Lisa Renee Jones (4 page)

She was the one thing that wolf, vampire, and man agreed on, wanted, needed. Burned for. The taste of Cassie’s blood, her passion, the forbidden fruit of everything she was, and might not be, swept through Troy with the brush of her tongue against his. She moaned, a soft, sexy, primal sound that ripped through him, and set him on fire, clouding his mind. Troy told himself to pull back, to stop, that he was headed to a deep, dark place where he’d lose control, where he’d forget how dangerous she was. And forget he did, and willingly, when she arched into him and twined her fingers in his hair, pressing her body against his. Troy groaned with the pleasure of her next to him, of her heat burning him alive.

Hungering for more of her, he deepened the kiss, drawing in more of her sweet, wild flavor. It wasn’t enough. He wasn’t sure it would ever be enough with her. He slid between her legs, shoving her skirt as high as he could, and she opened for him like a flower spreading in a new morning sun. He settled into the sweet V of her body, his cock thickening with the promise of finally being inside, finally feeling the wet tight heat of her surrounding him. He could smell her desire, almost taste it in the air, and it was clouding his logic, tearing down the wall he’d used to keep her at a distance.

“Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted to do this?” he murmured against her lips, his voice rough, his confession falling from his lips into hers before he could stop it. Before he gave her the power of knowing how much he’d wanted her.

“Do you have any idea how much I hated your willpower?” she asked, nipping his lip and then licking it, before her tongue slid back into his mouth.

He didn’t even try to resist kissing her again, there was no point. Troy was her captive, she wasn’t his as intended, and he silently declared Cassie a drug far more potent than blood, more lethal than bloodlust. He couldn’t escape his desire for her, and right now he wasn’t sure why he’d even wanted to. It was why he’d never gone here with her, why he’d battled his need for her, for all those months working together. He could feel the rise of hunger growing in him, wild and unwilling to compromise, unwilling to let this end without satisfaction.

He touched her the way he’d always wanted to touch her. His hands traveled her body, sliding over her slender waist, molding her breasts. Impatiently, he fumbled with the buttons on her blouse, and ripped them away. They popped and flew off and he leaned up long enough to toss what was left of his shirt over his head.

She sat up, kissing his stomach, her lips hot, her hand on his waist soft. The fingers of her other hand traced his erection. He was hot and hard, his cock pulsing. Why in the hell had he not let her touch him like this before? He had no idea. He had no memory of anything but here and now and how much he wanted her mouth on his body.

Troy reached around her, unhooking her bra, then unzipping her skirt, caressing her back, her hair. She was soft all over, and he was so very hard inside, so very dark. She curved her shoulders forward and shrugged off the bra, pressing her bare breasts to his stomach, and looking up at him, a raw, open hunger in honey colored eyes, before she kissed his stomach again.

Troy growled, tangling his hands in her hair, and pulled her mouth to his, kissing her wildly, ravishing her with the strokes of his tongue, just as he planned to do with his cock. Her hand slid between them, stroking him and unzipping his jeans.

Troy could feel the wolf coming to life in him, possessive and demanding, primal, oddly in sync with the vampire in him for perhaps the first time ever. It wanted her submission, every part of him wanted that, wanted control. Wanted them both naked. Wanted inside her, fucking her until neither of them could take anymore.

He pushed away from her and stood up, discarding his clothes, all but ripping what was left of them away. Cassie shoved down her skirt and he caught her ankles, dragging her down the mattress, her high, full breasts bouncing with the movement. He spread her legs, tearing her panties from her body.

She gasped and he dropped to his knees, placing her calves on his shoulders, urgent for a taste of her in every possible way. His mouth came down on the V of her body, suckling her delicate, swollen nub, before his teeth sunk into the sensitive flesh around it. Blood flooded his mouth, giving him control, even as it gave her immense pleasure. She came almost instantly, her fingers curling in the sheets. The taste of her pleasure mingled with blood, driving him wild. His tongue traced where he’d bitten her, sealing the puncture marks, before lapping at her clit, licking and suckling until she came again.

She leaned up to stare at him, her eyes dilated. “Troy I -”

He leaned in and kissed her, pinching her nipples. “No talking.” He couldn’t let this be about her and him, about the emotions, the things he felt for her. He turned her over, an uncontrollable need to dominate overtaking him again, like nothing he’d ever felt with a woman. He knew this was the wolf in him mixed with self-preservation, a need to prove he was in charge and she wasn’t. A need to make this just about fucking when he knew it wasn’t. Not for him. He knew she had the power to destroy him, to shred his heart, but he couldn’t, wouldn’t, let her discover that.

Anger, lust, fear, and desire chased hot, passion-laden adrenaline through his veins. Troy bent her over the mattress, lifting her hips and spread her wide and damn, it did his dick right when opened for him, time and time again. He scraped his teeth over one perfect butt cheek, and stroked the silky wet core of her body with his fingers, before repeating the action with his cock.

“Oh God, yes,” she panted, as he slid back and forth, teasing them both with how close he was to entering her. “Troy. Yes. Now. I need you inside me. Fuck me. Please, fuck me.”

He entered her with a hard, deep thrust, one hand on her lower back, the other on her waist. She cried out, pushing against him, telling him she wanted this as much as he did.

The world fell away then, leaving him with nothing but the wicked, hot wonder of him inside her, him fucking her, him making her cry out in pleasure. And he wanted her pleasure to the point that it was pain. He pumped into her, hard and fast. Thrust after thrust, stroke after stroke, he buried himself inside her, driving for more. Taking more. His face slid to her neck, his nostrils flaring with the scent of her. His hands slid under her, cupping her breasts. 

“More,” she demanded, echoing what was in his mind, in his body. Her hand reached back, stroking his hair. “Harder. Please. Harder.”

He pumped again, his mouth by her ear. “You want more?”

“Yes, yes.” She reached stretch around him, trying to grab his ass and pull him in.

Instead, he withdrew out and she cried out. He turned her over, kissing her and driving back inside her. She wrapped her legs around his waist, lifting her hips. It only made him want more. He untangled her legs and shoved her ankles back to his shoulders, sliding his hands to her delectable little ass and lifting her. And then he ground into her.

“Yes,” she cried out again. “Yes.” She lifted her hips, taking more of him and all he saw was darkness and need. So much need.

She cried out and stiffened, and he felt her spasm around him, dragging his release from him. Troy cried out, sinking into her and shaking with the intensity of it until he let her legs slide down, and settled his arms around her neck.

He rested there for long moments, reality coming back to him slowly. The scent of her still around him, on him, with him. He’d never in his life wanted like he wanted Cassie. Sarah had been… he didn’t know. Maybe he just couldn’t remember because of the anger. And if he allowed himself, he’d forget with Cassie too, forget why she was dangerous.

Troy rolled off of her, instantly cold, chilled to the bone, wishing he could still feel her heat, taste her kiss again. Knowing how big a mistake he’d just made, how addicted he was to her, how deep in his heart she was, how potentially lethal that was. And not just to him. There was a war going on and lives were on the line, his race was in jeopardy.

He stared at the ceiling and so did she. The silence was deafening. He had to say something. Anything.

***

“I didn’t want this to happen this way.”

Cassie heard Troy’s words, felt them like a twist of her heart. She sat up on the edge of the bed, giving him her back, feeling herself quake inside. “I didn’t either.” She laughed without humor because she was a warrior and warriors didn’t cry. “I really didn’t.”

“Cass -”

“Don’t say whatever you’re going to say,” she said, cutting him off, standing up and whirling on him, ignoring her lack of clothes. She was a wolf, comfortable in her skin, even if he wasn’t in his, or hers for that matter.

“Do you think I wanted that to happen like this? Because I didn’t. Not when you distrust me. It wasn’t just you who decided nothing happened between us before now.” She pointed at her chest. “I didn’t want it either. I didn’t want to feel this… this crappy thing I’m dealing with right now.” She stormed away to the bathroom and flipped the light on before slamming the door. Cassie grabbed a white towel that looked like it had come from a Dollar Store in a ten for $3 package, and cleaned herself up.

She leaned on the sink and looked at herself. Blood stained her face. His blood. Her blood. Their blood mixed together. She washed it off, fighting an onslaught of emotions, a sting in the back of both of her eyes. She wouldn’t cry. She didn’t cry. The last time she’d cried had been when her father had turned into a Red Wolf five years before, the day before her twenty-third birthday, when aging stopped for fifty years, and the ‘Day of the Wolf’ was celebrated. It was supposed to be special, like the humans’ “Sweet Sixteen.” Instead, she’d cried a river that day. Then a year later, when her mother had mated with her father’s best friend, she’d found anger to replace the tears. Then she’d found the Royal Guard. The two had worked well together. Anger worked then, and she needed it to work now, before she crumbled.

“Cass,” Troy said, from the other side of the door.

Embracing that anger, she yanked it open, not about to succumb to tears or weakness. He stood in front of her, closer than she’d expected, his hands on either side of the doorframe, his hair a wild, wicked, sexy mess around his face. He was still naked and he looked really good naked. Damn it, she didn’t want him to be sexy right now. “Cassie,” she corrected. “Don’t call me Cass. Don’t pretend I’m anything but the wolf you just fucked and still hate.”

He stared at her with crystal blue eyes – no silver, no yellow, no black. “You know I -”

“Don’t. Don’t say something neither of us can call anything but a lie.”

“Anything I say right now is going to be wrong, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Did whatever is happening to you start with your attack in Reno?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know what caused it?”

“No.”

“Have your people tested you? Is your blood work different than it was before?”  

“Yes.”

“Then test mine,” she said. “Test mine so that I can prove I didn’t attack you.” Realization hit her like a brick smacking her right in the face. “We shared blood. That means I could be changed. I could be changed and now I can’t prove I didn’t do it. In fact, my blood work might even convince you I did do it.” A sound of frustration slid from her lips. “I can’t win with you. I just can’t win. Let me by. I need space.” He didn’t move. “Troy. Let me by.”

“I couldn’t let you die,” he said softly. “I had to give you my blood.”

“Yeah, well, no good deed between us seems to go unpunished, because I couldn’t let you die in Reno either and look where that got me.”

He inhaled and then backed away and Cassie put distance between them, her mind racing even as she walked to the closet and looked for something to put on. It was empty. She turned around. “Why are you living like this? Don’t you have any clothes in this place?”

“I’ll get you a shirt,” he said pulling a duffle bag from under the bed.

Cassie shoved her hands in her hair. “Test me. Run the damn blood test. If I’m not changed then it clears me. If I am, then I can deal with whatever that means for you, for me. In fact, take me to Vampire Nation and let your people question me or torture me or whatever you want to do.”

“I’m not taking you to Vampire Nation.”

“Why? I want you to.”

He studied her a long moment. “Let’s sit down and talk.” He tossed her a shirt and she caught it. “Put that on before you drive me crazy. This new me doesn’t have the willpower the old one did.” He grabbed a pair of boxers and started to put them on.

Her gaze slid to the floor, to the cell phone on his pants. She wasn’t going to let this go on. She wanted it over and she wanted peace restored between their races. Cassie darted forward and grabbed his cell phone, hitting the call log and dialing one of several programmed numbers.

“What are you doing?” Troy asked, and he was there in front of her in a flash, but it was too late.

“Marcus,” Cassie said. “We need you here now.” And just like that, Marcus was standing in the middle of the room.

Troy cringed as Marcus lifted an eyebrow at the sight of him in his boxers and Cassie bare-naked.

“Put the shirt on,” he ordered her grumpily, pushing her behind him. He returned his ‘Warden-in-Charge’s’ once over. “We don’t all sleep in leather like you do.”

Marcus’s lips twitched. “And here I thought the leather was why you keep inviting me to orgies.”

“What?” Cassie gasped, stepping around Troy as she pulled the shirt down, and studying Troy. “What orgies?”

Great, now he was a monster and some sort of pervert who only wanted her to feed some new sex addiction. He was batting about a million with Cassie. “Damn it, Marcus,” Troy ground out before explaining, “Marcus has a demented sense of humor that doesn’t even qualify as an inside joke. I haven’t invited him to any damn orgies.” She kept staring at him. “I do not have orgies.” He glared at Marcus. “Not cool, Marcus.”

“Perhaps I forgot how delicate your sensibilities were,” Marcus said with an edge to his voice. “Since I haven’t seen or talked to you in months.”

“I’ve been busy,” Troy said.

Marcus flicked a look between them. “I see that. Should I assume the state of undress you two are in means that you have kissed and made up?”

“No,” Cassie said. “We have not. I’m concerned about the growing tensions between our people and yours that’s emerged since Reno. And since Troy believes I am the one who attacked him, which, I assume because getting him to talk is near impossible, means that a bigger plot by The Society against the vampires is suspected. I’d like to go to Vampire Nation, have my blood tested and answer any questions I can to tear down such false assumptions. If my blood work is clear of the changes Troy’s has, then that should quickly resolve most concerns.” She shifted her gaze between both vampires. “If any of you would have told me what was going on during my many attempts to reach Troy, I would have volunteered to test before.”

“There’s a reason why I didn’t take you to the council to start,” Troy said. “If you test positive Cassie the council will throw you in a jail cell and Nico will come for you. And being that Nico is the highest ranking member of the Royal Guard, the chances of war becomes almost certain.” He eyed Marcus. “I gave her some of my blood. I could have infected her.”

“It requires a near death experience for a typical Red Virus to convert someone. Drinking the blood alone won’t do the job.”

“It’s not a typical Red Virus or I would have been immune. In theory, she should be too.” Which was why he didn’t dare drink from a human, for fear of infecting them, why he’d worried about feeding Cassie his blood to save her life. He shook his head. “She can’t test or we might well have full out war.”

“I’ll call Nico,” Cassie said quickly. “I’ll make sure he knows this is my choice.”

“If you test positive,” Troy said. “It might not be Nico’s choice. The Vampire Council feels they negotiated and operated with honor. They are not convinced The Society did the same.”

“Nico refused to allow either of you to be tested right after Troy was attacked,” Marcus said, walking to the bed and dropped down onto the mattress on his side, crossing his booted feet and resting his weight on one arm.

“What?” Cassie asked, sounding stunned. “Nico knew you requested a blood test and he refused?”

“This is news to me,” Troy said, and not good news. It supported his concerns about Nico.

“It seemed the easiest way to put everyone’s fears to rest,” Marcus replied, his attention on Troy. “Especially with your belief that the wolf who attacked you was female.”

“Female,” Cassie repeated, turning to Troy. “You think the wolf was female?”

“I know it was.”

She made a sound and looked at the ceiling a moment, before fixing him in a steady stare. “And I was the only female there but Sarah. I guess I’m lucky you didn’t try to kill me while I was busy trusting you. The wolf that attacked you was male. I know. I attacked him, I bit him, I smelled him. That’s why I was so shocked when he ran. Male wolves do not run from battle. They kill or get killed.”

“Then why shift to fight him instead of using a weapon?” Marcus asked.

“I had one star left and it hit the wolf’s shoulder,” Cassie said, giving Troy her profile. “I either had to shift or watch Troy die.” 

“And yet you were certain to die yourself,” Marcus pushed.

“Troy had seconds to live,” Cassie said and she didn’t turn, didn’t look at Troy. “I, at least, had a chance to survive. When I rounded the corner, Sarah was straddling him and trying to stab him. He turned the knife on her, and she collapsed on top of him. The next thing I knew a wolf was charging towards him. He never saw the wolf attack coming, it happened so fast, and from behind him. But nothing I say is going to change the suspicion placed on me. Just test my damn blood and get it over with.”

“That’s what I suggested,” Marcus reminded her. “Nico-” 

“Isn’t here to stop me,” Cassie said. “Did you tell him Troy thought his attacker was female?”

“Yes,” Marcus said. “And in Nico’s defense, his concern was that you had bitten the infected wolf. He was afraid of how both his people, and your own, would react if your blood was altered. I suspect he wouldn’t test himself because it would potentially lead to more pressure to test you.” 

“Then he’s just trying to protect me.” She made a sound deep in her throat and looked at the ceiling, as if she was choked up over the protectiveness, as if she believed Nico was all she had in the world. Troy didn’t want her to feel that way. He also didn’t want her hurt, and he feared that was exactly where this was headed.

Troy’s eyes met Marcus’s and there was a silent understanding between them. Marcus believed her. Troy believed her too, and that scared him like nothing had scared him since he’d become a vampire. Not since he was human and been fighting to save his parents and sister as a rogue vampire slaughtered them with no chance of success. And not because he was afraid of being hurt. Because he had information that could well mean a war was brewing between their races. If he stepped wrong, if he let what he felt for Cassie cloud his judgment, lives could be lost.

Cassie turned to him, her eyes glossy. He’d never seen her eyes glossy. He wasn’t being fair to her, if she was innocent, and he didn’t know how to fix that. Only that he wanted to. “I’m trying to understand how you feel,” she said. “I know Sarah betrayed you. I even understand why you would distrust after everything that has happened to you, but that distrust is like a bleeding wound destroying both of us, and even the truce between our people. We have to solve this. We have to get closure. And you can’t do this alone anymore. That isn’t working for you or for any of us.”

“I agree,” he said softly. “Completely.”

“I’m at 1010 Piece of Shit Avenue with Troy,” Marcus said into his phone, drawing their attention. “I need you here with lab supplies. ”Delwood Apartments. The dumps a block from the blood bank.” His gaze lifted to Troy’s, telling him he knew why, too before he added, “And Cassie is here. She needs clothes and shoes. Actually it’ll be faster if I pick you up. I’m headed your way in a few minutes.” He snapped his phone shut. “Okay, here is where we are at. No Council. No Society. The three of us and an expert with some special abilities that I’m bringing in to help us.”

“What kind of expert?” Troy asked suspiciously. “And how does this expert know Cassie by name?”

“The kind of expert I trust, and I don’t trust any easier than you do,” Marcus said and stood up. “I’ll be back soon. You two love birds try and keep your clothes on while I’m gone. I don’t want to pop back in to see something that might damage me for life.” He bent down and snatched the handcuffs, dangling them from a finger. “I prefer the wool lined ones myself in case things get rowdy. Less painful.” He glanced at the bed. “And you might want to clean up before our guest arrives. White sheets are not a vampire’s best friend.” He disappeared.

Troy and Cassie were alone and Troy knew it was time to put everything on the line with her.