Unafraid (3 page)

Griffin wanted to take her then and there in
the alley against a brick wall. Lust had ignited and burned from
the moment he touched her, but he had to do his duty first. This
human female had knowledge of his kind and that was a problem. The
Council worked diligently to protect every member of the Nation
through the use of strict laws with harsh punishments for those who
broke the law. Griffin would need to find the source of her
information and deal with them swiftly. The Council would not be
pleased. He just hoped they didn’t want to eliminate this female. A
simple memory scrub should suffice to appease them.

Griffin moved to unbutton his jacket in the
warm room and his pretty little temptress flinched as if prepared
for an attack. Her pupils dilated slightly and her breath
quickened. It seemed she wasn’t as unaffected by his presence as
she pretended to be. Good. That was very good for him. He had the
upper hand now.

“Tell me, little one, how did you come to be
so familiar with my kind?” He continued unbuttoning his coat. Her
eyes shifted from his face to his hands, but she didn’t answer. She
warily watched his movements while he slid the coat off and laid it
over the tattered, old easy chair that was the only other piece of
furniture in the studio. Griffin moved slowly, enjoying the feel of
her eyes on him. He took a step in her direction and she moved a
step farther away. God she was lovely. Her long, honey colored hair
draped over her shoulders and hung like a shield down her chest
before it stopped just above her tucked in waistline. She couldn’t
be more than five foot four in height, which made her just shy of a
foot shorter than him. Her demure stature made a foreign need to
protect her from all other males creep into his head.

A nasty thought occurred to him then and
instantly he found himself irrationally annoyed. Did she have a
vampire lover? Was she some lucky bastard’s regular blood donor?
The thought of another male at her throat made his blood boil.
Instantly, all of Griffin’s calm evaporated and he leapt over the
bed between them to examine her neck. He would get his answers
whether she wanted to speak or not, and if someone had been
sampling this little treat he would put a swift and painful end to
it as soon as he pried the information out of her.

She had no time to react to his preternatural
speed and no place to go in the small apartment. Her human eyes
likely hadn’t been able to track his movement. Griffin lifted her
onto the counter to give him a better view of her slim neck. A
vampire bite healed very quickly but a bruise could be found for
the first day or so. Her skin was smooth and flawless. No one had
fed from her today, unless they found a more intimate location to
take their fill of her. That thought had his temper flaring again.
She struggled against his grip on her chin. Nerves and fear had her
breaking into a sweat. The result was a more intense and erotic
vanilla aroma hanging in the air around them. He could not have
another male breathing her in, absorbing her sweetness.

“Who is your lover?” He growled through
clenched teeth. She stopped struggling and glared up him.

“Who I’m sleeping with is none of your damn
business!” she hissed, outraged.

He was about lose his shit completely and
couldn’t pull himself back from the edge. She was nothing but a
human female who served no purpose other than as food or an
occasional piece of ass. Why did her admitting that she had a lover
make him want to rage and destroy everything in sight?

“You will tell me the name of your vampire
lover and divulge his location, as well as any and all information
regarding our people you have learned from him.” He didn’t yell.
The predator in him had taken over. He knew his suddenly descending
fangs and black irises where frightening her, but he didn’t give a
damn. She would tell him all and she would tell him now. He needed
to find this hidden threat to his people and destroy him. He would
decimate the male that had touched the beauty trembling in his
bruising grip. She belonged to him now. The thought was illogical
and impossible, but Griffin was no longer leading the charge. His
instincts and raging hormones had taken the wheel of his mind and
his body.

Griffin could take the information from her
if he wanted. He could easily enthrall her into telling him
everything she knew and where she learned of his people, but a
primitive, dark inner beast he had never known lived inside his
mind and demanded that she give him what he asked for of her own
free will. It demanded that he erase the memory of any other male
using his body, his hands, and his mouth.

“I have no vampire lover,” she confessed with
wide, frightened eyes so dilated with fear that only the smallest
rim of pale blue was visible. She shook in his grip and a tear
slipped down her cheek. The sight of the terror he had caused her
helped Griffin pull back from his anger, but the lust and need
remained. In fact, as his anger dissipated his primal need to claim
his prize before it was snatched away overwhelmed him.

He moved his hand up from her jaw to cradle
the back of her head in his palm. She didn’t struggle to free
herself, instead relaxing into his arms and staring up at him with
those captivating eyes. She was so close her rapid breaths rushed
over his face and he breathed her into his lungs. The beast now in
control of his mind demanded to have her now. He didn’t give a shit
what she knew. He would pry the name of her ex-lover, because the
bastard would never touch her again, out of her later. For now, he
wanted to swallow the rich flavor of her blood while plunging hard
and deep into her body. He wanted to stake a claim to every lovely
curve on her body and every sweet drop of her blood.

Her hands came up to rest on his arms in what
his lust clouded mind perceived as a sign of acceptance. Unable to
hold back any longer, he took her mouth in a punishing kiss. There
was no tender coaxing or gentle persuasion in his kiss. He was
branding himself onto her mind and body. He nipped and sucked at
her mouth before delving in deep to search out every hidden hint of
vanilla she possessed. His lovely little human would crave no other
man, human or vampire, when he finished with his lesson in
dominance. Griffin pulled away from her mouth to instruct her on
how the evening was going to go and what her duties would be.

“You will give me your body now, little one.
You will surrender to my need for your flesh and blood. Do you
understand?” Black eyes bored into pale blue and demanded the
answer he desired. She did not respond. Griffin clutched her hair
in his fist and used his other arm to pull her lush body against
the stiff evidence of his need. He ground his pelvis into hers and
rumbled his approval when she sighed and pushed back with her
hips.

“I’m waiting.” She would hand over her body
and blood to him. “You will give yourself to me now and take the
pleasure I give you. You will give me your blood. I will take you
into my body and as a reward I will make you climax until you no
longer know who you are. You will know only me. Do you understand?”
She nodded weakly and shivered. It wasn’t good enough.

“Say it!” he barked. “Tell me your body is
mine to possess. Tell me you freely give your blood into my body.”
He had to hear it. The beast needed the words.

“W-will I die?” She stuttered. The fear in
her shaky voice pulled a bit of his rational self to the forefront.
If a vampire had fed on her in the past, he had erased the memory
of the bite, as he should have. She would only remember the
sex.

“I want to bring you pleasure, not pain. I
would never hurt you, little one.” He brushed his fingers lightly
over her face but his voice was harsh and impatient. “I will drink
from you but my bite will bring you pleasure as well. You will not
die.”

She must have been as wanting and ready as he
was, because as soon as he said the words, she brought her lips
back to his mouth and tried to push her way inside. He gripped her
face again and pushed her back against the cabinet.

“No, no, little one,” he chided. “I said you
will take what I give you. You will not take what you want. Do you
understand?” She nodded. “You have not given me the words I need to
hear.”

“I will give you my body and my blood…for
tonight.” She qualified. Griffin did like that last bit at the end.
She still believed she was in charge. She wasn’t in charge at all,
but her consent was now given so he let the need take over.

He didn’t understand why his instincts were
driving him in this direction but he wanted, no, he needed to prove
to her that he was a male worthy of being trusted with her body. He
had to dominate her this first time. She needed to understand that
his word was the rule. She gasped when her shirt was ripped down
the front to expose creamy breasts encased in a simple white bra.
The cups modestly hugged the generous globes. It was the sexiest
thing he had ever seen. Griffin had seen many a seductress in lace
and satin that revealed all to a man, making him beg for a taste,
but the voluptuous perfection of her body wrapped in blue jeans and
a cotton bra blew his mind. He leaned in to suck the nipple of one
breast through the fabric while palming the other and grinding
against her pelvis.

She writhed and panted for him. Nuzzling his
face between her breasts, he used one sharp fang to free her
breasts by slicing through her bra. When her nipples were revealed
they were dusky pink buds, damp from his suckling and the sight was
the end of his patience. He was afraid this first time would be
hard and fast. He could take his time with her later, after he fed
and took off the edge of his need to be inside her.

His clothes were ripped away and he was
tugging off her jeans and pink cotton panties before she had time
to react. She grasped his shoulders and held on when he lifted her
and turned to deposit her on the bed that waited a mere step away.
Her eyes sparkled and reflected his hunger back to him from her
sprawl on the rather uncomfortable looking mattress. Allowing
himself a moment to take in the view, Griffin actually sent up a
prayer that he could deliver on his promises. He was so ready for
her.

The possessive creature that brought him to
the edge of madness laughed in his mind. He had absolutely no fears
he would leave the lady wanting. Griffin lowered his much larger
body over the petite frame of his delicate human. He wanted to
think about her comfort but the raging lust burning in his gut only
knew one thing; he needed to be inside of her.

Griffin took her mouth again and she
responded instantly, twining her finger through his hair. He
pressed himself against her hot little body and reveled in the
sensation of skin against skin. Her full breasts against his chest
were divine, but the damp heat at the apex of her thighs was a
sweet promise of what was to come. He rubbed his length against her
tender flesh in small circles until she begged him to come inside,
but he just kissed her more deeply and continued the steady slide
until she cried out with her first climax.

Having assured her readiness, Griffin pushed
deep inside of her lush heat before she’d had a chance to descend
from the heights of her orgasm. The intense pleasure and shocking
sense of rightness he felt while she pulsed around him, nearly
ended their first bout of lovemaking with shocking speed, but he
gritted his teeth and held himself embedded deeply inside of her
heat.

His rational mind scolded the hungry beast
for thinking of this encounter as lovemaking. Griffin had never
made love in his life. He used the available females to slake his
lust, but he had never loved any one. Nor would he ever love this
little human. His life had been planned out for him. He had no
choices. He would never love.

The hunger ignored him and began to thrust
into the beautiful, luscious woman clinging to his body. He pulled
nearly out of her on every stroke and slammed back in until he felt
her muscles begin to ripple around him. She was on the edge of
another climax, but he slowed his pace and denied her. She
whimpered and pleaded prettily but he had no mercy for the female
that was taunting him with irrational thoughts and raising beasts
in his mind. She attempted to raise her hips to take her pleasure
but he wouldn’t allow it.

“You may only have what I give you. No more,”
he grunted and pinned her hips to the bed, forcing her to accept
his pace. He demanded that she accept his steady, maddening lead.
She wanted it harder, faster, more. She begged, but he continued
the slow grind into her wanting body until the edge of a climax and
his own need to feed sped his pace.

Gathering her slight frame into his arms,
Griffin thrust into her and sank his fangs into the tender flesh
along the slender column of her neck simultaneously. The resulting
explosion should have rocked the rundown building to the ground. He
experienced the most intense orgasm of his life while he greedily
swallowed the earthy, hot blood that flowed from her vein and into
his body. Her flavor was like none other. She tasted like
everything that was pure and good in this world. She was sweet and
clean with a hint of spice that he had never had before but wanted
to have over and over again.

Faintly he heard her screaming in ecstasy but
he was too wrapped up in his own bliss. Griffin continued to ride
her until he climaxed yet again and her along with him. The little
female lay limply in his arms when he licked the bite to close the
wound. For a moment he feared that he had gone too far in his
mindless need to conquer her body. Panic flooded his veins and he
shook her, praying she would awaken. Tousled and drowsy, she
cracked open her eyes and smiled weakly while she fingered the spot
where he had bitten her.

“It didn’t hurt too badly,” she whispered.
“The initial sting surprised me but then it was so damn good.” She
shifted and Griffin moved to hold her closely against his
chest.