Forbidden Love Series Book 4: From The Ashes

by Danielle James

  She tried to pull away, but there was nowhere for her to go. She whimpered but refused to open her mouth to protest. She feared that if he didn’t back off she was going to lose control and bite him again. As if he knew he had pushed her as far as he could, Jacque finally released her.

  “Come with me,” he told her. He took her hand and led her out of the bathroom and out of the room that had served as her hospital room. As they entered the main house, Frankie could hear the sounds of her family. They all seemed to be in one room. Antonio’s.

  “Macy?” she asked, even though deep down, she already knew the answer.

  “No,” Jacque replied. “I’m afraid she wasn’t as lucky as you.”

  “And Jessica?”

  Jacque told her of how Jessica escaped and how everyone helped to bring Frankie home. By the time they reached Antonio’s room, Frankie had tears in her eyes. “How’s he doing?” she asked.

  Jacque didn’t need her to say who she was talking about, he already knew. “Not very well,” he answered.

  “I want to go in,” she said, looking at Antonio’s door. Jacque pushed it open and Frankie stepped inside. She saw her family all piled up in his bed. Leigh saw her first.

  “Hi,” she said softly. Antonio’s feet were in her lap.

  Frankie managed to produce a half smile as she walked closer to the bed. Angel and Rebel moved away so that she could see Antonio. He was curled in on himself and appeared to be sleeping. She climbed onto the large bed and lay down facing him. She brushed his hair off his face and when she saw him, her heart broke for him.

  His skin was almost grey. When he opened his eyes to look at her, the whites were not white, exactly, but a kind of milky color and had a yellowish tinge. The irises were not the near black that they normally were, but faded and pale.

  He reached up and took her hand from his face and brought it to his lips. “I’m so happy you made it through,” he said. His voice was rough, gravely, and barely audible. “You look lovely.”

  “Antonio, I’m so sorry,” Frankie said. “I wish, I don’t know, I wish I could make it better.”

  Antonio shook his head. “Not your fault. Nothing you could do would have saved her. It is my price to pay.”

  “Don’t say that,” Frankie said.

  “I think I would like to be alone now,” he whispered. His family didn’t want to leave him, but they understood. They each hugged or kissed him as they left his side one by one.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  Frankie and Jacque were the last to leave Antonio’s room. As Jacque pulled the door closed, Frankie smelled something. Something she knew. She turned her head and saw Jessica coming out of her own room. Her eyes met Frankie’s and she broke into a run.

  “Oh shit,” Frankie muttered just before Jessica slammed into her.

  “Thank God,” she said as she squeezed Frankie tight. “I was so worried about you.”

  Frankie could smell her. Oh wow could she ever smell her. Jessica’s shampoo smelled like fresh lavender and her soap did as well. But underneath that, she could smell her sweet blood flowing in her veins. Frankie could hear it as well. It thundered in her ears with every beat of her friend’s heart. It played in her head like a demented drum and Frankie envisioned herself drinking that wonderful smell.

  No no no, this was not going to do at all. She was not going to bite her friend. Frankie gathered what little common sense she still had and shoved Jessica away. She landed hard on her ass and looked at Frankie with both surprise and hurt in her eyes.

  “No,” Frankie told her when she tried to get up. “Don’t come any closer. I don’t wanna hurt you.” Jacque held her hand and squeezed. “I have very little control.”

  “Oh,” Jessica said. Sebastian was at her side now, helping her to her feet. “I didn’t think.”

  “I know and I am really happy to see you too but I don’t trust myself right now.”

  “It’s ok,” Sebastian told his wife. “She needs to be fed and until she is satisfied she will have a hard time not biting people.”

  “Well ok then, I’ll feed her,” Jessica said with a smile.

  Sebastian shook his head. “That would be dangerous right now.”

  “She could kill you,” Jacque said. “She needs to feed but from someone who can stop her if she takes too much.”

  “Probably several someones,” Angel chimed in.

  “Uh, what?” Frankie asked.

  “We will feed you,” Angel said. “You already have our blood in your veins, this time you will take it the traditional way instead of by IV.”

  Jacque had to explain to Frankie how his brothers had donated their blood to help save her. Now, they were offering their veins to stave off the hunger so that she wouldn’t inadvertently kill someone.

  “I am not so sure that’s a good idea,” she said. The only man she wanted to drink from was Jacque.

  “It’s either this or back on the IV,” Jacque told her. “Your body is still burning up your red blood cells and they need to be replaced regularly until the change is complete.” Frankie really didn’t want to be tied to a machine anymore. She knew it was silly, but having been restrained by Merrick, any form of restraint was unbearable to think about even if it was good for her health.

  “Let’s go into the family room,” Angel said. “We should start immediately. I will go first.”

  Frankie looked at Brea, expecting her to object, but Brea just smiled and followed her husband. The others met in the family room as Angel suggested and had turned on the TV by the time Frankie and Jacque arrived.

  The news was playing quietly in the background and Frankie could hear the reporter talking about a woman who simply disappeared from the intensive care unit. Beside her, she felt rather than heard Jacque laugh.

  Angel had positioned a barrel chair in the center of the room in front of the TV. “Please sit here,” he said, motioning at the chair. “We thought it might be easier if you could split your attention with the television. Is there anything you would like to watch?”

  Frankie took her seat and shook her head. She didn’t even know what might be on TV and she didn’t care. She rarely watched it before anyway. Angel pulled another chair up facing the one she was sitting in and took a seat himself.

  “I am going to cut my wrist for you. All I want you to do is drink. Do not use your teeth.” He bit the inside of his wrist and offered it to her. The smell hit her first. Angel’s blood was rich and coppery and dark. Frankie could feel her mouth watering and the urge to bite growing inside her. “The idea is to cut off the instinct to bite,” Angel told her as he pushed his bleeding arm toward her.

  Frankie couldn’t have helped herself if she tried. She grabbed his wrist and brought it to her mouth quickly and forcefully. The dark liquid flowed into her mouth and down her throat with ease. When the blood flow began to slow, she sucked hard.

  A small hand on her shoulder got her attention. “Please remember that Angel only has a limited amount of blood. Don’t hurt my husband.” It was Brea and the last thing Frankie wanted to do was to hurt anyone. She broke the seal of her mouth and retreated.

  “Now, lick the wounds to close them,” Angel suggested. “Your body knows what to do; trust it.”

  Frankie did as he asked and watched as the holes began to close. She looked up at Jacque and grinned. She had drunk from her first person without hurting him.

  Jacque was beaming back at her and her heart swelled. He was happy for her, but why wasn’t he feeding her? There was little time to wonder because as soon as Angel got up, Gage took his place. He repeated the process the same way as Angel. After Gage, Sebastian fed her from his wrist as well. By the time she had finished, Frankie was completely full. She felt satisfied, if not even a little drunk.

  “Thank you guys,” she said.

  “You are most welcome,” Angel told her. He turned to Jacque. “We are going to make ourselves scarce now.”

  Jacque responded with a nod and the entire fami
ly except for Frankie and himself left the room. “Come,” he commanded and she got up and went to him.

  “I don’t think I could possibly drink anymore,” she told him shyly. “Maybe next time I am hungry you could feed me?”

  “I am not worried about that now,” Jacque said as he took her mouth in one scorching kiss. Frankie was still careful not to nick him, but she had no trouble kissing him back. The initial hunger was way under control and she suddenly understood why everyone left.

  “I want you,” she whispered to him.

  “As I want you,” he said. “I want to make it official. I want to be your mate, for now and always.”

  “Are you proposing?” Frankie asked with a sly grin.

  “I am,” he said. “If you’ll have me?”

  “Of course,” she grinned at him. “You’re all I ever wanted.”

  Jacque wasted no time stripping her clothes off of her and then his own. He wanted to take his time, but given that things were already on shaky ground in their lives, waiting any longer seemed like idiocy. He pushed his hand down and found her already wet and waiting for him. He toyed with her labia for a moment and then plunged his fingers inside her.

  Frankie arched her back and groaned loudly. It seemed that his mouth was everywhere all at once. He kissed her anywhere he could reach. When he got low enough to dart his tongue across a tight nipple, Frankie thought she just might lose her mind after all. That piercing in his tongue was something else. It was just the right combination of soft skin and hard metal to drive her insane with pleasure. He flicked his tongue over that nipple repeatedly, then sucked it into his mouth.

  She felt the gentle scrape of his fangs on her very sensitive skin. Every touch was amplified. No wonder vampires were such sexual creatures. If they all felt things the way Frankie was feeling them now, it was a wonder they ever left the house at all.

  Jacque continued his ministrations, giving her no quarter. He moved his body down hers until he was directly over her core. He made a show of breathing in her scent before dropping his spiky head and kissing her passionately. His tongue snaked around her clit as his fingers made come here motions inside her. It wasn’t long before she was coming apart for him and he was having trouble controlling himself as well.

  He got up and moved Frankie on the couch so that her back was upright against the cushions and her legs were dangling off the edge. He positioned himself between her legs and lifted her ankles until he could place them on each of his shoulders. “I need to be as far inside of you as I can get,” he growled.

  “Hurry,” she begged already reaching for his cock to guide him inside her.

  Jacque moved his hips forward and entered her slowly. He savored each sensation, inch by inch, until he was seated fully inside her hot core. If he died now, he could die a happy man. She was finally going to claim him as her mate and Jacque couldn’t have been more proud of anything in his life. They were going to be together for the rest of their lives.

  “Faster,” Frankie gasped when he started to move. He could not deny her, not now, not ever.

  Soon, his hips were slamming into her and she was screaming out in pleasure. Jacque leaned down to kiss her lips, shoving her knees into her own shoulders. The position made it almost impossible to breathe and Frankie dropped her legs and wrapped them around his hips, locking her ankles behind his back.

  Jacque had waited for what seemed like an eternity for Frankie and now he was going to have her. He was going to give himself to her completely as they made love. She had walked into his life and he was never the same again. When she left, he had been devastated. He had wondered around, a broken shell of a man, nothing more than a breathing, moving, pile of ashes.

  When Frankie returned, his life changed again. She had pulled him from the ashes and reminded him how to live again. She was his, and he was hers, and no one would be leaving ever again.

  “Now,” he told her, exposing his neck. He couldn’t wait any longer.

  Frankie yanked his head down and sank her fangs into his neck. Her aim was so much better than she feared it would be and his blood flowed at a good pace. Her body constricted around him and she gave herself over to a massive orgasm. She felt his cock jerking inside her and knew he was giving her everything that he was. He was giving her his blood, his sperm, and his soul. Not only did she know that she belonged to him, but now he belonged to her, and she had never felt so complete.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  “What are we going to do?” Frankie asked to anyone who was listening. The guys had all been vehemently discussing the ways they would like to repay Merrick, but no one seemed to have a solid plan to put any of those ideas into action.

  “Don’t bother,” Jessica told her. “When they get like this, it’s like trying to talk to a bunch of hormonal teenage boys.”

  Leigh laughed out loud. “You’ll get used to it.” She brushed her hair over her shoulder. “So Jacque said that he thinks the baby will come in about two weeks,” she said. Jacque had been her obstetrician since the beginning and earlier that day he had done another exam.

  “I bet you can’t wait,” Jessica said. “I know I can’t wait to meet my niece or nephew.”

  “What about Merrick?” Frankie asked.

  “He isn’t going to get within a mile of my baby,” Leigh snarled. “I will turn him to ash before he knows what happened.”

  “Damn I got some powerful bitches as friends,” Jessica yelled out. “I got a dragon, and a witch vamp! Let me see them again!”

  Frankie smiled the biggest grin she could manage, showing her new fangs. Then she narrowed her eyes and growled around the smile.

  “Wow that is positively scary,” Leigh offered. “I wouldn’t fuck with you.”

  The women laughed together and it felt right. It felt good to be happy even if it was only for a short while. Antonio hadn’t come out of his room for three days but that didn’t stop them from checking on him.

  His condition was deteriorating rapidly. His strength was quickly draining and his skin had taken on the look of cracked grey paint. They tried to convince him to feed, but he refused. He had lost his mate and he would not feed from another. It was the way with vampires sometimes.

  But even though he was slowly starving to death, he was weakening faster than that. The family tossed ideas around but it was Serena who suggested the most logical answer. She said that it was Macy’s magic that had brought him back and without her, he could no longer continue to exist here. He didn’t belong in the land of the living and everyone knew it. They assumed the same would apply to Merrick as well. Jessica pointed out that he had been easier to escape than should have been possible. He was likely fading away as well.

  That didn’t make what Antonio was going through any easier.

  Serena had left after that and went back home. Her mother wouldn’t allow her to stay any longer now that the women were home. Gage tried to talk her into lifting her no vampire rule, but the queen would hear nothing he had to say. Her only response was to tell him the only reason she allowed her daughter to help was out of respect for Angel and his position.

  Leigh’s head jerked up and she cocked her head to the side. “Quiet!” she shouted. The men acted as if they hadn’t heard her at all. “I fucking said shut the fuck up!” Leigh shouted.

  They heard that one and everyone stopped talking. Leigh listened carefully and her concentration got Rebel’s attention. He listened with her for a moment.

  They both heard what they were listening for at the same time. It was the unmistakable shriek of one pissed off dragon. The others began to hear the approach as well, and they sprang into action.

  “Frankie,” Jacque grabbed her by the arms. “Take Jessica, Brea, and Leigh downstairs and protect them!”

  Frankie didn’t need to be told twice. She instructed Jessica and Brea to the basement and they followed without argument. Leigh, on the other hand, was a little harder to convince.

  “I will not leave him!”
she shouted in Frankie’s face.

  Frankie got right back in hers. “Rebel will not hide, you know this. If you stay up here, he will be worried about you and be distracted. He will die because he is too worried about you. You can’t protect him right now.”

  Leigh knew she was right, but that didn’t mean she had to like it. She ran to Rebel and kissed him hard before she allowed Frankie to pull her away and down the stairs that led to the reinforced basement. It was a place the women were sadly growing familiar with lately, but it had a secret escape route should the worst happen.

  When everyone was where they were supposed to be, Frankie closed the basement door and locked it. “They are gonna finally take care of this,” she told her sisters as they sat down to wait.

  The men had armed themselves and taken position outside on the beach to wait for the dragon to show his face. “Come on,” Rebel was chanting softly. “Come see me you son of a bitch.”

  Gage was lightly bouncing on his toes. He was itching for a fight and tonight he was determined to get it.

  Angel was standing casually by his side. To anyone who didn’t know him, he looked like he was chilling out waiting for a friend. To those that knew him better than anyone, he was resolved. He was prepared to do anything to protect his family including die himself. And it was obvious that he already made peace with that decision.

  Sebastian stood next to Angel, silent as a statue and radiating rage. He was prepared to avenge his mate.

  There was a long whining noise in the sky as Merrick did in fact show himself. The men were taken back by the appearance of the dragon. The last time they had seen Merrick in his dragon form, he had been a brilliant red with vibrant colors. He had moved with stealthy grace and was fast as a bullet.

  The dragon they saw now was different. His scales were pale, almost pink in their color. The teeth in his mouth were decaying and yellowing. He seemed to be having trouble just staying in the sky.