Hot and hard, his shaft pulsed, swelling even more when she brushed her fingers along its silky length.
He lifted his head and captured her with his heated gaze, stoking the fire already raging inside her. She kissed the pulse at the base of his neck, her hands moving up and down his arousal. She rained kisses over his chest, laving his nipples with her tongue.
His arms wrapped tight around her as he pulled her even closer. “I need to feel your heat around me, your sweet fangs in my neck,” he said, his lips a soft vibration on hers.
Then he kissed her again, plunging his tongue inside to explore and savor. He grazed the very tip of one fang, and she felt the stroke between her legs.
When he moved his mouth to leave a burning path down her neck, she tilted back her head, pleasure rushing to her brain and building the anticipation. His tongue traced the slope of her breast, down around its fullness, and a cry tore from her lips the moment he found her nipple again.
Viv buried her hands in his hair, holding him close, arching her breast into the moistness of his mouth. His fangs were sharp, prickling her soft skin but not biting her. No, he wanted what she’d held back from him the last time.
He sucked, and she felt the waves of heat build inside her, rising higher like molten lava in a volcano, until she felt ready to erupt.
She wouldn’t. Not yet. Not until they were really and truly one.
In one swift motion, he unzipped her jeans and pushed them down, making quick work of his own. Then he locked her in his powerful arms and lifted her.
She clung to him, wrapping her legs around him as he slid her down onto his rigid length, the delicious friction sending jolts of electricity shooting through her body, singeing every nerve until she burned as hot as the man inside her.
She didn’t know when he moved them. She only felt the bed against her back, the pulsing heat between her legs. Lifting her hips, she grasped his muscled buttocks and pulled him closer, deeper, her desire for him overriding all else.
She rose to meet each fierce thrust, taking all that he could give and wanting more.
So much more.
They came together in a frenzied, primitive act. Hunger made them burn, desperation a potent aphrodisiac that heightened their senses and stirred their appetite.
She reached for him, pulling him down as she felt the first waves of pleasure begin. The beast rose inside of her, and she didn’t fight it this time. Need rushed through her, and her entire body went tight. A hiss worked its way up her throat, and she drew back her lips.
His pulse pounded against her tongue, begging her to sink her fangs deep, but she couldn’t bring herself to take his blood. She’d taken far too much from him already.
“You didn’t take.” His voice was gruff against the shell of her ear. “You gave. You wanted me to live and so you gave me back the life that those bandits took from me. You don’t owe me anything, baby. I owe you.” His fingers splayed at the base of her head, and he pulled her closer, pressing her fangs against his neck until they sank deep.
His sweet essence filled her mouth, and a burst of electricity sizzled across her nerve endings.
“Drink,” he urged, and she couldn’t stop herself.
She drew him in, relishing the missile of heat that spread through her body and firebombed between her legs.
She sucked harder, faster, feasting at his neck the way her body feasted on his rock-hard erection.
Arching her body, she pulled him in even deeper. He growled and bucked and spilled himself deep inside.
She held on to him as he gave himself to her. His blood. His body. His soul.
The realization hit her, and she forced her mouth away. She stared up at him and saw the emotion blazing in his eyes.
Even more, she felt it in the way he covered her mouth with his own and kissed her. Slowly. Tenderly.
He loved her.
And she loved him.
And for the next few moments, the world seemed to fall away as she clung to him and he held her tight.
“I’m not letting you go,” she murmured against his neck, her voice thick with conviction.
She’d been powerless to save her mother all those years ago, but she wasn’t powerless now. And she wasn’t going to turn her back and walk away from him again.
She would beg. She would plead. And he would listen. He wouldn’t leave her.
He wouldn’t.
That’s what she told herself. But as the minutes slipped by and dawn approached, she couldn’t shake the sinking feeling that in his head, in his heart, he was already gone.
HE WAS SOUND ASLEEP.
Viv stood next to the bed and stared down at Garret’s muscular body sprawled across the white sheets. He lay on his stomach, his arm still stretched out beside him, covering the indentation her body had made.
He hadn’t budged when she’d slipped from the bed, despite the fact that it was still dark outside and he should be at the peak of his strength right now, particularly since they’d just had sex.
But as much energy as she’d given, she’d taken in return by drinking from him, and so he was wiped out. He needed at least an hour or two of sleep to regain his strength.
Then he would climb from the bed and do the unthinkable.
If she didn’t do something first.
She touched the smooth sinewy skin of one shoulder and pressed a soft kiss against his temple.
And then Viv pulled on her clothes, grabbed her purse and went to save Garret Sawyer from himself.
IT WAS ALMOST FIVE in the morning, and everything in town had long since closed up shop for the night. The streets were dark and shadowed as Viv drove the short distance to Skull Creek Choppers. The small neon sign blazed in the window. Her senses went into overload, buzzing and humming from being so close to the two vampires inside.
She pulled into the back parking lot, killed her engine and climbed from the front seat. The door was locked, and she knocked. Doubt crawled up and down her spine as she waited for someone to answer. She almost called it quits.
Almost.
But she loved Garret too much to let him sacrifice so much for her. She knew he was trying to save her, and she wasn’t going to let him. Not again.
She was through taking from Garret. It was time for her to give back.
The door opened, and she found herself staring at a tall, handsome vampire. He had long dark hair, blue eyes and a puzzled expression.
“Jake McCann?” she asked, and he nodded.
“My name is Viviana Darland. I have something you want, and I need to give it back.” And then she walked into Skull Creek Choppers, spilled her guts about the past and the future and what was going to happen if Jake didn’t pop a stake into her right here and now.
And then she waited for him to take the decision out of Garret’s hands and put them all out of their misery.
22
GARRET PARKED HIS pick-up near the gate of the eastern pasture and climbed out. A quick leap, and he stood on the other side of the fence where he kept the bucking horses. They were spread out. One stood in the far corner chewing on a hay bale. A few others had galloped over the ridge when they’d heard his pick-up. Only Delilah stood nearby, munching on the remains of one of the hay bales he’d dropped off earlier that week.
“Easy, girl. I’m not here to bother you.” Garret held up his hands. “Not this time.”
She danced backwards a few steps and eyed him, her eyes wide, fearful, as if she didn’t trust him.
She didn’t, and she never would, and it didn’t matter anymore. Because Viviana Darland loved him.
The truth sang through his head and relaxed his tight muscles. She’d loved him as a man, and she loved him as a vampire and that emotion filled the emptiness that had haunted him for so long.
He realized now that all of the desperate attempts to reclaim his humanity hadn’t been because he’d missed what he’d once been…but because he’d hated what he’d become. Restless. Lonely. Empty. He hadn
’t wanted to be a man again half as much as he’d wanted to feel whole.
The way he’d felt during those few weeks when he’d been with Viv.
But then she’d walked away.
That’s what had destroyed him. Not losing his humanity, but losing her. He hadn’t spent the past century regretting what he’d become. Other than not being able to tell his folks goodbye, he’d actually been content being a vampire. Sure, he wasn’t too keen on the yearly turning, but he’d learned how to control it, with the exception of Jake and Dillon. And while he regretted biting them, he couldn’t regret the bond they’d forged.
They were his friends.
His family.
No, he’d come to appreciate the perks of being a vampire. He liked being strong. Reading minds. Being great in bed.
Until he’d watched Jake fall in love with Nikki. Then he’d remembered what it was like to be in love himself—really and truly in love—and he’d missed it.
He’d missed Viv.
She’d come back to him now and given him the most precious gift of all—her love—and he owed her.
His love.
His protection.
He’d already eliminated the vampires threatening her existence. All except for one.
Jake had fought too hard, too long to simply give up the search for his humanity now, not with Nikki still human. Sure, they could go after Viv’s father, but he could be halfway around the world for all they knew. They had no clues. And even if they did manage to track him down, Viv would never let them destroy him.
She would sacrifice herself first to save all of them, if for no other reason than to prove that she wasn’t like the man who’d made her childhood a living hell.
Vampire or not, she would never willingly hurt anyone.
He knew that now. He knew her.
Her head.
Her heart.
He also knew that he would do anything in his power to keep her safe.
He’d eliminated the two vampires who’d threatened her existence, and now it was time to take care of the last and final threat.
He walked several more feet until he reached a far tree near the edge of the pasture. It was the same tree he’d camped out at that night so long ago when he’d been attacked and left to die.
Viv had saved him, and now it was his turn to repay the favor. He would give Jake and Dillon their humanity back, and the hunt for the Ancient One would end right now.
Sitting down, he leaned back against the tree, his legs stretched out in front of him.
And then he fixed his gaze on the eastern horizon and waited for the sun to rise.
“GARRET.” THE NAME whispered on the wind, and Garret thought for a split-second that it was his imagination. Until he felt a nudge against his leg.
He opened his eyes to see Jake standing in front of him. Orange tinged the horizon behind him, and a faint stream of smoke whispered around the vampire. It was almost time now. He could feel it in the lull of his muscles and the weariness that pulled at his eyelids. They drifted shut again, and he felt the nudge of a boot against his leg.
“You stupid sonofabitch.” It was Jake’s voice again, pulling him from the exhaustion and the dream he was having.
He and Viv were together. She loved him and he loved her and all was right with the world.
“Come on. Get up.” Jake’s voice grew stronger, reminding Garret that it was just his wishful thinking.
Nothing was right and there would be no happily ever after. Not for him.
But that was okay. She would be safe. Alive.
“Leave me alone,” he told Jake when the vampire nudged him again.
“And let you fry for some woman? What the hell is wrong with you?”
He opened his eyes then and stared up at his friend. “She’s the Ancient One.” He shook his head. “This is the only way.”
“Do you love her?” Jake demanded.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Do you?”
“I’ve always loved her.”
“Then forget this self-sacrifice crap, get the hell up and do something about it.”
“But you and Dillon—”
“—aren’t going to last two days without your sorry ass to boss us around.” Jake hunkered down in front of Garret. “We need you, man.”
“You need your humanity.”
“I always thought so.” Jake shook his head. “I thought if I could just go back and erase the past hundred or so years, then I would feel different. I would feel hopeful, optimistic, free. I’ve spent so long being a slave to the hunger, and I just wanted to be free. But then I found Nikki.”
“And you wanted it even more.”
“Only because I thought it was what she wanted. But she loves me, even if I never become human again. She loves me just the way I am. And she’ll keep loving me, for a lifetime or an eternity. Meg feels the same about Dillon.” His gaze caught and held Garret’s. “And Viv feels the same about you. She loves you, man. Don’t blow this.” He pushed to his feet. “Get your ass up, and let me take you home.”
But Garret couldn’t because he knew what Jake was thinking. They would just go after Viv’s sire.
“I know about her father,” Jake said, as if reading Garret’s thoughts. “She told me.”
“You talked to her?”
“She came to me and offered herself. She wanted to take the decision away from you. So she told me who she was, and then asked me to kill her.” Before Garret could move, Jake held up a hand. “Calm down. I didn’t touch her.”
“Why not?”
“For the same reason that you’re sitting here right now, ready to fry. We’re friends, Garret. Now and always. If you love her, that’s good enough for me.”
“And me.” Dillon stepped up behind Jake.
“Ditto for me.” It was Nikki’s turn. She slid an arm around Jake’s waist.
“And me,” added Meg as she came up beside Dillon.
“But it’s not good enough for me.” Viv’s sweet voice slid into his ears, and he watched as she stepped from behind the group and walked over to him.
He pushed to his feet then, despite the fatigue that bound his muscles. Suddenly, he didn’t feel half as drained as he had a few minutes ago. Not with Viv here. Now.
She fed his strength in a way that went way beyond blood and sex. She fed his soul. With her smiles and her laughter.
“I want more than your love,” she told him as she stopped just inches away, determination etching her beautiful features. “I want to fall asleep in your arms and wake up to you every evening. I want you. Every moment of every day. Every day from now until forever. You.” She touched him, her fingertips brushing his jaw as she reached out. Her eyes glimmered with emotion and his chest tightened. “Please don’t do this.”
Garret sighed. It looked as if he had no choice, even if he’d wanted it. And he didn’t. “Then we all agree it stops here.” He glanced around the small group. “No more searching for the Ancient One. It’s over right here and now.”
“Right here,” Jake added.
“Right now,” came Dillon’s solemn agreement.
“Besides, I hear that fangs are the new thing this year,” Nikki added.
“It’s what all of Skull Creek’s finest are wearing,” said Meg.
Garret grinned and turned back to Viv. His expression faded as he stared at the woman he loved. The vampire he’d always loved.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” he murmured. And then he pulled her into his arms and held on tight.
Epilogue
HIS HEAD HURT like a sonofabitch.
Sheriff Matt Keller forced his eyes open to the blinding morning sunlight that pushed past the drapes. He rolled over onto his back and winced against the pain that beat at his temples.
He felt as if he’d drank the night away and passed out in an alley somewhere. His entire body felt stiff, his muscles tight. A groan worked its way up his throat as he pushed
into a sitting position.
He blinked and focused on his surroundings.
And then he blinked again because nothing was the way he remembered when he’d first crawled between the sheets last night.
The door hung from one hinge, and every piece of furniture except the bed had been smashed to bits. There was a sizeable dent in one wall and a litter of sheetrock on the floor. It looked as if Godzilla had faced off with King Kong, and neither had won.
What the hell…?
He closed his eyes and tried to remember. He’d checked the parking lot for Viv Darland’s car one more time, then he’d crawled into bed and flipped on the TV to pass the time and wait for her to come in. He’d wanted to talk to her. To get her to confess.
He’d done just that, but only after she’d come knocking on his door. He remembered her accusations, her revelation. The attack.
Holy shit.
He’d been bitten by a vampire.
As if he didn’t have enough friggin’ problems of his own.
He touched a hand to his neck, but the wound had already healed thanks to his werewolf DNA. The only lingering reminders of last night were the very real images in his head and the Metallica solo that pounded in his head.
Oh, and the little old woman standing in the doorway. Towels overflowed her arms and a disapproving expression etched her face.
She eyed the surrounding mess and arched one eyebrow. “I hope you know this means you ain’t getting your deposit back.”
He shrugged. “I sort of figured.”
She took another look before her gaze zeroed in on him again and dropped to his lap. “You always sleep in your birthday suit?”
He glanced down and sure enough, he was buck-naked. “I like to be comfortable.”
“Me, too. Say, you’re not a bad-looking fella. If you’re interested in a date, I might be able to help you out.”
“Thanks, but I’ll pass.”
“Let me know if you change your mind. There’s lots of pretty girls around here.”
His body seemed to come alive just at the thought. His gut tightened and his groin stirred. He snatched up a nearby pillow just before the old woman got an eyeful.
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