Scarlet Heat (Born to Darkness) (7 page)

He nuzzled my neck, inhaling deeply as though he was memorizing my scent.
At the same time, his big hands started exploring me, cupping my breasts and
teasing my nipples…sliding lower to caress my ass and part my legs. I arched
against him like a cat that wanted to be stroked and opened my legs willingly
for the long fingers that invaded my pussy.

“Yes,” I whispered in his ear. “So good…God, that feels so good.”

“Feels good to me too, baby,” he growled softly, his fingers working
gently, going deeper and deeper inside me. “God, you’re wet. Going to feel even
better when I’m inside you…fucking you…breeding you.”

“Please,” I whispered, wanting desperately to submit. “Please yes, I want
you in me. Please, Victor, please…”

With a low growl, he rolled me under him and replaced his fingers with
his cock. As he filled me with himself, thrusting his thick length deeper and
deeper into my pussy, I moaned his name and gave myself, submitting completely
and without reservation. I was his, his completely and I had no wish to be
anything else.

I had the strangest urge to throw back my head and howl…

Chapter Five—Victor

I woke up with the feeling I wasn’t alone. There
was someone in bed with me. A soft, warm weight was pressed against my bare
back and a delicious feminine scent filled my nose. It made me instantly hard.

Who…what…?
As always, I was a little
disoriented after coming out of my wolf form. I had vague memories of the night
before—running in the moonlight, howling and returning the howls of the other
wolves, and then putting my paw into something that bit and bit and wouldn’t
let go…

The memory made me realize my left wrist was aching.
In fact, that might have been what woke me up in the first place. I was lying
on my right side so I brought my left wrist up in front of me and squinted in the
dim room, trying to see the problem. Nothing seemed to be broken but it
throbbed painfully. Great—so I wasn’t going to be getting much work done
today—good thing it was the weekend. But something told me that my injury might
have been much worse. If it wasn’t for her…

Her,
whispered a voice in my brain,
the voice of the wolf.
Pale girl.

A picture formed in my head. A girl with long,
dark hair and deep blue eyes. She was beautiful and very kind, the wolf
informed me, through more picture messages. She took away the pain. She gave
delicious food. She smelled right—like a wolf, not a dead one. She was pack.

I shook my head in disbelief. Was I seriously
understanding the other side of my nature correctly? I had been certain that
the wolf inside me would hate Taylor—she was a fucking
vampire,
for God’s sake—the ancient enemy of our kind. I had been
afraid to change around her—afraid the wolf would hurt her. Instead, it seemed
my furry self wanted to adopt her, to claim her as part of the family.

She is pack,
the wolf affirmed in my head.

What the hell? How had Taylor won over my inner
wolf so completely and quickly? A flood of images was my answer—Taylor leading
the wolf inside the house, taking away the silver pain thing that had been
biting his/my paw/arm. Then feeding him-me bacon (
delicious man-food!
the Wolf sent excitedly) and curling up close
to him/me in bed, sharing rest and comfort the way pack members do.

Hmm…curling up in bed. Behind me, the warm, soft
weight shifted and someone gave a contented sigh. A soft arm crept around my
side and settled on my chest. Then someone slung a long, slender leg over my
hip.

“Mmm,” Taylor murmured, sounding as if she was
talking in her sleep. “So…warm.”

She was pretty warm herself, for a vamp. Not that
I made a practice of sleeping with them. I inhaled deeply. God, she smelled
good, even better than the night before. The Wolf was right—she
did
smell more like a wolf than a
vampire. And there was another layer under her scent—a thin, scarlet ribbon of
heat that seemed to be growing.

My hard-on got even harder but I frowned, lying
perfectly still and concentrating on what my nose was telling me. That hot
scent just under Taylor’s natural smell was familiar somehow. I knew it
instinctively, although I hadn’t smelled it in a long time, not since I had
been cast out by my home pack years ago. And I had never thought I would smell
it on a vamp—or on any female other than a were or a shape shifter for that
matter.

It can’t be right,
I told myself uneasily.
She’s a vamp. There’s no fucking way she’s
going into—

“Mmm…” Behind me Taylor stretched and hummed in
her sleep, sounding like she was just about to wake up. Her soft body pressed
even closer to mine and it didn’t feel like she had many clothes on. My cock
suddenly felt like it was going to burst. I had the urge to roll over in bed
and take her in my arms but I couldn’t do that—couldn’t scare her or take
advantage that way.

“Uh, Taylor?” I ventured, turning my head to see
her. It was pretty dark in the room but the clock on the table said it was
around three in the afternoon. Wasn’t that kind of early for a new vamp to be
up? I had thought that only the really old ones could be awake during the day.
Was it possible that Taylor was just stirring in her sleep and wasn’t about to
wake up after all?

Gently, I pushed her leg off my hip and pulled
her arm off my side. Then I turned over to face her. She was wearing one of my
white t-shirts, which was so big on her it fell to her thighs. Lying on her
side with her hands curled under her chin, she looked like an innocent little
girl. Her long dark hair fell over her shoulders and her eyelashes were like
thick black fans on her pale cheeks.

So fucking gorgeous…

Her beauty made me catch my breath, just as it
had on the night we had been blood-bonded. I had been so certain I was never
going to marry a vamp and had been right in the act of telling Corbin so and
then she had showed up in the doorway of his office. I could still remember the
way her white silk gown had clung to her lush curves and the crown of white
rosebuds in her long, dark hair. Her eyes had been so huge and uncertain as she
looked up at me—the expression on her face made my heart twist in my chest.

That was the reason I had said yes to Corbin’s
crazy proposal—not the fifty thousand I owed him. But just because she looked
at me like that. God…

Forgetting that I was supposed to keep my
distance, I reached out to stroke a silky strand of hair out of her face. I
tucked it behind her ear and Taylor murmured something in her sleep and
suddenly cuddled closer to me.

The motion caused the white t-shirt she was
wearing to ride up, showing the slope of her hip and the softly rounded curve
of her bare ass.

Whoa…
Okay, this wasn’t good. I was
naked myself and having her so close was really affecting me. I tried pushing
her gently away but Taylor only cuddled closer, pressing her body to mine and
nuzzling her face against my chest like a kitten that wanted to be stroked. I
could feel the soft globes of her breasts pressing against me through the thin
cotton of the t-shirt and the warmth of her soft little pussy mound lower down,
almost against my cock. Her feminine scent with that delicious thread of scarlet
heat running through it teased my nose, making me nearly crazy with desire.

Damn, I wanted her! I had to get
away
.

“Taylor,” I said aloud, still trying to extricate
myself from her embrace. “Wake up, sweetheart. I, uh, need to get up now.”

Actually, I needed to go to the bathroom and jerk
off but I wasn’t about to advertise that. Who could have guessed that I would
be so damn attracted to a vampire?

“Taylor,” I said again, more urgently. I tried to
push her away again but she pressed closer and rubbed her cheek against my
chest.

“Yes,” she murmured, her eyes still firmly
closed. “So good…feels so good.”

“Won’t be good for long if you keep this up,” I
growled, pulling away from her. “Come on, baby—you need to let go. Need to—”

Suddenly, Taylor’s eyes flew open and she sat
straight up in bed.

“What…where am I?” She looked at me uncertainly
and then recognition flooded her eyes. “What are you doing here? Where’s the
wolf?”

“He’s here.” I thumped my chest. “I changed
back.”

Her eyes flicked over my naked body, no doubt
taking in my cock, which was standing at attention for her.

“Uh, sorry,” I muttered, shifting to try and hide
it. I wanted to pull the covers over my hip but we were sleeping on top of the
spread for some reason.

A look of fear crossed her face and she scooted
suddenly away from me, putting distance between us.

“What have you been doing to me since you changed
back?”

“Nothing.” I held up my hands in a “don’t shoot”
gesture. “I swear.”

“I don’t believe you,” she snapped. “I thought…I
thought I felt your hands. We were both naked and you…you were touching me.”

“Look at yourself, sweetheart,” I said, not
bothering to hide the sarcasm in my voice. “You’re still dressed—well, sort of.
And I’m only naked because I just changed back. You must have had a dream.”

“But…but why would I dream about
that?”
Her voice quivered. “I don’t even
like that. I never want to ever again. I don’t—”

“Taylor—” I started but she shook her head.

“No, leave me alone. I just…I can’t.” Swiftly she
jumped off the bed and ran out of the bedroom.

“Watch out for the sun,” I shouted after her.
“It’s three in the afternoon and this is the only light-tight room in the
house.”

The words were barely out of my mouth when I
heard a scream from the kitchen.
Damn it,
now what?
Grabbing a pair of sweat pants from the closet, I ran after her.

Taylor was standing in the center of the kitchen,
surrounded by a brilliant flood of late afternoon sunlight. She must have been
running blind and ended up there by accident but it was the absolute worst spot
in the house for her to be. Because of the L-shape of the room and the large
windows I had installed, the entire place was flooded with light—all but one
small spot in the center directly opposite the wall where the large oven range
and overhead-mounted microwave were located.

That was where she was standing but it was clear
she’d been through the sunlight to get there—there were angry red blisters on
one of her arms and red marks on her legs. Now she huddled in the tiny area of
shadow, trembling with fear, a trapped look on her face.

I could see how it must have happened—Taylor
running blindly to get away from me, sliding into the kitchen too fast to stop.
Being burned by the light and skidding to a halt in the tiny oasis of shadow.
Now she was stuck there with the blinding, deadly light all around her like an
animal caught in a trap.

An animal caught in a trap. That was me last night.

I suddenly flashed on the way she had talked so
soothingly to me right in this very room the night before. I had warned her
specifically that my wolf form might be dangerous to her and yet she had let me
in and treated my wound, risking grave injury to herself to help me. These
weren’t images pushed forward by the wolf—they were primal memories, stored in
my subconscious and just now coming out. With them came a powerful sense of
protectiveness. I had to help her—had to save her. She was
mine
.

Taylor looked up at me, her blue eyes wide with
fear and panic.

“Victor,” she whispered. “I can’t…I’m afraid to
move. The sun is too strong. I don’t…don’t know if I can go through it again.”

“Stay right where you are,” I told her, fumbling
the sweatpants on as fast as I could. “It’s going to be okay, baby—it’s going
to be all right.”

“It’s so
bright.”
Her voice sounded choked and tense. “I’ve never been up this early since I
was turned. I forgot…forgot how hot it could be.”

“Everything is going to be okay.” I came to her,
walking through the sunlight that was deadly poison to her pale skin. I held
out a hand but Taylor shrank back from me.

“What…what are you going to do?” she whispered,
eyeing me fearfully.

“Just shield you,” I assured her. “Look, I’m
going to come up behind you and keep my back to the windows. You’re small—I
should be able to cover you completely.”

“You will?” She didn’t look too happy about the
idea.

“I won’t hurt you,” I said, trying to keep my
voice gentle and low, although every instinct I had was screaming for me to get
her out of that room. It was like I had walked in on her holding a ticking bomb
in her hand—I
had
to get her out
now
. “I’ll never hurt you, Taylor,” I
said again.

She looked at me, as though trying to read my
face. Then, slowly, she nodded.

“All right,” she whispered. “But please—let’s
hurry.”

“As fast as we can,” I promised. “You stay right
with me and I’ll keep the sun off you until we get out of this room.”