ETHAN’S MATE (Book One: The Vampire Coalition) (4 page)

As he sipped from her neck, he guided her mouth to
his shoulder, nicking his skin. Instinctively, she latched her
mouth onto his hot flesh, feeling moisture under her tongue. She
lapped, taking his blood into her body mindlessly as she continued
to lose every sane thought in her brain. The taste of him was like
an aphrodisiac, flooding her with more erotic sensations. He tasted
like Ethan, and he was intoxicating.

She felt him release her neck and he ran a finger
over the punctures lightly.

As she slowly came down from her erotic high, Ethan
pulled her away from his shoulder wound and swiped his finger over
the cut. It stopped bleeding, but the cut was still there.

She lay in his arms, satiated and breathless;
realizing that at some point Ethan must have dissolved his shirt
and slit his shoulder.

She had ingested his blood…and she had relished it.
At that moment all she had wanted was to share every part of
Ethan.

As she recovered her senses she realized that some of
her aches and pains were gone. Had her body filled out a little?
Brianna felt a strength pouring through her that she hadn’t felt
since her illness.

“I feel stronger, Ethan.” As she pulled back to look
at his face, her euphoria over her improved physical condition fled
when she glimpsed his sweating, flushed face and wild, dark eyes.
Alarmed and concerned, she whispered, “Ethan, talk to me. Are you
okay?”

He was trembling and his eyes caressed her naked body
with a hunger that was anything but normal.

Brianna pulled the covers over her nudity and grabbed
his face with both hands, forcing him to meet her eyes. “Ethan,
talk to me. Tell me that you’re okay,” she demanded, her voice
filled with anxiety.

He stared into her eyes and drew a deep breath. He
let it out shakily as he answered slowly, “I’m fine, Brianna.”

“You are not fine.” She kept her hands on his head,
forcing him to meet her eyes. He lifted one of her hands from his
face and kissed the palm.

“You’re my mate, Brianna,” he answered in a low,
tortured voice. “It’s difficult not to take you.”

“Then take me, Ethan. Or let me help you.” Her hand
slipped down to his jeans, stroking his erect shaft over the cotton
material. She could feel the immense size and hardness of him and
she wanted him desperately. She wanted him inside her, stretching
her, filling her.

“No!” Ethan gripped her wrist gently and moved her
hand away. “Not now, Brianna. You’re not strong enough. Vampires
are extremely sexual creatures with their mates.

“Then why did you do that?”

He kissed her softly on the forehead. “To make it
easier for you, love.” He shot her a devious grin. “It was easier,
wasn’t it?”

“Oh, Ethan,” she sighed, not knowing whether to be
exasperated or amused. She carefully wrapped a sheet around her
body and snuggled into his chest. His arms came around her
protectively, sheltering her. She felt so… safe.

She absorbed the feeling, enjoying the moment… until
her peace was disturbed in a rather startling manner.

Chapter 5

“Hello!” A cheerful, deep voice emanating from the
end of her bed made Brianna jump. If Ethan hadn’t had her held
steady in his arms, she would have been five feet in the air.

Her eyes shot to the end of the bed. Three very large
men stood there, all with varying expressions.

The one speaking was smiling.

One was brooding.

The other wore a dreamy expression.

The fact that they all looked suspiciously like the
man lying beside her couldn’t be a coincidence. She had seen these
men in Ethan’s memories. Rory, Liam and Nathan! His brothers!
Although she couldn’t tell which one was which, she assumed the
cheerful one and the dreamy one were the twins. All of them looked
alike, but those two were nearly identical in appearance.

“What are you two doing?” The cheerful one. “We’re
Ethan’s brothers. I’m Rory. This is Nathan.” He motioned to the
brooding one. “And that’s Liam.” He waved a hand at the lost
looking one.

Ethan didn’t answer but she could see him getting red
in the face and he was clenching his jaw. How did you smooth over
the fact that they had popped into her bedroom uninvited? “Ethan
and I… we were just… we… we were just talking and getting to know
each other.” Okay…she knew it sounded lame as she stuttered the
words. For God’s sake… they were in bed and she was completely
naked. What the hell was she supposed to say?

“Oh, that’s good. But I really hoped you were… oof!”
Rory bent over as Liam slammed his elbow into his gut. Liam shot
Rory a sharp glance as Nathan just smirked, a wicked expression on
his face.

Brianna shot a nervous glance at Ethan. His jaw was
clenching harder as he rumbled. “Get… the… hell… out!”

Brianna wrapped the sheet around her securely and
slid off of the bed. “It’s very nice to meet you. But this is not a
very good time. Maybe you could just give us a few minutes to get
dressed and we can chit chat.” One tiny woman shooing three men
twice her size toward the door was an amusing sight. Amazingly…
they men went. “Help yourself to anything in the kitchen,” she
called as she slammed the bedroom door behind them.

Brianna planted her hands on her hips and raised a
brow at Ethan. “I think we need to talk to your brothers about
their manners.”

“I’m going to kill them all!” He stood and clothed
himself in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt with his magic. He dressed
Brianna in similar attire.

Brianna wrapped her arms around his waist and rested
her head on his shoulder. “You know you aren’t going to kill them.
They’re your brothers.”

She felt him shrug. “We try to kill each other all
the time. But this time I’m really going to do it. They know better
than to do something like that with a vampire who’s just found his
mate.”

She could tell he was calming as she stroked his
back. “Maybe we should just talk and get to know each other.”

He sighed. “Okay… but then I get to kill them.”

“No killing today, Ethan.” She shuddered. “I’ve
already seen you in action once today and that’s enough.” She
pulled back to survey his face.

He looked recovered from his injuries, but
disappointed that he couldn’t kill his brothers and she bit back a
smile.

“You’re going to be sorry you told them to help
themselves.” The corners of his mouth turned up in a small, knowing
smile.

“Why? I don’t mind?”

“You will,” he told her in an ominous voice as he
took her by the hand and led her through the door to meet his
brothers.

******

Ethan stretched as he awoke from his day sleep. He
immediately sought his mate but she wasn’t sleeping beside him.

It had taken Brianna five days of ingesting his
vampire blood to regain her normal strength and to build up the
added strength she would need for their mating. His was the blood
of an elder and it was powerful, but Brianna had been severely
weakened.

His brother Liam was a healer for their brethren and
between his magic and Ethan’s blood exchanges with Brianna, she had
regained her strength. He hadn’t touched her sexually since their
first exchange. He had come so damn close to losing control that
day that he didn’t dare.

She said she felt incredibly strong, but Ethan knew
it wouldn’t last. His mate would start to decline again soon. The
mating needed to happen as soon as possible.

Ethan knew he was losing control. His desire to
possess his mate was overcoming logic and reason, making it harder
and harder to contain his possessiveness, his jealousy.

He couldn’t even stand to have his brothers around
her. It nearly made him feral with jealousy and possessiveness.
Brianna belonged to him and he hated any other male touching
her…even his brothers.

Unfortunately, she actually liked his brothers and
they, in turn, seemed to adore her. Ethan hated it. He might
appreciate it later, but right now he wanted no one near his mate.
His brothers knew it… and they taunted him constantly. They popped
in often and lingered, eating Brianna out of house and home. She
was charmed, and he was pissed. She just laughed and went to the
grocery store after their visits
. The bastard!
They were
enjoying his agony. He sincerely hoped they all found their mates.
Payback would be hell.

Ethan leaned back against the headboard of the bed as
he grumbled to himself, “I don’t like dealing with unknowns.”

He acknowledged to himself that the whole situation
was an unknown. His friend and fellow Coalition member, Adare, had
mated a few months ago. Adare was three hundred years old and
that
situation had been an unknown. Before Adare’s mating,
no mated vampire had ever crossed the age of one hundred and fifty
before finding their mate. There were some who were never called
and remained unmated, but the ones who were mated now had been
summoned early, soon after they had lost their ability to have
sex.

The intensity of Adare’s possessiveness and desire
had been beyond the normal mating instincts because of his advanced
age.

And Ethan was two hundred years older than Adare.

“I’m so screwed.” Ethan spoke aloud with quiet
resignation. He was already caught up in a web of desire and
possessiveness for his mate from which he couldn’t escape.

Did he actually want to escape?
Hell, no
! He
had waited hundreds of years for Brianna and she was a miracle. But
he hated the unknown aspects of the situation. If he had a problem…
he solved it. If it was evil… he killed it. His life had been
fairly simple… until he had found his mate.

Now he was faced with a “situation unknown” and he
didn’t like it. The only thing he knew was that his mating instinct
was nearly out of control. It grew worse with every day that
passed. Every day he spent with Brianna brought another reason to
like her… or a dozen reasons to love her.

I love her. I’m not just drawn to her as a mate. I
love her.

“Oh hell… I’m totally screwed,” he whispered
fiercely, knowing his love added fuel to his fire… and he was
already a raging inferno.

Had Brianna not been in her weakened state, he would
have tried to seduce her. It probably would have taken the edge off
of his need to mate, a need that was sitting on a hair-trigger at
the moment, just waiting for a tiny nudge to make it explode.

Just as he had decided to roll out of bed, Brianna
came breezing into the bedroom.

His heart accelerated and his muscles clenched. For
Ethan, she brought light where there was darkness and he
desperately needed to be inside her. He needed to consume her. He
wanted her so damn badly that he heard a low growl erupt from his
throat and he tried to swallow it.

He bit back a groan as his eyes roamed her body. She
was wearing a pink night shirt that molded her curves and ended mid
thigh. It wasn’t meant to entice… but it did. Ethan could see her
nipples through the thin material and the shirt caressed her
beautiful, perfectly formed breasts.

His already stiff cock twitched as he smelled her
arousal. His eyes sought and locked with hers. He could see the
heat and desire in her gaze as she eyed his naked chest. She was
wanting. And he needed to satiate her.

Mine!

She slid into the bed beside him, never taking her
eyes from his.

Ethan snapped, sanity deserting him. He needed to
possess this woman and he couldn’t wait any longer.

Chapter 6

Brianna no longer knew if the desire she scented was
hers or Ethan’s. She heard a low growl from his throat and she knew
he needed her as much as she needed him. She had been like a female
animal in heat since she had first touched him. As she had regained
her normal strength, her desire had grown into a mass of raw
need.

Brianna knew that her vampire was an alpha who needed
to dominate sexually, especially before they mated, and she wanted
to be dominated by him. She wanted him hard and fast and she didn’t
care if it was rough. She was beginning to think that getting it
hot and hard was the only thing that would quench the fire.

Being sexually dominant was part of his vampire
nature and she accepted it. Hell…she wanted it. She didn’t want to
tame him and she knew she couldn’t change his dark desire even if
she wanted to. And she definitely didn’t want to. She wanted him
wild, untamed, out of control. She wanted to submit to whatever he
needed. They were so connected that she knew satisfying him would
satiate her. And right now… right at this moment… he needed to
dominate her to reassure himself that she belonged to him.

Brianna reached under the bed and brought out the
soft restraints that she had bought a few days ago for just this
occasion. She dangled them in her fingers in front of Ethan. “You
might like these.”

Ethan groaned, “Yes. I want to tie you down so that
you can never get away. Mine.”

“Then take me, Ethan. I want it, too,” she whispered
softly as she attached the restraints to her wrists, her voice
heavy with passion.

“Need to fuck you. Take you. Make sure that you
belong to me,” He tore her nightshirt straight down the middle,
baring her breasts to his hot, hungry gaze. He pulled it roughly
off of her body. He didn’t have the control to use magic. He was
being ruled by mating instincts and he grabbed the end of the
restraints and attached them to the headboard.

His words had ramped up her desire, her need to have
him take her. She pulled at the restraints, feeling the resistance.
She would be his to possess in any way he wanted to, needed to.

Brianna gasped as his mouth took hers, devouring it.
It was a kiss born of desperation and scorching hot raw need. His
mouth clamped down on hers, his tongue sweeping into her mouth,
searching for hers.

Brianna opened her mouth, welcoming him. Their
tongues mated, entwined, and dueled against each other. His hands
reached for her breasts, running over them possessively, roughly.
His fingers pinched her nipples, sending a shock through her system
and saturating her panties.