by J. S. Scott
Regan had known the truth about being his mate since her sister had mated with his brother Nathan eight months ago. It hadn’t been difficult to figure out who the mark that was imprinted on her hip belonged to after she had seen Sasha’s marking and her sister had revealed its meaning. Liam had been the last unmated brother and his mark was very similar to Nathan’s. The mark of the dragon.
Regan curled her body into the corner of the sofa and shivered as she remembered the horror of the night the mage council had come to her home, shortly after Sasha had mated with Nathan, stripping her naked to look for the mating mark of the vampire on her body. Her own mother had ratted Regan out, remembering that her youngest daughter had the strange birthmark. While Sasha’s mark had appeared on her eighteenth birthday, Regan had been born with hers. After slowly and painfully altering the mark, the council had given her a choice - mate with the mage of their choice or see Liam killed by the mage league of assassins.
Tears leaked from Regan’s eyes as she rubbed the altered mark on her hip. While the pain of the alteration had been excruciating, the fact that Liam would never be hers hurt even more. She could never risk him, never tell him that they were destined mates. And oh…how she wanted to blurt out the truth and try every intimate act that she could think of to fire his mating instinct.
But would Liam even want her?
He was fond her. Regan knew that. What she didn’t know was whether he would really want her as a mate. He treated her like buddy or a sister and while she knew he wanted her company, would he ever want her as she wanted him? Yeah…he threw her an occasional compliment, but she suspected it was more out of sympathy than any other emotion.
Maybe she should just mate with the mage council’s choice and get it over with. She would be forcefully separated from Liam’s company and possibly get over her raging desire for Liam. Getting over it would be good since he would never be hers. Why prolong the agony?
Liam insisted that being a healer kept him too busy and that he would never mate because he couldn’t be a good partner. Did he mean that, or was he only saying it to make himself feel better about the slim possibility of finding his mate?
It doesn’t matter. You’ll never have the opportunity to find out.
Only Sasha and the council knew that she was Liam’s destined mate and she had begged Sasha not to share the truth with Nathan. Nathan would certainly tell Liam and then Liam…would be dead. Somehow, at some point, the league of mage assassins would take him out. Sasha had been hesitant to hold back the truth from Nathan, but Regan’s sister also knew the power of the league of mage assassins. That knowledge had been enough to keep Sasha silent on the subject of Liam and Regan.
Regan wiped the tears from her cheeks in swipes of angry resignation. Why did she torture herself by spending nearly every day in Liam’s company?
Because you can’t stay away! You love him; you feel his loneliness, feel his need for companionship.
It was true. She couldn’t stay away from him and although their time together was both bliss and torture, she ached to be near him.
She was drawn to him, compelled to try to take care of him. Liam had been conditioned almost from birth to sacrifice…and he needed a friend to save him from himself. He gave too much, kept too many secrets, and never gave a second thought to the price he had to pay for keeping those secrets or making those sacrifices.
“Oh, Liam,” she sighed softly as she remembered how he had pursued her friendship in the beginning even though she had tried to brush him off. She had never had a chance against his determination and persistence. Liam Hale could be a total pain in the ass when he wanted to be. A handsome, sexy, caring and sometimes arrogant pain in the ass! But still, a constant pain in the ass when he wanted something. And for some unknown reason, Liam had wanted Regan’s friendship and companionship. Who could ignore those chocolate brown eyes filled with an emptiness that tugged at the heart and that muscular, towering body that was made for sins that Regan hadn’t even contemplated committing before she met Liam? Lately, she had been thinking about sex way too much.
Regan felt an irrational pang of jealousy toward all of the women that Liam had ever had in his bed. Those women might be hundreds of years deceased, but she still disliked every one of them for having a part of Liam that she would never see. What would he look like with his dark hair mussed and his eyes filled with desire?
Absolutely terrifying! And completely irresistible!
Crap…the man was already an unholy temptation and he had zero sexual desire, she could only imagine what those women had felt during the time that they were the object of his desire. No doubt, Liam had satisfied every one of them.
Regan’s womb clenched and her nipples hardened at the thought. She had never had a man inside of her because the mage didn’t have relations with anyone other than their mate, but she was a healer. It wasn’t as if she didn’t understand the act. But for the first time she craved it with a man…with Liam.
She wrapped her arms around her body and tried not to feel the pain of longing for something that she could never have. She was mage and had been taught from the time that she was an infant not to display her emotions. Naturally quiet, shy and withdrawn, the way of the mage had come easily to her…until she had met Liam. He fired a whole barrage of emotions that she wasn’t used to handling on a daily basis. It felt good to be alive, to laugh, to have someone that she could talk to other than her sister, Sasha. But being with Liam also brought a certain amount of pain and fear that she had to stuff deep inside of herself or end up suffocated by the emotions.
If you’d just mate with the council’s choice, you could go back to being quiet and withdrawn. You could completely hide your emotions again.
Liam would no longer be in danger from the mage. She had to and she would mate to protect Liam from the wrath of the mage, even if it meant never seeing Liam again.
“You’re still here.”
Regan’s head jerked to the other side of the room and her heart raced as the deep baritone flowed over her body, flooding it with relief. “Liam,” she breathed softly as she came to her feet, wanting to throw her arms around him as she met his dark eyes with a concerned expression. “Are you okay?”
He grinned at her reassuringly. “I’m fine, which is more than I can say for the fallen.”
He was hiding something, forcing that smile. She had seen his various expressions for long enough to know when he was holding back the truth. “You had to kill?”
“You should go. Get some sleep,” he yawned broadly, obviously trying to change the subject.
Regan’s eyes shot to the clock. It was still several hours before he would be able to give himself up to day sleep. “Liam Hale, answer my question.”
He sighed as he dropped the veil of pretense. “Yes. I had no choice. We were outnumbered. It was either dust a few fallen or watch my brothers get beheaded. It wasn’t a difficult choice,” he finished calmly.
She took his hand and tugged him toward the stairs. “Come to bed.”
“Sweetheart, I would have killed to get that offer from you a few hundred years ago,” he breathed softly in her wake, as she pulled him up the stairs.
Ignoring his innuendo she demanded quietly, “How many?”
“Three.”
“Oh God, Liam. It’s horrible if you have to dispose of one.” She stopped beside the bed. “Undress.”
Regan could see the signs of pain registering on his face and he didn’t argue. He climbed into bed and pulled the covers up before he evaporated his jeans, t-shirt and every other article of clothing from his body.
Tears flowed freely from her eyes, knowing what was to come. How could she bear to see him suffer…again? And three times worse than she had ever seen it before. Regan took up her usual place on the floor beside his bed for her vigil, closing her eyes briefly to gear herself up for a tense few hours.
“Hey,” Liam’s husky voice sounded from the edge of the bed as his hand reached out to
stroke her cheek softly. “Don’t cry for me, Regan. I can take it. I’m used to it.”
She didn’t answer as she opened her eyes and the tears flowed faster. He might be resigned to what was to come, but Regan didn’t think she could ever get used to watching Liam in pain.
“Go home. I want you to. I’ll be fine tomorrow.” His fingers wiped away her tears, but they continued to stream from her troubled blue eyes.
“No.”
“Yes. Go now.”
“Absolutely not”
“Stubborn.” His voice was starting to slur and he pulled his hand back as he curled inward to absorb the pain.
Backlash!
It was already starting with a vengeance.
“With you…I have to be stubborn.” Regan’s chin came up and she ground her teeth as she stroked his wayward hair away from his face. She wasn’t about to leave him when he needed her.
“Ah…fuck!” Liam shouted as he started to shiver and Regan flinched as his body buckled and thrashed.
Shit. She hated this. Regan had been through this numerous times before with Liam after he had needed to take the life of a fallen. He felt backlash pain every time he took a life. Any life. It didn’t matter that he was ridding the world of evil. Backlash was guaranteed any time a vampire healer killed. And three? Dear God, it was painful enough when he had to extinguish one fallen. This was going to bad.
Really bad.
The intensity of the attack kept getting worse over the next ten minutes. Liam was incoherent and writhing on the bed. Regan knew the fact that he hadn’t fed wasn’t helping and she cursed his distain for feeding. Damn it. Why did he have to be so…so…moral? Any other time she might have laughed at the thought, but she wasn’t rational when it came to Liam being in horrible pain.
Liam was usually coherent during backlash. Hurting, certainly, but nothing like this. He usually talked his way through it while she stayed beside his bed and tried to take his mind off of his discomfort until he could fall into the oblivion of day sleep.
I feel so damn powerless! And I’m a mage healer.
A mage healer. She was a mage healer, and although healing a vampire wasn’t exactly her specialty, Regan wondered if one of her spells might work on him and help relieve some of his misery.
Regan tried to think rationally, her thoughts frantically going over various options. Maybe she could try something to throw him into his day sleep early…and he could drink from her. Her power was nothing compared to Liam’s, but her blood was certainly stronger than a human’s.
She didn’t hesitate as she stood and pulled her pink tank top over her head and shoved her jeans down her legs. Kicking them off, she slid quickly into the bed beside Liam clad in only a delicate pink bra and panties. Body to body contact might help. She would use any advantage she could get from being close to him. She wasn’t sure this would work on a vampire, but she needed her healing magic to connect with him.
Regan chanted the familiar spell without thinking about it as she scooted up against Liam’s thrashing, groaning body. Oh God, please let this work. I can’t stand to see him like this. Her heart was aching as she finished reciting the magical words of the spell, willing her strength and power into his body as she wiggled against him, her back to his front.
Yanking her hair aside, she reached behind her and pulled his face against her neck. “Bite me, Liam.” Her command was firm and loud, hoping his instinct would take over. “Take my blood.”
She closed her eyes, willing him to strike her neck. His body straightened as his arm encircled her waist and his lips nuzzled the vulnerable skin of her neck.
Yes. Take what you need. Bite. Please.
Regan nudged back and stretched her naked skin against his. She shivered as the light hair on his thighs and chest abraded her smooth skin. His body was blazing hot and now firm against hers, turning them both into a furnace. She pushed against him, willing him to take what she offered, begging him to take it. Cocking her head to one side to allow him better access, she pressed her hand more firmly to the back of his head.
“Regan,” she heard his tortured groan as his tongue traced her vein before he sunk his fangs into her exposed skin.
The initial strike was painful and her body tensed with the shock, but the slow suck and draw lulled her into a place of pleasure that she had never experienced before. She squirmed against him and buried her fingers into his hair as she encouraged him to take whatever he needed from her.
She tried to concentrate on her magic, but the experience was so erotic and her body so heated that she wanted to reach her other hand into her panties and find release. Her body arched back into him and she released a hungry moan. “Liam,” his name came out soft and breathy.
Regan swallowed a squeak of frustration as she felt him disconnect and close the tiny puncture wounds. His warm palm moved in a soothing, circular motion over her quivering belly as his tongue continued to lap at the punctures, laving over the tiny wound in sensual circles.
He finally buried his face in her hair at the side of her neck, panting wildly, “Did you know?” he asked her in a breathless, husky voice that was coherent but still filled with pain.
Confused but relieved that her idea had worked and he was talking, she replied, “Know what?”
“That we’re mates.”
His voice was demanding and she couldn’t deny it. It wasn’t a guess. Somehow, he knew the truth. “Yes,” she admitted in a strangled voice, her body quivering.
His other arm came around her like a vise, locking her firmly against him. Her ass was pressed against something intrusive, large…and extremely hard.
Oh, holy shit! Regan knew exactly how he knew she was his mate. The evidence was pressed firmly against the cheeks of her ass.
The mystery was solved; the secret of releasing a healer’s mating instincts was no longer an enigma.
“An intimate act with your chosen mate will release the mating instincts of the vampire healer…”
The act of intimacy was the taking of blood from their chosen mate. Was it always like that, or had it been so sensual only because she was his mate?
“Liam, I--”
Regan never got to finish her statement. Liam flipped her to face him and his mouth covered hers with a ravenous hunger and swiftness that took her breath away. Before she could blink, she was engaged in a kiss so hot that any thoughts that she had flew from her mind as his desire and her own completely consumed her.
*****
Chapter 3
Mine!
Liam’s blood was pounding so hard through his body that all he could focus on was the roaring in his ears and the primal desire and possessiveness that swamped his entire being.
Regan. Soft. Feminine. Hot. His to possess, his to claim.
My mate!
There was no technique or skill involved as he claimed her mouth with his and forced his powerful thigh between her silky legs. Raw need raged through him as he ravaged her mouth, his hand behind her head to keep her lips accessible. His nostrils flared as he breathed in her feminine, light floral scent, a fragrance that made his already hard cock twitch and his heart hammer.
He devoured her mouth like a starving man, his tongue marauding, conquering, sweeping the warm cavern, demanding her surrender. He growled in satisfaction as her arms crept around his neck and her tongue entangled with his, giving herself to him.
Not enough. Not nearly enough.
He barely gave them both a chance to breathe before he rolled her beneath him, desperate to stake his claim. Groaning with the satisfaction of having her pinned beneath him, he continued to own her lips and mouth, nibbling at her lips and then going back inside to insist she cede to his dominance.
His hands wandered over her body, over her hips, touching every bare inch that he could access. His mind was lost in his need to conquer this woman, make her his in every conceivable way.
His whirling brain tried to process the onset of a humming numbness that slowly
crept over his body. Liam snarled, trying to fight the onset of day sleep.
No! Not now. He needed. Had to have…
“Liam?”
He registered Regan’s soft, concerned voice as he rolled onto his back so that he wouldn’t crush her.
Liam panted, trying to fight the urge to close his eyes, unable to process what was happening because of the unrelenting tug of day sleep.
Damn it. Not now.
But day sleep would wait for no vampire. It beckoned. He responded.
She knew. Regan betrayed me. She knew that she was my mate.
Liam could feel the backlash still beating at his vulnerable body. His mating instinct had taken over, covered the pain for a time, but now that he was being blanketed with the instinct to sleep…it tore through him again with a vengeance.
As the day sleep yanked him toward darkness, Liam’s last conscious thought was that the backlash didn’t hurt nearly as bad as the thought of Regan’s betrayal and rejection.
His heart bled.
And then he slept.
*****
I stayed with Liam too long.
Regan felt panic rise in her body and adrenaline kick into high gear as she stuffed articles of clothing into her suitcase that sat open in a rocking chair beside her bed. It swayed erratically as she shoved each item into the growing pile. She didn’t have any idea what she was packing, she simply opened drawers and threw things into the case until it was nearly too full to close.
She should have left Liam to his day sleep immediately after the success of her spell had thrown him into an early slumber and taken her ass straight home, but she hadn’t been able to leave his side and had fallen asleep curled into his body, not waking until an hour ago.
Regan shot a nervous glance at her bedroom window and noticed that the sun was setting. She had to get away from here, as far away from Liam as she could possibly get before he woke. He would track her, find her, and she couldn’t risk that.