It was then that I noticed the inky-black colouration on the inside of his mouth. My eyes widened. “A black mamba. I’m holding a black mamba?” Oh shit.
“Did Antonio tell you about my gift?”
“No.”
Very proudly, he explained, “My gift is to make pictures that I have drawn come to life. Amazingly, this can even apply to tattoos. Ever since I was a child, I have been fascinated with snakes. My four favourite breeds have always been spitting cobras, rattlesnakes, garter snakes, and black mambas. So…I decided to create a breed that blended the four together by tattooing an image of this snake on my chest.”
Interesting and impressive, but also freaky.
“Toto has the narrow, elongated head typical of a black mamba, as well as the black colouration you see inside his mouth. He also has the tail of a rattlesnake, the ability to spit venom like a spitting cobra, and he can secrete a rather foul-smelling fluid from his post anal glands much like a garter snake.”
Well that was just fantastic. He was going to fart on me, wasn’t he? That was if he didn’t spit at me…or maybe sink those lethal fangs into me. Yeah, it was probably a little hypocritical for a vampire to talk about fangs like that, but in my defence, Sventés didn’t have fangs like Kejas did.
My nervousness increased when he suddenly began slinking down my body. And then something occurred to me. “He isn’t poisonous, right?” I kind of got the feeling that Wes didn’t like me, so it wouldn’t have been surprising to find that he was hoping his pet would bite and kill me.
Wes’ devious smile didn’t put me at ease whatsoever.
“Is that thing going to hurt her?” Jared demanded.
With a ‘pfft’, Wes waved a hand. “It is merely a serpent, Jared.”
That wasn’t exactly an answer, was it? And I didn’t trust this vampire as far as I could throw him. My nervousness rocketed to extreme levels when Toto’s colour abruptly changed from grey to a brilliant blue that was typical of a blue racer snake. “What the—”
“He appears to like you.” Wes sounded surprised, but pleasantly surprised.
“I’m flattered.” If the hissing bastard went under my dress, I’d kill him.
“Something very fascinating about this breed I have created is that their colour changes with their moods – even while in tattoo form.”
“Tattoo form?”
“Oh yes, I can turn him back to a tattoo whenever I wish to, just as I can summon him to appear in this form whenever I wish to. I find that when Toto is grey or black, he is alert and wary. I also find that when he is the blue shade that you see now, he is relaxed and content. I am indeed surprised as he is generally antisocial toward anyone other than myself.”
“And yet you put him on me?” I said through my teeth. Wes merely smiled, but it was a genuine smile this time, and I realised that I had passed the test. That was great and all, but there was an antisocial, poisonous killer wrapped around my body. “Look, not to offend Toto or anything, but could you take him back? He’s getting a little too close to my crotch than I’m comfortable with.”
Wes’ mouth twitched in a way that indicated he was holding back a laugh as he returned the snake to his shoulders. “I think I shall greet Antonio and Bran. It has been some time since we were all together.” With that, he turned and walked away with Lena.
“I think that’s everyone,” I said to Jared, sighing in relief that I was alive and un-bit. “Can we go sit down now?”
“What about Fletcher and Norm?”
“Apparently they’re intent on being fashionably late, so sod them.”
Smiling, he dabbed my lips with his. “Sure, baby.” But that smile disappeared as something over my shoulder caught his attention. Of course I’d known that there was an additional guest left to arrive. Well, ‘guest’ wasn’t quite the right word. More like ‘gate-crasher’. But I’d kind of hoped she’d fallen off a cliff or something. Clearly, there was no such luck.
Bracing myself, I slowly turned. So this was quite possibly one of the reasons Jared was so guarded. The cow had to be beautiful, didn’t she? She couldn’t just be a hideous heifer with oozing zits, overgrown hairy moles, and a big fat pimply arse. Instead, with her flawless pale skin, her long tumbling red hair, and curvaceous body, she was like a real-life Jessica Rabbit.
Her gaze – a heated, inviting gaze – didn’t move from Jared even once as she approached, as if he was standing here all alone. It was a snub, and I knew it. Maybe, in addition to being a devious manipulator, she was a silly little mare who was curious to know what it would feel like to have my fist crashing into her face.
Even when she stopped in front of us, she didn’t look at me. What cheesed me off most was that she actually reached out to cup Jared’s cheek. He didn’t back away. He did something even better. He growled so menacingly that everyone within hearing range froze. Just like that, most of the squad were gathered behind me.
She dropped her hand, but she didn’t drop her sultry smile. “It’s been so long, Jared. I’ve been so looking forward to seeing you again.” Her consort didn’t appear to like that, going by the scowl he was wearing and the jealousy shining from his eyes. It would seem that she had this one totally enamoured.
“I can’t say I feel the same.” Jared slipped his arm around me – a move that forced her to acknowledge my presence. She actually looked down her nose at me. That confirmed that she was, in fact, a silly little mare who was curious to know what it would feel like to have my fist crashing into her face.
I cocked my head. “Males who Turn people are referred to as ‘Sires’, so with you being a female, I guess that makes you…a ‘Bitch’.” Ignoring the muffled laughs coming from the squad, I gave her a winning smile.
Her answering one was thin and fake. “I have been looking forward to meeting you.”
I almost snorted at that.
“Wait…is she a Sventé?” her consort asked disbelievingly, bursting into laughter.
Before I knew what was happening, my whip was in my hand and I’d cracked it around his throat, cutting off his laugh. Yes, I should be used to this by now and be easily able to shrug it off, but, well, I preferred not to.
Jared kissed my temple, grinning. “I think he’s learned his lesson, baby.”
I sighed. He was no fun. “Fine.” I allowed the whip to fade away.
“A Sventé Feeder,” said Magda to her red-faced, coughing consort. “I wouldn’t have thought it possible, Brook. But, then, I wouldn’t have thought it possible for Jared to claim someone, considering his issues with women in general.”
There was an odd note to her voice that told me I was being baited. Obviously I wondered what she meant by that, especially since Jared was a mystery to me in some ways, and it got to me that I didn’t know him as well as I wished to. But she would know that, wouldn’t she? She was already using her gift against me.
Evan appeared then, wearing the mother of all scowls. He stopped at Jared’s side, glaring at the woman in a way that said he’d happily kill her and think nothing of it.
“Evan,” she crooned, “it is good to see you also.”
“She’s kidding, right?” he said to Jared, who tightened his arm around me.
“I heard about your mother. My condolences to both of you.” To Jared, she then said, “I imagine, what with everything that happened, that you’re not attending the funeral.”
He’d be attending hers if she tried to touch him again. Slut. And here she was baiting me a second time. “Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to be on fire, Magda?” I asked casually. Her brow wrinkled. “Use your gift on me, and I’ll use mine on you. That’s how it’s going to work. Don’t test me on that. Unless, of course, you do have a curiosity about burning – I’d be more than happy to help you out with that.”
“Someone seems a little jealous,” said Brook.
I arched a brow at him. “Should I take that as an indication that you’d like to become better acquainted with my whip?
” He swallowed hard, losing his smirk. Arsewipe.
“I think you may be right, Brook.” Magda turned back to me, grinning. “I suppose it’s only to be expected, considering I have a blood-link with the man you love.”
I went nose to nose with her, smiling at the way it clearly unnerved her. So she wasn’t as confident as she appeared to be. “Let’s look at it this way: you need to use a gift to piss me off and make me jealous. All I have to do to have that effect on you is breathe.”
Turning on my heel, I headed for the balcony, hoping to get a little fresh air. There was no point in acting as though her words hadn’t had the desired effect. With her gift, she would know how they would make me feel. Annoying me even more, I knew she’d be enjoying it. However, what was pissing me off the most was that Jared had clearly opened up to her about his past when he had told me bugger all.
That was why I avoided his touch when he came up beside me. “I need a few minutes alone,” I snapped.
“Don’t give her what she wants, Sam.”
It was too late. I already had. But if the wanker next to me had simply opened up to me like he’d opened up to her, I wouldn’t be feeling like this at all. With that reasoning, all I wanted right then was for him to be far away from me. “I said, I need a few minutes alone.”
He reached for me. “Baby—”
I pulled away. “Don’t call me that.” That was my kneejerk reaction whenever he upset me – to deny him the right to call me anything even remotely possessive. What complicated things a little was that his kneejerk reaction to that was to fuck me senseless to prove that I was his. At least he wouldn’t be able to do that right now. Suddenly he caged my wrist with his hand and there was a queasy feeling in my stomach as he teleported us into one of the empty conference rooms in the mansion. Shit.
He shook his head at me as he removed his tie. “You said you wouldn’t do this. You said you wouldn’t let her come between us, but you are. You’re doing it.”
He was right. I was. And I hated myself for it, even as I couldn’t help it.
“You know that I don’t want her, Sam.”
I snickered. “If I thought you wanted her, I’d be juggling your eyeballs right now. This is not about that.”
He began to unbutton his shirt, but he didn’t move his eyes from mine. “I’m not going to say it’s unreasonable for you to be jealous and upset. If our positions were reversed, and I had to be around someone who had touched you and been inside you, it would be the hardest fucking thing I’ve ever dealt with. But I would never have let those feelings, or that person, fuck up what we have.”
Ignoring the element of guilt I was feeling, I threw the question at him that simply wouldn’t stop bugging me. “Why won’t you go to your mum’s funeral, Jared?”
He sighed and paused in his actions for a short moment. “Sam—”
Seeing what he was about to do, I pointed a finger at him. “No, don’t you do that again. Don’t you shut down again.”
He shrugged his shoulders, suddenly defensive. “I just don’t want to talk about her. Doesn’t everyone have things they don’t want to talk about?”
“Good point, yet irrelevant. I want to hear about her, I want to understand.”
“Why? What the fuck does it matter? I don’t want to go, and that’s that.”
“So Magda can know, but I can’t?”
He double-blinked, removing his shirt. “What does she have to do with it?”
“You let her in.”
“I didn’t let her in, and I never would have. She doesn’t know any details − only what emotions her gift allowed her to pick up.” Obviously seeing the doubt in my eyes, he held up his hands. “Baby, I swear, she’s the last person I’d let in.”
Mollified, I went to say something, but it was difficult to keep on topic when looking at his well-defined, solidly built chest. The sod was well aware of that, of course. And then he lowered his zipper. The sound seemed to echo in the room. I didn’t need to look to know that he was commando. “Don’t think you can use sex to distract me.”
“Would I do that?” he asked, all innocence.
“Yes, you would, and you are. Because you’re an inconsiderate, selfish, cocky little bastard.”
He pursed his lips as he considered that. “True…but I’m still going to fuck you, and you’re still going to love it.” And then he leaped at me.
CHAPTER FIVE
(Sam)
I moved quickly, but it wasn’t quick enough to dodge his Pagori speed. Jared crushed me against a wall, mashing his mouth with mine. His kisses were possessive, raw, and punishing, and that familiar feeling of fire shot through me. Pulling back, he abruptly sank his teeth down hard into the crook of my neck, drinking deep. His moans vibrated against my skin, making me release moans of my own. I found myself clawing at the skin of his back, attempting to pull him tighter to me, even though we were as close as two people could be.
Need was in every movement as he yanked on my dress to free my breasts, cupping and squeezing them almost painfully. It wasn’t just ‘need’ that was driving us. Anger and fear was feeding that need, making it become sheer desperation. I could sense that he was still being careful not to really hurt me; always bearing in mind how much stronger he was. It galled me that he could never completely let go with me, which added to the other feelings, making me almost frantic in my need to have him inside me.
Lifting my leg, he curled it over his hip and began rocking his hips against mine. I bucked as he used his thumb to send a sizzling jolt of electricity to each nipple, groaning at that perfect balance of pleasure and pain. Reaching under my dress, he slid my thong aside and did the same thing to my clit. He knew exactly how to make me mindless, and he always set about doing it.
Before Jared, I’d always thought foreplay was kind of overrated. In fact, it had often simply felt like going through the motions. But Jared never did the bare minimum to have me ready to take him, never made it seem like it was all simply a means to an end. I could always sense just how much pleasure he got from what he did to me, from the range of expressions that flashed across my face as my climax neared. Finally, I came, crying out and shaking.
His almost crazed eyes seized mine. “You are so fucking amazing to me.” He speared two fingers inside me, swirling them around. “Nice and wet for me, just how I like it.”
Then his fingers were gone, and he abruptly spun me to face the wall. Instinctively, I braced myself against it for balance. He shoved my dress up to my waist and, without any preamble, slammed into me. I cried out and arched my back as he buried every inch of himself inside me in one smooth stroke. He stretched and filled me in a way that no one ever had before.
When he didn’t move, I squirmed. “Jared.”
His mouth was at my ear. “Feel how perfectly your body fits to mine. You were made to take me, Sam.”
I squirmed again, trying to entice him to move. But still, he didn’t. “Jared,” I growled. “Don’t tease!”
“Tell me you’re mine, and I’ll give you what you want.” When I didn’t, he teasingly flexed his cock inside me.
Well we could both play that game. I squeezed my muscles tight around him, smiling at his warning growl. “Make me come, and I’ll tell you I’m yours.” Instead, the cheeky sod spanked my arse. “Oh you—”
He tsked, spanking me again. “You know I won’t let this go.”
“I could just whip you senseless instead.”
“Yes, baby, yes you could. But then you wouldn’t get to come, would you?” His hands slowly, almost stealthily, skimmed over me. One then cupped my breast as the other wandered down to my clit, gently but expertly toying with it. “You know I love your spirit, and you know I love that you never back down, but you can’t refuse me – the guy you’ll soon be Bound to – the right to be possessive of you. You just can’t. If I did that to you, what would you do?”
I answered without hesitation. “Carve out your liver, dice it up, and feed it to you.” Al
l right, so he had a fair point.
“Hear this, baby: I’ll call you that whenever, and as often, as I want. Because you’re mine and I’m yours. Isn’t that right?” When I didn’t answer, he gave me a particularly hard thrust. “You’re mine and I’m yours. Isn’t that right?”
After a short pause, I replied in a low voice, “Yes.” Suddenly, I was flat on my back on the long table with my legs locked around his waist.
“I’m going to fuck you now. Fuck you hard and deep, so that all you feel is me.”
It hadn’t been a false promise. He began ruthlessly pounding into me, holding my gaze with eyes that blazed with possessiveness. At the same time, he was zapping my clit over and over with his thumb, and I was almost sobbing with the burning pleasure/pain of it. I could feel my orgasm creeping up on me fast, and so could he.
“I love feeling you come around me. Let me feel it, baby. Now.”
A particularly hard zap to my clit knocked me over the edge and sent an explosion of sensation tearing through me, pulling a scream from me that Jared eagerly swallowed. Wanting him right there with me, I tore my mouth from his and bit into his shoulder, drinking him into me.
“Christ, baby.” With a guttural groan, he slammed into me one last time and held himself still as he pulsed deep inside me.
He flopped forward, but landed on his elbows, careful not to crush me. Well I’d certainly never be able to look at this table again without smiling − which would make any future meetings in this room kind of interesting. With reverberations still racking our bodies, he rested his forehead against mine and gently kissed me, sipping from my mouth. “Don’t pull away from me like that again.”
I sighed. “I was just ticked off.”
“I’ll make sure she leaves.”
“She’s not going anywhere. She stays.”
He jerked back to examine my face. “What do you mean, she stays?”
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