“We never have truly made love, I suppose.” Corbin sounded thoughtful. “I have fucked you when Roderick demanded it and you did the same to me last night when you tied me down before I lost control and…”
“Before you claimed me,” I finished for him. “Before you made me completely yours. But you’re right, we’ve never really ‘made love’. Not the way you mean.”
Corbin stroked my cheek. “Then I will make love to you now, darling. Slowly and tenderly. But you must promise to tell me if I am hurting you.”
“I promise,” I said breathlessly. “But don’t make me wait any more. I need you.”
“Gods, Addison,” he growled. “I need you too…so much. But I don’t want to hurt you. Come here and straddle me again.”
He took off his clothes and sat at the head of the bed before holding out his arms to me. I went to him and did as he asked, straddling his narrow hips as I had done earlier. I could feel the heat of his shaft, its broad head just brushing against my bare pussy lips.
“Now,” Corbin murmured, looking into my eyes. “Put me inside you, Addison.”
I reached between us and grasped the thick, hot shaft of his cock. Taking a moment, I rubbed it over my inner folds, gasping at the heated contact with my clit, before I finally slipped it down and found my entrance.
Corbin gave a low curse, his voice thick with lust, as the broad head pressed inside me. “Gods, you’re tight.”
“You’re just big,” I pointed out, rather breathlessly. “And so thick.”
“Take me slowly, then,” he murmured. “As slowly as you need to, darling.”
“I will,” I whispered. Slowly, as he had requested, I lowered myself down, moaning softly as his thick shaft filled me completely. It felt so good—so right and I knew it was exactly what I needed. “Corbin,” I said, looking into his eyes. “Now. I need it now.”
“My pleasure, darling,” he growled softly. “But as I said, we are going to take it slow.”
And he did take it slow, incredibly, amazingly slow. Looking into my eyes, he pulled almost all the way out and then sank back into me, filling me to the hilt again…and again and again and again. With every deep, slow thrust I felt the head of his cock kiss the mouth of my womb and his pelvic bone pressing hard against my swollen clit. It was exquisite torture. My pleasure began to build once more and this time I knew nothing would hold it back.
“Corbin,” I moaned, digging my fingers into his shoulders. “Close, I’m so close…”
“Come for me then,” he murmured, still thrusting. “Come for me while I make love to you, darling.”
“But…but won’t you come too?” I gasped as he pulled out of me again and pressed up into me.
Corbin shook his head, his eyes glinting. “Not yet. Not for a long, long time. I told you we were taking it slow, didn’t I?”
“Not that slow though,” I protested. “Not…oh, oh!” Just then my pleasure peaked and I could feel myself contracting all around him, squeezing his shaft as though my body was begging for him to fill me.
But Corbin didn’t come…he just held still inside me, pressing deep and hard, giving me what I needed until I was ready to go on.
“So beautiful when you come, darling,” he murmured hoarsely. “And I love the feel of you all around me, milking me so hard.”
“Corbin,” I begged. “Come with me—come in me. I want to feel you filling me up.”
“Not yet,” he growled softly and began to move again.
* * * * *
I don’t know how long it lasted but I was completely worn out by the time we were done. I had lost count of the orgasms Corbin gave me—by the end I was so exhausted I could barely stay upright in his lap.
When he finally allowed himself to come, we cuddled in bed with my head on his chest and I sighed contentedly.
“That was amazing.”
“It was,” Corbin agreed, kissing the top of my head. “Are you happy, darling?”
“Very.” I sighed. “It’s funny, I never would have thought I could be happy with a vampire.”
“We are an irritating bunch,” Corbin agreed with a hint of laughter in his deep voice. “Still, I hope over the next few centuries you can learn to put up with me.”
“Centuries…” I sighed and shook my head. “It’s too much to take in right now.”
“Then don’t try. Simply sleep,” he urged. “Sleep in my arms as I wanted you to the first night I brought you here.”
“I want to.” I yawned. “But…I’m worried.”
“About Taylor?” he asked. “I told you, she will be fine.”
“It’s easy for you to say.” I sighed. “After what that bastard Roderick put her through, I don’t think she’ll ever be fine again.” I looked up at him. “Corbin, do you think paying the Crimson Debt—having someone else pay it for her or to her or whatever—would heal her trauma?”
He shook his head. “I do not know. It is said to heal all ills—physical, emotional, and spiritual. But I believe that physical ailments are what most who pay the Debt seek to treat. Taylor’s wounds are deep—much deeper than any surface trauma.”
“I know.” I pressed my face against his side and yawned. Sleep was overtaking me and I could barely talk I was so tired. “I just…just want her to be happy,” I said with another yawn. “I wish she could get her life back and…and be as happy as we are.”
Corbin answered something but I didn’t catch it. As I drifted off in his arms, my last thoughts were of how happy I was and how much I wished the same for Taylor. Before sleep claimed me completely, I sent a prayer to whoever might be listening that my friend would find the road to her own happiness.
The End
Author's Note:
I hope you've enjoyed the first book in my new Born to Darkness series. As you can see, there is a lot more ground to cover here. Taylor desperately needs her own book which I am writing right now.. Read on for the first chapter of Scarlet Heat, the second book in the Born to Darkness series, coming in Summer of 2013. And after that, there's an excerpt of Brides of the Kindred book 8, Shadowed, also coming later this year.
Happy reading!
Evangeline
Scarlet Heat
coming Summer 2013
Chapter One
Sitting beside my new husband in his rugged black pick-up truck, bouncing along down a bumpy unpaved road toward the huge werewolf’s land, I couldn’t help noticing how angry he seemed. His eyes glowed a steady animalistic gold in the deepening twilight and his scent, wild and musky and somehow entirely masculine, filled the cab of the truck.
I was frightened of him—scared to death to be honest. I didn’t want to be this close to any male—especially not one who was angry at having me thrust onto him like a bloodsucking burden he couldn’t get rid of for the next three months. The way he’d looked at me when Corbin had informed him that he was expected to let me drink his blood was nothing less than completely disgusted.
He hates me, I thought miserably. We don’t even know each other and he already hates me. God, I wish I didn’t need him. I wish I wasn’t so thirsty. His warm, animal scent was doing things to me, making my already dry throat feel like sandpaper. Giving me those strange feelings I’d been fighting almost from the moment I’d first drunk his blood from the Chalice of Union during our brief and perfunctory wedding ceremony.
I squeezed my thighs together tightly and tried to ignore both my growing thirst and the frightening feelings stirring inside me.
Overhead, the full moon was rising, shedding pure silver light over my pale, white hands. I noticed they were trembling and folded them quickly in my lap. My stomach felt like it was gnawing a hole in itself and I was faint and dizzy. It had been well over a week since I’d last had any blood but so far Victor hadn’t offered me any. In fact, he’d done nothing but growl at me to get in the truck and those were the last words he had spoken. We had been riding for forty-five minutes in complete silence.
Maybe if I ge
t him to talk, I thought. Maybe it won’t be so bad…we could even be friends. Or at least not enemies. After all, he went to Corbin to borrow money instead of to another were so maybe he doesn’t hate all vampires.
I cleared my throat nervously and cast a sidelong glance at the big werewolf. He was so huge he seemed to take up most of the truck. I was scrunched up in the corner, sitting as close to the window as possible to avoid touching him but I could still feel the furnace-like heat of his big body radiating against my cold skin. As intimidating as he was, though, I had to say something. Had to make the first move or nothing was ever going to get done.
“Um, it’s a beautiful night,” I ventured.
The big were was silent. I frowned—had he heard her at all?
“I said, it’s a beautiful night,” I said, raising my voice to be heard above the roar of the truck’s engine.
“Yeah. Really fucking gorgeous,” he growled, still staring straight ahead.
Instantly, I was tempted to shrink back into myself and shut up. But something told me that I couldn’t do that. Tonight would set the tone of our future relationship and I didn’t want the big were to think he could treat me like a doormat—just some stupid girl he could walk all over. I’d taken enough abuse from Celeste, had spent years walking on eggshells around my cruel mistress. I’m not going to live like that, I told myself, lifting my chin. Not anymore.
“Your property certainly is way out of Tampa,” I said, determined to make conversation.
Victor grunted, his golden eyes never leaving the road.
“Don’t you like the city?” I asked. “I always think the nice thing about Tampa is that it’s big enough to always have something going on without being so huge you can’t get around in it.”
Victor made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat. “Do you always talk this much?”
“I’m sorry.” I crossed her arms over my breasts and frowned at him. “I was just trying to make conversation.”
“Well don’t. And it’s not that I don’t like the city—I live in the country because I’m a fucking were. I need space to change, space to run and hunt.”
Oh.” Abruptly, I felt stupid. “Of course. I guess I didn’t…didn’t think about that.”
“That’s because you’re a vamp. Your kind don’t need wide open spaces to let loose in—you’re monsters all the damn time, not just once a month like us.”
“We’re not monsters,” I said, stung. “At least, I’m not.”
“Oh no?” The glance he threw me was a lot less than friendly. “Last time I looked, vamps are undead and live on blood. That’s the fucking definition of monster if you ask me.”
“At least I look normal,” I snapped, losing my temper. “At least I don’t grow hair all over and…and turn into an animal.”
“At least an animal is alive,” he snarled. “More than I can say for you undead fangers.”
That was it—I had suddenly had enough. Years of repressed anger and hurt rose up inside me. I didn’t care what the consequences were for breaking the blood-bond between myself and the huge werewolf were—I wasn’t going to take one more minute of this.
“That’s it,” I snapped. “Stop the truck.”
“What?” Victor gave me an incredulous look and kept driving. “Why the hell would I do that?”
“Because I’m leaving.” I fumbled for the handle on the unfamiliar door. “How do you open this damn thing, anyway?” Falling out of the speeding truck wouldn’t be a picnic but I was a vampire—I would heal. Of course, my body was in pretty bad shape because of the enforced starvation I’d endured recently so it might take a while. But even a slow and painful injury was better than taking any more of the were’s abuse.
The handle clicked and suddenly the door flew open. The truck took a sharp curve and I felt myself slipping sideways at an alarming rate.
Oh my God! I braced for the fall but just as I started to slide out of the cab a big hand reached out and grabbed me by the arm.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Victor brought the truck to a screeching halt and dragged me back across the seat.
“I told you—leaving. So let me go.”
“I don’t think so,” he snarled. “We’re blood-bound—you’re not going anywhere.”
“So I’ll find a way to break the bond,” I snapped, yanking at his seemingly unbreakable grip. “Anything to get away from you.”
“You can’t break the bond unless you’re willing to go down some pretty dark roads and find a witch that deals in the Shadow Lands. You want that?” Victor demanded. “Because I sure as hell don’t. Like it or not, we’re stuck together, sweetheart.”
“Oh, no we’re not.” I lifted my chin. “I spent the last six years of my life being stuck in an abusive relationship—one I couldn’t get out of no matter how hard I tried. I refuse to spend even one second more that way.”
Victor’s eyes got wide. “Abusive? What the hell are you talking about, abusive? How have I hurt you?”
“Abuse isn’t just physical or…or sexual, you know.” I felt my throat getting tight but I refused to let my pain show on my face. “There is such a thing as mental and emotional abuse too. Although when I think about it, you did promise not to lay a finger on me and you’re doing a hell of lot more than that right now.”
I glared at him and then looked pointedly at the big hand encircling my upper arm.
“Damn it!” Victor pulled his hand away as though he’d been stung. “I was just trying to keep you from killing yourself, lady.”
“My name is Taylor. Not lady, not sweetheart, and most certainly not “fanger”—it’s Taylor. And I wouldn’t have died—I couldn’t. I’m already dead, remember?”
“Oh, hell…” He ran a hand through his wild black hair and blew out a breath. “Look, I’m sorry, all right?” he said, apologizing much to my surprise. “This is just…such a bad fucking night for this. The moon is getting high and if I don’t get home soon…”
“Oh.” Understanding suddenly hit me. “You’re going to…what, change into a wolf?”
“If you’re lucky,” he said darkly. “And if you’re not…” He shook his head. “Let’s just say I really need to get home and I don’t have a lot of time for polite chit-chat right now.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, chastened. “I didn’t realize your problem was that, uh, urgent.”
“Well, it is. And it wouldn’t be good for you if I changed around you.”
My heart was suddenly in my throat. “Would you hurt me?”
“Not on purpose, no. But my wolf—the wolf inside me…” He thumped himself on the chest. “It would see you as a threat. It’s an instinctive thing—we don’t like vamps. And I don’t think too well in that form—I mostly feel.”
“So we’d better get to a place where you can, uh, change as far away from me as possible,” I said.
“Yeah.” He sighed again. “Look, I know I’m being an ass right now and I’m sorry. It’s just…the moon.” He gestured at the full silver orb climbing higher in the sky above us and his voice dropped to an even deeper register, sounding almost like an animal’s growl. “She’s calling me. I’m strong but I can’t hold off my change forever.”
“Oh, right.” I nodded nervously. I had no wish to be caught in the cab of the truck with a huge, ravenous wolf who hated vampires. “Well…can you get us home? I mean, your home of course,” I added quickly.
“Yeah, if we go right now.” Victor started the truck’s engine and looked pointedly at my door, which was still swinging open, letting in the warm, humid Florida air. “Could you close that? I don’t care if you’re undead or not, you don’t look like you’re in any kind of shape to survive being thrown from a truck doing sixty.”
“I’m stronger than I look,” I protested, but I closed the door as he had asked. “I heal fast.”
He snorted and put the truck in gear. “Yeah. Right.”
“It’s true,” I said, stung. “I’ve had ev
ery bone in my body broken multiple times and I healed every time.”
The look he cast from the other side of the truck was both incredulous and pitying.
“You what? How the hell did you break all your bones? You into skydiving or something?”
I crossed my arms over my breasts and looked down.
“I wasn’t the one who broke them. But that’s not the point—the point is that I can take a lot of abuse and still live.” I looked up at him. “But I won’t. Not anymore. Not from you or anyone else.”
He nodded thoughtfully and I thought I saw just a touch of respect creeping into his golden eyes.
“I got it. You’re tougher than you look. But you don’t mind me saying so—you don’t look too good.”
“Thanks a lot,” I snapped. “That makes me feel just great. Are you always this smooth?”
“No, damn it…” He slapped the steering wheel in frustration. “Look, it gets harder to talk when the moon is full. My wolf comes forward and that part of me…it doesn’t have words.” He took a deep breath. “I didn’t mean you’re not pretty—you are. Fucking gorgeous. I’m just saying you look, I don’t know, sick or something. Kind of weak and frail.”
“You’d be weak and frail too if you hadn’t had any nourishment in almost two weeks,” I said tightly. “I’m just thirsty that’s all.”
“Oh, right. I, uh, guess that’s my fault.” He gave me a sidelong look as he turned the truck onto a smaller dirt road.
I said nothing. He could assign himself the blame if he wanted to but I wasn’t going to say anything else. I’m not going to beg, I told myself, even though his warm scent was making my thirst for blood almost unbearable.
Victor cleared his throat and killed the truck’s motor.
“Well, here we are.”
I looked out the window and saw a large clearing inside a dense thicket of woods. This being Florida, there were plenty of vines and creepers too, all of them dark greenish-black in the deepening night.