Vampire Elite (18 page)

“You wouldn’t keep a dying girl from getting what she wants at a time like this, would you?” She arched her back and looked at them expectantly through half-closed eyes.

The guys leapt into action. Not taking his eyes off what she’d been showing him, Odji’s hands dove up her dress to get rid of the panties while Anock quickly undressed. Then they switched places and Odji was stripping while Anock took her into his arms, unzipped and slipped off her dress, and tossed it over a chair. Simone’s breath caught in her throat: these males were magnificent, and they were her toys. She leaned over to Anock and found his lips with hers. He kissed her hard, almost brutally, and roughly fondled her breasts. Wasn’t she perfect? If only she wasn’t so
spoiled
and
dominant
. Simone moaned as rapture rippled through her body. When Anock broke the kiss, she was gasping for breath.

“I want you inside me.” She addressed both of them, and she knew she wouldn’t have to ask twice.

Odji, who’d been busy covering her belly with kisses, leapt to comply with her invitation. In a flash he’d repositioned himself between her legs, pulled her legs apart and plunged into her. He was an attentive lover, thrusting slowly and luxuriously, with an extra push at the end that locked him into her like he couldn’t get close enough. Simone writhed under him, her whole body smoldering with ecstasy as she matched the movements of her hips to his, tuning into Odji’s rhythm. But she was impatient tonight, and soon she was pushing against him, urging him to thrust faster and harder. He knew what she wanted and increased the intensity, but not quite as much as she wanted. He held back a little, teasing her until she was squirming and frantic, and then he let loose. Her mouth again merged with Anock’s, searching for his tongue, as the first wave of her climax overtook her.

Without giving her time to recover, the guys switched places and Anock’s hard cock was shoving into her, hard. There’d be no teasing from him, just rough, relentless, delicious, mind-blowing fucking like he intended to tear her apart—and like he knew it was exactly what she needed. Within seconds, he had her on the edge again, her body thrashing, sobbing with pleasure.
Oh Yes!
She knew how to get the best out of him, how to get him to give it all to her. She pulled Odji’s head to her breast and as she felt his teeth on her hard nipple she let herself be swept away on the tide of erotic sensation that the two males were creating for her.

Life was beautiful and full of surprises if you knew how to make them happen.

“Oh, yes, Anock,” Simone gasped, moving her hips, “don’t stop, don’t stop.” She came again and again, shuddering with explosive pleasure taking her to familiar heights.

Chapter 24

Simone had finally collapsed, exhausted and limp in Odji’s arms. Anock’s job here was done. The princess was satisfied.

He got off her and locked himself in the bathroom, not caring whether she needed to use it. In the shower, he leaned his forehead against the tile, his breathing heavy, feeling empty and desolate. This was not how it was supposed to be, these mindless sexual marathons with females of the Elite. Anock was betraying
her
over and over again ...
 

He turned on the tap and let the lukewarm water wash over him. Closing his eyes, he called upon
her
. She’d been coming to him for three years, almost every night in his dreams and sometimes during the day when he was longing for her. Anock knew nothing about her, not her name, her age, or who she was. Even though she was a fantasy, Anock knew that she really existed, and he’d been searching for her everywhere, never giving up his faith that one day he would find her. He needed her in his life more than air.

Now he envisioned her enchanting green eyes filled with sadness and love. She was the one who loved Anock in spite of everything, in spite of all the evil he’d done. She could see beyond the façade he created for the rest of the world, see straight into his soul. He felt her love with every fiber of his body—and he felt the touch of her lips, as light as a breeze.

Anock imagined cuddling her, moving aside long spirals of her soft hair and pressing his mouth to her temple. “I love you,” he whispered hollowly. “Come to me.”
Where are you? I need you. Hear me. Come to me. I’m so tired of being alone ....

She reached to him, rising on her toes, lovingly kissing his cheek. Anock dropped his chin to her head and allowed his body to feel her presence. He slid his hand over his chest, across the muscles of his abdomen, and then lower, imagining that she was touching him, her body replacing those of Simone and every other woman he’d ever been with, restoring him, making him whole ...
 

After a moment he got out of the shower, shaking the water from his head and the sweet vision of his illusory mate from his tortured mind. There was nothing in the world Anock wouldn’t have given to find her.

He put his clothes on and returned to the bedroom where Simone was putting her clothes back on while Odji kept her company. He thought she glared at him, but he wasn’t looking her way, just heading straight for the door

“See you downstairs.”

Antar was standing at the end of the hall, staring out the window with his back to Anock. Antar’s posture told Anock everything he needed to know: Antar had heard them.
 

When he got to Antar, he placed his hand on his shoulder. “Maybe it’s for the better, brother.”
 

Anock and Antar had both been adopted and raised by Tor. They were good friends and professional partners in many security-related activities, and they shared a deep mutual respect. Because of their shared history and interests, Anock knew almost everything about Antar—and what he didn’t know on that basis, he knew because it was his job to know everything about all of the key figures in the Confederation.

He knew, for example, that Antar’s heart had been broken twice, and that Antar had never really recovered. He’d just buried the pain deep inside and dedicated his life to the Legacy and his brothers. Since those betrayals, he’d never had a serious relationship, only brief affairs or one-night stands. But like the majority of immortal males, Antar still longed for his true mate.

Poor guy
, thought Anock.
He thinks Simone is his mate.

“You came to save Simone.”

“No.” Antar’s voice was calm.

“Don’t lie to me. I know you too well. Listen to me, brother.” He grabbed Antar by his arm, demanding his attention. “She isn’t worthy of you. Simone isn’t the one you’re waiting for. She’s not capable of a real relationship. And I’m glad you found it out now and not after you trusted her with your heart. She’d chew it up and spit it out. Keep it for yourself, brother. We need the Legacy Alpha in one piece.”

Antar didn’t answer. Removing Anock’s hand from his arm, he turned around and strode rapidly down the stairs.

Chapter 25

Somewhere
 

Arianna flinched when the door opened and Khay entered her cell. She hadn’t seen him—or the strawberry-blond female with him—since the ritual. Looked like it was time for bloodletting again.
 

Her torture was repeated. Khay held Arianna still on the bed while the female—Khay called her Bahiti—drew the blood. They teased each other, laughing and joking suggestively. Ugh, they were actually aroused by the blood, and also probably by the fact that they were forcing her to submit to them.

Her theory that they were lovers was confirmed as they left the room. Khay blocked Bahiti at the door and pulled her to him kissing her lewdly. Bahiti responded with the same enthusiasm, throwing one arm around his shoulders and holding the jar of blood in the other.

Then Khay shoved his hand up Bahiti’s blouse and she dropped the jar.
 

It exploded in shards that flew across the cement floor, leaving Arianna’s blood to spread in a forlorn puddle where it had hit.
 

Arianna went cold inside. They were going to draw more blood to replace what they had lost. The pride’s weekly feeding was their priority, no matter the cost to her.

Now Arianna understood precisely the fate thousands of Amiti had to endure. Her father’s stories took on a new life, no longer a distant history that had happened to someone else, but the reality experienced every day by real people.
Her
people.
 

She’d always known that at some point she’d have to take the reins as Queen of the Amiti, but she hadn’t fully understood what that meant. Her experiences as bloodstock had been accumulating, piling one degradation on top of the next, and watching her blood pooling on the floor was the last straw. Now Arianna wanted to help the Amiti not only because as their Queen she was obligated to; she wanted to help them as one of them, as one who had suffered the same fate, had felt on her own skin what it meant to be bloodstock.
 

She’d always dismissed her father’s repeated assertion that she was the most important of the Amiti. It had seemed like the kind of thing any father might tell his child, and accepting it seemed
immodest
, somehow. But now she got it. It wasn’t a compliment, an ego-stroke delivered by a doting father. It was a fact. She had a calling to fulfill.
 

And her death was a luxury neither she nor her people could afford. From now on, she had to stay alive by all means.

How ironic was it that she’d realized her significance at the very moment when she’d experienced herself being treated like she was utterly worthless? Even now Khay was putting his hands back on her to hold her down again.
 

“Wait,” she cried out as Bahiti prepared to insert a catheter into Arianna’s other arm. “You can’t take so much blood at one time. It could kill me. Please, let me recover for at least a day.”
 

“Shut up!” Bahiti slapped her across the face, then inserted the catheter. Much to Arianna’s surprise, she was still conscious when Bahiti finished with her.
 

On the way out, Bahiti stopped at the door and looked back at Arianna with disdain. Seductively she grabbed the back of Khay’s neck and pulled his mouth to hers. She kissed him, but her eyes were on Arianna’s. She was putting on a show for Arianna, flaunting her freedom and connection to someone else:
Look what you are missing
.

Arianna just stared at her indifferently. At that instant she decided that she would never again show any Sekhmi her weakness. She wouldn’t give them that pleasure.
 

But after Bahiti and Khay left, she broke down and sobbed. She longed desperately for some form—any form—of affection: a hug, a gentle stroke across her cheek, the feel of a loved one’s heartbeat next to hers. It wasn’t until she’d lost these natural, everyday gestures that she realized how much they meant in her life.
 

She tried calling for Simone again, but something really dramatic was happening to her sister, and Simone was too agitated to pick up her signals. Arianna could sense that Simone was in serious trouble and might need Arianna’s help. But what could she do from here? It was devastating to be locked in here knowing that Simone’s life was in danger.
 

Arianna reached through the blood-bond again. Yes, that’s what it was: Simone’s life was in danger; she knew it for certain.

If only—
if only
—Arianna could escape. Pushing herself back into the very corner of her bed, where the cell’s walls met, she closed her eyes and imagined power flooding her body, imagined herself shooting that amazing pure white energy blast at the door to her cell, blowing it up into a thousand pieces. The members of the Sekhmi pride burst through the doorway and she blasted them, too, laughing as their bodies disintegrated as though she’d set them on fire. Or as though they’d been immolated by lightning bolts, because that’s what her power felt like. Lightning, coming out of her own body, streaming from her own hands.

And then the image shifted. She was in the cell, right where she was sitting now, staring in horror at two beheaded bodies on the floor. In this version, the door exploded into a thousand pieces, but the blast came from the outside. A man walked through the space where the door had been, coming for her. She didn’t know whether to cringe or welcome him.

Then it was like she was in his body, seeing herself through his eyes—half hidden by her hair, huddled in the corner of her bed, her knees pulled up to her chin and her arms wrapped around her legs. Her skin was ashen and she was thin and exhausted. Was she starving?
 

She felt his heart twist at the sight of her, felt an invisible hand tighten his throat. And then she felt a compulsion flaring up inside him. He had to protect her.
 

He approached her slowly. Carefully, as though handling a wounded bird, he lifted her and cradled her in his arms. His heart was breaking, his world falling apart. He felt all of her loneliness and her pain.

And Arianna was flooded with gratitude that he understood her, and she knew that she already loved him. She molded her body against his and felt at peace.

He carried her up the flight of stairs and when they stepped outside, the sunlight blinded her, but she turned her face toward it anyway, dissolving in the amazing world of sun, love, and freedom.

Chapter 26

“Don’t worry,” Odji said after several minutes of silence on the drive from the mansion to the trial. He was driving and kept his eyes on the road ahead of him as he spoke. “Everything’s going to be okay. Your father’s had Theores on it full-time since you were brought here. She’s been working her magic on this whole fiasco, making sure you’ll be fine. He won’t let anything happen to you.”

Hope unfurled like wings in Simone’s chest. Odji sounded so confident about the outcome.

And ... maybe her father really loved her after all?

“Listen carefully,” Odji continued, maneuvering his way along the narrow streets of the city. “This is what the King wants you to do.”

Simone was all ears. The pieces all seemed to be set in place, but it wasn’t going to be free; there’d be a price to pay.