Undying Hunger (15 page)

Her eyes widened, her delicate lips parting on a soft inhale. “You wanted to die?”

“More like, I deserved to be put down. I just wanted it to end. When Phillip snatched me that late night in the alleyway, as I was walking back after I had finished taking care of my father’s business, I was…relieved.” Markus lowered his head, studying the stains on the toe of his boot.

“But that’s not what happened.”

“No. I woke up the next night in some run-down underground room of a brothel. Sick. Disoriented. But not dead.” He grunted. “I resigned myself that my new state of being had to be some kind of penance for my crimes. Perhaps evidence that there must be a God, and he’d sentenced me to spend the rest of my days as an immortal monster who would never see the sun or his family again.” He looked up at her from under his brows. “A punishment better than death.”

“But why?” Alexandria shook head. “What had you done that made you think you deserved such a harsh judgment from God?”

“My job back then was to ‘take care’ of the people who owed my father money and didn’t pay.”

“Your father was part of the Mafia?”

He nodded.

“He was the head of the family. What’s called the Godfather. Except he was my actual father. I handled things for him, and I was very good at my job.” Images zoomed past his mind’s eye. Pale faces, their eyes open, unseeing. Bullet holes gaping in their foreheads. Ice settled in his gut, a cold churning brew of nausea.

“You were his assassin,” she said, her tone morose. “And you hated it?”

“I was my father’s firstborn son.” Markus rose. “Loving or hating whatever job he had me do didn’t matter. My directive was simple: do the job right. Make him proud, or better yet, don’t embarrass him. I followed orders.”

“I think I understand now,” she softly interjected. “Death was your only way out.”

“For a while…” Markus strode around the end of her bed. “Before I was turned, that is, this place served as a refuge. The only thing that was all my own and didn’t belong to the family.” He glanced around the room, memories of when he’d sneak away and head down south to check on its progress as it was being constructed playing back inside his head.

“I see,” she said. “That’s why you had this built.”

“I paid off a few men with my own money to come up here and quietly do what was necessary to build the cabin. I wanted an underground bunker like this for storage in case I ever needed a backup plan.” He stopped and wrapped his fingers around the footboard. “I didn’t know then, but building this hideout turned out to be a godsend. I ended up needing it more after I became a vampire than I ever had when I was human.”

“You lived here after you were turned? What about your sire?”

“He was killed not long after he created me, so I moved here right afterward. It served me well for a few years.”

“Had to be pretty lonely,” she said, and he could have sworn for a moment a glimmer of compassion resonated in her expression. But he knew better than that. How could she ever feel anything but resentment when it came to him?

“There were times…” His mind traveled back to the endless days he’d spent staring at the basement ceiling, the lack of contact with the outside world, other than a quick feeding, suffocating. He may as well have been stuffed inside a plastic bag with the air slowly being drained away. “But back then, I believed it wasn’t anything less than I deserved.”

“And now?” She cocked her head, sending an obsidian waterfall of hair falling over her shoulder. His shaft jerked at the sight. Hell. It was all he could do not to make the leap over the foot of the bed rail, cover her body with his, and breathe her in until he was flying high on her scent.

This had to stop.
His mind had gotten muddled reliving the past with emotional foolishness. “And now this conversation ends.”

“So why the Enclave?” she asked, completely ignoring him.

“I said I’m done,” he barked.

“Did you feel like the Enclave was an opportunity for you to redeem yourself of your past sins?”

He stalled, seizing the bedpost with his fist. She was right, again. Maybe he hadn’t consciously realized it at the time, yet that had been exactly why he’d joined.

“You thought maybe this time around you could be the one to save a few human lives,” she said. “Pretty damn honorable for someone who’s supposed to be such an evil monster, don’t you think?”

“‘Honorable’ is not the word I’d choose.” He scoffed. “I’m still a killer, Vixen. The Enclave was just a different uniform.”

“After what you’ve shared with me about where you’ve been, I’m not so sure about that.”

How could she use the word “honorable” when it came to him? Especially after what he’d done to her and so many others? Markus turned toward her. “Have you lost your mind?” He marched closer. “Did that stab wound drain your blood volume and take the rest of your memory about our history along with it?”

“Well, excuse the hell out of me,” she snapped. “And here I was about to feel a little bit of compassion for you and maybe a smidgen of forgiveness for all the shit you put me through.”

“Don’t waste either on me.” He hovered inches from her face. “You’ll only be disappointed.”

“You think so, huh?” She leaned forward, forcing him to straighten. Alexandria swung her legs over the side of the bed. “Perhaps if you’d take the time to knock some of that damn baggage off your shoulders, we could actually get to see the real you! And then, who knows what kind of person we might find under all that weight?” Alexandria’s hands came up as she stood, her palms hovering at his chest as if she were leery of getting burned if she made contact.

His breath stalled inside his chest. He was too damn petrified to breathe, or to move, in case the slightest twitch scared her away.

“Maybe there would be someone there who is worth my time.” Gently, the pads of her fingers brushed the surface of his T-shirt, and the sensation sent a spark of awareness straight to the head of his cock. Air rushed from his lungs, and he grabbed her wrists, holding them in place.

“You’re wrong, Alexandria,” he said, his voice raw.

“I don’t think so. But if you keep this
I don’t fucking need anybody
kind of attitude up, we’ll never know.” Shaking her head, she yanked her wrists free, then cried out and clutched her side. She stumbled back against the bed.

“Shit!” Markus grasped her shoulders, steadying her. “I should have fed you before now, instead of allowing myself to get distracted!”

“Stop it!” She grabbed his biceps. “For one moment, would you stop blaming yourself for everything?” she whispered, yet her words resounded inside his head with the clarity of crystal wind chimes—the notes pure and awakening.

Instinct drove him to cup the cool flesh of her cheeks. He had to. There was no other choice. She made him want to touch. To feel. Her lashes lowered, and she leaned into his palms. And his heart warmed, melted. God, how he wished he possessed the power to freeze time and never let this moment go. Never let
her
go. “Okay,” he uttered. She opened her eyes, and dreamy violet irises stole his will. “This time—for you—anything you want.” He drew closer, exposing his neck. “Feed, Alexandria. Let me take care of you.”

He swallowed hard, steeling himself for her bite. Not for the pain. But for the excruciating pleasure it would bring. The gentle stroke of her fingertips brushed his face as she moved aside a stray lock of his hair that had come free from the band at his nape. A tremor rolled down his spine. God only knew how his sanity would survive having her this close again. Yet he was powerless to deny her.

She struck, sending a sharp twinge of lightning through his bloodstream. His jaw dropped in a silent scream as ecstasy burned a path of lust to his cock. Markus drove his hand into her hair, holding her in place against his throat. His head lolled. The room tilted, then spun. He wrapped his other arm around her waist, steadying them both. The dull yellow glow of the lamps morphed into a blazing ring of fire in the periphery of his vision.

“Fuck,” he groaned.

Heaven and hell had collided.

Chapter Sixteen

She wanted him.

Maybe it was the weakness from the injury or the hunger for his blood, or she was just damn crazy. Whatever it was, Alexandria had never wanted, needed, another man like she did Markus. Of course, she’d experienced the pull of desire that came with feeding from the opposite sex, and she’d learned to control it. Yet with him, what he awakened inside her went beyond a mere sexual craving. Stirrings that, dammit, she refused to examine or to explore deeper. This had to be lust. Pure and simple. Well, maybe not so pure, but perhaps once sated, they could both get past whatever
this
was between them. Because even if she wanted to analyze how she felt about Markus—about them—the effort would be futile. This was Markus, the Enclave’s traitor; how could she ever think there could be more?

She smoothed her tongue over the wound, closing the vein. Gooseflesh rose under her ministration, and knowing she’d caused the reaction from the alpha male had a rush of excitement coursing through her. She clutched the thick muscles of his arms and looked up. His gaze met hers with a firestorm of black and gray.

“How am I supposed to walk away from you when you touch me like that?” he said, the words coming out sounding flayed. “Look at me like that?”

“Like what?” she managed to ask in a steady voice, though inside, she was flying apart.

“Hungry,” he said. “But not for blood,” he added in a deep, rumbling voice that had her mind picturing things no good girl should crave.

Her knees weakened, yet it had nothing to do with her wound. Keeping her grip on his arms, she eased onto the bed, pulling him down over her until his lips were mere inches from hers. But he didn’t move. Instead, he released his hold on her hair and seized the beam on top of the headboard with his hand as if he needed it to draw strength. The veins in his arms bulged in stark relief against the muscle.

“What do you want from me, Vixen?” He gripped her chin with the fingers of his free hand and smoothed his thumb underneath her bottom lip. She shivered. “If it’s more of my blood you desire? It’s yours.” With a tug of his hand, he lifted her head, forcing her to look at him. Her mouth lost all of its moisture. She tried to swallow, but nothing would budge. “But you have to tell me.” Markus breached the sensitive flesh of her lip, skating over it with a brief flick of his finger, but he may as well have licked her clit. She quivered, and arousal rushed from her depths. “Where do we go from here?”

“Kiss me,” she whispered. Markus’s hand slid to the back of her neck. “I want you to kiss you me.”

His mouth slammed down on hers. She’d released the beast in her room, but for some insane reason, Alex wasn’t the least bit afraid. She wanted everything he had to give. He licked at her bottom lip, she opened, and he dived inside. Alex moaned from the delicious invasion. He tasted hot, rich, and forbidden. Her pulse was a raging storm inside her ears. God, he was right. She was so damn hungry.

Driving her fingers into the long strands of his hair, she worked the band at his nape free. The weight of the glorious dark locks streamed across her palms. Thick. Silky. Even better than she’d imagined.

Gently, Markus lifted her and moved her farther onto the bed. And then he was there, on the mattress with her. She fell back on the pillow, and his broad frame loomed over her. A part of her couldn’t believe they’d come this far. But after tonight, after what he’d been willing to share with her, she wanted so badly to trust him. He wasn’t the total monster she’d once believed.

Markus planted his hands on either side of her head, his hair falling over his shoulders fanning around them like a shield from the outside world. “I want you so damn bad,” he said, his voice tight, strangled.

“I’m here,” she breathed.

He lowered himself until his chest brushed hers. His mouth glanced off hers, his lips performing an erotic dance that made her forget to breathe. “You have no idea how you tempt me, Vixen.”

She moaned, her legs scissoring against the ache inside her pussy.

“I want to taste your everything,” he rasped. “Consume you.”

Her core tightened at the thought. “Yes.” She groaned, arching into him.

His mouth came down on her throat, and the tips of his fangs lightly scored a path down the side. She jerked, nearly coming undone from the sensation.

Gathering the hem of her shirt with his fingers, Markus tugged it upward, not stopping until the cool air had her nipples pebbling. “Damn.” The curse exited through his clenched teeth.

He edged lower, placing his mouth above them. “Perfect.” He sighed. Then his tongue flicked the tip of her breast. Her back arched, trying to bring him closer. Needing more.

“Markus,” she gasped. But he didn’t make her beg much longer. His mouth captured the tight bud, licking and sucking the orb. She cried out from the torturous pleasure. Yet he didn’t stop there. He moved to the other breast, repeating the process until she squirmed.

“God…Markus,” she groaned. “Please.” He had to do something. She was on fire.

“
Shhh
…” He proceeded lower, trailing nips and licks along her abdomen until he reached the waistband of her pants. “Are you sure, Vixen?” He glanced up, his fingertips on the button.

Oh yes
. At that moment, she’d never been more sure of anything in her life. She nodded. And before she could blink, Markus had the leather open and peeling away from her ankles. Chills skated over her flesh, but it wasn’t from the temperature of the room. It was the way the large male hovering over her naked body looked at her. She’d never forget this moment. Markus devoured her with his gaze. The intensity primal and possessive. She’d never felt more wanted. Cherished.

Large calloused palms splayed over her thighs, nudging them wider. Alex complied, spreading her legs, making room for him to wedge between them. She moaned. God, she’d never been more aroused, her folds more swollen and aching for a man’s touch.

His lips parted; his chest heaved as if he couldn’t get enough air into his lungs. “So fucking beautiful.”

Markus reached up one of her legs, lifting it a few inches off the bed, and kissed the sensitive inside near her groin. Alex whimpered, threading her fingers into his hair. It was either that or scream. Then he did the same to the other. So damn close. Christ, why didn’t he touch her where she needed him most?

And then he did.

The tip of his tongue brushed over the apex of her pussy, and she cried out. Needing something to ground her, Alex grabbed the bedding, twisting it in her fingers. “If you stop, I swear I’ll kill you,” she rumbled.

He chuckled, and the sound waves vibrated off her clit like tiny pulses, making her shudder. “Vixen, I’m nowhere near done with you. Not until I’ve wrung every scream out of your limp body.”

“Oh God,” she muttered, and squeezed her eyes closed.

His fingertips traced the edges of her folds, then, using the pads of his thumbs, he opened her wider. Panting, she thrashed her head back and forth.

“Look at me,” he rumbled from between her legs.

What?
She stilled, but kept her eyelids tightly shut. No way could she watch as he touched her.

“Look at me,” he demanded, this time a little louder.

Alex parted her lashes. Markus smiled up at her, his eyes simmering with a sultry fire. “That’s it. Watch me taste you.”

Slowly, so agonizingly slow, he placed his tongue over the opening to her pussy, then dragged it upward until he’d laved every inch of her. And the shock wave rolled over her body. She gasped. Markus licked his lips.

“Fuck,” he rasped. “Hot and delicious.”

“You are so bad,” she whispered.

“You have no idea, baby,” he rumbled. Then his mouth was on her again. Licking, sucking her flesh, working his way up toward her throbbing bundle of nerves.

“God, yes,” she mumbled. “Markus.”

He circled the swollen nub with his tongue, taunting and teasing her. Her core ached. So damn empty. She needed his mouth on her. Needed him inside her.

“I-I…Markus.” She closed her eyes, unable to take it anymore. “Please…” The only word she could manage to utter, but it didn’t matter. He seemed to anticipate her needs. Knew exactly how to take her to the edge, dangle her there, then when she didn’t think she could take another moment, he took her higher.

His mouth closed over her clit as two fingers sank deep inside her. The universe zoomed into sharp clarity. Suddenly nothing else existed, nothing mattered except the male between her legs and the exquisite things he was doing to her body. A tremor rocked her, and her core clamped down on the thick intrusion. So incredibly good.

“Oh God…” she groaned. It was too good.

Alex’s back arched, and she could have sworn she’d taken flight. A scream resonated in her ears, a sound unlike anything she’d heard before. Yet it was her.

On its own accord, her pelvis rocked into him over and over again. She grasped for his head, pressing him tighter against the center of her pleasure. Behind her eyelids, stars danced. Her limbs were lighter than air, and she never wanted to come down.

“Markus…” His name was a moan inside her throat. She sighed, and gravity slowly regained its hold on her body. His fingers slid free from her, and the delicious pressure inside disappeared. She bit back a groan of displeasure from its loss.

She glanced down and met Markus’s satisfied smile. “You look quite proud of yourself, vampire,” she said, her voice hoarse.

“I am a male who takes pride in his work.” Bringing his hand forward, Markus slid two of his fingers into his mouth. His gaze never left hers as he proceeded to lick them in a slow and methodical manner. A process that said
these are the digits that were inside you. The ones that made you come again and again. And you are delicious.

Dear God, the way his mouth, his lips, moved over his fingers… Her orgasm was too fresh, too recent. As if she were a junkie struggling through rehab, flashbacks of the way he’d drawn the pleasure from her clit slammed into her with HD clarity. She didn’t think it was possible, but her core pulsed yet again. She gasped from the stab of pleasure.

His fingertips left his mouth with a slight
pop
, then he was over her, staring down at her. Larger than life, the lethal alpha male surrounded her and had Alex struggling for her share of the oxygen in the room.

“Markus…” She panted. “The things you do to me.” She shook her head, trying to clear the buzz inside her skull.

“You’re so damn gorgeous when you come.” His voice oozed pure testosterone. It was the kind of sound that, if she hadn’t already been naked beneath him, she would have been dropping her panties. “I could do that all night long.” He skated a kiss across her lips. “Listen to you scream my name as your body trembles. So damn hot.”

Alex moaned. “I want you,” she whispered against his cheek, the stubble scratching her and sending chills in its wake. “Let me do the same for you.” She clutched his shoulders, pressing him back.

The hard ridge against her thigh said he was more than ready for his own release, and Alex couldn’t wait to be the one who got him there. She scooted out from under him, turning onto her side, and snagged the hem of his shirt. Markus covered her fist with his hand.

“Not tonight,” he said, stopping her cold.

“But…” How could he not need this? Her mind went back to the previous time they’d been together and he’d helped to bring her to her first orgasm. He’d walked away then as well. “I want to,” she said. She glanced down at the obvious and significant bulge in his pants. “You can’t tell me you don’t want it.”

“Of course I do.” He squeezed her hand. “But you’ve just recovered from a pretty bad stab wound. Let my blood do its job and rest tonight.”

“I feel fine.” She frowned. “I’m not that fragile.”

“Yes, I know you’re fine.” He grinned, leaned in, and planted a kiss on her cheek. “Fine as hell.” Withdrawing, he added, “This was about me pleasuring you.” Before she could object again, he rolled from the bed and onto his feet. “Later.” He strode around the bed and toward the bathroom. “Rest, Alexandria,” he called at the door. One arm came up, his hand capturing the doorjamb before crossing the threshold, but he didn’t look back. “What I told you tonight—about my past—I want you to know I’ve never shared with another soul. Not even Arran.” He closed the door.

Alex flipped over onto her stomach and buried her face in her pillow. Her mind whirled at the revelation. She’d actually glimpsed and touched the real Markus Santini. He’d opened up and allowed her to see the dark stains and scars on his soul.

There was good reason why Markus had so easily hardened and become Marguerite’s lethal weapon. The seed had already been planted by his father. The man had forced him at a young age to become a killer. But he was capable of so much more than being the hand of death. Deep inside, she knew he possessed the ability to feel compassion for others.

For him, she’d let her guard down.

And oh my God, she’d enjoyed every minute of it. Mentally, she screamed into the thick padding of feathers. She hadn’t been prepared for the pleasure he’d brought to her body. Worse, she hadn’t been ready for the feelings constricting her heart like a fist when he’d closed the door.

Alex rolled onto her back and smoothed a palm over her sternum. Blowing the hair out of her eyes, she stared up at the ceiling. She refused to put a name on the cauldron of emotions feeding the tightness in her chest.