Blood Moon (7 page)

I sobbed into Jared’s shirt as he held me close, murmuring reassurances into my ear. I cried until my body hurt and the tears stopped coming. I cried for everything I had been forced to endure over the last six years. I cried for Jared giving me yet another chance to be happy with him. As he felt me relax, Jared’s tight grip loosened and he started running a hand through my hair.

There was no way in hell I would ever let him go again.

“You dyed your hair,” he whispered.

“I thought you died,” I rasped. My stomach rumbled and I laughed. “I have to get something to eat.”

Jared snorted when I made no move to get up. “Do you think we can get room service out here?”

I shifted to make a smart retort when I saw the heat in his eyes as he stared down at me. Some time during my breakdown Jared’s jacket had shifted, exposing my flesh down to the curve of my hip. My body tightened as I kept eye contact with him. Butterflies exploded in my stomach as Jared slowly came down to me.

“If you don’t want to, tell me.”

I didn’t have to ask what he meant, because I felt the same way. I felt desire consume me in a way I had never felt before. I wanted only to feel Jared’s touch him inside me.

Nothing, not even the BMC, could stop this.

Chapter Nine

Jared carefully laid me back on a bed of pine needles, shifting the duster so that it acted like a sheet underneath me. His mouth descended on mine, giving slow, sensual kisses that made me ache with need. He pressed his body against mine, keeping his weight on his arms and knee so he wouldn’t crush me. My hands ran down his chest, eager to get his shirt out of my way. Pushing himself up to his knees, Jared peeled of his shirt in answer to my silent request. The muscles in his chest looked like sculpted marble, and I ran my hands across his tight abs. Tribal tattoos covered the expanse of his chest, disappearing beneath the waist line of his jeans. I traced the markings with my fingernail, smiling as I saw his nipples tighten. My fingers lingered on a scar over his chest, the one I caused. I leaned forward, licking a wet line across that mark.

He descended on me with a growl. His tongue probed my mouth as his hands slid against my bare skin until they came to my hips. Bracing himself with a hand, he used the other to caress my thighs. I felt his hand come around to cup my ass before circling back around to play with the tender folds between my legs. I moaned against his lips as his fingers slid across my core. My hands rushed down to remove his jeans. I fumbled with the denim as his fingers glided across the folds, making me whimper.

I wanted–no needed – him in every way possible, but no way in hell I would rush this for anything. I wanted to take my time with his body. I wanted to make him cry out my name before we finished.

Jared’s fingers caressed me before delving inside. The sensation made my back bow as I released a savage growl. I felt Jared smile as he kissed me deeply. His fingers built a delicate rhythm within me. As he slid a second finger inside of me, I felt the calloused pad of his thumb rub circles around my hot core. Desire coiled around my heart, tightening until I thought I couldn’t take anymore. I ground my hips against Jared’s hand as I felt my orgasm building, trying to fall into bliss that much sooner. My nails clawed at Jared’s back as I came. I bucked against Jared’s fingers as he increased his rhythm, and my screams were lost within his mouth.

Just when I thought I would explode from the ecstasy, Jared pulled is fingers out of me and expertly removed his jeans. The moment his erection sprang free I grasped it in my hands, squeezing lightly until he moaned with desire. As Jared shifted my hips I winced. I’d forgotten about my dragon induced injuries until now. I saw concern in Jared’s eyes, but that didn’t stop him from slowly sliding his entire length into me. His mouth trailed kisses down the scar that ran from my left cheek past my jugular vein and ended on my left breast. I gasped as he sucked my nipple into his mouth. His tongue caressed the puckered flesh. While his love making moved slow and steady, his treatment of my nipple was anything but. His teeth nipped at me, and I buried my hand in his hair as I writhed in pleasure. Jared looked up at me, and for the first time, I wasn’t afraid when I saw his ice blue eyes, the eyes of the wolf that dwelled within him, instead of his regular navy shade.

I couldn’t believe it when I felt another orgasm rising. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and I saw triumph in those alien eyes as he grabbed me and stood. Pressing me against the tree, he turned his attention to my other nipple as he increased his speed. His eyes never left mine. By the heat in those icy eyes, I knew he grew close too.

“Come with me, Jared,” I begged as I felt my body bubble over with pleasure. I screamed his name as I came against his length, pleased to find his cries joining mine just seconds later. My nails clawed the bark of the tree, and Jared buried his face into my neck. I felt his teeth slide across the vein as he slowly slid me back to the ground before he kissed me fiercely.

We collapsed on the ground just feet away from his leather trench coat. Our bodies entwined as one. My heavy breaths turned into giggles as I held him close. I wasn’t afraid of him. Those eyes had always sent me running away, but today felt different.
Did my thinking he died cure me of my PTSD issues? Doubtful, but it was a start
.

As Jared nuzzled my neck, I felt his hand start to burn my hip. Odd, since he didn’t have any powers to burn people with. I leaned back, surprised to see Jared staring down at the spot with shock and fear on his face. He looked up at me with his eyes wide and back to their natural navy color.

“Sarah, I…” He didn’t say anything else. Finally the burning stopped and Jared moved his hand. Almost like a bruise against the flesh of my hip, a light blue hand print remained where his hand had been.

I had heard about this in passing, but I knew enough to check Jared’s body, before I said anything. Sure enough he had a mark on his hip, except his looked amber in color and the size of my hand, even though I hadn’t touched him there. My heart stopped as I realized what this meant.

“I’ll talk to Donavan,” Jared said, sensing my panic. “Maybe he’ll know a way to…”

“No,” I said, taking a deep breath. “There’s no undoing a Mating Mark.”

A Mating Mark
. I had never thought it was possible between us. Jared and I had lived together for six months, and it had never cropped up then.
Now… I wasn’t sure why now, but I knew what it meant.

In the Were community, a Mating Mark appeared on two Weres destined to be together. There would never be another person for that Were until death separated them. It was more binding than a human marriage, more meaningful than any diamond ring, and impossible to break. Jared would be my mate until death, and I would be his.

I looked up at Jared, carefully phrasing my words. “Did you want to go to Donavan?”

I saw panic in Jared’s eyes as well, but it wasn’t focused on himself. He searched my eyes for any sign of fear, ready to comfort me if needed. I didn’t need to be comforted. I only wanted to make sure he didn’t hate me because of this.

“Of course I don’t hate you,” he soothed. Then his eyes grew wide as he realized that I hadn’t voiced that fear aloud. I kept eye contact and held my breath, opening myself up to Jared the way I had opened up to Damian.

A bombardment of strong emotions hit me like an iron fist to my chest. Panic, fear, remorse, and dread swirled together in a destructive hurricane of emotions. I pushed those aside, knowing those were temporary because of the Mating Marks. They moved easily aside and the truth brought tears to my eyes.

Love
.

Total, absolute, and undeniable love coiled around any thought of me. I felt his memories and saw that the ones he held closest were with me in it. It was overwhelming.

I blinked as my eyes focused on Jared’s. I saw that he had looked into me like I looked into him. We stared at each other for a long moment as a smile hinted on the edge of our lips.

“Are we okay?”
I asked him silently. I felt him concentrate.

“Yes.”
His voice sounded like a whisper in my mind, almost silent from disuse. I smiled as I realized that my mind must have sounded like that to Damian once upon a time. Who would have known that all that metaphysical bonding would have a purpose?

Jared laced his fingers through mine, and his thumb rubbed soothing circles across the length of my thumb. He leaned forward to kiss me, wincing in pain and looking at my arm. The graze wound from the silver bullet was still there but no longer bled.

“You didn’t feel that?” he asked incredulously.

I shrugged. “I’m used to it. Besides, after this,” I touched the fresh pink scars on the side of my neck, “I can deal with anything.”

“What are you going to tell Damian?”

I had felt that question weighing on Jared’s heart, deciding to wait until he asked it to answer. “The truth.”

“Won’t that affect your…relationship?”

I sighed. “There is no relationship. At this time I work for him, nothing more.”

Jared smiled. “Good.”

Burying his hand in my hair, Jared brought my mouth to his. His kiss felt strong and fierce. I felt through our new bonds all of the things he wanted to do to me, and I planned to let him.

After all, we had time.

Chapter Ten

When Jared and I arrived back at Donavan’s house, the sun started to set. Donavan almost had their car packed, while Monique sat in one of the rocking chairs on the porch, cradling her newborn twins in her arms. She glowed with joy as she sang softly to the babies.

We had to hurry back to Malevolent Dead, before Rose figured out we had killed her ginger dragon and sent another one after us. I saw a sleek, black corvette parked next to my car, and in Jared’s mind that it belonged to him.
He had good taste. That’s for sure.

Donavan eyed us as we came over to the cars. His eyes widened slightly as he sensed the bond that now spread between Jared and I. He didn’t say anything, to which I felt grateful. I did my damnedest to keep Damian out of my head, so he wouldn’t find out yet. After our talk, I knew he wouldn’t be emotionally ready for this.

When the final rays of sun disappeared beyond the horizon, the vampires came out of Donavan’s basement, once again discussing the day’s soaps. Without looking at Damian for instruction, they approached the cars we had driven over in, and my heart ached as I saw that I wouldn’t have my friend in the front seat with me.

Monique and Donavan drove in their minivan to Malevolent Dead, with Jared, Damian, Dez, and I acting as spotters in case Rose attacked us on the interstate.

We pulled into the club’s parking lot without a problem and hurried inside. The majority of the DeLocket Clan waited in the club itself. I left Damian and Dez to dole out guest rooms, while I ran up to my room to shower. I let the hot water massage my aching muscles before tackling the dirt and grim that covered me from head to toe. After washing the blood out of my hair, rinsed, and repeated, I finally felt clean. As I grabbed a towel I saw a set of clothes folded neatly on the lid of my hamper, with my gun and throwing knives sitting beside them, and smiled. Jared. He remembered that my one-track mind often meant I forgot the most basic of needs. I quickly dressed, sliding my Walther P22 into the holster on my belt. I walked out of the bathroom as I pulled my wet hair up into a ponytail to find Jared sitting on my bed with his forgotten shirt balled up in his hands and a first aid kit next to him.

We didn’t need to look into each other’s eyes to read the pain there. Thanks to our new bond, we didn’t need to talk about it. I walked over to Jared and kissed his forehead before sitting next to him and grabbing the first aid kit.

The graze wound from the silver bullet slowly healed, but needed to be sterilized and bandaged to prevent infection. I hated silver. It made me heal like a human and those carefree days were long behind me. I saw the shadow of a smile cross Jared’s lips, before he helped me apply the peroxide and bandage.

I shut my mind off from Jared, a trick I learned from hanging around Damian, before I let my mind wander. I knew what had to be done. The BMC would never give up until Monique and I died, and probably everyone else once Rose found out about her dragon. If I convinced Rose that I killed the dragon, then she might leave everyone alone.
What about Monique
? I still didn’t know how to protect the witch and her offspring. I could try to barter with Rose, but I didn’t have anything she wanted. Dez said that Rose couldn’t touch the babies. I sighed, pretending the burn of the peroxide irritated me and not my predicament. Rose would kill everyone just to get to me and I couldn’t allow that.

As soon as I could get away, I’d go to Haven and give myself over to the Blood Moon Corporation. I saw no other choice.

Jared and I went down to Malevolent Dead. Damian had just about cleared the dance floor, assigning Donavan’s Weres their rooms until the danger passed. I received some angry looks from the Clan as I walked over to where Dez stood on Damian’s right. I didn’t blame them. They had been a happy Clan until I arrived.

Damian looked at me with his mouth open to ask a question, when a lavender haze appeared in the middle of the dance floor. The Weres scattered as the haze thickened. The air around us grew heavy until we heard an audible pop.