No Rest for the Wicked (3 page)

this was true, I would have searched for you. I would have found you somehow—”

“No... ” She swayed on her feet, and he laid one palm on her slim shoulder to steady her.

She flinched but allowed the touch.

He realized then that, just as he was changing, so was she. He thought he saw silver flash

in her glinting eyes. A swift tear dropped down her cheek.

“Why do you cry?” Women’s tears had always wrecked him as a mortal, but hers made

him feel as if a thousand knives twisted inside him. When he brushed her hair back, he

sucked in a ragged, unpracticed breath. Her ear was sharply pointed. Up closer, he could

see the smallest fangs.

Sebastian didn’t know what she was, and he didn’t care. “Please do not cry.”

“I never cry,” she whispered. Frowning in confusion, she patted the back of her hand

against her cheek and drew it down to see that it was wet from a single tear. Her lips

parted, and she stared, first at the tear, and then at her sharply curling fingernails, which

were more like elegant claws. Her gaze darted back to him, and she swallowed as if with

fear.

“Tell me what troubles you.” He had a purpose now: to protect her, to care for her, to

destroy whatever threatened her. “Bid me to help you, Bride.”

“Not a Bride to one of your kind. Never—”

“But you’ve made my heart beat.”

She hissed back, “You’ve made me feel.” He didn’t understand the meaning of her words

or her reactions during the next several minutes as he gazed down at her, greedily learning

her features—the sweep of her thick lashes when she glanced down, the full red pout of

her lips. Waves of emotion shimmered in her eyes and seemed to pain her. Her body

shook. As abruptly as they’d started, her tears dried.

Then she smiled up at him, a heartrending curling of her lips. Her eyes were merry, darkly

teasing. Nothing had ever aroused him so much as that look, and he wondered how much

more he could take. But her smile faded far too soon. She shuddered violently, lowering

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) her forehead to his chest.

Just as his aching erection was becoming impossible to deny, she lifted her face, and her

expression had changed once more. A flush tinged her high cheekbones, and her lips subtly

parted. Her fingers clutched at his shoulders. As she gazed at his mouth, her tongue

dabbed at her bottom lip and left no question about what she was thinking of doing.

She was... aroused. For him. He didn’t understand what was happening to her—or to

himself.

His eyes widened, then narrowed, when she placed her delicate arms around his neck. I

could touch her... She would accept my touch... His shaft had never been this hard. He

wanted to bury it inside her so badly he’d give anything.

She tilted her head, still staring at his mouth. “I miss this... ,” she murmured in a whiskey

voice. He didn’t have time to ponder her words, because she tightened her arms, bringing

their bodies together. He groaned to feel her breasts pressing against him. They were so

full and plump—he knew they would fill his palms perfectly.

Christ, he’d suffered centuries without contact with others, much less touch, and now he

was feeling his Bride, soft and pliant in his arms. He was afraid he was dreaming. Before

he lost his nerve, his hands dropped to her waist, dragging her more firmly against him.

“Tell me your name.”

“My name... ?” she murmured absently. “My name is Kaderin.”

“Kaderin,” he repeated, but it didn’t fit her. As he stared down into her shimmering eyes,

he thought the name was too cold, too formal, for the creature in his arms. “Katja,” he

rasped, surprised to find that his thumb was slowly brushing her bottom lip. The urge to

kiss her was overwhelming. “Katja, I... ”—he began in a rough, breaking voice, and had to

swallow to continue—“must... I must kiss you.”

At his words, the dark hazel of her eyes turned completely silver. She seemed to go into a

trance. He was not so far gone as not to notice this stunned reaction, but her full red lips

were glistening, beckoning him.

“I used to love being kissed,” she whispered in a dazed tone, her breaths growing hectic.

Could he possibly stop with only that? With an unsteady hand, he cupped the back of her

head, about to draw her to him. Surely she was strong enough to take him—she was some

sort of warrior and would likely be quick to check him if he hurt her.

For some reason, he sensed she wouldn’t give him that teary, betrayed look women had

cast him in the past if he’d accidentally stepped on their toes or collided with them coming

around a street corner, that look that brought him so low.

“Vampire, please,” she murmured, “make it worth it. Make it... ”

When their lips touched, he groaned; electricity seemed to prick at his skin. He pulled

back from her. “My God.” Nothing had ever felt so powerful, so right, as this kiss. Her

hungry expression deepened.

If it took becoming a vampire to have just this one perfect moment, would he suffer it

again?

When he kissed her again, lightly at first, she moaned, “More,” against his lips.

He clutched her tightly in his arms, then somehow remembered himself. No, fool... He

eased his hold.

At once, her claws bit into the backs of his arms, making him shudder. “Don’t hold back. I

need more.”

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) She needed more, needed him to give it to her. Because she was... his. When this finally

sank in, his shyness burned away. In the course of a heartbeat, he now had a woman of his

own. He wanted to roar with triumph. The feel of her claws sinking into him—as if she

feared he would get away—was ecstasy. She needs me.

“Kiss me more, vampire. If you stop, I’ll kill you.”

He couldn’t help but grin against her lips. A female threatening him if he should stop

kissing her?

So he did, tasting her tongue, teasing it, then claiming her mouth hotly, wetly. He savored

the slow undulation of her hips against him, in time with each thrust of his tongue.

He kissed her with all the passion long denied him, with all the hope that had been

wrenched from him returning. Weariness of life had just been replaced by purpose—

because of her. He let her know how thankful he was... by kissing her until she panted and

sagged against him.

Yet he was losing control. Impulses came for him to do things to her body, wicked things,

and he knew that soon he would obey them. “I’ll always give you more, until I die.”

And now, for the first time in three hundred hellish years, Sebastian desperately wanted to

live.

3

A s if she’d been hurled down from a great height, all the emotions lost to Kaderin, denied

to her for the last millennium, crashed into her. Fear, joy, longing, and an undeniable

sexual hunger warred within her—until he stoked her lust hot enough to drown out all

other feelings.

She was reeling, confused. All she knew for certain was that she needed release so badly

her yearning pained her, made her whimper. And each of his fierce, possessive kisses

increased her agony.

As she threaded her fingers through his thick, tousled hair, she couldn’t think, couldn’t

begin to reason out why this was happening to her. Inexplicable wants wracked her—to

lick his skin, to have his body pressing heavily on hers.

She brought her parted lips to his neck, kissing up from his collar. In turn, he thrust his

erection against her, as if he couldn’t help himself, then seemed to be willing himself not to

do it again. But she was thrilled to find his shaft was huge and rigid, insistent against her.

It made her body grow wet, wanting it.

Unable to stop herself, she flicked her tongue out to taste his skin. Sensation spiked within

her, and she moaned. Had any male ever tasted so good? His taste made her body react

with animal needs so strong, she twitched as she resisted them. She wanted to rip his jeans

from him, take that thick shaft in both hands, and lick its length in a frenzy.

Imagining that made her roll her hips against him, and after a shuddering hesitation he met

her. He hissed in a breath and rumbled foreign words in her ear. The entire castle shook—

from her lightning, a Valkyrie’s lightning produced by her emotion.

Lightning, pleasure of any kind, had been denied her for so long.

She knew this was forbidden, knew she would regret it, but at that moment, she didn’t

care. For some unknown reason, she’d been granted a window of opportunity with this

male, enabling her to know passion once more. Just once more, that was all she wanted,

before cold and nothingness crept over her again...

So she took his kisses and returned them. Even as her ardor overwhelmed her, she tried to

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) justify her actions. They wouldn’t do more than this. This was forgivable. They were still

clothed.

He clutched her ass, fingers splayed, holding her firmly so he could thrust. Strong male...

immortal male...

With a body like a god’s.

“Harder,” she whispered, then somehow she was backed against the wall, his hand behind

her head to take the impact as he pressed her into it. His entire rigid body covered hers.

Good, he was getting more aggressive. No! If he takes the reins, I’m lost... lost to him.

It had been so long.

A tight and aching coil was rapturously unfurling with each of the vampire’s determined

shoves. “Don’t stop,” she pleaded between ragged breaths. For the first time in a

millennium, she was going to climax.

Reading her mind, he rasped, “Can I make you... come like this?”

“Yes!” she cried against his mouth. “Keep going! I need you to!”

“Need?” He groaned as if excited by the word. “The problem is... I will, too.” His voice

rough with lust, he said, “I’ve got to take you, Bride.”

She stiffened at his words, as if she were waking up, then turned her face away. “Wait! I

can’t... I can’t do this!”

“I can give you what you need, I swear it,” he grated, even as he cursed his lack of

experience. He’d figure it bloody well out. “Just let me have you.”

She shook her head wildly, thrashing in his arms. “Noooo!”

As a human, he would have let her go immediately. But instinct told him not to. While

understanding so little about what was happening, he somehow knew it was critical to

have something shared between them, even a brief morning of pleasure.

He couldn’t allow this to stop—not before he’d given her release and taken his from her

body as well. “Then we’ll only be as before.” If this was all she’d permit before she came

to her senses, then he’d take what he could get.

“You don’t understand—”

Shocking himself, he cut off her protest, hands cradling her face so he could take her

mouth hard. She tensed, seeming merely to endure his kiss. Then, after a moment, she

gave an answering moan that made him sweat with relief. Her claws were back into his

shoulders. He rocked into her, and his thoughts grew murkier, replaced by urgent want.

The rougher he became, the more she gave cries into his mouth that drove him wild,

urging him on. Yet even as she took his aggression with obvious pleasure, the wall was

crumbling behind them.

Suddenly, she hopped up, wrapping her legs around his waist. “Ah, God, that’s it, Katja.”

He clenched her generous, round ass in his palms, groaning at the feel. Here, too, she was

in no way slight, and he loved it.

He squeezed her lush curves, kneaded her, and she panted in his ear, “Yes, yes, you’re so

strong.”

Strong? He shuddered. That pleased her? “I’ve never felt anything so damned good as

your body—”

His words died in his throat when she dropped lower, clutching his shoulders and hanging

from her straightened arms to grind against him. She kept her silvery eyes on him, one tiny

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) fang digging into her bottom lip as he stared down in disbelief. She was wild, making his

cock twitch and pulse, nearing orgasm.

Hold on, he commanded himself. She needs to come.

She pulled herself up to kiss and nibble at his ear, putting her silken neck right before his

mouth. Bite her. He licked her neck, wanting to take her there so badly. No. He couldn’t

do that to her.

Why not? She likely thought him a monster already—

She slapped her palm hard behind her, pushing off the wall so he went tripping back over

books. Pages flew as they tumbled to the ground with her on top.

She was frantic, shed of inhibitions, grinding against his shaft while tonguing his mouth.

Her ass moved so sensuously beneath his palms as she worked her body against his—

never in his most fevered fantasies had he imagined this.

He no longer cared if he spilled his seed into his pants. He was going to come harder than

he ever had. Shameful, degrading. He didn’t care.

He rolled her onto her back, pinning her arms above her head, giving in to the most primal

urge to rock his hips. He ached to thrust against her. He needed to master her, and from