by T. S. Ryder
Sheridan blinked rapidly, but that was the only indication he gave of how much his mind was reeling. Maribel engaged to another man? Was this why she was so determined that they marry before their baby was born? So he wouldn't be able to change his mind once this came to light?
But this man wore expensive shoes and had the look of a rather well-to-do individual. Why would Maribel come here seeking to be a living blood donor, half a million dollars in debt, if she was engaged to this man? Unless she had run away from him for some reason.
"Billie, get Janet and bring Maribel to my office."
His PA nodded and scurried off. Sheridan cast a dismissive glare at the human, then instructed the guard to take him to his office. He wasn't going to believe this man's word over Maribel's. He wanted to hear her side of the story before he made any decisions.
Shortly after, Maribel came to his office. She wore jeans and a flannel shirt. Her hair was mussed and eyes still sleepy, but they widened at the sight of the man.
"Phil!"
"Mari, baby, I've come to take you—"
Maribel didn't let him finish. She lunged at the man, fists flying. She got him good in the jaw before Sheridan stepped in and separated the two of them. He pulled Maribel back, repressing laughter. Well, that answered that question.
There was no way that these two were engaged. If they had been together once, it ended badly.
"Let go of me!" Maribel writhed in his grasp.
Phil tried to step forward but Billie stopped him. "Mari—"
"Don't talk to me! You con artist of an arrogant, fake boyfriend!"
Sheridan put his hands on Maribel's shoulders and blocked her view of Phil. "Who is he? And what did he do to you?"
"He was my boyfriend. At least I thought he was. He's the reason I had so much debt. He stole my identity, got a bunch of credit cards and ran off to Vegas! Why are you here, Phil? Trying to blackmail me or something?"
"It's not like that. I know I didn't treat you right, but I regret it, ple—"
Sheridan waved a hand to his guards. "Take him to the dungeons."
Maribel's jaw dropped. She stared at him with amazement, although there was a sparkle in her eye that told him that she certainly wasn't opposed to her ex-boyfriend being jailed. The two guards began hauling the human off. Phil went red in the face and howled at them, jerking his arms around as though that would free him.
"I am a human citizen, you have no authority to hold me in your prisons! I know my rights, you are legally required to hand me over to the human police—"
"You were caught trying to breach vampire walls. I am within my rights to question you to find out your motive. Get him out of here." Sheridan glared at the human as he was taken away, then turned back to Maribel. He wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry for disturbing you so late."
Maribel shrugged. "I never thought I'd have to see his stupid face again. I'm glad you're throwing him in jail, but… you won't get in trouble, will you? I mean, you won't get arrested to anything?"
Sheridan shook his head. "No. Of course not. I'm a king, they can't just waltz in and arrest me."
"Good."
He smoothed her hair from her forehead. Should he tell her that she was pregnant now, or wait until morning? Maribel's sweet smile stole his heart as she pushed herself to her toes and brushed her mouth against his. The effect was instant. Sheridan wanted to order Billie out, to clear the room and lay his wife on the floor, worshiping every inch of her.
He broke the kiss. "I have some business to take care of. Billie will see you back to our rooms."
Maribel looked disappointed but nodded. "See you tomorrow, then?"
"Yes. Goodnight." He sighed as he watched her leave.
Chapter Five – Maribel
Maribel yawned as Billie and Janet, the vampire servant who was always outside her door to get her whatever she wanted, walked her to the chambers she shared with the king. She stopped at the door.
"I can take it from here, thanks."
If she didn't tell her vampire escort when to leave her, they'd end up in her bedroom with her. It had happened before and wasn't very amusing. She hadn't noticed and even started undressing.
"Are you sure there isn't anything we can get you?" Billie asked, blinking her huge eyes.
"I can turn down the bed for you," Janet added.
Maribel shook her head. "I'm fine. Just how late do you think Sheridan will be working?"
Billie sighed. "I don't know. I'll tell him you were asking if you want. I'm sure he won’t be long, anyway. He just needs to complete the paperwork for holding Mr. Bennet in our custody."
"Thanks," Maribel said goodnight and closed the door. She didn't like sleeping alone anymore, without her arms around Sheridan. If they couldn’t make love yet, at least they could sleep in the same bed.
As she headed back to the bedroom, something jumped from the shadows. Before she had a chance to scream, a hand clamped down over her mouth. An arm snaked around her waist. The person clamped her tight against him, chest-to-chest. He backed her against the wall.
Her heart pounded. She struggled, but the arms around her were like steel. A vampire. But who would dare sneak into the king's own chambers and accost his wife?
"I told the king that we wouldn't accept a human as our queen."
The voice was familiar. She flung her arm out, finding the light switch. The sudden brightness made her flinch. The vampire holding her hissed. When her eyes adjusted, she saw that it was General Romanoff. Billie had pointed him out once when they were in a formal dinner with the ancient vampire gentry.
Romanoff pushed her harder against the wall, one of his hands still covering her mouth. "He wouldn't listen. So full of his own righteousness, Sheridan has forgotten that his power stands on the backs of his people."
Maribel scratched at his face uselessly.
"I know I will die for this, but it's for the good of my people. He thinks that because he is king nobody else will claim you? Well, I will. I will claim you and more. I will drink you dry. Close your eyes, human. It'll be over soon."
Maribel gouged her fingers at his eyes. They gave way, soft and squishy beneath her nails. Romanoff reeled back, howling. Maribel kneed him in the groin and bolted from the room. She screamed, hoping Billie and Janet would be close enough to hear her.
"Somebody he—"
The hand hit her mouth before she got to the door. She elbowed him in the gut. Romanoff hissed but that was the only effect. She felt his hot breath on her neck, then his teeth graze his skin—
The door burst open, ripping from its hinges. Billie and Janet rushed back in. They didn't stop to take in the situation before pouncing on Romanoff. He snarled at them but didn't release Maribel. His arm was crushing her ribs and she screamed again.
"Let her go!" Billie shouted. "The king must know that he has lost his right to authority!"
"Sheridan!" Maribel screamed. "Sheridan!"
The grip tightened again, painfully squeezing out all her breath. Black spots swam before her eyes. And then he was there. Silhouetted in the doorway, the might of his presence stopped the fight at once.
"Release her." Sheridan's voice was terrifyingly low.
Romanoff's hold loosened. "The video you released is not a proper claim. You have not marked her. And you will not. She's human, she doesn't deserve to rule the vampires. You are spitting in the face of hundreds of years of tradition, and I won't let you forget our history."
Sheridan came forward, one moment in the doorway, the next standing right before Romanoff. He easily took Maribel from the other vampire and withdrew, tucking her into his arms. The two female vampires struggled to hold Romanoff in place. Maribel's frame trembled as she sucked in deep breaths. It was okay. Sheridan would protect her.
But she couldn't stop shaking.
"You speak of tradition and history, but you forget what brought us here," Sheridan said, his voice guttural. "The deaths. The wars. Would you go back to the times when hum
ans and vampires killed each other?"
"I would return to the time when we held supremacy!"
"We never did." Sheridan shook his head as several guards came running in. "Take him to the dungeons. I'll decide whether to adhere to the old ways and have you crucified by silver as a traitor, or if I'll show you 'new-age' mercy and let you live."
Romanoff spat at him. The guards moved forward, taking hold of him. Billie and Janet moved to stand beside the king. Janet put a hand on Maribel's shoulder comfortingly. The human hid her face from the pure hatred on Romanoff's face as he was hustled out of the room. She was still shaking and continued to do so, even after Sheridan had Billie and Janet check the rest of the rooms. They were empty.
"Place an extra guard outside the door," the king told Billie. "Just in case he wasn't acting alone."
Billie nodded. She and Janet both left as Sheridan led Maribel to his room.
"Did he hurt you?" Her king looked concerned as he checked her throat. "You're not bleeding. Do your ribs hurt?"
Maribel shook her head. "I'm not hurt. I'm scared."
"Scared? Of Romanoff? He can't hurt you now."
"But you said that he wasn't the only vampire to feel that way."
Sheridan stroked her cheek. "No. He wasn't. But the more you interact with the palace, the more the vampires who were unhappy with me for marrying a human have come to support my decision. It's probably why Romanoff acted this way. He's losing his anti-human followers because of you."
"But you haven't marked me. You haven't drunk from me or made love to me, even though we're married. I know that you said it will make it harder for me to get pregnant, but I'm not getting pregnant anyway. Can't you just… you know. Mark me?"
Sheridan cupped her face and cut her off with a kiss. "You are pregnant."
She stared at him. "What?"
"You're pregnant. I can smell it on you. I wasn't going to tell you yet, but after all this… You're pregnant."
Maribel's mind reeled. First Phil showed up, than Romanoff's attack, and now this?
She was pregnant. His child was growing inside her. A trembling hand pressed against her belly. Even though she had been getting a little frustrated that she wasn't pregnant, all of a sudden it felt like it had all happened very fast. She gulped in a deep breath.
And then another. "Why weren't you going to tell me?"
"Because… Because I didn't want to tell you the truth about why I haven't made love to you." Sheridan slipped away from her. "Maribel, the truth of the matter is that I'm dangerous. All vampires are. Being close to you, drinking from you or making love to you… I could very easily lose control. I could hurt you or—"
"No."
Sheridan's eyes widened.
Maribel shook her head. "No. You won't hurt me. We have been taking this slow, haven't we? We sleep in the same bed, together. We are close. And after tonight… I want you to mark me. I want to be yours and I want everybody else to know I'm yours."
"I'm not ready to drink from you."
"So we go to the next step."
Maribel's heart hammered in her chest, but she managed a shy smile. She wanted this. She had for a while, and there wasn't any reason not to go forward with it. Sheridan might think that there was a possibility he would hurt her, but she knew he wouldn't.
In one motion she removed her top and let it fall. Sheridan's chest rose and fell rapidly, but he didn't stop her as she removed the rest of her clothing.
"I'm ready. I want you, Sheridan. I want my husband."
His gaze heated as it trailed down her body, but still, he hesitated. Maribel stepped up to him, undoing the buttons on his suit jacket. Her determination sizzled through her, popping with excitement. Heat build in her core as her king allowed her to undress him. His skin was warmer than she expected, his muscles toned under her hands as she explored him.
"Don't be frightened," she whispered, pressing her naked body to his.
Maribel felt a heady whirl of desire chase away the leftover unpleasant emotions that the night had given her. She felt Sheridan's reaction pressing against her. His obvious arousal made her groan with desire. He wrapped his arms around her, carefully, as though afraid to break her. In response, she took his hand and twisted her body, turning him towards the bed, and walked him backward.
She broke the kiss long enough to push him down on the bed and climb up after him, adjusting herself so when she ground her hips to him it sent jolts of pleasure zinging through her. Judging from Sheridan's throaty moan, he felt the same.
"Is this okay?" she asked him, reaching down to take him in her hand. "I mean, do you like it?"
Sheridan brushed her hair back from her face and kissed her. "It's amazing. Just keep doing what you're doing."
His hand trailed down her body and rested between her legs, finding her sweet spot quickly. Soon they were both grunting and arching their bodies in pleasure. Maribel clenched her jaw and threw her head back, trying desperately to hold on long enough to see this to completion. The heat was so tight inside of her she thought she was going to explode.
Eventually, it was too much. Hands shaking with excitement and anticipation she guided him in, her breath catching in her throat as the sensations flooded her. There was a little sting when she started moving her hips, but she soon was lost in the pleasure. She set the rhythm while her huge, intimidating vampire king lay beneath her, his brow shimmering with sweat, their hands intertwined as she rocked.
It felt so good it was almost painful. Maribel's body was overwhelmed with tremors and she threw her head back, bucking from side to side as she screamed. Sheridan wrapped his arms around her and rolled, pinning her beneath him. He kissed her hard, his mouth unrelenting as he started his own rhythm. He built her from where she had dropped off. Maribel's eyes rolled into the back of her head as she clung to him and lost memory of everything except that moment.
That sweet, perfect moment.
Chapter Six – Sheridan
Maribel's scent surrounded him, filling him with the desire to sink his fangs into her neck and sip from the blood pumping just below the surface. He kept his eyes on hers as he rolled off her, muscles turning to jelly as his completion ended.
Her skin gleamed with sweat. Those beautiful, round breasts heaved as she panted. The sweet tang of blood was even more pronounced now that their bodies were separated. The earthy smell of her pregnancy helped to mask it.
As much as he desired to taste her, Sheridan held back.
He grinned triumphantly. There had been moments when he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to control himself–when Maribel had allowed him to sink deep inside her and that unexpected burst of sweet, sweet blood had nearly driven him over the edge–but he had managed to keep himself in check. His years of holding back had not put him past self-control, but rather honed it.
And being with Maribel was far better than he had expected. Better than his experiences as human. He stroked her hair from her sweaty face and kissed her gently. Was her insistence on being with him love? Was it love that enabled him to keep control over his sharpening fangs?
"You should have told me you were a virgin," he said gently.
Maribel's eyes widened. "You could tell?"
"You're bleeding."
"I'm going to stain the blankets."
Sheridan put an arm around her waist and pulled her back as she made to get up. "It's not that much. I can't even smell the fresh blood anymore. Are you okay? Did it hurt?"
She shook her head and smiled. "I would never have known I was bleeding if you hadn't said anything… Does it make you feel uncomfortable?"
Sheridan closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. The smell of blood had his stomach gurgling, but he had been in plenty of situations where he had smelled fresh blood and been hungrier than he was at the moment. If he could hold back in those times, he could hold back now. He shook his head.
"I think I was overly cautious before," he said. "I was just… I've never been with a human woma
n since I became a vampire."
"Really?"
"Yes. I guess I just never felt an attraction. Does that surprise you?"
Maribel shrugged. "How did you become a vampire?"
Sheridan sighed, pulling her closer. The room was cool. He could feel Maribel shivering. He quickly wrapped her up in a blanket. "It was almost three hundred years ago. I was married."
Maribel's eyes widened.
"It was an arranged marriage. I was the son of a not-so-wealthy baron in Eastern Europe. She was from a very wealthy family with no title. Our parents thought it was the perfect match. What we thought didn't matter. But she was beautiful and that was all I cared about. I always sneered at the thought of love… I never loved her. She, however, fell in love with a servant and they ran away together."
"I'm sorry. That must have been hard."
Sheridan smiled slightly and shook his head. "My pride was wounded. That was it. But I was arrogant and selfish, and I went after them, determined to put her lover's head on a pike and bring her back to my estate. There were rumors of vampires in the area, but I didn't believe them. I thought myself better educated than to believe in vampires. I was an idiot.
"I never found them, my wife and her lover," he continued. "But the vampires found me. They turned me and sent me home. After a few years of wallowing in self-pity, locked away in my father's dungeon, being fed criminals to survive, I had an epiphany. I was changed for a reason. I could usher in a new era of peace between vampires and humans. So I broke free of my prison and gathered the local vampires under my rule. Using the money my wife had brought to me, we set off for the new world."
Maribel ran her fingers through his hair. "And you became a king here."
"Yes. I made treaties with the humans and built these walls. We survived on the blood of animals until we began buying blood from clinics. And we have had peace. The tensions between vampire and human rise and fall, but it’s usually not bad."
"But it does get bad, doesn't it?"
"Sometimes. Like right now. Anti-vampire sentiments have started growing again. Which is ironic, because there have been less vampire-human conflicts in recent years than ever before. But we have experience in how to improve relations now. It's just vampires like Romanoff that make it difficult."