by Dee Carney
When others had doubted the Council could exist, a cohesive body of men and women whose sole purpose was the advancement of the vampire nation, Bast had stood beside them. He’d been one of the ones to insist upon a guardianship, to ensure that everyone surrounding them knew their importance. He’d been one of their fiercest advocates for a very long time. Had he really placed a blind trust in them so erroneously?
“Your best bet is to make them see that you’re not a threat. What can you do about those wings of yours? You have to admit they’re intimidating.” Drew would stand beside him, at least. Bast would have expected nothing less from his friend.
“Sexy,” Alice corrected.
Bast smiled, despite himself. “Stand back. Let me see what’s what.”
He waited until they were on the other side of the living room, far enough away that should something go wrong, they’d be in a good position to protect themselves. Not like he had any idea what could go wrong, but he just didn’t know how this thing would work.
Alice must have felt the same way, for her hand rested on top of Drew’s arm. He could imagine the pressure she applied as she waited anxiously for whatever would happen next. It was a stance of nervousness, as if she needed the anchor to keep her from doing something impetuous.
Bast waited for a twinge of jealousy to announce itself, but when his gaze met her face, only admiration filled him. She probably wasn’t even aware of her hold. Instead, Alice returned Bast’s focused look with something very similar to...wonder? Pride? Love, maybe?
God, he hoped it was the latter. He didn’t have to think too hard or too long to know he was there as well.
“You are so beautiful,” he told her. There was much more to be said. Things he wanted her to understand, but this declaration made its way to his lips first. “Alice, thank you for...” For helping him search for the lines of his lineage. For staying by his side when things started going downhill. For choosing to be with him even now when things were at their worst. “Everything. Whatever happens, I won’t ever forget what you’ve done for me. And I vow that I’ll repay you one day. Somehow.”
He took a deep breath, mostly for show. He rolled his head over his shoulders, using the motion to help him pinpoint the pull of muscle where wings met back. It took more effort than he realized to concentrate on just that singular area. He’d been spending so much time trying to get the entire wing to move, he’d never thought about the individual components.
But he recalled the conversation with Locke and his werewolves now. They implied they could shift at will and not just with the call of the moon. Bast had no idea what instigated his own shift, but if he was like the werewolves, he should be able to turn by thinking about it as well.
He tensed, gritted his teeth and focused. His eyes closed, and Bast willed his wings out of existence, temporarily. They shuddered and then...
Nothing.
“Fuck,” he grumbled.
“Try again,” Alice said softly. “They’ve gone away on their own before. Something must trigger it. A thought or an emotion, perhaps.”
She was right, of course. The morning after they’d had sex for the first time, his wings had just vanished on their own. “What were we doing when they disappeared before? Do you remember?”
Her face lit up in a brilliant scarlet. “We were sleeping.” An eyebrow lifted as if to dare him to say otherwise.
He frowned. “But we were sleeping. I’d woken up because I felt the change.”
“So something must have triggered the change then,” Drew said. He turned to Alice. “What about before that, right before you went to sleep? What were you—oh. Never mind.”
The look mowing him down should have shriveled Drew’s balls. Bast laughed. It took a moment for the amusement to subside, but then he thought about it. “You know, Alice, every time I’m feeling ill, it’s you who pulls me out of it. It started with your blood. Then all it took was a kiss.”
She pushed away from Drew, leaving him behind like a fading dream. Her steps were slow and seductive as she sauntered forward. “Is that your way of asking for another?”
Bast moved toward her, a new appetite growing. “I wouldn’t turn it down. Not ever.”
“You two are worse than a couple of horny teenagers. I’m going to find a Snickers. Call me when it’s over.” He was still grumbling as he walked into the hallway leading to the kitchen.
“I shouldn’t encourage you,” she murmured when he pulled her closer, seconds after the room cleared. “But those wings...”
“I know. Sexy.” He grinned before lowering his lips to hers.
Could he possibly ever get tired of this? Of tasting this woman and inhaling her rainwater scent? Of threading his fingers through a mass of tangles and curls, holding her close to him as he plunged his tongue into the sweet taste of her mouth?
She let out this amazing sound, one that called to him. It was part whimper, part moan. A beacon for his lust. And when she held him tighter, pressing her soft breasts against him, holding him as if her world began and ended with him, it was a love for her that responded.
There was a brief moment when her hand caressed the muscle where back met wing, but at the realization, a flare of pain rippled over him. As quickly as it had arisen, it faded. His balance shifted, and Bast almost stumbled, taking Alice with him. How quickly he’d grown accustomed to the wings’ weight. Now that they were gone again, his body worked to remember life without them.
She drew back, immediately noticing the change. “How did you do it?”
“Later,” he mumbled and ravaged her lips again. He had an idea of what just happened, but it would hold. To hell with the Council and their summons. Right now, he needed her.
Greedy hands slipped beneath her tee, pushing up until skin met skin. He couldn’t get over the delicate softness beneath his palms. The way her skin rippled with goose bumps in waves of feminine delight. His thumbs stole higher, brushing against the curve of her bare breasts.
“Drew,” she gasped. A question of the warrior’s location and potential intrusion.
“Will not bother us,” Bast confidently reassured. “I just...I just need to be inside you.”
She looked into his eyes with compassionate understanding. As if she knew the fierce ache in the center of his chest as he touched her now. The way his cock strained against denim. The call of his nature and his masculinity.
Alice placed delicate kisses along his chest, the ache turning into a wonderful tightening of want as he pulled her shirt off. Her nipples were already tight beads, tipped upward, and made his mouth water. She released a soft sigh as he lowered his head to the first one, pulling it into his mouth on a groan. His tongue flicked the hardening tip, teeth nibbling. Tasting her.
A burst of the cleanness of soap filled the back of his throat. Becoming all he breathed. He inhaled deeply, wanting more of her to fill him. It wasn’t enough to flick his thumb over the other nipple, teasing it to a point. A compulsion rode him. One that demanded he fill her with his cock, cover and protect her with his body, fill her with his seed.
He had to mark her. Claim her. Declare that she was his and forever would be. Christ, even his teeth elongated and pulsed with blatant sexual need.
A groan rumbled from his throat, his hand dropping to slide between her stomach and the shorts hindering him from his prize. His sweet, sweet Alice helped him. A quick flick of a button, the dry rasp of a zipper and his fingertips met moist heat.
&nbs
p; “I love how quickly you’re ready for me,” he whispered. Pushing her backward, he knew he had to satisfy part of his urge as best he could. Alice’s legs hit the leather couch, and Bast gently encouraged her to sit at its edge.
Her breath sucked in as he kneeled before her, a supplicant at a goddess’s throne. It took only a moment to peel the shorts away from her long legs. And then his worship began.
Alice cried out as his lips met her cunt. He tasted her with quick strokes of his tongue. Teasing laps. She pushed her fingers into his hair, twining them around the short strands. The space between her thighs widened as she pressed his mouth closer to her.
It was with great pleasure he dipped into her channel, pulling the pungent moisture. He kissed her intimately, tasting the exquisite secret of her body. A low growl issued from him, all encouragement, as her hips rocked beneath his efforts.
“Sebastian!” An ecstatic cry.
Her clit stood proud and erect, swollen with her desire. With the most gentle of touches, he swiped his tongue over it. Alice’s thighs tightened as her pelvis lifted, feeding him more of that precious gift. His tongue continued to circle the nub, her cries coming faster and faster. When he suckled on it, the slightest press of his teeth on the excited nerve endings, Alice released a breathy moan.
He listened to the way she bit off her release, holding it behind clenched teeth as he continued to love her body. That she could suppress that sound she made when well loved told him too well that her mind wasn’t completely with him, but lingered on other worries. Drew, maybe. Him, perhaps. Regardless, her distraction did not satisfy him.
Alice lifted one leg from his shoulder. “Oh, my...”
Bast shoved his shoulder into its previous position. “Again,” he ordered.
“I don’t...I can’t...”
“You can.” He lowered his head. “And will.”
Tracing the femoral artery with his nose, Bast followed its path by sliding his tongue along its seductive trail. His teeth lengthened, the lure of her blood almost impossible to resist. With precise care, he let her feel the evidence of the dual way in which he wanted her, scraping against flesh until a pink wale had been left behind.
She hissed in a breath, followed by a quiet moan. This time when he approached her cunt, Bast blew out a slow breath against her sensitive tissue. Alice squirmed, but her legs parted even wider. His dick almost exploded at the sight.
“So wet. So pink,” he murmured before his head dipped. He swept his tongue into her opening, taking in the pungent-sweet taste. Alice’s hips rolled, a low groan riding the same wave. She pushed a hand into his hair, then the other, fingers twisting in and grasping tightly. Holding his head in place as if daring him to leave her replete.
He took his time learning her. Listening to the change in her breathing. For each hitch as she gasped. He lived for the way she gripped him close, panting out his name on more of those breathy sighs.
A low quiver was his first sign. The rhythmic clenching of her cunt teasing his tongue. He moved his mouth higher, finding the swollen nub of her clit. Pulling gently on it sent more quivers through her legs. The more intensely he worried it, the more forceful the tremors until she was biting her lower lip. Moaning. Then calling out his name.
“Again,” he encouraged. His cock leaked, the urge to come with her almost overwhelming.
“Oh God, Sebas—” Alice threw her head back, her legs closing around his head. Then she released a cry of pure, unleashed rapture.
Grinning self-satisfaction, Bast gently licked her pussy, feasting on her juices. He waited for the little shockwaves to subside, slowly moving away from her sensitive areas to kiss along her thighs. His heart thundered with pride, excitement and the thrill of discovering that he wanted to be here, like this, with this woman for a very long time.
Forever.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Alice opened her eyes, willing the room not to spin. Breathless, exhilarated, she couldn’t be certain her legs would work anymore. Hell, any part of her anatomy. Everything tingled, super-sensitized. She blew out a breath, managed to lift her heavy head. Intense eyes stared up at her and she marveled at him.
“Wow,” she said softly.
Sebastian kissed her lower belly, still tingling with sensation. “Did that work for you?”
Her brief nod halted mid-stride. Squinting, she said, “Your eyes are back.”
He smiled. “They never left.”
“You know what I mean,” she replied, her lips fighting the urge to lift at the corners. “They’re no longer dragon eyes. They’re plain again.”
Blinking as if the realization had actually struck home, his brow furrowed. A soft snort of disbelief blew out of his lips a moment later. “You’re right. My vision is a lot more acute when I shift and it’s not like that anymore. When I’m a dragon, I can see everything.”
A shiver trickled over her skin. A dragon. Her man—no, wait. That wasn’t right. She couldn’t think of him in those terms. It bordered on permanence. God knew nothing about her life had ever been or would ever be permanent. Even her existence.
A nip at her thigh snagged her attention. “Ouch!”
“What were you thinking just then?”
Alice shifted her gaze away from him, moving to the entranceway, where Drew could be entering at any moment. “Why hasn’t he returned?”
She felt Sebastian’s displeasure at her avoidance of his question. Relief calmed her when his reply followed her train of thought. “Because he is my man and very loyal. He also knows what we’re doing in here.”
“How...how? Oh dear God...”
Sebastian’s mouth quirked as if he fought to hide a smile. “You’re not the quietest lover, princess. I think just about everyone in the tri-state area knows what we’re doing.”
“If you’d quit doing that thing...with your tongue.” Damn, a hot flash just about sizzled her just thinking back on it.
“You mean this?”
Alice squealed. Her hand flew to his head before he could put that talented mouth on her sensitive body. “Wait! Wait!” It came out as another squeal, quickly followed by giggling.
He took pity on her and with one arm curled beneath her legs, situated her over the couch’s length. Kind of disappointing, really. She’d enjoyed gazing down on him as he kneeled at her feet.
But when he shucked off his jeans, proud erection jutting forth, she forgot all about that.
Sebastian didn’t disappoint by leaving her alone. He crawled over her, forcing the narrow strip of couch to hold them both, not stopping until his pelvis rested in the cradle of her thighs. With every inhale, her breasts touched his chest before retreating again, each fan of her breath caressing the skin of his face as they lay together.
“I would stay with you like this,” Sebastian said. All trace of humor had fled, his words now weighed down with a seriousness that made her heart clench.
It would be so, so easy to misunderstand his meaning. To think he wanted more sex, that he hadn’t yet found his release. But the way he studied her face, the gentleness behind his regard, betrayed the lie she wanted to clutch. As much as he’d come to mean to her, it still frightened her that they were both speeding along this course. What would happen if something went wrong for either of them? Would they survive the devastation?
Sebastian traced along her skin with a hand, watching the rise of goose bumps left in its wake. He followed a pale blue vein on her arm befor
e sliding to the swell of her breast. Ignoring the swollen peak of her nipple, he moved his touch higher until Alice tilted her head again, melting into the sensation. The pulse in her neck beat rapidly and she felt the weight of his stare there.
Grasping her chin until she followed its tug, until they locked gazes again, he said, “You give to me so willingly, Alice. I don’t understand you and your ability to be here with me, but I want m—”
“Shh.” She lifted a finger to his lips, pressing gently until they stopped moving.
She couldn’t bear to hear what he had to say. If he asked for a future together, if he even hinted that he wanted to spend more time with her, it would break her heart to pretend she hadn’t heard. She was getting sicker, despite every hope otherwise. She remembered what Jasmine, her new friend, had said about the seizure she’d had. There’d been a few more like it since then. None under his watchful gaze, thank God. She feared for subtle signs that they were getting worse. Like how on occasion her head swam for a few minutes afterward. It couldn’t be a good sign.
The time they had together existed right here. Right now. It was too possible that tomorrow might never come.
“What is that you won’t tell me?” he asked quietly.
Alice hesitated. He’d given her an opening. An opportunity to bare all. To finally let someone else help her carry the burden of a mystery illness she worried over every single day.
“That I’m surprised I’m here with you. That I’m very glad that I am,” she lied, heart thumping madly. She wanted to tell him the truth, but to what point? They’d known each other only a few days, despite a level of intimacy that had gone beyond her wildest dreams. No matter how she felt, it wouldn’t have been right.
Sebastian studied her eyes and she noted the way light reflected off the darkness in his. Long lashes curled outward, lending a softness to his gaze that she’d come to adore. “Does it have to do with your brother?”