Once Forbidden (The Hunted Series - 1) ((Book One))

by Hope Welsh

  Sarah returned the smile. “Thank you.”

  Devlin held Sarah’s hand and squeezed it gently. “Carina is the vampire who changed me, Sarah. She saved my life more than a hundred years ago.”

  Carina inclined her head. “As I recall, you weren’t thankful at the time.”

  Devlin smiled a little sadly. “Not at the time, no. Now, though, I am.”

  “So it would seem.”

  Sarah watched the interaction between the two. She couldn’t compete with this woman—with this history. “Devlin?”

  He turned his attention to her and smiled. “Yes, love?”

  “Would you like some time alone with your friend?”

  Carina smiled. “There is no need to be jealous, Sarah. I’m no threat to you. Devlin and I are friends, nothing more.”

  Sarah flushed. “I just wanted to give you privacy.” Sarah didn’t like these feelings of jealousy she was feeling at all. They were totally alien to her. “I’ll go in the other room,” she decided, and suited actions to words, quickly leaving the room.

  Devlin watched her walk out and sat heavily on the bed and sighed. “Talk to me, Carina. What do you know?”

  “You know Bennett Wilmont?” Carina asked.

  “Of course. He’s a cop,” Devlin said, his tone dripping with disbelief. “I still can’t understand why he’d want to work with humans every day as he does. What’s he have to do with any of this?”

  “He’s useful, Devlin. I believe that Giles’ grandson is a Hunter. I’m having Bennett watch him.”

  “Giles has a grandson that’s a member of the Hunters?”

  “Yes, I believe so. But it’s for me to find out whether or not Giles is involved. Only the other Elders know that Giles even has a grandson. He wanted him kept safe.”

  “Is he a vampire?”

  “No, he’s not. And he doesn’t want to be. Giles accepts his decision. Although, I don’t know how Giles could not realize that he had a Hunter living in his own home, I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt until I know more. Bennett is doing some quiet investigating for me,” Carina explained.

  “When did you find all this out?” Devlin asked.

  “I’ve suspected for a white now. When Sarah was attacked, I was convinced. Will you give me time, Devlin? I think your Sarah is safe enough for now. Take her away somewhere and keep her safe while I sort this out.”

  It went against all his instincts to let it go. This was his battle and his right as Sarah’s mate to find the one responsible for hurting her. But, if it was an Elder, it fell to the Council to handle the issue. “I’ll give you time, Carina. That is all I can promise.”

  “I’ll sort it out, Devlin. You can trust me. I’m keeping a careful eye on Giles and on his grandson. I will know what they plan. I’m making arrangements as we speak.”

  Devlin nodded. “I’m sorry I doubted you, Carina.”

  She brushed that aside. “Just go take care of your woman, Devlin. She seems rather insecure. Make sure she knows that there is nothing between us.”

  Devlin could hear the pain in her words, but there was nothing he could say. It was no more than the truth. “You will always be my friend, Carina.”

  “And that is enough,” she said. “Be happy, Devlin.” With that, she was gone.

  Devlin found Sarah sitting in the dark in his living room. He sat next to her on the couch and tugged her onto his lap. “What is it, love?” he asked quietly, kissing the top of her head.

  “I should go, Devlin. I have to get back to my life.”

  “It takes time, Sarah. I’ve told you that. But, you know I can’t leave you alone. Carina needs time to get to the bottom of this. If it’s an Elder, she will find out.”

  Sarah lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him. “I need to go home.”

  “Sarah, I love you. Don’t think I could let you walk away from me.”

  “I love you, too,” she said, her voice breaking.

  “But you want to go? Sarah, I thought you understood that I had to transform you. I couldn’t watch you die.”

  Sarah nodded. “I do understand that, Devlin. I’m not angry with you any longer about that.”

  “Then why do you want to go?” he snapped.

  “Devlin, you don’t have to be responsible for me! You saved me. You gave me back a life. I don’t want you to spend yours looking out for me! Can’t you understand that?” she cried.

  Devlin narrowed his eyes and tightened his arms around her. “You know, Sarah, for an intelligent woman, you can show an amazing amount of stupidity.”

  Her eyes shot sparks of blue fire. “I’m not stupid!”

  Devlin wanted to shake her. “Didn’t you hear me, Sarah? I said I loved you! I’ve loved you since I watched you drag a little girl out of a burning building! Do you honestly believe that it’s a burden to me to teach you? To love you?” He glared at her, and gave in to the temptation to give her a little shake. “I’m through talking, Sarah!” In the next instant, Sarah found herself flipped across his lap. He yanked down her slacks and pulled down the thin panties she wore. His hand slammed down on her bottom in a painful smack.

  “What are you doing?” she shrieked.

  Devlin wrapped his arm around her waist and anchored her across his lap. “I’m doing what I’ve wanted to do since you disappeared to Timbuktu! I’m spanking you!” He smacked her bared bottom again, although not as hard.

  Sarah was too shocked to struggle. When she felt a third smack land on her bottom, she started to kick her legs. “Let me up this minute!”

  “No,” he said flatly, continuing to spank her. “I love you,” he said, punctuating each word with a spank. “And I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you walk away from me.”

  Sarah stopped kicking her legs. “You want me.” It wasn’t a question. Her bottom was burning, but his words were melting her heart.

  Devlin’s hand paused mid-spank. “Of course I want you.” He spanked her again. “This is for thinking I didn’t.” After a few more spanks, though, the smacks turned to caresses.

  Sarah relaxed against his strong thighs and looked over his shoulder. “Are you going to spank me every time I annoy you?” she asked conversationally.

  “Quite possibly,” he said huskily, caressing her pinkened bottom.

  Sarah wiggled against him and felt the hardness of him rise against her belly. “Just checking,” she purred.

  Devlin slipped his hand down her bottom and to the tops of her thighs. He eased her thighs apart and cupped her heat, feeling the moisture there. “I need you, Sarah. Stay with me.”

  “Yes,” she agreed. “I’ll stay.”

  Devlin drove two long fingers inside her and flicked his thumb on her clitoris. “Good,” he said.

  No more words were spoken for a long while. Devlin flipped her over in his lap and then lifted her in his arms. He carried her to his room and placed her on the center of the four-post bed.

  “I wondered whose bed this was,” she said, watching him as he undressed.

  He smiled. “I always brought you here in your dreams.”

  “I know that now,” she said. “Come to me, Devlin.” She held out her arms to the man she loved—the man she’d love for all time.

  Devlin wasted no time stripping out of his clothes. Hers were gone just as quickly and Sarah wondered when he’d teach her that particular trick.

  He sat next to her on the bed and leaned down to take her nipple between his lips and teeth. When his lips found her breasts, Sarah forgot all about clothes and was locked in sensation. His teeth nipped at her sensitive nipples and she groaned aloud. He’d been right, all her senses were heightened now.

  Making love as a vampire was so much better than it had ever been as a human! His hands moved to her sides and his fingertips skimmed down to the juncture of her thighs. She spread her legs for him and felt his fingers probing gently at her moist core. The lightest touch sent a spiral of need through her that was almost painful in its intens
ity.

  “Now,” she groaned. “Please, Devlin. Take me now!”

  She felt his chuckle against her breast and moaned. He was going to tease her. His mouth moved to her other breast and gave it the same treatment, drawing the nipple and areole between his lips, and she arched against him, holding his head to her.

  Finally, he lifted his head. “Touch me, Sarah.”

  She didn’t need any further urging. She moved quickly then. Her hands moving down to his nipples, and she teased them with her nails, before skimming her fingers down his flat stomach to the hard length of him. She wrapped her fingers around him and felt him harden and lengthen in her hand. “I want this inside me.” She lowered her head and flicked her tongue over just the tip and tasted the salty taste of him. She’d never done something so wanton in her life but when his hips jerked, she knew he liked it.

  Pleased with her own power over him, she moved her tongue down his length, and cupped him with her palm, then scratched his inner thigh lightly with her nails.

  Suddenly, she was pulled up and over him.

  “I was having fun,” she protested.

  “So was I,” he admitted with a growl. “Too damn much.”

  Sarah smiled when he grasped her hips and pulled her down over his thick penis to the hilt. She tossed her head back and groaned with pleasure as he filled her. When he pulled her head down for his kiss, she wrapped her fingers in his hair.

  “I love you,” he said huskily against her mouth.

  “And I you—for all time.”

  “For all time,” Devlin agreed, thrusting inside her deeply.

  Sarah felt her climax building and screamed with her release, then felt him arch and tighten with his won hoarse shout of pleasure. She slumped against him, flushed with passion and damp with sweat. “I have much to learn still,” she said quietly.

  “We have all the time in the world,” he said quietly. “All the time we will need.”

  Sarah lifted her head and smiled at him. “We’ll fight.”

  His eyes twinkled as he looked at her. He patted her bottom. “I’ll win.”

  Sarah smiled. Sometimes she’d let him.

  The End

  Continue on for a sneak peak at the first chapter of Once Bitten, the second book in The Hunted Series available now at Amazon.

  Author’s Note

  Dear Reader,

  I hope you’ve enjoyed Once Forbidden as much as I loved writing it. It was a blast playing with the vampire lore to create this story. I have thus far four books planned in the series, with all connecting characters and cameos of characters from previous books as the series progresses.

  I write mainly paranormal romance. I love the genre. I like to just close my eyes and see what my characters have to tell me about their lives.

  Sometimes, stories come with little effort on my part. Book two in this series, for instance, simply arose from the opening line in the story. The first draft, believe it or not, was written in one weekend. It wrote itself more or less. I just listened to them tell me their story. I think you’ll enjoy it.

  Linked was written as an entry in a short story contest. The characters had different ideas, and it was much too long for that contest. The story has an ancient evil, a sexy shape shifter and a woman that isn’t anyone’s simpering female. I hope you’ll enjoy it as well.

  I love to hear from readers. You can visit me on the web at the links below. I often run contests on my Blog.

  Website

  http://hopewelsh.com

  E-mail

  hopewelshwrites@gmail.com

  Blog

  http://hopewelsh.blogspot.com

  Twitter

  http://twitter.com/hopewelsh

  Amazon Author Page

  http://www.amazon.com/Hope-Welsh/e/B004FRT66I/

  Look for Book Two in The Hunted Series, Once Bitten, available now at your favorite online retailer. In it you will find Bennett’s story. Book Three, Once Hunted will be available early this fall. You’ll find a sneak peak at chapter one of Once Bitten at the end of this book.

  Linked is available now exclusively on Amazon. It is book one in the Prophecy series. Book two, Holding The Link will be available this fall. This is a paranormal series with a delightfully sexy shifter.

  The Storm Within & Table For Two is a two story anthology which is available now on Amazon and other online retailers. Both are romantic suspense.

  I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the wonderful artwork on the covers for this series. NinjaMel Designs has done several of my covers, and her work is outstanding.

  I’d also like to thank those that have read and critiqued these stories for me. A writer is lost without great critique partners.

  One final thanks goes to my daughter for her patience while I spend hours in front of a computer screen. Love you, kiddo.

  Happy Reading!

  Hope

  P.S. As an added bonus for my readers, just leave a review on Amazon and e-mail me with a link to the review and I’ll send you a copy of The Storm Within & Table For Two anthology.

  Once Bitten - Chapter One

  I don’t usually dress like this. I don’t wear short black leather skirts and matching tops that most people would consider to be from the ‘sluts-are-us’ store. I don’t wear heels that are so high that they add four inches to my five-four frame.

  But, tonight is different.

  Tonight, my friend Keri Henson and I are headed out to a bar. I just broke up with my boyfriend—trust me, no great loss, but still; it’s made me a little down. Okay, I’m a lot down, but I’ll get over it.

  Keri had insisted that I wash my hair and leave it to fall in dark sable waves to my waist. Her “You have sexy hair, Hailey” had actually made me blush. I always control the wavy mess with a French braid, but to keep her happy, and to keep her from harping on me, I let it flow freely.

  We took a cab. Neither of us was going to risk a DUI, and we both figured the least we could do is drink—a lot. Of course, Keri had fond hopes of finding a man to take her home. I wasn’t so sure that was my plan for the evening. In fact, I was pretty darn sure it wasn’t. One night stands? Just not my thing.

  Now, here we sat in a bar named Low Down. What kind of a name is that for a bar? Oh well, I guess it beats sitting at home or going to McDonalds again. Keri looked hot. There was no other word to describe it. She has gorgeous black hair, and to complement it, she decided to wear a red mini-skirt and a leather halter top. Her breasts, at least a cup bigger than mine, are damn near spilling out at the sides. Definitely a ‘sluts-are-us’ outfit, but what the hell.

  “So, what do we do now?” I asked.

  Keri gave me a look that only a best friend could interpret. “We sit here until one of the hunks across the bar buys us a drink,” she explained patiently, as if she were speaking to a five-year-old. “And we smile.”

  I rolled my hazel eyes, but I did put a patently fake smile on my face. “If you say so,” I muttered, not at all convinced. I just wasn’t into the bar scene and never had been. I’d met my ex-boyfriend Robb in high school. Lord that was ten long years ago. Where had the time gone? We’d been living together for eight years—until I came home from work sick one day and found him screwing my friend Felecia. Make that ex-friend. She’s welcome to him, I thought grimly. He sucked in bed anyway. Well, at least things I’d read said that he’d sucked in bed. He’s the only one I’d ever gone to bed with. I’m not exactly the party-girl type, although no one would guess that by looking at the outfit Keri talked me into tonight.

  So, here we sat in a loud dark bar, with lousy rock music, and way too much cigarette smoke. Smoke is hell on my asthma. I mentally did a check, trying to remember if I’d remembered my inhaler. I couldn’t remember, so I glanced in my purse. Damn it, I’d forgotten it. Why did women change perfectly normal purses for the hot little sexy ones? “Keri, I forgot my inhaler,” I said tiredly.

  Keri laughed, a rich tinkling sound. I wished I could laugh l
ike that. “You’re not going to need it. When was the last time you even used it?” she demanded.

  I gave her a pointed look. “The last time you dragged me to a smoke-filled bar.”

  Keri gave a long-suffering sigh. “Do we have to go back and get it?”

  I shook my head. I wasn’t going to ruin her evening just because I’d been stupid. To be honest, I really didn’t want to be here anyway. “No, I’ll grab a cab and go get it. It shouldn’t take me more than half an hour.” We only lived a few miles from the bar. Keri had let me stay with her after I’d left Robb. I stood up and glanced around. “Don’t leave,” I said. “I don’t want to come back here and be by myself.”

  Keri nodded, her hair glistening in the dim lights. “I don’t plan on it. But, if Mr. Right-For-The-Night shows up, I’ll call your cell.”

  “That works.” Hell, with luck, she’d find Mr. Right and I could just go home, get out of these killer heels and watch reruns of Stargatge. Wasn’t that how most women spent their Friday night?

  I walked to the payphone and frowned when I saw the out of order sign on it. And, of course, there wasn’t a phonebook in sight. I didn’t have the first clue what the number was for the cab company. With any luck, there would be one around outside. I made my way to the front of the bar, wiggling through tons of people, and opened the door. I saw a few sets of eyes on me as I made my way to the door, and made a point to ignore them all. I didn’t want to pick up anyone for the night. I’d had no intentions of going home with anyone, even though I’d half toyed with the idea earlier.

  The wind was cold on my bare arms and I shivered, but at least the air was fresh. I hadn’t even remembered to bring a damn wrap with me. God, this entire night was a disaster from the get-go. I really just wanted to go home and go to bed. Maybe tomorrow would be a better day.

  Just as I was sure I’d end up having to go back in and ask for a taxi cab’s phone number, I felt a warm jacket go around my shoulders. Surprised, I looked over my shoulders.