Bound by Night (The Moonbound Clan Vampires) (21 page)

“I’m not going to kill you, Nicole. I promise.”

“Maybe not you, but come on. I’m not stupid. Your clan can’t let me live. I know too much.”

“I won’t let that happen.” He framed her face in his hands and bored his gaze into hers. “Listen to me. You’re not going to die. Let’s get Neriya and go from there.”

She nodded, and very slowly, the atmosphere around them shifted from anger and confusion to an electric sensuality she couldn’t ignore. She licked her lips, and his gaze dropped to her mouth, focused on her tongue. In agonizingly slow motion, he lowered his head until there was only a hairsbreadth of space between them.

“I want you, Nicole.”

“Ten minutes ago, you were with another female,” she pointed out, hating that she sounded so petty and sullen.

“Because I had to be. But I didn’t want her. Not this way.”

“This way?”

One corner of his made-for-sin mouth tipped up as he brushed his lips across hers. “This way,” he whispered.

His lips were warm, the kiss lingering, until she went up on her toes to take more. As if that was the invitation he was waiting for, he swept her up, and with his vampire speed, he laid her on the bed.

Still kissing her, he stretched out alongside her and palmed her butt to bring her against him. This felt so strange but so good, and when he slid his hand up under her shirt, she arched to give him easier access. He dragged his mouth along her jaw, his warm breath caressing her skin.

With expert skill, he unhooked her bra and slid his hand around to cup her breast. Her breath came in a hot rush at his intimate touch, and then it didn’t come at all when he reared back to pull off her shirt and bra. His own shirt didn’t fare well, the sound of tearing threads filling the room as he ripped it off. He was magnificent in his urgency, the cords in his neck straining, the muscles in his arms flexing and rippling with power she’d witnessed several times now.

“I’m not going to ask if you’re ready for this.” His voice was rough, his movements rougher as he tugged off her jeans, leaving her in only the horrid granny
panties. “I know you are. I can smell your desire.” His fingers delved between her legs to stroke the damp cotton, and they both groaned. “I can feel it.” He prowled up her body, his expression leaving no doubt about his intent. “But if you want to stop, tell me now.”

Stop? Was he crazy? In answer, she wound her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her, taking a kiss from him. He tasted like dark chocolate, with a metallic bite of—

He tasted like that skanky vampire he’d been sucking on.

Raw, scorching jealousy and possessiveness lashed at her. A few days ago, she’d have spent time analyzing the emotions, but she wasn’t that person anymore. She wasn’t in a safe, controlled environment. She was in the wilderness with people who embraced their instincts and remembered their primitive roots. The wildness had permeated her mind, body, and heart. For the first time, she was going to embrace her instincts, too.

She gripped him hard, digging her nails into his neck. Scoring him. Marking him.

He hissed and ground his erection into her hip. Oh, but that wasn’t good enough. While he thrust his tongue into her mouth, she wedged her hand between their bodies and yanked open his jeans. His hard length sprang free, and when she took it in her fist, the animal noise he made sent a shiver of dark anticipation through her.

He rose above her, his back arching as she stroked him. She was captivated by the fierce ecstasy in his expression, his slightly parted lips that glistened with her kiss and displayed a hint of ivory fang. When she’d
started to think fangs were sexy, she had no idea, but she suddenly wanted them to glide over her body, delivering tiny pricks of pleasure as they went.

As if he’d read her mind, Riker fell forward and took her breast in his mouth. He bit her lightly, then laved the area with his tongue, circling her sensitive flesh and moving inward until he reached her nipple. The very tip of his tongue flicked back and forth, teasing her so deliciously. His palm drifted over her belly and slipped under her panties. She parted her thighs, eager for his touch.

He didn’t disappoint. His fingers delved between her folds, and she cried out at the tender brush of one fingertip over her clit.

“You’re so wet,” he said against her breast. “So silky.” He dipped one finger inside her, and she cried out again, already so close to orgasm that she wanted to weep. “I want to taste you.”

Good God, yes
. Oral sex had never been her favorite thing in the world, and truth be told, she’d always shied away from it. Too intimate. Too embarrassing. But suddenly, she couldn’t deny Riker this; suddenly, she wanted it.

Riker moved down her body, kissing and licking, stoking the fire inside her into an inferno. When he settled himself between her legs, his massive shoulders spreading her thighs impossibly wide, she was sure he’d feel the heat blasting off her.

He didn’t remove her underwear. He closed his mouth over the fabric and licked. The feel of his firm tongue pushing the cotton against her was like nothing she’d experienced before, and she reveled in the
almost-there tease, rocking her hips upward to meet his mouth.

“That’s it,” he growled. “Take what you want.”

“I want to come,” she growled back.

Tunneling his fingers under the elastic, he pulled the panties aside and licked her again, this time flesh on flesh. She jerked at the intensity of the contact, and when he dipped his tongue inside her, she nearly arched off the mattress.

He wasn’t gentle as he lapped at her, using his tongue as an erotic weapon that made her body writhe so violently that he had to hold her in place with a firm grip on her hips. Dizzying pleasure ricocheted through her, and when she heard the sound of tearing fabric, she knew he was as far gone as she was.

He lunged against her, thrusting his tongue deep. It swirled and stroked, taking her so high she thought she might pass out. She was at the very edge of orgasm, hovering on a blade’s edge, but he denied her, skillfully bringing her down for just a heartbeat before working her up again.

“Please,” she rasped. “I—”

She cut off at his sudden change of tactic. A quick lick up her center, and then she felt the most curious, smooth caress over her clit. His head moved from side to side as her pleasure climbed higher, and that’s when she realized he was using the length of one fang to stroke her. The knowledge sent her over the edge and right into the most intense, mind-blowing climax of her life. It hadn’t even ended when Riker covered her with his body and plunged inside her.

She came again, even though he wasn’t moving,
was hovering over her, watching her with that menacing, predatory gaze.

“Multiple orgasms,” he said in a guttural whisper. “That’s what the fluid from our fangs does. Makes everything it touches extra . . . sensitive.” He drove his point home by slipping his hand between them and flicking the tip of his finger over her swollen knot of nerves. Yet another orgasm struck with the intensity of lightning, short-circuiting her entire nervous system with pleasure.

She clawed at his back, encouraging him to get on with it. She had to see him come. Had to see this hardened, battle-scarred vampire lose himself to the ultimate pleasure.

Pleasure
she
would give.

A low, rough sound burst from his chest, and then he was pumping wildly, slamming his hips into hers, and shoving her up the mattress with each powerful thrust. A fine sheen of sweat formed on his skin, making his ropy veins stand out starkly on top of quivering muscles. The sounds of sex filled the room, the slap of flesh, the panting breaths, the wet slide of his shaft in her core.

Ecstasy built again, and oh, how easily he did this to her. She struggled to breathe through the waves that came hotter and faster with his increasingly frenzied thrusts. He churned above her, teeth bared, tendons straining. Flames of pure bliss licked through her veins and gathered at her core until she couldn’t stand it anymore, and she locked her legs around his back so hard he grunted.

She lifted her hips to take him so deep he was
forced to adjust his position and grind against her in massive, undulating surges.

“Yes!” she cried. “Oh . . .
yes
!”

She convulsed in a rush of exhilaration and pleasure that expanded outward from her center and coalesced in a mind-blowing release. The joy of the moment was more than physical; it was emotional on a level she’d never experienced before. Nothing had ever felt so right. So perfect.

Her body clenched around Riker, bucking and writhing. It was only as she came down, her panting breaths filling the room, that she realized he wasn’t moving. He’d gone still, his thick arms trembling on either side of her, his gaze dark with pain.

R
IKER COULDN’T BELIEVE
this. How the hell could he be in bed with a beautiful female and not be able to get his body to cross the line of ultimate pleasure? He was hard as a rock, his balls tight, his cock throbbing with the need to come, and yet he couldn’t quite get there.

“Riker?” Nicole breathed. “What is it? What’s wrong?” She shifted, squeezing her hot, silky core around him, and he hissed.

“I can’t. Fuck, I can’t.” Shoving his fists into the mattress, he pushed himself off her on trembling arms. When she sat up and reached out, he lurched to his feet.

“What is it? I mean, it’s, um, obvious you
can
.”

He stood there like a pathetic dolt, his chest heaving, his skin coated in a glistening sheen of sweat. Between his legs, his sex stood erect, shiny with her desire and swollen with his.

“I can’t,” he repeated, this time with a frustrated, angry edge.

“Come here.” She reached for him again, but he spun away, swiping his wadded jeans off the floor.

“It’s not happening.”

The mattress creaked. “I thought that when a mate dies, the imprint is destroyed.”

He swung around. “What do you know about imprinting?”

“I know it happens to male vampires but not females. I know a male vampire can only imprint on vampires, not humans. And I know imprinting doesn’t happen by choice, but we don’t know what makes a particular female imprintable for a particular male.”

“Imprintable?”

She sniffed. “It’s a valid word in this case.” She tucked her hair behind her ear, but if she was trying to tame it, she’d failed. She had the most gorgeous, sexy bed head ever. “The bond also means you can only have sex with the female you imprinted on, but I thought that link broke when the female died.”

“It’s not a bond,” he muttered. “A bond implies that two parties are involved.”

She rolled her eyes. “But it’s supposed to dissolve when the female dies, right?”

“Let it go, Nicole.” He tugged on his pants. “And males
can
have sex with females other than the one they imprinted on. They just don’t usually want to. The link is so powerful that if a male imprints on a female he hates, he’ll usually fall for her in time.” He gripped the zipper tab and cursed when the zipper stuck. “Guess they don’t teach you everything in your vampire anatomy classes, huh?” It was a low blow, but she didn’t seem fazed.

“I just want to understand.”

“You don’t need to.”

She threw up her hands in disgust. “So that’s it? You break into my room like a madman, convince me that you want me, and then get me off while you hold on to your precious control? Is this a joke? A way to humiliate me?” She snatched up her own jeans and shoved her feet into them.

He stared. Stared more when she bent over to pick up her bra. “Why would I want to humiliate you?”

“Maybe because I’m a lowly human? Maybe because you hate me? I have no idea. But what else am I supposed to think? If your imprint will still allow you to have sex with me, why did you stop?”

If anything, the fact that he’d wanted her
despite
the fact that she was human was a rebuttal to her argument. “I’m not imprinted.”

“So it
does
break with the death of a mate.” He turned away, but she grabbed his arm and forced him back to her. “Right?”

“Yes.”

“But?”

Shame and self-loathing made his skin tighten. “But I never imprinted on Terese,” he snapped. “It was just one more way in which I failed her.”

Nicole blinked. “So this is about Terese? How have you managed to have sex with anyone else, then?”

He shook his head, feeling abruptly deflated. “I haven’t been with anyone in a long time.”

“How long?”

He really wished she’d stop with these probing questions. “Long enough.”

“Long enough that what? You forgot how to do it?” She tugged on the flannel shirt that nearly
swallowed her but somehow looked good on her. Maybe because it brought to mind images of her wearing one of his shirts . . . with nothing on underneath. “Because I have to say, you handled yourself pretty well a few minutes ago.”

He smiled, his ego getting a nice stroke. His cock jumped as if feeling left out of the stroking. “Trust me, I remember how.”

“Then what’s going on?”

His face heated. “I haven’t touched another female, except to feed, since Terese died.”