Demetrius (24 page)

He looked to where they were connected, watched himself stroke in and out of her. She was about to go out of her mind with the erotic image. Unhooking her legs, she drew them out to the sides so he got a better view.

“Yessss,” he hissed. His hips pistoned faster, he thrust deeper. Calli grabbed his shoulders to hang on.

Her only coherent words were “Demetrius” and “yes.”

“When you come, princess, I’m going to sink my fangs deep into your lovely neck.”

She couldn’t answer. Her body was wound tight, her center on fire, ready to explode. The thought of him drinking from her—

“Demetrius!” Cresting the precipice, her body exploded until she knew nothing but pure ecstasy and the feeling of him moving inside of her.

The feel of his weight coming down upon her increased the intimacy of their lovemaking. She was mid-shout of his name when his fangs stuck through her flesh.

Holy shit. Her heart was going to combust. There was no way a body could take that much rapture. Then Demetrius took his first pull of blood. Her climax soared higher. She was caught between wanting it to end to catch her breath and hoping Demetrius could make her feel like this forever.

Her fingers dug into his sides, holding on as he rode her, joining her in climax. She felt him go rigid before he withdrew from her neck and threw his head back to roar her name.

The cries coming from her throat made no sense, but she was lucid enough to feel him grew even larger within her and pulse, filling her with his hot release.

Finally, they both lay quiet, him spent on top of her cradled in her arms. Her legs were useless, laying limp on either side of his. He still was inside her, still as hard as he was when they’d started.

It was nice. More than nice. It felt right.

He raised his head to rest his forehead on hers. “I love you so much, Callista.”

“Thank you for waiting for me.”

“I would’ve waited forever. But if I knew it would’ve only taken flowers, I would’ve rushed out to buy them as soon as Draken was dead.”

She giggled. “Actually, I got a talking to from Ethel when I went to visit her. She was disappointed you weren’t with me.”

He rocked his hips; her eyes rolled up from the pleasure. “We’ll have to visit her. Or bust her out of there. Whatever she wants, she gets.”

Callista giggled again, then caught her breath when he quickened his pace.

“Are you hungry, princess?”

She wrapped her legs around him and dragged his neck down to her mouth. “Famished,” she uttered just before she struck.

***

Demetrius cradled Callista in his arms, her back pressed to his front. His erection was ever present and ever ready. He’d never known sex could be more than a bodily function, a pleasant activity to do while feeding. Before he thought he’d enjoyed it—what male didn’t? But with Callista, he needed her, he needed her pleasure. Without it, his own meant nothing.

The golden fall of hair over her shoulder masked her face. He knew she was retrospective, same as him, basking in the glow of their new bond.

He hadn’t been sure he could make her first experience remarkable. His body had hungered so long. But he’d done it—and many more times—before she demanded he say the words that would bond them forever.

Unlike shifters, vampire bonding was an extremely private event. It involved a lot of sex and a lot of feeding until their blood was completely mixed.

Demetrius grinned. He had fang marks
everywhere
.

“What are you smiling about?” He heard the grin in her voice, too, and gave her ass a squeeze. Like his, it was also covered in puncture wounds.

And he fucking loved it. Loved seeing his marks all over her body. Couldn’t wait for them to heal so he could do it again.

“Just remembering our bonding.”

“It was only last night,” she teased, wiggling that divine ass.

He playfully swatted her. “I was remembering how you moved under me as I whispered the bonding vows in your ear.”

She sighed and fell silent, her finger tapping against his arm where her head rested.

“What’s wrong, princess?”

“Those vows. I’ve heard them before and I’m trying to remember where.”

He eased his arm out from under her and raised himself up on his elbow. She turned onto her back to look up at him.

“How can that be?” he asked. “The words don’t come to us until we’re ready to go through the bonding process and say the vows.”

“That’s why I’m confused. I remember hearing them.” Callista’s eyes bored into the ceiling while she tried hard to remember. “My mother!” Callista sat up. Demetrius moved back quickly to avoid getting head-butted. “I remember, it was like she was reciting them for someone. Oh my god, that’s how she bound me to Draken!”

She hopped out of bed and Demetrius admired her perfect form as she threw on a shirt and shorts. He grudgingly climbed out of bed and pulled on his pants. Obviously they weren’t going to sit and talk about her suspicions, she was rushing off somewhere.

“Lead the way,” he said.

She was already out the door, trotting to the library.

His mind worked the information. Unmated vampires didn’t know the bonding vows until they did the deed, but that wouldn’t stop a mated vampire from writing them down.

He followed Callista into the library. “If the vows could be duplicated, couples would’ve tried it already after getting tired of waiting for their true mate.”

“Right.” She went to a big table. “But we’re talking about a demon, dark magic, and a child’s innocent blood.” Opening what looked like a dime store novel, she paged through it. “See, while I was trying to discover myself, I had nothing to do and little money to do it.”

He hated hearing of her financial trouble. “You don’t need to worry about that now, princess.”

She flashed him a quick smile, and he knew it’d take all of his persuasion to get her to use his money to buy herself stuff.

“Anyway, I came in here to see if there was anything worth finding. It was obvious someone had been through here since I last was, and I knew it wasn’t Bishop and Creed.”

Demetrius repressed a growl. And she’d been here all alone?

“I figured it was from when I was staying at your place. The Circle must know we have the tome, but it can’t be the only source of information out there. They were definitely looking for something, so I started looking deeper. Look at this book.” She handed him the novel.

He leafed through it and saw spidery handwriting all over the pages, including a passage written on the back cover that included many of the vows he’d said to Callista.

“I remember coming in here the night before their fight. Father was at a council meeting and my mother had a friend over. They told me it was something fun between us girls. They brought me in here and I remember the friend telling her what to say while my mother pricked her finger.”

Demetrius looked up from his books to the shelves that still held novels of all genres. “We need to get all these books back to the compound.”

“I’ve been through many of them, just looking for ones with hidden writing. I’m putting a lot of the information together with what we’ve learned so far. I’d like to keep doing that.”

He caught her around the waist and pulled her close. “You want to be our resident demon expert? Because I know a team looking for one.”

“I think I certainly have the experience to be qualified for the position. Are you on this team also?”

Those beautiful aquamarine eyes, he could drown in them. “Liaison, actually. I’ll run it past the others and the Synod.”

Her arms snaked around his neck and he was confident the library would be seeing some action soon.

He tossed the book onto the nearest shelf so he could have both hands free. She watched the book land and slide across the table, her expression bleak.

“What is it?” he asked softly, hating to see anything but joy on her face.

“It’s just that…my mother. How could she sell a kid, one who trusted her implicitly, to a demon? Basically so they could use her future grandbaby.” Callista’s eyes got wide and the color drained from her face. “Demetrius, what if I am still fertile?”

The idea floored him. Him. A dad.

“Does that bother you?” She was inspecting his features, like she was worried he’d be upset at the prospect.

“Actually, no.” Maybe he should’ve phrased it differently. “I would be thrilled and terrified no matter when it happens.”

“Me, too. It’s not like I’d be upset if we created life so soon, but...I’d prefer to wait.”

Brushing a lock of spun butter behind her ear, he murmured. “Your body was released from the demonic hold. I’m sure you’ve moved on to following the same fertility cycle adult female vampires have.” Which was very infrequently, otherwise the earth would be teaming with starving vampires. As much sex as they had, the human population would have been decimated.

“So, before we go back and you talk to the Synod into giving you a spot on the new division, can we,” she nipped his lower lip making him groan, “you know, once or twice more.”

“You’re my mate, how can I deny you?”

Epilogue

“How’s she liking it so far?” Rourke walked next to him.

“Exceptionally well,” Demetrius answered. They’d been sparring in the gym, both were bleeding and beat to hell. Since he had mated Callista, Rourke seemed to be even more ruthless on the mats.

“The Synod is quite taken with her.”

Rourke should talk. The male was very protective of Callista, as if he feared that if anything happened to her, Demetrius would be a goner. The male was right, and that was probably why Demetrius got thoroughly thrashed on the mats. Rourke was making sure he didn’t get soft.

“She’s become quite knowledgeable in all things demon.” She’d been given access to all the items retrieved from Sigma, and she’d set up a database for anything and everything.

A few weeks had gone by since they mated, enough to know he wouldn’t be a dad anytime soon. He was both relieved and disappointed, but he loved watching his mate enjoy her freedom. She worked all night, and when possible, met Ophelia in the gym so she could learn self-defense before falling into Demetrius’ arms at daybreak—and then again before they started their night.

They slowed in front of his door. Demetrius nodded to Scurn and Rourke kept walking until Zoey hollered behind them.

She marched toward them, her face strained. “Rourke, the Guardians reported a human family attacked by vampires.”

Shit. Just because they had issues with demons didn’t mean some vampires quit being demented.

“Any survivors?” Rourke asked.

“Didn’t say. They want one of us down there to check for any demon influence, said something’s not right. D and I have a Synod meeting.”

“I need to clean-up and meet with Callista before I head out. We’ll get your report when you get back, Rourke.

Rourke got the details from Zoey. “I’ll find Bishop and bring him. He hasn’t been going out much lately.”

“I’ve noticed,” Zoey agreed. “He used to be equal parts work and play, but lately, he’s all about work. It should be a good thing, but I’m worried about him.”

“See if you can find out what his issue is,” Demetrius told Rourke.

Rourke looked thrilled. The guy wasn’t one to get touchy feely—even with close friends. “Sure, D. I’ll channel my inner Dr. Phil.”

“Oprah gets more people talking.” Zoey thumped Rourke on the shoulder who scowled at her.

The door across the hall popped open, Isabelle’s head poked through, her hair hanging over one eye.

“You need to look trustable.” She spoke to Rourke, whose scowl deepened. Isabelle sighed. “Wrong way.” Her look switched to Scurn and her eyes narrowed.

The guard exhaled a long suffering sigh. “I know. You get to choose.”

She gave a
humph
and popped back into her apartment.

Rourke arched an eyebrow at him in the same way he did when Demetrius told him Callista’s suspicions that Isabelle might have the gift of foresight. A talent that had never been found in their species. Shifters had seers. Vampires usually kidnapped those seers if they wanted to guess at the future.

Demetrius just shrugged. “Wouldn’t hurt to try to look less like you want to gut whomever you’re looking at.”

“Then I’d look like I’m lying. I’m going to find Bishop.”

As Rourke left, Zoey checked her phone. “I’m heading to the Synod early. Catch you in a few.”

Demetrius let himself into his apartment, still wondering about Isabelle, worried about Bishop. The wonderful scent of wildflowers filled his nose and he looked up to find his mate naked, absolutely, breathtakingly naked.

“Think we have time for a quickie?”

With a grin that bared his fangs, he was naked by the time he reached her.