The Dark Vampire: Last True Vampire 3 (19 page)

“Yes.” His voice cracked on the word. He’d taken more than he should have from Bria tonight, and still his thirst raged in his throat as though he was newly turned.
Monster.

Mikhail cocked a brow. “Recently?”

Jenner let out a derisive snort. “As though you don’t know that I’ve glutted myself without an ounce of self-control every night for months.”

Mikhail’s lips formed a hard line. “And Bria?”

Jenner thought of her fangs at this throat and his cock stirred. Gods, how he wanted her naked, soft, and willing beneath him. “She has a remarkable grip on her control.”

“You didn’t come here to talk to me about Siobhan, or Gregor, or even your own lack of control. Perhaps you should get to the point before the sun rises.”

Where to start? Could he admit to Mikhail that he wanted the tether broken? That if he could he’d send his
soul back into oblivion so he wouldn’t have to endure the torture of emotions he couldn’t explain or manage? That he’d live for eternity as one of the soulless if it meant protecting Bria from him? “I know nothing about her,” he said at last. “And she sees me as nothing more than a violent asshole.”

“She said that?”

“No,” Jenner admitted. “She didn’t have to.”

“The tether is a gift.”

No.
It was a fucking curse. Jenner thought he could speak openly with Mikhail about the emotions that crippled him, but he found that he couldn’t admit his weakness to his king. “You were right to keep me from her that first night,” he said. “I should be kept from her now. I know I have no right to ask, but can Bria stay here for a while longer?” Until Jenner could decide how best to proceed with Bria, he wanted her somewhere close. Where he knew she’d be protected.

“Of course she can. It’s already been established. You’re both welcome to stay as long as you’d like.”

Jenner was always welcome at the house and had stayed often in the past. He’d made a temporary home here because it had been easier to be close if Mikhail needed him for anything. And then because of Bria. Now, though, it would be best if he kept his distance. “I’ll stay at my place for a while.” Mikhail’s gaze snapped up and Jenner added, “If that’s all right with you.”

“You’ll only further test your control by keeping yourself from her,” Mikhail warned. “And you certainly won’t forge a lasting bond with her.”

Exactly.
Forming any sort of bond with Bria beyond their tether would only bring ruin. “For now, I think it’s best.”

Mikhail pursed his lips and pinned Jenner with a powerful stare that damn near made him squirm. “Spend
your days where you will, but mark my words, you’ll come to regret the decision. Your nights, however, still belong to me.”

Jenner inclined his head. “Of course.”

“I want you to pay a visit to Fairchild’s coven,” Mikhail said. “Without Bria.”

As if Jenner would ever consider taking her there. “He makes me twitchy,” Jenner admitted. “He’s got secrets, and not a few prejudices.”

“I agree. Find out what those secrets are. I can’t afford any surprises.”

Neither could Jenner. Especially where Bria was concerned. “I’m on it. What about Siobhan’s request? She’ll expect an answer from me.”

“I’ll consider it,” Mikhail replied. “Only because my cooperation seems to annoy her.”

Jenner pushed himself off the couch. “I’ll visit Fairchild’s coven at sunset tomorrow.”

“Good.” If Mikhail had anything more to say he held his tongue.

Jenner made his way back through the house to the foyer, his feet like lead weights that refused to lend him speed. He gripped the door handle and turned it. His head slumped between his shoulders and his jaw clamped down. Fire raged in his throat and his sac ached with unspent seed. Pent-up aggression, want, lust, raged within him, overriding any shred of common sense he might’ve had left. With a growl he spun on a heel and raced up the staircase to the second-story guest room.

He burst into the room without preamble. She started, her eyes narrowed as he shut the door behind him.

“Unless you’ve come to apologize to me, I suggest you leave.”

Bria might have appeared fragile, but she was made of steel. That contradiction in her fascinated him. Jenner
crossed the room, careful to keep his pace slow. “I will not apologize for protecting what’s mine.”

“Was it protection or possession that prompted you to come after me tonight when you knew I wanted some space? From what I can tell, you’re more concerned with not sharing your toys than you are with taking proper care of them.”

Jenner snorted. “You’re right. I
don’t
share.”

Bria’s narrowed amethyst gaze raked over him. But all her defiance served to do was further heat his blood. “And yet you share yourself well enough.”

Had jealousy lent a sharp edge to her tone? Jenner cocked a brow, unwilling to assuage her doubts. He liked to think that Bria might be jealous. That despite this situation they found themselves locked together in, she might be interested in him beyond their tether.

“If the dhampir so much as lays a finger on you again, I’ll tear open his throat and drink him dry.”

Bria’s eyes widened and her jaw set with quiet indignation. “Is that a threat?”

Jenner gripped both of her arms and leaned in so close that his mouth brushed the shell of her ear. Bria shuddered in his grasp and her scent bloomed sweet around him. Unafraid. “No,
viaton,
it is a promise.”

Jenner’s dark tone shivered over Bria’s skin. She hated that despite his harsh words all she wanted was to draw him closer. His lips brushed her ear with his heated breath and her lower abdomen clenched with want. The scent of his blood ignited her thirst, as did the frantic beat of his heart.

She refused to let him continue to treat her as though she were some fragile thing. Likewise, she wouldn’t let him humiliate her like he had tonight when she came from the bathroom to find another female rubbing her body
against his. Bria came up on her tiptoes. Jenner’s height prevented her from getting any higher than his throat, and the sight of the vein pulsing there sent her thirst into a frenzy. “Then you should know that I don’t share, either. If another female ever puts her hands on you with familiarity again, you can expect similar retaliation.”

Jenner’s body went taut.

“I’ve been dictated to for centuries. Don’t think for a moment that I appreciate your mandates any more than I did my uncle’s.”

Jenner’s grip slid to her wrists. He pulled away, his eyes brilliant silver as he slowly urged her backward. Bria’s breath came in shallow pants as she angled her head up to look fully into his face. A deep crease marred his brow, the same tortured look of pain he’d worn the first time she laid eyes on him. Jenner transferred both of her wrists into one of his large palms and pinned them above her head as he backed her against the wall.

His need flared through their tether and Bria sensed that Jenner hung on to his control by the barest of threads. A sense of her own power flared through her and she angled her head ever so slightly to the right, giving him an unhindered view of the slim column of her throat. He struck with the speed of a viper, burying his fangs into the delicate skin she’d bared to him.

Yes!
Bria’s mind screamed with triumph that she’d managed to push Jenner over the edge. His grip on her wrists slackened and then fell away as he grabbed her around the waist and lifted her up to his height. Bria wrapped her legs around his waist and angled her hips so that her sex brushed the length of his erection. Jenner groaned against her throat, but he did nothing to stop her. Instead, he thrust his hips to grind into her.

Bria thought that nothing could rival the joy she’d found in the freedom of her rebirth, but she was wrong.
This moment, offering her vein to Jenner and knowing that he would do the same for her, was unlike anything she’d ever experienced before. What she didn’t know about him didn’t matter as the warm suction sent a zing of sensation through Bria’s body. No matter what happened between them, she would always crave this gruff, high-handed male who held her with absolute possession. Tethered or not.

Jenner pulled away from Bria’s throat with a roar. A warm trickle of blood ran down the column of her neck and he lapped it up with the flat of his tongue. Bria melted against the wall, gripped his massive shoulders in her palms, and dug in with her nails. A low purr vibrated in his chest as he licked her again, this time lower, passing over the swell of her breast.

Bria’s skin pulled as the punctures closed on their own, but Jenner continued to lap at her skin as though the blood still flowed. Slow, languid passes that turned her to liquid in his embrace. The male was every bit an animal. Wild and untamed. Her head rolled back on her shoulders and Bria simply
felt
. Every nerve ending in her body fired, her skin tingled with awareness of Jenner’s touch. When the wet heat of his mouth left her, Bria brought her head up to find him studying her, his irises flooded with silver. He reached up and brushed the pad of his thumb over Bria’s bottom lip. She flicked out with her tongue and caught the salty taste of his skin. The pained crease returned to his brow and Bria reached up to smooth it away. Whatever his demons, Jenner fought an internal battle, and she couldn’t begin to guess what it was.

Bria wanted to soothe him. To bear whatever burden weighed him down. She opened her mouth to tell him just that when he rasped, “Take my vein.”

She cupped the back of his strong neck and buried her fangs at the pulse point. A grunt that was half pleasure,
half pain escaped Jenner’s lips as his arms went tightly around her. He held her as though he was afraid she’d fly. Bria threaded her fingers through the hair at Jenner’s nape. The fire of her thirst subsided with every deep pull, but it did nothing to calm the frenzy of bloodlust that swept her up in its violent storm.

With one hand at the back of her neck Jenner pressed her hard against his throat while the other wrapped securely around her waist. With the wall at her back Bria was effectively pinned. The tease of his erection as he continued to thrust against her drove Bria to wild heights of desire. She wanted skin on skin, and the distraction of the barrier of their clothes was maddening.

A desperate growl built in his chest as Jenner spun her away from the wall and deposited her on the bed. Bria’s fangs disengaged from his throat and the ribbon of crimson that rolled in beads over the sculpted hills of muscle to disappear beneath the fabric of his shirt held her rapt. Gods, she wanted to lick it away as he had done to her.

Jenner reached for the hems of her thick leggings and pulled them from her, along with her underwear, with a forceful jerk. Bria gasped as his hand cupped her aching sex. The heat of his skin set her on fire. Her arousal slicked her thighs and Jenner dragged his fingers over her slippery flesh before his fingertips settled at her clitoris.

“Oh!” Bria sucked in a breath at the sharp stab of pleasure. “Oh, gods.”

Jenner leaned over her until her vision was filled with his fierce countenance. “Bite me again,” he commanded, and Bria obeyed. She came up on her elbows and buried her face in the crook of his neck, biting down as he circled the sensitive knot of nerves. “Yessss.” The word left his lips on a hiss. “Harder. Make me feel it.” She bit down harder and his blood flowed faster, warm and thick over her tongue. “That’s it.”

He panted over her as though her bite was all the pleasure he required. His fingers slid over her clit in an artful dance, applying the perfect amount of pressure as he circled it with slow, gentle passes of his fingertips. Bria’s muscles contracted and her thighs began to tremble. She’d never felt such raw, blinding pleasure. His skin on hers, rough where she was soft, drove her mad with want. He eased a finger inside of her and Bria bit down harder at the light sting of the intrusion.

Jenner groaned. “You’re so tight, Bria.” He eased out and back in, slowly.
“Gods.”

He continued to work her, slowly, and Bria shattered. She disengaged her fangs from his throat and cried out, raw, ragged sobs of pleasure that vibrated through her with every deep pulse of her sex. She threw her head back, unable to maintain even an ounce of composure as the pleasure ripped through her. Her body trembled violently, and when she didn’t think she could take another moment of Jenner’s onslaught his strokes became softer still. Gentle as he slowly brought her back to earth.

She’d never felt so good.

For long moments he loomed over her. He inhaled deeply, feathered his fingers from her temple to her chin. As though she were made of glass, he pulled her up to her feet. Anticipation coiled in Bria’s stomach as she waited for what would happen next. Confusion quickly overtook her, though, as he gently guided her underwear back up her thighs. He considered this over? For her it had barely started. Her need for Jenner hadn’t subsided. Instead, it swelled within her. Torturing her with its intensity.

“I’ll be damned if you run off alone again.” His breath came in pants, his chest rising and falling with each word. “But if you do, I want you to be able to protect yourself.” A tremor shook his voice as Jenner took a tentative step back. Silver lit his gaze and a rich bloom of his musky
scent clung to the air. He wanted her. She knew he did. So why did he pull away? “There are matters that demand my attention at sundown tomorrow. But when I return, I want you dressed and prepared for a workout.”

He gave her a lingering appraisal as his gaze raked from her feet, up the length of her body, until it met hers again. The furrow returned to his brow and he stalked from the room without another word spoken.

Disappointment settled like a stone in Bria’s stomach, and still a secretive smile curved her lips. She didn’t know why or how, but she sensed that though she was far from winning the war, she’d won a battle tonight.

“I
told you
not
to be late.”

Christian might have been eager to take Gregor’s money, but that didn’t mean he was eager to be his bitch. Berserkers could be insufferably uptight. “You’re lucky I showed at all,” Christian replied. “I don’t respond well to mandates.”