“Marco, you’re silent. Please talk to me.”
“Are you really going to avoid making the same mistakes?” he demanded.
She nodded. “I will try, but I will need your help. What bothers you Marco?”
He raised an accusing finger at Sorin.
“Rhianne told us you hid in his mansion. I’m willing to believe that it started as an attempt to make the Hunt harder for us—though I have my doubts—but the fact remains that he did not have to search for you as the rest of us did. He didn’t win the Hunt, not fairly.”
“But he won the challenge fight, so the Hunt is moot,” Gia reminded him.
Marco scowled. “He won because Byron gave in to his need for revenge and broke the rules. He didn’t earn it.”
Gia’s stomach rolled and she fought not to be sick. For the second time, her choice of mate was being questioned. Did she dare stay true to her word? Would not making the same mistake twice mean giving up Sorin, the man she truly loved?
Despair wrapped its fingers around her bruised throat. Then inspiration brightened her world. She smiled at Marco.
“I think I have a solution.”
Epilogue
Gia’s blood pounded in her ears like an ancient drum sounding an upcoming battle. Her legs muscles burned as they propelled her faster through the trees, leaping over fallen trunks and crashing through piles of leaves. She smiled and concentrated on her breathing as she heard a howl in the distance. He’s getting closer.
The eerie cry echoed in the night, reverberating through her body until it hummed with pleasure. Desire curled in her belly, swirling down her limbs until she had to bite her lip to keep from turning around and meeting her fate without a fight. She clenched her hands into fists, her feet slamming into the ground harder as she increased her speed. She wouldn’t be easy prey. He had to work for it.
Another howl sounded beside her and her steps faltered. With a grunt of surprise, she hit the ground, turning so her shoulder took the brunt of the fall. In seconds she’d recovered her senses and shoved herself off the ground. Panic colored her arousal as her eyes furtively darted among the trees around her. Someone else was catching up.
A weight crashed into her back and she cried out as her continuing momentum carried her forward a few feet before her body hit the ground for the second time. She twisted her body, preparing for whatever had hit her to leap in for the attack. A shadow flashed over her and she kicked out with her legs.
The man grunted as her feet connected with his chest and she hefted him into the air. Desire burned between her legs as the rustling of leaves filled her ears and a low growl trickled from the dark form. She rolled over and stayed crouched down, prepared to fight the intruder.
Moonlight revealed soft brown hair and green eyes. Marco stared at her from his position on the ground, a look of determination pinching his features even as his arousal perfumed the air around them. His muscles tensed, but before he could leap for her, another shadow ploughed into him. The two figures rolled in the brush out of her line of sight, the sound of their fight fueling the passion building inside her. She didn’t fight the rush of pleasure, didn’t try to think about it. Her human self meant to keep the promise she’d made to her pack. Tonight her beast ruled her body.
Relief so strong it weakened her legs washed over her as the moonlight revealed the victor stepping from the bushes. Sorin’s soft brown hair fell in wild disarray around his shoulders and his eyes nearly glowed in the silver light. Despite her love for him, a tiny flame of fear flickered in the face of his hooded gaze.
“You found me first,” she whispered, fighting not to back away.
Sorin smiled, a slow rising of the lips that wound her nerves a little tighter. He took a step forward. She took a step back.
“Is Marco all right?” she asked, her muscles tensing in preparation for flight.
He nodded once. His gaze fell down her body, running over her thin t-shirt clinging to her breasts and the soft cotton shorts hanging haphazardly from the swell of her hips. Everywhere his stare traveled, a trail of heat burned behind. When his eyes finally returned to her face, she thought she’d spontaneously combust.
“Run,” he whispered.
Her body exploded into motion. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her, ran until the forest became a blur to either side. The wind chilled her flesh even as she burned from the inside out, her heart racing with joy, desire, and just a tiny touch of fear.
When his hands finally closed on her waist, her body screamed for more. He jerked her into the air, letting them fall until he landed on his back in the leaves, with her body held on top of him. He didn’t make a sound as his back hit the earth, didn’t show that it had hurt at all. When she braced her hands on his chest and pulled back to see his face, he smiled at her, flashing fangs.
“I meant to make our chase last a little longer, but unfortunately, your Marco keeps getting in the way,” he said softly.
Gia smiled, a thrill racing up her spine. “If not for you, he would likely be lycaeon. His hunting skills are superior to any other male in the pack.”
She gasped as he rolled them over so that he was on top, the world spinning around her with the force of it. She smiled up into his face, but the smile wilted when she saw a shadow of doubt cross his features.
“What’s wrong?”
He hesitated, looking away before meeting her eyes again with a visible effort. “I will win this Hunt. I want to win this Hunt because the thought of losing you to another is unbearable.” He tensed as if fighting the urge to look away again. “Am I being selfish?”
Gia frowned, reaching up to stroke a hand over his face. “What do you mean?”
“Two months have not cured me, Gia,” he whispered sadly. “It is a daily fight for me to accept what I am, to resist locking myself away from the blood and the company of others.” He closed his eyes.
The pain twisting his handsome face into such torment made Gia’s heart ache for him. She reached up to lay a gentle kiss on his lips.
“You are not alone, Sorin. I will help you, your pack will help you. Accepting your beast again is a healing process and you will have all the help you need.”
“That is if the pack does not mind communing with the dead to connect with their lycaeon.”
Ah, so that’s what’s bothering you. “You wanted a way to feel the connection between you and the pack, to replace the koinonia your death took from you. The oracle says that mnemosyne should feel the same way to you that koinonia feels to us.”
“And it does, but is that how it feels to our pack?” He opened his eyes and the sadness there nearly broke her heart. “Mnemosyne is the collective consciousness of pack members who have died. Will our pack truly feel that as a connection to their lycaeon? Or is it a constant reminder to them that their lycaeon is dead?”
She hated that tone in his voice. Hated the pain so thick in his words that it seemed it must be painful to speak them. She wanted to wipe that misery off his face.
Just as the oracle had taught her, she opened the part of her mind that kept every lycanthrope connected to the packmates who had passed on. Their spirits remained strong as a collective consciousness, guiding pack members through particularly trying times and offering guidance to those alphas strong enough to ask for it. When the familiar caress of pack touched her mind, she reached for Sorin.
His beast came to her eagerly, rolling past her in a metaphysical greeting. She smiled into the touch and leaned in to rub her cheek against Sorin’s. His body relaxed against her, responding to his wolf’s happiness at the added connection.
“I feel no sadness when I reach for you,” Gia whispered. “I feel only the touch of pack, the comfort that our connection brings.”
The smile that brightened his face lifted her spirits. She smiled back at him and then squirmed out from underneath his body. He frowned as she broke their metaphysical connection and began to step away from him.
“Where are you goi
ng? Why did you break our connection?”
“It wouldn’t be fair to give you an advantage,” she drawled, stepping back a little farther. “After all, I have many admirers this night. I have to give everyone an equal—”
She shrieked in laughter as he narrowed his eyes and dove for her. Her body quivered with arousal as she took off at a dead run, surrendering to the thrill of the chase now that his emotional wounds had been seen to. He was right, he had a long road to recovery ahead of him, but they didn’t need to travel it just yet. Plenty of time for that when he was lycaeon.
His fingers grazed her ass as she ran and she jumped to realize he was so close behind her. Putting on a burst of speed, she strained her ears to listen for the sounds of any other males that might be getting close. Far to the left she could hear the faintest sounds of another pursuer. She veered to the right, leaping over a narrow river before thinking better of it and jumping into the chilly waters.
Another splash told her that Sorin had followed her in. She swam as fast as she could, wanting to put as much distance as possible between her and the spot where her scent trail ended on the land. Almost as if he sensed her plan, Sorin swam slowly behind her, letting her get at least a hundred yards before grabbing her around the waist.
The laugh bubbling up her throat died on her lips as Sorin turned her to face him. The look of hunger shining in his green eyes stole her breath and sent a warm rush of liquid from her body to mingle with the water of the river.
They stared into one another’s eyes as he maneuvered them closer to the bank. The water was shallow enough to stand in with the water reaching up just high enough to cover her breasts. The weight of her wet clothes dragging over the hardened peaks of her nipples teased her so she writhed against him. He groaned as she wrapped her legs around his waist, relishing the feel of his already hard cock prodding between her legs. He was already naked from the waist down and it pleased her to no end that he’d taken the time to strip before he got to her.
“Curse the clothing on your body that keeps you from me,” Sorin hissed.
Gia smirked and rubbed herself against the length of his naked cock. The tension that sang through his body told her better than words how she affected him and the sense of power that gave her made her head swim. “I thought clothing was what separated us from the beasts—”
She gasped as his hands closed around the waistband of her shorts, ripping them from her body and taking her panties with them. Before she could say anything, his cock prodded her entrance. She had just enough time to take a breath before he plunged inside her.
Pleasure sizzled over her nerves, radiating from where is cock ravaged her body. His grip on her hips tightened until it bruised and she relished the edge the pain brought to the pleasure. She held onto his shoulders as she began to thrust with him, throwing her head back as the erotic sensations washed over her. She opened her mouth to scream, damn the consequences, and was saved from alerting all her brethren within a mile radius of their location by Sorin’s mouth closing over hers.
She moaned into his mouth as his tongue slid against her own. He tasted of desire, his arousal permeating his entire being. She slid her tongue over one of his fangs, purposefully nicking herself in the process.
The effect was instantaneous. Sorin growled and latched onto her lip, sucking the blood out of the tiny cut as his hips thrust faster and more violently than before. Gia whimpered and squirmed, trying to open herself even more to him to accept the powerful thrusts of his body.
Her orgasm flickered on the horizon and she ran for it. Raising on hand to grab a hold of his hair, she jerked his face from hers and pulled it down to her neck. As the orgasm crashed over her she screamed, the climax heightened by the sudden sharp pain of his fangs piercing her neck.
Over and over, the pleasure crashed down on her body. Every wave carried up from her pussy to the place where his mouth suckled at her neck. Like a conduit for electricity, the pleasure sizzled through her veins until it flooded the vampire’s waiting mouth. The sensations stole her breath and her strength so that when it was finally over, her body collapsed boneless against him.
It seemed like an eternity before either of them moved. Finally, Sorin shifted and lowered his head to nip at her ear.
“Do the rules of the Hunt allow me to take you back to my home?” he whispered.
Gia nodded. “Now that you’ve claimed me once, yes.” She smiled into his neck. “This is only the first of three nights.”
Sorin pulled back, fresh arousal shining in his eyes. He pulled away from her and she floundered in the water before regaining control of her muscles. She frowned.
“What are you doing?”
His smile widened to show fangs. “Giving you a head start.”
The End
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Preview of BURNED, Book 1 in the Revenge in Vein Series
Chapter 1
“Master, I would beg you one last time, please reconsider.”
Aldric slowly turned away from the towering mound of earth and faced his lieutenant. In the shadow cast by the great hill that housed the sithen of the Unseelie Court, the other vampire’s face glowed with unearthly paleness. Anton met his gaze without flinching, though the tightness around his eyes gave away his discomfort with challenging his master.
“You question my sanity, Anton?” Aldric asked quietly, letting his eyes carry the unspoken threat. “Or has your fear seized control of your tongue?”
Had it been anyone else to question him in such a manner, Aldric would not have hesitated to strike him with enough force to smash his jaw and half of his face. But Anton had been his right hand man for over a century, and that earned him a modicum of leeway.
Anton’s jaw twitched, but he stood firm. “Master, you know I will follow you anywhere. No danger is too great.” His gaze flickered to the harmless looking mound of dirt and grass before them. “I mean only to say that entering the mound of the Unseelie Court, the source of all nightmares . . . all for a woman—”
The sound of Aldric’s hand hitting Anton across the face shattered the peaceful silence of the night. Bones cracked beneath the force of his punishment and any lesser vampire would have cried out in pain. Anton fell to the ground in silence, cradling his face as the unnatural healing ability of the undead frantically worked to repair the damage.
“You go too far, Anton,” Aldric growled, not a hint of sympathy in his voice. “My motive is irrelevant. The only thing that should matter to you is that entering the Unseelie Court is the course of action I have decided to take.” He flashed his fangs. “I killed you once. Do not make me do it again.”
Anton bowed his head in submission, keeping his eyes on the ground as he cradled his rapidly healing jaw.
“Does anyone else wish to venture an opinion?” Aldric looked at the other three guards, meeting the eyes of each one in turn. “Bron? Vincentas? Kurt?”
They shook their heads, none of them hazarding a glance at Anton. Not even his own brother Kurt risked drawing Aldric’s attention. Aldric nodded in grim satisfaction. In his almost two hundred years, he had learned emotions were a weakness no leader could afford. He respected Anton. The man had been at his side for over a century. But disrespect and disobedience were completely unacceptable.
He turned back to the sithen of the Unseelie and narrowed his eyes. In her invitation, the queen had told him where to find the fairy mound, but beyond that she’d given him no clues as to how one actually managed to gain entrance. He wasn’t certain if this was a test of some sort or not, nor did he care.
An unlocked door is not worth opening, he thought to himself, examining the earth with cool and calculating eyes. He caressed the grass, the tender green blades tickling his palm. As he searched for a method of entry, he let his mind wander to the prize that lay inside.
Saule
. For the first time in centuries, the sun goddess had taken on a mortal form. For the first time in his undead existence, he had the chance to get his revenge on the deity who had betrayed him.
An image of the sun goddess’ mortal form floated before his eyes. Long golden hair, blue eyes like a spring sky, and skin the color of the sun’s first morning rays. Centuries ago, thoughts of her had inspired him, her beauty nearly moving him to tears. Now the image brought nothing but pain and hatred. He had waited a long time for this revenge.
A brush of power flowed down his arm. He froze, concentrating on the sensation in an attempt to determine its effects. No pain met the energy and he felt no change in his body to cause him alarm. Staring harder at the mound, he noticed a parting of the earth. Intrigued, he stepped back, watching as the earth opened up to reveal a doorway.
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