Bite, My Love (3 page)

His lips
twitch.

Bastard.

I lunge
for his throat.

Dodging
to avoid my clawed hands, he snags my wrist. He grins evilly eyes
ablaze with victory. Yanking hard, he pulls me off
balance.

I
stumble. Sprawl over his lap, all elbows and knees, stiffening when
something hard and hot presses into my stomach.

His
triumphant laughter putters to a suggestive chuckle. He’s
unconcerned I can tell the hard length digging into my lower
stomach isn’t a fallen branch. It’s not desire for me that’s given
him a hard on, but the excitement and anticipation of the pleasure
he’d steal from my body in blood.

“
Clumsy for a Lycan.” His patrician nose nudges my hair.
“Unreasonably compelling,” he murmurs. “Endearing.”

The steady inhalation of my scent causes a shiver, snapping
me from paralysis. Clawing at the ground, I strain to be free.
I
need to shift. Run howling from danger
on four legs stronger than Human limbs.

Answering
the fear she can fall amassing inside, my wolf spirit brushes under
my skin.

The
atmosphere charges with fierce energy and my muscles tingle in
exhilaration. Her power builds to bursting, and I pant my
eagerness.

Something that takes seconds is – unbelievably – too slow.
I
feel
the
Vampire gathering his power to respond.

I scream
my urgency and reach as far as I can with my arms outstretched. She
surges forward. Just a few moments, a little more power from the
earth.

The
Vampire straightens me over his lap and pins me with a heavy hand.
“Nej. Stop fussing.”

My
mounting shift is ruthlessly cut. The imminent presence of my wolf
vanishes.

Left
dangling she tumbles into the recesses of my mind and lands in an
ungainly sprawl. Shattered. It’ll be hours before I’m able to piece
her fragments together.

“
Oh my Christ.” My fingers rake the dirt expecting claws. “I’m
going to fucking die.”

Vampires can disrupt the flow of earth energy when a Lycan
shifts, but to
feel
it happen is indescribable. He switched off my power – a
vital part of who I am – as if it’s
nothing.
An afterthought.

Face
buried in my hair, he murmurs exotic words. He’s not struck, but
his posture reveals no plan to release me even if his tone is soft
and comforting.

This
precious moment when he dallies is an opportunity at freedom, but I
can’t think. How am I supposed to think when long fingers hold onto
my wrist? Branding me while his thumb burns my skin brushing side
to side?

“
You tricked me.” I’m hot and cold all over. Robbing me of
coherent thought? A shockingly, well, shocking erection presses
into my hip with overwhelming insistence. “You have your
strength.”

“
Of course.”

“
You hurt my wolf sprit.”

“
You forced my hand calling on her.”

Confusion
shoves aside fear. I’m not supposed to try and protect myself? “I
don’t understand.”

My
fingers shift left to right searching the undergrowth. A rock?
Sharp stick? Something. Anyfuckingthing. I can make him bleed
before he sinks fangs into me. If I hit hard he might be stunned
enough to let go.

“
It’s better this way. Gentler.”

“
For who? What difference does it make if you hurt me?
Attacking someone is not a gentle thing.”

Stilted,
he says, “My legs.”

He
remains silent after this revelation that explains
nothing.

I suppose
he means he didn’t take advantage when I held him because of his
legs? Damage to his body would’ve been minimal if he’d attacked me
before. I stare at the ground. Confusion furrows wrinkling my
forehead smooth. “Liar.”

“
Irrelevant.”

I hear
the apology. A wish to avoid causing pain doesn’t mean he won’t
harm me taking what he needs.

My mouth
opens to scream, but the air has left the forest. Tears smudge the
gloomy trees. “You’re going to bite me.”

He
strokes the small of my back. “Ja.”

With
nothing to lose, I try to crawl away.

His grip
tightens. “An audacious but flawed plan.”

“
Screw you. Choke on me, undead freak.”

Circular
caresses low on my back lengthen into ovals. A stroke stops below
my nape, and his hand rests heavy on my spine. “Crass insults are
unattractive in a lady.”

“
I’m no lady.”

I’m
rotated so my back curves over his arm, as if we’ve ended a violent
tango and in a passionate culmination of seduction I’ve succumbed
with dramatic flourish.

The
longer he holds me the more difficult it’s becoming to remain
unaffected by his dark lure.

“
I’ll tell you what’s unattractive. Your arrogance. ” Lie. I
find his confidence way hot. “My inability to stop yapping because
I’m afraid is natural.” Truth. I have the verbal shits and it’s
embarrassing as hell. “Attractiveness to you is not a priority.”
Lie. I so badly want him to be attracted to me.

Eyes
slipping away from mine, he looks thoughtful, but then his pupils
dilate. He makes a guttural noise. Response stalled, his attention
is captivated by something just below my face. His fingers dig into
my waist. They relax when I wince. Curious, I follow the path of
his gaze to see my chest heaving.

The
movement makes the swell of my breasts strain the top of my muddied
bodice.

Fiery
heat cascades across my throat and chest. I wiggle to shift the
material higher. The bodice stays in place, and my breast makes a
jiggle for freedom. I freeze. The dark curve of my nipple is
showing. “Don’t look.”

Eyes
sparkling, his head dips until his nose is a twitch from mine.
“Quiet.” He’s so close I have to alternate my gaze to stop from
going cross-eyed.

But what
I see is clearer than any emotion I’ve caught from him.

Desire.

“
You
like
what you–” I snap my jaw shut.

Rearing
back, he turns the focus of his considerable attention back to my
eyes.

I pale at the stark hunger in his stare and backpedal. Fast.
“I don’t–that wasn’t–
shit
.”

“
Close your eyes.”

“
Why should I do anything you–”

“
Shut. Up.” The clipped command is edged with irritation. “And
close your eyes.”

I open my
mouth to argue, but his eyes change. Profound. Terrifying. My gasp
of fear hitches and my eyes water until the corners
sting.

His power
plunges into the heart of me and turns it to ice.

Fumbling,
my fingers stop their explorative furrowing and curl under into
fists. They shake. I don’t want him to see me cry, but a droplet
escapes my lashes and streaks down my cheek in a theatrical zag.
Another drops onto my cheekbone and makes a run for it across my
pounding temple into my hair.

I reach
for my wolf, but she’s held under the Vampire’s thumb.

Cold lips
brush over the base of my neck. I tremble. Fangs scrap over my
skin. A scream works its way to the surface and eases past my lips
as a shrill keening.

His cheek
rubs my collarbone then presses to my chest. “Listen to your heart.
Is this all it takes to break you?” Sinuous body winding tight, his
grip becomes painful. Angelic features twist and darken with
malignant intent. “So little enticement.”

“
Toying with victims might be part of the feeding for you, but
I won’t play.”

“
You know nothing of my character. While it is dark, it is not
cruel. Does thinking of me as evil help you prepare for what’s to
come?” He smiles, a reveal of sharp teeth that makes his beauty
terror. “It is not my fault you permitted me gaining the
advantage.”

“
Why are you still talking?”

His smile
widens. Fangs glint in the moonlight. “Indeed.” This is it. He’ll
transform into a monster and tear out my throat.

My
charging heartbeat becomes a single humming note. Moments pass.
Mouth dry, I shake so hard the world vibrates. More seconds of
silence. Lightheaded and heavy eyed my shaking
diminishes.

Gazing at
him, I’m held captive.

I want to
say his eyes are cruel. That he looks sinister and evil, but he
doesn’t. He just doesn’t. His throat bobs like one who is parched,
but he does not move. I hold still as another minute passes, held
close in what’s become an embrace. I’m too scared to react. Too
stunned to understand.

“
What I feel is
not
possible
.
Insane
thinking.” Stunned blue eyes
blaze starkly in his pale face. “What
is
this?”

Is he…? Is he
arguing
with himself over
feeding
off me?

What
force stops an injured Vampire draining his prey? A conscience?
Curiosity?

Is he
talking to himself or me? Do I respond or stay silent?

“
Do it.” Hmm. That faint wobble might have ruined my attempt
at bravado.

Grip
loosening, his fingers slide across the exposed skin on my arms.
His focus intensifies. Narrows. Invisible trails of fire kindle on
my body where he studies me. Lips ghost across my pulse and a
hesitant kiss is pressed to my neck. Pulling back, he
waits.

Under his
steady gaze, my lips tingle. My hands unclench as a warm weakness
spreads from my fingertips. I’m confused. How can terror become
want? I glare at my traitorous limbs then wheel my eyes to meet
his.

Solemn
questioning quickly clouds an answering flash of desire. “You feel
it too?”

Feel it?
My desire is a living, breathing presence. “I should
lie.”

He
nuzzles my throat. “There’s no need. No one but us will know.” He
runs his nose across my skin from my collarbone to the curve of my
chin. “Luscious. The taste of your skin is rich. Like warm apples
and cinnamon. You smell vivid. Hot.” He licks, letting his tongue
dither and rasp. “Scrumptious.”

Blood
roars in my ears. The strangled whimper that escapes me is absurdly
pitched. The gloomy edges of the forest roll forward to cover
everything but him in darkness. He’s this magnificent thing I want
to touch and taste.

We lock
gazes.

Just like
that, I shake off his hold.

And he
lets me go.

Crouching
in readiness not a foot away, my panicked gulps are no longer from
fear or exertion. “I could run.”

“
Yes.”

“
Lead the Enforcers here.”

Leaves
crackle under my palms. I shift closer. “They’d surround you. Hem
you in. Tighten their circle as a couple distract you.”

He leans
forward. “Come here, Harmony.” Voice husky with sensual compulsion,
it’s the first time he’s said my name.

Closing
the distance, I place my knees either side of his thighs to
straddle him. Back where I started. We fit. Perfectly. I press my
hips into his. His rigid length aligns with my heat like a missile
seeking explosion.

Holding
me this time, his hands find my waist and mould to its contours.
His thumbs apply pressure to the flesh above my hipbones making the
contact overtly sexual.

Apart
from a brief tremor he doesn’t move, only watches. “What happens
then?”

His
thumbs circle slowly. A thick and hot coil of delirious pleasure
has my head falling back. I expose my throat.

He nips
the bare skin. “What then?”

The sharp
pinch under his fangs jerks me from the precipice. He stares.
What’s going on behind the stormy blue?

I stare
back confident sanity abandoned my body. This creature makes me
feel startling things. Things that make me want to howl and roll
over to show my belly.

The
moment stretches.

Breaks.

He gasps
and his delicious rocking stops. “I can’t.” His face transforms
into a nightmare.

Twin
points of pressure on my skin are not enough to prepare me for the
shock of his fangs tearing into my flesh, and his mouth clamping
with brute force.

CHAPTER THREE

He bites
me.

Accounts
I’ve read of Lycans being bitten by a Vampire describe intolerable
pain from the poison they excrete.

The only
pain is the ache between my legs. No wonder Humans fall so
helplessly to such predatory charms.

He sucks
harder, pulling deeper.

I rub
myself on him to relieve the pressure and he grinds back. My
canines lengthen and my eyes burn. I want to bite him too. Sink my
teeth into his flesh and brand him so that he remembers me
forever.