“You can’t use that trick with me.” He snapped. “Do you have any idea how powerful I am?”
“Sure I do. That’s why I’m expecting you to ruin me for lesser men.”
His breathing grew harsher. “You can’t do this.” He repeated like she’d broken the rules of their game. Which she totally had. “Have you forgotten that I’ve stolen your throne? That I’m going to kill you?”
But, he was already so aroused that she could hear his heart pounding. The king of the vampires liked being surprised. He liked being ordered to go down on her. He liked the idea of pleasuring the only person who could challenge him.
He’d come to the right girl on all counts.
“I don’t want that stupid throne. And you’re never going to kill me. We both know that.”
Black eyes locked on hers, burning hot. “So fucking sure of yourself.”
“I’m sure of you.” Darcy tossed her robe aside.
“You can’t manipulate me. There’s no purpose in…” Her undershirt hit the ground next and Joseff trailed off. “Oh… fuck.” He whispered.
Darcy sensed victory.
Joseff stepped forward as if in a trace, dropping down to his knee. Big, rough hands reverently covered her breasts, dazed to see them responding to his caress. “Why do you have to be so goddamn beautiful?” His thumb brushed over her nipple and it tightened to the point of pain.
Darcy’s head went back on a gasp. Oh God, how she’d needed this.
Needed him.
Joseff looked annoyed by her triumphant smile as she watched him fondle the soft globes. “Do you think it’s funny to allow someone hideous to touch you?”
“I’ll let you know when I try it with someone hideous.” She arched into his palms and met his eyes. “Pleasure me, Joseff.” She parted her legs for him. “I’ve waited a long time.”
His control snapped.
Joseff ripped the panties straight off her body and gazed down at the core of her. “Fuck.” He whispered. Then his head was dipping forward and he was ravaging her.
No softness. No preamble. He just took.
“Oh!” Darcy’s fingers tangled in his hair, their red tips tightening in the dark stands. He was demanding and powerful… and she was suddenly not so sure who’d defeated who.
“Joseff.” Her eyes went wide. “Oh, yes!”
The sound of her panting his name had his tongue slipping even deeper, claiming more.
She wasn’t even going to last a full minute. He was too forceful. She tried to shift away from the unrelenting pressure, wanting it to last, but his hands latched onto her hips dragging her back down. Holding her still for his invasion.
He let out a low growl of warning that made her sob.
Her thighs squeezed the sides of his head. “Please.” She’d instigated this, but he’d seized control so suddenly that all she could do was plead for more. “Please, Joseff.”
He loved that desperate appeal. The more she squirmed and begged, the more he demanded from her, until she thought she was going to die. It was like he was starved for her and determined to have his full.
Sharp white fangs grazed her tender flesh.
“Oh God.” He did it on purpose. He had to. Biting between vampires only happened between mates. Joseff knew that and he did it anyway. The man truly had no limits when it came to getting what he wanted.
The nip of his teeth drew a bead of blood, redder than the polish on her toes. Darcy whimpered helplessly as Joseff lifted his head to watch it trail down her skin. It was so intimate and so erotic. So very much like the usurper of an entire kingdom to try and take more than was offered.
“It’s a risk.” Darcy met his eyes, needing him. “If you do it, you’ll bind yourself to me. There could never be another mate for you.”
He wouldn’t be able to drink from another vampire. Just human blood and her for the rest of forever. Until she bit him back, Darcy would be able to have any male she wanted, but Joseff would be exclusively bound to her.
Why was that so incredibly, unbelievably hot?
“Do you think I would ever settle for another woman?” He lowered his mouth. “Resign yourself to be conquered, Darcia.” He lapped up the blood in one greedy lick and groaned at the taste of her. “Mine.” The word was a vow.
Darcy went up in flames. “Yes.” Her whole body bowed. “Now, Joseff! Now, now, now!”
His fangs sank into her leg, drinking deep, and Darcy exploded. No one had ever bitten her before, and the mark from the first bite lasted forever. His teeth spread wide, making the brand so big that no other man who saw her like this could possibly miss it. For the rest of Darcy’s very long life, the smooth, pale skin of her inner thigh would testify to the fact that she’d allowed Joseff to have her in the vampires’ most sacred way. That they were bound.
That he belonged to her.
Darcy’s body spasmed against his beautiful, wicked lips as she chanted his name.
A pair of black eyes gleamed with dark possession, watching her passion, taking everything she had.
And Darcy knew she was looking at her mate.
She’d always known…
Darcy’s eyes snapped open. She was lying in a bed, her whole body screaming for release, her mind filled with the memories of seducing Joseff in that day spa, and wondering why in the hell he’d spent the past year fucking around instead of seducing her back.
All of that was pretty par for the course.
Three things instantly told her that this wasn’t just another normal day, though. First, she was covered in a comforter with a pattern of repeating American flags and bald eagles. Two, her skin burned like it had been too near the sun. And three… Joseff was sitting on the side of the mattress, watching her.
“You said my name in your sleep.” He reported calmly
“Son-of-a-bitch.” Darcy’s sat up, her palm going to her throbbing temple.
She must have passed out from deadly rays even through the solar blanket they’d wrapped her in. The closer they were to their human DNA, the easier it was for a vampire to go out in the day. Darcy’s vampire blood was so strong not even her great, great grandparents could recall how long along the first Laurent had been turned, though. They were an old vampire line who only bred with other old vampire lines.
Consequently, just looking at a postcard of sunset affected her.
As long as her skin was shielded, she survived trips outside, but they still left her with crippling headaches and third degree sunburn. Prolonged exposure to even the indirect rays left her unconscious. Joseff knew that. She would’ve come to him that night, without all the drama. This was totally unnecessary.
Darcy flashed him a glare. “Really? Arresting me?”
“You left me no choice.”
She would’ve rolled her eyes, but they hurt too much. “Where are my brothers?”
“Caleb and Zeke are fine.”
“Great. Except, I asked where they are.”
“I’ve had Caleb locked in the Founding Fathers restaurant downstairs.”
“The buffet?”
“I thought he might be hungry.” Joseff deadpanned. “Beside, all that shrimp cocktail won’t last forever. We might as well use it.” He arched a brow. “I doubt we’ll be getting any more.”
“Is Zeke there, too?”
“No, that Scotlyn woman apparently refused to be separated from him and I thought she should rest. Humans are fragile. I had them put in a room down the hall. I was very accommodating. No sense in alienating the only blood donor we have left.”
“I think she’s already feeling alienated, idiot. Your ham-fisted minions handcuffed her and her mate.” The iron restraints Joseff’s men used kept supernatural beings trapped no matter how strong the person was. Using iron was just a dirty trick.
“My ham-fisted minions also saved all of you from an army of the undead.” He retorted. “Really, you should be saying thank you.”
She glowered at him. “Thank you?”
; “You’re welcome.” Joseff drawled, deliberately misinterpreting her incredulous words.
“Oh, shut-up.” Darcy rubbed at her temples. “I want to see the rest of my pack. What the hell are you doing locking them up, anyway? Was it just to piss me off?”
His jaw ticked. “They aren’t your anything. They’re shifters. You’re a vampire. Vampires don’t have packs.”
“This one does.”
Joseff stared at her with an impassive expression. “They may have started all this, you know. That pink fog came from somewhere.”
“Brewer can’t even work those self-checkout barcode scanners at the grocery store. You really think he somehow chemically engineered a zombie virus? Really?”
“Maybe he paid someone to do it.”
“Maybe you’re an idiot.”
“This is a waste of time.” Joseff decided. “No matter how it happened, the city is unsafe. You’re smart enough to realize that we need to get out of here, before we’re overrun. We have to leave as soon as it’s dark.”
“So, we’ll leave, then.” She met his eyes squarely. “All of us.”
“All of us.” He repeated without inflection. “You think I’ll travel with shape shifters?”
“If you want to travel with me you will.”
“I wouldn’t say I wanted to travel with you, precisely.”
She scowled. “Well, then why did you bring me here?”
“The very question I’m asking myself.” He got to his feet. “The advantages of your company elude me at the moment.”
Darcy couldn’t help but be hurt by his snarking. Even without the zombies, it would’ve been a lousy day. Her skin burned, her brain throbbed in her skull and she’d been imprisoned by the king of the vampires. The least he could do was not be an asshole.
“I have much to do before we depart.” Joseff headed for the door. “Have you eaten? I can have something sent up to you.”
“I’m fine.” She muttered. “If I need blood, Zeke’s human is right downstairs.” The subtext of that comment was, obviously, that she wouldn’t be drinking from him.
Joseff slanted her a glower. “Even at the end of the world, you think you can do better than me?”
“Yeah, because even at the end of the world, you’re still being a dickhead.”
“I could just leave you here in Vegas, you know.”
“Bye.”
He let out a hissing sound of frustration. “You are such a goddamn child.”
“Oh, go away.” She lay back down and turned away from him so he wouldn’t see the tears threatening. “I’ll be perfectly fine out there on my own. Just like I always am.”
He didn’t go away. It fact, he seemed to get even more annoyed. “I didn’t abandon you when the zombies came, if that’s what you think. I looked everywhere I could think of. I waited for you to contact me.” His voice got even more irritated. “I was going out of my mind, Darcy. I couldn’t find you.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t just pack up and leave me for dead, then. Since you’re sooo busy.”
She heard him move back towards the bed. “You know that I wouldn’t go anywhere with you.” He snapped. “Why do you think I’m still in Nevada? Why do you think I moved to Nevada? It’s the stupidest place in the world for a vampire to live and yet here I am.”
“No, it’s not. Everything in Vegas happens at night. It’s perfect for us.”
“It’s in the desert.” He shot back. “It’s the most imperfect place for vampires I can imagine. But, you chose it, so I came here. Now, it’s time to leave this godforsaken swath of sand and, this time, I get to pick our destination.”
“Does it really matter where we go? At this point, isn’t it all just more Zombieland?”
“Not all of it.”
“You think?”
“I know.” He sounded absolutely certain.
Darcy turned to look at him, suddenly hopeful. “You can find us someplace safe?” If anyone could do the impossible it was her mate. Nothing could conquer Joseff. Not even zombies. “All of us?”
She saw his face soften at the question. “No.” He said quietly. “But, I’ll save as much of your family as I can. You have my word.”
Darcy studied him for a beat and finally nodded. There was nothing else she could do. Joseff wouldn’t break his promise to her.
“And I have your word that you’ll come with me?” He pressed. “Otherwise, I’m going to lock you in here, so you don’t run. I don’t want to spend the rest of Armageddon hunting you down.”
She made a face at him. “Of course, I’m staying here. Where would I go? I’ve been trying to get to you this whole time, Joseff.”
“I’m touched.”
“I’m serious. I was stuck in a Ferrari for ages. I was fixing the damn thing, I took it for a test drive, and I never left the strip.” Darcy liked repairing cars and humans paid her a lot of money to do it. When she wasn’t selling information at Prowl, she was usually at her auto shop. “That’s why I wasn’t here sooner, Joseff. I tried to call you a thousand times, but the phones were down. I would’ve been here tonight, though. As soon as the sun went down.”
“I believe you.” He didn’t believe her.
“Joseff,” she held his eyes steadily, “I would’ve been here tonight.”
His gaze dropped, still unsure that she’d care enough to look for him during a disaster. “Sleep and heal.” He turned back to the door. “I’ll come for you when it’s time to leave.”
The man was impossible. “Where are we going?” She called, annoyed that he was such a blockhead.
“Anywhere but here.”
Chapter Eight
Bright side to the zombie apocalypse:
You finally have a use for your three months of Girl Scouts training.
Or you would, if only you’d earned a badge beyond the one for making friendship bracelets.
Zombageddon was beginning to weigh on Scotlyn.
She’d silently washed-up and changed clothes when they’d been shown to the hotel room. Now she was curled up under the patriotic comforter, staring at nothing. Zeke didn’t like seeing her so dejected. Scotlyn was always so full of ideas and lectures and life. Now she looked like she was going to cry.
He tucked her in and touched her hair. “You okay, baby?”
“How could this really be happening to me?” She whispered. “I don’t have any survivalists training. I don’t even pay attention those TV emergency alert things. And I sure don’t believe in zombies or shape shifters or vampires. My life is normal. I still have some stupid reality show about hairdressers on my DVR. That’s what I’m supposed to be doing, right now. Watching backstabbing barbers and eating ice cream and thinking about how I should quit my lousy job.”
Zeke arched a brow. “Last Cut?”
“What?”
“The TV show. Last Cut?”
“Yeah.”
Zeke moved to sit on the other side of the mattress. “That show sucks.”
“I know. But I keep recording it.”
“That’s because it was awesome two seasons ago.” Zeke leaned back against the liberty bell shaped headboard. “When what’s-her-name went after that other guy with the scissors? Awesome.”
She frowned at him. “Is there any television show you don’t watch?”
“Not really. Well, I hate baseball. So, I don’t watch that.”
“You bet three thousand dollars on the World Series last month.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t watch it.”
Scotlyn’s mouth curved.
Zeke smiled back at her, satisfied that she no longer looked close to tears. Christ, as bad as this situation was, it could’ve been so much worse. Scotlyn was lying next to him, safe and sound. Everything else he could deal with.
Even being “arrested” by that ass hat, Joseff.
“I know it doesn’t seem like it, but you’re safe here.” Zeke couldn’t stop himself from brushing a hand over her hair. “The vampires aren’t g
oing to hurt you. They’re not going to hurt any of us.”
“They hit you!”
He snorted. “That was nothing. Trust me. Joseff is crazy in love with Darcy. As long as she wants me and Cale alive, we’re staying alive. And now that the vamps know you’re a human, you’re safer than anyone else in this city. They need your heart to keep pumping out all that yummy blood.”
“Very reassuring.” She muttered. “I feel so relaxed, now.”
Zeke smirked and tried a different tactic. “I’d be happy to help you relieve your tension.”
“Gee, I’ll bet you say that to all the girls in the dystopia.”
“Only the pretty ones.” He slid down so his head was on the pillow next to hers. “Seriously, get some rest.”
She frowned. “Hold on. You think I’m going to let you sleep on this bed with me?”
Not really, but he was desperate enough to try for it, anyway.
“Come on, I promise I won’t instigate anything fun.” Zeke flashed another smile and mentally crossed his fingers. “Although, we could be talking about survival of the species here, Trix. Adam and Eve time. We may have to do our part to create and preserve precious life.”
“We’re not having a baby, Zeke.”
“But it would be so damn good looking.”
Scotlyn made an aggravated sound and pulled a pillow out from under her head. She thrust it at his chest. “This is my side of the bed and that it your side of the bed, understand?” She readjusted herself on the far side of the mattress and heaved a dramatic sigh.
But she wasn’t booting him onto the floor. Zeke would take what he could get.
She blew out a long breath. “Tell me about being a werewolf.” She finally ordered.
Fuck, that was the last thing he wanted to do. It might make her scared of him. “I can’t, because I’m not a werewolf.”
“You can tell me the truth. I swear I was always Team Jacob.”
Was she teasing him? Zeke glanced over at her in surprise and found himself relaxing a bit. Her casual attitude about his deepest secret was such a huge relief. It was like Scotlyn accepted him being a supernatural creature just because she accepted… him.
“I’m a shape shifter. Werewolf is a whole different species.”
Love in the Time of Zombies Page 11