Not Another Vampire Book (29 page)

He
ignored it.  “So you wanna mate now?”  He asked, turning her casual words back
on her.

Kara’s
frown grew baffled.  “Uh, yeah, I guess so, but...
Hey!
”  Her voice rose
in a startled shriek as Damien’s powers propelled her backwards.  She hit the
massive bed poster, pinned there.  The velvet ropes used for tying back the
morbid, draping fabric that decorated the sides, slithered down and wrapped
around her wrists.  “Holy...
Damien!
”  Her eyes went wide as the cords
pulled her arms up over her head, anchoring her in place, stretching her so she
was on her toes, helpless.  “What are you doing?”  She still wasn’t scared of
him.  The scent of her arousal hit him even as she tried to pull free of the
bindings.  Kara liked it when he took control.

At
least, in mating.

It
was the only time she ever acquiesced to him.

Damien
put his hands behind his back and watched her, thoughtfully.  “Let’s review our
discussion.”  He suggested.  “You feel that our endless, timeless,
destined-from-the-gods mating is merely
temporary
.  That you will
probably die tomorrow or you’ll go back to your own time.  And all of this,” He
gestured around the room.  “Including me, will just be a pleasant memory for
you.”

“I
never said pleasant.”  She shot back, still tugging at the cords.

Damien
disregarded that.  “You also recommend that I remain here, while you go
traipsing off to the Vampire Isle by yourself.  Since I could be hurt or
accidently kill your precious Slade.”

“He’s
not ‘my precious’ anything and I’m not going after him by myself.  I told you,
I’m going to hire the dragons as backup.  I just need to borrow some money,
first.  Unless assassins take VISA, I’m currently broke.”

“Yes,
it’s a foolproof plan on many levels.”  Damien strolled closer to Kara and was
rewarded with a hitch in her breathing.  He stopped directly in front of her. 
His body brushed hers and he nearly growled when she bit her lower lip in response. 
“And lastly, you think this will be the only time I ever mate with you.”  One
of her curls had fallen over her cheek and he brushed it back.  “That we have
one night, after I waited twelve. hundred.
years
. for you.  That this is
our entire future.”

Her
eyes stayed locked on his, her breasts rising and falling rapidly.

Damien
leaned closer to her.  “Kara Lynn, do you honestly believe I will ever let
any
of that happen?”  His hands came up and found her nipples right through the
fabric of her dress, caressing.  “That I will ever let you go?  Be it to death
or time or Vampires?  If you love me, you should know me better than that.”

“I
do love you, but...”  She broke off with a cry as he yanked the front of her
neckline down, exposing her breasts to his view.  “Damien,
shit
.”  She
arched forwards into his touch as he began exploring them.  “We’re not done
talking.  It’s no fair...”

“No,
cari
we are done talking.”  The soft globes overflowed his hands.  “You
will not go to the Vampire Isle without me.  You will not leave this time
period or get yourself killed.  You will not fucking endanger yourself, again. 
And you
will
acknowledge me as your mate.  That admission I will have
right now.  Say it.”

Chocolate
eyes gleamed.  “Or what?”

Damien
smiled, mysteriously. She
would
tell him he was her mate.  Hearing her
deny their bond in that ballroom had infuriated him on every primitive level. 
The woman was
his
.  She would listen to him, and mate with him, and stay
with him.  She would acknowledge the claim.  If she didn’t, this would never be
real to her.

He
would never be real to her.

“Damien?” 
She looked a little worried when he didn’t answer her taunt.

He
lowered his head, his tongue finding her nipple and tugging it into his mouth.

“So
unfair.”  Her body began to rock in time with his suckling.  “God, you’re just so
good at being bad.”

Satisfied,
he turned his attention to her other breast, taking his time and enjoying
himself.  He’d waited a thousand years to have his mate.  He was in no rush. 
He wanted to touch and taste every inch of her.

Karalynn
didn’t have his patience.  “You need to untie me, now.”

“Oh,
I don’t think so.”  His teeth nipped and she jolted.  “Not until I hear what I
want from you.”

“Please.”

“Please,
who?
”

“Please,
Damien.”

“No. 
Try again.”  He blew across her damp flesh and she gasped.

“Come
on, I can’t move or touch you or...”  His fingers tugged and she tried to push
against his palm for more.  Damien immediately moved his hand away and got a
frustrated sound in return.  “You can’t keep me tied like this.  You’re killing
me.”

“I
know,
cari
.  I’m the villain, remember?”

“You’re
sure acting like it.”  She accused as he knelt down in front of her.

“Well,
I’ve had many centuries of practice.”  He got to work untying her skirt.  She
was bare under the dress.  It had tortured him all night, thinking of that. 
Damien stripped the fabric off of her, ripping it and not caring.  He tossed
the shredded dress aside, leaving her naked and wet before him.  “So much
better.”  He moved back to admire the view.  “You know, I do have that
dungeon.  I could leave you just like this for days.”  Unable to resist, his
hand slid along the chain at her ankle.  He loved her legs.  “Who would save
you?”

Kara
didn’t answer that.  She tried to arch her body closer to him and he responded
by nudging her knees further apart.  She was open to him, off balance and
vulnerable.  He absently brushed his hand over her, knowing she couldn’t get
leverage.  Kara pulled at the taunt ropes and whimpered.  In that second, she
was totally at his mercy.

And
Damien was the one spellbound.

He
stood up again, before he got completely distracted.  “Who will protect you?” 
His index finger went deeper, wanting to feel her softness.

Kara’s
head went back on a moan.  “Oh yes.”  The woman loved this.  He could tell from
the breathless laugh she gave.  “God, this really is getting kinky.  You’re such
a bad influence on me.”

“I
believe it is the other way around.”  He pushed his finger in as far as he
could go and nearly came at the feel of her.  He was hanging onto control by a
thread.  “Who will keep you safe, Kara Lynn?”

“You
will.”  It was a whisper.  “You always keep me safe.”

“
I
will.”  It was a vow.  “That’s right.  And why will I do that?   Why do you
know I’ll protect you?  What are we?”  She had to say it.  He slipped another
finger inside of her.  “Tell me and I’ll give you what you want.”  He rubbed
just hard enough to have her gasping and then held his hand still.  “Tell me,
Kara Lynn.”

She
tried to move against him and couldn’t.  He could see her scheming for a way to
defy him and still have her release.  “Please, Vlad.”  Her body undulated in a
sensual wave.

Damien
was briefly hypnotized.

She
knew it, too.  “Let me go and, I swear, I’ll do anything you want.”  Her tone
offered all the hot, dark promises in the world.

His
tongue barely fit in his mouth.  “Oh, you’ll be doing that, anyway.  Say it.”

“You
think you’re the only one who can play this game?”  Her eyes went to the front
of his pants and he could feel her gaze like a physical touch.  She smiled like
the seductress she was.  “You thought about doing this earlier, didn’t you? 
When we were downstairs and I was leaving to find Slade without you, you held
me up against that door.  You liked that I was your captive.  I could tell.  And
then at the Fair, when I wouldn’t just leave the Vampire, when I ran off to
help him, you wanted to tie me to that Ferris Wheel and take me right there,
didn’t you?  Prove you could make me submit.”

“Yes.” 
He said huskily, transfixed by the sensual words.

Oh,
she liked that admission.  Karalynn licked her bottom lip.  “Now, I’m your
prisoner, just like you wanted.  The villain can just take whatever he wants,
can’t he, Damien?  Who can stop him?  If you want me, you can have me, right
now.  You can do
anything
to me.  My body is aching for you and spread
out for your touch.  I’m sooo helpless and you’re sooo bad.  Take me.  Hard. 
Make me promise to obey.”

Damien’s
eyes nearly crossed at the way she was turning things around.  Everything she
said was for show, calculated to unhinge him.  It worked.  Against his better
judgment he started his fingers moving in and out of her, again.  Stretching
her for his invasion.

Her
breathing hitched.  “Yes.  Just like that.”

“I’m
going to be inside of you when you come and you’re going to give me
everything.”  He snarled, his attention on his hand.  He watched his fingers
disappear into her flesh, enthralled by the sight.  “Every fucking thing I
want.”

“Yes. 
Whatever you want.  Just don’t stop.”  She twisted, driving him deeper.

“Tell
me.”  His teeth ached from clenching his jaw to hold back.  “Who am I?”

“Mine. 
You’re a villain, but you’re
my
villain.”

That
answer certainly deserved partial credit.  Everything he was belonged to this
woman.  “Good human.”  He moved faster.  “What else?”

“
Harder.
 
Make it harder.  Please.”  Her cries and tightening muscles told him she was
she very, very close.  “Right there.  Oh, Damien.  Right there.”

Damien
stopped his stroking.  “Not yet,
cari
.”

She
let out a shout of displeasure.  “Damn it, do you want me to beg?”

“Oh,
yes.”  It was a purr.

Brown
eyes sparkled with passion and impudence as she switched back to her persuasive
sales pitch.  “You know, if you really want that, you could push me on the bed,
right now.  You’re so big and powerful, and I’m just a teeny human.  I wouldn’t
be able to do anything but cry for more as you punished me for defying you. 
Make me sorry.  Make me kneel there, while you hold me down and take everything
you want.  Make me yours.  Make me scream for you.”

“Fuck.” 
All other words just vanished from his brain, burned away by the picture she’d
created.  His breath sawed in and out.  Karalynn’s submission was never
anything but a façade over her incredible vitality.  He was kidding himself to
think that she’d listen to him more after this mating.  In every way that
mattered, Kara was so much more powerful than Damien.  She’d always be plotting
to take control.  The woman was a force of nature.  He loved that about her
even as it drove him mad.

His
body was on fire and she knew it.

Her
lips curved into a smug, feminine grin and Damien figured he had about thirty
seconds before he broke.  He went with the quickest way to gain her compliance:
Biology.  The woman was a sorcerer’s mate.  He knew what she really desired,
even if she didn’t understand it, yet.  His head dropped to her neck, teeth
scrapping harder than they had in the past.

“
Damien.
” 
Kara did scream his name.  He felt her body contract around his fingers, trying
to go over the edge that he withheld.  “Please.”  She rocked, fruitlessly. 
“Move just a tiny bit.  I need just a tiny bit more.  Please.”

“Give
me what I want first.”  His own arousal was going to consume him, but not yet. 
Not until he had the words.  He twisted his fingers, pushing a third one into
her.

“Oh
God
.”

“Tell
me, Kara Lynn.  Now.  Who am I?”

“Mate.” 
She surrendered with a sob.  Her neck instinctively turned, baring her throat to
him completely.  “My mate.”

Damien’s
body gave an involuntary jerk at the words he’d waited for.  “
Yes
.”  He
buried his face on the exposed skin of her throat and growled out an
animalistic sound that vibrated through them both.  She was
his.
 
Triumphant and possession roared in his missing soul.  “Say it, again.”

“You’re
my mate.”  She was panting.  “I admit it. 
Please
.”

“Almost,
cari
.”  He was already working on his belt buckle with his free hand. 
“Tell me the rest of it.  Who are you?”

Her
eyes were hot, desperate, watching him undress.  “Your mate.  I’m yours.”

“Are
you sure?”

“Yes.”

“You’ll
give yourself to me, right now?  You consent?”

“God,
yes.”

“It’s
about fucking time.”  Damien pulled his fingers from her, ignoring her
frustrated cry.

“Damien...
Oh
.”  Her eyes widened as he stripped off his clothes using magicks.

He
wasn’t sure whether that surprised gasp was because of his naked body or the
casual use of his powers.  It didn’t matter.  Damien closed the distance
between them, pressing against her as he untied the ropes.  He didn’t use his
powers to loosen the bonds.  He did it by hand, liking the primitive surge of
dominance it gave him to have her body at his command.