Passion Ignited (10 page)

“Nitro,” he whispered. He opened up his mind,
reaching out to hers, and for the first time, she didn’t block him
out. He could see and hear her thoughts. His breath became heavy as
he watched everything she was imagining.

“Shhh.” Raking her fingernails down his chest
and stomach, she leaned over, placing her mouth next to his ear.
“You need this as much as I do.”

She sat up straight, reaching behind her back.
She slowly undid every clasp that held her bustier together until
it fell from her body.

Raider hissed, his fangs shooting out as he
peeled his lips back. He had barely been able to hold back the
growl from his chest.

She smiled then. “Do you want to touch me,
Raid?”

“Yes,” he growled. His eyes dropped to her
lush breasts and ran up to her neck.

“Oooh,” she purred. “You want to bite me,
Raid?”

“Yes.”

She bent low again, staring him in the eye. “I
can’t let you sink your teeth into me, but how about another part?”
She reached down and tore open his pants and cupped him in her
hand. A wicked gleam shone from her eyes as she stroked him
slowly.

She kept him tied to the bar as she straddled
him, lowering herself onto his shaft as they both moaned in
blissful agony. He rolled his hips, making her hiss. His Instinct
purred, springing to life yet again as Nitro rode him slowly. This
is what he needed. Above all else, he needed to take this female.
Oh, he led her to believe he was bound to the bar, but he could
have escaped had he wanted.

Nitro’s body fisted his cock as she moved on
top of him. Her warm, wet sheath gliding up and down, stroking him
as she went. Raider’s toes curled in response to her demands. She
moved urgently, fast and hard, and gods, didn’t it feel incredible.
Her legs dangled on either side of him, which only forced her to
take in more of his erection. He watched her, enthralled with the
way she writhed, the way her breasts heaved with each thrust, and
the sight of where they were joined together. He had the urge to
pull out of his binds and hold her, but he didn’t want this to end.
Instead, he let her ride him, slaking their needs on each other
long into the day.

****

“Oh, fuck. Sorry
.”

Raider rolled over and rubbed the sleepiness
from his eyes. He was lying on a cold, hard surface, and against
him lay a warm body.

“Uh, Raiderman. We need to talk.” Ethan turned
away from the other side of the door then, yelling at someone else.
“No, I found them. We’re good.”

Raider sat up and looked around. He was in the
gym, naked on the floor. Nitro lay next to him. Her face held a
lazy smile as she roused from her nude slumber as well. He scrubbed
his hand down his face before jumping to his feet to don some
pants. Walking toward the door, he wrenched it open to find out
what Ethan had been yelling about.

His nephew smiled at him, amusement covering
his face. “
Nice
.”

“What do you want?” Raider looked over his
shoulder to see that a now surly Nitro was awake and was searching
for her clothes.

“Draven’s back,” Ethan beamed. “Come on, we’re
all meeting them in the library.”

His mood got even better as Ethan took off
down the hall. Draven must have done it. Ethan had said “them” so
it was only logical that Draven had won his battle for his
mate.

“What is he rambling about?” Nitro asked,
stepping up behind him. She was shoving blades into the waist of
her skirts and bustier, and snapping her whip into
place.

“My oldest nephew has returned.” Turning
toward her, his face grew serious. “About last night—”

“Last night was nothing. It was purely a pity
fuck. You’ve been moping around for days and it’s been getting on
my nerves. It was nothing more than that.” She pushed past
him.

He followed her out the door. “That was not a
pity fuck. You screamed my name more times than I could
count.”

She shrugged. “I didn’t say it wasn’t
enjoyable, old man. I just mean that you shouldn’t romanticize
it.”

Romanticize it?
Who the hell did she
think she was talking to?

Raider continued to follow her, his gaze
landing on her tight ass as she sauntered down the hall. The female
had an extra bounce in her step that made him swell with pride. She
was as fully sated as he was, she just wouldn’t admit to it. They
took the rear stairwell, bypassing the main part of the house and
heading toward their respective rooms. He shouldered his way into
his bedroom and took a quick shower before dressing and heading to
the library.

Sure enough, Raider could hear the familiar
baritone of his oldest nephew. As he walked into the foyer, he
could see Draven lovingly wrapping his arm around Ally, who was in
turn holding onto a young boy as another stood by her
side.

“Raider,” Draven smiled. He stepped forward
and gave him a manly hug. “I can’t thank you enough for convincing
me not to give up.”

Raider clapped him on the shoulder. “It’s
nothing. I just couldn’t let you live your life knowing that you
still had a shot.”

A pang shot through his heart. Last night had
been an eye opener. Since Melinda died, he’d only been with a few
other women, and that was when his body was starved for release.
But after every time, the pain in his soul had been too much to
bear. After what had happened last night, Raider had found a
surprising peace. For the first time in a century, he’d actually
felt good about something. At least, that was before Nitro had
opened up her mouth tonight.

He and Draven walked over to join the others.
A small group had gathered around Ally and the boys.

“Ferox should be down in just a minute,” Raine
said as she pulled Ally in for a hug. “I’m glad to see you again.
It’s been a week since Draven left to find you.”

“Yeah, time goes by a lot quicker here than it
does in Unitas.” Ally pulled out of the hug and stepped back. “Are
you okay?”

Raine waved a hand dismissively. “I’m fine.”
She faced the taller of the boys. “And who are you, young
man?”

“Trevor,” he replied simply. The boy was on
the lanky side. He was obviously in his teens, but had already
taken over Ally’s small five-foot frame.

“And how about you?” Raine asked the smaller
one.

“I’m Skylar. Nice to meet you.” The young boy
smiled up at Raine, blushing as his dimples made an appearance. He
stuck out his hand toward her.

She shook it with a delighted laugh, and then
looked up at Ally. “Your brothers?”

Ally nodded.

“How?”

“It’s a long story.”

That was no doubt true. The last time any of
the Guardians had heard, Ally’s entire family had been murdered by
Collectives. If that hadn’t been enough to bear, Ally had learned
that she was a goddess, and the gods had taken her to one of their
temples in an attempt to protect her. Despite the fact that Ferox
was badly injured from his fight with Damion, and his adopted
brother, Ethan, was in a coma, Draven had risked his life by going
to the temple to rescue his female.

“One we’ll tell you once everyone else shows
up,” said Draven. “Which looks like Dad, Thrash, and
Riley.”

Everyone in the foyer went silent. Thrash
finally ventured into the room, with the three new warriors
following behind him. Draven looked at them for only a second
before glancing at Raider.

“New recruits,” Raider supplied.

Draven gave a nod, but the look on his face
showed that he knew something was wrong.

“Ugh
.” Thrash brought his hand up,
pinching the bridge of his nose. He stepped aside as Jake barreled
past him, jumping at Ally. She dropped to her knees and pulled her
dog in for a tight hug, his tail wagging rapidly back and forth.
Everyone smiled at the reunion, knowing that Thrash’s life would be
a lot easier without hearing Jake’s depressed thoughts all the
time.

Ethan stepped toward Draven, his face drawn
with sadness. “Riley still hasn’t woken up,” he said.

Draven turned toward his brother, his brows
creasing. “What do you mean he hasn’t woken up?”

“He’s only gotten worse since you
left.”

Chapter Nine

Raider sat quietly in the booth next to Ferox
and Draven, listening to all the other Guardians talk and joke
around. Back at the mansion, Ally and Draven had filled them all in
on their reunion at Unitas, and had announced they were to be
officially mated in a few weeks. That seemed like an eternity
according to vampire custom, but as they’d explained, with Ally
being a goddess there were certain ceremonies that would need to
take place for their union.

Everyone had been riveted to them, dying to
hear more about the world none of them had ever seen. But after
only a short time, Draven had grown anxious, demanding to spend
some time with Riley. While he and Ethan sat with their brother,
the others remained in the library. Blaze had shown Ally’s brother,
Trevor, where the gaming consoles were, and the two had started
playing Black Ops.

Afterward, all the Guardians had come to
Pandora’s Box for a celebration in honor of Ally and Draven’s
reunion. Nitro and Ash had decided to do a quick sweep of the
Collective hotspots before meeting up with them. Other than that,
only Ally hadn’t come. Skylar had fallen asleep hours ago and she
clearly wasn’t ready to leave her brothers’ sides. Not that Raider
could blame her; he knew exactly what it was like to lose family.
At least she’d gotten her brothers back. Trevor had continued
playing the PS3 while Ally grabbed a controller and played right
along with him.

Some of the Guardians were bantering, some
were scoping out the available women who were vying for their
attention. Raider just sat, watching life happen around him. He was
happy for Draven, but he just didn’t feel in the celebratory mood.
There was another need front and center in his mind, one that if he
didn’t fulfill soon, then there could be dire
consequences.

Sliding from the booth, he perused the club,
looking for a female. Of course, it wasn’t for the same reason as
his brothers. His body was fully sated after the rounds he’d gone
with Nitro a few hours ago. Not that he’d mind doing it again. He
wasn’t on the hunt for a female for sex; he was growing weak,
needing to feed on blood.

It didn’t take long until a woman came up to
hit on him. He didn’t have to waste much time before he took her
out of the club and guided her into a side alleyway. A quick trance
had her pliant, ready and willing to offer what he needed. Closing
his eyes, he waited for the image of Melinda to come to him. All
these years, her image was the only way he’d been able to get
through feeding from another. He peeled his lips from his fangs and
touched them to the skin on her lower neck. With a whispered gasp
from the woman, he bit down. Melinda’s red hair came to mind as he
gulped the girl’s blood. Her weak scream turned into a moan of
pleasure as he sucked greedily on her neck.

Melinda’s red hair and green eyes wavered. The
image turning darker and darker until what stared back at him was
jet-black hair and brown eyes. Nitro. His heart sped up and his
breathing became ragged as he pictured the way she’d ridden him
slowly the night before.

He groaned and gripped the woman tighter as he
drank her blood, his mind and body wishing the woman he held were
Nitro.

****

“Do you think all that is true?” Nitro asked
her brother. “About her being an actual goddess? I’ve never met one
before.”

“Me neither. But if I had to guess what a
goddess looked like, I’d imagine something like her,” Ash
admitted.

They had agreed to make a sweep of the general
area before meeting up with the Guardians for a celebration at
Pandora’s. It wasn’t every day someone found their mate. She
supposed that Draven and Ally were lucky in that regard, if she’d
ever actually wanted that for herself.

She shrugged at her own thoughts, and kept in
step with her brother.

“You’re doing it again,” he said.

“Doing what?

“Thinking. You do that a lot now.”

She didn’t know how to respond to that. Did he
think that she normally never had thoughts?

“I know who you were with last night,” he said
suddenly.

Nitro tried to hide her shock, but she wasn’t
quick enough. He’d grown braver over the last few years, she
thought. He’d have never surprised her with an outright statement
like that before.

He gave her a knowing smile. “I thought you
couldn’t stand the man. Old stick in the mud, was it?”

“I can’t,” she replied. “And he is. I just
can’t stand mopey people, and he had gotten on my last nerve.
Besides, it’s been a week since we’ve been here and I hadn’t gotten
laid
once
.”

He snorted. “You know you could have had any
one of the guys in that bar. You’ve never had the problem of not
having enough attention. You went
looking
for
him.”