Unforgiven (The Forbidden Bond 2) (34 page)

“Please, let me do this, Sparky?”

She stood and looked down at him with fear and concern in her eyes.

“Will you be my mate, Brandi? Will you try to love me the way I love you?”

Brandi gasped and fell to her knees in front of him. He didn’t see reject in her expression. It was more like confusion and disbelief.

“I know I can’t provide the life you are used to, but I will work and go back to school. I will do whatever it takes.”

She tried to speak but he wasn’t ready to hear the answer, so he kept talking. Why did it feel like he was giving her reasons to reject him? Shouldn’t he be promising her the world? He should, but he wouldn’t make promises he couldn’t keep.

“I know I’m not what your family will expect in a mate. I don’t want you to be estranged from them. Maybe in time they could accept our bond. I’m sure your father would come around once he sees how much I adore you.”

She tried to answer again, but he kept rambling. Derek was so nervous the words were spilling out of their own volition. He stroked her face and fought the tears burning the back of his eyes. This was it.

“I love you. That’s all I can promise, Brandi. I will love you with all that I am from now until I take my last breath and beyond.”

Derek took a deep breath and watched the tears track down Brandi’s cheeks. She leaned in and kissed him softly, sweetly and smiled against his lips. When she pulled away her grin split her face from ear to ear. Derek released the breath he had been holding.

“I love you already, Derek. I don’t need to try to love you. I don’t need a bond to force the emotion. As far as my family is concerned, it’s like I told my father today. I’m not him. I won’t live my life to please him and my mother. I want them to love you too, but if they don’t, I will get through it. I want you. I need you. I love you.”

Derek’s heart was rejoicing in his chest until her expression darkened a bit.

“I can’t be mated to man that is a slave. I can’t respect a mate that does the things you do. I understand that the past is in the past but what about now?”

“I’m not staying with the Master…”

Shit. He had to stop thinking of the man as his Master. It was just that he had called him that since he was eight years old. The title didn’t carry the meaning it should for Shade warrior. It was just his name in Derek’s mind but he knew it wasn’t just a name to the rest of the world. Calling him Master meant that Derek was obedient and faithful to the man.

“The Rogue,” he corrected. “I need to at least try to convince my mother to leave. That’s the only reason for me to go back at all. She may not leave but at least I will know I tried to save her.”

Brandi thought that over. She rose from the floor and passed around him in the small room. Her fingers on her hip brushed over the new lines in her skin self-consciously. Derek couldn’t help enjoying the picture she made, walking around completely naked and thoughtfully considering his words. Her hand drifted down her leg to worry the newly pinked skin on her thigh. This was a serious discussion that deserved his full attention but all he could think of was licking every inch of the flaming marks to see if it would burn his tongue.

“We can go to my grandparent’s summer home for a while until we get a place of our own. They’ll never know we’re there and no one will think it’s strange if they see me in town. I go out there sometimes just to get away. There will be plenty of room for your mom. I think we should hide out there until the Rogue stops searching for me. I may not be as wealthy as my parents, but I have an inheritance that should get us through until I find a job. There will be enough left to put a sizable down payment on a house as long as we’re conservative.”

She sat on the bed and reached out for his hand.

“Wait, what?” Derek sputtered. He thought she was considering being his mate and she had moved on to where they would go to hide and how they would afford to live.

“Well I’m surely not staying here. I can’t live with that woman and there isn’t enough room for your mom,” she explained.

“Are you sure? I mean about me?”

She opened her mouth to answer but he stopped her by placing a finger over her lips.

“Wait. There’s one last thing I have to confess before you give me an answer because I don’t think I’ll be able to let you go if you change your mind. If you can live with it, we can be mated as soon as I find my mom.”

Brandi waited but he said nothing. Slowly he moved his finger from her mouth and replaced it with his lips. Derek need to know she loved him too and wanted to be his as much as he wanted to be hers just for a little longer. His next words could be a deal breaker. She kissed him back and the heat between them built. Before he knew it he was laid back on the bed with her legs wrapped around his denim clad hips. She tugged at the fastening of his belt.

“Wait. I have to tell you.”

Derek moved to sit on the edge of the bed facing away from Brandi. He didn’t want to see disgust in her eyes when she looked at him.

“It’s about my mother,” he hesitated. “It’s about my mother and me.”

Brandi sat up to rub his back.

“You don’t have to do this, Derek. I know the worst about you already. Nothing you say is going to change how feel about you.” She cuddled against his back and kissed the nape of his neck.

“Just come to bed with me.” She tried coaxing him to lie back on the bed.

“No. I feel like I have been lying to you. I haven’t lied but I haven’t admitted the truth, either. It’s a lie by omission. I… Well, you see, my mother…”

He took another deep breath.

“I already know you’re a demi-vamp. If that’s what has you in knots, you can relax,” she informed him casually.

Derek whipped around and grabbed her by the shoulders. He looked for the truth in her eyes.

“You knew? You knew and you still made love to me?” he was floored.

“I’ve known you were human since that day in the library. I have a sister that was very similar to you when I met her. Her scent was always confusing and complex to me. She drew men like flies because of the mix of human blood and vamp hormones. You have the same effect on women. The smell of you when I’m close is enough to drive me mad.” She smiled and leaned in to kiss him.

“So you’re not worried about ending up like Darren, with a half-bond?” He needed to know. It was possible that she would bond to him but his human blood would interfere with his ability to bond. It could go either way. Griffin’s bond to Dani’s mom worked but Darren’s didn’t.

“Do you love me now?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“If I were human would it matter?” she asked.

“No. Humans don’t bond when they mate,” he explained.

“Are you prejudiced against vamps? Because I demand equal treatment.” She tried not to smile.

“If I were human you wouldn’t ask me these questions?” She did smile then.

“I just want you to be sure, Sparky.”

“I’m hoping for a complete bond, but if it doesn’t work we’ll still be in love, right? Darren didn’t have that and he’s paying for it. My dad told me he was in love with Tessa. Maybe that’s the difference?”

Derek leapt onto the bed and dragged Brandi over to lie on his chest. She squealed and snuggled in against him. He couldn’t believe Brandi had known about his humanity all along and still she wanted to be with him. She said she loved him. It was a gift beyond measure and he would spend his life proving she had made the right choice.

“I don’t want to wait. I think we should be bonded now,” she told him.

Derek tipped up her chin with one finger.

“Now? But I still have things to do. ”

“We want to be together. Does anything else matter?”

Derek couldn’t argue with that logic. He wanted to bind her to him so badly it hurt. The voice in the back of his mind howled in triumph. His sweet little flame was just as anxious to seal their vows as he was.

“I think you deserve a ceremony with family and friends, Sparky. Don’t you want that? I can wait for you. I don’t want you to have any regrets.”

The voice in his mind kicked him in the ass. Brandi went to work on his belt again.

“I want to do this the old fashioned way. Before our people started making the bond between two people a social and financial joining of power, the ceremony was a private event between two people in love.”

She had his pants undone and climbed down the bed to tug them off.

“We don’t have any blades,” he reminded her. He had never seen a bonding ceremony before but he knew about the process and he was sure they used blades.

“We will improvise.” Brandi smiled up at him as she tossed his pants to the floor. The glint of her sharp little fangs had him painfully hard. Oh man! It was so hot to think of Brandi sinking her teeth into him. She climbed up his body and he watched the pulse point in her neck throb. Derek had to close his eyes or was going to embarrass himself. The mere idea of his fangs in her skin and her blood running down his throat had him riding the edge of torment. Brandi was naked and delicious and everything he ever wanted. She nipped his chin. Derek steadied himself and opened his eyes. Brandi looked back at him through eyes as dark as the deepest night. She licked her lips and used her tongue to toy with one of her fangs.

She was teasing him and he was ready to play. Derek lifted his hips to rub his solid length against her. She hissed and pressed into him. Their mouths came together and the graze of her teeth on his tongue was mind blowing. He hadn’t realized his own fangs were on display until she stroked the sensitive points. Brandi was circling her hips in search of the pressure she needed. She was already moist and ready. It would only take one movement to join them, but he wanted her fevered and eager for his possession.

He smiled against her mouth and sat up to press Brandi back onto her haunches so he could reach the dusky pink peaks of her breasts. She moaned her approval. Derek nipped and licked at her until she was again searching for the friction she craved. He chuckled. She purred and mewled like a hungry kitten. His hand explored the new, strange marks on her skin while his fingers made their way to the pulse of need at the apex of Brandi’s thighs. She panted and writhed under his mouth and hand. Derek almost had her where he needed her to be. He adjusted his hips and let her feel how ready he was for her.

“Please. Yes,” she begged.

She was so close. Derek continued to gently circle her nub with gentle fingers and pleasure her breasts with his tongue and teeth. She pleaded for release and bent her head to nip at his ear. Derek finally moved to her entrance and pulled her down onto him in one deep thrust. Brandi screamed. Her wet heat sucked at him while her climax claimed her completely. She shook and called his name. Derek guided her body and thrust in time to stretch out her orgasm. He had to grit his teeth against the urge to allow his own release.

When her release subsided into small aftershocks of rippling heat, Derek kissed her neck at the spot he wanted so badly to taste, then her lips.

“I love you,” Derek whispered. She said something unintelligible.

He repositioned them on the bed so that she lay beneath him. He was still cradled within her and reveled in the heat and complete acceptance she offered so unselfishly. Derek began a slow deliberate joining of their bodies and souls. He invaded and retreated. She lifted her hips to meet each slow slide.

Derek didn’t know the ritual words that were to be spoken but he knew what was in his heart. He was close to the precipice and didn’t want this end until Brandi was his mate for this lifetime and every lifetime that followed if he could make it so.

“You belong to me and I you. I will never let go, bond or no bond. I will protect you until my last breath. I love you now and always, Brandi.”

He took her mouth and his hips bucked faster without his consent. She was pulling him deeper under with every clenching slide into her heat. Their eyes met and Brandi replied.

“I vow to love you for the whole of my existence. I vow to protect you to my last breath. I vow to cherish the gift of your returned love for all time. And I vow to always remain grateful for the man that will from this day forth be the one and only Mate of my soul.”

Derek waited for Brandi’s bite. This had to be her choice. She had so much to lose in this act and he wanted her to make the first move. He would not break her skin first.

“I love you,” she told him and she leaned in to plunge her fangs into his shoulder. The stinging pain was quickly replaced by a euphoric tidal wave. Every nerve in his body soaked up the pleasure overload. Brandi’s mouth sucked and lapped at him and he was barely able to hold on. Without thinking he plunged his fangs into the tender skin where neck meets shoulder. Her blood welled and spread across his tongue. It was the sweetest honey sliding down his throat. Her blood was like nothing he had ever experienced. As he drank from her body, her soul crept into his. Her hopes and dreams became part of his dreams. He swallowed down her life and gave her his.

Brandi’s muscles closed around him, pulling and demanding his release. She convulsed and shook in his arms. His will snapped with the wave of extreme ecstasy the feeling of oneness that washed over him like a warm summer rain. Derek exploded. He drifted up into the far reaches of the atmosphere and floated back down to find himself wrapped in love and contentment.

It had worked. He could feel Brandi’s relief and joy. She pretended that it didn’t matter if the bond didn’t take, but it had mattered greatly to her. She was willing to sacrifice the ability to fulfill the need of all their people to create this incredible link to another soul in order to be with him. It humbled him.

“You undo me, baby,” he told her softly. “Thank you for choosing me.”

Brandi said nothing. She held him tightly, clinging to him with her arms around his neck.  Derek lay down beside her and pulled her close. She snuggled there, kissing his chest before closing her eyes, but she wasn’t asleep. Brandi and Derek were both in a state of awe, reveling in the discovery of their other half; like they had been blind in one eye their whole lives and suddenly able to see clearly with both eyes. The whole picture was now in focus. He felt at home for the first time in the arms and soul of his mate.