Austin's Lost Bride (The Sterns) (2 page)

Her abilities were less combat and more on the sensitive side of detection, tracking, and stealth, but he couldn’t deny her talent. She really was one of the most powerful hunters alive today, he thought. But here she is trying to be a lone wolf and do her own vampire crusades wet work.

The police were approaching the exit as they neared it and she swung him in front to go out first. Their eyes met and she gave him a wicked grin. He was fucking dead. We’re not really veiled and she’s going to push me out and get me killed by a cop.

He started to say something but she squeezed his hand and with her other hand put one finger to his lips to silence him. He stayed quiet and thought how he wanted to put his mouth around that finger and suck it slowly. Her eyes looked triumphant as if he had lost some contest he didn’t even know he was in.

They moved outside and she swung back into the lead. She led them with all the ability of a well-trained hunter. They were past the police in no time. He looked back and saw them enter the now empty and evidence-free building.

He motioned to her to follow him and she did. He needed to reach his car and head off to a hunter safe house. They had plans to make.

Chapter 2

Rebecca’s head spun on the ride to the safe house. Why did she taunt him like that? She looked over at the muscles in his arms as he drove and began to ache in her legs.

NO. Nothing is going to happen. She kicked him out of her life years ago and there is no going back.

The safe house wasn’t too far away and they made it in less than ten minutes. Everything they would need would be there. Especially privacy to do their work. Rebecca looked around the neighborhood. The houses didn’t look that bad, a few obviously abandoned, but still the type of area where people wouldn’t ask a lot of questions.

Your typical 1950’s bungalow, she thought. Nothing to attract suspicion. Rebecca grimaced as she opened her car door.

“We need to get your arm bandaged,” said Austin.

“Fine.”

“I’ll go grab the medical kit.”

Rebecca ignored him and went inside. Why did he still have to pretend to care about her when she knew he didn’t? A quick look around and they both were sure they were alone. Austin went off to get the medical supplies.

Clothing started coming off in the bedroom and Rebecca realized just how absolutely filthy she looked. She locked the door to keep Austin out for a moment. A picture of him breaking down the door and throwing her over his lap as he ran his hands down her body surged in her mind. Rebecca touched her pussy and bit her lip when she realized how wet she had become.

She felt like such a failure. Years of training and she couldn’t even control her own body over a man who proved he didn’t love her. Rebecca could barely think about what happened tonight. She had let down her father and her mother. But especially her father.

She hadn’t killed Mannus. Her parents would have. Both of her parents had been great hunters. Her parents would have turned the tracking and planning she had made over the years into a decisive kill.
They would have been smart enough to not go alone,
she thought. Austin was like them in both his hunting skill and in his heart; so she once thought. It was why she had been so attracted to him.

Mannus’s escape was her fault. She had to be the one to avenge herself on him. Do what Austin hadn’t. Find that something she knew she had been missing since that night five years ago. But she broke the rules. Every rule. She went after him alone and blew the hunters’ best chance of killing him in over a hundred years.

She sat silently, not wanting to think about how badly her plan had went.

Austin knocked. “Your arm needs bandaging.”

“One sec. I need to put a robe on.”

Rebecca moved to the closet and found what she was looking for. A few simple robes hanging in the closet. Not the best, she thought, but good enough for now and more comfortable than what she had on.

She certainly looked better in it. Her breasts barely fell inside the fabric when she tied it off. She opened the door, her body silently rebelling against her as her nipples hardened at how they longed for Austin to touch them like he had done years before.

Austin felt his throat fall into his stomach as Rebecca opened the door for him. The tan robe covered her body to perfection. Even dirty and bleeding she was beautiful. His heart skipped a few beats as he watched her breasts nearly come out of the fabric as she breathed.

“Well,” she asked impatiently.

“Right. Have a seat on the bed and let me take a look.”

“It’s not that bad. It hurts, but it’s just a flesh wound. Not too deep.”

“You can still get infected. It needs to be cleaned.” Then maybe I could wash the rest of your body, he said silently to himself.

He held her arm and washed it thoroughly, the scent of her clean skin hitting him more strongly than he had expected. She was right. It wasn’t that bad of a wound, but it would still ache badly and need a few stitches.

He’d sew her up. Make it right. As well as he could anyway. Do at least this one task for her and not let her down. He’d let her down. He didn’t know if he could have killed Mannus all those years ago. But he failed; now Rebecca was hurt, and almost killed. He had let her and her family down.

He started getting the supplies to sew up her arm.

“We need to go after Mannus again. No later than tomorrow night,” he said.

“Are you crazy? He knows we’re after him and close. He’ll be prepared.”

“He’s weak now. The weakest he’s ever been in centuries, I think. We need to hit him again quickly.”

“It sounds like you’re being the reckless one now.”

He applied the alcohol to her arm and she winced. He put his other hand on her knee trying to reassure but she brushed it off.

“I bet you enjoyed that,” she said.

“There are other things I’d enjoy more. But this is serious,” he said with visions of his hands on other parts of her body.

“Fine. What’s your plan then? How can we possibly go after him so quick?”

“He’s wounded badly. He needs blood to heal and lots of it. But he used most of his blood to escape. Between my bolt and the magic in your dagger he should have been trapped, but he had greater blood power than we thought.”

She gritted her teeth as he started sewing her up.

“The hunters charted his vampiric family tree pretty well. We know how much blood power a vampire of his generation should have. He must have used most of it to escape. Whatever blood he has left he’ll use to heal as he sleeps today or he’ll wait until night and go hunting for easy prey to replenish. Either way he’s relatively defenseless even if he has a few thralls around.”

“Do you have an actual plan or not?” she said.

“Of course, why do you think I wanted the blood left on your dagger?”

Rebecca loved it when he took charge. The heat grew inside her as he explained his idea. She had always liked that about him. He took control of their situation as he once controlled her body and her muscles ached in memory of his touch. She had to get away from him, to regain control of herself and what was going on. But Mannus needed to die. Permanently.

So they were sticking together. She wasn’t sure how much she really trusted him anymore. Once she would have willingly put her life in his hands, or sacrificed herself for him. Now she was still angry that he was the one who saved her only an hour before.

He would get the weapons ready, while she would use some of the Mannus’s blood to track him. The rest of his blood would go into a special vampire poison that would only work on Mannus.

The vampire would finally die and she could get on with her life. Doing what? She hadn’t ever really thought about it. But the end was real now and so close.

Her arousal was unbearable and she decided to hit the showers. The intense cold would take the edge off, she hoped. Plus she was still dirty.

The water started coming down and she stepped into it. Cold ran down her skin as the water covered her body. She let the water and soap cleanse the dirt and she pulled her hands up from her hips to her breasts, pinching her nipples. The last time she made love with Austin was in the shower. It was the night before their wedding.

He had run his hands through her hair, down her breasts and into the curls of her heat. The memory pushed her breathing faster, and her own hand went to her pussy. Massaging the outside of her swelling lips, she couldn’t stop the memories from coming back to her. How he had kissed her so gently, biting at her lips, and probing her with his tongue. She slipped a finger inside herself. The tension in her sex was growing with just the power of her memory of him.

He isn’t even here, she thought. He shouldn’t be able to do this to her any longer. She pulled herself from the edge. Her body longed for the release that was so close.

Not like this, she vowed. His memory wouldn’t do this to her. His memory wouldn’t control her any longer or have power over her. He’ll be the one to lose control, she swore. Her eyes hardened and she smiled. She knew exactly what she was going to do.

But business before pleasure, she mused.

The next few hours were hard. She made sure to avoid him completely. Told him to stay away or he’d ruin the spell with his presence. It was a lie, but it seemed to work and he stayed out the rooms she was in. He steered clear of her so easily that it irritated her endlessly. He didn’t seem to even want to be in the room with her. He didn’t love her so why did she care? She had wanted to finish her work first to help calm her desire down. It didn’t work.

She finished her preparations before noon and quickly cleaned herself up again. Safe houses didn’t come with perfumes and such, but she managed to look good, she knew. Would he realize what she was really doing?

She put on a fresh robe and went looking for him. Thuds coming from the backyard led her to him.

When she opened the back door, her breath left her. Split logs were scattered on the grass around Austin. Eventually he would make them into stakes. But standing there, still holding his axe, and wearing nothing but his shorts, he was pure male heaven. His chest and arms rippled with lean muscle and her heart stopped for a beat. She knew her mouth was open.

In less than a second she regained her composure. She was in control. Not him. He would lose his control first, she swore. Not her. She gave him her biggest smile and made her move.

Austin stopped his work when the back door opened. It was Rebecca and for a brief moment he thought her face had become softer. But something was different. Her expression held a determination that he thought more suited to a hunter on a mission.

The second she smiled those thoughts vanished. Her face became inviting as she walked over to him. He felt a tingling in his groin and laid down his axe.

She was by him in seconds. Reaching her hand up, she wove her fingers through his hair and pulled him in for a kiss. Her tongue moved across his lips before parting his mouth to explore deeper. His shock lasted only a moment and he was kissing her back with all his passion. His tongue danced with hers.

Her hands moved down his chest to his abs and then made quick work of his shorts. His cock was engorged and throbbing. She pulled back from their deep kiss and regarded him. With that sweet smile still on her face, she untied her robe, letting it fall to the ground.

They stood naked in front of each other. Her breasts had tightened around the nipples and longed for a touch. His heart pounded at the idea that she wanted him as much as he wanted her, and that she could finally bear his touch again. His shared determination to kill Mannus with her and avenge her family must have won her over.

Even in the outdoors air he could smell her musk.

“Rebecca,” he said, and her smile became bigger, triumphant even, if he didn’t know better.

She reached down for his cock, rolling it around in her hand. He reached for her breasts but she brushed his hand away. Working his cock slowly, she gently bit his nipple. Her mouth moved down his body, biting, licking, and kissing his skin.

His skin was aflame with pent up desire. Desire for her. For the five years they had lost together.

In an instant her lips were on his cock. A quick bite of the head and she opened and drew him into her mouth. He let out a groan that had been building in him since he saw her.

She kept one hand on his balls, massaging them. His cock moved in and out of her mouth. With a quick move she pulled him in deeper, the tip of his cock hitting the back of her throat. His knees began to buckle and he dropped to the ground.

For a moment his cock was free of her mouth, but Rebecca would have none of that. Moving back in closer, she began licking the underside of his sensitive manhood. Pleasure tore through him and he felt his muscles began to twitch.

Rebecca felt the change and brought him back into her mouth, increasing the tempo of her sucking. Austin knew his release was close, but he wanted to be in her heat.

Resolve filled him and he managed to pull her off his cock.

“Not like this,” he said, sitting up.

Rebecca kept smiling and kissed him. His own saltiness and sweat filling the taste in his mouth. She sucked his lip into her mouth and laid on the ground for him.

“Fuck me,” she said.

Her legs opened and wrapped themselves around his waist. She was wet and he ran a hand down her slick folds. Her hand grabbed his as it was playing with her swollen sex and she pulled him down to her chest. When her breasts hit his chest, she repeated her request.

“I said, fuck me.”

She kept smiling and Austin felt something out of place.

It didn’t matter. A quick positioning with her hands on his cock and her legs pulled him into her with a quick pull.

Once inside, his cock knew what to do. His hands gripped her hips and he drove into her without any thought. He loved her. He always would. He would make up for the time apart.

His hands reached for her hair and he pulled her head to him for another kiss.