Dare To Be Loved

by Stacy Lee

  In the instant before I explode he bites into my neck sending me over the edge. With each pull he takes my body pulses, dragging out the climax for several seconds before his body jerks inside me on a low moan. He slows then stills, his weight pressing me into the bed. I finish my fill of his blood then release his arm, completed sated.

  My body begins to vibrate. My vision becomes fuzzy. My blood boils hotly inside my veins making me scream out in pain. I feel him shaking behind me, his grip in my hair tightens, his hand on my waist clinches painfully into my skin. My fangs punch back out and I frantically try to turn in his grip while fighting the pain. The need to bite his neck is unfathomable. After a second he releases me allowing me to reach his neck where I sink my teeth in roughly. On a deafening roar he does the same while sinking hilt deep with one powerful thrust. Unbelievably it throws me into instant climax even with the pain ripping through me. By the way he is jerking inside me it has the same effect on him.

  My back bows in agony. I bite down harder while gurgling a scream through the blood filling my mouth. Power completely takes over the cinnamon as it flows down my throat. The electrical currents grow stronger in both our touch and his blood, short circuiting my mind. His entire body jerks and trembles, his jaw mashing into my skin as he grinds his teeth inside my flesh.

  Fire rips through my body freezing all my actions and causing me to gag on the blood still flowing freely into my mouth. I open my eyes to see his form fully engulfed in light, he was glowing a blinding white. I cut my eyes to my hand on his shoulder to realize, so was I. Although my vision is impaired by the glow and the fuzziness I see the digital clock on the dresser.

  12:05

  I hang on tight and ride out the ultimate climax mixed with excruciating agony. It feels like my skin is being ripped from my body then stitched back into place but at the same time the most intense orgasmic pleasure I have ever felt pulsed through me. The longer I keep my hold on his neck the more the current and power grows in his blood. He lets out a strangled cry as the door to our room is shoved open. Power crackles through the air and over our skin, lightning flashes, thunder rolls, the earth shakes and somewhere deep inside my core being something shatters.

  “Holy mother of creation!” Archer cries in the doorway.

  The clock flips in slow motion.

  12:06

  All pain, pleasure and light cease. My lifeless body slinks from his limp arms and we both fall unconscious to the floor.

  The Change was complete.

  ****

  I wake feeling like I have been ran through an electric carwash without the car. I stretch my body to relieve the ache, my hand brushes against Marnie who is curled in a tight ball beside me on the bed. Her back is shaking as if she is crying. I curl around her wrapping her tightly in my hold. I can’t feel any pain coming from her but I can feel a deep sadness and unbearable embarrassment.

  “Hey, why are we crying?” I pull on her shoulder to make her face me. Her eyes are bright red and swollen. She has been crying for some time now. She shrugs her shoulders but bites her knuckle to keep from answering me. I can feel the need inside her to answer the question and the fight not to. I ignore it and how what I’m fixing to do next makes me feel. “Marnie, tell me why you are crying.” Her body shutters before she blurts out an answer she can’t keep inside.

  “Because we passed out on the floor right after Archer and your brothers came in the room. How do you think we got on the bed? I am still naked, Dare!” She whines the last part and I understand the embarrassment inside her. My brothers had not only seen us on the floor together but someone picked up her naked body and put it into bed. She thought them seeing her on satellite was bad, now this.

  “Hey. Sometimes shit happens. They had to pick me up too. They aren’t bad guy’s, they won’t say anything about you being naked. Now they might have something to say about the fact when they came in we were glowing like a science experiment gone wrong.” I chuckle to her deep sobs. At the same time a knock sounds on the door and she cringes folding deeper into herself.

  “Dare, I have a meeting in an hour and I need to talk to you. Think you can tear yourself away long enough?” Archer yells out. He had no reason to scream but I think it was for Marnie’s benefit.

  “Stop screaming, Archer! I can hear you just fine. Along with the others in the kitchen talking about us for the last hour. Now go away.” She demands in a heated voice. That was what upset her? Or being naked? Or both? I am confused, why were we crying?

  “Oh, um….Sorry about that. Dare?” I don’t think I have ever heard embarrassment in Archer’s voice before. What the hell had they been talking about?

  “Give me five.” His footsteps retreat quickly. I tune into the conversation in the kitchen in time to hear Cash’s comment.

  “If she didn’t heal so quickly I’d kick his ass for the hand prints he left on her backside. I still might. Did you see those deep bruises?” Marnie whimpers beside me.

  “She can hear you. Shut up.” Archer’s harsh whisper comes on the tail end of growls of agreement. I throw the covers off her and forcibly roll her to look at her ass. Faint bruises were left where I had spanked her making my stomach tie into knots. A glance to the clock reveals we had been out for several hours. It was midafternoon. She should be healed completely by now. Why wasn’t she? She pulls away from me and flees from the bed.

  “It’s nothing. I would tell you don’t do it again but that would be lying and I can’t lie to you anymore. I enjoyed it just don’t make a habit out of it.” She throws a hand over her mouth, her face turns crimson. She quickly slides into my robe and runs from the room. I jump up and throw on pants intent on chasing her down.

  When I hear heaving in the bathroom, I run. Cash is already there holding her hair back however she was trying to shove him away and puke at the same time. He sees me and steps back with a glare. I take over hair duty while she dry heaves into the toilet. When she finishes I hand her a wet washcloth. She runs it over her mouth and sighs.

  “I haven’t tried to eat anything. Why the hell am I puking?” She mumbles out. I reach down and drag her up. A whiff of her scent catches me and I freeze. Burying my head into her neck I smell again. Vanilla and…..Oh, bloody hell! I pull her into my arms and run full tilt from the house to Angie’s, my brothers following on my heels.

  I burst through the door and into Angie’s room. She is sitting at a desk reading and looks up startled as I sit Marnie on the bed and point at her. “She’s pregnant.” Angie’s eyes grow wide then look to Marnie who is frozen in shock. Her stunned sapphires following my movements. “She wasn’t pregnant yesterday.” I mumble. Gasps can be heard behind me, they knew exactly what I’m thinking. This happened while we were glowing. Never has a predestined mate become pregnant so fast. It normally took a hundred years or so.

  What the hell had I done now!?

  Cash pushes past me to sit beside Marnie whose breathing has become labored, her skin pale and clammy, her eyes unfocused and distant. She was going into shock. The woman had faced all kinds of things in the last week and the idea of being pregnant sent her into shock.

  Women! I will never understand them.

  Angie grabs a needle and advances on Marnie who goes ballistic. “No! No more drugs!” Cash grabs her as she tries to fly off the bed.

  “No, I’m only drawing blood.” That calms her down as much as telling her, ‘I’m not going to hurt you’ then crouching into a fighting stance, would. Absolutely none. Cash holds her tight for Angie to push the needle into her arm. Her eyes meet mine and I’m sure the uncertainty and shock I feel in her is the same as she’s feeling in me. I should be holding her, I should be comforting her but I was right there with her on the edge of panic unable to move from my spot.

  Angie does something with what little medical equipment she has and something liquid then nods with a lopsided grin. “Normally you can’t test for pregnancy this soon but I’ve been working on this for about fifty years now. Wit
h our rapid incubation it’s easier to see in Patronus than even Fairies this early on. I am ninety percent positive she is pregnant. Congratulations.” She looks between our shocked faces her grin slowly fading. “You two know how babies are made, right?” I glare at her. “Then why are we so shocked here?” She asks confused. It’s Archer who answers.

  “Angie, unlike normal Patronus our mates usually take upwards of a hundred years or so to become pregnant the first time. It doesn’t get any easier after that either. Look at how far apart we are. Fin and I have five hundred years difference between us. It wasn’t from lack of trying on our parent’s part. Her body just completed The Change it isn’t ready to carry a child. You know as well as anyone that our women do not go the total of nine months like the humans. Baby’s grow rapidly in our kind and only have a gestation period of four months. Can her body take this so soon after The Change?” As he speaks both Angie and Marnie’s brows furrow. For different reasons I’m sure. This is the first talk of baby’s we’ve had. She didn’t know this bit of information. No doubt it confused her.

  “Four months?” Everyone nods to her. “How is that even possible?” She is asking anyone who will answer but her gaze is fixed on me.

  “A lot of technical bullshit. Let’s just say our baby’s grow faster but they take more from the mother than human baby’s do and with your um….condition… We have no idea what this will do.” Emmitt is the one to answer.

  “Angie knows.” I grit out.

  “Oh, I… okay. Then Angie, with her living on blood how will it affect the baby?” She shrugs.

  “I have never dealt with this before. Some mates choose to live on blood alone, but during pregnancy they eat food. Marnie doesn’t have that option. I will keep a close eye on her. Don’t worry guys everything will be fine. I’m a medical genius, remember? I’ll just do what I do best. Study her.” She states this with confidence gaining the first real reaction from Marnie. A laugh.

  “You tell them, girl.” Her eyes were more focused and her breathing has calmed. She pats Cash’s hand then surprisingly reaches for me. I’d think I was the last person she wanted right now. I move to the bed beside her and wrap my arms around her, discreetly closing her robe that is gaping open in the front. “Are you okay with this? I have never wanted children before, have you?” I look around the full room uncomfortably.

  “Angie are you done with her?” She nods. “Give me an hour then you can come get that blood.” Once more she nods. I gather Marnie into my arms and stroll out. My brothers thankfully give us a minute before they follow leisurely behind us. “Before we are in the house where everyone can hear us let me talk quickly. No, I have never thought of having kids before but I never thought I would have a mate either. The idea does have some appeal. I’m happy, I think. What about you? Why do you say you never wanted kids?” She was so loving and caring, how could she not want children to share that with?

  “Because, look how I grew up. I have no one, Dare. I was left with Uncle when my mother died, I have no clue who my father is, I have no other family or friends. What happens when I die? Who will I leave the child to? I have no one.” Her horrified voice is almost comical.

  “One, you aren’t dying anytime soon. You are immortal now. As long as I keep you away from sharp objects and vampires you’ll live a long time. Two, you have me and five brothers to look after a child if for some reason you find a way to kick the bucket.” I grin as I enter our home. She pouts.

  “You die when I do and your mother died in childbirth.” She whispers, I blanch.

  “No, our mother didn’t want to live without our father. As soon as she had Fin she walked unarmed into a known Stroli playground and let them kill her. It was her choice to leave us. Would you do that to your child? Besides, I don’t plan on letting anyone close enough to you to kill you. You understand me? You aren’t going to die.” She nods and a tear runs down her cheek. “I need to talk to Archer. Can I get you to feed before I do, please?” I sit on the bed with her in my lap. She is so deep in thought she turns her head and sinks her teeth in without a thought about it.

  Power crackles over my bare chest with her first pull. With each draw it grows. She seems unaware of it, her eyes are closed and she’s lost in her head, but I watch as blinding white streaks roll over my bare skin. Inside, my organs quiver, my blood boils through my veins, my heartbeat thrums in my ears too loudly to hear anything else, and my senses all sharpen to perfection. My flesh vibrates with growing power that dances over it in streaks of white lightning. By the time she falls away ten minutes later, I feel as if I stuck my finger in a light socket and she is sound asleep. I lay her in bed and cover her up then walk out into the front room, all the while watching the power crackle over my skin.

  “What the…?” Bane is the first to see me. The rest turn wide eyes to me then look to Archer who mirrors them. He is also clueless.

  “Um…. The more she drank the more it um… grew?” I felt like I could take down an entire herd of Stroli, alone. A tickle in my nose causes me to sneeze abruptly. A bolt of lightning flies from my fingertips as I quickly reach up to cover my mouth, hitting the TV square in the middle. It explodes with a deafening roar, glass and plastic shooting in all directions before the frame falls from the wall with a crash. We all stare at it dumbfounded. As one they turn back to me. Some of the vibrations have cooled and the power was minimal as it rolled, almost peacefully, over my skin.

  “Do it again but this time try to do it on purpose. We can fix anything you break with magic. Well, anything but each other.” Fin quips.

  I aim my hand at the window then think better of it, someone may be outside of it. I turn to face the kitchen table and stare at it. Nothing happens. I wiggle my hand, still nothing. I shrug and let my hand drop. Suddenly something comes flying from the kitchen at me.

  Out of instinct I raise my hand to catch it. Lightning shoots out blowing the apple apart and splattering applesauce all over the dining room and me. I glare over my shoulder at my brothers. Fin is the one laughing his ass off, I have him to blame for this mess.

  “Yeah, funny Fin. Now clean it up.” I growl as I stalk towards the bathroom. “Give me just a minute, Archer.” He coughs out a laugh.

  “Don’t fry yourself. Water and electricity don’t mix.” Emmitt laughs out to my fleeting back. I try to growl but it comes out as a mangled laugh. Thankfully the apple had dispersed the last of the weird vibes. What the hell was going on? Archer said I would be powerful but up until last night I only felt one change. That was the fact I could feel Marnie inside me. I hadn’t believed him about the rest he said about me, I was kind of hoping he was wrong about all but the blood and the link between us.

  Obviously not.

  Would this only manifest when she ate or would I learn to control it? Hell, what happened when we both bit at the same time, did I transfer the power to her? Would it hurt the babe she was carrying? I would have to be very careful about this.

  I quickly shower then realize I didn’t bring clothes with me. Aw, the hell with it. They have seen me naked more times than I can count. Last night being one of them. I was not used to living with anyone but myself and when you live alone you don’t need clothes in the bathroom when you finish. With a sigh, I leave with a towel around my waist. All the jerks are busy in the living room and I am able to slip into my room without any heckling. I throw on clothes and check on Marnie who is still asleep. Her color is a little pale but she seems fine. I once again leave to try and have this meeting with Archer.

  Behind me glass shatters and a scream rips through the house. Pure terror that’s not mine runs through my veins.

  “Marnie!” I scream as I run for our room. I throw open the door to see a Stroli with a large scar over his right eye holding Marnie to his chest by her throat.

  Striker.

  I freeze. My brothers behind me do the same.

  “Bound, not mated.” His grotesque mouth grins a deformed smile, he jumps through the window and flees.<
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  “Dare!” Marnie’s terrified screams filter through the room as she is whisked away. I jump out after them but they are gone. I track them as far as the wall but once he went over his sent disappears completely, probably in a vehicle. He has help if he had a truck. Stroli can’t drive with those animal legs. It wasn’t physically possible. “Dare!” Her terrified voice comes to me on the gentle breeze. I roar in anger, my muscles bunch getting ready to run. A body tackles me before I can blindly run off after her.

  “You won’t find them that way. Emmitt is pulling the satellites. Let’s see where they go then we will go get her.” My face flares in pain causing me to howl in rage once more.

  “Fine, then whoever just hit her is going to die.” The deadly calm in my voice scares even me.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Shut up!” The monster backhands me across the face knocking me into the side of the truck. When he jumped the wall he hopped into the bed of a pick-up that fled at high rates of speed. I tried to jump out and was screaming for Dare when the thing hit me. Now I cuddle against the tailgate as far from him as possible. The Stroli is glaring at me with hunger and hate in his beady eyes.

  “Why?” I cry out not understanding why this thing had come for me. Did it want Dare and I was a way to hurt him like Archer said? He points to the scar running down his face.

  “Dare did this. He owes me. You payment.” After deciphering his words I huddle quietly in the truck not wanting to anger him anymore than possible. I keep my eyes averted, discreetly studying the creature beside me. His pale skin was practically transparent, the black shaggy hair making it more so. His face is horribly deformed, eyes too big for his face, nose to small, sharp jagged teeth, mouth that is way too large for a human mouth, lips that are thin and didn’t have the natural plump to them. They almost look like someone deflated them causing them to sink in instead of stand out. The scar didn’t help matters as it hadn’t been properly seen to and has healed gaping open. When he made a facial expression that moved his cheek or eye it widened and spread open disgustingly.