Hunter by Night (13 page)

To forget everything but only the two of them.

Alexia’s hands found the back of his neck. Fingertips dug into the base of his skull. “Lee?” The quiet syllable of his name vibrated against his lips.

He didn’t know how to answer her silent questions. What were they doing? Where might this go? Humans had been responsible for the death of his family. Yet Alexia had given up her existence for Isabel’s safety, had attacked an enemy to help his kind. Had given her blood to him so selflessly. He had been an ass to her right and left, and her worry for him—her concern—had stirred in his veins even as he consumed her blood. He couldn’t blame Alexia for another human’s sins.

Her spirit humbled him. God, he’d wanted her from the night he’d set eyes on her. How many times had he managed to pull away? He was no fucking saint.

Lee’s walls, his resolve, the reasons he’d held his want for her at bay, all crumbled like so much wet sand. His arms went around her waist, hands under her shirt. His coarse, overlarge fingers caressed her smooth, delicious skin. He cupped one firm, round breast in his palm. “Alexia…”

A low moan. Her fingers tightened, digging into his back. “Yes. Oh… God.”

It was all he needed. Lee did something then he’d never done in centuries of living. Not for any vampire, any enemy, or any human.

Lee surrendered.

Siddoh’s knuckles connected with the underside of his uncle’s jaw as soon as the door to the cozy colonial opened.

“What in hell’s name—”

“Yeah, that’s what I’d like to know,” Siddoh said. “Glad to see you’re back at home and on your feet so soon, Uncle.”

Sion stumbled against the couch that sat just beyond the foyer. An ugly, dusty green monstrosity, chosen by Siddoh’s aunt before her death.

“Goodness, Uncle. I’d say it’s been quite an evening. With the perimeter protection going down, leaving the estate exposed. The king unavailable because the queen’s in labor. Tell me, how do you feel about the new king? His laws. He vetoed the human interaction bill. You’ve been sort of quiet on the subject this go-round. Did you know the queen’s best friend is human?”

His uncle frowned. “I think it is a universally accepted truth that the species are best kept apart,” he said slowly.

“Bullshit,” Siddoh barked. His palms slapped his uncle’s shoulders. Yeah, he’d been taught all that respect his elders business, but tonight this one had nearly put their entire compound at risk. Siddoh would bet his right eyeball.

“One of my own fucking blood. I should have known.” He shook his head, white light swimming in front of his eyes. “Are your old hurts really worth betraying the king? Betraying all of us? How many could have been killed tonight?”

Siddoh caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror above his uncle’s mantel. His face blotched red with anger and his hair stood out in all directions. He looked insane. Actually, that was pretty fucking appropriate.

He slowly paced in front of his uncle while awaiting an answer.
It’s official. This place is crumbling to pieces. My entire family hates my ass. My king. My life. All in jeopardy over some archaic notion that mixing with humans will taint our blood and curse us all to hell.

Siddoh hadn’t spoken to his own parents in decades. A century?

His uncle straightened. The old male’s face betrayed equal parts disgust and sadness. “You wouldn’t understand. You’ve been blinded by serving the monarchy. By fucking a half-breed.”

Siddoh stopped mid-pace with a squeak in the tiled foyer and turned abruptly. “I’d suggest,” he said slowly, “that you leave the king’s sister out of this. You’re already in pretty damn deep, sir.” He pressed forward. The crook of his hand pressed a little too firmly at his uncle’s throat.

If his uncle intended to jab at a lingering hurt, he’d succeeded. Siddoh appreciated that Tyra had moved on and found love, but the fact that she’d done so right after cutting ties with him had wounded his pride. With a former enemy of their race, no less.

“Siddoh, I am your uncle. What of your loyalty to your family?” the old vampire hissed.

“Yes,” Siddoh replied evenly. Deep inside where nobody could see, his stomach wrung itself tight. “And that is what makes this so shitty. I don’t know how you could be so shortsighted as to put the pain of losing your child over the safety of so many of us here on the estate. Hell, in the entire community. If we lose the king’s military wing, who’s to keep the evils that threaten our kind from running unchecked through the civilian population? All because you’d rather not have the occasional hanky-panky between humans and vampires.” He swallowed back a throat full of bile.

The old male shook. “A little hanky-panky? My daughter and her child were
slaughtered
because she loved a human. We risk destruction from them as much as from the wizards who cut us open for blood sacrifice. Our species, our blood, should not mix.”

“Are you shitting me? You have no idea about the cause and effect, old man,” Siddoh snarled. “Some humans are able to handle the truth better than your son-in-law clearly did. The human who killed your child could have been a nut job to start. Kind of like, I don’t know, an elder who would throw the whole estate under the crazy train just to make his king look bad. Am I close, Uncle?”

“Those guardians were never going to get close enough to attack.”

Oh? Oh really?

Siddoh drew up short. “All right, lay it out for me.”

Sion clamped his mouth shut.

“Might as well. I’m already on the verge of walking you out the door, old man.”

“Siddoh, that king will flush our society down the drain. He’s too young. Too—”

“So your solution was to leave us all vulnerable to attack intentionally? Hundreds.
Hundreds
of vampires on this estate.” Swear ta God, any moment now the top of his head would blow sky-high.

“I knew I had the power to put it back.”

“Lucky thing.” Siddoh’s hoarse yell echoed in the small room. He thrust a finger into his uncle’s shoulder. “And lucky for us all, the fighters you so judge and despise had their shit together, so you’re right. Nobody got close. Nothing more than a few isolated human cases of Haig and his disgusting plague, according to the human news. It hasn’t spread, at least not yet. Lucky nobody slipped through, and you didn’t fuck up or buy the big vampire farm instead. Hell of a gamble, though. And for what? All that effort to force the king to pass the human interaction bill?”

His uncle straightened. “We want to bring the age down on the Elders’ Council. Increase our numbers. Make it a governing body.”

Siddoh repressed a shiver and crossed his arms over his chest. “You want to be in charge.”

“We have a collective wisdom that spans millennia. This… this… child…”

“He is the king,” Siddoh said tersely. “And he is a century old.” Jesus, had these assholes honestly thought they could overthrow the monarchy they’d had in place since the Iron Age? “He may be younger than you and me, but he was trained for the job. His interests lie in protecting us all.
My
interest lies in protecting us all. I don’t need to tell you that you’ve put me in one hell of a position right now.”

The old vampire swallowed. “Siddoh, I’m your family.”

Yes, he was. That fact had caused an unholy tangle of guilt in Siddoh’s nerves. Still? Fuck this guy. Fuck him and his fucking superiority. Whatever Siddoh’s uncle and the Council thought they knew, they had endangered lives tonight.
That
was the bottom line.

Siddoh had no choice but to focus on the law. The greater good. “You are a traitor.” His mouth twisted at the taste of all the acid in his throat. “I can’t tell you how much I hate to say this, but with the king and Commander Goram away from the estate, this is my problem to handle. And you’ve really given me a doozy, you selfish prick.” He pressed his lips together. His eyes and throat were on fire.

The old man was crying now. “My daughter, Siddoh.”

“Yeah, that must have been hell. You have no idea how sorry I am.” Truly. Siddoh couldn’t imagine the grief that had pushed his uncle to this place. “You should have gone through the proper channels.”

“The proper channels didn’t work. Repeatedly, I was dismissed.”

Siddoh softened his voice. “Perhaps if you’d met privately with Thad, he could have discussed the matter further. I don’t have all the answers. Trouble is, now you’ve left me without any other solutions. Trying to mandate who folks can mate with gets to be a slippery damn slope. What happened to your daughter was a tragic anomaly. We’ve carefully lived side by side with humans for centuries by teaching caution. Safety is the key.”

Alexia and Lee came to mind. No question something was brewing between those two. Their relationship would be directly impacted by any sort of bill preventing “interaction” with humans. No good.

Sion sniffed. “Spoken like a true follower.”

Siddoh blew out a breath. There was no arguing his uncle’s statement. Youth aside, Siddoh trusted Thad. Siddoh had witnessed some real piece of shit, power-hungry leaders in his years, human and otherwise. That kid was a good vampire. Thad cared.

These were troubled times. The vampires
needed
a good leader.

Siddoh pulled out his cuffs. Damned things weighed fifty pounds right then. “Come on, Uncle. I’m sorry but I can’t let what you’ve done go unanswered.”

***

Once upon a time, Lee first made love to a female as a fumbling teenager in a quiet vegetable cellar. That night he’d been focused on trying desperately not to make any noise that would give away their location or orgasm before she did.

Tonight, needing Alexia so desperately that he shook, he fumbled between the thighs of this gorgeous human woman in a dark room while he tried to keep quiet and not come too fast. Nearly seven hundred years later, a teenager all over again. Even the heavy beat of Alexia’s pulse sounded obscenely loud in the silence as he parted her legs wider.

She moaned into his mouth while he unsnapped her pants and peeled down the drying material. He murmured a quick thanks that it came off easily, save for the fact that he had to stop and yank off those damned boots. Chilly lips pushed against his, her aggressive human teeth nibbling and tasting. And when her tongue swept inside his mouth…

His fangs grazed her tongue.

She gasped and ground against him.

A hint of blood filled his mouth. Burst on his tongue. “Sorry.” Hard to be truly sorry when she tasted so sweet.

How could he not have known her blood could bring him so close to heaven? Tasting Alexia… Jesus, he was finally truly quenching his thirst. How had he not known he’d been thirsty his whole lifetime?

“No sorries.” She teased inside his mouth again, offering more.

From that alone, Lee might go up in flames. He sucked gently, tasting her. “Fucking delicious.” He breathed hard, longing to kiss her deeper, but his fangs were overextended. He longed for more of her blood. The pressure had eased in his chest. His heart beat fast. Freely. He would not take from her unnecessarily.

Guilt tapped on his shoulder. If they hadn’t passed the point of no return, they’d be there soon. “God damn it, Lexi. We should stop.”

“Okay,” she breathed. “Then you should give me back my pants.”

His snarl of disappointment pried her eyes wide again, and she pulled her head back against the chair to look at him with a teasing smile. Her legs wrapped around his waist. No, she didn’t want to stop and neither did he. Not now. How many times had he pulled himself back from the brink? He would if she asked, but heaven… please…

He braced his arms over her on the chair. “Lexi, I’m doing my best to be serious. You have about ten seconds before I’m too far gone and stopping is impossible.” He fought to control the way his body shook. From cold… from fear. She was so small. He had held back from this for months. He was flying high on fresh blood. He gripped her arms. “I don’t want to hurt you.” His lungs burned with each attempt to draw breath.

Alexia’s teeth sank into her lower lip. Without a word, she reached forward and tugged at his shirt, helping him pull it over his head. “I’m stronger than you think,” she whispered.

Lee growled low in his throat. He knew she was strong. He knew.

He helped her with her shirt in return. Nuzzling along her collarbone and cleavage, he bit apart the bra, one fang slicing through pink satin. He’d always hated those things.

She lay spread out and reclined in the chair, hair tousled, chest rising and falling. Nipples… dark and pink surrounded by smooth, warm flesh. For him. All for him. Heaven.

He leaned down and took one nipple in his mouth. The smooth skin wrinkled and peaked under the touch of his tongue. The jerk of her body and tightening of her grip, the catch of her breath, such small but potent responses drove him wild.

Lee growled and pressed forward. He popped the buttons on his fly, shoving his pants and boots to the floor. No patience remained for the barriers between them.

He ripped off the tiny scrap of fabric that passed for her underwear and guided his cock into her tight, wet heat. After that, he couldn’t remember his own name. Alexia’s muscles squeezed around his shaft, as she wrapped her arms tighter around his neck and her legs around his waist. Pulling him deeper. “Oh God. Lexi.”

Need
. He needed her. This intensity… How many times had he dreamed of being with Alexia this way? He’d never known this kind of connection.

He’d intended to be careful. He had. He slowly thrust once, then twice. The softness and heat, the warmth of her when he’d been cold for so long, were all-consuming. Gums throbbing, Lee reared back with a mighty snarl.

Everything went red. Lee bared his elongated fangs. All his good intentions were drowned out by the rush of blood in his head. His fingers dug into Alexia’s hips as he pumped hard. Deep. Fast. Only for a moment did he wonder what he must look like to her right then. A beast? A monster?

“Lee. Yes…” Damned if she didn’t dig her heels into his ass and meet him for every thrust. The curl of her hands around each arm, pinching in each shoulder, told him that she’d dug in with her nails.

Yes. God. Hurt me.

Her head thrown back exposed that gorgeous narrow column of neck. He wanted more. So much more.

Their eyes met. He leaned down to kiss her, and their tongues tangled. His fangs pricked her lip and he sucked the blood from the plump, pouty spot on her mouth while he thrust hard inside her.

Alexia moaned and stroked her hands over his arms, his back. Her nails raked his neck, his chest. Her arms slid under his and she rose up, giving attention to his nipples. Biting across his chest and shoulder.
Fuck
yes.

He shuddered and pumped faster. The biting. He loved the biting. How could he not?

“Please…” One of her hands threaded her fingers through his and pulled until his hand landed on top of her breast.

He huffed a laugh, leaning down to kiss her again before slowing his pace so that he could hunch over and lavish affection where she asked. He was more than willing to put his hands, his mouth, on those perfect breasts. He grazed one wrinkled peak, then the other, with his fangs. Kissed along her collarbone. “Good? You like when I touch you there?” His put his hand where his mouth had been, swiping his thumb across one hardened nipple.

A soft cry escaped her throat. A nod. Her breath got shallow. Faster.