Absolution of Fate (Fate Series Book 3) (5 page)

She licked her lips, considering how the soft, skin-covered hard steel would feel and taste in her mouth. Jared’s cock jumped, her thought flowing freely to him. She normally didn’t like for him to listen in on her thoughts, but the couple had quickly discovered it was an amazing ability to have when it came to making love.

She glanced to up at Jared and he tilted his head, his expression asking “what are you waiting for?”
 

Cami didn’t need any more encouragement. She slid back on the bed and grabbed the base of Jared’s cock in her hand. She put the head against her mouth, and then slowly smeared the drop of clear liquid rising from the tip over her lips. Jared growled low when she started to slide her lips over the head, moving achingly slowly towards the base as she flicked her tongue skillfully over the underside of his shaft. She took him in as far as she could, using her fist to cover the inches her lips couldn’t reach, before she moved back up, going just as slowly.

Jared’s body was trembling with the need to move as Cami continued her delicious torture, stroke after unhurried stroke, until he didn’t think he could take anymore.

“Fuck, Cami. Please,” he muttered grabbing her shoulders, wanting her to stop and to keep going at the same time.
 

She finally released him with a triumphant smile. He started to rise, wanting to take control, but Cami planted a firm palm on his chest and pushed him back to the bed.
 

“I didn’t say you could get up yet,” she said, sliding her hips forward, covering the length of his cock with her wetness before she reach between them and positioned his length at her opening. She hovered there, moving up and down so slightly, testing him, teasing him, until he grabbed her hips and forced her down, filling her in one motion.
 

Cami cried out as he stretched her to the limit, at the razor’s edge of pain and pleasure. He kept his grip tight on her hips and rocked her back and forth, knowing from her thoughts how much she loved the way his length pushed against her most sensitive of places when he was buried so deep. He released one of her hips and used his thumb to rub her swollen clit as she took over rocking against him.

The warm fire of her orgasm flooded over her and she instinctually turned her head and sunk her fangs into Jared’s wrist, unable to resist the extra burst his blood would give her climax.

Jared moaned as her teeth pierced his skin and the walls of her pussy clenched around his hardness and moisture dripped down the base and onto his heavy sac.
 

Without waiting for her orgasm to end, Jared pulled his wrist away from her mouth and flipped Cami to her back. He buried his face in the crook of her neck and inhaled as he thrust hard. His mouth felt full with his fully extended fangs as her sweet essence called to him. Cami pulled his head closer, urging him on, wanting to feel the delicious sting of his bite as much as he wanted to taste her blood. When he struck, she immediately cried out his name as another orgasm claimed her. With her blood sliding down his throat, his release was quick to follow, his cock throbbing in sync with her pulse against his lips.

When the last wave of his climax had passed, Jared released Cami’s neck and slid his tongue over the two punctures to speed the healing. She followed suit, pulling his wrist to her mouth as he collapsed on the bed beside her.

Jared pulled her into his arms and she nestled her ass against him, his cock still hard against her as he kissed the back of her neck.

“I love you, Camille,” he whispered against her ear. She normally hated being called that, which is why no one ever did, but that somehow made it special when Jared used her full name.
 

“I love you, too,” she replied with a sigh as she started to move away.

“Please don’t get up yet,” Jared pleaded.

“Five minutes,” she conceded, knowing all hell was about to break loose on the compound whether she stayed or went. Even if everything went exactly as they hoped and Ethan was cured, there would likely be consequences for her and the other soldiers who’d disobeyed the Commander, a fact she conveniently neglected to share with Jared. Martinez was the only one who could have snuck past the guard; Claesson would know that, so she and Dante had devised a plan to exonerate him, but that would implicate Dante. Jasmine’s role was far enough removed that she didn’t have to worry, but Claesson was ancient and smart; he would figure out they had more help. A quick review of the security footage would point to Cami and if it didn’t, there was the chance Rachel would be pissed off enough to turn her in.

As if on cue, a soft groan came from the bathroom, letting them know their time was up.

“She is going to be so pissed,” Jared said before placing one last kiss on Cami’s cheek and quickly dressing.
 

“Yeah, I’m guessing Martinez is going to have some choice words for us as well,” Cami replied, following suit.

CHAPTER 5 -
Saving Ethan

Alexa took a deep breath, trying to slow the pounding of her heart as she leaned against Dante just inside the door to the containment unit. But the spike in her anxiety wasn’t due to her fear. It was Ethan. Her body was responding to their bond and it was clear to her that he felt her closeness as strongly as she felt his. She wondered what he must be thinking. Did he feel her and believe she was alive, or did his mind, altered by the virus, make him believe it was something more sinister, perhaps even a trick perpetrated by his evil master?

“Are you all right?” Dante asked with concern, as his well-trained eyes scanned the area around them. There was one security camera covering the corridor they were in, and two in the room where Ethan and Layla were being held. They could easily avoid the first by remaining within Martinez’s mist until they entered the other room. Once inside, Dante would have to work quickly to disable the other two; one was pointed directly at Ethan, and the other covered Layla’s cell and the lab where the scientists worked with the samples they took from Layla and Ethan. The point of taking out the cameras wasn’t to cover their tracks, as it was inevitable that at least some of them would be caught, but to buy them time for Alexa to get to Ethan. The security feeds around the compound were constantly monitored; if they were seen in the restricted area, a full-scale lockdown could be initiated, making it impossible to open Ethan’s cell.
 

“Yes, it’s just Ethan; there’s so much pain, I, I don’t know how to describe how it feels,” she said breathlessly gripping her chest.
 

“Alexa, you have to try to block him,” Dante said, his brows furrowed with worry as Alexa shook in his arms.

Alexa took another deep breath and focused on Ethan and the invisible link between them, carefully pushing her mental shields against it without blocking the tie entirely because she feared what that would do to Ethan.
 

Dante immediately felt the change in her and loosened his hold. He steered Martinez, who was so deeply focused on maintaining the veil around them that he was completely oblivious to the conversation occurring right beside him, to the door. With the mist blocking the camera’s view of the keypad, Dante entered the code that opened the door and they slipped inside.

✧

Ethan’s eyes snapped open and he scanned the empty room outside his cell. He knew there was only Layla there with him in the next cell, though he couldn’t see her due to the wall that separated them. He gripped at his chest, trying to ease the ache that had overtaken him. It felt as if his heart was being tugged against his ribs. The beast within him grew restless and he could feel it pacing on the edge of his consciousness.
 

For the first time since he arrived, Ethan stood and moved towards the edge of his cage for something other than blood. He didn’t understand why, but he needed to get up. The thick plexi-glass of his cell blocked all sounds and smells, but something was coming; he could feel it. A darkness covered his mind when he realized it was the blood bond. So it was as he had suspected all along. Lucias had been using the bond to torment him and he was certain his master was near. Perhaps he and his army of infected had invaded the compound and he was coming to retrieve his prized weapon.

While Ethan began to slip into despair as the last sliver of hope he had left faded away, his beast began to rise, eager to be unleashed by its master.

The red glow of his eyes reflected back at him from the glass, growing brighter and brighter until the door outside slid open.

Both parts of him waited anxiously, Ethan and his beast; one hungry for a fight, the other ready to give up. But no one appeared and the door closed again. As quickly as it rose, the pull from the bond lessened and Ethan began to calm. Was he losing what was left of his mind?

✧

Alexa couldn’t breathe. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she stared at the man she loved, seeing him for what felt like the very first time. To the man beside her, Ethan looked like some kind of demonic monster with his red eyes glowing bright, reflecting off of the glass before him and casting a red haze over his face, but she felt a peace she had not known since Eleuthera.
 

She started to move towards him, but Dante grabbed her; holding on tight as she fought against him.

“Alexa, wait! I have to get to the camera. If you step out there now, we’ll be discovered and you won’t have time to save him,” he said aloud and into her mind for emphasis as he channeled her telepathy.

“I’m sorry,” Alexa began, never taking her eyes off of Ethan. The glow in his eyes was fading and he turned away from her. “Please hurry, Dante.”

In a flash, they were beneath the first camera where Dante made quick work of inserting the looping program he’d convinced Jester was needed for a recon mission in the city. Per Jester’s instructions, it would need twenty seconds to record the feed to loop. In the meantime, Dante moved them to camera on the other side of the room and repeated the process.

“This is the longest twenty seconds of my life,” Alexa stated, eager to finally reveal herself to Ethan.

Dante looked at the watch he’d strapped on specifically for this mission as the last few seconds ticked away. It was all he could do to keep his eyes on the digital screen. He’d vowed to not as much as look at Layla until he had Alexa safely in the room and Martinez could keep an eye on her and Ethan. Of course, he couldn’t admit it to Cami, but she had been right to worry about him. He didn’t exactly know what he was going to do when he finally saw Layla, but he was fairly certain, based on the scenarios that had been running through his head, that Cami wouldn’t like it.

✧

Ethan moved, intent on returning to his solitary space on the cold floor and the silent torture of his own mind until a flash of movement caught his eye.

He turned towards the source of motion, immediately falling to his knees as he took in Alexa’s beautiful form standing a few short feet away.

I’m dreaming. He thought, never blinking or taking his eyes from her face. But he didn’t recall allowing himself to sleep. Since becoming infected, he’d needed very little sleep and avoided it as much as possible because when he did dream, it was always the same nightmare. It was never anything as beautiful as what was before his eyes now. Perhaps, over the weeks, his memory of her had faded. Standing on the outside of his cell, she looked different somehow; more beautiful than he remembered if that was even possible.

Am I dead
? he thought, hopeful that that was the case and this wasn’t the start of a new nightmare or some sort of deception perpetrated by Lucias.

Despite the tears streaming down her face, Alexa smiled. Seeing the confusion and disbelief on Ethan’s face and hearing the darkness of his thoughts, she placed her hand against her heart and dropped the mental shields she had in place to lessen the effects of their bond. She focused on all the love and joy she was feeling in that moment. The emotion was so powerful as it flowed between them, that Ethan’s pain disappeared and his beast cowered in a dark corner of his mind.

For the first time since he transitioned, Ethan cried.

How can this be?
Before the thought fully passed through his mind, he saw evidence of the change in Alexa as she moved with vampire speed to the panel which controlled the door to his cell.
 

Before he knew what was happening, the glass shifted. Alexa’s scent filled his nostrils. His happiness at knowing she lived hadn’t fully formed when the beast again reared its ugly head and a hunger overwhelmed him unlike any he’d known since he was first infected. He craved Alexa’s blood so much it hurt. Panic flooded over him as he struggled for control.

Oh God, not again!

He bolted away, pushing himself back against the furthest corner of his cage. The small enclosure couldn’t possible provide enough distance to lessen the effect her scent had on him, but he had to try. Despite his growing bloodlust and the pain that accompanied it, one undeniable thought reverberated in his mind. He couldn’t go through it again. He wouldn’t survive losing her twice.

Then something gave him a sliver of hope. In his fight for control, his eyes moved from Alexa and he saw for the first time that they were not alone. He needed to satisfy his bloodlust to regain control and he could do that with the blood of one of the males standing behind her.

Hearing the direction of his thoughts, Alexa stepped through the door, blocking Ethan’s path to Martinez and Dante.

“Close it,” she whispered, her voice strained by the shared pain of Ethan’s bloodlust flowing through their connection. As they had planned, Martinez closed the door to Ethan’s cell. Whatever happened next, Alexa’s fate was tied to Ethan’s.

Ethan’s chest tightened at hearing her soft voice again, the sound lessening his pain for the briefest of moments before the need for blood again overtook him.

“Alexa, get out! Please don’t do this again!” he tried to yell through clenched teeth, his gritty voice sounding strange to his own ears. It had been weeks since he’d heard its sound. His eyes glowing bright with bloodlust cast a red light on the floor as he kept his gaze trained downwards. He huddled in the corner, trembling as he fought an impossible battle.