A Beast For The Eyes: A Steamy Shifter Romance (A Ravenswood Romance Book 2) (16 page)

She had said she would walk but Atlas had refused Instead he picked her up and cradled her in his arms and ran. Everything blurred by. Loretta felt as if she was flying. The wind wiped through her hair so hard that she had turned her face to bury into Atlas’s neck instead. She gripped him tightly, terrified he was going to let her go and break her neck somewhere in the trees.

But Atlas had never faltered. Instead, he gripped her tightly and took her to the graveyard safely.

“Loretta,” He said, breaking her out of her thoughts as he handed her a shovel, “We have to dig the grave.”

The two of them worked together – Atlas was naturally a lot faster – and Loretta dug her own grave. The more she dug, the more freaked out she got. What if this went wrong and she died in this hole? But she glanced up at Atlas, who hadn’t even broken out in a sweat from the digging and tried to comfort herself. Atlas was ancient. He knew what he was doing.

When they finished, the wind had kicked up and made Loretta shiver. Atlas moved next to her. She couldn’t seem to stop shivering but she wasn’t sure if that was because of the wind or from what was going to happen.

“Loretta, are you ready?”

She turned to face him, her nerves feeling as if they were going to snap from the pressure. She had never been bitten before. Was it going to hurt? Loretta wanted to ask but the questions seemed to die on her lips as she stared at Atlas.

“I can’t glamor you,” He said, “But I need you to focus on me, okay?”

His voice had lowered to a sensual tone that made Loretta’s knees weak. It was the same tone he had used the night when they had slept together – it made her head feel like it was going to melt. Atlas moved towards her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her against him. Loretta was breathing quickly as he trailed his lips down across her cheek.

“I want you to give yourself over to me,” He whispered, “Can you do that?”

“Yes.” She breathed.

There was a sudden sharp pain and Loretta let out a surprised yelp. Atlas had bitten her and was sucking on her blood. But instead of pain she felt slow waves of pleasure rolling away from the bite. Loretta had always read that bites could be incredibly nice if the vampire felt so inclined – she was grateful that he did.

She found herself growing weaker as Atlas worked on her neck. Loretta knew he’d be taking as much blood out of her as he could, not only for himself and the ability to walk in the sun, but because the more blood lost the higher rate of success the Turn would have. Her eyelids began to flutter and the graveyard became out of focus. The more Atlas drank, the harder it became to make out anything.

Loretta looked at the blurry shapes of the city nearby and then her eyelids felt as if they each weighed ten thousand pounds. She closed them and everything turned black.

Chapter Five

There was nothing for a long time. No dreams. No senses of anything from the outside world. No memories floating back to Loretta.

It was only when Loretta became aware of the darkness did she wonder just how long there had been nothing. Her thoughts felt slow and muddled and her hands were dug into the earth, feeling soil around her fingertips.

Her brain felt as if it was taking a long time to piece everything together. Almost too long. Her brain felt sluggish, as if it had been asleep for decades and was suddenly waking up.

For a second, Loretta panicked. She had no memory of how she had gotten here – only that she needed to get out of the ground. She would suffocate in here! Loretta began to yell and claw at the dirt above her but it only caused more to fall on her face. Her panic felt alive, like a monster reaching out to grab her – she was going to suffocate in the dirt if she didn’t –

A memory flashed back to her. Atlas, brushing his lips against her, and then the bite. Loretta froze and wiggled her hands towards her chest. She went perfectly still. She waited.

No heartbeat.

She realized she wasn’t even breathing. No, of course she wasn’t. She didn’t need to breathe. Loretta felt weak and tried to yell again, hoping Atlas would hear her. She also felt hunger – but it wasn’t the normal type of hunger that she felt. It was a hunger that felt as if it was going to eat her up and spit her out.

Vampire
, she thought, exalted. Had it actually worked? It must have. Otherwise she would have never woken up. Atlas must have drank her dry and got her into her grave. Was he outside now, waiting for her? Loretta tried to recall everything. She remembered the city, hazy against her dimming vision, the lights from it bleeding into the sky, creating an image that was the final thing she must have seen as a human.

Atlas had made the bite pleasurable. Her death was painless. Loretta ran her tongue along her teeth and could feel it – her fangs. They were so sharp that she almost cut her tongue. She must have been starving since they were sticking out. She knew that vampires could usually control them. Fangs. That made it official. The gravity of the situation finally sunk into Loretta’s head. She was truly one of the night now.

The dirt was shifting, Loretta noticed, and she tried to dig as well. Then a hand burst through, wrapping around her wrist. Atlas tugged and Loretta was being dragged out of the ground, up onto the surface. The night air smacked her in the face. Snow was falling, she noticed. Her eye sight was so clear that she could make out individual snowflakes. Loretta laid there, watching the snow fall and admiring the detail in each one.

A face loomed over her – Atlas. He handed her something.

Loretta propped herself up, still marvelling at the overwhelming nature of seeing things in such clarity – and hearing things she had never heard before. She looked down at what was in the jug he had given her. Blood.

The hunger came back, hard and fast, and Loretta found herself chugging the jug. She finished it off in record time but still wanted more. Before she could even say anything, Atlas handed her another one.

When Loretta finally finished, she felt better. The hunger was clear from her mind. She stood up, trying to get used to every sight and sound knocking her over. She walked over to the hill that overlooked the city. Unlike the last time she had been up here, when she couldn’t enjoy it and then couldn’t focus on it, tonight it blew her away. It was as if Loretta was seeing it for the very first time.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Atlas said as he came up behind her.

Even standing next to him felt different. Loretta realized her body was responding just to him being here next to her. Every sense of hers seemed to thrum with a sudden desire that took her by surprise.

“You can feel it, can’t you?”

Loretta nodded as Atlas pressed himself against her from behind, trailing his fingers tips along her neck. Loretta felt pleasure rock through her – it was unlike anything she had ever felt as a human before. It was a pleasure that was coming from her very center.

“That is the connection I was speaking about. I’ve Turned people before, Loretta, ones I’ve felt nothing for. It is never like this.”

Atlas lightly touching her was driving her crazy. Loretta felt as if there was a frenzy being worked up inside of her. The connection – she hadn’t known that he meant it continue after the Turn. Loretta spun on her heel and pressed her lips against Atlas. She knew she was covered in dirt but she didn’t care. She needed him now.

Atlas didn’t resist. He kissed her back, so hard that her human self would have been bruised. But now Loretta didn’t even feel it. She only kissed him harder before shoving him to the ground. Atlas lost his balance and hit the dirt ground, looking up at her with a glint in his eyes that drove her wild.

Loretta moved, so quickly that the world blurred except for the spot she was staring at. She was on top of Atlas now, straddling him. The movement! She wanted to go and run through the woods, letting nothing stop her. Atlas moved like a blur as well, and now she was underneath him. Catching on, Loretta moved with all her strength and Atlas was underneath her again.

She smashed her lips against his, the frenzy inside of her growing. She needed him
now
. She hadn’t even asked how his time in the sun was going, Loretta realized, but then didn’t care She’d ask after. Loretta ran her hands up Atlas’s chest and ripped his shirt off. He gave her a grin as she ran her hands down his well-muscled chest.
My Maker,
Loretta thought, leering at him.

Atlas started tearing her clothes off as well. Loretta let him, enjoying the night air on her cold naked skin. She revelled in it. It felt as if the entire world was at her feet. Atlas’s hands pressed against her skin. Between them, there was no warmth, no heavy breathing – just the focus on each other. Loretta admired him once he was fully naked.

“I’m going to have my way with you.”

“It will be the only time.” Atlas challenged her with a grin.

“We’ll see.”

She straddled him again. His hand reached up and grabbed at her breasts roughly. Passion surged through her body. She reached down and took his hard cock in her hands. She helped it inside her pussy. She groaned with pleasure as he entered her. She rode him as waves and waves of pleasure like she had never felt before rocked in body. She shuddered and screamed into the night as the orgasm hit her. It was ecstasy she could not put words too. It was otherworldly.

When it was all over, Loretta and Atlas laid next to each other. She was watching the sky again, admiring the way the stars seemed to shine brightly and only for her. Her head felt clearer after the blood and the sex. Atlas hadn’t said anything but had been stealing glances at her when she thought she didn’t notice. But Loretta did notice. She noticed everything now.

She kept putting her hand to her chest, marvelling at how she felt no heartbeat. It had taken so long to find a Maker and become one of their kind but now that she finally was, Loretta almost regretted that it had taken so long for her to make up her mind.

“How do you feel?” Atlas finally asked, breaking the silence.

“Better. How is your week in the sun going?”

A smile broke out on Atlas’s face, “Better than I have even dreamed.”

“What have you been doing?”

“Taking long walks. I’ve been spending most of the last three days in parks.”

Loretta smiled back, glad that their deal had worked out in his favor. Atlas had gotten what he wanted and Loretta had gotten hers.

She thought back to the sex they had just had. It was crazed, rough and unlike anything she had ever dreamed of doing. But nothing had hurt her Her bruises from the sex when Loretta had been human had healed during her Turning process. And sex as a vampire was very, very different.

Loretta thought of her life stretching before her. Nothing to hold her back. Nothing to make her stay in one place. She had Atlas as well. Loretta got to her feet and walked over to the hill, looking down at the city. Everything was so clear that she could make out individual street lights if she focused enough. The thrum of the city seemed to move through her skin, giving her life where she technically lacked any.

Atlas came to her side. They stood there together, their hands entwined, looking over the city. Loretta let everything wash over her. It had taken so much time to get to this point. To finally be a vampire after years of dreaming about it and to have Atlas as her Maker…

With the city sprawled out at her feet, she turned to face Atlas and leaned in for another kiss. They had forever together now.

Part I

The air was frigid and the waves vicious, but the three brothers sailed on. Kristoff called out to their men to row on even though the water was rough. Andor and Finn stood firmly behind him pulling their fur lined leather tunics tighter around their bodies.

“What’s the plan, Kristoff?” Finn grumbled.

Kristoff was the oldest of the three brothers. He was tall and muscular with shaggy straw colored hair. Finn was the youngest with chestnut curls and rosy cheeks.

“The plan is to continue sailing through night and anchor at Jutland by sunrise, that’s always been the plan,” Andor cut in. The middle brother was constantly trying to take control. Feeling like he grew up in Kristoff’s shadow, he always wanted to make his voice heard.

Kristoff didn’t take his eyes off the rowing crew. “Precisely.”

An icy rain began pouring out of the sky and the men groaned, but the brothers demanded that they keep rowing. The ship was being pummelled by waves and it was hard to tell if the ship was even still headed in the right direction. The three brothers stood strongly in place being soaked with rain and splashed by waves. Although they gave harsh orders, they always stood in solidarity with the crew members. After and hour of treacherous downpour and freezing temperatures, Kristoff dismissed the crew and retreated below the ship, followed by his brothers. The crew hurried under the small bit of cover on the deck of the ship and huddled together for warmth.

Below the main deck Kristoff hung is drenched tunic on a piece of wood jutting out, poured a mug of mead from a barrel and hovered over a map. “The winds shouldn’t blow us too far off track. We are close enough to shore.”

“What’s the plan?” Finn asked.

Andor scoffed and poured a mug for himself and joined his older brother at the map table.

“Kristoff?” Finn prompted him again.

“Finn, you must learn to accept the journey as it goes. Sometime the plan changes. You must learn to not always need a plan.”

“Ah, yes,” Andor piped up, “the wise words of Kristoff the Great.”

Finn’s rosy cheeks become more red. He often got anxious when his brother’s butt heads.

“Those are the wise words of our father, Andor,” Kristoff spoke through gritted teeth, “maybe you should put down that mead and focus on the purpose of this journey. Seems as if you may be forgetting that you and I are on the same team here.”

The three brothers were on a journey to all neighboring countries to raid them for money and riches for their sick mother and to bring pride to their late father. He had passed away during a viking war just over a year earlier and since then their mother has grown more and more ill. Their father had loved their mother so much that it was his main goal in life to provide her with all the riches he could get his hands on. When he died, his ship was passed down to Kristoff, Andor, and Finn. The three brothers took a vow to one another that they would make sure their fathers whole life purpose would be honored. Now that their mother was on her deathbed, they were on one last journey for her.