Eternity Embraced (2 page)

"The idea doesn't thrill me, either."  He closed his eyes and clenched his hands into fists, the way he did when he was angry and trying to keep his temper contained -- something he rarely had to do.  Kaden had always been cool, calm, and level to the point where Andrea sometimes needled him just to get a reaction.  Now, it appeared that no needling would be necessary.  "Andrea...I don't...I don't know if I can control myself."

"You want to kill me?"

His eyes flew open, the gray depths turning steely.  "No.  Never," he swore.  "But I'm...hungry."

His gaze dropped to her throat.  His lush lips parted and he drew closer.  For some reason, she couldn't move, was anchored to the spot, mesmerized by the fierce hunger in his expression.  Everything around her, from the damp, musty odor of the dungeon, to the skittering sounds of scavenging rodents, faded into the background.  There was nothing but him.

Swallowing nervously, she found her voice.  "Kaden?"

He uttered a rough noise of anguish and threw himself to the far side of cell, shuddering so hard his teeth chattered.

Something inside her broke, and she reached for him, only to jerk back when he hissed.

This was bad.  Very, very bad.  She had to find a way out of the cell before Kaden lost control and she was forced into the fight of her life.

Whirling, she attacked the door.  She shoved at it, rattled it, trying to fight the panic that had wrapped around her chest like a clamp.

She'd always believed she could take down any vampire without mercy, but Kaden didn't seem like a vamp.  He seemed like...Kaden.  With fangs.  And maybe an extra scoop of menace.  But other than that, he was the man she loved, and she couldn't stake him.

Thing was, she couldn't even be shocked by the knowledge.  She'd failed at most everything she'd ever tried, from bowling, to cooking, to protecting her family.  Never in her life had she stuck with anything when the going got rough or if she wasn't immediately good at it.  Not until she'd joined The Aegis, anyway.  She'd stayed, because she was damned good at killing.

At least, she
was
.  Until now.

"Let me try."  His voice was guttural, warped, as though every word was being funneled through a shrinking pipe. 

She stepped aside as he hit the door with his entire body.  His weight left a dent, but on his fourth try it became clear that the cells had been built to handle creatures much stronger than any man.

Or any vampire.

She shivered.  God, the very idea that Kaden was undead...it horrified her.  And yet, as she watched him pound on the door with eye-blurring speed, the thick muscles in his chest and arms bunching and rippling, some secret, shameful part of her was fascinated.  And maybe a little turned on by the raw power behind his every punch.

"Kaden?"

Slowly, he turned, braced his back against the door, and slid to his ass.  Exhaustion put hollows in his cheeks, but his eyes were sharp as daggers.

"Yeah?"

Maintaining a grip on the stake, she crouched and eased toward him.  "What's it like?"

When he looked at the stake in her hand and growled, she carefully set the stake on the floor and showed him her empty palms.  She wasn't stupid though; she made sure the weapon was within reach.  She also had an Aegis-modified squirt gun filled with holy water in her jacket pocket, as well as several blades stashed on her body.  But he'd know that.  His roving hands had long since learned the location of every one of her weapon hiding places.  The memories made her body tingle and her mouth go dry.

"It's weird," he said gruffly.  "I thought I'd feel like a beast.  But I don't feel any different."  He frowned.  "No, that's not true.  I feel stronger.  And more...feral."

"Feral?"

He nodded.  "It's like I'm a mass of instincts.  Everything is magnified, from my senses, to my desires.  I don't know how to control them."  He pegged her with a stare so scorching she drew a harsh breath.  "I've always tried to be gentle with you.  But right now..." He threw his head back against the wall, and his throat worked on a hard swallow.  "Damn, the things I want to do to you."

She didn't have to guess.  His fangs had elongated into sharp, wicked daggers, and between his legs, his erection was a thick rod punching against the fly of his pants.  Liquid heat flooded her body, a completely inappropriate response, given what he was and where they were.  But that dark part of her was enthralled with this new Kaden.  Curious.

Cautiously, she reached for him.  The moment her fingers touched his knee, he went taut, his head snapped forward, and once again she was in the crosshairs of his laser gaze.

Startled, she drew her hand away, but lightning-fast, he caught her wrist.  For a breathless heartbeat, terror turned the air in her lungs to cement.

The stake was out of reach.

"I warned you," he growled.  "I need...I
hunger
..."  His fingers tightened, digging into her skin.

Common sense and self-preservation kicked in.  He wasn't the only one with powerful instincts.  Andrea threw a punch, nailing him in the jaw with her free hand.  He didn't even flinch.  She swung again, but this time, he palmed her fist, stopping her throw as if she'd slammed her knuckles into a brick wall.

"Wow," she breathed.  "You're really fast now."

"I wasn't exactly a slouch before."  His voice was a husky purr that rumbled through every part of her body.

She snorted.  "Becoming undead certainly hasn't done anything for your ego."

A slow, cocky smile turned up the corners of his mouth.  Good Lord, were they really
bantering
?  In this incredibly fucked-up situation?  He seemed to realize the incongruity of it all as well, and he sobered, releasing her as if she were a burning coal.

"Get away from me."  He shoved at her, knocking her off balance and sending her sprawling.  Instantly, he was on his knees beside her, his hands on her shoulders.  "Oh, shit.  Andy, I'm sorry."

She allowed him to help her sit up, but he didn't remove his hands.  Neither of them moved a single muscle.  Even the air went still with the uncertain tension hanging in the cell.  Gradually, she became aware of the fact that Kaden's entire body was trembling, and once more, his gaze was fixed on her throat.

Something touched her hand.  The stake.  He pressed it into her palm even as he lowered his head toward her neck.  Her heart slammed into her rib cage and her stomach clenched, but she remained motionless, focusing all her energy on simply breathing, because that, at least, was still in her control.

"Don't let me do it," he rasped, but his lips were grazing her suddenly sensitive skin.

He closed her fingers around the stake.  His teeth scratched her throat, tiny, erotic pricks of pain.

His masculine need rolled off him in waves, and her traitorous body answered, going wet and molten hot.  In the past, she'd always responded to him quickly, often from nothing more than a lustful look.  But this was different.  It was as though she was flame and he was fuel, and there was nothing she could do but let it all burn out of control.

That's how they get you.  Vampires are very sexual beings, they ooze sex appeal and are magnetic and irresistible to humans.  They're spiders that weave sensual webs to capture the careless fly
.

The familiar words of Aegis leaders rang through her head, and though she knew she should fight, she couldn't.

"Please," he whispered brokenly.  He lifted her hand, placing the point of the stake over his heart.  "I can't control...myself.  Don't want to hurt you."  His mouth was at her jugular.

Andrea's entire body quivered, and a sob caught in her throat.  What he was asking her to do...
oh, God
.

A shudder tore through Kaden's body.  "Andrea...
fuck
."

His fangs pierced her skin.  Her stake pierced his.  They both gasped.  Neither had gone deep, but there was no doubt they could both kill.

They remained still, frozen in a twisted game of cat and mouse.  He needed to feed, and she needed to kill him, but neither had the willpower.

He squeezed her hand, putting pressure on the stake, driving it deeper into his flesh.  She strained against him, her hand shaking as she tried to keep him from jamming the stake all the way to his heart.  She wasn't ready to do this.  Wasn't ready to lose the person who had filled her life with more than revenge.

Before Kaden, she'd been nothing but a machine.  She'd done what was required to stay alive -- eat, sleep, drink.  But there'd been no joy beyond killing demons, vampires, and weres. Kaden had saved her life -- more than once.

"No!"  In one smooth move, she flung the stake away and grasped his head, pulling him firmly against her.

Kaden's teeth penetrated her throat in a white-hot stab of pain that veered sharply to pleasure.  His moan vibrated through her, and she was lost to him.

Chapter Four

She should have killed him.

Now it was too late, and Kaden didn't think he'd ever be the same.  He'd crossed a line -- vaulted over it --  and there was no going back.  Sensation stabbed at him, shooting like mini-orgasms through his fangs, all the way to his groin.  He should tear himself away from Andrea.  Man-up and do the right thing.

But he was so cold and she was so warm.  She smelled like leather and cherries -- a strange combination, but one that had always excited both the lover and the warrior in him.  And best of all --
worst
of all -- she tasted like sweet, sweet sin.  Silky, warm blood filled his mouth and cascaded down his throat, filling that empty hole inside him that hurt.

No, not filling...because his chest cavity was truly empty now, his ribs caging in a useless heart and lungs that still breathed even though they didn't need air.  Some sort of cell memory kept him breathing,  he supposed, and he wondered when that would end, when his lungs would collapse and shrivel.

Andrea's pulse tapped against his teeth, and he moaned at the ecstasy of it.  He'd been guided by instinct when he'd bitten her, and even though guilt knotted his stomach, he couldn't fight the drive to suck harder.

He also couldn't fight the desire to ease her onto her back and settle himself between her legs.  Only the knowledge that there was a camera mounted in the corner of the ceiling kept him from tearing off her clothes, ripping open his fly, and plunging into her body.  But still, some instincts were too powerful to deny, and he rocked his erection against her core, drawing a low, heady groan from her.

Beneath him, she writhed, arching up to plaster their bodies more solidly against each other.  An erotic surge crashed through him in a hot tide, swelling his cock and making his balls throb.  Andrea tightened her legs around his hips so his cock rubbed right where she needed it, and with each thrusting motion, she gasped, her panting breaths coming faster and faster.

Damn, he loved the sounds she made when she was making love.  Granted, they weren't exactly making love, not while they were fully clothed, but the motions were the same, the feelings were the same, and oh, yeah, the way she drove him wild with her fingers digging into his back was the same.

"Kaden," she whispered, "yes,
yes
."

She was close, something he knew not from experience, but from his new senses.  He could smell the delicious scent of her lust, could taste the zing of desire in her blood.  It was like a drug he knew he couldn't kick.  As a human, sex had been great.  As a vampire, it was out of this world, and he hadn't even gotten inside her.

Delicious agony.

He shuddered, sucked, rocked against her until the friction became nearly too hot to handle and a vibration sang through his veins.  This was crazy, but his body had hijacked his thoughts, and nothing mattered but getting inside her.  Impatient, he slid his palm down her body, but before he reached her zipper, she cried out, her orgasm hitting so hard and fast he could only hang on for the ride as she bucked beneath him.

She called out his name, over and over, her smoky, pleasure-soaked voice nearly sending him over the edge with her.

"I love you," she whispered.  "God, I love you."

The words stopped him in his tracks like nothing else, not even his own will, had been able to do.  She'd never said that to him, not in the entire year they'd been together.  He'd suspected, but then, he'd suspected that he was in love with her, too.  But it was something he'd never planned to admit, not when a Guardian's lifespan was as likely to be measured in months as in years.

Five years ago, he'd lost Gabrielle to this violent life just days after their engagement, when she'd been bitten by a werewolf, had slaughtered several other Guardians, and Kaden had been forced to kill her.

He couldn't go through that again, and he'd guarded the words, "I love you," with the ferocity of a lion protecting his pride.  Andrea knew how he felt about love, and damn her for striking at him with a weapon every bit as dangerous and painful as a stake.

Roaring in agony and fury, he broke away from Andrea, surprising himself at the speed with which he came to his feet.  Wide, glazed eyes blinked in confusion even as she slapped a palm over her throat.  Blood seeped from between her fingers, and shit, he was a dumbass.  A newbie vampire dumbass who must look utterly ridiculous, standing in a cell with a raging hard-on making a tent in his cargos.

Quickly, he seized her upper arms, yanked her to her feet, and swiped his tongue over the punctures he'd made, another instinctive move.  And then he stepped away, but the cell was far too small to allow enough distance between them.  An entire ocean of distance wouldn't be enough.  Not when he still wanted her so badly it hurt, which was exactly what he'd been trying to avoid.

"Dammit, Andrea."  He rammed his hands through his hair, needing to do something with them before he grabbed her again and this time, refused to let go.  "I told you--"