Opal (Rare Gems Series Book 4) (4 page)

She wanted to open it. Her fingers actually burned to do it
, but she pretended to ignore it in favor of her list. When he chuckled, she ignored him as well…that was, until he sat down next to her at the long table.

“
I’m very busy.” He looked at her list before she could turn from him. She felt stupid for making the kind of notes she had on the list of things she’d formed on her way back home. The picture of the man being hung by his own guts was something she’d never done before, but she was sure that the banker she’d just talked to didn’t deserve to die because she had no money.

“
He turned you down?” She didn’t answer him but played with the pen as he picked up her notepad. “You’ve been very busy. I had hoped that you’d stay in bed with me and let me wake you by being buried deep inside of you. Or better yet, my tongue fucking you to several climaxes.”

“
You aren’t going to have sex with me again.” He only stared at her until she had to look away. “I don’t want you to touch me. I know that I’ve really enjoyed your advances, but I don’t want any more.”

“
Advances? I made you scream several times with your release.” Opal felt her face heat up. “I don’t want to think that those were only advances, when I thought they were full out fucking. Would you like me to lay you over this table and show you what I can do with my cock?”

Her body heated with his words and she even
thought about laying naked over this table while he took her. She looked into his face and could see that he was serious, and wondered for a moment if she reached for his cock if it would be as thick as she remembered it being.

“
I don’t want you to touch me.” A lie, the biggest one she’d ever told but a lie all the same, and she was pretty sure he knew it. “I would like to be able to conduct my business in private if you don’t mind.”

“
I can give you the money you need.” She shook her head. “It’s not doing me any good where it’s at, and I want to do this for you. I hurt you last night.”

“
I’m not a whore.” He started to speak, but she cut him off. “If you think that paying me for having sex with you makes me anything less, you should look up the word. I’m not going to be your whore any more than I would have been had that other guy taken me.”

“
You would have been his dinner. When he finished fucking you with more than just his body, he would have flayed you alive and kept you long enough for you to watch him eat whatever part of you he cut from you. And as a half-breed, as you are, he would have enjoyed the rarity of your blood as well as the taste of your meat. Then, when he was satisfied that you understood whatever it was he was doing, he would have slit your throat and rubbed your blood all over his body as he jerked off.” She felt her body weaken with the fear of it, but when he reached for her, she smacked his hand way. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said those things to you. But when you act like a baby, I want to treat you like one.”

“
I’m not a child but a grown woman.” He eyed her up and down, and she felt her body respond to him in ways that had her squeezing her thighs tighter together. “Leave me alone, please?”

“
I can’t. You know that as well as I do. We’re a mated and bonded couple, and there is little to nothing we can do about rectifying that now.” He stood up and towered over her. “I’m going to find out what Rufus sent to me. I’d very much like it if you’d let me feed you again. As for the package, I’ll have Alex take it away. It might be harmless, but as no one but your family knows you’re here, it might well be something that could harm you.” He picked it up and handed it to Alex as soon as he walked into the room. He was gone again before she spoke to Sloan.

“
You have to know by now that I don’t want to be a vampire. And I’m not willingly going to bite anyone.” She watched as he stretched his body out; the long lines of him made her mouth water. When her fangs dropped, he growled low, and she stood up when he told her to. “I don’t want this.”

“
You do and you know it.” He tilted his neck, and she watched as he ran his finger over his pounding pulse, leaving a small trail of blood in the wake. “If you bite me like this, maybe I’ll be able to not take you to the table and give you the satisfaction that we both crave. Because, as much as you say you don’t want to make love with me, you need me as much as I do you.”

He took her to his body, wrapping her up in
his arms in a way that she could feel his cock at her pussy. When she shifted on her feet, trying hard to pull away from him and his body, he cupped her ass and lifted her to him. She bit him even as he lowered her to the table.

Sloan rode her slowly
as his blood filled her mouth and body. There was something erotic tasting about him, and she curled her arms around his neck to hold him there while she drank. They were both still fully dressed, but it mattered little to them, it seemed. She would have easily let him take her at that moment, and there was little she wanted to do about it.

“
Christ, I need to be inside of you.” Her clothing was torn away, and she felt his cock at her entrance. “I want to drink from you so badly, taste that pretty pussy of yours to see if your juices are as wonderful as your blood. But the need to take you, fill you with my cock, is making me crazy with need. Please, let me take you.”

As an answer, Opal
wrapped her legs around him as he filled her. Every part of her body seemed to feel him as he became one with her. When he rocked deeper, taking her breath away, she lifted her head from his throat and looked at him. He had blood on his lip, and she pulled it into her mouth and sucked him clean.

“
Come.” She detonated twice more after he told her to come the first time. Her nerve endings seemed to come alive, and her blood heated to a point where she felt it even in her heart. Her mind, usually so calm and orderly, simply shut down and filled with the release that she had. As she was building up again, he lifted his body from her and stood over her. She nearly cried out when suddenly she was up and leaning over the table, with her ass being slapped by him.

“
Don’t do that.” He laughed when she backed to him. “I mean it. I don’t want you to—”

Her climax ripped from her when he pressed his finger into her ass.
She roared out when he fucked her with both his hand and his cock. And when she felt his teeth drag across her shoulder then sink into her, Opal screamed again. Sloan came hard, fucking her with quick, hard punches that moved her and the table across the room. Never had anything ever felt this way; nothing would ever have prepared her for such an all-consuming reaction to reaching a peak during sex. When he lay over her, breathing hard and his heart pounding hard, he held her as he sat back in the chair with his cock still deep in her pussy.

“
I keep telling you no, yet you take me again and again.” He didn’t bother saying anything to her, and she felt tears start to fill her eyes. “I don’t want you. My body does, but it’s not the same.”

“
I’m aware of that.” She started to pull away from him, but he held her. “We have to figure out how to make this work, Opal. I need you as badly as you need me to survive now. I have noticed that you can tolerate the sun, and that’s more than likely due to the fact that you’re still wolf, too. But I cannot keep you safe if you’re constantly starving. I need to protect you. You have to help me or we’ll both die. And I don’t want anything at all to happen to you.”

“
I can take care of myself.” This time when she tried to stand, he let her. She was under no delusions that he’d let her, either. He was a vampire, an old one if she thought about what he could do in comparison to any of the others that she knew. When she reached for her clothing, in shreds now, he laughed. The thought of ramming the pen into his head made her breath catch.

“
In my haste, I destroyed your pretty things. I’m profoundly sorry for that. I’ll buy you more things. Just place an order with Alex, and he can make sure it’s there when you next rise. If you need something sooner, just tell him so.” She didn’t answer him, knowing that she’d not be doing any such thing. And she was pretty sure he knew it.

As he left the room, naked as the day he was born
, she let the tears finally fall. It wasn’t until Sapphire touched her mind that she had any idea why she was crying. She just sobbed harder when her sister asked her if she wanted to go shopping.

~~~

The mall wasn’t busy this time of the evening. The usual bunch of high school kids were running around, but nothing like it was on the weekend. But little of that mattered when she looked at Opal. Her sister was hurting. Any fool could tell that, and Sapphire was not a fool.

“
Thanks for going with me.” Opal nodded but still said nothing. “I have to get me a few more blouses to wear until the baby comes, and I’m sick to death of the ones I have now. Just a few more weeks to go. Then I can pop this thing out and get on with my life while he stays with Blair all day in the hot, stuffy office.”

“
I think you look great.” Her compliment felt halfhearted, but Sapphire didn’t say anything as Opal continued. “Wait, did you just…? I was paying attention, Sapphire. I’m just a little distracted, that’s all. Can I…? I was wondering if I could borrow some money. I tried the bank, but they said without credit I can’t get any. Stupid, I know, but I can’t think of any other way of getting this thing going. I’m tired of just doing this half assed.”

“
I’m glad to know you don’t think I’d leave the baby like that. And I’d say you’re more than a little distracted. As for the loan? You know I can’t do that.” Opal nodded and moved away from her to another stack of maternity tops…not far, but enough that Sapphire felt the gap. Things were on sale, of course, but the season was all wrong. She watched Opal as she picked up another shirt, this one in a puce color. “Will you tell me why you won’t ask Sloan for the money? I know for a fact that he has it.”

“
I don’t want him, much less his money.” Her voice was hard and curt, but her actions told Sapphire that she was afraid of something, and she wondered for a moment if Sloan had hurt her. “He and I are mated now. As if you couldn’t tell. But I still don’t want him in my life. I was doing just fine without him.”

“
I can tell that you’re mated, and congratulations on that. But…how do you feel about that? Because for as much as you say you don’t want him, it’s obvious that the two of you are making love.” She could also tell that her sister had fed, and fed well. She wondered briefly if she’d killed anyone to do it, but remembered what Quentin had told them. They could only feed from each other for the first few months of their bonding, then they could feed from anyone. It was a bonding thing only vampires could understand, he said, something about the safety of mankind. Sapphire thought it was safer; this was just her opinion, but knowing how difficult it was for a mated couple to keep their hands off each other, it was definitely safer for the public that way. Not that her and Blair had started to slow. But lately…well, she was nine months pregnant. Opal turned to look at her before she spoke.

“
I hate him. Not to say the sex isn’t wonderful, but I don’t like him at all. And he feels the same about me. He only did this to save me from being claimed by the other killer.” The wording of her last statement had Sapphire still in her next question. Then Opal continued. “He’s a blood sucker, and he’s made me one.”

“
As I’ve said to you before, you were dying. There was no choice; unless, of course, you wish you would have died that day. Missed the birth of your nephew, or even worse, left us all hurting because you were gone. What’s really wrong, Opal? You’re not pissed because you’re alive, are you? Because if you try to tell me that, I’m not going to believe you. Sloan may or may not want you as a mate, but we both know that you’ve claimed him as well as he has you. Is it the fact that your life has changed so much? Or do you just enjoying being a martyr? Because from where I’m standing, you look like a spoiled child having a temper-tantrum.”

Opal
turned on her so quickly she couldn’t get away, and as she held her above the ground by her neck, Sapphire didn’t struggle. After a few seconds, she saw the look in her sister’s eyes…realization of what she was doing: horror, and worst of all, fear. Sapphire was let down gently, and then Opal ran from her. It was all Sapphire could do in her huge state to keep up with her. When she caught her, Sapphire pulled her into a chair in the food court. If she was honest with herself, she’d been just a little afraid herself.

“
You should get away from me, get as far from me as you possibly can. I’m a monster. And I hurt you. How can you even want to be around me? How can you…what if I hurt the baby? I’m the worst kind of animal, and I hate me.” Sapphire was hurting, but not from what Opal had done to her. Before she could tell her that, Opal started crying, a great sobbing cry that had Sapphire reaching for their grandmother. She was at a loss as to what to do. She told her everything.

I
’m coming there now. I had a feeling something was off, and have been milling around this…I have no idea what this store is selling. Sex is all I can think of. What on earth would make a woman go in here and purchase such things?
Sapphire asked her the name, and she laughed when her grandmother told her the name of Sapphire and her sisters’ favorite store.
If you tell me you shop here, I shall never speak to you again.