Set’s. He heard Blythe and Desiree’s voices on the other side. “Takan did them. He’s the only artistic one around here.”
Before he could knock, the door swung open. Blythe stood in front of him, her gaze shifting from him to Nyx and back again. She gave them a wide smile, showing them her fangs. “Since you no longer have a pained expression on your face, Denger and you have Nyx with you, I assume congratulations are in order?”
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He kissed the top of Nyx’s head. “You could say that.”
Desiree who stood behind Blythe let out a whoop. “Congrats, guys.”
Blythe cleared her throat. “Well? Aren’t you going to introduce us?”
“Sorry,” he said. “Nyx, this is Blythe, Mehen’s mate, and Desiree, Set’s mate.” He pointed to each woman in turn.
“Nice to meet you both,” Nyx said. “Denger figured you two would be able to answer any questions I may have about becoming his mate.”
Blythe moved to stand to the side. “Come on in and we can talk.”
Denger went to step inside, but Nyx’s hold on his waist tightened and she remained where she was. He looked at her and she shook her head.
“Thanks for the invite,” Nyx said to Blythe, “but I really don’t have that many questions. I’ve already made up my mind to do this and what you two will have to say won’t change it. I was all ready to finish the blood exchange at my place but Denger was the one who wanted to come here first.”
Desiree burst out laughing. “A girl who knows her own mind. She’s perfect for you, Denger.”
“I second that,” Blythe said with a giggle. “All right, Nyx. What do you want to know?”
“I know about Ra giving me fangs and immortality. I see both of you have your own set of fangs. Is there anything else I should know?”
“Not too much more. You’ll have to drink my father’s blood first, but don’t worry about it. It won’t be like when you drink from Denger. Ra will also mark you.” Blythe turned and showed Nyx the winged sun marking on the small of her back. It was the same one Denger had but smaller.
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