In response to his words, she shrugged out of the shirt and let it spill onto the ground around her feet. A sound between a growl and a groan emanated from him as she stood before him in all her splendid glory.
He stalked her with a predatory grace Vicky recognized as far more vampire than hunter, as were the words he uttered. When his gaze latched onto her breasts, he licked his lips, and she grew wetter.
She so desperately wanted all the things he said, but she already knew the simple truth of it. “I’ve never desired another like I do you. You’ve already ruined me for all other men, Nathan.”
He froze ten feet away from her before his gaze rose from her breasts. When her words sank in, the hunger in his eyes stole her breath. For the rest of her numbered days, she would recall what it was like to have Nathan look at her as if she were the only woman in the world.
Leaning back, Vicky placed her hands on the half wall behind her and lifted herself onto it. She parted her legs as she beckoned him toward her. “Now, come here and make me beg.”
He was before her so fast she gasped in surprise, but before she could react, his hand snaked around the back of her head, and he hauled her forward. Crushing her against his chest, he took possession of her mouth and kissed her breathless, yet he didn’t relent, and she realized this kiss was his first step into leaving his mark on her.
She started to unbutton his shirt, but grew impatient to feel his flesh and yanked it apart. Buttons clattered and tinged as they flew off to pelt the tile floor, appliances, and counters. More than a little out of control, Vicky placed her hands against his stomach and moaned when his chiseled abs bunched against her palms.
His other hand fell to her leg and trailed up her flesh before dipping between her thighs. A sound of pleasure rumbled through his chest as he spread her wetness across her sex before sliding a finger into her and stroking her until her legs quivered.
She tugged impatiently at the button on his jeans, tearing them as she pulled at the zipper. All her control vanished as need consumed her. She’d denied them both for too long, and now she couldn’t think about anything other than having him inside her. Breaking their kiss, she panted as she struggled to breathe.
“Nathan!” Denim tore as she pushed his jeans impatiently down his hips. “I can’t…. I need….”
He knew exactly what she needed. Releasing her, he stepped back and yanked his jeans and underwear the rest of the way off. Tossing aside the ruined clothing, he started to return to her but paused to savor the sight of her bared to him.
Smiling, he skimmed his knuckle down the valley between her breasts to her flat stomach. “Just looking at you makes me want to come,” he murmured.
He lifted his gaze to meet her reddened eyes. When she bit her bottom lip, she whimpered as a fang pierced it. He was rocked by the undeniable urge to taste the blood beading on her swollen mouth, but she licked it away before he could bend his head to take it from her.
Pushing her thighs further apart, his gaze dropped to her wet curls, and something feral rose within him. Never had he felt this all-consuming need to take a woman before. She belonged to him, and he would destroy anyone or anything who ever tried to come between them.
His need to destroy Joseph was nothing compared to his need to make her his.
The pressure in his dick bordered on pain as Nathan slid his arm around her waist, drawing her closer. He couldn’t stand to be apart from her any longer. Vicky’s gaze held his while the head of his cock parted her folds. He savored the exquisite sensation of her muscles gripping his shaft as he slid deeper into her.
Vicky nearly screamed when he buried himself all the way inside her, and for a second she savored the feeling of completion that accompanied it.
Then, he pulled back and plunged into her again. Her nails raked his back, and the aroma of his blood filled the air. The scent, taste, and feel of him bombarding her senses rattled her control. Mad with her need to mark him, she almost sank her fangs into his neck.
Don’t forget he’s a mortal. Be careful!
He’s also a powerful hunter; he can take it.
I can’t hurt my mate!
The conflicting thoughts tore at her until the room spun. Her hands fell on Nathan’s chest; she went to shove him away before she screwed him to death or drained him dry. Then, he clasped her face and kissed her.
With that simple kiss, the room stilled and everything else faded away until it was only the two of them. The sense of peace stealing through Vicky brought tears to her eyes.
She hadn’t realized how adrift she’d been in life until Nathan anchored her.
Releasing her face, he wrapped his arms around her and held her securely against him as he inhaled her sweet scent. Her sheath clenched around him, pushing him toward the brink of release, but he refused to give into it. No, he would uphold his words and ingrain himself on every part of her.
Vicky clung to Nathan as their bodies grew slick with sweat and more demanding of each other. Slipping his hand under her ass, he lifted her into a position that caused her clit to rub against him with each of his thrusts. Her body quaked as the tension building between her legs spread into her stomach.
As she turned her mouth against his neck, the scent and pulse of his blood called to her. Her fangs throbbed to taste him, but she had no idea how he would react if she bit him; he may throw her away in disgust. Vicky mewled when her fangs scratched his flesh.
Her body vibrated against him, and suddenly Nathan understood she required more than sex from him.
Before he met her, the idea of a vampire feeding on him would have repulsed him. He would have killed any vampire who tried it, but he craved her bite.
“Do it, Vicky,” he commanded.
Vicky’s nails scoured his back as her fangs rested against his vein. Still, she hesitated, afraid he would shove her away or regret his decision later.
“Do it,” he snarled in a nearly unrecognizable voice.
Unable to resist any longer, she sank her fangs into his vein. She sighed when his powerful blood landed on her tongue and slid down her throat. Losing the last of her restraint, she rode him with abandon as Nathan filled all the emptiness of her soul. He was her mate, and sharing this with him was far better than anything she’d ever imagined.
There was no doubt she was utterly doomed, and she didn’t care as her body fractured apart, and she came harder than she ever had in her life.
Nathan pressed her shaking body flush against his. He’d always assumed a vampire bite would bring only pain, but euphoria seeped through him until every part of him was awash in the joy Vicky emanated. When she orgasmed with a cry, he nearly gave in and spilled his seed into her, but he’d promised to make her beg, and he meant to uphold that promise.
Small contractions from her sheath continued to grip his cock when she slumped against him and retracted her fangs from his neck. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to withdraw from her and stepped back to gaze down at her languid body. She smiled, but when she reached for him, he caught her hand and brought her knuckles to his mouth. He kissed them before lifting her and spinning her around.
Vicky gasped at the abrupt movement. She’d been about to curl up in his arms and purr like a satisfied cat, and now she was facing the living room. Her hands fell on top of the half wall when Nathan pulled her hips back and spread her legs with his thigh.
His hands ran over her firm ass, tracing the round contours before stepping between her legs again. Resting his hand on her back, he pushed her further down until she was better positioned to him. He grasped his shaft, and guiding it inside her once more, he reclaimed her.
Running his hand over her back, Nathan watched her body moving fluidly against his, her erotic sounds making his blood pump faster. She’d been born for him, and he realized not only was he leaving his mark on her, but she was leaving hers on every part of him.
Nathan slipped his arm under her and clasped one of her breasts. He circled his thumb around her ni
pple before releasing it to grip her throat loosely in his hand. The need to do more than leave his scent and touch on every inch of her flesh grew within him, but he didn’t know what else to do.
Vicky cried out when he plunged into her again and again, each thrust becoming fiercer than the last.
Guiding her head up, Nathan rested his lips against her ear. His other hand wrapped around to her front to slide down her belly and between her legs. She squirmed against him when he teased her clit while he thrust into her.
When his fingers tightened on her throat, Vicky tensed. She didn’t tense because his grip was uncomfortable, or she was scared of him, but she’d never allowed a man to dominate sex for her. She wasn’t used to this, but she thrilled at it.
Vicky quaked as his tongue ran across her ear before tracing the column of her neck. His teeth scraped the hollow of her shoulder.
Nathan ran on instinct alone when he bit her shoulder. The bite had been natural, a mark on her, but something was missing from it. Confusion filled him as he tried to figure out what that was. Then, he realized he wanted to bite until her flesh broke and her blood filled his mouth.
His mouth watered at the thought of tasting her, but at the same time, a part of him recoiled from the idea of injuring her. The desire to drink her blood didn’t repulse him; instead, it made him snarl with need.
Vicky nearly screamed when his teeth locked onto her shoulder, and his possession of her body became more animalistic. After her time in captivity, she’d sworn no one would bite her again, but she wanted this.
Lifting her hand, she grasped the back of his head and pressed his mouth against his bite. “Harder.”
His teeth clamped down more forcefully, but still not enough.
“Harder, Nathan,” she pleaded. “Fucking… harder!”
He bit down until pain radiated out from the mark, but ecstasy rolled forth to bury it when he broke the skin and her blood flowed free. The primal sound he released nearly pushed her over the edge as he locked her against him while he consumed her blood in greedy pulls.
He didn’t understand it, and he was too far gone in Vicky to figure it out, but Vicky’s blood was the most nourishing thing he’d ever tasted and made him feel whole for the first time in his life.
“Please,” Vicky whimpered as she squirmed against him. She didn’t realize she was begging until he released his bite and whispered in her ear.
“I love to hear you beg. Please, what? Stop or continue?”
“Don’t stop, but I need… I need—”
“This,” Nathan said as he released his grip on her throat and lifted his wrist to her lips. Vicky didn’t hesitate; she sank her fangs into it as he bit her shoulder again.
When she came this time, the muscles of her sheath contracted around him until Nathan couldn’t hold his release back. For the first time in his life, he was unable to stop himself from spilling his seed inside another. Hunters had a difficult time conceiving children, it was why they were married as soon as they reached maturity, but he’d always been careful before.
Now, he didn’t even think about trying to stop himself from marking her further as his.
• • •
“What does this mean?” he asked her as he sat cross-legged on the air mattress in his old room. His hand fell on the imprint of his teeth on her shoulder. The wound had almost completely healed earlier, but he’d been compelled to reopen it and see his bite on her.
Vicky straddled his lap, her legs locked around his waist as she lazily rode him. The intensity of their passion had burned itself down to a simmer as they explored and learned each other.
“You know what it means,” she said as she played with the hair at his nape. “At least you know what it means for a vampire, for me. You know what Kadence is to Ronan.”
“His mate.” Nathan recalled the confusion on Ronan’s face when the two of them spoke about Vicky outside of Jordan’s jail cell, and he realized Ronan had already sensed something more between them. So did all the others, judging by their reactions too.
“Yes.”
“So what does it mean for a hunter?”
“Whatever you want it to mean,” she said. “Maybe you won’t feel the pull to me—”
“All I feel is drawn to you,” he murmured as he bent his head to nibble her lip.
“But your people,” she said, “they won’t accept me.”
“Hmm.” He ran his tongue over her mouth before lifting his head to look at her again. “This is why you wouldn’t have sex with me? Because you suspected what we were to each other.”
“No,” she said and smoothed his brow when he frowned at her. “I knew what you were to me almost from the second I first saw you, and I knew we could never be together. Our lives are too different. You have your people, and I am… well, I’m far from docile and virginal. You will go your way to rule, and I will go my way.”
“You are mine, Victoria. No other man will ever know this body again. I will fucking kill him.”
She froze against him, and he saw the glimmer of a fang as her eyes narrowed at him.
“Then that means no fiancée for you,” she said. “Don’t think I’ll keep my legs closed to all others while you’re going to bed with your wife every night. Every time you screw her, I’ll fuck another.”
It wasn’t true, she’d never have sex with someone other than him, but there was no way she’d be some mistress waiting in the shadows while he tried to have little hunter babies with his perfect wife.
His hand entangled in her hair, and in his gaze, she saw the possessive killer instinct of a vampire. The strongest hunter line seemed to be that way because they were inherently closer to their demonic DNA. Kadence hadn’t been able to stay away from Ronan, and the look in Nathan’s eyes said he wouldn’t let her go either.
“Let’s be clear here,” he hissed. “I will rip him apart one appendage at a time.”
“And what would you do to me?” she inquired.
“You?” Shock registered on his face. “I could never hurt you, but it would tear my heart out if you were with another.”
“That’s how I would feel if you married another and started a family with her. How I would feel if you slept with another.”
Nathan brushed the hair back from her face as he stared into her beseeching eyes. “I’ll never ask you to stand by and watch me take another as a wife. The idea of even touching another woman repulses me. I could never marry another. But many, if not most hunters, won’t accept me with you, and I have to protect them.”
“I know. Then you’ll let me go?” she asked.
“No.” His arms cinched around her, and he pulled her closer. Taking a deep breath, he sought to control the rage her words elicited in him. “Shit.”
“Yeah, shit,” she said with a sad smile. “And now you know why I tried to resist you, but I think this was inevitable. What we did tonight will accelerate my need to complete the bond between us, maybe not as much as it would in a male purebred, but it will happen.”
“Then why did you give yourself to me tonight?”
“Because I’d rather die knowing what it was like to love you than die never knowing. Besides, even if we didn’t have tonight, not completing our bond would have eventually destroyed me anyway.”
“Were you going to tell me that?”
“No.”
“Victoria—”
“I understand your people come first; they have to. The hunters are important in this battle; without you, they have no one to guide them and push them into this alliance. They may be too stubborn to see it, but they need you and vampires. I’d love to be selfish and keep you, but I’ve always known I couldn’t. It’s okay. Sometimes fate hands out things that can’t be conquered. We got tonight at least.” She brushed the hair back from his face and kissed him.
“I’m not going to lose you.”
“Nathan, you would also have to become a vampire to complete the bond.”
His gaze fell on her sho
ulder as he recalled the delicious taste of her blood on his tongue. Could he become one of the things he’d spent his whole life fighting to destroy?
But how could he give her up? And how could he give her up while knowing it would destroy her?
Yes, he loved his people. He’d been born to rule, it was bred into the fabric of his DNA, but he loved her too.
“It’s okay,” she said again. “I understand. For years, I’ve suspected I would be mateless, or that my mate would be the death of me; when I saw you, I knew I was right. I walked into this knowing you have far too many lives resting on your shoulders to be with me. I may pull off an Oscar-worthy, self-centered diva, but I understand.”
“I don’t know how, but I’ll figure this out. I’m not giving you up, and I won’t let you die because of me. I love you, Victoria.”
She smiled as she bent to kiss him while she started to rise and fall over him again. “I love you too,” she admitted. “We can worry about the future tomorrow. For tonight, let’s pretend there’s no one outside this house.”
“Your wish is my command,” he murmured and groaned when she sank her fangs into his neck.
CHAPTER 42
Saxon and Lucien took Jordan from him when he returned to the hotel the next morning. They would keep him hidden and guarded until Nathan was ready to present him to the other hunters.
Ronan glanced at Vicky, who stood slightly behind Nathan. They’d all come outside of the hotel, away from the hunters, to meet him, but his followers would soon learn of his return.
“Are Duncan and Sister okay?” Vicky inquired of Ronan.
“Yes. I had Declan take them and the children to our place earlier; he made sure they were settled and left them under the care of some trainees before returning here. They’ll be safe there, and we’ve altered the children’s memories.”
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