by M. L. Briers
“Is pacing yourself really an option right now?” Shamus jibed, but the truth of the matter was that he was right on so many levels that I didn’t want to have to deal with them.
“I’ll just go in there and mind control her into submission, shall I?” I snapped back.
“Only if you want me to deal with.” Shamus barked back. “But hiding from her is-”
“Hiding?” I shot him a death glare over my shoulder.
“Retreating?”
“Strategically placing myself in the position that…” I waved a hand in the air and let that drop, “I’ve got nothing.” I admitted to another chuckle from the man.
“Woo the woman,” Shamus made it sound so easy, and if she wasn’t my mate then it would have been. Right now the woman was about as appealing as a rabid werewolf.
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“No-”
“Yes.” I offered.
“Back off-”
“Get closer.”
She’d snapped awake almost the moment that I’d started to lift her from the chair to carry her to my bed. Her hand had reached for the stake that had been on her lap, but it had fallen to the floor when I’d scooped her up, and her eyes looked at me with so much accusation that I actually felt guilty.
“What are you doing?” Maggie tried to shake off the sleep induced haze that clouded her mind.
“They say opposites attract, I thought we were playing that game.” I wanted to lighten the moment.
Perhaps I should have just left her to sleep in the chair, tossed a blanket over her to keep her warm, and watched her while she slept, but she’d looked uncomfortable, and in truth; I wanted to see her in my bed, with that fire red hair fanned over the pillows.
“Let me go,” she demanded with a little squirming against me that wasn’t exactly unpleasant as her hip rubbed against the ache of my cock.
“If I let you go your backside is going to regret it,” I grinned.
“I never said drop me,” she snapped back.
“Well, say what you mean then.” I teased as I strolled across the room towards the hallway.
“I’m not going to sleep with you,” she blurted out.
“Now- or ever?”
“Both.”
“My ego is wounded,” I sighed for effect.
“Where’s my stake?” She had a sudden rush to panic.
“Ah, the artefact of my destruction,” I knew exactly where it was, “I have no idea. That was your job to keep a hold of it, obviously you felt little need.”
“I…” she took a breath and scowled at the thought. Then she huffed. “Where are we going?”
“Bed,” I gave her the kind of grin that told her I was teasing her. She gave me the kind of look that could kill acid dead in its tracks.
“I’m not-”
“Going to sleep with me? I know, you said that.”
Maggie didn’t seem to notice when we climbed the stairs. Her death glare stayed on me the whole time, and yet her body had relaxed in my arms. She was definitely feeling more comfortable in my presence, and she hadn’t protested the loss of her only weapon.
When we reached my bedroom things changed. I guess curiosity got the better of her and she turned her head to look around at the décor. She swallowed at the sight of the large bed…
“Were you expecting a coffin?” I teased and she fought to hold back a chuckle, but the chuckle won. Laughter sounded good on her.
“I guess on some level I probably was,” she admitted.
“When I feel the need- I just hang upside down from the rafters from my ankles like a bat.”
Her head snapped around and her eyes locked on mine, and for one long moment I just wanted to kiss her into oblivion.
“That’s… you’re not…?” she swallowed again and I couldn’t help but chuckle. Humans and their preconceptions of all things supernatural… “That’s not funny.” She pouted.
“But your face was.”
I knelt on the mattress and placed her down on the bed, desperate to follow her down and cover her with my body as I took and gave in equal measure. I wished things were different and that I could give her the time to really know me, but I couldn’t trust that Bruce hadn’t put a price on her human head.
I didn’t move away from her. I couldn’t, not yet. I was the moth and she was the flame, and I was damn certain that it should have been the other way around, but my Maggie was strong of character.
“This is all a joke to you,” she accused with her words, her eyes, and her tone.
“I can assure you that I find nothing funny in finding my mate- I take that very seriously, and the fact that it’s put you in danger- I take that equally as seriously.”
“And yet, you’re constantly cracking jokes and overdoing the sarcasm.”
“Firstly, you can never overdo sarcasm, and secondly, if you can’t laugh at life then you might as well resign yourself to the fact that all of your days will have storm clouds ahead, and Maggie, that’s no way to live life- especially when it can be so short for humans.” I hadn’t wanted to remind her of the differences between us, and yet, it made my point perfectly.
“Grasp the nettle?”
“That would hurt-”
“So would those… fangs of yours,” she scowled back at me.
“Only for the moment- then you would feel nothing but pleasure,” I assured her, “intense pleasure like you’ve never known.”
“I’ve been sold that kind of faulty guarantee before.”
She would never understand how much I wanted to hunt down and rip the head off of the man who had made that promise to her.
“If I don’t deliver I’ll let you stake me,” I wiggled my eyebrows at her and she softened.
“For real?” There was a little glee in her voice that had me wondering about her.
“On my honour as a Scotsman.”
That she believed, because in the time I was born and the place that had been my birth right, honour was the one thing that nobody could take from us.
“I’m kind of tempted to say yes just so I get to stake you,” Maggie’s eyes were alive with good humour, and that warmed me- even if the thought of staking me was uppermost in her mind.
“You won’t have too.”
“Don’t put a downer on it already,” she offered with a wicked smile, “let a girl dream a little.”
“You really don’t like me, do you?” I teased back and she should have offered a snap judgement, but she hesitated…
“I…” and that was her downfall. I swooped in, taking advantage of her lack of clarity on all things me, and brought my lips down on hers.
I felt that immediate spark between us- the rush of the mating pull to do its best. It washed through my body like wildfire, and I could only guess just how it felt for her, being human probably meant that it hit her like a ton of bricks, smashing her senses and overwhelming every inch of her…
I wasn’t wrong. She practically melted right there and then on the bed. I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close- it wasn’t close enough- would never be close enough until I was inside of her, bringing that delicious friction to both of us, and tasting her blood upon my tongue as I sunk my fangs into her neck.
It wasn’t just my cock that ached for her now. Every inch of my body felt that need- that desire, and I was just as lost as she was.
I deepened the kiss to the point where I was devouring her- just not able to get enough of my Maggie. Her scent, her taste, her soft body yielding against mine. Heaven and hell colliding as I tried to hold onto my sanity- she still hadn’t said that she would be mine.
My hand fisted the silken strands of her fire red hair and I tipped her head back to have her just where I needed her. I wanted to explore her body, inch by inch, but I fought to keep control over my erratic emotions.
I knew that I should have ended it there- proof positive to my mate that she was mine- but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I eased her
body back on the bed and came down on top of her. Damn, it felt good to have her caged beneath me like that. I could almost imagine us naked, pushing inside of her, and bringing us both the pleasure that we craved…
I fought to keep my fangs sheathed. My mind and body were screaming out to taste her blood like an itch that I couldn’t scratch. Soon that itch would be a fire, and then a raging inferno that I wouldn’t be able to control.
CHAPTER TWELVE
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MAGGIE
I knew it was wrong.
The moment that he’d kissed me- I knew it was wrong, and yet it felt so damn good that I lost to mind to the moment- lots of moments.
He’d blindsided me. He’d disarmed me with that easy going, humorous charm of his, and I’d played right into his hands.
The instant that his lips had touched mine I’d never felt so alive in my life before. Every inch of my body fired up like a fireworks display lighting the summer night sky.
I should have fought it. I should have fought him off, but he wasn’t attacking me, wasn’t doing anything that my body told my mind that I didn’t want, didn’t feel damn good… but there in the back of my mind was this flashing neon sign that rang out with alarm bells and displayed just one word… Vampire.
If I held that stake in my fist right now I very much doubt I could have wielded it against him. It was as if every inch of me had melted, become pliable, but not to the point where I was a helpless, paralysed blob of boneless cohesion- just swept away on a sea of pleasure…
He was right. My body was already crying out for his. He could bring me pleasure; the likes of which I had never known.
My damn toes were already curling. My womb was under attack from jolts of pleasure, and the inner muscles of my channel were clenching in need of his cock to fill it.
I couldn’t escape him- and I really didn’t want too.
I found myself unable to control my desires. My hands pressed against his back, urging him closer, as I eased my feet up the bed and let him find his place between my inner thighs…
The hard press of his sheathed cock against my sex took my breath away. There were layers of clothing between us and yet we could have been naked- should have been naked…
No, that wasn’t right, was it?
I didn’t have time to think. I barely had time to breathe as he kissed me with so much passion, so much intensity that I clamoured for more even though I knew I should pushing him away.
I couldn’t seem to keep my backside on the mattress or my hips from moving against his. My body screamed out for that jolt of pleasure that came from my clit every time his length moved against it.
I felt conflicted.
There was a part of me that wanted to recoil from what he was, and yet there was a bigger part that wanted to know him- wanted to touch his naked body, wanted him to touch mine, needed to have him inside of me, filling me to the hilt, and thrusting until that friction set my body free…
Free. I was snared by him. Caged in by his body, and caught up in the wanton needs of my desire, but was that worth losing my soul?
This could be the end of me. This could be my death- right here, right now- and yet I didn’t seem to give a damn.
I found the strength to break free from his lips…
“You’re controlling my mind…” I felt his lips chased down my neck. He brushed his cheek against mine and seemed to breathe me in- excitement flashed like lightning through my body.
“No, Maggie mine, this is how it feels to find your soul mate.”
He whispered against my ear. His hot breath felt like a caress to my very soul.
Did I really have free will?
My hands had found their way under his shirt and I raked my fingernails down his back to see if I could cause him pain. His head went back on his neck and his hips pressed against mine- that hard length causing me even more pleasure as he rolled his hips…
Then his eyes locked with mine and my heart hit my ribcage at the sight of them. Jet black and hungry… he looked like every kind of predator that I could imagine from my worst nightmares, and yet none.
It didn’t make sense that the sight of him would thrill and excite me- not when I knew what he was, but nobody told my mind or my damn body that.
“Be careful that you don’t unleash a passion in me that I can’t hold back.”
It was a sober warning that thrilled me so.
I’d always been a thrill seeker. I’d never driven through life in the slow lane, and I guess somewhere deep within me, I’d always had an itch to discover if that warning about him from the past was true.
Was that fate giving me a head start on this moment?
There wasn’t a time throughout history that just living didn’t hold its dangers, but was he a danger too far?
He wanted to kill me, and yet I wouldn’t be dead. I’d be alive forever, but what of the cost to my soul?
He didn’t seem like the monster I’d read about in books. If I hadn’t of known what he was would I have been so quick to dismiss him, or had that warning coloured my judgement?
I knew the answer to that. Both he and Shamus were my kind of people. I would have welcomed their company on a night in the pub, enjoyed their humour, and been taken in by his charm…
But I did know what he was. I did know what he was offering me and wanted in return.
“What happens then?” I finally found my voice to answer him. I didn’t know how long it had taken, but he’d patiently waited.
“I take you as mine, Maggie- heart, mind, body, and soul. Skin to skin. Your body wrapped around mine as I take you for my own, as you give yourself to me…”
Damn, that sounded so good. So tempting.
There was a fire within me that said I wanted that. I needed that. Yet, I knew that it didn’t come without a price.
“I can’t say yes to that,” I admitted, not knowing what to expect as his reply, and yet he smiled- just a simple smile that touched me in a way that I’d never dreamed possible.
“Not yet.”
It seemed like a simple statement of fact that made my heart pound, but my mind relax.
Time- was it just a little more time that I needed?
Was I destined to agree to be his?
Was I destined to become like him?
It seemed a strange thing for fate to arrange, and yet, I suppose it was the same way for him all of those years ago when someone had turned him into a vampire.
“I should leave you to get some sleep now, before you change your mind.”
It seemed like a strange thing to say, and I mourned the loss of his body against mine as he took it away.
“Don’t you want me to change my mind?” I pushed up onto my elbows and watched him as he sat for a moment on the edge of the mattress looking away from me. Most of his face was in darkness.
“Yes, but I want you to be sure of that decision and not second guess yourself once you’ve given yourself to me.”
Before I could say another word he was gone. The bedroom door lay open and I stared at the wall in the hallway outside. Life had certainly thrown me a curveball and I really didn’t know how to swing at it.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
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MAC
It was done. I was almost certain of it. She was mine.
I could have stayed in bed with her and let nature take its course- let the mating pull guide her towards the only outcome that made sense for true mates, but what kind of man would that have made me?
I might be a vampire. I might have lost my way there for a few decades, between the bloodlust and the debauchery with no one to guide me, but I’d reclaimed my soul as best that I could.
I’d fight for her. I’d die for her. But I wouldn’t make her mine before she was ready, and I wouldn’t turn her without her consent- unless the choice was beyond my control and it was the only way to keep her alive.
“You backed off,” Shamus’s voice sounded approving, and I wasn’t looking for approv
al for my actions or validation for my choices, but this was Shamus and he liked to make his feelings known.
“We’re you expecting a different outcome?”
“Not really.”
“Good to know that I’m predictable in my old age,” I tossed back over my shoulder. His deep chuckle pulled me out of my reverie. I had to trust that I was doing the right thing- for Maggie’s sake.
“Any other way would probably take her a good few decades to get over- but on the bright side, it might make life more interesting.”
“Just what I need- a few decades of chasing my mate around like a dog chasing its tail.” That image didn’t sit right with me. I’d had a taste of her in my bed and I wanted more- craved it in the same way that a newly turned vampire craved blood.
“You’ve won the battle, old friend. Now you just need to have patience to receive the spoils of war.” Shamus moved off and I didn’t bother to answer him. It felt that way too, but we still had Bruce to deal with.
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I’d sat and watched her while she’d slept; tempted to crawl in beside her and take her into my arms- love her until we were both sated- but the sound of movement outside had been a call to arms that had snapped me to attention and driven me from the bedroom where my heart lay in my bed.
I couldn’t sense Shamus inside of the house as I rushed down the stairs and through the hallway- I was torn between leaving Maggie alone and guarding her from whatever was out there.
I stepped out of the door and the scent in the air hit me hard. The sound of fighting snapped off the indecision within me and I was off on fast feet in that direction.
I had to sidestep as Shamus threw a mutt in my direction- turning, I reached for the beast and twisted its head from its neck. Shamus was still in the heat of battle with two more wolves…