Chosen: Book 1 in the Ancients of Light series (12 page)

His eyes narrowed slowly and then Lorcan
growled low in his throat. His gaze dropped fixedly to the blood
that she could feel edging down the right side of her mouth. He
looked back into her eyes and then to the blood once more. Another
growl preceded his warning, “Kat, you are playing with a fire that
your magic cannot control.” The husky tone of his words caused a
shiver in her and her pulse did a rapid dance in response. Lorcan
was fully aware of her reaction but his gaze remained riveted on
her lips.

Kaitriana was fascinated to watch the change
as his eyes shimmered black; surrounding the darkness, brightly,
was a circle of vivid blue. She was certain this time that it was
there and the strangeness held her attention. Twas not the norm for
vampires and she opened her mouth to question.

His words stopped her, “Shhh…Kat, behave for
a moment. I need this...” His voice was strained and rough, and the
way he called her Kat caused her toes to curl beneath her skirts.
Kaitriana was so focused on those two things that she did not
notice until too late his lips lowering to close over the small
injury. That brought forth an involuntary whimper. Lorcan shifted
her weight in his arms, cuddling her tightly in the cradle of one
firmly against his chest while freeing a hand to run it through her
hair. The action was soothing and he whispered against the corner
of her mouth, “Be easy Witch, you will have no pain from me
again.”

She whimpered a few more times as he suckled
and licked at her wound, but he also knew the fear was leaving her.
Kaitriana was beginning to find enjoyment as he continued to tease
at the edge of her lips. The pressure from his mouth combined with
soft movements from his tongue over that bleeding spot. Her breaths
were growing softer, more rapid, and her heart was keeping pace.
Burrowing closer, her fingers had begun unconsciously pawing at his
chest.

His body was reacting to her on so many
levels, not the least of which was the lengthening of his fangs.
Instinct was driving him to bury them deep in her throat. Lorcan
wanted her in a way that burned through him; her trusting response
to his touch was setting him ablaze. The little sips of her blood
only wet his appetite. The taste was ambrosia, nearly overwhelming
his control. Lorcan understood that he courted disaster by tasting
her again. He had known from the events earlier that night that he
could be drugged by her, though at that time he had been unwilling
to admit it.

Kaitriana made a sound of protest when he
released her wound, but it was smothered as his mouth settled over
hers. A sigh of pleasure parted her lips just enough to provide
entry for his tongue. From the moment she had let go of her fear,
she had been hoping he would kiss her. The warm press of his mouth
to her own was more pleasing than she had imagined. Her toes curled
again.

He teased, stroking slowly at the interior of
her mouth and deepening the kiss. The driving touch urged her to
respond to him. Lorcan repeated the action, this time stopping to
deliver slow and light brushing strokes against each fang. He
flicked at the sharpened tip of one until she was gasping, then
paused long enough to let the need settle into her fully before
switching his arousing play to the other. In desperation, she
timidly brushed her tongue up to his; he growled his encouragement.
Lorcan he felt her smile against his mouth before she allowed her
tongue to drift along the length of his.

Kaitriana continued with her hesitant touches
until he deepened the kiss and began stroking light fingertips over
her jaw line. His soft caresses teased down to the heavy pulse in
her throat, across the exposed skin of her collar bone, and then
back. The feel of his fingers on her bare flesh caused her mouth to
grow hot against his. Emboldened, she traced the edge of his lips
before slipping her tongue past them. Kaitriana took time to
explore his fangs as he had hers.

His groan echoed in the room and Lorcan
crushed her tightly to his chest. Still holding her in the crook of
one arm, his other hand tangled in the mass of jet curls and pulled
her head back so he could ravage her as he truly desired. Kaitriana
was making hot little sounds low in her throat and she was
beginning to writhe against him.

Lorcan returned the favor; he eased the
pressure of his mouth and began taking his time to explore her
fangs again. This time, gentleness forgotten, he traced hard
circles against the length of each with his tongue just as his
fingertip had earlier, over and over. His heated possession was
causing Kaitriana to tingle with the need for more.

He was enjoying her reactions; her nails were
dragging at his chest and she was kissing him wildly, matching the
thrusts of his tongue aggressively. Lorcan knew she was reacting
solely to the pleasure he was giving her, allowing it to overtake
her exhaustion and hunger. When he pulled away from the kiss, her
sound of disappointment pleased him. He shushed her and then tore
at his own lip with a fang before returning it to hers.

Lorcan allowed his blood flow over her lips
and tongue as he took the kiss deep again. He was growling low and
deep, by heaven she was sweet. The languid movement of her body
sliding against his chest as she writhed sensuously was driving him
to the edge. The arm holding her tightened as she boldly took his
lip and suckled as he had with her just moments before.

His blood was filling her with warmth and
Kaitriana felt intoxicated, dizzy. His taste was potent and all of
her senses were attuned to only that, only Lorcan. She wanted to
drink him fully, not these teasing drops. Refusing to move her lips
from his, she demanded breathlessly against his mouth instead,
“Please Lorcan…more.”

Lorcan coiled her hair slowly, tight around
his fisted hand. He held her head back as he raised his lips. His
eyes swept her flushed face and bruised mouth. Torturing himself a
little more, he lowered his lips and hotly traced her pulse with
his tongue before nipping gently at the column of her throat.

Kaitriana moaned. He had earlier given her a
brief picture of the ecstasy those fangs could deliver. She wanted
more. Kaitriana stilled as he repeated the light bite and begged
sweetly again, “Please Lorcan…please.”

His blistering gaze sought her face. Her eyes
mirrored his - black ringed in ice. Like all Vampire, hers too
shifted with any high emotion. Unlike the rest of the species, she
matched him in this singularly odd trait. Lorcan had to disengage,
because her eyes were pleading with him to continue and he wanted
nothing more than to do just that. It was then that he noticed the
lightning storm filling the sky outside the keep. If he did not
calm her soon, the Elite would be shadowing into his chambers with
swords drawn for battle.

His vision fell to her neck longingly, but
Lorcan knew full well the witch could not be his that night. He
knew that she did not even really understand what she requested by
tempting him. Gathering Kaitriana closer, he quieted her when she
began to protest by tucking her head into the crook of his neck.
Lorcan leaned back against the wall, holding her close as he
regained both breath and composure.

Her body would not still and Kaitriana
nuzzled her face against his throat, whispering to him with a needy
edge, “Lorcan…”

He understood her want; her newborn hunger
was driving her to beg him to feed her. The tiny taste he had given
was just enough to reawaken her appetite. Her arousal from their
passionate play was also driving her pleas. Lorcan was still
reeling with it, but he would deny himself this now because he
would do nothing half-way with this one.

“Shhh…my little witch. You too must learn
when to stand down,” he could not help but grin at turning these
words on her. He felt the sting of her reaction as her fist
impacted hard against his breastplate. Lorcan tilted her face to
his and held it there with a hand firmly on her chin. He needed to
watch her expressive face. His gaze was intense, penetrating, while
letting her body slide slowly down his front. He savored the feel
of her lithe little figure as her curves contacted with his hard
planes.

Kaitriana was unsteady on her feet when she
reached the ground. He loved her reaction and her inability to hide
it. For a heartbeat Lorcan held her against him, his eyes
challenging her to remove herself if she could. She did not push
away. Instead her eyes tortured him, as the hope he would pull her
back up into his embrace was clearly evident. One last second of
torment and Lorcan exhaled slowly, setting her a good arms distance
from him.

CHAPTER 13

Lorcan turned abruptly, waving her towards
the overstated bed occupying the very center of his massive
chamber. Appearing now completely unaffected by their exchange, he
had assumed his authoritative warlord demeanor when he ordered
brusquely, “Go lay down, I need to see to your feeding.”

Kaitriana hesitated for a moment, but
realized from his expression that he would not be pleased were she
to disobey him. She padded to the bed, grumbling the whole way over
his abrupt disengagement from their kissing and his apparent easy
dismissal of the same. She was also more than a bit anxious over
the thought of this ‘feeding.’

She climbed right smack dab in the middle of
his bed, fluffed her ruined skirts with a great show and flounced
down with a huff to face him. Lorcan was watching her with a
laughing grin. She stared him down, content to pout in the face of
his amusement, “Lorcan, you have let me taste of you, can you not
just provide what I need?”

Kaitriana appeared sincere, but he raised a
brow at her, wondering if she was being deliberately difficult or
serious. Before he could respond, she continued on, “Because if you
bring me some squawking human and expect me to chomp chomp chomp,
you can forget it.”

Lorcan laughed loudly, just then recalling
that she had used those words on him a long time ago. Chomp chomp
chomp indeed. Still shaking his head, amused, Lorcan began pulling
the heavy armor from his torso and discarding it. Now in the
leather breeches and a black shirt that he had worn beneath the
armor, he looked a smidge less intimidating when he strode back to
her. Taking a spot on the edge of the mattress, he crooked a
finger, “Come here little vamp.”

She was unsure of his intentions. Maybe now
he would take her to task over her sass, so Kaitriana edged only a
few inches forward from her spot in the center, perhaps within
arm’s reach…if he stretched. He did though and to her shock so
quickly that he had her across his lap and was staring down at her
before she could resist.

His eyes were still full of humor when he
explained, “I will not bring you a human to chomp Kat, but neither
can I give you this feeding. The amount of blood that you should
consume to ease your hunger as a newly born should not come
directly from the vein of a living vampire unless you want to find
yourself mated.” Lorcan would have to remember to be mindful that
all Kat knew of his breed had been taught by her Witch family,
which no doubt left much lacking in her education.

Kaitriana had questions in her eyes so he
continued patiently, “As a new vampire you will require
substantially more blood at this feeding than is required normally
to slake your thirst and keep you healthy. Right now you have very
little blood in you; the blood that I am having prepared will
contain a mixture of herbs that will help you with the lingering
effects of the transition.”

He traced the dark line of her brows with a
single finger before sliding down to tap the tip of her nose,
“After that, if you wish me to give you blood you need but ask.”
Lorcan slid his fingertip on down and parted the seam of her lips,
playing with the tip of her fang. His voice had taken on that husky
tone again that made her feel all warm inside, “If you behave, I
may feed you often.”

Her eyes went black immediately and she
stayed perfectly still, not daring to breathe. Her gaze locked on
his as he leisurely rubbed the finger over her lips, tongue and
fangs. His eyes responded in kind when her tongue darted out to
flick at his finger but a sharp knock at the door had him
withdrawing his touch. Kaitriana remained motionless but watched
intently as he leaned down to her. Lorcan swept his lips over her
brow before scooping her up and repositioning her to recline
against the pillows stacked high against the headboard. He shadowed
to the door. Completing a hushed exchange with Colm, the door was
closed again and he was back positioning a tray carefully on the
table to her side.

She passed a glance over the contents of the
tray but shortly returned her attention to him. Kaitriana was much
more interested in this time she was getting to spend with her
warrior than what he might have on that tray and she admitted to
herself that she hoped he would give her more of his kisses before
he took his leave. Her gaze sought his and she found him studying
her. Shifting nervously under his scrutiny, she questioned, “What
did you mean Lorcan, about mating and consuming too much from a
living vampire?” Her expression was earnest, she really had no
idea.

It still amazed him that the Witch breed
possessed so little understanding of the Vampire. He finished
filling an oversized goblet to the brim and helped her into a
sitting position against the pillows. Delivering it into her hands,
Lorcan turned to provide her with an answer, “As a newly formed
vampire, you have only the minute amount of blood that was left in
you when you were bitten and that which was fed to you to turn you;
neither is substantial. I must assume that you were created as all
have been before.” Lorcan thought her eyes saddened as she nodded
her answer. That was a curious reaction, and he did not wish to
press her on it now given her exhaustion, so he continued on, “Do
not think you will be withholding that story much longer, pet.”