Mist Revealed (10 page)

Cat heard the new man’s words. She wanted to question them. Consort meant something entirely different than lover. She couldn’t get the demand to explain himself out. Her gaze locked on to his mouth and the fangs filling it.

Her rational mind didn’t want to believe it. She couldn’t deny the sight, however. The guy had long, wide and pointy canines. They retracted before her eyes, leaving flat teeth.

A barrage of thoughts and memories from the past few days assaulted her. The warnings of the old woman and Ivan blended into one word.

Vampire.

He was a vampire.

She screamed and scrambled backward into the bedroom. Her knees hit the bed. She tumbled onto it.

“Shut the fuck up, Jaron.” Rune rushed forward and placed his body between the open door and the creature that shouldn’t exist. “You’re scaring Cat.”

She froze.
Jaron? He knows the bloodsucker’s name?

The guy growled before she could take the thought further. Literally growled. It wasn’t the low rumbly sound Rune had made when he’d fucked her. The man dressed in what reminded her of a white burlap bag stepped closer. Rune advanced to meet him. They got into each other’s faces.

“She should be scared. Now is not the time to saddle yourself with a female. What were you thinking, brother?”

Brother.

Oh God, oh God, oh God. I fucked a vampire.

She clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle her cry. Neither man paid her any attention. She wanted it to stay that way.

“I said…” Rune shoved Jaron. “Shut. Up.”

Jaron laughed. She cringed at the bitter sound. “She doesn’t know, does she?”

Rune gave him another shove. They disappeared from her line of sight. She had a perfect view of the open front door. She let the blanket slip from her naked body and bolted toward her only means of escape.

A gust of wind blew the door shut before she got to it. She yanked on the handle anyway. It opened an inch, then slammed closed. Another tug did nothing.

She was trapped.

With two vampires.

She spun and swept her gaze over the room. There had to be another way out.

The windows.
She zeroed in on the bedroom door. The ones in there were big enough, but the other vampire stood near it. No matter. She had to try. She took a step and froze.

Rune’s shirtless body filled her vision. He approached slowly, arms loose and fingers splayed as if he meant to show her he didn’t have a weapon. She knew better. Vampires didn’t need weapons. He could rip her throat out with his fangs. That was what all the movies she’d watched depicted. She nearly laughed with the irony of her thought. She was relying on Hollywood to give her answers. Her? A scientist, one who spent her life looking for hard facts? She couldn’t help it.

Data. That was what she needed, clues to confirm or reject her crazy idea.

Her gaze dropped to his mouth. No fangs. She glanced into his bluish-gray eyes. Normal. No sign of his nonhuman status showed on his face. He looked like her lover, one she wanted to fuck again, not a vampire.

But… Dammit, she was so confused. She saw Jaron’s fangs with her own eyes. She couldn’t blame it on a trick of the light.

“Be calm.” He raised his hands in a placating gesture. “Jaron won’t hurt you.”

She shook her head. No way would she get into a discussion with a monster. Bad enough she’d allowed him into her body. She reached behind her for the doorknob. Ice met her touch. She yelped at the cold burn stinging her fingers.

He rushed forward. She scooted under his arm and ran for the bedroom door. Jaron blocked it. She skidded to a stop and glanced between both vampires. Heart pounding hard and her breath sawing past her lips, she hovered on the verge of a breakdown.

“Cat, listen to me.” Rune took a single step closer. “You need to relax. You are not in danger.”

“Not in danger? I’m locked in a room with vampires!”

Jaron sighed. “We are not vampires, woman.”

She shifted her gaze to Jaron. He walked toward her. She focused on his glowing eyes, a silver beacon in the dim room, and backed up, right into a hard chest. Hands settled on her waist. Rune spun her into his embrace.

She screamed. He clamped a hand over her mouth and tugged her against his body. “Give me a chance to explain.”

His scent filled her lungs. She responded to the trigger and his nearness. Her muscles relaxed. His penis pressed between them lengthened, and a groan crawled up her throat in response to his hardening cock. She couldn’t stop the sound from escaping. Her body remembered him and reacted automatically. She went from terrified to aroused in one-point-two seconds.

A matching needy sound fell from his lips. The noise and the carnal hunger displayed on his expression kicked her case of instant lust up a notch. Her lower belly quivered, and the brush of his muscles against her nipples sent tingles across her skin.

He slid his free hand down her back to settle over her ass.

Her bare ass.

She was naked in a room with two vampires. Her fear returned. It didn’t chase away the desire. The two conflicting emotions wrapped around her. She’d never felt so confused in her life. Nothing made sense. She hated it. She wanted facts, something she could analyze and interpret, not emotions or make-believe stuff that had no basis she could conceptualize.

But this is real. I’m not imagining any of it. Not Jaron’s fangs or my inexplicable draw to Rune.

Because terrified or not, she ached for his possession. She wanted his cock lodged deep inside her.

What the hell is wrong with me?
She whimpered and pushed against his chest in a desperate attempt to escape.

“Shh, Cat. You’re safe.”

He massaged her butt cheeks. Her arousal flowed.

This isn’t right. He’s controlling me, making me lust for him. That’s why I couldn’t resist him earlier.

She had to get away.

She bit his palm at the same time she rammed a knee into his nuts.

“Fuck.” He released her and hunched over, a hand over his groin.

She pivoted and ran toward the bedroom. Jaron grabbed her. Her shriek got muffled by his palm.

“No!” Rune crashed into Jaron, breaking his hold on her. She stumbled backward as the two men rolled across the floor. They didn’t fight. Rune slammed Jaron into the floor and held him with a hand on his chest.

“Don’t touch her. She bites. That’s how she landed the role of my consort in the first place.” Rune raised his hand, the one he’d used to muffle her shriek. The reddened impression of her teeth showed. She’d broken the skin. Blood leaked from the delicate spot by his thumb. “And it’s clear she’s intent on keeping her male.”

Jaron pushed from the floor. “I am sorry, Rune. I should’ve known you wouldn’t have willingly taken a female.” He turned eyes, the color of liquid silver, on to her. His intent gaze mapped her face before he dragged his heated perusal down the length of her body to her exposed sex. He licked his lips. “Are we keeping her?”

We?
She clamped her legs shut and pressed an arm over her breasts.

Rune stood in a lithe move no man his size should’ve been able to pull off. He strode toward where she sat on the floor. She scooted backward until her bottom hit the side of the couch.

He stood in front of her and appraised her with eyes hazed by desire. “Yes, Cat is staying with us.”

She focused on the length of his cock outlined by his jeans, then peeked past him. Jaron’s thin pants did nothing to hide his erection. Her chest squeezed.

“Oh God.” She jumped up and took two steps before Rune caught her. “Let go!”

“It’s too late for that.” He wrapped his arms around her and backed her into the nearest wall. Trapped between the hard surface and his body, she couldn’t move. He brushed his cheek against hers. “But I am the one who will get to enjoy her. She’s mine. Only.”

He turned his head to glare at Jaron. “Understand?”

Jaron’s low chuckle filled the room. “It appears you’ve lost your nickname, brother.”

Rune’s hungry gaze caressed her features. “Apparently.”

“We still have much to discuss. I will lose myself in the village and feed while you calm your consort.”

The squeak of a door opening reached her ears.

“Wait.” Rune peered over his shoulder. “Stay away from the females or you might find yourself in the same situation I am in. I couldn’t resist Cat. We are evolving.”

Jaron sighed. “So I’ve noticed. Thanks for the warning.”

A gust of cold air rushed over her feet. The door clicked closed, cutting off the chilly wind and leaving her alone with Rune. She waited for the fear to return. It didn’t. Desire bloomed. Her quickened breaths deepened, her skin tingled and warmth pooled low. She wanted him to fuck her.

Right here. Right now.

What was she thinking? She didn’t understand anything. How could she? All her thoughts kept drifting back to sex.

She curled her fingers to resist the urge to skim them over the expanse of his back. “Please let me go.”

“I can’t.”

He nudged her chin with his. She tensed. She didn’t want his mouth anywhere near her throat. Her resistance did little to dissuade him. He brushed his lips over her cheek. His heated exhale tore a sigh from her.

“Do not fear me, Cat. I won’t hurt nor will I bite you. You are safe with me. I promise.”

The declaration whispered a hairbreadth from her ear whipped another wave of lust through her. Her core clenched. She wanted him inside her—thrusting, filling her up, making her his. She dropped her hands to his hips and gripped his waistband.

Elbows locked so she didn’t tug his pants down, she tipped her head back to meet his eyes. “Why should I believe you?”

“I don’t know how to respond to that question.” He skimmed the back of his knuckles along her jaw. “You are an intelligent female. I’d be wasting my breath telling you to blindly trust me.”

At least he didn’t feed her any bullshit lines. “Then we’re at an impasse. I need answers.”

“Then ask me questions.” She opened her mouth. He pressed a single finger to her lips. “I know this won’t win me any points, but I can’t promise to answer them all. I fear I’ll send you running if I tell you something you don’t want to hear. That cannot happen, Cat. You must stay with me.”

She tensed. “Why?”

“Because.” One corner of his mouth lifted in a smile that melted her insides. “You’ll have to trust me.”

Trust him. She had. She’d crawled into bed with him, let him possess her, then fell asleep in his embrace. Not once in her entire life had she slept with a lover. Rune’s arms around her had felt too good, though. He’d been warm and had made her feel safe.

She closed her eyes in an effort to dim the effect he had on her. It didn’t help. Her other senses kicked in. His scent, his touch, the contours of his perfect body, everything about him triggered primitive urges she’d never known she had.

She popped her eyelids open and caught his gaze. Held it. Rune’s attention centered on her. From the lust in his eyes to his slackened expression, she knew he desired her as much as she did him. The obvious question was—why?

Jaron’s words suggested his intense response to her wasn’t normal behavior for him. She wanted a few moments to go over her thoughts and figure out the reason. She shoved the concern away. There was one issue that was much more important than whatever was happening between them.

“You’re not human.” She stated the obvious, but she had to start somewhere.

“No. I am not.”

“You have fangs and—”

“I am not a vampire.” He rubbed the edge of his thumb over her corner of her mouth. “I require blood, but I did not consume yours. That intimacy is one I will not take without your permission.”

She licked the spot he’d caressed. His flavor hit her, and her eyelids fluttered closed on a breathy sigh. Answers. She needed answers. “Are you the one who’s been infecting people?”

“No. We bite humans but leave them unharmed without any knowledge of us.”

The harsh tone made her look at him. A tic developed by his eye. She waited for him to say something else. He didn’t.

“You know who did.” She posed it as a statement.

“Yes, Cat, I do.”

“Well? Who’s responsible?”

Instead of answering, he bent closer and licked her lips, first the bottom, then the top. The sensual swipe weakened her knees. She didn’t fall. His hard body held her captive for his exploration. He slipped his tongue between her parted lips and coaxed her into a kiss. His slow strokes urged her to relax and give in to him. Her rational mind told her to push him away. Her body wanted what he offered.

She trembled with the force it took not to succumb to him.

He didn’t ease his gentle seduction. He made love to her mouth. Each rolling thrust of his tongue with hers whittled away at her resistance and eliminated the last remnants of her fear. She moaned and tightened her grip on his jeans. Her knuckles brushed his waist. The slight contact sent sparks skipping across her skin.