The Dark Vampire: Last True Vampire 3 (16 page)

His lips curved into an almost smile. “Impressive. It took me weeks to find the necessary focus.”

“Really?” Pride swelled within her and it rivaled the pulsing heat of her power.

Jenner nodded while his dark eyes drank her in. Bria stifled a shiver as the memory of his hard body pressing hers down into the soft earth overwhelmed her.
Focus, Bria. You can indulge your fantasies later
. “Now what?”

Jenner looked up and caught the eye of their waitress. She headed their way and he said, “Think of a thought that you want to plant in her mind. Something simple to start. When she gets here, hold her gaze. Draw on your power and lend it to the thought you want to compel her with. Speak the command out loud and with authority. Ready?”

The cocktail waitress sidestepped a couple who’d stumbled in front of her. Once the path was clear, she hustled toward them. “I’m ready,” Bria said.

“What can I get for you two?” the waitress called over the din of the music.

Jenner inclined his head toward Bria and the waitress focused her attention on Bria, who took a deep breath into her lungs and drew on her power as she visualized the gold orb in the pit of her stomach. It flared with heat and light in her mind’s eye and she locked her gaze with the waitress’s. “Hop on one foot.” She added, “And sing the theme song from
Friends
.”

The waitress’s pupils dilated and her gaze glazed over. Bria felt a rush from the pit of her stomach that cycled outward through her body and made her light-headed. Without preamble the waitress began to hop on one foot, her voice projecting over the DJ’s music as she sang, “So no one told you life was gonna be this waaaay—”

Bria sucked in an astonished breath. “Stop.”

The waitress immediately halted, though her dreamy expression remained. “How do I turn it off?”

Jenner chuckled. “Release your hold on the power. Let it shrink inside of you.”

Bria let out a gust of breath and, with it, the hold on her power. The waitress’s eyes cleared and she gave her head a gentle shake. “I’m sorry, what did you say you wanted?”

“Oh, just a couple of waters when you get a second,” Bria said with a smile.

“Gotcha. I’ll get you squared away.”

As she turned and walked off, a sense of elation welled inside of Bria. She’d never felt such a rush of heady power in her entire life. She let out a squeal and jumped up and down in celebration of her success. Jenner had warned that she wouldn’t be able to master such a skill on her first try and Bria had
rocked it out
! “Did you see that?” she exclaimed. “I totally did it!”

Jenner laughed and his wide smile stilled Bria in an instant. “The theme song to
Friends
? Really?”

Bria cringed. “It just popped into my head.”

Dear gods, he was magnificent. Such a simple thing, a smile, and yet it transformed his features in the way she suspected it would. No longer hard and imposing, his smile lent him a charm that stole her breath. Females must have fallen at his feet when he looked at them like that. Bria certainly felt her knees tug her toward the floor. A sudden flare of jealousy burned in her chest. The thought that Jenner would look at any other female like that prompted her to thoughts of violence. They were tethered, yes. Their souls inextricably bound to each other. But Bria began to realize that she might want more from him. That she might want his heart to belong to her as well.

Bria averted her gaze lest Jenner see the want she knew she couldn’t hide in her own expression. She took a sip from her glass and savored the rich hints of fruit and oak on her tongue. Bria never could have guessed how immediate and powerful the effects of being tethered could be. Her attraction to Jenner was undeniable. With every passing day spent in his company, Bria realized that she wanted to know more about him. What had his childhood been like? Who were his parents? Did he have brothers or sisters? How did he come to be in Mikhail’s service and what had his transition been like?

But right now she wanted to put her mouth to the flesh
at his throat. To taste his skin before she sealed her lips around the vein and pierced the flesh with her fangs. She wanted his blood to flow over her tongue and quench the thirst that burned hotter in her throat the longer she was in his presence. She wanted to feel his hands on her again.

“You’re adept at compelling someone,” Jenner remarked. His expression became serious again as he studied her. “I bet with some practice you could compel a dhampir with ease.”

“Good,” she said. Her tongue darted out at her lip and Jenner’s gaze locked on her mouth. He’d promised her his vein if she could center her focus. Her fangs throbbed with the need to pierce tried to buy. “Maybe next time I’ll compel that female who tried to buy you a drink never to so much as look at you again.”

From the
corner of his eye Jenner caught sight of Marissa, still watching them. Her longing gaze had obviously not gone unnoticed by Bria. The possessive edge to his mate’s words caused Jenner’s heart to beat wildly in his chest. The scent of her blood swirled in his head, as heady and intoxicating as the liquor in his glass. Her power astounded him. Her beauty stalled his breath. And her fire brought him to his damned knees. His secondary fangs throbbed in his gums and he resisted the urge to seize her in his arms and nuzzle his face against her fragrant throat.

Jenner squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to get a grip on his control. He wouldn’t be content to simply nuzzle her. Inhale her scent. He wanted her blood on his tongue. To flow down his throat. He wanted to glut himself on Bria’s blood. Beside him, she shifted. His eyes flew open as he turned toward her. Bria had hopped up on the bar, putting her height level with his. She reached out to rake her nails through his hair and chills broke out over his skin. Silver rimmed the amethyst depths of her irises. She leaned in close and Jenner breathed in her delicious scent.

“What are you doing, Bria?” his voice rasped, and he swallowed against the fiery thirst burning in his throat.

Her sensual response caressed his ear as she lowered her mouth to his neck. “Taking my reward.”

Jenner groaned as Bria’s fangs broke the skin. She buried her face in the crook of his neck, sucking greedily as her hand dove back into his hair. He’d refused her his throat, and for good reason. Mindless lust overtook him, a haze of need that clouded his mind and crippled any chances of coherent thought. He cast a sideways glance across the club, to where Marissa watched with narrowed eyes, her lips thinned. Bria sought to lay claim to what was hers and that knowledge only served to excite Jenner further.

Desperate need burned through him. He twisted in Bria’s embrace to face her fully, urging her legs to part as he settled himself between them. With a guttural groan, Jenner wound his fist into the ponytail cascading from the top of her head and pressed her tighter against him. He wanted to experience the sting of her bite deep in his flesh, needed to feel her thirst and desperation in every deep pull of her mouth. For the second time tonight, he considered throwing caution to the wind and giving in to his desires.

Fuck.
His cock ached in his jeans, pulsing in time with every wild beat of his heart. Bria was much too innocent for what he wanted to do to her. Too gentle for his pent-up and insatiable passions.

Jenner released his hold on her hair and slammed his palms against the wall behind her. Her nails bit into his scalp and he reveled in the pain. She fed from him with abandon, not as though she were ashamed. Bria was more in tune with her true nature than she thought. He wanted nothing more than to coax that wildness from her.

Her mouth at his vein had no equal. He’d fed others from his throat, his wrist. Mouths and lips had sealed over
his flesh; he’d felt the sting of a dhampir’s bite. Those experiences were gray in his memory compared to the vivid sensation that started as a tingle at the top of his scalp and trickled down his body to bathe him in warmth.

As Bria continued to feed from him Jenner fought the urge to tear at her clothes, to slide his hand inside of her pants and seek out the heat of her pussy. Euphoric bliss fogged his brain and clouded his thoughts. Any common sense he might have possessed—any shred of control—evaporated under the gentle suction of Bria’s mouth against his throat. How would she react if he popped the buttons of her blouse, jerked the cup of her bra aside, and suckled her nipple to a stiff point? Would she push him away or would she cradle his head against her?

Viaton.

The reminder of her innocence should have cooled Jenner’s jets, but all it did was heat him to the point of combustion. When he was through with her she’d be anything but the wide-eyed
viaton
.

Bria’s fangs disengaged from Jenner’s throat and all he wanted to do was guide her back, to urge her to bite him again. Harder. Her tongue lapped at the punctures she’d made and Jenner shuddered. Another act of defiance after he’d continuously denied her the pleasure of it when she fed from his wrist. So full of fight, this female. His thirst for her mounted until Jenner feared if he didn’t take her vein now he’d surely tear her flesh in his haste to taste her.

His control hung by a single frayed thread. Jenner kept one palm firmly planted on the wall, and he gripped the back of her head with the other. In a forceful jerk he pulled her head to the side and buried his fangs into her throat.

Her blood was ambrosia. The sweetest thing he’d ever tasted. Bria went liquid in his embrace, molding her chest to his. A low moan of pleasure vibrated against Jenner’s ear and he bit down harder, opening the wound to allow
her blood to flow faster. His thirst for her raged. His desire pulled his muscles taut and hardened his cock to stone. He couldn’t get enough. Memories—not that of the Collective but those of his own past—tugged at Jenner’s mind as though in warning. He fell headfirst into the visions, gave himself over to the bloodlust.

He was lost to Bria. Lost to her blood and his own uncontrollable thirst.

Bria reveled in smug satisfaction. The dhampir who’d so obviously sought Jenner’s attention glared her hatred as she watched him feed from Bria’s vein. He bit down harder, his grip on her tightened, and she gasped. He was lost to the thirst as he suckled her, his grunts and moans of pleasure vibrating through Bria’s bones and settling as a deep thrum in her sex.

Taking his vein—and offering hers—in such a public display was a scandalous act. One that would have brought a heavy punishment from her uncle had she still been a member of the coven. Taboo. Forbidden. And feeling the eyes of onlookers on them only heightened Bria’s pleasure. It was a slap in the face to every rule she’d ever been forced to follow.

Jenner bit down harder still and Bria swallowed down a moan. Did he realize the effect he had on her? That his aggressiveness sent a rush of want through her that slicked her thighs and stirred her desire?
I’ve never wanted anything as badly as I do this male
. A result of their tether? Or something else entirely?

Did it matter?

Jenner’s tongue flicked out to seal the bites and Bria shivered. She wasn’t ready for this moment to end. She needed to keep him on the edge, reckless. Before the bliss of feeding wore off and he regained the good sense to put her at arm’s length yet again.

Bria wanted to teach Jenner a lesson tonight as well: She was more than the virginal image that had been painted of her.
So much more.

He disengaged from her throat and Bria stilled. He rested his forehead against her shoulder, his breath coming
in heavy gasps as though he fought off some deep, internal pain. Worry replaced any schemes she might have been devising and she traced the tips of her fingers down his temple and across the rough stubble of his jaw. “Jenner?”

He pulled away with a tortured groan. A deep furrow marred his brow and his eyes were alight with brilliant silver. His full lips pulled away from his fangs with a snarl and he wrapped his arms tightly around her as his mouth descended on hers in a violent and urgent kiss.

Oh . . . gods
.

Bria let herself be swept away in the moment. She didn’t give a second thought to the dhampir and her covetous gaze, to the other supernatural creatures that surrounded them, or to the sizzle of magic in the air that sent a zing of anxiety through her bloodstream.

Jenner’s lips were firm yet demanding, his grip on her, possessive and commanding. The wet heat of his mouth seared her as his tongue lashed at out at the seam of her lips, urging her to open up to him. The taste of his blood lingered and mingled with her own that still clung to his tongue. Exquisite. Heady, like an aged brandy that caused her thoughts to haze and her head to spin.
More.
She wanted more.