I needed…oh, God, I needed to come. With every swipe of his tongue, the pain in my body was replaced by an unquenched hunger to be touched. This was a whole other fire raging inside me now, an uncontrollable urge like I’d never felt before. Did he have some powerful vampire saliva?
I moaned again, and when I spoke, my voice broke. “Athan.”
“Fuck,” he murmured. He pulled off my lips as I continued to squirm while the ache intensified.
I followed his mouth, needing more, needing him. “Athan,” I said again, frustrated he didn’t understand. That he wasn’t helping me or making this ache go away. “I need you.”
He cursed again, as I sought to straddle his hips, wanting that hardness between my legs, right where the ache was the worst. “Tendra, we can’t—”
“Please,” I said, licking a stripe up his neck and sucking on the skin below his ear. I knew what I was feeling had been somehow prompted by him soothing my wound. I’d also been fighting my attraction to him, this magnetic pull, since we first met. I wanted him. “You started this. You have to finish it.”
He didn’t let me, though. With a frustrated curse, he turned me so I sat on his lap, my back to his front, my legs spread on either side of his thighs. He ran a big hand over the front of my jeans, and I arched into his touch. “Fuck, you’re killing me here, Ten.”
“Touch me,” I moaned, grabbing his wrist and shoving it beneath the waistband of my jeans.
His thumb caught against the button on my jeans, and he exhaled a shaky breath. “Do you still trust me, Ten?”
I reached back and fisted his hair. “Yes!”
His breath rushed out in harsh pants along my ear and down my neck. The sound of my fly being pulled down was a zrip echo in the tunnel. “I’ll make you feel better, okay? I’ll make you feel so good.”
I arched my back, my voice keening. “Please, just fucking do it.”
Long fingers slipped down my stomach, beneath my underwear, and then right over my swollen clit. I cried out, and he groaned in my ear. “You’re soaked, Ten. Fucking soaked.”
I sobbed out something, which probably wasn’t a word, because fingers were slipping inside me now, and a thumb was passing over my clit. My hips bucked as I sought more, more, more. I gripped his wrist, digging my fingernails into his skin, while my other hand held on to his hair in a death grip.
“That’s it. Ride my hand, Tendra.” He plunged his fingers in and out of me, the obscene wet sounds only turning me on more. His voice was harsh, guttural, telling me he was as affected as me. “If I had more time, if you were mine, I’d be on my knees between your legs right now, my face buried in you. Fuck!” he rasped out, his hips rotating as his giant erection pressed between us. “I’d eat you so good, Tendra. You’d come so hard, you’d black out. Then when you came to, I’d fuck you for hours, till you were addicted to me and my tongue and my cock.”
His dirty words, plus his hand working me had me right on the edge, and yet I was terrified. I’d never felt like this before, where every single cell was focused on pleasure, where I worried that an orgasm would make me physically fly apart.
But of course Athan knew. He always knew.
“It’s okay, Ten,” he said, plunging a third finger inside me, that thumb still swirling over my clit. “You can let go. I got you. I’m right here. Just let go, baby. Come for me. I want to see it.”
I choked out a sob, and then I was there. Coming hard. For a moment I thought I was floating, leaving this earth, but Athan’s strong arm across my chest kept me grounded. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed before my hips stopped jerking, before I could open my eyes and catch my breath.
But when I did, Athan was there. With soft murmurs in my ear, a big hand rubbing my hip. My pants zipped and buttoned like nothing had happened.
But oh, it happened all right, and there was no way I was forgetting this.
Athan
I held Tendra in my arms, cursing myself for going too far and willing my dick to calm the hell down. How many more mistakes would I make? That kiss never should have happened, but the only way to stop the pain in her lip was to heal it with my saliva.
That had gone…spectacularly bad.
Well, I couldn’t deny that getting the chance to touch Tendra, to watch her as she came apart in my arms, was a goddamn honor. But it wasn’t my honor to have. She wasn’t mine.
I’d meant everything I’d whispered in her ear, but none of those fantasies would come true. She was promised to someone else, and my own selfish desires had to be pushed aside. Still, the scent of her was in my skin, infecting my brain. All I could think about was the sound of her moans, the way her body shuddered against mine, the way she’d begged me to…
Fuck.
I’d trained all my life for this. I hadn’t failed yet, and I didn’t intend to.
Keep your hands off, and keep her alive, Athan. Simple, really. I could do this. I helped her up, and she stood on shaky legs to drink some water and shove a granola bar in her mouth. After we fed Brex, we continued on our way.
Tendra walked at my side, her footsteps nearly silent. When we reached the port, which would lead us outside the city proper, I paused and glanced at her. “I need to call home. Okay?”
She nodded, and I noted her face was still flushed from her orgasm. Athan, I need you. I ignored the echo of her voice in my head.
“Yeah.” Her eyes darted toward the wall. “Sure.”
I pulled out my cell and although I didn’t have a strong signal, it was enough to call Idris. The phone rang twice before he picked up. “Athan.”
“Idris, Tendra and I are about to leave Mission.”
There was a beat of silence. “How long until you reach the compound?”
“Maybe two or three days.”
“I’d send out a guard to meet you, but the king has us on lockdown.”
I’d pushed aside the alarm bells that Para had tripped in favor of dealing with Tendra. But now they were blaring again full stop. “What? Why?”
Idris was silent for a moment, and then he sighed heavily. “I’m not sure. Our alarm detected an attempted break-in. I want to send out a search party, but the king is being conservative.”
My lip curled. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. I wanted you to send some backup to help me guard Ten.” There was a scratching sound over the line, which was most likely him running his knuckles over his short beard, a nervous habit. Idris nervous was never a good thing. “Idris, what’s going on there? Is it safe to bring Ten?”
The scratching stopped, and when Idris spoke again, his voice was firmer. “You’ll be here in what, two to three days? I’ll have this taken care of by then.”
His confidence relieved me a bit, but as I watched Tendra pet Brex, my protective instincts were screaming. “I’m already on edge because of some betrayals we had here in Mission.”
“What happened?”
I summed up the incident with Para, including everything she’d told me. When I was finished, Idris cursed. When he spoke, I knew his teeth were clenched. “I don’t like this. As soon as you get here, and I’m free to leave, I’m forming a team to infiltrate the Valarian camp.”
It took me a minute to figure out why that thought settled like lead in my stomach. “What about Tendra?”
“What about her?”
I flared my nostrils, not wanting to get into it with him, not while Ten was watching me, her brow furrowed as she nibbled her lip. “Never mind.”
“Be safe, Athan. Do your duty, and deliver us the Sanguivita. I’ll do my duty here, okay?”
Right, my duty as blood guard to the Sanguivita. No names. We weren’t names. We were duties. “Yes.”
The phone clicked in my ear.
I took about ten seconds to get my emotions under control before facing a worried Tendra. She wrapped her arms around herself, looking vulnerable. “Is everything okay?”
No, everything was most decidedly not okay. This job wasn’t what I had
trained for. I knew how to fight and kill and protect. This tunnel smelled like sex, and even now I wanted to kiss her swollen lips again. I hadn’t been trained on what to do when I fell in love with my brother’s future wife.
I resisted touching Ten’s new short hair. “It’s fine. I was hoping for some help, but we’re on our own. Probably better anyway. The more people, the more noise, and the more room for error.” That was kind of a lie, but I needed to convince Tendra and myself. “The Quellen know where we’re trying to go, but they don’t know when.”
“Okay.” Her voice shook.
“Once I open this port, we make the rest of the way on foot. How much do you know about the area around Mission?”
“Um, it’s heavily wooded. Not much reason to venture out here.”
“Both those are true. Unless you’re a vampire.” I heaved a breath. “So it’s important to stay with me at all times. Please understand that I know this terrain. I know places we can hide, because the Gregorie installed ports in solid rock long ago. I know these woods better than any Quellen or any Valarian. Understand?”
She swallowed and nodded.
When I held up my wrist and opened the port, moonlight greeted us, the eerie glow casting a greenish tint over the landscape. I gripped Tendra’s hand and we walked out together. When we were standing on a bed of leaves, Brex swirling around our legs, I waved my hand in front of the door, rendering it invisible.
I squared my shoulders and stared straight ahead down the overgrown path. Now that we were outside Mission, this was the final leg of our journey. This was when everything I was taught would matter. This was where I would be tested. Tendra, too.
I cracked my neck and pulled my hair back at my nape with a rubber band. I gripped Ten’s hand, and she shot me a tentative smile. The sight of it made my heart ache. “How’re you doing? Tired?”
She shook her head. “I went to Ruby’s. It was the only place I could think to go, and I slept a little there. I figured we’d be traveling tonight.”
I smiled. “Smart girl. We’ll go as long as we can. When it’s close to morning, we’ll hide in a cave. You can sleep then until the sun sets.”
“Don’t worry about me,” she said. “I can do anything for two or three days.” She patted the duffel bag. “We have enough food to last us now, thanks to you.”
She was brave, and I wasn’t so sure at that moment that us vampires deserved her. “Let’s go.”
We didn’t follow a path, more of a zigzag pattern. Tendra muttered something about feeling like we were walking in circles, but I had the entire area mapped out in my head. I knew where we were, where we were going, and the areas we could hide. Without help from my brother’s guard, this was going to take longer than I expected, which was my main source of anxiety. I needed to feed. Soon. And while I had some provisions, I needed fresh blood.
At this point I shoved the worry aside, because there wasn’t anything I could do about it.
The moon lit our way, and while I could see in the dark, Tendra stumbled often. I worried about her rolling an ankle, but when I offered to carry her, she glared at me. We let Brex walk ahead of us, since he could detect our enemies faster than we could.
We talked in low tones, barely above a whisper, mostly because Tendra seemed to be flagging, her eyes drooping, and I wanted to keep her awake. “Where’d you get Brex?” I asked.
She smiled as Brex jogged ahead of us, his ears forward. “One of the places we lived was a small farm out west. A barn cat just had kittens. A coyote got inside, killed the mom and all the kittens except one. Brex. Not sure how he was spared, but he was. Owners said I could have him, since I was the one who chased the coyote away before it killed any livestock.”
“Ah, so you two go way back.”
“Yeah, he’s six now.”
“How long have you been in Mission?”
She yawned. “Five years.”
I pulled the water out of our pack and handed her an energy bar. While she ate, we kept walking. I knew we didn’t have much time before her human body would need sleep. After a couple more hours, her stumbles grew more frequent. She hadn’t complained one bit, and I was sure she’d hike for a few more hours, but I knew a cave that would give us shelter, so I directed us to it. The sun would rise soon, too. The sliver of dawn was just starting to appear on the horizon.
I opened up the port on the side of the rock and directed Ten inside, where a pocket my clan had dug out waited for us.
Once I closed the port, I turned to see Ten stumble to the side of the cave among a pile of leaves and collapse. I checked on her immediately, alarmed at the way she crumpled, but she was okay, already falling asleep, her lips moving restlessly.
I covered her with a blanket from the pack, and Brex curled up at her side. I sat down beside her, my hands on my lap, and I waited.
Chapter 12
Tendra
As I swam into consciousness, I groaned at an ache in my hip. I was lying on hard stone, my back was freezing but my front…was not.
I blinked my eyes open to see a small fire burning in front of me. I stared at the flames, waiting for my brain to come online.
I was in a cave. Outside Mission. And Athan?
A figure moved, and I squinted to see more clearly. On the other side of the fire, Athan bounced on the balls of his bare feet. He wore only his jeans, his chest glistening with sweat as he shadow-boxed. His shadow loomed large behind him on the rough cave walls.
He was magnificent as he extended those long arms, biceps straining, veins bulging, and he was surprisingly agile for a man that large.
He dropped his hands to his sides, flexing his fingers as he rolled his head. I was groggy from sleep, but my body remembered the feel of those hands. He hadn’t said a word about what happened yesterday and neither had I, because what did I even say? Thanks for the excellent finger bang. It’ll sure make future family dinners awkward.
I wished I could call Ruby. She’d laugh, and ask me if I returned the favor. Which, no, I hadn’t. Because his body language had been very clear afterward. Do not touch.
Brex sensed I was awake and pranced in front of my face. I reached out to pet him, and Athan must have seen me move, because when I withdrew my hand, he was there in front of me, crouched down.
I forgot how fast he was.
“Hey,” he said quietly, the ends of his hair dripping with sweat. “Did you sleep okay?”
I groaned as I tried to sit up. “As well as I can on a cave floor.”
He laughed. “Ah, already acting like a princess.”
I smacked him. “Look, Mr. I Don’t Sleep, you don’t know what it’s like, okay?”
He wrinkled his nose as he rose to his feet. “I don’t. Staying in the same position for eight hours? Giving up consciousness willingly? It’s weird to me.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Don’t talk to me about weird when you’re a vampire.”
He shrugged. “What’s normal to you is weird to me.”
He had a point.
I sat with my back against the wall and stretched out my legs in front of me. He plunked down a water bottle between my legs, then handed me a granola bar. As he sat down beside me, I said, “Thank you.”
“Sure.”
“Brex—”
“He’s been fed. Dish is over there.” He pointed to a small silver bowl along the far wall.
“Oh.” I took a bite out of my granola bar. “So where were you born? How did you grow up? If this is my new normal, then I want to know more about it.”
He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. “I was born in the medical facility on the Gregorie compound.”
“So is this compound self-sufficient?”
“Mostly. It’s not like we keep food rations except for the humans. So we get those delivered about once a month.”
“Okay, so you were born there.”
“Yes.”
“What are your parents like?”
He blew out a breath and
ran a hand down Brex’s back. “My father is…a good leader.”
That was it. He stopped talking after that.
“Uh,” I said. “That’s…not really a ringing endorsement for your dad.”
He shrugged. “We’ve never been close. He’s favored Idris for as long as I can remember, and that’s fine. Idris is older, he’s the future of the clan. I’m the blood guard. I don’t matter as much.”
I actually gasped, and Athan’s head jerked toward me. “Don’t say that.” I poked him in the shoulder. “Seriously, don’t say that. You matter. You matter a lot to me, and it’s clear that your clan respects you.”
Athan reached out and brushed my hair behind my ear, a small smile curling his lips. “Thank you for saying that.” He nodded toward my granola bar. “Eat.”
I felt a little pandered, too, like I was a dumb human who didn’t understand vampire hierarchy. But I wasn’t in the mood to argue. Even though I wasn’t that hungry, I dutifully ate and drank all the water. After that, I resumed my questions. “What about your mom?”
“My mother died when I was three.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Do you remember her at all?”
“Dark hair, tan skin. Vanilla scent.” He shook his head. “I knew she was kind, but that’s only based on what some of the longtime servants have told me. My father never speaks of her.”
Yikes. “Were they in love?”
He huffed out a small laugh. “I’m not sure my father falls in love.”
I frowned. “Don’t say that.”
“You haven’t met him. I’m sure you’ll understand after you do.”
Well, that sounded like a freaking blast. I’d never even known my father, so I had no way to commiserate. “Are you close with your brother?”
Athan thought about that for a minute as he scratched Brex’s chin. “We used to be closer than we are. We’re not alike, and our father didn’t foster a close relationship between us. I would say that’s a regret I have in my life.”
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