The Dark Vampire: Last True Vampire 3 (36 page)

Jenner gave an unconcerned grunt. “I’ll have Ronan take me to get it later tonight.” He climbed in beside her and Alex pulled out of the driveway, slowing as the large wrought-iron gate glided open.

“How far is your house from here?”

“Apartment,” Jenner said. “About thirty minutes. Forty if traffic is shitty.”

A long drive. Plenty of time to broach the subject of her independence. Plus, she had the benefit of Jenner being a captive audience. He’d have no choice but to hear her out. She turned to face him, ready to state her case. The words died on her tongue, though, as Jenner leaned in and put his mouth to hers.

Jenner’s hungers hadn’t abated with his tethering. Instead, they’d merely shifted focus. The drinking of blood and the search for a body to fuck had commanded his focus for months. Now his thirst raged for only Bria’s blood and it was her body that he craved above all others. The past forty-eight hours had only served to intensify those needs. His satiation only temporary. Gods, she drove him to the very brink of his restraint. He no longer feared those urges, however. Bria trusted him. Understood him. And through her, he could better understand himself. They’d soon find a rhythm, an ebb and flow to their tether. Until then, Jenner knew that he’d need to take Bria often. Both
her body and her blood. Thank the gods his mate wanted him with the same ferocity. He planned to keep her by his side for as long as he could safely do so. The thought of leaving her nearly brought him to his fucking knees.

Her scent enveloped Jenner as he kissed her. Lilacs and honey. Her dewy mouth tasted sweeter than any nectar. Jenner wound his fist in the length of her hair as he deepened the kiss, thrusting his tongue between her lips. He wanted her to feel the kiss everywhere as he lewdly fucked her mouth with his tongue in the same way he wished his cock was moving inside of her right now.

Bria let out a quiet moan that vibrated through Jenner and settled in his balls. He’d take her in the backseat of Mikhail’s fancy fucking town car if he thought she’d let him. Her hand settled in his lap and she cupped his cock through his jeans. Almost idly she stroked along its length with the tips of her nails, and a shiver of intense sensation rocked through him, calling to mind the way it had felt to have her fangs scrape against his shaft.

Jenner pulled away and buried his face in her hair. He inhaled her scent and held it in his lungs before he rested his lips against her ear. “If I don’t fuck you soon, I’ll go out of my mind.” Bria gripped him through his jeans and a rumble gathered in his chest. He put his mouth to her neck, nipped her flesh with his fangs light enough not to break the skin. She shuddered against him and a rush of pure lust burned through him. “I need to see your pussy. To taste it. I need to bury my cock inside of you. Bite you.”

She whimpered at his words and the scent of her arousal bloomed around him. “You don’t have to wait, you know. You could bite me, Jenner. You can touch me. Right now.”

He needed no other invitation. He slipped his hand past the elastic of her stretchy leggings and plunged inside of her underwear. His cock throbbed against his
fly as he found her pussy nearly dripping wet, the tight bud of her clit already swollen as though in want of his attention. Bria wound her fists into his T-shirt. Tight little gasps of breath left her lips as she tucked her face against his shoulder.

The way he touched her was a dare. A test of her control. Beside him, her body went rigid. Her thighs trembled on either side of his hand as he worked her into a frenzy. Her grip on his T-shirt tightened to the point that the fabric ripped. And still she didn’t cry out. Didn’t so much as whimper. His fiery mate was a wanton creature, allowing him to bring her to orgasm in the backseat of the car with nothing but a few feet separating them from Alex.

Jenner nuzzled
Bria’s throat. He sealed his mouth over the vein and gently sucked to coax it nearer the surface of her skin. Using the pad of his finger, he continued to circle her clit. With each pass he increased the pressure and Bria’s quick breaths became disjointed and shuddered out of her. Her thighs tightened around his hand and Jenner bit down, piercing her flesh with the sharp points of his fangs. Bria’s breath stalled and a violent tremor shook her from head to toe as she came. Her orgasm vibrated through her, into him, and Jenner swore he could go off from nothing more than the evidence of her pleasure. He carried her through every clenching spasm of her pussy, stroking her swollen clit as he took deep, languorous pulls from her vein.

It still amazed him how much he enjoyed simply giving Bria pleasure. His own needs didn’t even register when she was so willing, so responsive in his arms. He scored his tongue and closed the punctures at her throat. The hitching breaths that had driven him crazy resumed and slowed to a soft, easy rhythm that brushed over Jenner’s collarbone.

He put his arm around her and gathered her close. Bria’s head came to rest on his chest and Jenner shifted so as to relieve some of the discomfort of his still erect cock from pressing against the restrictive fabric of his jeans. As Alex steered the car toward downtown, Jenner watched the lights of passing cars and took note of the foot traffic that clogged the sidewalks. Nearly 4 million people inhabited Los Angeles and he had to weed through those millions for a single necromancer. He hoped to hell that Naya was as skilled as Ronan bragged she was. Because if Jenner couldn’t secure Bria’s safety soon he’d crack. The thought of losing her constricted his chest to the point of pain and sent an anxious burst of adrenaline through his veins. He held her closer, pressed her body into his, and she let out a gentle sigh.

“Jenner?”

“Bria?”

“I think . . .” Bria’s voice trailed off, her tone unsure.

“Yes . . .?” A smile tugged at his lips.

“Never mind,” she whispered so quietly he almost didn’t hear the words.

His amusement faded into concern. After a moment Jenner gave her a squeeze. “What is it,
viaton
? Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.”

Curiosity gnawed at his gut. Anxiety tightened his muscles until he squirmed in the plush leather seat to release the tension. What had she wanted to say to him? Before he could press her on the matter, Alex pulled up to Jenner’s building. He gave Bria a gentle nudge. “We’re home.”

We’re home.
Two simple words, and yet they were the most important words he’d spoken in a long damned time. He hadn’t given Bria any choice in the matter. Once again, he’d made an edict that he expected her to accept without argument or input. Really, Jenner hadn’t once considered
his apartment home in all of the years that he’d lived there. Since his transition he’d crashed at the places of whatever females he’d fucked or he’d stayed at Mikhail’s. Rather than a haven, the modern three-bedroom on the edge of downtown had made Jenner feel trapped.

Would Bria consider it a haven or a prison? He supposed that depended on whether or not he intended to treat her as his mate—his equal—or his captive. Even if he managed to kill the necromancer could he let go of the cloying fear that prompted him to keep her hidden from the world? If he couldn’t Jenner knew his overwhelming protectiveness would do nothing but push her away.

She tilted her head up to look at him, a seductive smile curving her luscious mouth. “How much time do we have before Ronan shows up?”

“An hour and a half or so.”

She brought his hand up to her mouth and kissed each one of his knuckles. “Good. Because I think you need to make good on those promises you made to me earlier.” She leaned in until her mouth brushed his ear. “The ones about fucking me.”

Holy fuck.
How could he be expected to think clearly when she spoke to him that way? Jenner said a quick good-bye to Alex and climbed out of the backseat. He helped Bria out and pulled her against him before he shut the door. The car drove away and he kissed her with every bit of the longing that burned bright in his soul. “Let’s go inside. I plan to use every minute of our time before Ronan darkens our door.”

Bria giggled. “I can’t think of a better use of our time.”

Neither could he.

True
to her promise, Bria had let Jenner lead her straight into his bedroom. She’d paid so little attention to their surroundings that they could have made love in an alley for all she might have known—or cared. Jenner’s appetite for pleasure was insatiable. His fervor as he took her
almost
without restraint. He’d made her come for him again, coaxing it from her with slow, deep thrusts that made her cry out and beg him to take her deeper still. When the storm of their passion subsided, Bria rested her head on his pillow and inhaled Jenner’s scent. The thought that they’d be sharing this bed for many days to come filled her with a euphoric sense of peace that softened her bones to mush. After they’d both come down from the high that seemed to sweep them up every time they lost themselves in each other, Bria followed her mate out into the living room for her first honest-to-goodness look at the apartment that was her new home.

Jenner’s apartment couldn’t have been further from what Bria expected. Her jaw hung slack at the spacious apartment with picture windows that looked out over the
city and the understated, post-modern decorating. Such a juxtaposition to the male she thought she knew.

“Jenner, this place is gorgeous.”

A rush of happiness-infused pleasure rippled through their tether and he bestowed upon her a rare smile that showcased the wicked points of his fangs. Fangs that had been buried deep in her throat only minutes before. A molten jolt of pleasure shot through her at the memory and his gaze heated. Bria forced herself to look away. He was the sun, blinding her with his brilliance. Instead, she focused her attention on the subtle gray furniture and deep turquoise–colored walls. Ronan obviously paid him well.

“Are you hungry?” Jenner headed toward the pristine kitchen that looked as though a single meal had never been cooked there. “I haven’t been here much over the past several months.” He opened the refrigerator and turned to face her with a sheepish grin. “And when I am here, I usually just sleep. We can order out.”

Where had he spent his days before they’d become tethered? Bria’s hackles rose at the suspicion that he might have spent his time with the female she’d seen at The Dragon’s Den and then again with him at Ultra. Just as quickly as the jealousy surfaced, she squashed it.

There was no point in trying to capture water that had already slipped downstream. Bria wanted to look forward, not back. Her fingers glided over the polished concrete countertops as she walked into the kitchen. She planned to cook in this kitchen. To stock the refrigerator with food and to make this place her home. She planned to have a life outside of these walls as well. And the independence to carve out her own life in tandem to the one she shared with her mate. Bria wanted it all and there was no reason for her to believe that she couldn’t have it.

She thought back to those wonderful stolen moments in the backseat of the car and the shuddering orgasm that
Jenner had coaxed from her with so little effort. The tenderness she’d felt for him afterward—the all-consuming want of him—had nearly prompted her to say the words she’d somehow managed to bite back.
I think I’m falling in love with you
.

It was too soon for words like that, wasn’t it? Jenner hadn’t professed any deep feelings for her and she worried that revealing hers too soon would make her more vulnerable to hurt. So much was still unresolved between them. They’d crossed the barrier of their sexual issues and that was a huge step forward, but they were far from the finish line.

The low reverberation of the doorbell echoed through the apartment. Her eyes met Jenner’s, and in his gaze Bria saw a tome of unspoken words. He strode through the kitchen, their conversation all but forgotten, and Bria followed.

“I’m ready to lay the mojo down.” Ronan’s mate breezed through the door like a force of nature. Magic prickled along Bria’s skin and her step faltered.
A witch?
Bria hadn’t given much thought to what sort of female had tethered Ronan. “Let’s get this apartment good and protected so we can hit the town.”

Whatever “hitting the town” entailed, Bria suspected that Ronan wasn’t happy about it. His tawny brows gathered over his eyes and his lips thinned to form a hard line.

“Naya is still under the impression that she’ll be on the front lines,” Ronan remarked in a sour tone.

“And Ronan is still under the impression that I enjoy being used as a bloodhound and kept far away from the real action.” She countered his words with a smile that coaxed her mate’s dour expression to relax. She reached out and he took her hand in his for a brief moment as though the simple touch had brokered an unspoken peace between them.

“The front lines of what?” Bria spoke up, no longer content with watching from the background. Naya flashed a confident smile, her dark eyes showing an intelligence and fire that Bria found admirable.

“We’re hunting big game tonight,” Naya said as she outstretched her hand. “I’m Naya. Nice to finally meet you, Bria.”

Naya was a warrior. She walked straight and tall, her shoulders thrown back. A sheathed dagger rested at the small of her back and another dangled low at her hip. Every ounce of her exuded strength. A perfect match for Ronan. Bria felt pitifully small compared to the stature of Naya’s presence. Had Fate gotten it wrong with her and Jenner? He was equally powerful, a force of raw strength and violence. Though she’d learned how to fight, how to compel, and how to protect herself if she had to, she was hardly Jenner’s match. At least, not yet.

Bria returned Naya’s smile. Her gaze slid to Jenner, who stood near the foyer, arms crossed over his massive chest and a scowl set on his expression. He obviously wasn’t happy that Naya seemed eager to share tonight’s plans. “Sounds exciting,” Bria remarked. “I can’t wait.”

“You’re not going.” Jenner’s dark tone brooked no argument. He was an immovable statue all but blocking the doorway as though Bria would try to slip past him and break out.