From the Shadows (A Shadow Chronicles Novel) (26 page)

“Yeah, that’s good, Mom,” Race replied. “Been a while since I saw you last, and sixteen years since you’ve seen the Singletons. Plus there’s some stuff I’d like to talk to you about myself.”

“
Well, all right then. I’ll give you a call when I know for sure, okay
?”

“Sure thing, Mom.
See you soon.”

After saying “I love you” to each other, Race hung up the phone, then leaned forward and kissed me deeply. Mark and Saphrona returned to the kitchen a moment later.

“Do I even want to know what was so funny?” Mark asked.

Race grinned. “Mom was wondering if you were afraid Saphrona would drink your blood, and said she hopes you’re careful.”

Mark’s face split into a huge grin and he started to laugh, though apparently there was something I was missing as Saphrona swatted his arm. “You told him?!”

“Told him what?” I queried. “What’s the big deal, you guys told me about you drinking his blood.”

Saphrona’s face colored and she looked away from me. Mark leaned close to her and I heard him tell her he was sorry, that he hadn’t intended to share anything personal, but that “Even guys gotta talk to their buddies about the good stuff.”

I looked at Race, who was shaking his head. “What am I missing?” I asked.

Clearing his throat, he looked at me and said, “Let’s just say that what you told me this morning about bloodsharing during sex with a shapeshifter is true for vampires too.”

***

The subject had been changed quickly to a topic less personal, and eventually the four of us moved into the living room to watch a couple of movies. When it came time to bring the animals in, I helped Mark with the horses as Saphrona went to retrieve Angus. As I was placing the twin yearlings Brego and Hasufeld into their stalls, I looked around the barn and suddenly thought of how empty it seemed to have just the five animals in it. When Saphrona had come in and settled the bull into his own stall, I asked her if she planned to get any more animals, as the replacement barn had the same number of stalls as the old one.

Saphrona shrugged. “I think I might get Angus a girlfriend, and since I’m continuing my horse breeding program with
Brego, I’ll add a mare or two. But I haven’t decided yet whether or not to get more of the others.”

The set of her shoulders was sad, and I regretted bringing the subject up. I was about to apologize for reminding her of her loss when she went on with, “Actually, I’ve been thinking of offering boarding services, maybe even horseback riding lessons. Maybe it’s time to try something different.”

I smiled. “I’d take lessons. I don’t think I’ve been on a horse since I was four.”

The hybrid returned my smile and I was glad to see her spirits lift. “I can start teaching you to ride tomorrow if you want—I won’t even charge you. By the time I’d be ready to start a riding program next spring, you could help teach.”

“I don’t know about that,” I said with a laugh as Mark came up to her and put his arm around her. I said goodnight to them then and headed up the stairs to join Race in our apartment.

As I crossed the threshold and shut the door behind me, Race was coming out of the
bathroom, and he was shirtless. My nipples and my sex reacted instantly, and I had to fight to control the surge of heat that flashed through me. There was something Race and I needed to talk about and I needed to do it with a clear head, not one that was fogged by lust.

Something in my expression must have given me away, as Race’s greeting smile dropped slightly as he came toward me. “Jules, what’s the matter?”

“Can we sit down and talk for a minute?” I asked.

Race frowned. “Oh-
kay,” he replied, drawing out the word as he followed me to the couch. He sat down next to me cautiously, taking my hand as he did so. “Babe, what’s wrong?”

I looked at him. “Nothing is wrong, per se,” I said. “It’s just… Saphrona and I had a discussion with Anna Tracey this afternoon while we were cleaning up. She told us how she and Jake had met. How she thought he was perfect for her and wished that the magic thought so too.”

Drawing a breath, I continued. “Race, I don’t know what anyone else saw today, but when I watched those two, I could see plain as day that they’re in love, deeply in love. And I know that they’re going to get hurt bad when one or both of them imprints on someone else.”

“Jules, they knew the risk they were taking when they decided to start seeing each other,” Race pointed out.

“I know that. But seeing just how strong their feelings are I thought… I mean, I realized that…that maybe we should do it. Go through the ritual and give those two a chance to see if the bond of love they share now is but a hint of the bond they could have as mates.”

“Juliette…there’s no guarantee they’re going to imprint on each other.”

“I know that too,” I replied. “But I want to give them the chance to find out. I want to give other unmated werekind the chance to mate with each other.”

I looked into his eyes then, holding his gaze as I said, “And I want to stop being afraid—afraid of the memories of my attack, of the nightmares that sometimes come in my sleep. I want to not be afraid of losing you or dying because I did when there is every reason to believe that both of us will die of old age.”

His eyes had widened by this point, his breathing somewhat shallow. “Sweetheart, are you really sure about this? It’s a really big step for us to take.”

I nodded slowly. “I know it is.
And if you need time to think about it that’s okay, I’ll understand. I know that this is something we both have to be all for, that we both have to be ready and willing to take on the responsibility that will result from the ritual. It’s just…”

Lifting a hand to cup his cheek, I smiled lightly. “Being with you the way we are
now gives me strength. Being with you the way we will be when we do this…it will make me even stronger.”

For a moment Race did not respond. He only looked into my eyes, studying me, looking for confirmation, perhaps, that what I had just told him was how I really felt. Then suddenly he was kissing me, and I felt my skin heat as it had before. My hands threaded into his hair, holding him to me as our mouths fused, our tongues fighting for
dominance.

Race reached for the hem of my shirt, yanking it out of my jeans. We broke apart only long enough for him to pull it over my head, and then we were kissing again. After reaching behind me and unclasping my bra, he pulled the straps down my arms and freed my breasts, which he promptly lowered his head to feast on.
I whimpered as his hot, wet tongue teased my sensitive flesh and cried out softly as he took my tingling, hardened nipple into his mouth. He suckled and nibbled the aching nub as he laid me back on the couch, my hands gripping his shoulders tightly.

Race favored my other breast with the same lavish attention as he trailed a hand down my stomach to the waistband of my jeans. When he had the button undone and had pulled the zipper down he curled his hand over my
mons and began rubbing my labia through the cotton panties I wore. I was already wet and aching for him, and the fire in my veins blazed ever hotter at his sensual touch.

“Race…” I
said, his name a breathless plea on my lips.

I felt him smile against my skin and then his head came up to mine. Race looked into my eyes as his stroking became more insistent. Feeling the tension building inside me I bucked against his
hand, then threw my head back and moaned loudly.

He chuckled, the sound
sinfully sexy to my ears. “I love the sounds you make,” he said, his voice low and thick with need. “But let’s not do this here.”

Confusion pu
shed its way into my lust-mired brain, but before I could question him he had stood, and then he reached down and lifted me into his arms, kissing me deeply once more as he carried me toward the bedroom. One inside he set me down on my feet and without needing to be told I quickly pushed my pants and underwear off my hips, toed off my shoes and stepped out of them. I backed against the bed as Race dropped his jeans and boxers, freeing his impressive erection. Though I had sat and moved to the middle of the bed, I rose and reached for him the moment he joined me, stroking and teasing him as he had me.

“Oh, Jules…” he moaned, tipping his head back as I stroked him with one hand and massaged
his sac with the other.

Grinning I said, “And I love the sounds you make.”

Race looked back at me, his grin mirroring my own, and then he took me by the shoulders and urged me to turn around. I knew what that meant, and my heartbeat thudded even faster against my chest as I complied, turning to face the headboard and leaning down to prop myself up on my elbows. Race leaned over me, pressing his manhood against my buttocks as he kissed and licked along my spine, down to where my rear began, and back up again. When he reached my neck, his lips and teeth nibbling the sensitive flesh where my neck met my shoulder, I felt him using his knee to spread my legs wider. Despite the anxiety I felt at what he would soon do, I found myself feeling desperate to have him fill me. I began to moan again as he used a hand to once again stroke my most sensitive flesh.

“So wet.
So ready,” he said softly.

“I’ll always be ready for you,” I replied. “Race, please…”

“Are you really ready for
this
?” he asked, thrusting hard into me on the last word. I felt every inch of him inside me, throbbing and pulsing, and I cried out. Race leaned back and took me by the hips, pulling out almost completely. I whimpered in protest and was rewarded when he slammed into me again, burying himself to the hilt. He repeated this teasing a few more times, drawing out slowly and leaving only the tip of his cock inside my sheath, then slamming home to make me cry out again.

Then his
hips began moving a little faster, then faster still, and I knew that if he didn’t bite me soon I was sure to come before his teeth tore into my flesh. I felt the orgasm coiling in my belly, building and growing stronger with each frenzied thrust, my breath gasping in and out of my lungs as my body prepared to climax. I tried to hold off, to wait for the bite so that I would feel pleasure along with the pain, but the faster Race’s hips pounded against me, the harder he thrust into me, the tighter and tighter I became until I couldn’t hold it in anymore.

The explosion of my orgasm ripped his name from my lips in a long, loud scream that was joined by his deep, guttural moan. Several intense waves of ecstasy crashed through me, causing me to buck against his body as he pushed into me hard and fast. When I felt him spill the last of his seed and withdraw, my knees gave out on me and I
fell face-first into the mattress. Race laid down beside me, and we breathed heavily in tandem for a few minutes before I found the breath to ask, “Why didn’t you do it?”

“Because,” he said, “I think we should do it together.”

Lifting my weary head I turned to look at him. His expression was serious as he said, “Juliette, think about it. From what you’ve told me, even the females perform this ritual. Am I right?”

I nodded slowly. “Yes. Female shifters bite their human mates. But that’s only because a shifter is considered the Alpha in a pair. No human can match us for speed or strength or agility, thus they are—for lack of a better word—inferior. Anyone who is considered inferior cannot be an Alpha.
And whether I like it or not, because of what you are,
you
are the Alpha in our relationship. Physically, at any rate. So you’re the one that has to do the biting.”

“And how do they do it?” he pressed
, ignoring my last statement. “When the woman is the shifter, how does she bite her mate?”

“When she rides him,” I answered.

Race sat up and in one smooth movement he had rolled me onto my back, placed himself between my legs again, and reached for me to draw me up so that my breasts were pressed against his chest. “Then ride me, baby.
You
take
me
, and when you bite me I’ll bite you. I think because we are both shifters, we both should do it.”

I wasn’t entirely convinced, but the conviction I saw in his eyes suddenly had me wondering if maybe he was right. What
if, since we were both two-natured, we both had to drink?

“Besides,” he said, the corners of his mouth lifting into a grin, “I don’t know the words of the incantation you told me had to be said.”

“You have a point there, pretty boy,” I replied, then lowered my mouth to his.

In an instant I could feel the fires of passion stoking within me
again, my lips crushing his as my hands roamed over his face, through his hair, across his chest. I kneaded his shoulders and drew my nails down his back, reveling in the sensation of having all the power. It was a heady feeling, the combination of lust and control, and my fingers and lips became more insistent with every touch, with every kiss. I could feel Race hardening beneath me and I felt delirious with the sudden need to have him inside me. I lifted myself up on my knees, and while he took advantage of my breast being close to his mouth—latching onto the nipple gently and sucking it in—at the same time Race reached between us and positioned his member at the entrance to my sex, and I promptly dropped down, impaling him within.