Set In Flames (Morningstars Book 1) (20 page)

He embraced her almost instantly, holding her carefully, as if she was actually precious to him. Whatever was going on with him that day, it sure felt like something she wanted forever.

“I’m sorry, Maya,” he started again, letting her go enough so he could look at her. He looked sincere. “I’m sorry for every lie I made you believe, for every crack I’ve given your heart. For every tear I let slip down your cheek. You are mine. You never should have doubted that in the first place, but that is all on me. I know you are hurt, confused and angry, but please, let me hold you today. Just…” He trailed off, pressing his face into the side of her neck, holding her tighter. “Just let me know you are there,” he finished, leaving her all but speechless.

“Jaden,” she just brought out, raising her arms to finally embrace him. She wanted to be mad at him, hate him for everything he had done, but she simply couldn’t when she thought she felt his regret in her bones. She wanted to trust his change of heart so badly, but doubt was rearing its ugly head.

“What changed, Jaden?” she finally asked, her lips so close to his ear that they brushed the outer shell while she spoke.

“You were gone and I had no idea when I’d see you again. Or even if. I didn’t know if you were alive. By the Creator, I never was as scared as those last days. You are mine, Cupcake, and I don’t care what Colbin thinks I should do, or what the Order considers best. Four nights and five days I had no idea what had happened to you. I just knew you were afraid and there was nothing I could do. It was hell in a nutshell,” he explained and then released her, letting her go far enough so she regretted the loss of his warmth.

“Where have you been anyways?” he wanted to know and she shrugged.

“At my mother’s house. I don’t know. She left me in the cellars. I can maybe show you the way there. It was my luck that my father found me.” Only then did she realize that she had never bothered to ask how he had known. She was seriously worried that she’d never get in a position to find out. “I couldn’t walk. Jaden. I couldn’t have run even if I had tried to, but he carried me. He carried me up to your driveway. He once has been here on business, asking about two victims or so. You know him,” she explained and he blinked a few times, making her wonder how many people he had been asked about so far.

“Tymon. Tymon is your father? He’s the only one I actually let come out here. I didn’t know… Ryder never said anything when he saw him. He risked his life for you. The sun could have broken out any second and he didn’t hesitate?” he wanted to know and she shook her head.

“Jaden, I don’t think she’s gonna let him live for freeing me,” she whispered and then looked up. “I told him you’d be mine. I know it was a lie, but I just couldn’t face…”

“No lie, Maya, I am all yours,” he interrupted. The conviction in his voice tore the ground out from under her feet, making her knees go weak. Or maybe it was something else all together.

Jaden held onto her, his expression worried.

“Oh Maya,” he mumbled, picking her up to carry her downstairs. He placed her on the sofa, kneeling in front of her then. Taking her hands in his, he kissed her palm.

“I’m gonna bring you food now. What are you hungry for?” he wanted to know, meeting her eyes again. Seeing him there, kneeling in front of her like that she could see them having a union, a friendship and even a family. It made her crave his blood all of the sudden, no matter how disturbing that thought should have been to her.

“You,” was her only reply and to her utter surprise, Jaden’s head lowered to their joined hands. A sigh of relief escaped him before he kissed her raw fingertips and then her jumping pulse.

“Then me you get,” he promised, moving up to sit next to her. “I’m all yours anyways, beautiful,” he then added, cupping her cheek and drawing her in. She suddenly was aware of how little she wore, but just a few seconds later Jaden was all she actually could feel.

Colbin sank down on the side of the bed, face buried in his hands. “She’s safe,” he said quietly. Jaden had just called in and Colbin knew, even without seeing his warrior, that he was now out of reach. Everything they had talked about, everything they had planned was lost on Jaden now. It probably had been beyond him the moment he had found out that Maya was missing.

“It’s all over now, isn’t it? He will turn her tonight,” Lara wanted to know and Colbin didn’t dare to look at her.

“I should send Kaden over to get them here. Only I can’t because the sun came out. Plus, no one would be able to enter anyways. If I guessed right, the bond will protect them until they leave,” he mumbled and Lara gently touched his cheek.

“You don’t want to send anyone anyways, do you?” she wanted to know and he growled.

“He’d fight us. He’d fight every one of those warriors for her. I knew he wouldn’t do the right thing. I should have known my plan wouldn’t work. He won’t let her go, won’t do the only right thing,” he explained, feeling his Origin’s anger explode through their bond.

“Or at least he won’t do what you consider the right thing to be! Please, imagine how you would have felt if I had been missing. Let’s say I would have gone with her. We would have been caught together and you couldn’t have felt what I felt!” she snapped and he slowly nodded. He had considered that, truly, this was the only reason why those two really didn’t have anyone knocking down their door now.

“Difference is that you and I just would have saved ourselves while she needs to give our race hope,” he replied and her anger didn’t vanish. He wondered how he hadn’t noticed it before, because obviously it had been simmering below the surface.

“Maya never got a chance to find out what her true role was. She maybe knew she was going to be Queen, but honestly? She didn’t even know what it meant to be a vampire-descendent! There was no way for her to have guessed how this whole thing would proceed! You think she would have agreed? Maybe, just maybe I should have told her what it all entailed, and then she wouldn’t have run, because she could have understood Jaden better.”

“Stop, Lara,” Colbin interrupted. “We decided it was best if she resented him because then leaving him would be easier. This whole love was doomed from the beginning and… We now just need to focus on getting the court ready, making sure she can move in soon and get to know what’s going on now in her life. Until then I’m gonna…” Lara stopped him with her hand on his shoulder.

“Change the rules. Let them stay together. Talk to the Circle of Seven,” she pleaded and he hung his head.

“Babe, I can’t. I cannot change the rules and they won’t even try. They don’t know either of them, but they sure know their traditions,” he sighed, sounding defeated.

“Then we are all doomed,” Lara whispered, leaving the room to let Colbin stir in his own thoughts.

Jaden had a hard time keeping his shaking to himself. Opening the door, finding Maya there had not helped to ease it. Not even holding her had helped, even though now the shaking had changed. Hearing her say that she was hungry for him had him swallowing.

He knew she meant his blood and he was ready to spill it all for her.

With gentle gestures he guided her onto his lap, letting his fingers brush over her bare calves as they rested left and right of him. She looked at him. Too far away. She was simply too far away.

He grabbed her ass, pulling her as close as possible. She first giggled, then she suddenly stopped, obviously realizing how badly he wanted her.

“Cupcake,” he tried to say, but it came out as a hoarse whisper only.

“Handsome,” she replied, framing his face. Their very unique glow now joined the soft warm light of the fireplace.

“Dearest Creator,” he breathed and then he was finally kissing her again. He had missed that and everything coming with it: his need, his hope and the delicious burning that marked him as hers.

Her breathing sped up and her hands wandered lower. Jaden couldn’t help but smile as she broke the kiss to pull his shirt over his head.

“I’ve been running a lot,” she started while her hands travelled over his chest. She wanted to talk?
Now
?

“Maya, you sure this is the right time for a heart-to-heart?” he asked, out of breath and more than just a little turned on.

She laughed and it was a sound that eased all his tension. She wanted to talk? Fine, that was what they’d do. He was ready for a different action, but this was about Maya.

“I do, but I promise, I’ll make it quick,” she grinned, then sobered again. “I talked to Lara and… You know… I mean, she said that between mates everything would come natural.”

Suddenly Jaden’s lusty haze was all but blown away. “You talked to Lara about sex?” he wanted to know and she blushed the sweetest shade of pink.

“I had to talk to someone, right? You wanted me to talk to Kade or Lex about it?” she wanted to know and he wanted to kill those two just for the fact that she had thought about it.

“No, go on,” he roughly demanded while her hands went through his hair, back over his shoulders and then down his stomach again. Nothing distracted him though from her story.

“While I was on the run,” she picked up her story again, “I worked in a bar for a few months. A special bar,” she explained and he saw red, pushing her off his lap because he feared that he wouldn’t be able to touch her without hurting her. How many guys had seen what was intended for his eyes only?

He started pacing, grinding his teeth together. Suddenly she started to giggle, sounding almost hysterical.

“You find that funny?” he wanted to know, his voice down to a low growl. She pressed her lips together, trying hard to not chuckle anymore. Her reaction made him want to beat someone to a pulp.

“Sit, handsome. I worked the bar. I’m still… All yours.” Her eyes got dark with that promise and he planted his ass back down, his pants getting tighter at her expression. He was back to square one, wanting her like nothing else.

“I got a lot of visuals… Disturbing ones and, I promise, hot ones. There’s something I know guys love and…” She blushed again and he pulled her back on his lap, kissing her roughly on the mouth. He wanted her and he needed her to belong to him.

“And?” he asked finally.

“Lara said you’d sure be alright with me trying that on you, so…” She shrugged and Jaden swallowed, feeling his mouth go dry. She was innocent, more than a little brave and not at all experienced, but she wanted to… All thought left his brain when her mouth skimmed over his sweatpants. How had she gotten on the floor and when had she moved?

Her hands pulled down his pants and he knew where she was headed. It made an involuntary moan escape his lips before he grabbed her hands, stilling her fully.

“Cupcake! Are you sure that’s what you want to start… Shit!” She had licked along his fully erect length, effectively shutting him up. There was no harm in letting her experiment a little, was there? Just a few…

He took a deep breath as she wrapped her hands around his cock, tentatively stroking. She was biting her lip while watching for his reaction when she alternated between hard and soft pressure; quick and slow strokes, soon having figured out a way to draw the strongest reaction from him.

It sure wasn’t the first time that a woman had given him a hand job, but with her it was different all over. Despite the fact that he used to be selfish during sex, he now wanted to stop her only to make sure that she was coming first. She should be the first one to be pleased and pleasured.

He reached for a pillow, needing to hold onto something simply because he had never felt anything better.

“Maya… Babe… Cupcake, you need to come up so we can…” He moaned another time as she moved her hand over the sensitive tip and back down, causing his body to thrust against her hand for more friction while she removed the pants fully from his body.

It was probably the first time ever that he was undressed before the woman was naked.

She gave him a short reprieve by kissing his stomach, letting her hands roam his body while circling her tongue around his navel. He couldn’t think of anything more erotic than his female teasing and tasting him.

“Okay, Jaden. Now,” she grinned, a dangerous glint in her eyes. She grabbed him right under the knees, pulling him down so he sank deeper into the sofa cushions.

“Now what?” he wanted to know and she told him to close his eyes. It was surprising how much more intense the feeling got when he couldn’t watch her.