Undeniable (7 page)

“Forget it. I’m staying put.”

Tomas’ nails dug into the footboard.
He can’t even
remember to keep his stupid mouth shut.

Come on, Sebastian
, Diego pleaded, desire shimmering
in his eyes as his gaze darted between Sebastian and Diana.
We could play
with her a little before you do it. You’ve got her in such a deep sleep, she
won’t feel a thing, let alone remember.

“We could,” Sebastian replied aloud. “Or I could rip your
throat out. And believe me, you will remember every second.” The sharp stab of
his nails growing into his palms failed to penetrate the red haze of anger
Diego’s cavalier comment spawned. Surprisingly, he found he could no more
control his rage than he could the menacing growl strangling his words.

Diego and Tomas hungrily stared at Diana as she slept
beneath a sheet transparent enough to reveal a body that would have inspired
Michaelangelo to sculpt a mate for David.

Clues about Diana surrounded them, had bombarded Sebastian
from the first night he’d followed her home. It amazed him that Diego and Tomas
had barely noticed them tonight. They hadn’t even glanced at the framed photos
of her mother, photos he’d watched her hold to her heart every night. Would
they react differently if they’d heard her nightly prayers for the safe return
of the woman who’d turned her back on Diana and left her in the care of a man
like Frank Nostrum?

Trophies and ribbons for kickboxing were squeezed between
toe shoes of various sizes, but he couldn’t blame Tomas and Diego for ignoring
the extent of Diana’s triumphs. They had never watched her practice each skill
with a merging of power and grace that had left Sebastian in awe. They didn’t
know she reveled in her strength, but hated the way the muscles in her legs
bulged.

And the CDs. Did they understand why she always played sad
songs, why tears hovered on her lashes as she sang? He thought he understood.

“Damn.”

Sebastian turned at Diego’s whisper. Diego’s hand moved
toward Diana’s head. Her cheek rested on the edge of the bed. Sebastian, having
been in Diego’s position every night for the past week, knew just how much the
young vamp itched to lift her head and feel the heat of her breath flowing over
his cock. He probed Diego’s mind.

Lewd images of the three of them feasting on Diana’s naked
body nearly ripped Sebastian’s ever-weakening control from his grip. His
muscles bunched painfully as he fought to maintain the distance necessary to
keep Diego alive. He shared the images with Tomas.
You choose fools for
friends, little cousin. If he moves his hand, he’ll lose it.

Tomas visibly paled when Diego’s fingertips touched Diana’s
chin.
Shit, Diego, do you want Sebastian to drag you before the elders for rape?
Get the hell away from her and let him get this over with.

Sebastian saw Tomas’ gaze dart to the alarm clock on the
nightstand, then to the window and the clear outline of the mountains that just
minutes ago had been barely visible against an ebony sky. Although the young
vamp’s face showed no fear, his hands trembled as he shoved them in the pockets
of his jeans.

Diego’s fangs receded. He backed away from the bed, his
hands raised before him.
Rape? Who said anything about rape? I never said
―

A moan drew their interest back to the bed. Sprawled on her
belly, Diana ground her hips into the mattress. Sebastian cursed. The sheet
delved into the cleft of her buttocks as one of her legs slid out, baring more
skin than he felt any red-blooded male, vampire or human, could handle. He
refrained from shoving her leg back under the sheet.

Diego licked his lips and drew in a hissing breath.
Come
on, Sebastian. We wouldn’t be her first. She must be at least twenty. Shit,
most girls don’t make it past eighteen with their cherry.

She’s twenty-five and still pure.
Sebastian’s
nostrils flared as he drew her intoxicating scent into his lungs, a scent that
never failed to arouse him. But this time the stench of another’s arousal
followed. Diego stood close enough for his breath to fill her lungs, for his
scent to caress hers.

When Diego blinked, Sebastian moved. Materializing between
the horny vamp and Diana, he leaned into Diego’s stunned face. “Push me, Diego,
and I’ll be on you before you even think of running,” Sebastian warned, his
voice laced with menace.

Diego’s eyes flared wide before he jerked his head down and
stumbled back. His shoulder struck one of the many shelves lining the walls.
Two CDs slid off and landed silently on the carpet beside Sebastian’s black leather
boot.

Pick it up, klutz.
Tomas looked incredulously at
Diego.
Can we remember whose house we’re in? You two are having a pissing
contest and her father is probably on his way home.

Relax, Tomas. He hunts ‘til dawn. We’ll be long gone
before he gets home.
Diego reached down to retrieve the CDs. His hand
froze.

Sebastian glanced down. Blood dripping from his clenched
fist splashed onto one of the CDs. Embracing the pain of his nails grazing
bone, Sebastian watched Diego rush to Tomas’ side and after a quick jab in his
ribs, jerk his head toward the blood.

Tomas turned to look just as a fat drop of blood plopped
into an already impressive puddle atop Clay Aiken’s face.
Ah, Sebastian,
you’re bleeding all over the place. We’re not supposed to leave any evi ―

Then I suggest you and your horny friend clean it up.
Sebastian
opened his hands and licked the blood from the deep gashes on his palms, then
glared at Tomas and smiled. His smile faded when he saw himself reflected in
Tomas’ mind. With his upper lip stretching high above bloody fangs, he looked
exactly like one of the monsters Diana’s father believed they all were.

Turning his back on Diego and Tomas’ horrified expressions,
he stared down at Diana’s serene face. He understood their shock. Although he’d
always been feared by vampires who broke their laws, none would recognize nor
understand the sinister, malevolent creature he’d become since they’d entered
Diana’s room. He barely knew himself what he’d say or do next.

Tomas sucked in a sharp breath. “What the hell is your
problem, Sebastian? She’s the daughter of the fucking hunter who killed Marek!”

Diego rushed over and dropped to his knees. Within seconds
the CD was clean and back on the shelf.

Sebastian stared down at Diana. Tonight he would begin a bonding
ritual with her. He would force her to take his blood, turn her into his virgin
bride, the bride he would never mate with, the bride he would probably never
see after tonight.

Over the past week, his eyes had feasted on every inch of
her body. Each time his hands had fleetingly experienced the wonder of touching
her skin, he’d grown hotter and harder than he thought possible. The deafening
roar of her blood rushing through her veins immobilized him with hunger. Would
it taste as sweet as he imagined? His erection throbbed within the confines of
his jeans. Every muscle clenched as he fought the overpowering need to take her
now and relieve the pain he’d endured all week.

“Sebastian,” Diego whispered, “are we—”

“Shh!” Tomas glanced toward the window.

“What now?” Diego asked with an angry snarl.

“Listen, dammit!” Tomas’ voice shook.

The distant rumble of delivery trucks arriving in the
village to restock the restaurants made its way up the mountainside into the
silent room, warning the three that dawn approached, that the man they all
feared would soon return from another hunt.

Sebastian continued to gaze down at Diana. Too young to have
perfected blocking their thoughts, Tomas and Diego’s anxiety filled him with
guilt. Tomas, recalling the time he’d accepted a dare and allowed dawn’s
searing rays to glance across his back, clutched the footboard to stop himself
from bolting. Diego, his eyes riveted to the muscles bunching across
Sebastian’s back, held his breath, convinced that any sound might lead to more
pain than he thought he could handle.

They both were terrified Diana’s father would return and
capture them.

The elders had been wrong in sending the two young vamps
along. Under normal conditions, even considering entering a human woman’s
bedroom uninvited would lead to a lengthy sentence. The elders’ approval of
Diana’s transformation had unleashed Diego’s disregard for the law that forbade
using their powers to molest and had Tomas expecting punishment from above.
Tomas and Diego didn’t belong here.

None of them belonged here.

Sebastian wished Diana had been born to another man, wished
he could gather her in his arms and carry her to safety. Wished he knew why
such a thought even entered his mind.

She slept so peacefully, so completely unaware that her life
would soon spiral out of her control. She shifted closer to the edge of the
mattress, closer to him. Her leg slid out from under the sheet, then slipped
over the side of the bed. His gaze meandered along the muscles flexing beneath
her thigh and calf, wrapped around her slender ankle, slid over the delicate
arch of her foot. The tips of her toes languidly stroked the carpet.

“She sleeps on her stomach, maintaining contact with the
floor…just like our young,” Sebastian murmured in awe to his cousin.

“Have you forgotten, Sebastian? Our young are taught that
trick so they’ll already have one foot on the floor if a hunter catches them
asleep.” Tomas’ voice shook with anger. “A hunter like her father.”

Sebastian raised his eyes. “And I suppose her father taught
her the same trick just in case some vampires ever caught her sleeping.”

Diego stared at her bared leg and licked his lips. “Not that
it’s going to do her any good. Nothing could stop you, right, Sebastian?”

Sebastian began to nod, but Diana’s nose twitched beneath
the curtain of hair covering her face and he forgot what Diego had asked. Her
hair, the color of the rising sun they all dreaded, amber streaked with gold,
and his, blacker than the inside of Mina’s empty tomb, were glaring reminders
of their different worlds.

He wondered how her hair would look kissed by the sun.
Reaching out, he gently lifted a long spiral to his lips. Silk, the finest,
flowed through his fingertips. He gathered more hair in his hand to see one
last time what lay beneath before the hunger, pain and madness marred her
beauty.

Her face would be a study in perfection if not for the tiny
crook on the bridge of her nose. He knew she considered it a great fault, had
seen her frown at it when brushing her hair, washing her face or merely passing
a mirror and catching sight of her own reflection. He longed to brush his lips
against it, just once.

Her lips parted, curved up in the softest smile. Her tongue
darted out to moisten them. Sebastian stilled, certain she’d heard his
thoughts, would welcome his touch.

Ah, but would she smile if she knew what he had planned for
her? Would she open her arms to him if she knew his embrace would propel her
into a never-ending nightmare? Would she be another innocent defiled beneath
his hands?

Would he ever survive the guilt?

“I can’t do this,” he whispered in shock, more to himself
than his companions as her hair slipped through his fingers and floated down,
shielding her beauty from his eyes. “I can’t do this.”

Tomas shoved Diego out of his way and grabbed Sebastian’s
arm. “Her father killed your stepbrother. Think of Marek locked in that pen
with nothing to shield him from the sun. My God, Sebastian, his screams woke us
all from our sleep!”

“Her father killed him, Tomas. Not Diana. He should pay for
his crimes,” Sebastian ground out between clenched teeth as he yanked his arm
away, “not Diana!”

“He will pay. Her destruction is the ultimate punishment,”
Tomas said, repeating the words Olympia had used at the town meeting to incite
them all. “We will execute him through her!”

“Then we’ll be no better than what her father thinks we are,
Tomas. Monsters.” Sebastian bit off the last word when Diana released a long
sigh, bathing his thighs with her warm breath. Every muscle tensed against the
immediate wave of desire that washed over him. “This witch hunt is over.”

“If you don’t do it, Olympia will just find someone else.
Don’t
you
want to be the one to avenge Marek’s death?” Diego asked.

The tendons in Sebastian’s neck felt as if they’d snap from
the battle raging within him. Although he wanted to avenge his stepbrother’s
death, his place in their society as a Champion demanded he protect innocent
women from out of control vampires.

Was Diana innocent or was she a huntress like her namesake?
Whenever he had probed her mind, he had encountered hundreds of fortress walls.
No matter how many he managed to breach, he could never uncover the treasure or
secret she deemed worthy of such protection.

The last wall he had faced brought his digging to a halt. It
bore an image of a very young Diana alone in a vast wasteland with her head
flung back, her eyes closed tight and her tears flooding the ground at her feet
while her trembling lips mouthed the word “Mama” over and over again.

If Diana was innocent, then was he nothing more than an out
of control vampire? He had been. A week ago. Before he met Diana. Before he met
that abandoned child still calling for her mother.

Diego mentally nudged him.
I wouldn’t be surprised if
that bastard, Nostrum, used her to draw our males into his pen. Shit, I’d
follow her if I thought I could get a piece of that ass.

Sebastian didn’t respond, didn’t dare tell them he’d
wondered the same thing.

After tonight, after one taste of his blood, her eyes would
forever burn with an undeniable hunger for him. Every day that hunger would
become more and more unbearable until the day the sun rose to find her writhing
in her bed, begging him to return and take her, fill her, become one with her.