Worth Dying For (18 page)

“Come back here,” she whispered, knowing he could hear.

He didn’t move so she scooted from the bed and made her way over to him.

“Stay away,” he said, turning his face to the rock wall. He flinched as her hand touched his shoulder but he didn’t shrug it off.

“Bane, please look at me.” She pulled on his arm to try and turn him around but she couldn’t budge him. “I’m sorry I screamed. I am fine. You surprised me, that’s all.”

“I told you this would happen.” He turned his head towards her a fraction, still refusing to meet her eyes.

“I know…but I kind of forgot about your fangs. I guess I thought they would only come out when you wanted them to, and as I wasn’t going to let you bite me, I didn’t expect to see them at all.”

He straightened and turned to face her, his mood apparently forgotten. “You weren’t going to
let
me?” The arrogant smirk on his face would have pissed her off at any other time but Amber welcomed it. Anything was better than his guilt-ridden angst. “And how did you think you would have stopped me?”

“I was gonna ask you not to.”

She could see from Bane’s incredulous expression that he thought she was crazy, but he laughed anyway. “As simple as that?”

Amber smiled. “If you can resist the urge to hunt humans, then I know you have enough self control not to hurt me.” She wrapped her arms around his torso and pressed her face against his chest, ignoring his agonised groan.

“I’ve never tried not to. I don’t know if I can stop it.”

“Please try. For me?”

Her plea hung between them and she didn’t know which way things would go, until he reached to pull her closer. Encouraged by the small gesture, she caressed his back as she kissed his chest, and slipped a thigh between his, unable to resist pushing the boundaries he was trying to maintain.

“Is there any way I can help?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know…just stop doing something if I ask you to. And if I tell you to run, then don’t hang around to ask any damn fool questions.”

Amber turned her face up to kiss him but he stayed out of reach. She gave her own little growl of protest, laughing out loud when he cocked an eyebrow at her as if to say ‘is that all you got?’

He smiled and dropped his mouth to her shoulder, his hands sliding down her back and over her bottom to cradle her thighs. He straightened up, lifting her from the floor and wrapping her legs around his waist. Amber’s fingers locked onto his shoulders and her head fell back as his cold lips played across her neck, driving her crazy with need for him.

Bane carried her over to the bed, crawling across it with her still in his arms, then turning to lie on his back with her on top of him. Amber sat up and looked around.

“Is this where you want me?”

“It’s safer this way.” He smiled, thrusting his erection against her and causing her to gasp. “Besides, wasn’t it about here that I rudely interrupted you?”

“No, I think I got further than this.” Amber made to wriggle her way down his body but his firm grip on her waist stopped her.

“I don’t know yet where my limits are.”

Bane’s hands squeezed her hips and he lifted her up just enough to allow the tip of his penis to align with her opening, and then let her weight bring her down onto his cock. Amber shut her eyes, biting her lip to stop her from crying out in pleasure as her muscles gave way to him. Just as she took all of him in, an image like the ones she’d seen before slammed into her mind. The couple in her mind’s eye was beautiful—even her—and Bane looked like the magnificent creature he was, his fangs clearly visible.

Bane froze beneath her when she looked at him, as if waiting to see how she would react this time. She smiled and traced a finger over his mouth. His teeth didn’t matter to her anywhere near as much as chasing the sensations he caused inside her.

A subtle shift in the intensity of his movements made her wonder if he’d been holding back. His knees came up behind her ass, giving him the extra leverage to take control of her body. Bane’s growl of satisfaction didn’t scare her anymore, instead it spurred her on. When her eyes found him again, his face had set into a mask of concentration, his gaze locked on the place where their bodies joined. He moved his hands, spreading her wider as he jerked up into her.

His finger found her clitoris, caressing it with a feather-light touch that left her gasping for air and clinging to him, unable to make a sound.

“Like this,” he whispered, “You want me to touch you like this.”

His hand didn’t stop moving as he thrust into her again and her head fell back as another surge of pleasure rendered her helpless. She muffled a groan with the back of her hand, afraid he’d think he had hurt her if she cried out the way she wanted to.

“Tell me, Amber. I need to hear you,” he rasped, his voice strained.

“Oh…God,” she managed to say as the tightening in her stomach intensified and spread to her groin.

“I know you love what I am doing to you, but I need to hear you say it.”

What did he want from her? Amber couldn’t breathe, never mind talk. His absolute dominance left her with no choice whether she came or not. So she did.

“Tell me,” he pleaded again.

“I’m coming,” she whispered, sinking her nails into his arm. “Bane, oh God, I’m coming.”

She heard his sharp intake of breath. “Yes, you are. I can feel it!” he gasped, another growl rumbling through his chest as he jerked beneath her.

Lost in her orgasm, she didn’t have time to be scared as his torso surged upright and she felt his breath on her exposed throat. One hand tangled in her hair, pulling her head back further while the other brushed a rough knuckle across her bottom lip then pushed her face away, giving him access to her neck. She sensed the bite but felt nothing except another surge of adrenaline that intensified her climax, shutting her mind against the fear. Bane’s muffled roar of satisfaction reverberated through her ribcage and she clung to him as he came, happy for him to take whatever he needed from her.

Chapter Ten

Bane looked down at Amber’s sleeping form, unable to resist trailing a finger over the very tempting but still intact vein throbbing in her throat.

He’d resisted. He didn’t know how, but he had.

Bane flexed his hand, assessing the damage he had done when he bit into it. The skin had almost healed. A flesh wound usually disappeared within a few minutes but nerve damage took a little longer to repair.

His treacherous mind recalled the exhilaration he used to get from biting his sexual partners. The overpowering scent of their blood, pulsing mere millimetres beneath the skin, would always make him dizzy and he would delay the moment, savouring the anticipation. Bane chased the memory away—such thoughts were not a good idea with Amber prone beside him.

As if aware he thought of her, she turned into his touch, throwing an arm across his hip and settling her face on his abdomen. The innate trust in her movements had almost as much effect on him as the intimacy of her embrace. He closed his eyes, ignoring the hardening of his groin, determined to let her rest. Bane had never met anyone like her—in either of his lives. He couldn’t decide if her actions were fearless or just plain stupid. Whatever the truth about of her state of mind, he relished the chance to lie with her like this. Like a normal man. He wished he were a better one.

Making love to her had been a revelation. Her reactions had been typical—Bane knew what he was—but he hadn’t expected the intensity of his own release. He had never lost himself in the moment so completely. Not even with Mary. The acknowledgement caused him an almost physical pain.

 
Lifetimes of yearning and lust raged through him in one unnerving moment, and he knew he wanted to truly possess Amber, to have her for his own.

He wrapped one of her bronze curls around his finger while he watched her sleep and knew a twinge of jealousy towards the man she would meet one day. Venom burned the back of his throat at the thought of someone else touching her the way he had or of Amber giving herself to another as she had given herself to him.

Regardless of the feelings he had for the woman in his arms, it couldn’t last. Not if Katerina had her way. He pulled Amber closer, letting his fingers trace idle circles on her skin, trailing from one freckle to another, as he struggled to think of a way to make things right for her again.

No, he would not have Amber for much longer. If the threat passed, then he had to return her to her normal life. The issue of David’s death would be easy to resolve. Bane would confess, await trial and imprisonment and then escape. But he would never be able to go near her again. Katerina’s good will, and therefore Amber’s survival, would depend upon his total acquiescence to the wishes of his maker.

If the woman who had plagued his life for centuries couldn’t be appeased, then Amber would die and he knew he would willingly die too trying to save her. But what would be the point if all he had achieved would be to ensure that she faced the same horrific death alone? A cold weight settled in the pit of his stomach. Bane looked down at her sleeping form, vowing that, if the end ever came and all seemed lost, he would do the deed himself. Only he would ensure she felt no pain and had no fear. Only he would leave her body intact and unblemished.

When she had gone, he would find Katerina and make her pay for the curse she had put on his life. She would die for what she had done to Mary and to Amber. Ulrich would not hesitate to punish him and his own miserable existence would end soon after.

Amber’s breathing became shallow and he looked down to find her watching him, her eyes reflecting the sadness he felt.

“Is there no hope at all, Malachi?”

“There’s always hope.” He averted his gaze so she wouldn’t know he had lied. Whatever time they had left he would spend making her happy and protecting her from fear.

He stroked the glorious auburn hair falling in soft waves around her shoulders and he knew he could spend eternity wrapped in her arms and touching her this way. Would she want the same?

“There is one solution we have not discussed.”

“What’s that?” She sat up and the sheet dropped to her waist, forcing Bane to close his eyes again so the sight of her flushed and naked didn’t distract him.

“I could change you.”

The words hung between them until Bane could stand to wait no longer and looked to see how she had reacted. He found none of the horror or disgust he had anticipated, but he knew Amber well enough not try and guess how she felt.

“How would that solve the problem?”

“Ulrich governs our kind. We have very few laws, and they are rarely enforced. In fact the one regarding exposure, the one Katerina used to elicit your death penalty, is the rarest of them all. Were she not Ulrich’s daughter, he would never have agreed to it.”

“You told me yourself that vampires interact with humans all the time. Why are they so set on punishing me?”

“Katerina’s jealousy mostly, but David didn’t help matters by going to the press. Without him, she would never have known. But if you were changed—became one of us—then the risk of exposure would be removed.”

“Well, now I feel much better. You should have explained before that all I need to do is die to save my own life.” Amber smiled without humour. “Are all female vampires like Katerina? And by that I mean power crazy, evil, blood-sucking bitches.”

Bane ignored the sarcasm, eager to take advantage of the fact she hadn’t yet said no, but compelled to be honest with her. “Women hold no power in our world.”

Amber’s mouth had fallen open at that, but she gave him a grudging smile when he pushed it closed with a gentle finger under her jaw. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”

“You must remember that we don’t have your modern values. We are an ancient society, ruled by men. Ulrich and his sons have absolute power. But the females
are
valued because they are so rare.”

“Why aren’t there more of them?”

“Changing a woman is hard to do. As in your world, the men are far more aggressive. Often, their victims die from blood loss before the venom can take effect. But there is another, far more common reason there are so few females among us. Many of the males revel in their freedom and sexuality. Very few want to be bound for eternity to a woman they could tire of.”

 
“That’s heartwarming to hear, but I guess I can see why an immortal man would be scared of commitment.” She grinned at her own joke.

 
“Some do survive, obviously. But they are spoken for from the moment they are made, belonging solely to their creator.”

“But if every man who wants a female has one, why are they so highly prized?”

“Ulrich uses others for his own gain. Some women are changed specifically to work for him and serve him. It would surprise you to know how many of the world’s most influential men have mistresses supplied by him. The men cannot resist their charms, nor can they refuse them anything. Someone in Ulrich’s position needs power and influence to ensure that our homeland remains undiscovered and his coffers stay full.”

An emotion he couldn’t place glittered in Amber’s eyes. “And they chose to do this willingly I suppose?”