Undeniable (20 page)

She considered leaving him. At the rate he was bleeding, the
rate their kind bled, he’d be dead before dawn and the sun would erase any
evidence of her crime.

But the extent of her handsome vamp’s injuries intrigued
her. It would take the remainder of the night and the entire day for him to
recover. His body healing itself would surely be a spectacle worth losing sleep
over.

As she lifted him and resumed their flight to her house,
Olympia licked at one of the gaping wounds marring his face. Burrowing her
tongue as deep as possible, she spread her saliva along torn muscles and
tendons.

When they arrived at her house, she laid Diego on the couch
and licked every gash from his accident. His eyes fluttered open. He curled his
lips, maybe hoping to scare her by baring his fangs, but the fool’s face was so
swollen his mouth merely formed a lopsided grin. One of his precious fangs was
chipped and the other, nothing but a ragged stump. She watched him run his
tongue over them and discover their shortcomings for himself.

When he squeezed his eyes closed and turned his head away,
Olympia released a weary sigh. “You really left me no choice, Diego. Planning
to tell Sebastian about Diana. Now this is going to hurt, but do try to be a
man about it.”

She grasped one of his legs and, twisting it back and forth,
tried to realign the bone. His screams ricocheted through her head.

The air crackled with the power Diego’s body drew in to heal
itself. Olympia added some of her own to speed up the process. She never tired
of watching their kind mend. Tonight, she’d torture her young slave. Tomorrow
night, after she properly paid her twin puppets for warning her about Diana’s
condition, she’d deal with Sebastian and Diana.

* * * * *

Resting her cheek on Sebastian’s shoulder, Diana smoothed
out the blanket they’d laid on the ground and watched Sebastian bite off a
chunk of meat from the bone of the rib he held in barbeque-sauce-covered
fingers. “You’re a mess.”

Sebastian glanced down at the pile of crumpled, soiled
napkins on the ground beside his paper dish. “I’m out of napkins.”

“Here.” She tossed some of hers in his lap. Gazing at the
couples and families scattered around the bonfire, she smirked. “Looks like
everyone’s running out of napkins.”

He eyed the ribs on her dish. “Aren’t you eating those?”

Although her hunger had disappeared after Sebastian’s
passionate greeting when he’d picked her up for their date, Diana scowled.
“Touch them and die.”

His smile vanished as he leaned over. Closing her eyes, she
shivered when his tongue slid over her chin. She parted her lips as he
approached her mouth, but he veered away and licked her cheek. She opened her
eyes to find Sebastian wiping his mouth with a napkin.

“Best barbeque sauce I ever tasted. Oh I missed a spot.” He
leaned over then licked and nibbled at her lips until she clenched her thighs
together and slid her tongue into his mouth.

“Now can I eat your ribs,” he asked, nodding toward the one
he’d already stolen from her plate.

Diana giggled and shoved him away. “Tease!”

“Having fun?”

“I haven’t been on one of these midnight trail rides since I
was a teen.” She let out an exaggerated sigh. “Very popular date with the boys
in my school. Stealing off into the woods for a kiss. Those were the days.”

Sebastian tossed the rib onto the dish and swept her into
his arms. “I’m just going to have to wipe those memories right out of your
mind.”

“Oh, really? And how do you propose to do that?” Giggling as
he carried her towards the line of trees on the edge of the clearing, she
wrapped her arms around his neck.

In reply, Sebastian began to nibble along her jaw. “I have
my ways.”

When they returned to the clearing, Diana tried to remember
what had led them into the woods, but Sebastian’s kisses had been so
mind-boggling she couldn’t seem to remember much of anything except his
delicious lips.

* * * * *

Later, as they made their way down the mountain, Sebastian
glanced over and watched Diana skillfully steer her horse with nothing but her
knees. Her hands rested lightly on the saddle horn, the reins loosely draped
over her thighs. She glanced over and, upon catching his perusal, smiled
softly.

Every few seconds, Diana would lean over and talk to her
horse in a lilting, hushed voice. Sebastian watched in wonder when the horse
would tilt its head closer to her mouth as if intently listening to every word.

They made their way around a bend. A wave of anger swept
over his shoulders, raising the hairs on his neck and setting his senses on
alert. He reached over and grabbed the reins of Diana’s horse, drawing it
closer to his.

He scanned the surrounding forest, searching for whoever
watched, whoever dared intrude on his time with Diana.

Diana nudged her horse even closer to his and leaned over
just as a rock flew out from a cluster of bushes on her right and struck her
horse’s flank. With an ear-shattering whinny, the horse reared, tossed Diana
from its back, then bolted down the trail.

Sebastian reached her side a second after she hit the
ground. He slid his hands beneath her and lifted her into his arms, all the
while torn between his need to care for her and his desire to find whoever had
thrown the rock. The anger he’d sensed moments earlier told him that this was
no accident. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine, Sebastian. Someone threw a rock at my horse. I
saw it right before it hit, but I didn’t have time…” She wrapped her arms
around his neck and rested her forehead on his cheek.

“You should see a doctor.”

“Relax, big guy. I’m all right.”

He glared into the shadows. “If I ever find out who did it—”

“It was probably just some teens fooling around.”

He sent a silent threat into the shadows. “You could have
broken your neck.”

“I’m fine.”

He lifted her onto his horse, then easily leapt up behind
her. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he let her warmth calm his pounding
heart. When he’d seen her tumbling over her horse’s back, terror had
immobilized him. He tightened his hold and rubbed his cheek against her satin
curls.

Diana brought her hand up and caressed his cheek.

He kissed her temple. His reaction, his fear over losing her
rattled him, left him oddly bereft.

She shifted, tilted her face and offered the lips he’d grown
to crave as much as her blood. When he only stared into her eyes, she nibbled,
licked and tortured his mouth. The passion of their kiss calmed his fear and
anger. She tasted so sweet. Swinging her leg over, she shimmied until her hip
pressed into his crotch.

He raised his lips a hairsbreadth away from hers and
whispered, “Diana.”

His hand slid out of her hair, over her shoulder, down until
it halted right above her breast. She rose up and arched her back. He loved the
way she responded to his touch, the way she gave herself up to him. When his
hand moved down her arm, she closed her eyes.

Touch me.

Hearing her soft plea, unable to deny her anything, he
tugged her shirt from her shorts as he nibbled on her lips. “Tell me what you
want, Diana,” he asked, his voice so low he wondered if she heard it. “Tell
me.”

“I want…I want…” she stammered, blushing profusely, “I want
you to touch me.”

He grazed the skin of her stomach, then cupped her breast
over her shirt. Smiling against her lips, he asked, “Like this.”

“No,” she breathed.

“Unbutton your shirt for me, Diana,” he demanded more
gruffly than he’d intended.

Diana didn’t seem to mind. If anything, her eyes darkened
with desire as she raised trembling hands to her shirt. She hesitated, glancing
in the direction of the others in their group. Sebastian brought his horse to a
halt.

“We’re alone, goddess. Now bare those beautiful breasts to
me.” He held her gaze as he thumped her nipple with his knuckles.

She started to unbutton her shirt. Every button that slid
free sent a surge of blood to his cock, amplifying his pain. Keeping his fangs
in check had never been as hard as when she spread the sides and revealed her
lace-clad breasts. A deft flick at the clasp, and her bra opened. Sebastian
slid his finger under one lace cup and peeled it away, then proceeded to do the
same to the other.

“God, Diana, you’re beautiful.” He wanted to bare his fangs
and roar with victory that she had been born for him, that no other could rival
his mate.

He loved the way her breath hitched when his fingertips
brushed over her breast as he explored every inch with the faintest touch. They
tripped over her hard nipple, slid below and lifted her breast. She arched her
back, all the encouragement he needed. Her cry when his mouth took possession
and drew her nipple deep into its heat startled the horse into taking a few
nervous steps. Sebastian mentally calmed the beast as he delved into her mind
and absorbed her reactions.

He knew when she felt his cock grow even harder, felt its
length burn into her hip. He knew the moment a void opened deep in her core and
demanded he fill it. His teeth grazed her skin, bit down gently around her bud.
Completely merged with her mind, he felt the tendrils of heat spiraling down to
her swollen pussy. Wherever his body, his mouth, his hands touched her, her
skin sizzled.

Feeling her body’s reaction and his at the same time
heightened his desire and inflamed him more than he’d thought possible.

Weaving one hand through his hair, she held his head to her
breast, while her other hand slid between them and tentatively touched the
bulge in his jeans, then traced the length of his cock.

Sebastian groaned and lost the battle to control his fangs.
She whimpered, a little fearfully he thought, when he grew larger beneath her
hands.

Unwilling to frighten her for any reason, he released her
nipple and trailed kisses up to her neck. He licked the vein that now throbbed
in time with her heartbeat. She pressed her bare breasts into his shirt.

Take me, Sebastian. Please, I want…I want…I need you.
Take all of me. Make me yours. Please, Sebastian, please.

When he heard her thoughts, when she spoke to him in a way
she thought he couldn’t hear, once again he nearly rent the night with a roar
that would surely have sent her screaming for help. He kissed the tiny cut on
her neck that remained from their sojourn into the woods earlier. Slipping the
tip of his fang into it, he absorbed the maelstrom of sensations that swept
through her body as he tenderly drew her blood into his mouth.

He shifted her until she straddled his lap. He wouldn’t take
her here, but he would please her. Grasping her hips as he supped on her neck,
he ground her pussy against the hard ridge of his cock.

Sebastian covered her mouth and muffled her screams when she
climaxed with a violence that almost knocked them both out of the saddle.

When she came to her senses, he planted tiny kisses along
her jaw as he re-clasped her bra and buttoned her shirt. Without a word, he
shifted her back into position, took up the reins and nudged the horse into an
easy trot down the path. They made their way around a bend and came upon her
horse. Blood dripped from a scratch on his flank.

Sebastian’s heart felt like it had exploded and ripped free
of his chest. Someone was trying to kill Diana.

She leaned back against his chest.

He kissed the top of her head, breathing in the scent of
jasmine and her arousal. Every muscle twitched to soar into the sky, find
whoever had attacked his mate and tear their throat out. Trapped by her
ignorance of his powers, he drew her even closer into the protection of his
embrace.

“Will I see you tomorrow,” Diana asked, tilting her face up
to kiss his neck.

Would his absence save her? Leave her vulnerable? Was she
safe during the day?

He heard a twig snap on his right and, jerking the reins to
the left, shielded Diana with his body.

“Would you relax. You’re acting like someone’s out to get
us.”

He tore his eyes from the dark shadows and looked down into
the shimmering dawn that always dwelt in Diana’s eyes. Grasping her to him, he
sent a silent plea to Mina, asking, begging her to offer a prayer to her angels
for him. For Diana.

The feeling that someone watched their every move stayed
with him the rest of the night.

Soaring over Diana’s house, guarding her as she slept
through the last few hours before dawn, he scanned the area for any mental or
physical clue, but came up empty. Few vampires could shield themselves from
him. Only one could leave no clues of her presence.

Chapter Eight

Nearly a week after she’d met Sebastian, Diana tilted her
head back over the inner tube and gazed up at the multitude of stars blanketing
the sable sky. The fingers of one of her hands skimmed the surface of the cool
water while those of her other rested in Sebastian’s warm palm. The river
shimmered, reflecting the sparkling lights above. Fireflies twinkled along the
shore like faeries dancing in celebration of another hot summer night.

“Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, wish I
may, wish I might get the wish I wish tonight.”

“That’s three, goddess. I thought you could only wish on the
first star you saw.” Sebastian hooked his leg with hers.

“I made an agreement with the man on the moon when I was
thirteen,” she said, giggling. “He gives me two extra wishes for every, well,
for every night I dance for him. I figure I have a few hundred wishes coming to
me.”

“You’re blushing.”

“I am not,” she said, splashing some cool water on her
burning cheeks.

“You’re definitely blushing. I can see it.”

Diana stared at his face, then frowned. “No you can’t. It’s
too dark, even with the moonlight.”