Scarlet Heat (Born to Darkness) (15 page)

I let him lead me through the hallway to the
kitchen but I balked at actually going in. It was only two o’clock in the
afternoon—the sun would be barely past its zenith, spelling instant death for
my kind.

“No, look—it’s okay.” Victor pointed to the
windows and I saw he had coated them in some kind of dark, reflective film. It
blocked most of the sun’s light and heat, making the kitchen into a cool, dark
cave.

“Hey,” I said. “Is that—?”

“The same kind of window tint they use in cars,”
Victor said, smiling. “Actually, this stuff is darker—it wouldn’t be legal in a
car. You couldn’t see a damn thing if you were driving. But it’s supposed to
filter out all the UV rays so I thought…”

“Wow…” Daringly, I put my hand out into the
kitchen. It felt just the tiniest bit warm but it didn’t burn. Slowly, I took a
hesitant step into the kitchen. And then another and another until I was
standing right in front of the big double windows over the sink. “Amazing,” I
whispered.

“It works!” Victor exclaimed. “Fucking
perfect.”
He stepped toward me like he
was going to hug me…and then quickly stepped back again. “Uh, sorry.”

“It’s okay.” I went to him and put a hand on his
shoulder. Standing on tiptoes, I breathed in his warm, masculine scent and kissed
his cheek. “Thank you,” I whispered. “For the windows. And…for last night.
Thank you.”

His cheeks went a dull red. “Uh, you’re welcome,”
he muttered. “Look, I didn’t mean to scare you like that. I need you to know, I
would never,
ever—”

“I know,” I said, stepping back. “I know that
now.”

“Good.” His broad shoulders hunched. “Because I’m
not that kind of a guy. And…damn it, I’m so fucking sorry if I gave you the
idea I was.”

“Don’t be sorry,” I said. “It wasn’t all your
fault. I freaked out. I have…a lot of bad memories.”

He nodded, his jaw clenching. “I understand. I
just wish I could find the people who put those memories there—who hurt you,
baby. I want to tear them up—literally, tear them into tiny fucking little pieces
for doing whatever it was they did to you.”

I nodded and stared down at the floor. “Thank
you. But what you did last night…that helped me more than any vengeance could.
How…how did you know that was what I needed?”

“It’s a wolf thing.” His voice was low and rough.
“It’s what you do when one of your pack suffers a loss or a wound that can’t be
healed—you grieve with them.” He put a hand on my shoulder—light and non-threatening
but comforting all the same. “I grieve with you, Taylor,” he rumbled softly,
looking into my eyes. “Your pain is mine.”

“Oh…” I whispered and suddenly I was in his arms.

He held me carefully at first, as though he was
afraid I might break into a million pieces. Then, slowly, he drew me closer. I
pressed my face to his neck, breathing him in, warming myself against him as
though he was my own personal sun—one that would never hurt or burn me.

Victor stroked my back, his hands warm and gentle
along my spine. I heard him inhale and knew he was breathing me in too, taking
in my scent like it was something rare and precious. His chest was hard and
comforting against my breasts and his arms were strong around me. I felt
completely safe. Completely right.

And then it started again—the feelings. The
desire.
The heat,
a little voice
whispered in my head.
Say it, Taylor—deal
with it. You’re going into heat. It’s a were thing and you’re a vampire but
apparently it’s happening anyway.

I knew Victor smelled it on me because I heard
him inhale deeply and then his entire body stiffened, as though he didn’t know
what to do. There was suddenly something long and hard and hot branding my
thigh but then he backed up quickly, considerately putting room between us.

I was pretty stiff myself—my whole body tight
with tension. I wasn’t afraid of him anymore but I wasn’t ready for this
either. Wasn’t ready to have sex, make love, fuck—whatever you wanted to call
it, I couldn’t go there now. Might never be able to go there.

So what was I going to do?

“Uh…” I stepped back from him carefully and
Victor let me go. There was a worried look in his eyes, as though he wanted to
help me but didn’t know how.

“Um…” He cleared his throat. “If…if you want to
be alone, you could go to the bathroom. If you want to, you know, take a bath.”

I took a deep breath. “We both know that won’t
help. No amount of…of baths is going to help me with this, is it?”

Reluctantly, he shook his head. “Afraid not.”

“I know what I need,” I said, making myself look
at him as I talked. “But I can’t…Victor, I just can’t go there. Not yet. Maybe
not ever. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he said quickly.
I’m
the one who’s sorry. This isn’t unusual in weres, you know—the
minute a couple gets blood-bonded, the female goes into, uh…”

“She goes into heat,” I said quietly, finishing
the words he didn’t want to say.

“Yeah,” he said gruffly. “Exactly. It helps
cement their bond, brings them closer together and makes the commitment
permanent. I just…” He shrugged helplessly. “I never thought it could happen to
a vamp.”

“Well, it is,” I said softly. “Now, what am I
going to do about it?”

He appeared unhappy. “I don’t know.”

“What about just…just ignoring it?” The desire
was growing even as I talked, my pulse raced and my pussy felt tender and
swollen with need. My nipples were tight and I felt achy and unfulfilled all
over. How could I possibly ignore this?
I’ll
try though,
I thought grimly.
If there’s
no other way, I’ll damn well try.

But Victor was shaking his head. “I’m sorry,
Taylor, but that’s pretty damn dangerous. At least in weres. An unchecked
heat…it’s not good. Leads to fever, delirium…some females have been known to do
things they can’t remember later. Things they, uh…” He cleared his throat.
“Really,
really
regret. And that’s if
they live to do those things after trying to put it off for so long.”

“So it’s fuck or die?” I demanded, suddenly
feeling cornered.

Victor winced. “Baby, please…”

“I’m sorry.” I crossed my arms over my chest then
jerked them away with a little hiss of pain. My nipples were incredibly
sensitive now, as though my body was
demanding
I do something to help cure the raging fire building within me.

“Don’t be sorry,” he said. “It’s scary, I know.
Some of the younger girls in the pack…wait a minute.” He snapped his fingers.

“What?” I gazed at him eagerly. “What is it?”

“I’m such a damn idiot—don’t know why I didn’t
think of it earlier. It’s just been so long since I’ve had a pack.” He took a
breath. “Sometimes a female who’s too young to be bred goes into heat early.
Usually she already has an intended mate, they’re just not together yet, not
bonded.”

“So what does she do?” I asked, feeling a faint
tendril of hope.

“She doesn’t get bred. But she still needs…”
Victor appeared uncomfortable.

“Go on…” I made a motion with my hand. “Finish.”

He sighed. “Well, she still needs help from her
mate—her intended mate, that is. His scent…his touch…sometimes just the
compounds in his uh, body fluids can help.”

“Fluids?” I said, seizing on it at once. “Do you
think it would help if I fed on you?”

Victor looked uncomfortable again. “That’s, uh,
not exactly what I meant but we could try it.”

“Come on!” I took him by the hand and led him back
to the bedroom. We settled back on the bed together as though we’d done it a
thousand times and he turned his head, offering his neck.

“Go on, baby,” he murmured. “Drink.”

I lay beside him and nuzzled close, my fangs
aching to bite. It was true I was incredibly thirsty after my epic breakdown
the night before but even as I sank my teeth into his exposed jugular, I had a
feeling that I needed something else—something more.

Sure enough, though his delicious blood satisfied
my thirst, my body was still hungry when I was done. I licked his throat to
seal the wound and pressed myself against him, my entire being begging for
more.

Drinking from him had made my problem worse—not
better.

I was throbbing with need, so swollen and hot
between my thighs I couldn’t bear to close my legs. I pulled away from Victor
with an effort and moaned as my tight nipples brushed his side, sending shivers
of desire through me.

“Taylor?” He looked at me, his nostrils flaring
as he scented my need. “Are you okay? Because you smell…”

“What?” I whispered, barely able to talk at all,
I needed him so badly. “How do I smell?”

“Hot,” he admitted, his voice dipping down to the
wolf’s growl. He shifted uncomfortably on the bed and I saw the telltale bulge
in the denim of his jeans. “I’m sorry, baby, but you smell fucking hot.”

“I am,” I admitted softly. “I don’t think that
helped. I think…I think it made it worse. Victor…what are we going to do?”

He sighed. “Like I said, sometimes you can hold
it off. Satisfy it some other way.”

“With fluids,” I said. “Only, you weren’t talking
about blood, were you?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“What then?” I said, already knowing the answer.

He frowned and glanced down at the bulge in his
jeans. “Well, there’s the obvious thing but that’s not happening—not tonight.”

I felt a strange mixture of relief and
frustration. “Then what…”

“Saliva. Licking.” He stared at me directly.
“Sometimes that works.”

“You mean you want to…to…” I shook my head. “No.
No, I don’t…I can’t go there.”

Victor closed his eyes briefly, as though he was
thinking hard. Then he opened them and gazed at me.

“You don’t have to.”

“Then how…?”

“Just get undressed. Or, well, put on one of my
t-shirts and nothing else—like you wore the other night. And I’ll show you.”

My heart was beating so hard it seemed to be
shaking my entire body, but I nodded and slid off the bed.

“I’ll be right back.”

I changed in the closet, grabbing another one of
his t-shirts from the basket. I could have taken a clean one from the stack on
one of the shelves but I didn’t want to. Victor had worn the one I chose and
his scent clung to it. Just as it had the night before, his warm, masculine
aroma comforted me.

I thought of how the witch, Gwendolyn, had said
weres and vamps stink to each other as I slid out of my skirt and blouse and
underwear and pulled the pale blue t-shirt down over my naked body. How could
that possibly be true? I had never smelled anything or anyone that attracted me
more than Victor’s scent. It made me feel safe and hot at the same time—a
strange mixture but one I was willing to go with because I trusted him.

I walked out into the bedroom to see that Victor
had taken off his shirt and was leaning back against the carved oak headboard
of the bed. He sucked in a breath when I came into view, his eyes moving slowly
over my body.

I felt myself flush all over but not entirely
with embarrassment. I knew he could see the tight little points of my nipples,
pressing against the thin material of his shirt. And now that I had my skirt
and panties off, he could no doubt smell how hot and wet my pussy was.

But I didn’t care. Or rather, I
did
care but only because I was glad he
wanted me. I took a moment to savor that sensation—when was the last time I had
been
glad
a man wanted me in his bed?

It was so far back I honestly couldn’t remember.

“C’mere, baby.” Victor’s voice was low and rough
as he beckoned to me to join him. “It’s okay, I won’t hurt you.”

“I know,” I said, feeling a rush of gratitude
that it was true. I went to the bed and climbed on it, settling myself across
from him on my knees. “Now what?”

“Come a little closer.” He patted the spot right
beside him and stayed where he was, letting me come to him.

I knee-walked a little closer until I was right
beside him but still facing him. I gazed up at him expectantly. “Okay?”

“Yeah,” he murmured. “Now give me your hand. The
one you write with.”

Mystified, I slipped my right hand into his,
noticing as I had that first night when we were bonded at the altar, how much
larger his hands were than mine. My fingers appeared small and fragile, like a
little girl’s, in his big, rough paw. And yet his touch was so gentle.

“Now what?” I asked.

“Now this.” Victor brought my hand to his lips
and folded down all but the first two digits. Locking his eyes with mine, he
pressed a warm, wet kiss to the pads of my two fingers. Then he sucked them
gently into his mouth.

My pulse skittered rapidly and I took in a quick breath.
“Victor?” I whispered as he lapped delicately around and around my fingers. It
almost felt like he was licking something else. Like he was showing me how it
would be if he—my face got hot and I couldn’t finish the thought.