Under His Claw (4 page)

His sweat coated her and he started to move. Regick surrounded her, lowering his body to stroke completely across hers as he thrust into her and withdrew with a deliberately slow motion.

Zora rocked with him, lifting her hips and pulling at the restraints on her wrists. He moved faster, harder and deeper. Zora heard the small cries coming from her throat, but he murmured wordless sounds as he continued to move inside her.

Her senses overloaded and she bucked as an orgasm ripped through her. Her channel clenched around his but he kept moving.

Her body kept her at her peak as he stroked in and out. She thrashed against her bonds, but he kept moving at the same insane pace.

She heard herself begging for something, anything, but nothing moved him, he continued to rock inside her, keeping her falling through her climax.

She had to do something, so she lunged up and fastened her teeth to his neck. He shouted and his hips snapped forward, his cock flexed inside her.

The cessation of pleasure was exhausting. Zora let go of Regick’s neck and fell back against the pillow. She checked the spot where she had bitten him and didn’t see a thing.

Regick leaned forward and pressed his head in the pillow, next to hers. One of his hands reached up and he released the bands which held her.

She flopped her arms to the sides of her head and she fought to breathe with the weight of him on her.

Regick shifted, pressing soft kisses against her neck and trailing his tongue between her breasts. She muttered and turned her head to one side, her whole body was hypersensitive.

He gripped her jaw and turned her head back to him, kissing her softly.

The extreme gentleness was back, and Zora responded to it. She sighed against his lips and answered his mouth with hers.

Her body had the sexy ache that she had only heard about. Zora could smell blood but it wasn’t a lot. It was, however, definitely hers.

Embarrassed, she turned her head away as he withdrew and rolled free of the bed. She had to use her aching arms to push her thighs together, and when Regick returned, he had a washcloth in his hand which he pressed to her swollen flesh. The heat made her gasp, but he held it to her as she squirmed.

“Easy, Zora. I got a little enthusiastic. Normally I would lick you clean, but I don’t think you are up for it.”

She covered her face with her hands while she ignored him, cleaning her of his come and her own.

When he was done, he disappeared to the bathroom again. He lifted her easily in his arms and peeled back the bedding, tucking her in between the sheets.

“Dawn is not too far away, you need your rest. Olvadi will be satisfied.”

She felt empty, hollow. He was going to leave her. She was only an opportunity for him. “Thank you for your assistance.”

He sighed and crawled into bed next to her. He wrapped her in his arms and held her against the furnace-like heat of his body. “Anytime, Zora. If he demands you do it again, call for me. I will leave my number with your bodyguard.”

He pressed a kiss to her temple, and she smiled slightly, giving in to the exhaustion she had so clearly earned.

****

Regick waited until Zora was in deep sleep and the sun was peeking through the tinted glass.

He eased out of bed and got dressed, looking back at her wistfully. He had some research to do, but she might be the one. They had coupled for two hours and then she had bitten him. It had been an act of instinct on her part, but it had called an end to their evening. The memory of the feel of her little teeth clamping down on his neck still made him hard.

He tucked his shirt back into his trousers and stroked her dark hair away from her face. Such a tiny body to hold so much power. Olvadi didn’t know the half of it.

Regick left Zora’s rooms and nodded to the tired vampires on duty. “I am out and she is asleep.”

The woman brushed past him and went to check on Zora. When she came back, she pulled him away from the closed door. “You made her bleed.”

“I needed to check something and friction is a brutal force. She has also been without a man for some time. It wasn’t much blood and I am sure she will be fine by morning.”

The vampire with the long blonde hair whispered, “I don’t want her hurt.”

“Neither do I. Take care of her.”

The woman nodded and Regick went off with the sample of Zora’s blood in his pocket. If his suspicions were right, Olvadi was about to have a fight on his hands.

****

Zora’s legs ached when Olvadi demanded her presence.

She stood in front of him with her hands folded and her thighs quivering.

“I was going to ask you about your evening, but it seems the night of contact has made its impression on you. Good. You certainly look more relaxed.” Olvadi sat with a tiny glass of blood from one of his favorite humans.

She nodded. It was exhaustion and muscle fatigue, but if he wanted to interpret it as satisfaction, he was welcome to.

“Can you do some more work on me today?”

She nodded. “Of course, your majesty.”

It was true. Despite her fatigue, she felt energized. She could probably heal more than one ancient wound.

He sipped from his glass and his ruby red gaze raked over her. “Are you able to do it now?”

She shrugged. “Of course, your majesty.”

They went to the private room, and Octavia stood by while the tray with the blade, the towels and the med kit was brought in.

Zora sat in her chair, and she stared in shock as Olvadi opened his trousers and pushed them down. Where his cock should have been was a bundle of scarred tissue.

Olvadi looked down at her. “I became a giant because I was a eunuch, I guarded a seraglio until the day a woman as pale and cool as alabaster was brought to us. I was in love and became her devoted servant, and when she turned me, I swore fealty to her, but it was a love of the mind only. She had cravings and I could not satisfy them. Eventually she was destroyed, but I have been content with my position as leader since there was nothing else for me. Now, you have offered me hope and I pray you do not disappoint me.”

She blinked and turned her head. “I need you to lie down for this. I will need to access everything I can, so please completely remove all clothing and lay back on the couch with one leg on the floor and one over the arm.”

He arched his dark brow. “You are giving me orders?”

“As your healer. Yes. I can’t help you regrow it if I can’t get my hands into the proper space.”

“Hands, as in both?”

She nodded. “This is not flattery, but this is a two-hand job, much like re-growing a limb.”

She turned to Octavia. “It will take over an hour and he will be sensitive. You will need to bring one of those long silken skirts for him. His body will recover after his next rest cycle.”

“Do not speak of me as if I wasn’t here.”

Zora looked at him in all his scarred and ivory glory. “I know you are here, but you will need to be king the moment I finish this. I will also not be conscious when this is done so I needed to tell Octavia what you will need. You will be aroused and fascinated by your new equipment. She will need to help you remember who you are and what you are.”

He arranged himself as she requested. She brought the tray of items over and took up the disturbing position of kneeling astride Olvadi with her back facing him.

With a grimace, she quickly sliced both her palms and pressed them to the scarred stump. She focused her power on turning her blood into his tissue. His body knew what it should look like. She worked as quickly as she could to make him whole, but it still took her the full hour and she was exhausted when she wiped her blood away from the hard bar of flesh and the sac which hung low and full beneath it.

Her vision blurred and she swayed, falling to the floor, dimly watching Octavia bind her wounds. When Octavia was done, Wilhelm lifted her in his arms and carried her to her rooms.

His cool arms tucked her into her bedding, and he left her alone in the dark.

Zora would have been completely content to fall asleep and stay that way until the following afternoon, but a familiar presence entered her room and placed a hand over her mouth.

She recognized the grip, her scent. She tapped the hand twice. It pulled away from her mouth, and she looked into the glowing golden eyes. She mouthed, “Hi, Grandma.”

Zora was amazed it had taken her grandmother this long to find her. She had expected her on day two.

Her grandmother pulled her out of bed and urged her into the hallway. The human corridor was away from all public areas so that is where Grandma Charani took her.

Grandma was invisible to electronics and since she had a grip on Zora, so was she.

They ran down the three flights of stairs with all the humans attending to the vampires in the common areas.

It was nerve wracking, but Zora and her grandmother made it out of the vampire building and onto her motorcycle. They roared off into the night with no alarms being raised and no one on their tails.

Zora hung on to her grandmother and hoped no one was punished for her disappearance.

Charani stopped at a diner and looked at Zora from head to toe. “Why were you dressed?”

Zora sighed, “A vampire tucked me in. They tend to think I get cold easily, so they don’t remove my clothing and leave my shoes on.”

“It was a man.”

“Yup.”

Charani sighed. “It figures.”

Zora sat with her hands around a cup of coffee; both bandages were now exposed to her grandmother’s gaze.

“You have been healing them.” Her grandmother’s face was disapproving.

“I had to. Alfonso found me and traded my blood for his.”

Charani ran her hands through her platinum hair. “How did he know about you?”

“Apparently, there are websites that will lead you to your relatives if you know how to work a search engine. So, he needed me and he found me.”

“Are you all right, child?”

“I am. I really am.”

“Did they force you?”

She blinked. “The vampires? No.”

Her grandmother cracked her spoon in half. “Who did?”

Honesty was always best with her grandmother. She could smell a lie with those senses of hers.

She sat back and smiled at the server who brought her the order of burgers and fries. “It wasn’t force, but I was coerced into choosing a lover. He was nice and he didn’t hurt me. He was very careful.”

“Who was he?”

Zora cocked her head. “You know, I don’t really know. He is a shifter. He told me that much, but aside from his name, I don’t know anything about him.”

“What was his name?”

Zora ate her fries. “Regick. He had golden hair and golden eyes.”

“Any identifying marks?”

“No. Not that I saw.”

Charani leaned forward and gripped her hand. “This is important, Zora. Did he draw blood?”

“No. Wait. Yes. Sort of.” She blushed.

Her grandmother leaned back. “Damn. Let’s hope he isn’t looking for you.”

“What? Why would he?”

“I need to tell you about your great-great-grandmother and the steps she took to protect her children. Your mother should have told you, but she is…well you know.”

“Gone.”

“Precisely.”

Zora sat and listened to the tale of a gypsy princess who fell in love with a nobleman’s son and married him. She then listened to the exploit of the gypsy who defended herself and the child she just conceived.

When the daughter was born, Lela took her child to an area known for dragon activity, and she raised her as a lady and introduced her to the local men. Lady Alamina was a hit with the locals, but she fell in love with the seaside. Wandering the ocean daily, she met a water dragon who seduced her and left her with child.

Charani was the next daughter, and she chose a volcanic dragon as a father for her child. Lolli chose a dragon deep in a mine and Zora was the result.

“Right. I know all that.” Zora sipped at her coffee and continued in on her burger.

“So, you know you are the child of three generations of vampire blood and dragons.”

“Of course.”

“Do you know each of your female ancestors ran and hid from their mates? Alamina was followed by Darcash until she died, and he died when she did. Though they could have simply dropped off the map for privacy. Korlinous still follows me around when I can’t dodge him. Right now, he thinks I am in Italy.”

“And Mom?”

“She is enjoying a conjugal visit with your father, Yorou, for the last six years. Dragons don’t experience time the same way other species do. Oddly enough, the vampire in you causes a peculiar complication. You smell like a human, but your blood tells the tale of your true nature. That was why I asked about your…uh…interaction.”

It was good to know Grandma Char was just as uneasy about discussing Zora’s sex life as she was.

“Wait, do you mean my father is alive?”

“Yes.”

“And my grandfather?”

Charani nodded. “Yup.”

“And possibly my great-grandfather and grandmother?” Zora pushed her plate to the edge of the table.

“Yes.”

“So why have I never met them?”

Her grandmother ran her hand through her hair again. “Dragons are only dragons when they are boys. The girls are carriers, so to speak. The dhampir gene Alamina carried was close enough; it had enough power to allow for a pregnancy.”

“Power?”

“Babies born to dragons take a lot of energy to bring to term. Male dragons go their entire lives looking for a woman with the potential to be a mate. That can be a long time to wait for the right woman. They get a little obsessive when they find her.”

“Wonderful. Sucks for you. Why are you telling me this?”

Charani rubbed her neck. “Regick has one-twentieth of this continent as his personal territory. You are currently in the center of it.”

Zora swallowed and gulped some water before stammering. “But he…I mean it was just one night.”

“It will take him a day or two to get the tests done by a mage. Once he confirms your lineage, there is every chance he will be after you.”

“Why are you telling me this?”