Her Secret (6 page)

“What I know is that you want me, Sar,” he
said teasingly. “Just as much as you ever did. Last night you were
happy to be loved.”

“Last night was then,” I protested.

“You exude satisfaction and happiness now
because of how good our last time was. I’m only offering more of
the same love while we have the opportunity—”

He moved his hips slowly, flexing his
erection against my buttocks. He kissed my neck, and reached his
hands up from my waist to cover my breasts, squeezing gently. I
drew in a long shuddering breath. The moment my mouth opened he was
kissing me, his tongue slipping inside to taste me.

I wanted him all right, and the lust was all
my own. I moved against him, pushing backward and spreading my legs
deftly. The tip of him penetrated my vagina slightly. Danial let
out a groan, then gripped my hips as he pushed, sliding a little
further inside. “Ah, God, Sar...you’re so warm...”

The Lust hit me like a freight train in the
space of a second. I shoved back hard against him, driving him
inside me to the hilt. Danial let out a cry, his body thrusting
involuntarily as his back arched.

The feel of his bare skin slipping into me
was almost more than I could stand. I began to move my hips back
and forth, stroking him. He felt so good inside me! I moved faster,
straining.

Danial grasped my hips and weakly tried to
stop me, but he had no will to stop. He was groaning with each
movement of my body, his body jerking involuntarily as he fought
not to continue. “Stop, please!” he gasped. “Sar, I’m close!”

“I know,” I purred seductively. “I want you
to come, Danial. I want to hear you scream for me.”

“No.” He grabbed my hips and tried to pry me
off him. I resisted, sliding on him as fast and tightly as I could.
He began to shake with the effort of holding back. “Stop,” he
groaned. “Stop.”

“No,” I purred, and moved faster. “Let
go.”

Danial’s back arched as he came, his fangs
bared in a primal scream. This was the moment I’d been waiting for.
I reached back and yanked his head forward, straining up with my
neck. His fangs connected, slicing deep.

The effect was instantaneous: Danial’s arms
contracted like a vise, his hips pistoning frantically as he
finished coming. Even better, his fangs were buried in me, sucking
steadily, his soft sighs muffled. Suddenly, he bit down hard.

I let out a scream of pleasure, jerking back
against him, another orgasm bursting over me. Danial continued to
move. His penis was still stiff within me, but his thrusts were
languid now, in time to his long pulls as he drank me down. I
lolled in his arms, pleasure radiating through me.

Danial withdrew abruptly, pushing away from
me. “God Damn it!”

As he lay near me, shaking in frustration, I
came back to myself. Quickly I dashed for the bathroom where I
threw up the pizza, and what felt like everything I had ever eaten.
I stumbled to the shower, turned it on, and got in, sobbing,
rinsing my mouth out and trying to wash away what I had done.

Danial entered the shower. I tried to turn
away from him, but he grabbed me, holding me tightly under the
water as he looked over my neck. “Hold still.” He relaxed his grip.
“You’re not bleeding. The bite’s scabbed over.”

His words terrified me. “I’m sorry,” I said
tearfully, my tone uneven. “Please, I’m sorry.”

Danial held me close to him, and hugged me
gently. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault, not yours.”

We held each other for a moment, and then
separated, quickly cleaning ourselves under the showerheads. Danial
emerged after me, and we began to dry off.

“I should’ve known better,” Danial grumbled.
“I spoke to Devlin about this last night. He said I had to have
control of myself utterly because you would not have any.”

I didn’t know if I wanted Danial talking to
Devlin about me like this. But that was irrelevant, as Danial and I
needed his advice. “He must have a lot of experience with
this.”

“Yes,” Danial assented. “He’s been making
vampires for over two hundred years.”

I wanted to know if Devlin had asked about
me, but this was the worst possible time to ask. Besides, it was
better if I didn’t talk to him anyway. “Did he have any other
pointers?”

“Yes: don’t provoke any encounters, which I
blew this morning.”

“Don’t be sorry, Danial,” I sighed. “You did
just what you were supposed to.”

“Either way, it doesn’t matter. This isn’t
working. I think we should get a second opinion from Dr. Camlyn. As
much as I want to be intimate with you, I’m not going to risk your
life.”

“I agree, Danial. I’ll call him later
today.”

“No, I’ll call him now.” He kissed me on my
forehead and left the room.

I brushed my teeth and dressed, taking time
to condition my hair. My mind was spinning. I tried hard to get a
grip on my situation.

All those nights that I’d imagined would be
Danial’s and mine were gone now. Our big plan hadn’t worked, and I
was right back where I started, minus a few vials of blood.
Please, God, let Stephen have some wonder drug up his
sleeve...

I sighed, and grabbed my cell phone out of my
purse. Theo answered just as the machine picked up.

“Damn it.” He clicked off the recording.
“Sorry. Are you coming home soon?”

“No. Can you meet us at Dr. Camlyn’s?”

“What did he do?” Theo growled angrily.

I lost it and began crying.

“Sar, why are you crying?” Theo said
worriedly. “What happened?”

Damn it, get ahold of yourself, woman
.
“I’m okay,” I managed. “We both are. But it’s not working. Danial
suggested Dr. Camlyn as a last resort.”

“Sar,” Danial said from behind me, “We have
an appointment today in a half hour. Stephen said he’ll fit us in.
Terian will teleport us. Tell Theo to leave now to meet us
there.”

“Danial, it’s day,” I retorted. “You can’t go
out in the day.”

“I can risk a slight burn for some kind of
resolution to this,” he replied, dialing Terian. “Tell him.”

“What’s he saying?” Theo asked loudly. “When
are you leaving?”

“Shortly. Can you meet us there in
thirty?”

“Yes, or close to it. I’ll be there.” Theo
hung up.

Danial hung up his phone. “Terian will be a
few minutes. Also, just as a warning, Stephen said he wants to
check you internally.”

“Joy,” I said, grimacing of the day beginning
with a visit to the dreaded stirrups. “While we’re all gone, who’s
going to stay here with the kids?”

“Terian will return immediately,” Danial
replied. “Janice is with Theoron now, and Elle is with Aran and
Aran Jr., helping the former to babysit. They’ll be okay. It’s you
I’m worried about.”

“I’m sorry this didn’t work out the way...the
way we were both hoping it would.”

“There’s no reason it still can’t,” Danial
said, hugging me. “Providing Stephen has a solution, I’d like you
to come Saturdays and spend time with me. Purely platonic, just as
friends. We can ride and have dinner, and spend some time with the
kids, if you’d prefer them to chaperone. Terian can bring you home
afterwards.”

“I’d like that,” I said softly. “But I have
to run it past Theo.”

“Undoubtedly,” Danial sighed, releasing me.
“Come, we’d better get moving.”

Ten minutes later, Dr. Camlyn ushered us into
Exam Room One. Danial spent the next ten telling him the events of
the past week.

“Is there anything you can recommend?” Danial
concluded. “This is not like The Lust we experienced before. If it
were, I could master it.”

Dr. Camlyn drew some of my blood. “First,
let’s look at how much damage we’re talking about. I’ll be right
back.” He left.

“Theo’s not going to be happy we started
without him,” I whispered.

“This concerns you and me directly,” Danial
replied coolly. “That being the case, we have every right to be
informed first.”

Dr. Camlyn popped his head in. “Sar, the
levels of vampire virus in your blood are consistent with how they
were last time. If you’ll get undressed, I’ll check you internally
next.” He closed the door.

Grumbling, I shed my clothes and climbed onto
the table.

“It will be over with shortly, darling,”
Danial consoled, taking my hand.

“That’s my spot,” Theo growled from the
doorway. He came inside and over to me, yet Danial didn’t move to
retreat, just watched him come.

“Knock it off,” I growled from the table.
“I’m stressed enough already.”

Dr. Camlyn came in. “Hello, Theo. I’m just
about to check Sar internally—”

“Do you want to wait outside?” Theo said
pointedly to Danial.

“No, but you can,” Danial replied smoothly.
He brought my hand that he was still grasping into both of his,
clasping it.

Theo watched him for a few moments, his eyes
swimming from blue to yellow. He came to my opposite side and
clasped my other hand. Dr. Camlyn watched them uneasily, then began
the examination. I shifted, uncomfortable as the minutes
passed.

“It will be over soon,” Danial repeated,
stroking my hand.

“It is over,” Dr. Camlyn said, withdrawing
his camera-like electronic device. “Let me compare these pictures
with the ones I took a month ago. I’ll be right back.” He went to
leave again.

“Doctor,” Theo said quickly. “While you’re
here, can you take some of my blood too?”

“Are you ill?” Dr. Camlyn asked.

“No,” Theo said deliberately, his eyes on
Danial. “I want a blood test, to make sure my blood’s compatible
with Sar’s.”

“We should be able to run that, too. Let me
take a sample.” Dr. Camlyn quickly took a sample of Theo’s blood.
“I’ll be right back.” He went out.

I turned to Danial. “Can you go out for just
a moment? I need to discuss something with Theo.”

Danial caught my irritation and nodded. “Of
course. Call if you need me.” He left.

“Why do you need a blood test?” I asked when
he’d gone. “Especially right now?”

“Because I don’t have to share you after
all,” Theo replied, satisfied. “But before we even talk about kids,
I want to make sure it’s completely safe for you. Dr. Camlyn said
once that he thought what happened to Tawny might have been because
of Rh factors in her blood and mine.”

“We don’t know that I’ll ever heal enough to
even make it possible.”

“You have the same levels of virus you had
before,” Theo countered. “Danial’s slip might be just enough to let
us become parents.”

Had he let me get together with Danial
because he’d been hoping this would happen? Resentment filled me,
mixed with anger. “Theo, I think we should go for marriage
counseling.”

“What?” he said, shooting me a startled look.
“Why?”

“Well, let’s see,” I said sarcastically. “You
were apart from me for a few years, were with another woman you
wanted to marry, and then another you were living with—”

“I didn’t live with Aspen,” he
interjected.

“It was close enough, yet you married me
without telling her first.”

“You told Danial after the fact, too—”

My volume ratcheted up a few notches.
“Meanwhile, I had a baby with another man, and raised your child
with him. We’ve both been nearly killed at least six times since
we’ve gotten back together. We both still work for my ex, who I had
sex with earlier today. You think we might have some issues we need
to discuss?”

“Sar, I wasn’t saying that we didn’t have a
lot going on—”

“I’m not sure I want more children, ever,” I
said emphatically. “No matter if I’m capable or not.”

Theo’s eyes stared at me, but he didn’t
speak.

“Will you go with me, or not?”

“Yes,” Theo said flatly. “We’ll make an
appointment sometime today, once I find out some names.”

Dr. Camlyn came in, and gave Theo a smile.
“Good news! Your blood is compatible.”

“How is she inside?” Theo asked.

“Doctor, tell Danial to come back in before
you answer,” I said quickly.

“Sar, as I told Danial earlier on the phone,
please feel free to address me as Stephen. We’ve been through
enough in the last few years to warrant a bit of familiarity.”
Stephen opened the door. “Danial, please come in.”

Danial entered and took up his position at my
side, flashing me a grateful smile as he took my hand.

“That’s a little harder to answer, Theo,”
Stephen said. “Sar’s blood was always a little unusual. I have some
early records of when she and Danial were first together. Back
then, her blood shows little change.” He shook his head, and smiled
ruefully. “I should’ve checked Sar’s blood virus levels as soon as
Danial and she got back together, as soon as he began trying to get
her pregnant. But everyone, including me, believed that even if Sar
got pregnant, that it would end as it had for everyone who had
tried it, with the baby aborting.”

“Thankfully, that didn’t happen,” Danial said
stiffly.

“I apologize for my assumption,” Stephen
replied. “If I’d checked her virus levels then, I’d have a better
reference point now. The day I verified she was pregnant, her
levels were off the scale. Some of that was probably the baby’s
doing, because of its nature. Though her blood had dangerous
concentrations of the virus all through her pregnancy, they
fluctuated and she remained unturned. It was only after Sar had the
baby that I began to fear for her. Instead of the level of virus in
her system plummeting, as I expected it to, it rose a little. It
was already above the turning threshold, well above. That’s when I
told Danial to stop exchanging body fluids with her.” Stephen
paused. “Given all of that, Sar’s current levels aren’t bad. She’s
lower than she was after giving birth, much lower. You’re slowly
going back to normal.”

I let out a sigh of relief. Danial and Theo
began talking at once.

“If she’s not exposed any more, when will she
be back to human?” Theo asked.