Dark and Deadly: Eight Bad Boys of Paranormal Romance (125 page)

Then she heard his voice. “You can’t come? Are you sure?” A pause. “No, that’s okay. I’ll call someone else.” A heavy groan followed.

Her senses came alert and her drowsiness disappeared.

Zeph was in trouble. She could feel it now.

She slipped from bed, wearing a long t-shirt of his that hit her mid-thigh.

She hurried into the living room, took one look at his pallor, and made a quick decision. “Zeph, you need to feed, as in now.”

He looked up at her, his arms around his stomach, his body bent over in pain. His blue eyes had a wild, almost feverish appearance.

“Oh, dear sweet Goddess, why didn’t you reach for me? Damnit, you’re the most stubborn man.”

She dropped in front of him, and swept her hair away from her throat. “Take what you need.”

He probably couldn’t have stopped if he’d wanted to.

He fell on her, pushing her to the floor, his fangs at her throat, striking to just the right depth. Withdrawing his fangs, he sucked hard, too hard.

She beat at his shoulders. “Zeph, you’ll collapse the vein. Ease back.”

He pulled away and struggled through several deep breaths. He resumed, more gently this time, and her blood began to flow.

She patted his back. “Better. Much better. You’re okay. You’ll be okay. You’ll be fine.”

He was so close to death, the man who had saved her life just a few hours earlier.

She’d never fed a vampire before, but after about a minute, she began to experience an extraordinary euphoria, like nothing she’d ever known before. Her heart felt light and free. She realized she hadn’t truly felt normal in weeks.

Now that she did, she rubbed his shoulders but wanted more than just the feel of the flannel beneath her hands.

She caressed his bare neck, and slipped her fingers down his back, savoring his warm skin. Her hips arched against him and that’s when she felt that he was fully aroused, a very natural state for a vampire, lying on top of a woman and taking from her throat.

He groaned, and though he continued to nurse at her throat, he pathed.
Don’t do that, Alesia. I won’t be able to control myself. Damn all the elf lords, but your blood has the flavor of berries steeped in wine. I’ve never tasted anything like this in my life. And the power that comes with each hit. I feel like I could do anything.

Maybe it was his voice in her head, or maybe her own latent desire for the man, but desire flooded her like a sudden tsunami. She pulled away from him and started tearing at his pajamas.

He froze and drew back, blood on his lips, his eyes still wild and feverish, but for a completely different reason this time. He tugged at his shirt as well, which popped all the buttons, and at the same time, he freed her in order to strip out of her t-shirt.

By the time she’d tossed it on the carpet next to her, he was fully naked, pushing her shoulders back, and spreading her legs with his knees. Desire and need poured through her, rolling like waves as he positioned his cock at her entrance. He pushed into her while at the same time, she angled her throat once more. Only this time she exposed the vein on the opposite side.

He grunted his approval, a low guttural sound, more animal than man. It sent shivers chasing down her abdomen to sink deep into her well.

With his fangs fully emerged once more, he struck again, then latched onto her throat.

With his cock moving in and out of her well and his mouth sucking greedily at her vein, she cried out over and over. His hands skated up and down her sides, then over her breasts. With so many sensations pummeling her all at the same time, she was already close to an orgasm.

If she’d known that feeding him would be like this, she would have offered her neck the first time they’d been together and never stopped.

Hard as a rock, he thrust faster now, grunting as he sucked. Her fingers played over the thick muscles of his shoulders, arms and back, then moved lower to caress his buttocks. She savored the flex-and-release as he pumped into her.

Zeph, you feel like heaven. You’re so damn built.

At that, he left her throat, his eyes at half-mast, pupils dilated. He supported himself on his forearms as he looked down at her, thrusting into her, hair swaying. She loved the sight of her blood on his mouth and leaned up to kiss him, to taste what he’d tasted.

He kissed her fiercely in return, rolling his hips to drive his cock deep. She sensed a vibration building in him, then suddenly felt it through his cock, an intense sensation that tripled the pleasure she experienced. She gasped and moaned at the same time.

“Zeph, what are you doing. Sweet Goddess that feels good.”

“That’s my mating frequency and I wanted you to feel it inside you.”

She cried out repeatedly as the sensation took her to the edge.

“Alesia, are you ready for me? Are you ready to come?”

She met his gaze, her body writhing against his. She nodded and pleasure released from her in a driving swell.

He moved faster, which caught up the sensation and carried it deep. The vibrations brought everything to a peak that made her scream. Ecstasy ripped through her, riding her body, up and up, causing her heart to expand and her lungs to fill with fiery passion.

He shouted his release, pumping harder still, as his body twisted over hers. “Alesia!”

She saw stars or she swore she did. Pleasure kept flowing and moved in sweet aftershocks so that she continued to grind against him, savoring the last bit of ecstasy.

Finally, he settled down as well and lay on top of her, though breathing hard.

She gasped out a few breaths as well. “I’ve never felt like this before,” she murmured. “Like if you weren’t holding me down, I’d float all the way to the ceiling, then back.”

She giggled and with her body lax, she wrapped him up in her arms. She held him, petting his back, now damp from his exertions. She kissed his neck.

“Thank you. More than anything in the world, I needed that.”

***

Zephyr knew what Alesia meant about floating. He didn’t feel anchored to the earth right now at all. Instead, he drifted somewhere in space, his mind and body free of everything that had caused him even the smallest pain or distress.

He couldn’t remember why they’d ever broken up, or what could have been so important to keep them apart. Not when he felt like this, when he loved her so much. And he didn’t want to spend even one more second away from her.

At last he recovered some of his strength and leaned back a little so he could look at her. “I love you, Alesia. I’ve loved you from the moment I first kissed you. Do you remember, at your diner about a year ago? I was the last customer to leave and I was at the register and I knew I had to kiss you.”

She smiled softly, her green eyes full of affection. “I remember.” She pushed strands of damp hair away from his forehead. “I fell hard for you, too.”

He nodded, but his throat grew tight. “I don’t want this to end.”

“I don’t either.”

He kissed her for a long moment, wanting her to feel the depth of his love for her.

When she dug her nails in his back, the sensation firmed him up again and he began moving inside her once more.

“Yes,” she whispered against his lips. “Make love to me, Zeph. Make love to me.”

***

When Alesia woke up again, hours later this time, she was back in Zephyr’s bed. She saw that the east-facing shutters had been raised a few inches and a dusky light showed through. Full-dark would come along in less than an hour.

How long had she slept?

Stretching, she turned over. She had a cloth between her legs and that made her smile.

Zeph had made love to her for a long time after he’d fed. She felt well-used and sore in just the right places. She pulled the comforter up to her chin, then giggled.

She’d even opened a vein for him a second time, which seemed to have added to his stamina. She couldn’t recall just how many times he’d made her come—maybe a dozen.

He appeared in the doorway carrying two mugs, and looking sexy as hell with his black hair combed away from his face and hanging just above his shoulders. He wore a navy t-shirt and blue jeans. He’d already donned his usual black leather boots, the kind he’d worn last night, the kind he always wore when hunting the enemy.

Of course, she set those thoughts aside, the ones that had to do with what he did for a living.

“Want some coffee?” He smiled as he asked, then moved toward the bed.

She scooted to a sitting position, arranging the pillows behind her. She held out both hands. “I’d love some. Have you been up long? Geez, you look good. In fact, I don’t think you’ve ever looked better.” Maybe that much sex had put a glow on his skin.

When she took the mug, he leaned down and kissed her on the lips, then moved to sit beside her. He angled his body so she was able to see the deep pinch between his brows, a sure sign that something was troubling him.

“What is it?”

He sighed and sipped his brew. “I’ve been on the phone with Gerrod for the past half hour.” Mastyr Gerrod ruled the entire realm.

“With Mastyr Gerrod? Really? Is he going to send more of his Guard into our area to look for those wraith-pairs?”

“Actually, we didn’t discuss that.”

She wanted to ask him why not, but her faeness kicked in suddenly. She felt that he was about to tell her something she probably didn’t want to hear. He’d never looked more serious, not even when they’d argued about his belief he had a duty to kill any wraith-pair that got within ten feet of him.

Her nerves did a sudden summersault. “What did you talk about then?”

When he didn’t answer right away and the frown on his brow deepened, she reached out and touched his arm. “Tell me, Zeph. What’s going on?”

He lifted his gaze to her. “I haven’t had a single cramp in my stomach since you fed me the first time a few hours ago. Not one.”

The words went into her brain, but she couldn’t seem to process what he was telling her. She knew what all the mastyr vampires of the Nine Realms went through, that fairly small group of men, not more than a few hundred in number, who’d achieved mastyr status. Something about the increase in power made it impossible for their blood needs to ever be satisfied.

Until now.

There was only one type of woman who had the ability to resolve a mastyr’s chronic blood starvation, to bring an end to years and sometimes even centuries of constant suffering:
a blood rose.

She stared at nothing in particular, her gaze skating over the beautiful paneled wall opposite, the fireplace burning three good-sized logs, a metal sculpture of a woman with long robes, arms flung back so that she appeared to be flying.

She couldn’t make sense of what he’d just told her.

Finally, she met his gaze once more. “I don’t understand.”

“Just think about it for a moment.”

“Well, I know that a blood rose can relieve the symptoms that a mastyr lives with.”

He didn’t say anything. He just stared at her, but his clear blue eyes had a haunted look.

She sipped her coffee, then shook her head. “Zeph, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not a blood rose. If you’re feeling better, it’s because you’d gone way too long without being fed, and you were close to dying. Besides, I can’t be a blood rose. I don’t have that kind of power.”

“All right, let me ask you this. Have you experienced any particular heaviness in your chest lately? Gerrod said Abigail felt that way before she first fed him, and still feels that way when he’s in need. Apparently, as a blood rose, she’s constantly producing a steady supply for him.”

She just stared at him.

He continued, “Gerrod also said that sex becomes an amazing ride, with the mastyr achieving greater stamina. Any of this sound familiar yet?”

She squeezed her eyes shut, disbelief rolling through her in the most painful way. “Oh, dear sweet Goddess, I’m a fucking blood rose.”

“I have no doubt that’s what you are.”

She shook her head. She didn’t know what more to say and she definitely didn’t want to speak the truth aloud that she could never serve a man who killed wraith-pairs the way Zeph did.

“I want to take a shower.” She shoved her mug at him. When he took it from her, she threw the comforter back and headed swiftly to the bathroom.

Once beneath the warm spray of five jets, she let loose with a heavy fit of screaming.

And Zephyr showed great sense by leaving her alone.

Zephyr listened to Alesia shout her rage and oddly enough, the sound eased something inside him. Similar feelings held him captive and he was pretty sure that her venting somehow gave expression to his own deep frustration.

Now that he’d grappled with all that had happened in the last few hours, he knew they were in trouble. The incredible taste and effect of her blood on his system and how extraordinary it was to make love to her had thoroughly disrupted his view of his world.

For one thing, he hadn’t been free of pain like this from the time he’d first become a mastyr vampire over thirty-five years ago.

Now he was free, yet at the same time, he felt possessive of Alesia, something she really didn’t need to hear. Gerrod had warned him that other mastyrs would be drawn to her from this point forward and unless he was willing to complete the bond with her, she’d be fair game. In addition, she’d feel compelled to serve any mastyr who came to her.

The thought of Alesia with another men set him to pacing in front of the living room fireplace. He couldn’t bear the idea of anyone having access to her body either from sex or from her vein.

But the worst part was that nothing about Alesia being a blood rose changed their substantial differences. The fact that she could relieve him of his chronic blood starvation didn’t eradicate her belief that what he did night after night was a great evil. During the past year, she’d made her opinion clear a hundred times over.

He didn’t know what the hell he was supposed to do.

But as he paced and as Alesia’s shouts finally grew fewer and fewer, he knew one thing for certain, that he didn’t want to go back to his life without her. He loved her and he needed to be with her and it sure didn’t help that he’d been celibate since they’d broken up.