The Dark Vampire: Last True Vampire 3 (32 page)

“Someone did this to you to
shame
you?”

“It was a warning,” Jenner replied. “To any coven that might’ve been tempted to take me—or my family—in.”

Her voice was little more than a whisper. “Why?”

“I killed a member of my coven. I drained her. I gave myself over to the bloodlust and drank from her until her heart ceased its beating.”

“Dhampirs don’t experience bloodlust.” The quaver in her words, the fear in her scent, seared Jenner from the inside out.

“I did,” he replied flatly. “I’ve always had intense appetites. I wanted nothing more than to be turned. I was obsessed with it. I behaved as a vampire long before I became one. I lost myself to the moment, to the power I felt, the rush. I pierced her throat and opened her vein. I drank from her until her body became limp in my grasp. The vampire lord who governed our coven declared that if I was ever turned I would become a monster that would have to be put down. My family was banished. And as a warning to any coven that might seek to give us shelter, my body was marked.

“Because of my indiscretion, my father—a powerful vampire warlord—was stripped of his reputation. We were never wealthy, and if not for his prowess as a fighter our family would have been the lowest of the lowborn. Our banishment was a blow my father never recovered
from. He walked into the sunlight and ended his life, leaving our mother to care for us. Our family name was considered below regard from that moment on. Even my sisters were cursed to remain dhampirs. Not a single one of them was granted the gift of transition, because of me.”

Bria came up on one elbow to study his face. The concern that marred her brow speared his heart. “I’ve never heard of such a thing. How old were you when it happened?”

“Sixteen.”

“Jenner,” Bria said softly. “You were just a child.”

“Not then,” he replied. “Not in the eyes of the coven.”

Bria reached up to stroke his jaw. “My uncle said you told him that we are all animals. I know the thirst, the urges that seize me without reason. I believe that we are creatures who are driven by instinct. You made a mistake and your entire family was ruined for it. It’s so unfair.”

“You’re highborn,
viaton
,” Jenner said with affection. “You’ve existed without struggle. And you’re so young. I’ve always had issues with control. I might have been the monster they feared if I’d been turned all of those years ago. It was a just decision. One that your own uncle—your own father—would have made if he’d been in the same position. I was punished in order to protect the covens.”

“I was born at the height of the killings,” Bria said. “I’m not so young.”

Jenner smiled. He traced the pads of his fingers over her delicate cheekbone. “You’re young enough. Without my father’s reputation and standing to carry us we became destitute. No title, no land, no holdings of any kind. The Russians controlled Finland at the time, and likewise, the Russian vampires ruled the covens. We lived outside of vampire and dhampir culture. My mother and sisters
worked for a wealthy human family. I took out a small fishing boat and sold whatever we could catch.”

A crease cut into Bria’s brow. “You must have felt so disconnected.”

Jenner hiked a shoulder. “It wasn’t bad. Life was hard enough back then. Survival became more important than worrying over where we did or didn’t belong.

“The humans fought their wars and we fought ours. It was only when the Sortiari slayers tipped the scales in their favor that the very vampire who ordered that I be marked and banished sought me out. It made no sense to turn dhampirs who would be incapable of fighting for days. The thirst and the press of the Collective alone would make it impossible. I was already fierce. As deadly in battle as my father ever was. Many dhampirs of the lower classes were promised the gift of transition if they pledged loyalty and fought. If they survived the war they’d be turned. I was offered forgiveness. All of my sins would be absolved and my family welcomed back into the coven if I lent my sword—my strength—to the fight. I jumped at the chance. I saw it as an opportunity to elevate my family’s station. To redeem my father’s name and atone for his death. I was a natural warrior. I survived while everyone around me—even my own poor mother and sisters—was slaughtered. Our region was decimated by the slayers. Only a few dhampirs remained. I left not long after that. Sailed across the sea and wound up in Boston. That’s where I met Siobhan and Ronan.”

“To my uncle, Siobhan is a cautionary tale,” Bria said. “He told us stories of her coven often. I wasn’t frightened, though. I envied her strength, her wildness. She answered to no one. I dreamed of running away to join her coven when I was young. I wanted to be one of her free, wild things.”

Bria didn’t care about class. Her family name, her position in her coven’s hierarchy, meant nothing to her. All were equal in Bria’s eyes. Not even Jenner’s admission of what he’d done caused her to shy away from him. She coveted freedom and strength—
abandon
—where Jenner had spent his youth longing for a better station, praying to the gods for forgiveness and the control he so desperately needed. In Bria he found acceptance and forgiveness. Through her he realized that he could finally accept himself for the male he was. He could finally forgive
himself
. This female in his arms was his salvation.

“Jenner, I’m so sorry.” Her fingers stroked up his arm and over his shoulder. So gentle. “You are not a monster. You lost yourself for an unfortunate moment. But you learned from it and you’ve more than atoned for it. You have more control than anyone I’ve ever known. You’re fierce, yes. Insatiable, true. I feel your desires and your thirst as my own and they don’t frighten me. I understand them because they echo my own. You protect the ones you care about. You are loyal. I’ve never known a more honorable male. Ever. I wouldn’t want you any other way than you are. I forgive you for killing that poor dhampir. You should forgive yourself.”

Emotion swelled in Jenner’s chest and he had to clear the lump from his throat before he was finally able to speak. “If I wasn’t the male I am now, you might not have tethered me. I’m not sorry for my life or how it shaped me. Not anymore.”

Nothing more needed to be said as their mouths met. Jenner had used his insecurities to push Bria away. He’d made excuses, painted himself as some sort of monster in his own mind. He’d resurrected a wall between them and Bria had torn it down. Bria, so strong, so sure, so unafraid. His Bria.

His, forever.

Jenner rolled them and settled Bria beneath him. Her legs came around his thighs and he buried his fangs in her throat as he drove his cock deep inside of her. Bria’s sweet impassioned sounds filled Jenner’s ears. She rolled her hips to meet every drive of his and her knees fell to the side as she opened herself fully to him. Her blood, thick and sweet, filled his mouth; her pussy, hot and tight, squeezed his shaft. Jenner had never known such bliss and the rightness of it all caused his heart to stutter in his chest.

Bria’s cries grew louder, the motion of her hips desperate and wild. Jenner sealed the punctures in her throat and kissed her hard and deep, swallowing the sounds of her passion and taking them into himself. His need for her crested and Jenner drove harder, deeper, until the cavernous emptiness in his chest became so full of Bria that he felt close to bursting.

Bria broke their kiss and threw her head back as she arched into him. “More, Jenner. Harder. I need you deeper.”

He’d thought her made of glass, but his mate had been forged with steel. A growl built in Jenner’s throat as he cupped her ass in his palm and angled her hips upward. He pounded into her, their panting breaths and the sound of their bodies meeting echoed in the dark room.

“Yes,” Bria gasped.

She gripped on to his forearms and the bite of her nails caused Jenner’s cock to grow even stiffer. It throbbed in time with his racing pulse and every deep thrust into Bria’s tight heat brought him closer to the edge. Her luscious breasts bounced in time with every powerful drive of his hips and Jenner watched the erotic show, rapt, before he scooped her up in his embrace and sat up on the
bed. He swung his legs over the mattress and Bria straddled him. He continued to pound into her as he sealed his mouth over the swell of her breast and bit down.

Bria’s moan of pleasure rippled over his skin as she bent over him and latched on to his throat. Delicious heat raced through his veins, ignited his skin. A shiver of sensation vibrated through him and tightened his sac. He fucked her with wild abandon, every bit the animal he’d professed himself to be. Bria didn’t shy from the aggression. His mate met him with equal fervor as she bit down harder on Jenner’s throat, giving him the shock of pain that only served to intensify his pleasure.

Bria sealed the wounds at his throat as she continued to ride him. The wet heat of her tongue lashing out at his skin caused Jenner to shudder. He disengaged his fangs from her breast and leaned back, his arms braced behind him on the mattress. The sight of Bria’s blood as it trickled over her breast in four tiny rivulets ignited his lust to white-hot proportions. His ass came off the mattress as he levered his hips upward. His jaw clamped down with the force of his thrusts and a wild snarl tore from between his pulled-back lips.

“Come for me, Bria.” He pushed the words from between his teeth. “Now,
viaton
.”

Her pussy clenched around him in powerful pulses as she came. Bria’s back bowed and she threw her head back. Sobs of pleasure filled Jenner’s ears, the erotic sound so sweet that it pushed him over the edge of his own release. He came with a shout. His cock twitched with powerful spasms that swept him up in waves of pleasure so intense it stole his breath. He fucked her hard and deep until they collapsed against each other, completely spent. The room quieted until all that remained was shallow, mingled breaths.

“No night will compare to this,” Bria whispered close to his ear. “I’m sure of it.”

Jenner smiled against her cheek. He was never one to back down from a challenge. “I’ll make sure to prove you wrong. Every night after this one will be better than the last.”

“Jenner, you are a male without comparison,” Bria said on a contented sigh.

No. You are the one without comparison.

And she belonged to him.

“Has
it been forty-eight hours already?” Bria stretched along the mattress, more content than she’d ever been in her life. She’d never felt more sated. So utterly comfortable in her own skin. “I’m not ready to leave the room yet.”

“I’m actually surprised Mikhail left us alone for this long.”

Jenner tugged his jeans over the perfect curve of his ass. Bria let out a quiet sigh as she drank in the perfection of her mate’s body. The tattoos that covered his torso, back, and upper arms drew her attention, and Bria traced the patterns with her gaze. Her fingers itched to follow the path. Over the course of their time closeted in the guest bedroom, Bria had acquainted herself with every minute detail of Jenner’s remarkable body. Every hill and valley that constructed him. She was particularly fond of the cut that slashed down either side of his hips at the juncture of his thighs. She’d traced the grooves with her tongue, following the path to the stiff length of his erection. Her body heated at the memory and her lower abdomen clenched.
Their hours spent together had been a lesson in passion and Jenner had been a very,
very
thorough instructor.

“If you don’t stop looking at me like that, I’ll have to fuck you at least once more before I go downstairs to meet with Mikhail.”

Bria smiled, pleased with the effect she had on him. She rolled onto her back, drawing his gaze to her breasts. She idly caressed over the top of one swell up to her throat. Jenner’s eyes flashed brilliant silver and he let out a tortured groan. “I could wait here,” she suggested. “Naked. Until you’ve finished talking with him.” She let her fingers tease the pulse point at her throat.

“You’re a much crueler female than I gave you credit for to torture me with that image.”

Her lips spread into a slow smile. “I think a little torture is exactly what you need.”

She’d learned a great deal about her mate over the course of their erotic play. Jenner wasn’t simply a voracious lover. His pleasure was heightened with the slightest bit of pain. A nip of her fangs, the bite of her nails across his back or chest. He’d fucked her with the assertion of a male who wasn’t afraid to take what he wanted, and yet Bria sensed his reservation. He still hadn’t let go of the tightly reined control he pretended not to have a grasp of. It would take time to convince him that he didn’t have to hold any aspect of himself from her. But Bria welcomed the challenge. Soon she’d tear down the final bricks in the wall of his restraint.

Until then, she was content to learn. Jenner was an amazing teacher, after all.

“Get dressed.” Jenner crossed the room and bent over Bria to place a kiss to her mouth. His hand cupped her breast, lingered for a long moment as he brushed her nipple with his thumb and coaxed it to a stiff peak.

“Are you sure that’s what you want?” Bria pressed into
his touch. A low moan rose in her throat and Jenner’s eyes flashed even brighter at the sound.

“No, but it’s what’s going to happen,” he growled close to her ear. “Get ready and come downstairs. After my meeting with Mikhail, we’ll eat before I go out.”

Bria’s brows knitted. “Go out?”

“I’ll be playing catch up from the last couple of nights. Ronan’s mate, Naya, is going to help me track the necromancer.” Jenner slipped on his socks and boots—still shirtless since Claire had cut the garment from his body two nights ago—and headed for the door. “See you downstairs. Don’t keep me waiting,
viaton.
”

The door closed behind him and Bria stared after him, dumbstruck. After everything that had happened . . . the club, his wounds, his admission that she was a strong and capable fighter, his own admissions about his past and why he’d kept his distance from her, the hours they’d spent together . . . Jenner still insisted on treating Bria as though she were something too fragile to be let out. She’d proved she could take care of herself. He still considered her
innocent
. A tiny bird confined to the nest. Bria’s chest burned with indignant anger and she launched herself from the bed with purpose.