Undeniable

by Doreen Orsini

  Olympia’s eyes welled up.

  How many nights had she lain beside Damien, praying he would touch her just once?

  She might as well have been alone. Decades and not one kiss, not one caress. Oh, they would pay. Every last one of them.

  Banishment meant nothing. She would gladly leave.

  And her father? She had to be miles from Fentmore by now, but still received no response, still found his own thoughts and actions blocking off her constant probes. He would pay too.

  But she mustn’t forget her brother. Desmond had lowered his defenses just long enough to condemn her for her interference with Sebastian’s bonding and to declare she no longer had the right to call him brother.

  They would all suffer.

  A dark form took shape on the horizon. Land! Water sprayed into the air above her churning feet. When she realized why the buildings lining the shore looked so familiar, why the crowd watching her approach sent chills down her spine, it was too late. A current too strong to be natural dragged her in.

  Frank thought his lungs would burst. They’d already walked at least a mile into the woods. Even with Tomas and the pilot carrying Diana and Sebastian, he found it nearly impossible to keep up. Damien and Angelina were far ahead.

  He was just about to plead with them to stop and let him rest when a cottage came into view.

  Leaning against the white picket gate, he stopped to catch his breath. When he finally entered the cottage, a fire already burned brightly in the fireplace and the four were tenderly gazing down at the bed.

  Frank cleared his throat. Still bound together with sheets from shoulders to toes, their lips touching, their wrists wedged between their chests, the couple appeared to be sleeping. Frank noticed for the first time that evening that their shoulders were bare.

  “Are they naked,” he asked hoarsely.

  “As jaybirds.” Tomas grinned and held up a pair of black jeans. “Found these under the sheets at the hospital. Gotta be naked for Ancient Bonding, dude. United. One.”

  Frank’s grimace had Tomas smirking. “You do know that—” he began.

  “Tomas!” Damien shook his head.

  Angelina just smiled.

  Frank went to the bed. No one had to tell him that Sebastian’s hips were nestled between his daughter’s legs. The shape of their bodies made it quite obvious. “Thank God he’s unconscious,” he muttered, reining in the overpowering urge to tear the two apart.

  Tomas chuckled.

  Damien turned away when Frank’s eyes met his.

  “He’s unconscious,” Frank repeated as if they hadn’t heard.

  “He’d have to be dea—”

  “Tomas! Use your head. He’s her father.” Damien spun around. “Now, Frank, it’s not what you’re thinking.”

  “No?” Frank scowled. “Then why don’t you explain what the hell young Tomas here is just bursting to tell me.”

  Diana moaned.

  Damien flung his arm over Frank’s shoulder and gently but firmly led him away from the bed. “They’re not actually doing what you’re thinking, Frank. But they, well…help me out here, Angel.”

  Angelina joined them in front of the fireplace. “Now, Frank, don’t get all righteous on us. If you try to separate them—”

  “But he’s unconscious,” he repeated and dropped onto the chair. “It’s just not right.”

  “They are unconscious, dear,” Angelina said, resting her hand on his shoulder. “They’re just…”

  “Bonding,” Tomas said, his voice filled with awe. “Their hearts beating as one, their blood united to give them life and their bodies merged into one being. See the romance of it, dude.”

  Another moan came from the bed.

  “Why the hell is she doing that if they’re not actually doing anything,” Frank asked, wearily closing his eyes. “Don’t any of you believe in the sanctity of marriage?”

  “You can’t get any more married than this. Once you’re joined like this, you’re bonded mates whether you go before the elders or not. Some believe their spirits will now be together for all eternity.” Tomas rose and drew in a deep breath.

  “Tomas, don’t forget, only true soul mates can even hope to survive an Ancient Bonding,” Damien warned.

  “Yeah, I know. I know.”

  A cough from the doorway reminded them that Tomas’ friend, Diego, was in the cottage. Frank groaned. “Must everyone watch my daughter bond?”

  Tomas strode up to his friend. “We have a few hours ‘til dawn. What do you say we check out the bars? For all we know, our soul mates might be sitting in one right now. You don’t need us anymore, do you, Damien?”

  Damien shook his head. “Don’t forget, Tomas. Ancient bonding is dangerous.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I hear ya.”

  * * * * *

  Tomas opened his eyes. The woman he’d picked up in Cabana’s sat naked on her desk, munching on a strawberry while she watched the flat-screen TV on the wall over her dresser. A bowl filled with strawberries sat wedged between her legs. She glanced at the bed.

  Finding him awake, her face lit up. He watched her hand disappear behind the bowl. He lifted his head for a better view, but couldn’t see anything except her wrist. When her hand reappeared, it held a remote. She aimed it at the TV, pressed the power button, then dropped it on the desk.

  “Boy, do you sleep like the dead. Don’t stay up all night often, do you?” She lifted the bowl and hopped off the desk.

  Tomas watched her walk on long muscular legs to the bed. The blonde curls on her head clashed with the dark ones below shaved into the shape of an arrow pointing down to her pussy. “Huh?”

  “I said it’s obvious you don’t pull many all-nighters.”

  Entranced by the clean-shaven skin not six inches from the edge of the bed, he mumbled, “Actually I do.”

  She brought a half-eaten strawberry to his lips. “Yeah, right.”

  He glanced at the blinds he’d mentally ordered her to keep shut all day, then smirked and enveloped the strawberry and her fingertips with his lips.

  Her tongue darted out to lick her lips.

  “Miss me, Terry?” he asked, giving her his sexiest smile.

  Terry grinned. “I didn’t think you’d remember my name.”

  He reached out and ran his finger down the arrow. “I only yelled it out about a dozen times last night. God, you’re insatiable.”

  “That’s me,” she said, her voice suddenly hoarse. “But you and your friend may have had something to do with that.”

  Tomas’ gut clenched. He frowned and tried to remember if Diego had joined them, but he only remembered Diego raving about being visited in his dreams by a sexy dark angel, then leaving. “My friend?”

  She nodded her head down toward his cock. “Damn, you’re big. Biggest I’ve had yet.”

  “Oh and you’ve had so many.”

  With a toss of her head, she flung a long lock of hair over her shoulder. “I have.”

  “You’re full of shit, Terry.” He pulled her down onto the bed, sending the bowl and its contents crashing to the floor. Rolling her onto her back, he held her down and slid his finger deep into her pussy. “You’re as tight as a virgin.”

  Terry giggled and tried to squirm away. “I’ve slept with too many men to count.”

  He thumbed her clit. “Yeah? How many?”

  “At least fifty,” she said, then squealed when he squeezed her clit. “Okay, okay, you’re only my seventh!”

  “Seventh? Seventh guy or seventh time?” Still holding onto her clit with one hand, he scraped his nail over her pert nipple.

  Driving her pussy down onto his finger, she let out a deep groan.

  “Answer me or I’ll get dressed and go home.”

  “All right, you perv, you’d just better not tell a soul. I have a reputation to maintain. Seventh guy and seventh time,”

  He frowned and released his hold on her nipple and clit. “I don’t get it. I mean, Terry, we broke my record last n
ight. You’re telling me you only did it once with each of them.”

  She ran her hand down over his abs. “Can we change the subject?”

  “I’m just trying to understand.” When she didn’t answer, he hooked her chin with his fingers. Her cheeks flushed beneath his gaze. After the night they’d shared, none of what she said or how she was now reacting made sense.

  Her eyes met his, then focused on her fingers as they played with the hair on his chest. “I didn’t come. Big deal.”

  “You didn’t come.” He laughed, then clamped his mouth shut. His erection, constant from the moment he saw her lick the strawberry juice from her fingers, shriveled. “You faked it?”

  Terry closed her eyes. “Yeah, every single one. But they never knew. I left happy men who were convinced they were studs in bed.”

  The previous night played over in his head. He’d never be the same, never enjoy a good screw in quite the same way. God, he might never come again.

  “I never could understand it,” she mumbled. “It’s not like they weren’t hot or anything and they did all the right things. But I never seemed able to feel anything. So, I’d make up some excuse and leave.”

  “You just left?” His cock twitched. “Right away?”

  “Yup.”

  “Because you didn’t want to fake it again.”

  Terry rolled her eyes. “Tomas, I’m not that good an actress. They’d definitely have caught on. Anyway, why bother with round two if I didn’t get blown away by round one?”

  “So I’m the first one to make it to round two.” His erection returned. He wanted to believe it was because she had no need to fake it, but he had to be sure.

  “First round two and three…maybe four if you stop yakking.” She reached down and stroked his throbbing cock. “God, you’re hot.”

  “I work out.” He flexed his muscles, smugly absorbing that he had succeeded where others had failed.

  “Jerk, I meant your cock. It’s so hot.” She leaned over and kissed him. “But your bod is hot too.”

  Blood surged to his cock. He ground the hard ridge into her until her blue eyes darkened with desire.

  When he’d seen her dancing in the bar, her unrestrained breasts bouncing beneath the Lycra halter, the jewel hanging from her bellybutton bumping against her skin far from the top of her jeans, he’d wanted to fuck her right on the dance floor.

  Screw the people. He’d found the perfect woman. She bubbled with energy, oozed with sensuality. And when their eyes had met, she hadn’t waited for him to find the right line to win her over. She’d walked right through the gyrating crowd and brushed her lips across his. Her hoarse voice when she’d asked for a drink had him tossing a wad of twenties onto the bar. They’d talked, danced, constantly found reasons to touch one another until after just one hour she’d asked him to come home with her.

  “So you think I’m hot,” he asked, gently nipping her breasts. Tiny holes from the previous night were the only thing marring them. His blood surged with the memory of how sweet each drop tasted.

  “Careful with those teeth. I felt like a damn pin cushion last night. What have you got, a broken tooth?”

  “Something like that.” He sucked her nipple deep into his mouth.

  “Ah!” Terry reached up and grabbed the bars. “God, if it had felt this good those other times I would have definitely been unable to count how many men— Ow!”

  “Shit, I’m sorry, Terry.” Tomas stared down at the small slash above her nipple. He didn’t want to know about the men who would follow him.

  Considering the amount of women he’d screwed over the years, sometimes sharing the wilder ones with Diego, he shouldn’t care what she did once he had his fill. But he did. And it irked him. Just five years past twenty-five, he had hundreds to live yet and he intended to spend each and every one of them sampling a multitude of women.

  He thought of Sebastian and Diana, their wrists bound together. Shaking off the odd vision of himself bound to Terry, he grinned. He felt her fingers thread through his hair and looked up.

  “Does it hurt?” Her brows furrowed with concern.

  “What?”

  “Your tooth, silly.” Three fingers outlined his lips.

  Breathing through his nose, he fought to keep his mouth closed. Her nail skimmed over his lower lip as she ground herself into his erection. His fangs throbbed in anticipation. The tip of one finger slid into his mouth. Tomas wondered if he held a witch in his arms, one who had cast some kind of spell over him. No matter how much he knew he should stop her, no matter how much instinct demanded he hide the presence of his fangs from humans, he remained motionless.

  The pad of her finger rubbed across the point of one fang. Tomas, sure his now painful erection would erupt, drew in a sharp breath and fought to control his fangs.

  “Oh, Tomas, does it hurt when I touch it,” she whispered.

  Held in her gaze, he shook his head. She smiled, revealing her perfect teeth. Without warning, the vision of Terry baring a set of fangs and sinking them into his neck appeared before his eyes and snatched away the little control he still held over his own teeth. He watched her eyes widen slightly and knew she’d felt the shift in length. Still he didn’t move, couldn’t move.

  Gnawing on her lower lip, she ran her finger over the edge of his front teeth until it found his other fang. As she explored the shape and length, his fangs responded to her touch. He tensed and managed to slow their growth, but failed to completely stop them.

  When the tips lifted his lips and slid into view, her finger trembled against his lips a second before she slowly withdrew it from his mouth. “Please, don’t hurt me,” she whispered.

  “I won’t hurt you, Terry. I swear.” His heart pounded in his ears. He didn’t want to wipe her memory of their time together. If they met again, he wanted her to remember every second. “Don’t be afraid.”

  “This is not happening. You’re a vampire. I’m in bed with a vampire.” Drawing in one huge breathe after another, she sank into the pillow. Unshed tears shimmered in her eyes. “I don’t fucking believe this. I just had my first real orgasm with a vampire. Did you fuck with my head? Is that why it was so good?” She looked like she wanted to smack him.

  “No! Last night was real.” He wished he could take her in his arms, but he didn’t dare move.

  “Last night I didn’t think vampires were real. Wait, I heard your heartbeat. I know I did.” She rested her palm against his chest.

  “We’re not dead, Terry. We’re not half the crap you’ve heard.” He shrugged. “We’re actually pretty nice, once you get to know us.”

  “But you do have fangs. Do they hurt when they grow like that?”

  He searched her eyes for the horror and disgust he had expected to see, had seen in others, but only concern shone in Terry’s. Where had this woman come from? How could the idea of lying naked beneath a vampire not send her running, screaming? When she brushed her knuckles over his cheek, all the while holding his gaze, he decided he’d somehow managed to catch an angel.

  “You really don’t mind? We do suck blood, you know.” He leaned in closer, needing her mouth, longing to steal one more taste of Terry before she sent him away.

  Resting her fingers on his lips, she gently pushed him back. “But not to kill, right? I mean you don’t go around draining people and making more vampires, do you?”

  Tomas laughed. “No, the last thing we want is to create a vampire nation. And we never drink blood to kill. Unless, of course, it’s in self-defense.”

  She grinned. “I could live with that. I guess it’s like dating a guy who always carries a gun.”

  He grazed her upper lip with his teeth. “But a gun can’t make you come like my teeth can. Well, only if I drink your blood while we fuck. Then those amazing orgasms you had last night will become pitiful memories.”

  “Really? Is it dangerous,” she asked, breathlessly.

  He shook his head and nudged the head of his cock into her dripping
pussy.

  She raised her hips and gasped when he drove himself deeper. “What if you lose control? What—”

  “I won’t.” He slowly withdrew, then buried himself to the hilt. “Trust me.”

  Delving into her mind to ensure that Terry wasn’t mentally searching for a wooden stake or devising some way of destroying him while he fucked her, he discovered she really didn’t care. For years she’d wondered if she’d been born with some defect that kept her from coming unless she had some buzzing toy in her. Discovering she could come with a real cock in her and that he could give her an even better orgasm than they’d already shared shocked and excited her more than discovering she’d experienced her first orgasm with a vampire.

  “Okay, I trust you.” She raked a path down Tomas’ back with her nails, then took hold of his ass and pulled his hips into hers.

  “God, I must have done something good to deserve this,” he said against her lips before crushing them beneath his.

  Still imbedded in her mind, he felt her fear, felt how it mingled with her desires and heightened her senses. She marveled that Tomas’ hands raced across her body and felt like they caressed her in ten places at once. She wondered how a vampire’s cock could feel so hot. And he discovered that Terry liked the edge of danger Tomas now possessed.

  Withdrawing his cock without warning, he sat back on his heels, scraped a path down her quivering stomach with his fangs, then grabbed hold of her thighs and spread them until her breath hitched. “Do you like it rough, Terry?”

  Her eyes darkened as she nodded.

  Tomas thought he would come all over her legs when he gazed down at her gaping pussy. Her juices flowed from dewy folds. Her clit, swollen and glistening, beckoned. Lowering his head much slower than he wanted, he ignored her pleas to eat her. Torturing Terry turned him on more than he thought possible.