Stephen (21 page)

“‘
Tis the murderer.” She looked at Leith, not sure she understood. “The man who harmed you all those years ago. While we are happy to have you as our queen, he did kill your mother, and for that I am glad he is dead.”

Her stepfather. She didn’t feel any remorse for his death other than the fact that she would dearly have loved to have done it, but she knew that however he’d died, it was much too quick for her taste. When she started to turn the knob, she felt Vinnie touch her mind.

“
We’ve found him. And I’m sending Hawk for you. Whatever you’re going to do there, hurry it along. He’s over the deep end.”

Opening the door, she smelled death immediately. Her mission had changed from making the vampire suffer to getting her dead so she could go to Stephen. But as soon as she was standing over the bed, she knew that she couldn’t do it. Not like this. The woman had made too many people suffer at her hand.

“
Call the council. Tell them to come for her.” Leith nodded and smiled. “I’m not saying I don’t want to kill her, but they’ve found Stephen and he’s much more important.”

“
They are on their way. I shall wait for them. You must go to Master Hawk.” Clar nodded and started for the door. As she opened it, Clar had a brief moment of fear when a shape moved toward her. But it was only a group of faeries. She looked at Leith.

“
I am but small, my lady, and would not be able to hold her alone.” Clar nodded but still didn’t leave. “We will not be harmed by her. She will…cooperate, or she will never make it before the council.”

The threat was there. It wasn’t implied but promised. Clar wanted to tell her to be careful but was sure that it wasn’t her that would be harmed if Velvet were to wake now. She could almost feel sorry for the vampire. Almost. But whatever happened was nothing short of what she deserved.

Chapter 12

Stephen knew that he needed something, but his mind would not focus on what or who it might have been. There were beings around him, and, try as he could, none of their faces looked familiar. When one of them took a step toward him, he lashed out before he could think not to.

“
Stephen.” The voice made his heart jump, but he wasn’t sure if the person talking was someone he should kill or let live. “Listen to me. She’s on her way. I swear to Christ, she’s on her way.”

Someone was coming. The women who had put him here? She was coming back, and he wasn’t going back in that hole for any amount of money. Someone or a great many someone’s were going to die if they tried. He lashed out again with his claws when someone came near again.

“
What the fuck are you doing?’ He stilled. The voice sounded…. “Are you out to scare the shit out of everyone or just to piss them off? Do you think we have nothing better to do with our time than to stand around and let you take swipes at us?”

“
I’m not going back in that fucking hole. You try it again, bitch, and you’ll be joining me.” She laughed, and he took a step toward her. She didn’t move. His eyes were so full of his beast that all he could see was her heat and nothing of the face that spoke to him.

“
I wouldn’t mind going in the dark with you. I told you that before.” His mind grasped at something, but it was too fleeting for him to remember. “Did you enjoy the pictures I sent you?”

“
Who is this?” He heard a man’s voice but not what he was saying. “Who is with you? You’re going to need more than one man to take me down, Velvet. I’m not going to go easily. I have a mate and I love her.”

“
Do you? Do you love me, Stephen?” She was talking softly, but he could hear her. Before he could ask her again who she was, she spoke again. “I can’t tell you my name. They told me that you had to say it. It would bring you back to me.”

“
Bullshit. Tell me your name.” Her laughter made him stand up straighter when a thought of that same laughter came at him from another time. She’d been in his yard with others. “Who are you?”

“
Who am I? You know me. Concentrate on me. You have to remember or the beast won’t let you go.” His beast was protecting him, and he told her this. “He doesn’t need to protect you from me. He likes me too.”

“
He likes no one.” But he did. And the longer he stood there talking to the woman, the more he felt his beast want to curl into her. Stephen could see now too. There was still a bloodied circle around his vision for the most part, but he could make out shapes now. “Someone put us in a casket and buried us.”

“
I know. And when you had this hissy fit, I had to leave her to the faeries so I could come and calm you down. What do you suppose will happen to her once she is brought before the council? Do you think they’ll bury her again? Or will they be less inclined to let someone unearth her again?” He felt his body moving toward the voice, the need for her to touch him great. “My stepfather is dead. When I left him, he was ash on the floor. It looked like she’d rammed a dagger in his chest and killed him.”

“
Velvet December.” He heard the woman say yes but nothing more. “You’re not her. She is the one that…my beast is only protecting me.”

“
I’m glad he is. Otherwise Vinnie would never have found you.” He had called out, his beast had, and when he had, someone had answered him. “Vinnie said that the faeries helped him, and without their help, he might not have ever found you.”

She was coming into focus now. He could make out her shape and that she was a vampire. He took a step toward her and was surprised when she took one to him. He would have thought she’d be afraid of him, but she stood her ground.

“
I won’t hurt you.” She nodded and smiled. He looked at her face and was captured by her eyes, the startling blueness of them. “Samuel told me it was like looking into the ocean. Then he said it was like the oceans and the heavens both.”

Stephen touched his fingers to her face and felt his claws retract. He wanted to touch her everywhere but was afraid of hurting her. He realized then that his fear was gone, the need for this woman overriding it. Stephen pulled her to his body, and she wrapped around him. He didn’t just feel like she was his, but his universe.

“
I’d like to take you to my bed.” Her laughter made him smile, and he held her tighter. “I love you, Clarice. I would very much like for you to marry me.”

“
I’d like that as well, but we have to wait a few more days.” He felt her hunger then and could smell the other vampire on her. Tilting her head, he could see the mark that someone else had given her, and he felt his beast rise again. “Don’t let him go just yet.”

“
Someone dared to bite what is mine?” She nodded but held him to her. “I will kill them. Tell me who it was, now.”

“
It was my stepfather.” Stephen knew that the man was lucky he was dead. What he’d had planned for him in the few seconds he’d figured out she’d been hurt was enough to tell him that he was still on the edge. Looking over her shoulder, he saw Vinnie there, as well as Hawk, both of whom he knew he owed so much.

“
You’re a lucky man.” Stephen nodded at Vinnie. “And as much as I’d like to stand here and go over the finer things of having a woman that will put up with you, I can feel the pull of the faeries. I need to get back to them and calm them down.”

“
You’ve a special relationship with them.” Vinnie only nodded and looked at Hawk. There too was a man who Stephen would give his life for. “I thank you for this. You could have hurt me, but you got her to me instead.”

“
Yeah, I don’t want you to think that we did it for you. Had we hurt you in any way, I’m pretty sure she would have kicked our collective asses.” Stephen laughed, and Clar glared at him. “You’re not what I expected in a mate for him.”

“
You’re not what I expected in a shifter, either.” Stephen knew that Hawk wasn’t just a normal shifter but much more. He’d also heard rumors that the man could speak to inanimate objects. He wondered if they were true, and decided that they were not only true but probably grossly undervalued too. When both men shifted and took to the sky, he looked at Clarice.

“
Shall we go home? I have a powerful need to mark you again.” Her body responded more quickly than he’d thought it would, her scent overwhelming his needy beast. “You’re going to make him take you now.”

“
Promise?” Stephen growled and grabbed her hand. He was dragging her to the closest hard object when he was suddenly in his house. “Fuck me, Stephen. Mark me again, and then I need to mark you. Some fucking bitch got her scent all over you.”

Taking her into his arms, he carried her to the bathroom. A shower was something they both needed. Her clothes were covered in blood, and he smelled of death. Stripping them both down, he turned on the water and lifted her onto the counter.

“
I need a taste.” She nodded and leaned back, lifting her breasts up. It wasn’t what he’d had in mind, but they were too tempting to refuse. Taking her left breast into his mouth, he suckled on it while he pulled on the nipple of the other one until she was as hard as his cock.

“
You’re going to make me come.” He growled at her and lifted his head. Picking her up by her ass, he took them under the spray. Stepping back from her, he reached above her head for the large sponge.

“
I’m going to wash you.” She nodded and stood still while he filled the sponge with soap. “And while I’m getting you clean, I’m going to nibble at every inch of you.”

Her moan had his cock straining from his body. When her fingers wrapped around him, he closed his eyes. She slid up and down his shaft with her hand while he washed her breasts. Leaning down, he took her breast into his mouth again while she guided his cock to her pussy.

“
I want you inside of me.” He nodded, but she pushed him back first. His knees bumped into the small seat in the shower, and he sat down. She got down on her knees in front of him, taking the sponge from his limp fingers.

He nearly came when she rubbed the rough thing over his cock head. He watched her slide it up and down his shaft several times before she finally took him into her mouth. Stephen curled his fingers into her hair as he held her there, praying that he didn’t come too soon, but knew that if he did, he’d be ready again in no time. This woman could do that to him.

The sponge moved over his balls, and he rolled his hips upward. When she swallowed, tightening her throat around him, Stephen felt his eyes roll to the back of his head. He wanted to come down her throat, but the need to mark her was too much. Lifting her from his cock, he whimpered when she licked the stream of his precum from her mouth.

“
Stand up.” She nodded and stood up. Stephen couldn’t help but take a taste of her pussy and pulled her to him to take one. When he licked her clit, she cried out just as she flooded his mouth with cream. He drank from her as she rode his mouth over and over through her climax. Standing up, he pressed her to the shower wall and lifted her up again. Without waiting for her to wrap around him, he slammed his cock as deeply as he could and pounded hard.

“
Come for me. Come so I can feed from your spiced blood.” She tilted her head and nipped at his shoulder. As soon as she threw back her head and called his name, Stephen pulled her throat to him and bit her. Blood, spiked with her climax and her own special taste, had him coming too. His body exploded inside of her as he drank deeply. Sealing the wounds, he turned off the water and took her to the bedroom, not even bothering to grab a towel. There he dropped on top of her even as she touched the bed. This time he held her hands above her head while he bit into her breast.

Stephen knew that he was hurting her on some level. His beast needed to mark her as well, and he let him go. Her cries made him look down at her as he fucked her as hard as he could, and he saw her own beast rising from inside of her. When she flipped him to his back, he lay there, stunned by what he was seeing.

“
She wants you.” He nodded and started to move his hips. “No. She wants you. Let her please. I’m afraid she wants to take you.”

Let her
, his mind screamed. But before he could tell her, Clarice started riding him, her hips moving fast, her body swaying as she held herself steady with her hands curled in his chest. When she leaned back, her body bowed, Clarice cupped her breast with one hand and slid her fingers into her pussy with the other. He sat up and took her offered breast as he pulled her hips to him. Sliding his hand down her back to her ass, he found her tight rings and punched his two fingers into her. Clarice screamed her release, and he rolled her to her back and took her throat even as he emptied himself in her again.