Take Me (35 page)

“Oh, god!” she cried out.

She was going to come, from this, from only his penetration.

Low in her belly a tremble began.

Then his mouth crushed hers, bruising as he kissed her.

He pounded into her as his lips broke the kiss and he let out a shout into the night. He pushed to the hilt and Felicity felt his stiff cock spurting inside her. Hot splashes filled her as he came.

He pulled out slowly and the peak she’d been climbing towards dissipated like receding fog.

His ragged breathing was a balm to her sad heart. “You didn’t let me finish.” She felt like crying. She’d been so close and he’d done it on purpose. He was proving a point to her. He’d taken her mouth, touched her between her legs, fucked her, and even bit her. But he wouldn’t let her come.

He right his clothes. She was much slower to do the same.

“I love you, Felicity. But if you ever look at another man like you did the alpha, it won’t be your pussy I fuck.”

A quiver of...arousal raced through her.

His eyelids lowered. “You like that, don’t you?”

She bit her lip to keep from saying anything. Her entire body still burned with heat. A flush covered every inch of her and she was so wet between her legs she’d probably ruined her gown.

She looked down at herself and realized much of her hair had come out of the barrette. Her upper back was scratched, her bare knees had grass stains on them, and she had his fluid seeping out from between her legs. She squirmed at the wet, tickling sensation.

“Give me your hankie.”

A slow smile curled his mouth making him look positively devilish in the night. He handed it to her.

“What?” she snapped.

His eyes smoldered as she lifted her dress and cleaned herself. “I’m getting hard just watching you clean yourself.”

She ignored his words. Did not want to go there. She nodded to the handkerchief helplessly. He grabbed it, crumbled it into a ball, and pocketed it. “Nothing to be ashamed of. It’s our pleasure. I must say the kerchief is much more interesting now than it’s ever been.”

Her lips twitched with a smile but she quelled it. “I want to come,” she said, realizing it was a whine.

His lips lifted into a smile and then he kissed her before leading her back to the party. “I’ll take care of you, later.”

“That’s not fair,” she muttered. It could be hours before they got back to the house.

“It’ll be even more intense since I’ve left you hung up.”

Her eyebrows shot up at that. “Oh, well I suppose if that’s the case...”

His laughter caressed her ears.

Felicity followed Dom back to the party, and even with the obvious signs of what they’d been doing not one person said a word. Oddly, she found herself holding her chin a little bit higher with his scent marking her, his bite apparent on her neck.

She was Dominic Blackmoore’s mate. And she wore the evidence with pride.

Chapter 21

Felicity excused herself to the ladies room with a pardoning whisper to Dom. They’d danced a few traditional waltzes around the ballroom with other couples. She only trampled over his feet four times and each time he managed to catch and make it look only as if they were elegantly twirling. They’d drunk a few glasses of blood-filled wine. Yes, it tasted amazing. Felicity didn’t know if she’d ever get used to drinking the good stuff, or if she even wanted to.

But from all the dancing and demure smiles, she needed a break as the night was still not over. So she’d excused herself to the bathroom. She found the bathroom at the end of the hall opposite the ballroom. The bathroom was just as elegant as she could have imagined. It had a sitting room with two settees, three matching sofa chairs, and mirrors on either side of the room. Flowers in gold vases fit in the corners of the room and some paintings hung on the walls. Felicity sniffed, and yes, they were real flowers not those fakes ones whose purpose seemed to be to collect dust.

She must admit her designer’s eye loved the layout of the room. There was enough negative space to make the small room appear bigger than it really was and the choice of dark colors with the lighter colors of the wall created a simple but chic appeal to the eye.

Felicity walked past the room into the adjoining bathroom where three stalls stood across from the sinks. On the sink’s countertop was a golden tray laded with crystal droppers of perfume and freshly pressed hand-towels. Felicity snorted at the scene. Though, admittedly, if they’d had a paper-towel dispenser in a place like this it would look rather out of place.

Just then the door opened and Felicity got on with her task with renewed vigor. One thing she did not want was to be cornered in a bathroom conversation with some lady whose face she couldn’t remember but had already been introduced to. She took a towel, wetted it with cool water, and then blotched her warm face. Dancing worked up quite a sweat. That and having sex with Dom. Oh damn, another flash heated her skin so she dipped the cloth around her neck to cool it.

As the wet cloth cooled her heated neck, she took a deep breath and that was when she scented it. Or, she corrected, that was when she scented
her
. A bolt of tension so hard and swift raced up her back to her neck that the muscles there tensed beneath the cloth.

Taking her time, she finished cleaning up then glanced one last time in the mirror. Her reflection stared back at her. What she saw was a woman who’d started the night out looking glamorous but had turned disheveled. Her hair no longer was held up as it had been as the hairclip was starting to sag. Two separate bite wounds marked her neck with pink splotches; the holes of the bite were already fading at least but the rouged skin would linger far longer. His scent still clung to her skin like a wet blanket. By having him stand by her all night, she’d been able to face the most powerful men and women of both
were
and vampire society with false bravado as if she did it every day. They hadn’t even batted an eye even though they knew what they’d done. They wouldn’t dare utter a word of disproval to Dominic Blackmoore, possible future president of the council.

It was not as if tasting your new
bruid
or even sampling her wares, so to speak, was unheard of. That also didn’t mean it was approved of to have sex with your new
bruid
outside of a political ball.
And to leave her needing
, though she added that tidbit to herself.

Now she didn’t have Dom’s arm to lean on when she turned to face the woman waiting for her. And waiting she was, demurely leaning against the wall checking her long dark red nails as if she’d come into the bathroom for that only reason.

Felicity took her time re-pinning her sagging hair. After a minute she knew she was lingering so she turned to face her little nemesis with her shoulders squared and eyes hard.

Helena Blackmoore, yes, Felicity had learned she still used his name, lounged gracefully against the wall. Did learning that Dominic’s ex
bruid
still had his last name invoke a fiery rage inside of Felicity? Absolutely. Still, she had Lady Blackmoore’s words running through her brain. Smile politely, keep your composure and never let anything you’re feeling slip up. Felicity did just that as she made her way for the bathroom door.

“You smell like a whore,” said Helena.

Felicity stuttered a step but kept walking. It became difficult not to open her mouth and say anything, and not to walk straight over to Helena’s beautiful face and scratch her eyes out. Felicity neared the door. Why did it seem that escape for her was always a door away? First from when she had been running from Dom the night he’d first taken her, and now here at this ball. Life had a strange way of coming around on itself.

“I have something you might want to hear.” She tossed the words out so carelessly, so offhandedly that something compelled Felicity to stop.

She’d later regret that move.

Moving as if her legs were stuck in tar, she turned to face Helena. “What do you want?” She sounded weary even to her own ears.

Helena stood up from the wall. Her fiery eyes bright with amusement traced up and down Felicity’s gown. Under her gaze she managed to make the expensive dress seem like something nothing more than ragged tatters that had been dipped in dung then sewn back together to make the “dress” that Felicity was wearing. Felicity hated to admit it but the look did make her feel small, and it did make her cheeks burn in a mixture of embarrassment and shame as if she really did wear a dung-covered dress.

“Well, if that’s all, I have more whoring to get back to.” Felicity turned and had her hand curled around the doorknob when Helena spoke.

“Don’t bond with him. This is the only warning I’m giving to you. Do not touch what is mine.”

Felicity turned around as if she had all the time in the world. Meanwhile, anger surged fast and the rules she’d been lectured with all morning flew out the window. “Is that what this is about? Some petty jealously over Dom? Listen, you lost your chance. You had a long, long time with him and you squandered it. I won’t be doing the same.”

One ruby-colored, thin eyebrow arched up. Then she chuckled a slow, mocking laugh. “You’re in love with him. Oh, this is just
too
exciting. I’m sure all that
love
you feel has nothing at all to do with the vast amount of wealth that lines his pockets. Wealth that surely paid for that dress you’re wearing.”

Felicity stiffened but didn’t say anything. She did not need to justify herself, or her love for Dom, to this bitch.

“You won’t be mating with my Dominic tomorrow, dear Ms. Shaw.”

“Oh, and how is that?”

Helena came towards her, the long length of her tight gown moving with every lithe step she took as if the dress was one with her. Felicity wanted to roll her eyes. Helena stopped too close by to be comfortable.

She leaned into Felicity’s face, eyes hard and burning bright with anger. “Because,
I
will be mating with Dominic tomorrow.”

Felicity froze, stunned.

Then the hysterical laughter that followed could not be contained. It rolled and rolled out of her until tears blurred her vision and her sides throbbed in distress.

“Do shut up!” snapped Helena.

It took an entire minute for Felicity to calm down enough to stop laughing. After that draining fit her body actually felt much looser and more relaxed than it did coming into the bathroom.

“Thank you for that, Helena, I feel much better now.”

Helena’s glare was colder than ice. “Listen here you uppity little bitch. Do us all a favor and go home tonight. To your poor little shack you call a house and forget about Dom, forget about all of this, because tomorrow night come the ceremony it’ll be
me
he’s mating with.”

Anger once again rose hot and fast. “What on earth makes you think he’ll mate with you tomorrow? Perhaps you forgot, but not that long ago he
permanently separated
from your bony ass, and for good reason.”

Suddenly, a bruising grip caught Felicity’s arm. Shocked, she looked down at Helena’s hand snatching her and watched as ruby-red nails bit into her skin.

“I know I’ll be mating with him tomorrow because if I find your
fat
ass at his side tomorrow night then I’m challenging you for rights, and I will win. Then he’ll have no choice but to mate with me.”

Felicity took in Helena’s words, contemplated them for a few tender moments, and then acted without thought.

In a flash she had her palms raised and thrust forward into Helena’s chest with a resounding, fleshy snap. Helena’s eyes widened a fraction as her body jerked then she went flying across the bathroom. She landed hard on the bathroom floor skidding along the tiles in her tight black dress until her back crashed into a stall door denting it into a concave mold of her back.

“Why you little---” she began sputtering.

Felicity did not wait around to see what colorful name Helena was going to call her next. Nope. She simply turned and marched right out of that door. Her high heels sunk into the carpet of the hallway. She marched fast, her steps matching the quick tempo of her heart beat. She eyed the crowd inside the ballroom as she neared, hoping to find Dom where she’d left him. No luck, and now she did not know where to find him.

A burst of panic swept inside her. The bathroom door just opened and Helena came out, wobbly and cursing.

“
You!”
she seethed, visibly shaking with rage.

Felicity’s eyes flared with alarm even as she tried to keep calm.

Helena’s voice grew much louder, much shriller. “
You bitch!”

Felicity’s cheeks burned as she shot a quick glance into the ballroom. Many of the people who had been in the midst of idle conversation now stopped and stared at them with acute interest. Helena was steadily marching towards her like a belligerent drunk with a grudge to fill.

Felicity walked faster towards the ball, a soft smile on her face. For how she looked to the outside world, she did not have a clue that an angry woman was marching after her. She made it to the doorway of the ballroom when she heard a hiss of breath at her ear.

Her body stiffened. Everything that happened next seemed to move in slow motion. Two strong hands slapped her in the back, thrusting her forward much as she’d done to Helena. She toppled forward, arms wind milling, feet skidding along the floor trying to find purchase. Impeccably dressed politicians lifted their eyebrows and backed away offering no help.

She watched the floor coming rapidly towards her face. Right before her eyes came two sets of feet. One she recognized immediately during her slow fall. The flawlessly polished loafer gleamed under the chandeliers and for a moment she could even see her reflection in Dominic’s shoe. The other pair of shoes did not match at all. That is, she realized as her face moved a few inches closer to the floor she was about to kiss, the shoes matched but they did not match the pants. An expensive pant leg covered up a pair of dirty white sneakers with black stripes going up the sides.