Tears filled Dusti’s eyes. “Thank you. When are they coming back? When will I see Bat again?”
“They will return as soon as Decker is caught and brought to justice. She’ll be safe once he’s no longer a threat.”
“Where are they?”
“He didn’t pass along that information.”
“Did Kraven mention to your friend if he’d told her yet that he wants Bat to be his mate?”
“He didn’t mention Kraven sounded in pain, so I assume not.”
Dusti chuckled. “Yeah. I almost feel sorry for your brother.” Her humor faded as quickly as it surfaced. “I don’t see how that can work out between them, to be honest.”
Drantos paused to gaze down at her with his beautiful eyes. “Love is the most important thing of all. He’ll love her.”
“She has her career that she’s suffered a lot for. It’s everything to her.”
“That’s not true. She loves you, and you matter more than anything to her. I saw that in her eyes every time she looked at you.”
“I’ve never tried to step in the way of her career. She just reached her ultimate goal. The law firm is considering making her a partner. She’d have to give it all up to be with him, wouldn’t she? You said VampLycans can’t stand living in cities. Her entire life is in Los Angeles.”
“Let’s go home. We can’t do anything for them but be here when they return.” He started to move again.
Dusti worried. She knew Kraven would do his best to protect her sister and that Bat wasn’t a slouch at watching her own back. But she really couldn’t see how their relationship could work out. Bat would fight Kraven every step of the way and have a major meltdown when he explained everything she’d have to give up to be with him. That was if her sister even allowed him to get that close to her. She’d sworn off ever loving a man again after having her heart broken.
Please don’t ever leave me. I couldn’t live without you, sweetheart.
Her heart melted when she glanced up at Drantos. “I don’t plan on going anywhere.”
He jerked to halt in front of their cabin, his dark blue eyes widening.
“What?”
“You heard me?”
“I’m not deaf. I’m not going to leave. I love you. I’m not as hung up on my old life as Bat is.”
A grin curved his lips, reminding her how handsome he was. “I didn’t say that aloud. I thought it. You’ve picked up my thoughts. You can hear me.” He closed his mouth. Tell me you love me again.
Shock tore through her. He hadn’t spoken that last part but she’d heard it as if he had. His voice had been that loud and clear.
Drantos lowered to his knees in front of her. “The bond is in place! We’re officially mated.”
Can you hear me? She tried to think toward him, carefully attempting to project each word without moving her own lips.
A deep rumble of a laugh answered her before his thoughts did. Yes, I can.
Oh shit, he can hear everything I think? I’m so going to be in a world of trouble the next time I get mad at him.
“No, Dusti. Only the things you project will come through the bond. If you’re mad, I will hear your thoughts unless you shield them. You’ll learn. I won’t invade your privacy.”
“But just a few minutes ago we couldn’t do this.”
“The bond just snaps into place. We’ve been sharing sex and blood. Our emotions are involved. My blood and yours have started to take hold in each other. This is a true mating.”
Her gaze lowered to the front of his jeans. “So that means you can’t get it up for other women now?”
“That’s the first thing you think about?” He shook his head, looking amused, and rose back up to his feet. “Yes, that’s what it means.”
“What else is going to change?”
He released her hand to open the cabin door, pausing long enough for her to enter first. He threw her new clothes onto the table just inside the entry, used his boot to slam the door closed, and grabbed her before she could do more than gasp. He nearly ran with her toward their bedroom.
“What are you doing?”
He dropped her on the bed. Her body bounced once on the soft mattress and she gaped at Drantos while he tore at his clothes. He nearly fell over when he bent to tear off his boots. She laughed and lifted up on her elbows to watch him. The amusement left when his gaze met hers as he straightened. His eyes glowed.
“Don’t do that hypnosis shit on me.”
He shook his head. “I can’t anymore. You’re my mate. It wouldn’t work. I’m just not hiding my desire for you any longer. You know what I am, Dusti. My eyes turn this way when I’m extremely horny.”
“Why would you try to keep that a secret?”
“I wanted your feelings for me to build and I thought that might be easier for you if I wasn’t constantly reminding you how different we are. We’re compatible in all the ways that matter.”
It was kind of sweet and she understood why he’d think that way. “I see.”
She lowered her gaze down his incredibly sexy, muscular body until she paused at the sight of his rigid cock straining straight out toward her. Her body instantly responded. Her nipples beaded and between her thighs, she felt moisture dampen the sweats she’d borrowed from him.
“Open your mind to me.” He bent over to reach for the waist of the sweats, tugged them down her body, and tore off all three layers of socks from her feet. “You’re going to love this part of being mates. At least I think we both are. I’ve heard enough about it to always envy the idea of being able to link with someone else.”
Dusti sat up and tore the shirt over her head. She met his gaze and took a deep breath, blew it out, and nodded. She wasn’t sure how to do it but she mentally pushed toward him with her thoughts.
Is this what you mean?
Yes! His knee made the bed dip.
“What…” Her mouth closed and she tried to think her words again. What were you talking about?
Open your thighs wide for me and keep your mind open.
Okay. She nodded. Her heart raced but she spread her thighs. I wish you’d tell me what we’re doing.
Drantos flattened onto his stomach on the bed, his hands slid under her ass, and he jerked her hips closer to his mouth. His eyes seemed to glow more, turning a neon-blue that entranced her. You’re so beautiful. God, I love you. You smell so hot, so good, and your taste is addictive. Stay open to me. His face dipped, his thumbs spreading her sex lips open, and his tongue traced her clit.
Pleasure shot through Dusti—but it wasn’t just from him teasing her clit. Confusion struck her for an instant as she licked her lips. A hunger gripped her; a wonderful flavor filled her senses, as if she’d just eaten something fantastic. Her passion amplified until her elbows supporting her upper weight gave way. She fell flat on the bed, crying out when her sex seemed to throb as if it had a heartbeat.
“Oh my God,” she moaned. “We’re connected, aren’t we? I’m feeling what you do.”
He growled against her clit, the vibrations of rapture on her sensitive nerve endings heightening her desire, and her vaginal walls clenched hard. The pounding in her sex seemed to rush to her ears, her body writhed under his mouth, and her fingers clawed the bedding just to hold on to something.
Drantos tore his mouth away from her clit, climbed up her body, and her eyes opened. She knew how desperately he wanted inside her, how much he hurt, and even how tight his balls had drawn up with pure need to fuck her. His cock filled with blood until the skin seemed ready to burst from the pressure. She spread her thighs wider to help him ease inside her. She nearly drowned in the strong emotions of his need and her own. He wasn’t thinking words anymore but she understood.
The second the crown of his cock brushed her slick pussy, they both groaned again. She knew how hot she felt to him, how the scent of her arousal filled his nose, and how it made him ache more to feel the tight sheath of her body wrap around his.
Mine. Home.
My everything.
Dusti nodded frantically and her hands released the comforter to grab him instead. She could feel her nails sinking into his shoulders as if they were digging into her own. Pleasure at the slight bite of pain had her back arching and her legs wrapping around the back of his thighs. She could feel her heels sliding against him.
He hesitated and she knew he worried that the sensations would overwhelm her. He didn’t want to rush things, to make her feel too much, too fast.
Fuck me, she demanded. I need you and I’m okay.
I love you so much, Dusti. He pressed forward and she cried out loudly at the sensation of warm, slick flesh parting for his throbbing cock. It was amazing, how it felt for both of them as he stretched her, her muscles clenched tight around every inch of his cock while he pressed deeper.
He moved, fucking her fast and furious, out of control. And Dusti wanted him to be. Their bodies moved together, her bucking under him frantically while he pounded into her, and rapture gripped them both. Every throb of his cock, every twitch of her pussy around his swelling cock made her spin higher out of control. The ecstasy became a living thing between them that locked them together.
She gasped when the first tinges of her climax started and he roared out above her. She screamed as his semen started to shoot from the tip of his shaft. She not only felt it deep inside her womb, but also felt it from his prospective, flooding into her. Her mind blew from the intensity of his release coupled with her own. A white haze of delight drowned her until she eventually surfaced and realized they lay slumped together, panting hard on the bed.
Drantos had collapsed on top of her but just enough to the side not to crush her under his heavier weight. Her eyes opened and a grin spread across her face. She could feel each little pulse of his cock and how he softened just slightly, easing some of the pressure inside her.
That was so cool!
Drantos chuckled and lifted his head. She knew he wanted to groan when he forced his limbs to support more of his weight, that he’d have been content to remain sprawled on top of his mate until he caught his breath enough to take her again, but he wanted to see her face. He thought she was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen and looking into her eyes made him believe he gazed into heaven. She had become his life, his entire world, and he loved her with his very soul.
“I know,” he whispered. “You feel the same way about me. We’re mates.”
“I’m so happy you came into my life.”
Tears blinded them both and Drantos laughed. “Damn. You’re going to make me cry too. I just found a down side to this.”
She laughed with him. “Good thing I think sensitive men are hot.”
“I’m relieved to know that.” His lips lowered to brush across her mouth.
Dusti moaned. Again? Really? So soon? Desire flared through them both.
I’m not human.
I love VampLycans now.
Drantos chuckled against her lips. I love you, Dusti.
“This is going to work out.”
“We’ll make certain of it.”
Dusti wasn’t really sure how she’d fit into his clan but didn’t want to share that with him. Drantos brushed another kiss over her lips. “You’re projecting. I don’t mean to overhear your thoughts but it’s going to be fine.”
“It’s just such an unfamiliar way to live. Your rules and world are so different from mine.”
“They will become yours. You are VampLycan, Dusti. You were just denied the knowledge of your heritage.”
She felt anger come through their bond. “It pisses you off?”
“I would have found you so much sooner if you’d been raised in the clans.”
“I would have lived with Decker’s if my mother had stayed, or she would have been forced to mate with Aveoth.” She shivered a little, remembering the fierce and intense warrior. “He could have been my father. How scary is that? Imagine having to face him at every holiday get-together. Talk about a nightmare in-law.”
“He wouldn’t have been able to have children with her.”
“Why?”
“Gargoyles hate Vampires to a level that is extreme. We’re half Vampire but even we’re not fond of the full-bloods. GarLycans tend to avoid mating with us half-breeds because we carry Vampire blood. Even a drop is too much.”
“But he was addicted to the bloodline. I don’t understand.”
“I don’t either but it would be an affront to his clan if he had children with any Vampire blood running in their veins. It’s acceptable in his culture for him to take her as a lover but nothing more. He would have either had to dump her to take a mate or found a GarLycan willing to breed his children without the bond mate.”
“That’s so weird and messed up. What about the woman he took as a lover? She’d just have to turn a blind eye to him screwing someone else to have a baby?”
“Yes.”
“That’s so wrong.”
“I agree but that’s how they live.”
“What if he wanted to mate his lover?”
“He’d have a hell of a fight on his hands to stay in control of his clan if she had any Vampire blood in her veins. They’d want him to step down. They don’t always mate the mother of their children. It’s not a requirement, but a VampLycan would be offensive to his clan if he bonded to her. It would give her status that none of them would wish her to have.”
“That’s so confusing. They’re like friends to VampLycans, right?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Uncomplicate it for me.”
“They are willing to join forces with us but we’re not considered totally equal.”
“No wonder my mom took off to avoid that kind of fate. I just wish she’d told us the truth.”
“So do I.”
“I keep thinking about Decker. Where is he, and will Bat and Kraven be safe from him?”
“Aveoth is now aware of what his plans were. Decker no longer holds the advantage and the GarLycan leader knows Bat already has a mate. Your sister is going to be fine. Decker wants her alive, so he wouldn’t hurt her if he’s able to find them. Worst case, he’d turn her over to Aveoth and he’d just send her to us. He knows she has a mate and he’s got honor. It’s Kraven I’m more concerned about. He’d never allow her to be taken without forfeiting his life first.”
“I just wish we could help them.”
“Kraven is more than capable of surviving and staying under the radar. He’ll return when he feels it’s safe to bring his mate home. Have some faith. I do.” He caressed her skin. “Let me distract you from your worrying.”
She smiled. “I love you touching me.”
“I love everything about you.”
Chapter Sixteen
Dusti could relate to being a tourist who’d lost her luggage. She looked the part in her ill-fitting clothes she’d bought at Peva’s shop.
Nothing about that afternoon’s event held a familiar feel. They were in a clearing with thick woods surrounding it and three large fire pits burning. A bunch of strangers milled around. The men were all muscled and big, most sporting jeans and tank tops. The women were tall and seemed to have a “dress for less” fashion sense going on. They mostly wore summer dresses with open backs or sarongs.
“Yeah. I’m totally fitting in,” Dusti muttered.
“Everyone knows you had to buy temporary clothing.”
“As if I’d walk around in nothing but a thin towel wrapped around my torso.”
His eyebrows rose.
“Sarongs. It’s basically what they are.”
A smile curved his lips. “You’d look sexy in one.”
“With my luck, it would come untied and I’d drop it.”
“I’d like that.”
“I meant in front of everyone.”
Drantos put his arm around her. “Just be yourself and relax. You’re nervous.”
“Thanks for not saying no one is going to be judging me. They totally are.”
&
nbsp; “We can leave.”
“Yeah. Right. Talk about getting off on the wrong foot with the new mother-in-law. No thanks. She kind of frightens me. Just make sure I don’t end up roasting in one of those pits. What does elk taste like, anyway?”
“You’ll like it.”
“I hope so. Your clan can really eat two of them? I thought they weighed a ton.”
“VampLycans can eat about six times what a human can, and we really gorge at a feast. Think of it like your Thanksgiving holiday, only we do it more often.”
“No wonder you’re all so big.”
“It takes a lot of fuel to shift. We’re also naturally toned.”
“You mean mega-muscled.”
He grinned. “Yes. Relax. You’re really talkative.”
She sealed her lips. He was right. She had a tendency to babble when anxious. He just had a nicer way of putting it. She clutched at his hand as they strolled deeper into the clearing. People stared at her and some even stopped talking. She resisted the urge to drop her chin and lean against Drantos. It might make her appear weak. She lifted her head a little higher and clenched her teeth together.
Relax, Drantos thought at her.
I’m trying.
Velder came up to them first. It was his way of letting the clan know he approved of his son’s mate. Drantos had given her a run-through of things to expect. She bowed her head to show the clan leader respect.
He reached out and brushed her shoulder with his fingertips. “I’m glad you both could make it.” He touched Drantos’s shoulder next, then stepped back. “Let them come to you,” he suggested, his voice barely above a whisper.
“I’ve got this,” Drantos muttered.
Velder spun away, retreating back to the men he’d been speaking to when they had arrived. Dusti glanced around, looking for Crayla. Where’s your mom?
She’s with the women. They prepare the food and the cooking hasn’t started yet.
Dusti nodded. Peva strode toward them with a tall, handsome man at her side. She guessed that was the woman’s mate. They stopped and Drantos did the talking.
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