Black Heart (4 page)

Brennan touched his forelock, a
habit hard to break from when he served on
The Celtic Gale
.

“
Aye aye, Captain.”

Deegan raised an eyebrow in cynical
amusement. “Belay that and go back to your baking.”

Brennan’s chuckle followed him down the
hall into the study where Marcus awaited. He strode into the room
and was taken afresh with Marcus’s pure male beauty. The young
man’s handsome face broke into a smile, which made Deegan cringe.
Seeing Marcus had a hard-on made him wince further. Turning Marcus
seemed fraught with complications as Deegan was beginning to find
out. A slow, burning anger washed through him.

“
I told you not to appear at my
home unannounced. When I want you, I will summon you. I am your
Formator—your maker—and you will obey.”

Marcus blushed and
looked
contrite. He stepped closer to Deegan. He was almost the
same height though a little more muscular.

“
I’ve missed you.”

Oh sweet Christ.
Deegan sighed. Be
damned if he would use this pretty boy as a fuck- buddy. When was
the last time he indulged in firm, male flesh for pleasure? Since
Vampires have no compunction using either gender for blood and sex,
neither did Deegan at certain periods of his life. The final
encounter occurred in pre-revolutionary France. He preferred women.
He always had and always would.

Marcus stepped closer, his long lashes
swept upward and his sky-blue eyes blazed with desire.

“
I couldn’t wait, you see. I am
having trouble shifting—into my Thrope form.”

Deegan was not surprised. When he turned
the lad over three weeks ago, he had an inkling the Vampire blood
would overtake and dominate the Thrope blood. He was secretly
pleased, anything to ruin Devlin Steele’s plans for breeding.
Marcus began to strip off his clothes.

“
What in hell are you doing?”
Deegan snarled.

Marcus stepped out of his jeans and tore
off his shirt. Now naked and sporting an erection, he stepped up to
Deegan and cupped his face, and his large cock rubbed against
Deegan’s crotch. He leaned in and kissed him, hard. Deegan
sputtered and grabbed Marcus’s shoulders. He roughly pushed him
away. Marcus would not be deterred. He cupped his face once more
and stroked his goatee affectionately. He glanced down.

“
Your cock is hard.”

“
Not for you, lad. Some old
wizened hag could kiss me and the results would be the
same.”

Marcus leaned in and whispered, “Take
me—here. Fuck me. I want you inside me. I’ll do anything you wish.
I do not make this invitation lightly as I’m never the bottom
guy.”

“
No. And I never will. Get
dressed, you’re making a gobshite of yourself,” Deegan said. His
Irish accent was suddenly prevalent and laced with
anger.

“
I had to take my clothes off to
show you.” He stepped back and held out his arms. “See? I am
concentrating, but I have not shifted. We have to be naked to shift
into a wolf.”

“
How convenient. And does your
brother know you can’t shift?”

“
He suspects.
I’
m sure he
will get me to prove it. He’s not happy with me. I have not bred
with the women he’s selected for me. I am in the doghouse, I’m
afraid.” Marcus snorted in amusement at his joke. “I may be
banished if I don’t perform.”

Deegan furrowed his brow. While he did
want to thwart Devlin’s breeding schemes, he wanted to keep Marcus
there firmly entrenched in the Thrope compound as a spy.

“
My dear, sweet boy. Simply drag
one of the bitches into a dark room, bend her over a chair and
pretend it is a male of your choice and root the hole off her. It
is not difficult. Get at least one pregnant. Surely you can
accomplish that.”

Marcus walked up to Deegan and reached out
to stroke the bulge in his black khakis.

“
I will pretend it’s
you.”

Before Deegan could reply or push
Marcus away, a female voice drifted into the room from the
doorway.

“
Well, this certainly explains a
great deal.”

Deegan closed his eyes.
Raylene.
The day could not
have gone better. His eyes snapped opened. He pushed Marcus away,
and then bent and threw him his clothes.

“
Get dressed and get the feck
out of here and do not return or contact me in any way unless I
contact you. You follow?” he roared.

Marcus flinched at the roughness of
Deegan’s voice. He dressed quickly.

“
Yes, I understand.”

“
Now go back to your brother and
fulfill your duty!”

He followed Marcus and slammed
the door shut on his heels. He spun around and faced Raylene who
looked disgusted and hurt.
Damn and blast it all to bloody hell.

“
How did you get past
Brennan?”

“
I came in the back way. The
French doors were unlocked. Sorry to disturb your little
affair.”

Deegan barked in cynical laughter. “He is
nothing of the sort. I turned him three weeks ago at the request of
his Thrope brother. He won’t bloody well leave me
alone.”

“
Thrope?”

Deegan exhaled in exasperation. “Wolf
shape-shifter. Why are you here?”

****

Raylene’s head still reeled from seeing a
naked and fully aroused man stroking Deegan through his pants.
Glancing at the huge bulge straining against his zipper, he’d
responded. So he would fuck everyone—but her? The hurt
deepened.

“
I came to talk about my father.
All he has done these last few weeks is sit in his study in the
dark and drink all night. I’m worried.”

Deegan ran his hand through his thick,
wavy locks in obvious frustration.

“
I know. I haven’t been to see
your father in a while. I had other concerns to deal
with.”

“
Like getting fucked in some
alley in Halifax?”

She couldn’t believe that slipped out of
her mouth. She sounded so bitter and hurt, and she had revealed too
much.

“
You are a fine one to talk,
little Ray,” he sneered.

“
Don’t call me that.”
His childhood name
for her brought back too many wretched memories. “I have the desire
to feed same as you. You have no say in where…”

With lightning fast agility, Deegan
had her up against the wall. His large hand rested gently on her
throat, but he did not squeeze.

“
Do not let some strange man do
that to you ever again. You are not some strumpet to be taken
against the wall. You are better than that.”

“
Am I? What do you care? You
barely give me notice or speak to me anymore. I am nothing to you.
Why should you care what cock…”

The assault on her lips was
sudden and wild. His hand still around her neck, he leaned down and
invaded and plundered every inch of her mouth. The sizzle was
immediate and incendiary. The kiss was everything she knew it would
be and in turn soft, hard, tender and then aggressive much like the
man himself. Raylene groaned, and she reached for that prominent
bulge in his pants. She could feel every long, thick inch of him
throbbing in her hand. She gripped tightly and stroked him through
the khaki until he moaned aloud. Then, he let her go. Deegan
gripped her wrist and removed her hand from his cock and backed
away. She almost cried out from the absence of sexual and sensual
sensations that flooded her body. He walked away from the Mate Bond
scent that hung between them like a Victorian London fog. Damn him.
She ran and grabbed his arm, spun him around, reached up and lifted
his lips. His fangs were extended, a purely physical response when
a Vampire found his mate and was near his mate.
Wanted
his mate.

A roaring, red fury burned deep in her
soul.

“
You have denied me for how
long, Deegan. Why? All these years!” Her fists pounded on his
solid, muscular chest.

His hands grabbed her wrists,
effectively putting a stop to
her assault.

“
Enough.” His deep voice rumbled
huskily. “Tell your father I will be by to see him tomorrow
afternoon when he arises from slumber. Make sure you are out, as I
want complete privacy with him. You follow?”

She tried, really tried to stem the hot
tears that burned at the back of her eyes, but a few slipped out
and trailed down her cheek anyway. Damn him to hell.

“
And when will you ever wish to
discuss what is between us? Or would you prefer I go and find some
young stud-cock somewhere? Maybe I can catch up to that well-hung
wolf and get him to—”

He grabbed her about the neck again, like
he itched to squeeze the very life out of her. She shouldn’t be
provoking him like this and stirring the stick in the hornet’s
nest, but damn it, she was fed up with his denial. When his lips,
his cock, and his damned fangs said everything to the contrary. His
free hand cupped her pussy.

“
This—is mine. There will be no
cock in you ever again, unless it is mine.”

She did not flinch or back away from his
staccato-harsh words or from his fanged sneer.

“
And when can I expect this
cock, in another hundred years?” she snarled right back.

“
Soon,” he whispered, in a voice
so suggestive and sexy Raylene’s insides twisted and heated in
anticipation. Deegan kissed her, a brief and hard kiss that stole
her breath, and then he backed away. His chest heaved, and his
starkly handsome features showed a myriad of emotions.

“
Go now, Raylene. Go
home.”

There was something in the tone of his
voice that compelled her to listen. She turned and fled from the
room.

****

Deegan waited until he heard the squeal of
tires leave his hearing. Walking to the sideboard with shaky legs
and an erection that could rival steel, he poured a double Black
Bush and downed it in one gulp, then promptly poured
another.

He was
fucked
.

Chapter Three

Thankfully, when Deegan arrived at
five-thirty in the afternoon at Raynor’s nearby home, Raylene was
nowhere in sight. He didn’t sense her though her scent covered the
house, enough to torment him and stoke his desire afresh. Last
night was pure torture. After she left, he wanted to rip his house
apart from the sheer sexual frustration that bellowed through his
veins.

He knew he
had sailed past the point of no
return, the point he tried for decades to avoid. He all but claimed
her last night, and she knew it. Frankly, he was weary of all the
lies and refutation. He exhaled in annoyance. There was much to
consider and mull over. Wasn’t a century enough? He didn’t want to
put any mate in danger of giving birth to any possible children,
ever again. Granted, Raylene was half-Vampire, she would be of
sturdier stock and she also had the bloodline needed to procreate
with him. Did he want any children? Christ on a cross, he was over
seven hundred years old. And what would the child be? As far as he
knew no Vampire and Dhampyre had ever procreated. Yet another
classification?

The Concealment
was a wrinkle in an
already murky conundrum. Would it manifest itself in Raylene? Any
offspring? He could not bear to watch his mate, a woman he loved,
go mad. Or any beloved children. To have his loved ones destroyed
would be the ultimate in agony and heartbreaking torment. Or would
he conceal it, like he had with Raynor all these
centuries?

As if he conjured his ancient friend out
of mist and shadow, Raynor walked into the study. He looked like
hell. Deegan could see the stark weariness in his eyes. Raynor
motioned to the overstuffed chairs in the corner.

Before he even got his ass on
the leather, Raynor’s voice cracked.
“You know. Did Tristan tell
you?”

“
Do not blame my son. He kept it
from me as long as he could. Circumstances arose, and he
reluctantly broke his word.”

He explained to Raynor what happened,
Tristan’s lady taken, blood oaths demanded, and the payment exacted
for cleaning up the incident.

Raynor hung his head. His hands
reached up and grabbed fistfuls of his golden brown
hair.

“
I knew about Tristan and
Katrina. I was under the assumption Tristan smoothed things over
with the bastard Thrope. I was not aware you were brought into this
wretched mess. So I destroy more lives. It will never
end.”

“
Raynor, it had been one hundred
and eighty years. You knew an incident was just a matter of time.
Do not distress yourself. It has been handled. Your family need not
know of anything. Tristan has sworn secrecy in this matter. The
debt has been paid. Now, it could be a couple of centuries before
it happens again.”

Raynor looked up, his mouth twisted in a
bitter, sardonic grin. “Yes. Live my life. I am not living; I
exist. Nothing more.”