Wicked Night (2 page)

A few moments later, she arrived at his bedroom, one of several rooms in his private suite. The chamber was quite large, and chipped out of stone, the walls irregular and obsidian black, very beautiful and shiny. Candles every few feet lit the room in a soft glow.

The bed stood against the far wall, supported by four heavy carved wood posts and a thick frame.

She shivered as he drew the scarlet velvet coverlet back and laid her down on matching silk sheets.

She thought he would get down to business and stretch out on top of her. Instead, he met and held her gaze as he began to slowly unbutton his black silk shirt, pulling it from his leathers. He let the shirt fall to the floor. He then reached for the button of his pants.

She let out a soft cry and sat up, her hands reaching for him, for what she had suspected she would be able to see at his waistband. She slid her fingers along the edge and pulled the leather toward her. And there was the crown of him. She leaned over and swirled her tongue just over the tip. She tasted the wonderful salty flavor as he groaned.

“Oh, Thea,” he murmured, saying her name in the French way which sounded like ‘Tay-uh’. “Please,
ma cherie
, tell me you have desired me as I have desired you.”

“Of course I have,” she said, sighing softly. Oh, how she had missed being with a man.

While she continued to lick the velvety head, she used her fingers to savor the size of him, stroking him through the leather. After his next groan sounded even more throaty, she began to work the zipper down, careful not to hurt him.

The head emerged fully. She had fantasized about this moment a hundred times over the past two years. She placed her hands on his hips and bent over to take his crown in her mouth. His hips flexed so that he pushed into her.

She worked the zipper down all the way and he tugged at the sides of his pants. A moment more and her mouth was full of his cock. He began to thrust in and out of her. She sucked as he drew back then swirled her tongue as he pushed back in. She moaned, aching deep and wanting his beautiful hard length inside her, yet not wanting to lose the feel of him in her mouth.

She wanted the vampire to fill her the way a male could fill a female.

She squeezed his hips and sucked just a little harder until his body grew still and he hissed. “You must stop,
cherie
.”

She understood. Slowly, she released him.

She slid off the side of the bed, and helped him to get out of his boots then his pants.

“But this is
tres
unfair to me,
cherie
, when I am naked but you are still clothed.” He smiled as he spoke. He had a devastating smile.

Thea took several steps back and let her gaze drop over his well-muscled, if very pale vampire body. His forearms were corded, his pecs thick, his abs flat and molded. She drew close and flatted her palm against the angled muscles that led down. She glided her fingers slowly over his cock just to savor the feel him.

“It has been a long time for you,
non
?”

“Yes.” Her voice sounded hoarse.

“Since your husband died?”

She nodded. Her fingers drifted up his erect cock. She played with the tip.

“You have been celibate all this time?”

She lifted her gaze to meet his clear green eyes. “Yes. I was never promiscuous.”

“Until now.”

At that, she smiled. “I’ve wanted you so badly.”

He touched her curls, his fingers drifting the length all the way to her elbow. She wanted him touching her hair, her skin, every part of her. She had longed for his touch.

“I have craved you,” he said. “For months now. You took possession of my mind, Thea.”

He took the bottom of her sweater and as she lifted her arms, the garment flowed up and over her head. He cupped her left breast and bent down to kiss the soft mound above the lace of her bra. He hooked his thumb into the side and tugged down so that her flesh emerged and once more, as he had done on her front porch, he suckled.

She moaned heavily, closing her eyes.

She wasn’t sure exactly what happened, but suddenly she fell back against the mattress. She blinked up at him. “Did I just faint?”

His lips quirked. Damn, the vampire was so handsome. “I believe for the briefest second,
oui,
you lost consciousness. Are you all right?”

“Oh, yes.” She smiled.

He unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans, pulling them over her hips, her thong with them. She sat up and took off her bra.

As he leaned down to kiss her, he slid his hand low and covered her bare lower lips, stroking her with his fingers.

Her legs relaxed and parted. She drove her tongue against his. He drew back. “
Cherie
, how you please me.”

*** *** ***

Gabriel trembled.

He looked into dark brown eyes, glittering with passion, and he trembled. He could hardly think. He had not expected, when he awoke at eventide that he would have Thea in his bed, almost under him, be this close to burying himself inside her.

She did not know that she was a goddess, so beautiful, her eyes large and luminous, her complexion full of life and health, the opposite of his own. And her blood,
mon dieu
, scented like the earth.

His heart pounded in his chest. His need for her blood began to call to him and his fangs once more throbbed in his mouth. He would frighten her if she saw them. But he could not help himself. He was blood-starved.

He looked down at her, his gaze raking her body. He stretched backward and kissed her navel.

“What is it?” she asked. “I can see that something’s worrying you.”

He met her gaze and she appeared startled. He knew why. His eyes were probably black now.

She put a hand to her throat. “Your eyes.”

He nodded. “I must have your blood, Thea. Do you understand? I have been desperate for your blood for a long time.” He stretched out over her and pushed her hand away from her throat. He caressed her neck, thumbing the vein, encouraging it to rise for him. “Tell me you understand and that I may drink from you.”

She was panting. “
Oui,
Gabriel. Take from me. All that you need. I want you to.”

He groaned at her words. His balls were so tight, his cock hard for her.

His jaw trembled. His body arched over hers, his cock rigid and ready.
Mon dieu
, he almost came. “I must enter you now.”

“Take me,” came softly from Thea’s lips as she spread her knees wider for him.

Settling between her legs, he balanced on his forearms. He shook with anticipation and need. His body was coiled, his chest on fire, his heart now a mallet swinging inside his chest. “By the great vampire lords, it has never been like this.”

“Never?” she asked. Her body had begun to writhe beneath his. Her sex smelled so sweet and beckoning. He wanted to suckle her low but his other needs were too great.

“Never.” Much to his surprise, he felt his invisible binding tendrils release from his shoulders and arms, his legs, even his buttocks.

“What is that sensation?” she asked. “Like fingers rippling over my skin.”

“The binding tendrils. I am so sorry,
cherie
. I have waited for you for such a long time that my body feels a need to bind you to me.”

She shook her head, her eyes panicked. “I don’t want to be bound.”

He squeezed his eyes shut. “I will not bind you. I promise you. I intend never to be bound to another.” His arms shook with the effort to repress the powerful need.

She held very still and the tendrils drew back. But once they were gone, his blood-lust returned and his fangs descended fully.

“Forgive me,” he murmured. “I cannot wait.” He pressed his cock against her opening and pushed, harder than he intended. His control was slipping away.

*** *** ***

Thea planted her hands on Gabriel’s shoulders. She sunk her nails. The tendrils were gone but had left in their wake such need that she cried out.

As he pushed inside her, she gripped him deep, tugging on him, her body so close to release that her breathing came in heavy gulps.

Her neck throbbed as though her vein begged for his fangs. The razor sharp points would sting, but she didn’t care.

She swept her long hair away from her neck.

He fell on her, his fangs biting in a quick jab. But as he retracted them, the momentary pain disappeared replaced by strong pulls at her neck. She sensed how much he craved her blood, the depth of his hunger, and that she fulfilled a powerful, life-sustaining need.

She wrapped her legs around his hips, crossing her ankles and pushing against him as he drove into her.

She had wanted this for so long yet had been unwilling to give herself to Gabriel. His intentions toward her were all about seduction and conquest. But she was a woman who had known the pleasure of sex when love was part of the equation. For her, sex had great meaning.

For Gabriel?

But right now none of that mattered. She was doing this to pay for the healing amulet, yet what great pleasure to feel Gabriel driving inside her, connecting physically with her and feasting on her blood.

Her hips pushed against his with each thrust. She was so close. Her fingers squeezed the rippling muscles of his shoulders and his arms. She focused on the feel of his cock moving in and out of her, a piston driving hard. Her breathing hitched.

So close.

He drove faster and the moment he did, her body gripped him and a powerful release began. Lightning strikes of pleasure streaked over all the folds of her flesh and up inside her so that she was pulling on him now. Maybe it was being with Gabriel or perhaps because she hadn’t done this in so long, but the sensations continued and her orgasm kept pulsing so that her soft cries grew louder rising to the obsidian ceiling.

Gabriel shoved harder now, his length and girth hitting her even deeper than before. A second release arrived, powering over the first so that she came screaming and thrashing on the bed.

He finally let go of her neck. He arched and thrust with tremendous force, grunting. Then he was shouting, his eyes squeezed shut, as he released into her.

He looked so beautiful, his long hair moving with his body, his white skin shiny with sweat. As he opened his eyes, the emerald shade was back.

He eased down onto her, his lips parted, his hair settling on her arms and neck.

“My God, Thea. My God.”

Then he stretched out on top of her and released a heavy sigh.

“Oh,
cherie
, I can feel in every cell of my body that this is not simple between us. But I am not a man of commitment, do you understand? I cannot love in that way and I refuse to be bound. Tell me you know this much about me.”

“I do. I always have.”

But suddenly, sadness weighed down her heart. As she surrounded him with her arms, oh, how she wished she held a mere human and not a vampire.

Chapter Two

Thea flew within the safety of Gabriel’s arms, and entered the deep forest of Fealconshire. She had heard of Eligio’s compound. Though much was underground, the outer portion was nothing short of a great castle with massive turrets, all in dark bluish stone. Candlelight glowed dimly from many of the deep-set windows. Though the shires had plenty of electricity and were modern in many ways, she enjoyed the pervasive use of soft candlelight that vampires seemed to prefer.

Once inside, Gabriel led her not to another audience chamber, but into what must have been the private living room of the master. Dark blue velvet sofas and chairs anchored the space along with antique tables and bookcases. Matching silk drapes hung in pairs beside the tall windows. A modern painting, layered in shades of blue and streaks of red, hung above the mantel of a massive stone fireplace.

“Do you like it?” The deep timbre of a masculine voice prompted Thea to turn. The vampire was very handsome, though quite different from Gabriel, darker somehow in expression.

Gabriel turned as well. “Ah, Eligio, how good to see you this eventide.”

Eligio was tall, and broad-shouldered. His dark brown hair flowed around his shoulders in beautiful waves. His eyes were an icy blue. Thea wondered if it was a prerequisite for all master vampires to be deadly attractive.

He held her gaze and tilted his head slightly. “You’re very beautiful,” he murmured. “And there’s something about you...”

Gabriel’s arm snaked around her waist. His grip tightened. A slight hiss formed at the back of his throat.

Eligio must have heard it as well, because he backed up and focused his attention on Gabriel. “You’d challenge me in my own house?” His gaze narrowed and his nostrils flared.

Thea felt the air heat up between the men and the fae part of her that was sensitive to prescience knew that the vampires would be fighting within a few more seconds if she didn’t act. She could feel the muscles of Gabriel’s arm flexing against her back.