Eternal Hearts (3 page)

Margaret gasped, her heart stopping
in recognition of whatever the two men were to her.

She gasped again, patting her chest
and falling forward slightly in gratitude as her heart began beating again.
What was that? She had never felt anything like it.

Her doors flew open and shut just as
quickly. The two men whom she had just seen by the road, now sat opposite her,
inside her carriage.

Hell!

She moved as far away from them as
possible and pressed her back against the seat. She was quivering with fear at
the same time as she longed to reach out her hands to touch the two men. Or
were they something else? They certainly
looked
human.
 

“Who are you?”

The two men looked at each other and
turned to smile at her.
The blonde on spoke first.

“I am Michael, and this is
Nathaniel.”

She nodded, her ingrained manners
forcing her to be polite despite the awkward situation. What were they doing
inside her carriage? And
how
had they
even managed it?

“Your name?”
The dark haired one named Nathaniel asked her. His smooth voice caused
warmth to pool between her legs, and her lower belly ached with need.

Margaret gasped at the foreign
feelings the mere presence of these men caused in her body.
 

She had hated the bedding by her
husband and had been very grateful when he had got sick and stopped pestering
her. But Margaret wanted to wiggle in her seat from the heat flooding her belly
for these two men.

There was something else there, too,
deeper than the physical. She
needed
to feel them.

Margaret forced her mind to work and
answer the question posed to her.

“Lady Margaret
Tonnington
.”

The men shared another glance, and
she clenched her teeth. Margaret hated when people shared secrets or spoke
through looks. She wouldn’t have it.

“Would you two stop doing that? At
least have the decency to think aloud rather than sharing those strange looks.”

The two men stared at her for a
moment. Then the blond one grinned, his beauty devastating her anger.

“I do apologise, my lady. Are you
still married?”

The darker one clenched his fists in
his lap, and Margaret had the strange vision of him pounding her dead husband
in the face. It was a rather satisfying vision.

“I am a widow.”

Both men visibly relaxed, and she
giggled. The noise was obscene and inappropriate, but Margaret couldn’t help
it. Why would they be so happy to learn she was a widow?

Again the men smiled, looking
pleased by her behaviour. The smile died on Margaret’s face as the implications
of their behaviour occurred to her.

“What is wrong with you both?”

They laughed aloud this time, the
dark haired one reaching out for her.

“You are so much more beautiful than
I thought you would be.”

His fingers brushed her cheek, and
she gasped, blushing crimson as she slid further away.

“Do not touch me.”

The dark haired one, Nathaniel,
turned to Michael, the blond one.

“What should we do? Explain
everything first?”

Michael shook his head avidly.

“No. We turn her now and explain
later. We have eternity to make it up to her.”

The blond one moved to sit beside
her, holding her neck at a strange angle, his teeth looking sharp and white in
the dark.

Fear crept up her spine. Her
connection, whatever it was, demanded she reach out for them, but her logical
brain demanded she realize how much danger she was in.

“Please don’t hurt me.” She
whispered, leaning into his caress despite her fear.

“Michael, do not do this now. If she
is who we know her to be, we cannot force her.”

Michael groaned and bent forward,
pressing his lips against her cheek. Heat spread along her face and jaw.
Margaret’s eyes slid shut in pleasure.

“Nathaniel, she smells almost better
than you do to me. You know she is the one. Why should we wait?”

Margaret shivered in fear and
arousal. What were they talking about?

“Michael.
Stop!”

She was released, and Margaret
wrapped her arms around her body, suddenly cold. She didn’t know what these men
wanted, and her reaction to them was disturbing her.

“You scared her.”

Nathaniel frowned and reached out
his hand, rubbing her hand once before sliding back into his chair again. His
hand left just as much heat as Michael’s touch had. How was that possible?

“We apologize.”

Margaret nodded and placed her hands
in her lap again. Her fear had abated, and now she was just confused.

“What do you want from me?”

She knew that if they wanted to hurt
her, rape her, she could do little to stop them. But they had no wish to harm her.
She could feel it. True, she could also feel the violence roiling through them,
especially the blonde one, but it wasn’t directed at her.

She felt wanted, revered in a
strange way.

“We just wished to meet you, Lady
Tonnington
.” Nathaniel spoke again, his tone soothing and
his face calm and pleasant.

She smiled reluctantly as an unknown
force pushed her to share more with them. “Margaret.”

They exchanged another look, and she
groaned. How many times did she have to say it?

“You’re doing it again!”

They turned back to her, looking
contrite, and again Nathaniel spoke.

“We are pleased you shared your
name. It suits you.”

She blushed, his compliment obvious.

The carriage slowed as it made its
way up her driveway. Margaret couldn’t believe the regret that filtered through
her. Should she invite them inside?
Was
she insane?

“We will leave you. But we will be
back.”

Michael made a pained noise in his
throat, but Nathaniel put a hand on his leg, stilling his movements.

“Are you all right, Michael?” she
couldn’t help asking.

Michael looked away from her without
smiling. Shocked and hurt by his rejection, she looked back at Nathaniel.

He smiled, though it looked
forced
. His brown eyes were not smiling with his mouth.

“Please forgive us. Michael does not
wish to leave you, but we must. May we visit again tomorrow?”

She laughed aloud at that one. What
a strange combination of polite passion they both were.

“Visit?
This isn’t precisely a proper house call, gentlemen.”

They both visibly shivered at her
words, and identical smiles spread across their faces.

“Tomorrow night?”

Pleasure spread through Margaret at
the mention of seeing them again. She nodded before she could even think about
her answer.

“Would you come for dinner?”

Michael groaned and slid forward on
his chair, baring his rather pointed teeth. Nathaniel’s arm came up and pushed
Michael back.

What was Nathaniel? Michael’s older,
over-protective brother?

Nathaniel nodded his head at her.

“I apologize again. He is hungry
now. We must go and will see you after dinner tomorrow night. Nine o’clock?”

She nodded, but she didn’t
understand. Why was he looking at her as though she was food? Michael’s body
shook with the restraint it took not to do what he wanted. And what was it that
he desired?

Margaret shook her head at herself.
Why did she feel so safe when she should feel terrified? But her instincts
served her well, and she was riding them.

The carriage rocked to a stop, and
she nodded again. “Yes, that time is perfect.”

The two men were looking at her
intently, and all she did was glance out the window briefly at the footman as
he opened the door. They were gone when she looked back.

She gasped, her body cooling
instantly. Why hadn’t they stayed? She felt their loss as though someone she
loved had died. Her chest was tight, and a tear pricked her eye.

How very strange.

“Are you all right, my lady?”

She wasn’t sure that she was.

Margaret gathered her scattered
wits, put her hand in the footman’s, and stepped out of the carriage, into the
cold night.

“I am fine. Thank you, Simon.”

She stared out into the night,
feeling their presence nearby but unable to see them.

She raised her hand and waved,
hoping they saw her, turned and walked inside. Her night consisted of dinner
alone and then to bed. Exactly what she believed she had always wanted.

Turning to look out into the dark
once more before entering her home, she smiled. She might be aching for them,
but they had promised to return. That settled the internal flutter of fear
inside of her that the idea of never seeing them again aroused.

They would be back.

****

“You fucking bastard!” Michael spat
at Nathaniel, his thirst so high his fangs were extended and wouldn’t retract.

Nathaniel ignored him as they walked
through the streets searching for someone to feed on. Michael knew that he
needed blood, now. Anyone would do.

His skin was clammy, and his thirst
burnt his throat. It felt like someone had set his oesophagus alight.

He and Nathaniel had been searching
for a sweet smelling female for him to feed on when he had smelled Margaret. He
had moved before he had decided he needed to follow her. Never had he smelled
anyone like her, the magnetic pull, irresistible. Even with Nathaniel in the
beginning, he had never felt anything like it.

Michael groaned and dug his
fingernails into his hands. He couldn’t decide which emotion was stronger.
To feed or fuck?
Thanks to deprivation and the arrival of
their mate, he needed both so badly.

They heard a woman scream and took
off at a run. They found a dirty smelling gentleman forcing himself on a woman
who looked like a whore in an alley. It was easy to see that she was not
complying.

Nathaniel reached the woman at the
same time as Michael grabbed the disgusting man.

Michael sank his fangs into the
man’s throbbing artery, and sweet, lovely blood flowed into his starved body.
He groaned and pulled the man closer, his cock hardening.

He drank and drank, his thirst
unquenchable, and for once, Michael didn’t care. This man did not deserve to
live.

Nathaniel stepped up behind him and
gently but persistently pulled his head back.

Michael found a shred of humanity
still left in his soul. So he disengaged, and the unconscious, but still alive,
man slid to the ground. He looked around. The whore was gone. Nathaniel must
have taken her back to the house she came from.

His thirst now quenched, his
rock-hard cock now had priority. He looked at his mate.
His
beautiful, generous, far too controlled mate.

“I need you.”

Nathaniel laughed and stepped
closer. He dropped his hand down to Michael’s cock and rubbed it hard.

Michael’s breath hissed out between
his teeth, and his eyes slid closed. If his mate would just continue doing
that, he would come in no time. But no, his mate had other ideas.

Nathaniel whispered into his ear. “I
don’t want another alley-way fuck, my love. We have found our third. Let us go
home and celebrate.”

Michael shook with his desire but
forced it down. His lover was right, and they both deserved more than what his
body had in mind.

He turned in Nathaniel’s arms and
kissed him. He slid his tongue along Nathaniel’s and rubbed his body against
Nathaniel’s hardening one.

“You are right. We are soon to be
complete. Let’s go.”

Michael grabbed Nathaniel’s hand,
and they ran home. Once there, they kissed and licked every inch of each other’s
skin and took turns fucking each other.

They were insatiable, the nervous
energy working through their systems in different ways. Michael wanted to go
back to Margaret and claim her, turn her so that they could be together
forever. But he also knew why Nathaniel wanted to wait, and a small part of him
silently thanked his mate for being the reasonable one.

The both came several times before
sunrise, finally collapsing due to sheer exhaustion and the bliss of knowing
they had found their third.

Before Michael passed out that night
he realised Nathaniel was right. Margaret needed to join them willingly. Fall
in love with them. And that would mean they would have to woo her,
God help us.