The Warrior Vampire (11 page)

“Naya.” His voice sounded foreign in his ears, far away and weak.

“I said, stop, Ronan, or I'll stop you.”

Ronan fell to his knees as he lost all sensation in his limbs. A violent tremor shook him, the cold freezing him from the inside out.

“I'm sorry.” Naya loomed above him, and the female who had tethered his soul raised her dagger high. “But you've given me no choice.” His final thought as she swung her arm forcefully down was that he would never know the way it felt to hold her in his arms.

 

CHAPTER

8

Naya collapsed beside Ronan as she attempted to quell the tremors that rippled through her body. She was held tight in the grip of a fear she'd never known. Terror that tore at the fabric of her soul. Now that he was unconscious, the music had ceased its chaotic song. She should have killed him. Should have run the blade through his heart and let the dagger take the magic that infected his body.

The thought of taking his life had filled her with a sorrow so deep and so intense that she'd felt it in the very marrow of her bones. He was a stranger and yet, since the night he'd tackled her in that parking lot, she couldn't conceive of being parted from him.

She'd sworn she could feel his pain as the magic took its hold. Even now, her arms were slow to move and her legs ached with a bone-deep chill. How could the magic contained in his body sing to her with such pitch-perfect clarity one moment and become so corrupt the next?

She cradled his head in her lap as she combed her fingers through the locks of his tawny hair. The song quieted to a gentle melody and Naya hummed along to a tune she'd never heard but instinctually knew every note of. In the span of twenty-four hours, she'd begun to unravel. And it wasn't Paul or his stupid mandate or the corrupt magic running rampant through town that was the cause. No, it was the male in her arms who'd proclaimed with such unerring confidence that she belonged to him.

And that he, in turn, belonged to her.

Ronan let out a low moan and Naya quieted. “Don't stop.”

A smile curved her lips and she let out a soft breath. “Don't stop what?”

“Touching me. Humming.” His voice rolled over her in a wave that relaxed every muscle in Naya's body. “You're warm,” he said on a breath. A tremor shook him and his shoulders tightened where he rested against her inner thighs. “I'm so fucking cold, I feel like I'll never get warm again.”

“What can I do to help?” Truth be told, Naya hadn't felt so relaxed in a long damned time. Just sitting there, cradling his head, filled her with a sense of calm. But duty called and she wasn't going to find the source of the magical corruption infecting the town camped out on the floor with a vampire lounging in her lap.

His eyes came slowly open and the dark green irises were rimmed with silver. A lazy half smile tugged at his full lips, revealing the tips of his fangs. “You could give me your vein.”

Opportunistic vampire.

His eyes drifted shut as though he'd expended too much effort to open them in the first place. A rush of adrenaline seeped into Naya's bloodstream and her heart renewed its anxious pace in her chest. “Will it really help, or are you working an angle?”

His lips twitched, but his eyes remained shut. “Both.”

Twilight gave way to full dark, the only illumination in her tiny apartment coming from a single lamp in the far corner of the living room. His presence unnerved her, and not because she felt any sense of danger or malice from him. No, it was the ease at which he put her that shook Naya to her foundation. And the fact that she was about to give him the one thing she'd sworn, just hours ago, that he'd never have again.

“Here.” She brought her wrist to his mouth. “But don't get greedy, vampire. This is only because I can't leave you here alone in case you have another … episode. And I need you mobile so I can get to work. I'm not an all-you-can-drink dinner buffet. Got it?”

Ronan's eyes snapped open and shone bright silver. Naya steeled herself against the trepidation that skittered through her as her heart leapt in her chest. His lip curled to reveal the dual points of his fangs and she recalled the pleasure that had raced through her veins like fire when he'd pierced the flesh at her throat.

“You're a sweet temptation any male would find hard to resist, love.”

The quintessential charmer.
“Just a sip,” she reminded him.

His eyes locked with hers as he gripped her wrist in his large hands and brought it to his mouth. Naya's breath came in quick pants as he sealed his lips over her vein, the heat of his tongue like a brand as it flicked out at her skin. The sharp tips broke the skin and Ronan's eyes rolled back as a satisfied purr rumbled in his chest.

With the first strong pull of suction Naya melted.

His grip was firm, with a possessiveness to it that sent a thrill through her center. Fiery heat pulsed from her wrist outward, and Naya's stomach clenched with lust. Her breasts tingled as though Ronan's tongue stroked her tightened nipples and not her wrist. Swamped with sensation, her sex pulsed in time with her heartbeat and she couldn't stop the low moan that vibrated in her throat.

Ronan's grip slackened and he moved as though to pull away. “Don't stop.” Naya didn't recognize her own voice, the pleading tone so foreign to her ears. She was getting off on nothing more than his bite, the deep suction a phantom sensation that seemed to settle on the most sensitive part of her sex. She threaded her fingers through Ronan's hair and held him to her wrist. Urging him to take more as her pleasure mounted to a fevered pitch that made her desperate to find release.

Ronan pulled away with a low growl that vibrated over Naya's flesh. In a flash of motion he was on top of her, settled between her thighs, his eyes alight with silver, wild and unfocused. Passion overrode good sense as his mouth ravaged hers and Naya gave in to the need that spurred her past reason. She opened up to him, deepening the kiss, and she tasted the tang of blood on her tongue. Both blood and sex could produce heady magic under the right circumstances, and Naya's senses were awash with the power that flooded her.

The rush was unlike anything she'd ever experienced, and all she could think was,
More.

Ronan rocked against her, every roll of his hips moving in unison with each deep thrust of his tongue. A lascivious fucking of her mouth that drove Naya wild as she clawed at his shoulders in an effort to draw him closer. Raw energy buzzed in her brain, spreading outward through her body. She swore that she could feel every individual cell swelling, and through the silence a song began to play, plucking at her heartstrings until the beauty of it brought tears to her eyes. Still she cleaved to Ronan, kissing him as though she'd been starved for the contact for eternity, her hips rolling up to meet every sharp thrust as the length of his erection teased her through the barrier of their clothes.

“Naya.” Ronan broke their kiss and she lurched up, desperate for him to give her more. “Naya.” Again, more urgent this time as his weight left her. She bit back a frustrated cry. Lost to sensation. To want. To the power that filled her to bursting, Naya couldn't break herself from the spell he'd cast on her. And she didn't want to.

“Naya!” He gave her a gentle shake as she buried her face in the crook of his neck. Her tongue flicked out at salty-sweet flesh and she wondered what it would feel like to break the skin with her teeth as he'd done to her. “Naya. Stop. Something's happening. You're
glowing
.”

*   *   *

Fear choked the air from Ronan's lungs.

A soft, rose-infused light emanated from Naya's skin, pulsing in time with her heartbeat. Lost to the moment, to the bliss of feeding from his mate's vein, Ronan had been swept up in a frenzy of lust that had robbed him of good sense. She'd been so responsive, so equally hungry, returning his ardor with a fervor that dizzied him. No longer punch-drunk from the magic that had laid him low, Ronan was infused with strength and power unlike anything he'd ever known.

A feat indeed, considering he'd been sustained by both Claire and Mikhail. Powerful creatures in their own right. This was different, though. There were no words for what coursed through Ronan's veins now. Was this the true power of a mate bond?

Naya's eyes came slowly open. Her brow furrowed as though she didn't understand the words Ronan had spoken. Her dark eyes were glazed, the pupils nearly pinpricks, and her full lips parted with her racing breath. “Don't stop, Ronan,” she breathed. “I don't want to stop.”

His cock twitched in his jeans, the stiff bastard more than willing to give his female exactly what she wanted. Desire rolled through him like a breaker crashing over the rocks. His brain gave way to lust and he reached down to the fly of his jeans, ready to give in to his own desires.

She's fucking glowing.

Clarity blew the haze of lust from his brain. This couldn't be good. He pushed himself upright and Naya followed as though tied to him with a length of string. A drunken smile curved her luscious mouth and,
oh, gods,
how Ronan wanted to take her bottom lip between the tips of his fangs. She reached out for him and he took her wrists in both of his hands. “Slow your roll, honey.” Jesus, since when was he the voice of reason? “Did you hear what I said to you? Your skin is
glowing
.”

Naya's eyes were slow to track as her gaze traveled down the length of her arm. She let out a low, seductive laugh that tightened Ronan's balls, and he damn near ached with the need to take her. “It's the magic,” she replied. “It can manifest during sex under the right circumstances. Sort of feels like rolling around naked in feathers.” A contented smile rounded out her dreamy expression. “A-ma-zing.”

And it apparently made her high as a fucking kite.

“Has this ever happened before?” Ronan forced the words from between clenched teeth. The thought of her reaching this euphoric state with another male encouraged a murderous thought or twelve.

“Never tried it before.” She blinked slowly as her fingers caressed his forearm. Through their tether Ronan had gotten a taste of Naya's magic, and it was like a shot of electricity to his nervous system with a Molly chaser. The female was a drug to him. And he couldn't help but feel a little smug that he'd had the same effect on her.

There were merits to being tethered to a witch, it seemed.

Later there'd be time for erotic play. And though it pained Ronan to part from her, to leave the heat of her body behind, there was still a lot to do before the sun rose. The gap still remained in his memory, Chelle was still out there somewhere, Set's chest was unaccounted for, and he needed to help Naya neutralize whatever threat ran rampant through the town.

Not to mention the small issue of her arranged pairing to another male and Ronan's blood troth to another female.

“Can you focus, Naya?” They were quite a pair. He'd been given a reprieve from the effects of infectious magic only to turn and intoxicate her to the point of giddy uselessness. How did you go about sobering someone up from a magical high, anyway?

He released his grip on her wrists. She reached up and traced his bottom lip with the petal-soft pad of her thumb. He'd sealed his troth to Siobhan with blood, and if he took Naya now the blood would boil in his veins, stealing any future he might have with this remarkable female. His cock throbbed with unspent seed, and the urge to throw good sense to the wayside and fuck her here and now was a temptation Ronan wasn't sure he could fight. He'd risk death and the heat that sizzled through him for one opportunity to sink into her slick heat.

The rose glow on her skin sparkled in the low light. Moonbeams and sunset. He let out a low curse under his breath. Siobhan had fucked him over with her games and demands. His only option at this point was to deny himself the one thing in this fucking world that he wanted or be burned alive from the inside out.

Gods, since when had his life become a Shakespearian tragedy?

“We need to get you five by five, Naya.” As if she were the only one of them who didn't have a grip. “What's it going to take to get you square?”

Already her eyes appeared clearer and the soft glow of her skin had begun to dull. Naya pushed herself up to stand and Ronan followed, helping to steady her as she swayed on her feet. “I'll be okay in a minute.” She let out a slow gust of breath. “I just need to meditate. Center my power and I'll be fine.”

Sounded simple enough. “What can I do to help?”

She gave him a weak smile. “Just keep your distance. I'm still too wired for you to be so close.”

He knew how she felt. Her proximity, coupled with the blood he'd taken from her vein, only made him want her more. A dry, gravelly scratch irritated his throat, though he'd taken more than enough of her blood to slake his thirst. After what had just happened between them, how could she possibly deny their bond? Surely Naya recognized their tether now. Ronan couldn't help but wonder if the realization would help to build a stronger foundation for a relationship with her or send her running in the opposite direction.

Ronan gave Naya the space she'd asked for and crossed over to the living room. She braced her arms on the countertop of the bar separating the kitchen from the dining area and let her head fall between her shoulders. Her breathing, slow and even, matched the beat of her heart, and Ronan let his own eyes drift shut as he allowed the gentle sound to lull him into a state of relaxation.

Gods, so much had been piled on his plate. How could he possibly handle it all?

“Ronan?”

He opened his eyes to find Naya standing beside him. Her skin was once again creamy brown and her gaze zeroed in on him, sharp and clear. The once dreamy expression had been replaced with a no-nonsense severity that caused his heart to ache. Though he knew she'd needed the clarity and self-control, he missed that lust-addled, reckless side of her.