Undeniable (40 page)

“I knew you’d find a way to save us, Damien.” Angelina
kissed his neck. “I’ve missed you so very much. Every single day we spent
apart, I called for you.”

His eyes burned. “Forgive me, Angelina. I’ll face banishment
rather than spend another moment without you.”

“You won’t have to if I have anything to say about it.”

They both turned to Frank.

“What?” He nervously shifted beneath their gaze. “If you
knew what this nut was willing to do for you, Mother, you wouldn’t look so
shocked. Any man, I mean vampire, willing to offer himself to those animals for
my mother and daughter is okay by me.” Frank hung his head. “God, he forgave me
for—”

“Not now, Frank,” Damien cut in.

“Man, look at them,” Tomas yelled as he looked out the
window of the helicopter.

Below, the Slashers clambered down a massive pile of bodies
to follow the path of the low-flying helicopter. On the other side of the wall,
the townspeople waited beside towering ladders already leaning against the
wall.

Angelina shuddered, then turned her face into Damien’s
chest. “Will Diana and Sebastian be all right?”

“I hope so, Angel.” He didn’t tell her he could barely hear
their hearts beating. Didn’t dare reveal how close they both were to stopping.

* * * * *

Carcasses of the sharks daring and hungry enough to approach
floated behind Olympia’s kicking feet. The log she clung to had scraped her
arms raw hours ago, but the stabbing pain as each rough edge cut deeper into
her flesh was nothing compared to the pulsating agony of the infection deep in
her shoulder. She kicked faster, terrified that dawn would catch her in this
vast ocean.

Earlier a helicopter, one of her father’s, had soared over
her head as it left the island. She had run to the shoreline and screamed out
to its inhabitants, then tore at her own hair when it continued on its way.
Within moments she had dived into the water, her upper body clasping the
remains of the tree she had found.

She slammed her fist into the tender gills of another brave
shark and cackled as its body soared into the air. Life was good. The fools
aboard the helicopter had to know she had been there and believed her trapped.
No longer a threat. Fools.

Kicking even faster, she began to devise a plan that would
make them all rue the day Damien chose that whore over her.

Olympia had foolishly thought when she had snatched the
whore’s young son from his dreams and mentally led him to the lake decades ago
that she had succeeded. That bringing Frank Nostrum between Angelina and Damien
would give her the kind of life her father had taken when he’d transformed her
and snatched her from wedded bliss. Would give her Damien, the only man she
ever wanted other than the groom she’d lost so long ago.

Certain that Damien’s heart was then hers for the taking,
she had convinced her father to order him to become her mate. It didn’t matter
that he had refused to mate. She had thought time would change his mind.

But it hadn’t taken her long to realize that Angelina still
held Damien’s heart in the palm of her hand. After a few, measly decades, she
had known she would never win his love as long as that woman lived.

She should have killed Angelina long ago instead of giving
into her need to make the bitch suffer, make her lose touch with sanity. But
nothing she’d done, not killing her husband or grandchildren had driven the
woman mad. And when she’d sent Angelina’s daughter-in-law to Europe in search
of a sister that never existed, wiping out all memories of her husband and
daughter, she’d thought Diana’s grief would shatter Angelina’s heart, push her
over the edge. Instead, she’d grown even stronger for her grandchild.

Olympia’s eyes welled up.

How many nights had she lain beside Damien, praying he would
touch her just once?

She might as well have been alone. Decades and not one kiss,
not one caress. Oh, they would pay. Every last one of them.

Banishment meant nothing. She would gladly leave.

And her father? She had to be miles from Fentmore by now,
but still received no response, still found his own thoughts and actions
blocking off her constant probes. He would pay too.

But she mustn’t forget her brother. Desmond had lowered his
defenses just long enough to condemn her for her interference with Sebastian’s
bonding and to declare she no longer had the right to call him brother.

They would all suffer.

A dark form took shape on the horizon. Land! Water sprayed
into the air above her churning feet. When she realized why the buildings
lining the shore looked so familiar, why the crowd watching her approach sent
chills down her spine, it was too late. A current too strong to be natural
dragged her in.

Frank thought his lungs would burst. They’d already walked
at least a mile into the woods. Even with Tomas and the pilot carrying Diana
and Sebastian, he found it nearly impossible to keep up. Damien and Angelina
were far ahead.

He was just about to plead with them to stop and let him
rest when a cottage came into view.

Leaning against the white picket gate, he stopped to catch
his breath. When he finally entered the cottage, a fire already burned brightly
in the fireplace and the four were tenderly gazing down at the bed.

Frank cleared his throat. Still bound together with sheets
from shoulders to toes, their lips touching, their wrists wedged between their
chests, the couple appeared to be sleeping. Frank noticed for the first time
that evening that their shoulders were bare.

“Are they naked,” he asked hoarsely.

“As jaybirds.” Tomas grinned and held up a pair of black
jeans. “Found these under the sheets at the hospital. Gotta be naked for
Ancient Bonding, dude. United. One.”

Frank’s grimace had Tomas smirking. “You do know that—” he
began.

“Tomas!” Damien shook his head.

Angelina just smiled.

Frank went to the bed. No one had to tell him that
Sebastian’s hips were nestled between his daughter’s legs. The shape of their
bodies made it quite obvious. “Thank God he’s unconscious,” he muttered,
reining in the overpowering urge to tear the two apart.

Tomas chuckled.

Damien turned away when Frank’s eyes met his.

“He’s unconscious,” Frank repeated as if they hadn’t heard.

“He’d have to be dea—”

“Tomas! Use your head. He’s her father.” Damien spun around.
“Now, Frank, it’s not what you’re thinking.”

“No?” Frank scowled. “Then why don’t you explain what the
hell young Tomas here is just bursting to tell me.”

Diana moaned.

Damien flung his arm over Frank’s shoulder and gently but
firmly led him away from the bed. “They’re not actually doing what you’re
thinking, Frank. But they, well…help me out here, Angel.”

Angelina joined them in front of the fireplace. “Now, Frank,
don’t get all righteous on us. If you try to separate them—”

“But he’s unconscious,” he repeated and dropped onto the
chair. “It’s just not right.”

“They are unconscious, dear,” Angelina said, resting her
hand on his shoulder. “They’re just…”

“Bonding,” Tomas said, his voice filled with awe. “Their
hearts beating as one, their blood united to give them life and their bodies
merged into one being. See the romance of it, dude.”

Another moan came from the bed.

“Why the hell is she doing that if they’re not actually
doing anything,” Frank asked, wearily closing his eyes. “Don’t any of you
believe in the sanctity of marriage?”

“You can’t get any more married than this. Once you’re
joined like this, you’re bonded mates whether you go before the elders or not.
Some believe their spirits will now be together for all eternity.” Tomas rose
and drew in a deep breath.

“Tomas, don’t forget, only true soul mates can even hope to
survive an Ancient Bonding,” Damien warned.

“Yeah, I know. I know.”

A cough from the doorway reminded them that Tomas’ friend,
Diego, was in the cottage. Frank groaned. “Must everyone watch my daughter
bond?”

Tomas strode up to his friend. “We have a few hours ‘til
dawn. What do you say we check out the bars? For all we know, our soul mates
might be sitting in one right now. You don’t need us anymore, do you, Damien?”

Damien shook his head. “Don’t forget, Tomas. Ancient bonding
is dangerous.”

“Yeah, yeah. I hear ya.”

* * * * *

Tomas opened his eyes. The woman he’d picked up in Cabana’s
sat naked on her desk, munching on a strawberry while she watched the
flat-screen TV on the wall over her dresser. A bowl filled with strawberries
sat wedged between her legs. She glanced at the bed.

Finding him awake, her face lit up. He watched her hand
disappear behind the bowl. He lifted his head for a better view, but couldn’t
see anything except her wrist. When her hand reappeared, it held a remote. She
aimed it at the TV, pressed the power button, then dropped it on the desk.

“Boy, do you sleep like the dead. Don’t stay up all night
often, do you?” She lifted the bowl and hopped off the desk.

Tomas watched her walk on long muscular legs to the bed. The
blonde curls on her head clashed with the dark ones below shaved into the shape
of an arrow pointing down to her pussy. “Huh?”

“I said it’s obvious you don’t pull many all-nighters.”

Entranced by the clean-shaven skin not six inches from the edge
of the bed, he mumbled, “Actually I do.”

She brought a half-eaten strawberry to his lips. “Yeah,
right.”

He glanced at the blinds he’d mentally ordered her to keep
shut all day, then smirked and enveloped the strawberry and her fingertips with
his lips.

Her tongue darted out to lick her lips.

“Miss me, Terry?” he asked, giving her his sexiest smile.

Terry grinned. “I didn’t think you’d remember my name.”

He reached out and ran his finger down the arrow. “I only
yelled it out about a dozen times last night. God, you’re insatiable.”

“That’s me,” she said, her voice suddenly hoarse. “But you
and your friend may have had something to do with that.”

Tomas’ gut clenched. He frowned and tried to remember if
Diego had joined them, but he only remembered Diego raving about being visited
in his dreams by a sexy dark angel, then leaving. “My friend?”

She nodded her head down toward his cock. “Damn, you’re big.
Biggest I’ve had yet.”

“Oh and you’ve had so many.”

With a toss of her head, she flung a long lock of hair over
her shoulder. “I have.”

“You’re full of shit, Terry.” He pulled her down onto the
bed, sending the bowl and its contents crashing to the floor. Rolling her onto
her back, he held her down and slid his finger deep into her pussy. “You’re as
tight as a virgin.”

Terry giggled and tried to squirm away. “I’ve slept with too
many men to count.”

He thumbed her clit. “Yeah? How many?”

“At least fifty,” she said, then squealed when he squeezed
her clit. “Okay, okay, you’re only my seventh!”

“Seventh? Seventh guy or seventh time?” Still holding onto
her clit with one hand, he scraped his nail over her pert nipple.

Driving her pussy down onto his finger, she let out a deep
groan.

“Answer me or I’ll get dressed and go home.”

“All right, you perv, you’d just better not tell a soul. I
have a reputation to maintain. Seventh guy and seventh time,”

He frowned and released his hold on her nipple and clit. “I
don’t get it. I mean, Terry, we broke my record last night. You’re telling me
you only did it once with each of them.”

She ran her hand down over his abs. “Can we change the
subject?”

“I’m just trying to understand.” When she didn’t answer, he
hooked her chin with his fingers. Her cheeks flushed beneath his gaze. After
the night they’d shared, none of what she said or how she was now reacting made
sense.

Her eyes met his, then focused on her fingers as they played
with the hair on his chest. “I didn’t come. Big deal.”

“You didn’t come.” He laughed, then clamped his mouth shut.
His erection, constant from the moment he saw her lick the strawberry juice
from her fingers, shriveled. “You faked it?”

Terry closed her eyes. “Yeah, every single one. But they
never knew. I left happy men who were convinced they were studs in bed.”

The previous night played over in his head. He’d never be
the same, never enjoy a good screw in quite the same way. God, he might never
come again.

“I never could understand it,” she mumbled. “It’s not like
they weren’t hot or anything and they did all the right things. But I never
seemed able to
feel
anything. So, I’d make up some excuse and leave.”

“You just left?” His cock twitched. “Right away?”

“Yup.”

“Because you didn’t want to fake it again.”

Terry rolled her eyes. “Tomas, I’m not that good an actress.
They’d definitely have caught on. Anyway, why bother with round two if I didn’t
get blown away by round one?”

“So I’m the first one to make it to round two.” His erection
returned. He wanted to believe it was because she had no need to fake it, but
he had to be sure.

“First round two and three…maybe four if you stop yakking.”
She reached down and stroked his throbbing cock. “God, you’re hot.”

“I work out.” He flexed his muscles, smugly absorbing that
he had succeeded where others had failed.

“Jerk, I meant your cock. It’s so hot.” She leaned over and kissed
him. “But your bod is hot too.”

Blood surged to his cock. He ground the hard ridge into her
until her blue eyes darkened with desire.

When he’d seen her dancing in the bar, her unrestrained
breasts bouncing beneath the Lycra halter, the jewel hanging from her
bellybutton bumping against her skin far from the top of her jeans, he’d wanted
to fuck her right on the dance floor.