Born in the Shadows (In the Shadows Series Book 1) (20 page)

“You are so beautiful.”

He took her mouth once again, giving her no time to respond to his declaration. A flash of pain made him hesitate for a moment and as a metallic taste filled his mouth, he realized that he had nicked his tongue on her fang. Whatever, a little pain didn’t bother him. He deepened their kiss and let his hand slide into her damp hair, the strands like silk between his fingers.

Cordelia’s hands tightened on his shoulders and she moaned in the back of her throat. Her mouth took command, her tongue tangling with his as she pressed her body closer to him. His cock throbbed painfully, begging for some relief, as her hip brushed against his hardness.

As if she had heard the pleas, she straddled his lap as her mouth trailed across his jaw. As she took his earlobe between her lips, his hips jumped off the bed to grind his erection against her heated mound. She ground her hips against him and he thought he was going to come right then and there.

“Christ, Cordy.”

The instant the words came out of his mouth, her entire body tensed in his arms, as if his voice had broken some spell she was under. She scrambled off him and took a few steps back from the bed, a hand was over her mouth and her eyes were wide in horror.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, trying to shake loose the haze of desire. Cordelia looked shell shocked and that had him forgetting about any below-the-belt business. 

“I can’t do this.”

“Shit, I’m sorry Cordy. I thought you wanted this.”

“No it’s not that. The kissing was nice, well more than nice. It’s the blood. I could taste your blood and it makes me hungry.”

She lowered her hand and he saw that her fangs were twice their normal length. He knew that the sight of them should instil fear but he found his arousal growing instead. As he stared at her fangs, he felt a tingle in his neck, right where she had bit him. His mind flashed back to the alley and what it had felt like when she had drank from him.

It had been better than any sex he had ever had and he had had some
good
sex in his lifetime. The moment she had bitten him, he had been filled with a burning desire that had rushed through his entire body. He had become instantly hard, a painful erection pushing against the fly of his jeans. Each pull of her lips on his neck had corresponded with a phantom pull on his shaft and before he knew what was happening, he had come in his pants. That was a little something he had kept to himself because he had been embarrassed. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t do it again. Premature or not, it had felt fucking amazing.

“It’s okay, Cordy. You can drink my blood.”

***

Cordelia stared at Gabe, going over what he had just proposed. Sure, he belonged to her and she could drink from him anytime she wanted. He also tasted damn good and a part of her was screaming inside to get another taste. The problem was this wasn’t what she wanted with Gabe. She didn’t want to use him like he was some feedbag. She wanted so much more than that.

God, it had been amazing to kiss him. She felt like she was filled with electricity, her entire body vibrating with desire. Then when she had straddled him and felt his hard length pressing against her sex it was like a kick in the gut. She wanted more of that but she didn’t think she could ignore her baser instincts. She couldn’t risk messing things up with Gabe because she let bloodlust take over.

“I can’t drink from you.”

“Why not? You did it in the alley so why not now? It doesn’t hurt, really. It feels pretty damn good, actually.”

He was smiling broadly and as he leaned back on his hands, she could still see the outline of his erection quite clearly. Nicky had told her about humans that became addicted to the bite and the thought cooled her heated blood.

In fact, her veins filled with ice as she regarded him with new eyes. Mary and Anne had reassured her that she could not force his arousal but that didn’t mean his arousal was actually for her. It could just be the bite he wanted.

“It feels good?” she asked him, her eyes narrowing as she watched his smile widen at the question.

“Oh yeah, fucking fantastic.”

“So that’s why you offered. Because it makes you feel good.”

He nodded eagerly and her lip curled up in disgust. She had thought Gabe was a sweet, caring guy but he was just another selfish ass. He didn’t care about anything but getting what he wanted and he’d use her to get it if needed.

He didn’t think the old Cordelia was beautiful. He thought the supernaturally enhanced Cordelia was beautiful, just like all other Shadow Walkers were to him. Hell, he’d probably let anyone in the house feed from him.

She had thought that things would be different now. Her growing confidence had just been an illusion. She was still the ugly girl her mother had always hated.

It made her angry. Angry at the world, at herself and at Gabe. This was all his fault. She wished she had just let Armand feed from him and then she wouldn’t be in this mess. Olivia would still be alive and she wouldn’t be feeling like this. All of this was his fucking fault.

She had the sudden urge to punish him and, in a flash, she had him on his back, pinning his wrists above his head as she straddled his hips.

She stared down at him, her damp curls falling forward to curtain the two of them from the rest of the world. She was all he could see, all he could feel as she began to taunt him, a cat playing with a mouse before it went in for the kill.

“I can make it hurt. Do you want me to still do it if it hurts?”

She leaned down and ran her tongue over his throbbing pulse point, causing him to strain against her hold on him. She gripped his wrists tighter and he grunted from the increase in pressure. She bared her fangs and growled lowly in the back of her throat. She could smell his fear but it was barely detectable over the powerful scent of arousal wafting off him.

“You do. Even if I hurt you, you’d still let me. Why?”

“Because I want you,” he gasped.

She dragged the tip of her fang up his throat and he trembled beneath her. When she reached his ear, she darted her tongue out to caress the shell. He let out a pained groan and she smiled, her lips brushing against his ear for one final test. 

“Liar. You don’t want me, you want the bite.”

He shook his head fiercely. “No, it’s you. Can’t you feel it?”

His hips rose off the bed and he pressed his hard length against her core. Her entire body trembled at the sensation of him against her, the steel heat of it igniting a fire within her. She tried to tamp it down, intent on keeping control but she couldn’t stop the moan that issued from her lips. Oh yeah, she felt it.

She pulled his wrists together and used one hand to hold them while the other one slid down his chest and over the front of his jeans. He hissed as she squeezed his erection, his hips bucking up into her palm. She made quick work of the button and zipper, slipping her hand inside his boxers to wrap around his thick shaft.

He cried out as she squeezed him and then slid her hand along his length, getting familiar with his size. His breathing increased and he strained against the hold she had on his wrists. She could see his jugular vein pumping in time with the throb of his shaft.

She remembered exactly what he had tasted like and she wanted more. She traced her tongue over the vein and felt him shake beneath her. She felt her own body respond as well. Her nipples hardened until they ached as they brushed against his hard chest and wetness seeped between her thighs.

God she wanted to taste him again. She opened her mouth, her fangs elongating instinctively as the tips pressed against his flesh. As she gave in to the bloodlust, her mind brushed against his.

…fuck yes, do it…I need it again…anyway I can get it…please…

His impassioned thoughts were the cold water she needed. He really was using her. He wanted the bite so badly that he would have taken it from anyone. He probably would have let Armand do it if he could have. 

She quickly disentangled herself from him and rolled herself off the bed. He laid there for a moment, staring up at the canopy, his breathing laboured, his exposed cock still twitching on his belly. Eventually he slowly turned his head to stare at her. She stood there, glaring at him, her arms crossed over her chest in a closed off stance.

“Get out,” she ground out from behind clenched teeth.

“What?”

“
Get out.
You don’t care about me. You just want to use me. You’re like any addict and I’m not going to give you your fix so get the hell out.”

He rose off the bed, quickly stuffing himself back in his jeans, and he tried to move towards her but she stepped back. His expression changed from one of confusion to one of anger.

“Since I came here, you’ve been screwing with my head the entire time, running hot and cold. Do you think dealing with your issues is some fucking picnic for me?”

His words hurt but her pride kept it from showing on her face and she regarded him with cold eyes.

“Consider my issues no longer your problem. You know where the door is, use it.”

“Fine, I don’t have to deal with this bullshit.”

He pivoted on his heel and stormed out of the room, slamming the door in his anger. The moment the sound stopped reverberating in her ears, she started sobbing.

She had been so stupid to think that Gabe would ever want the real her. Of course, all the Shadow Walker accessories were what got him interested. She had thought that everything would be easier now. She had been so wrong.

***

Armand came through the back door of the house and listened for the sounds of his cousins. He heard them in the basement and he followed the sounds of electronic gunfire downstairs to find the three of them sprawled on the sofa playing video games

“I did it!”

Matthew was the only one who looked up from the game at his words. Liam continued pressing the buttons on his controller and a rocket launcher went off on the television screen. Michael cursed animatedly, tossing his controller aside before looking up at Armand.

“You did what?”

“I took the first step in my plan for revenge.”

That got everyone’s attention, the Xbox forgotten as gunfire went off and the words GAME OVER flashed on the screen.

“Armand, what did you do?” Liam asked with trepidation in his voice.

“I went to the Zopyros home and I killed one of their humans.”

Liam cursed and threw his controller across the room while Michael jumped up, his face paler than normal. “Are you out of your fucking mind?”

“I did what needed to be done.”

Michael’s eyes went wide at that. “Let me get this straight…you killed a
Datores Sanguis
from one of the most powerful clans and on their own land, no less. You are out of your fucking mind!”

“You need to leave here now.” At his solemn words, all of them turned to look at Liam. “You’ve declared war between our clans. The clan will disown you and you’ll be marked as a rogue. The Enforcer will be after you and if you stay here, we’ll be charged with conspiracy.”

“You are abandoning me, your blood?”

Liam shook his head, a look of disgust on his face. “You made the choice, not us. If you want to go rogue, that’s your business but you aren’t going to drag us down with you. None of us are going to freeze because of you.”

They were cowards, every last one of them. They had sat there in the bar, complaining along with him but when it came time to put up, their words amounted to nothing more than a giant pile of bullshit. None of them had the balls for this and he should have seen that all along.

“Fine, I don’t need a bunch of pussies like you. But mark my words, you’ll be sorry that you abandoned me. I’m going to change things in our world.”

Armand turned his back on his clan and mounted the stairs leaving the same way he had come in. He stood on the lawn, staring up at the night sky. Even though he couldn’t point them out, he knew that tonight there were stars missing. They had flashed out years before and their last rays of light had finally reached Earth before fading out.

Just like that woman tonight. She had been shining the night before and now she was gone, her light snuffed out forever.

He smiled at that thought, bolstered by the taste of her blood still in his mouth and the tears that had clung to Cordelia’s cheeks. Being abandoned by his cousins didn’t matter when he had that memory and, of course, the information he had gathered at the manor tonight. That would definitely come in handy during the next phase of his plan.

His only problem now was figuring out where to spend the daylight hours. He supposed there were probably some abandoned buildings downtown but the thought of sleeping in some condemned hovel had no appeal.

As if on cue, he heard the back door open and he turned to see Matthew standing there.

“Did they send you to make sure I was gone?”

“No.”

“Then why are you here?”

“I have a cabin in the woods. I’ve kept it secret from everyone. We could go there.”