Scarlet Heat (Born to Darkness) (8 page)

Carefully, I edged up right behind her until her
back was to my front. I could feel her shaking as I wrapped my arms around her,
trying not to hurt her burned skin. I looked down, making sure that she was
completely protected, completely hidden by my body. Feeling her lush ass pressed
back against my shaft was distracting but I pushed my desire for her out of my
mind and made sure her legs were perfectly lined up with mine.

“Okay,” I murmured in her ear. “We’re going to
move. Left foot first, then right, keep going until we’re out of the kitchen
and into the living room. There aren’t as many windows in there and they all have
drapes on them.”

“Okay,” she whispered back and we began to move.

As we made our way out of the kitchen, I could
feel how tense she was against me. It was the exact opposite of how she’d been
in bed, when she was still asleep and thought I was the wolf. I wondered if she
hated this, being so close to me. Or if she was just afraid of the sunlight. I
really hoped it was the latter.

Finally, we were clear of the kitchen and into
the dim hallway leading to the living room. I kicked the kitchen door closed
with my foot, shutting out the brilliant flood of sunlight to my intense
relief.

As soon as we were free of the sunlight, Taylor
jumped away from me—or tried to, anyway. She started out well but fell to her
knees on the second step with a little moan of pain.

Instantly, I felt a surge of protective concern.
Was she all right? Had the sunlight just weakened her or was she hurt worse
than I had thought?

“Taylor?” I bent down to look at her but she had
curled herself into a little ball and wouldn’t meet my eyes.

Not knowing what else to do, I scooped her gently
into my arms and lifted her off the floor. God, she was light—
too
light. It worried me. She made a
small sound of protest but didn’t try to fight me as I carried her into the
living room and laid her gently on the couch. Her lack of struggle made me even
more concerned—what if she was even more injured than I had thought? What if
she was dying? I didn’t know how much sun a young vamp like her could take and
still survive—what if she was checking out on me right now?

“Hey,” I said, trying to control the intense
worry I was feeling. “Hey, baby—you okay?”

Taylor took a ragged breath, her eyelashes
fluttering on her pale cheeks as though she was about to pass out.

“I’m fine,” she said at last, in a voice so faint
I could barely hear her. “Really…fine.”

I frowned. “No, you’re not. You just sustained fucking
third degree sunburns and collapsed. You’re
not
fine. So tell me the truth—are you injured? Do you need a doctor? Medicine?”

I felt stupid asking it. What kind of doctor
treated vampires? And what kind of medicine could they take? They didn’t drink
anything but blood.

Right! Blood!
A light bulb went off in my
head. What an idiot I was not to see it right away—blood, she needed blood!

I started to offer her my right wrist as I had
the night before, but it was still sore from her last feeding. The left wrist
was out of the question too—it was tender as hell from the fucking trap I’d
walked into as the wolf. The only option left was my throat, but she had been
scared to death when I’d offered it to her the night before—possibly because I
was looming over her, making her feel vulnerable.

I thought about it for a minute but I could only
see one solution. Sitting down beside her on the couch, I gathered her into my
arms again.

“What…what are you doing?” She looked at me with
eyes filled with mistrust and hurt. My heart twisted painfully—I didn’t want
her afraid of me.

“It’s okay, baby,” I murmured, shifting until I
was lying back on the long sectional with my head and neck propped on the arm
of the couch. “I’m just giving you what you need.”

“Don’t need…anything,” she protested when I
settled her more firmly against me.

“Yes, you do. You need blood.” When I got where I
was going, I was lying on the couch with her soft little body draped over my
chest and thighs. Her scent filled my senses and a strong feeling of protective
possessiveness washed over me again.

It was too strong to deny—the instinct of a wolf
to protect its mate.

She’s not really my mate,
I tried to tell
myself.
We’re married in name only. I’m
not even supposed to be touching her, let alone lying half naked on the couch
with her draped all over me.

But there we were, all the same. And though I had
sworn to myself just the night before I would never do it again, I turned my
head and offered her my throat—giving her the sign of submission no Alpha
should extend to anyone.

I heard Taylor catch her breath and when I cut my
eyes to the right to look at her, I saw the hungry, helpless look on her face.
The tiny, sharp, delicate points of her fangs were peaking out from under her
lush upper lip.

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” I murmured, tilting my
head a little more. “Come on.”

She looked up at me, uncertainly. “You mean it?
I…I’m so
thirsty.
The sun…”

“Take what you need,” I told her and really meant
it. I
wanted
her to feed on me,
wanted to know that I was nourishing her, healing her with my blood. I supposed
I would have thought feelings like that were sick and twisted even a few days
ago. But now they just seemed natural and right. Taylor was mine to nourish and
protect and heal—I had to do right by her. “Come on,” I urged her again.

She finally accepted my offer. Lifting her face
to my neck, she struck quickly, her sharp little points sinking into my throat
and piercing the vein neatly.

I had been braced for the pain but it didn’t hurt
nearly as much as it had the night before. Either she was getting better at
biting me or I was getting used to it.

And then the pleasure started.

It was the same as the night before—a warm
tingling that started in the pit of my stomach and seemed to spread to every
part of my body at once. My hard-on had gone down when I was so concerned about
her but now it came to life again and I could feel myself standing at complete
attention, tenting the baggy material of my sweatpants embarrassingly.

God…
I shifted under her and felt
her stop sucking. Oh, she must think I was upset.

“It’s okay,” I told her, hoping my voice didn’t
sound too strangled. Hesitantly, I put a hand to her back to urge her on.
Feeling her silky, bare skin under the soft cotton of the t-shirt didn’t help
the situation between my legs any, but I wanted her to know everything was all
right. “Take as much as you want,” I told her, stroking her back lightly. “I
don’t mind, really.”

Taylor tensed for a moment under my touch and
then seemed to relax into it. With a little moan of contentment, she went back
to sucking my neck, drawing deep to get everything she needed.

I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the little
sounds of pleasure she was making in the back of her throat, trying not to feel
her warm, soft body pressed against mine. Her scent was getting hotter all the
time—the ribbon of scarlet heat widening to a stream…a river of fire, teasing
my senses, telling me things I knew couldn’t possibly be true.

Or could they?

Chapter Six—Taylor

When I finally had enough of his warm, delicious
blood and withdrew my fangs, I thought I heard Victor breathe a sigh of relief.
No doubt he was getting really tired of me biting him but there was one more
thing I needed to do—something I hadn’t tried last night because I didn’t think
I could do it. But I felt stronger now—more able to access my natural abilities.
Leaning down again, I lapped gently at the twin puncture marks I had made on
his neck, willing the skin to close, trying to heal him from my bite.

“Taylor honey,” he said, his deep voice tight.
“What…uh, what are you doing?”

“Trying to seal the wound.” I looked up at him,
worried. “I should have at least tried to do it the night before when I drank
from your wrist, but you seemed like you were in such a hurry to go…”

“Oh.” He shifted under me and I could feel the
tension in his big, muscular body. At last he said, “Well, is it going to take
much longer?”

“Not much.” I gave him an apologetic look. “I’m
sorry—you’re probably sick of me sucking your neck, huh?”

He shifted again. “I’m just in kind of a, uh,
uncomfortable position here.”

“Oh, sorry!” I pulled back and hopped up at once.
The place on his throat where I had bitten looked pretty good, actually. Maybe
after six years I was finally beginning to get the hang of some of this vampire
stuff. Or maybe the lessons Corbin had given me were kicking in—either way, it
appeared that I was now able to heal wounds—at least small ones. It made me
feel proud—like I was finally becoming a proper vampire.

Victor sat up too and grabbed a throw pillow,
holding it casually in his lap. I wondered briefly if he had gotten hard again
and tried to push the thought away. It was embarrassing enough to be sitting
here on the couch with him, wearing only a thin white t-shirt while he was bare
chested and only wearing sweats. We didn’t need to bring anything else into our
weird little pseudo-marriage to complicate it.

“Are you feeling better now?” he asked, looking
at me seriously. “I mean
really
better?”

“Yes, I am.” I nodded and gave him a grateful
smile.

Victor smiled back. Our eyes met for a minute and
I looked away quickly, my cheeks heating. Damn it, why did he have to look so
good, sitting there with his broad, muscular chest and those dark, intense
eyes? They had gone back to brown, I noticed—maybe they only turned gold when
his wolf wanted out.

“And the burn is all healed?” he reached for my
hand and extended my arm, searching for the angry red blisters that had popped
up during my brief exposure to the sun—there were none.

My cheeks got even hotter and I pulled back my
hand.

“I’m fine,” I murmured, nodding. “Your blood is
amazing—it even healed the marks I had left from this morning.”

“This morning?” He frowned.

“You know—when I was trying to coax you into the
house? Your wolf, I mean.”

“That’s right.” He frowned at me. “I remember
what happened—you actually risked going
out
into the sunlight to bring me in, didn’t you?”

“I
had
to
go out,” I protested. “You seemed so afraid of me.”

“Goddamn it, Taylor!” he growled and I flinched
at the deep, angry sound. “You shouldn’t have done that—you could have been
killed
.”

I lifted my chin and glared up into his eyes.

“What was I supposed to do? Leave you outside
with that awful trap clamped on your poor paw? Besides, the sun was just coming
up—it wasn’t even really over the horizon yet. It wasn’t nearly as strong as it
is right now.”

“It was strong enough to give you blisters,” he
pointed out. “Listen, I don’t want you doing that—don’t want you risking
yourself for me ever again, do you understand?”

“Why not?” I demanded. “You risked yourself for
me.”

“What?” He shook his head. “What are you talking
about?”

“Back on the night we were married, uh,
blood-bonded. When Roderick…when he wanted to…to take me…” I swallowed hard and
I heard a little click in my throat. Remembering made me feel sick but I made myself
go on anyway. “You…you wouldn’t let him. You claimed me, saved me—”

“I just did what any decent guy would do,” he
protested, shifting uncomfortably. “I couldn’t just stand by and watch while he
hurt you.”

“That’s really nice of you to say,” I said
softly. “But you could have been killed. Roderick…he was really strong and
cruel and…and…” I shook her head, unable to go on.

“Hey…” He took my hand gently again and this time
I didn’t pull it away. The touch of his warm, callused palm was comforting. “That
Roderick asshole—the one Corbin killed with the weird magic stake—is he the one
who hurt you? Who made you so afraid?”

I hunched my shoulders and looked down at our
joined hands.

“He…he was one of them,” I whispered.

“Who else?” he demanded, his eyes flashing a
dangerous deep gold. “Who else hurt you?”

I bit my lip. “Mainly Celeste—my old mistress.
The one who brought me over to start with. I don’t really want to talk about
it. Okay?” I looked up at him pleadingly.

Victor searched my eyes with his own for a long
moment and finally nodded.

“Okay,” he said roughly. “But if you ever want me
to teach that bitch Celeste a lesson—”

“I just want to forget about it,” I said quickly.
Which was true, except some things you can’t forget, no matter how hard you
try.