Cursed

  Charlie moaned when she felt him kissing her, paying special attention to the sensitive little bundle of nerves at her center. His tongue played over her clit, light and teasing at first and then, when she didn’t pull back from him, the strokes became firmer as he licked and circled her more deliberately.

  “Oh, God…” Charlie moaned, unable to help herself. She’d never been so hot in her life and she couldn’t take her eyes off the sight of the huge Kindred warrior kneeling between her legs, feasting on her pussy. This was how it should be—how she had dreamed it would be before that awful time with Clay. It felt so good to have his hot mouth on her, to feel him exploring her with his tongue as though he wanted to map her very soul…

  Stavros groaned, the sound muffled by her flesh, and pressed closer. Then, raising his eyes to hers, he began to take long, slow licks of her cunt from bottom to top, as though she was an ice cream cone melting in the sun and he didn’t intend to lose a single bit. The warm, wet drag of his tongue over her clit made her moan and pump her hips helplessly. Then, deliberately still holding her eyes, he dipped the tip of his tongue into the well of her pussy, just barely pressing inside to get her nectar right from the source.

  Charlie moaned in disbelief when she saw him licking up her juices—because that, essentially was what he was doing. He was tasting her—licking and sucking to get all available nectar as though he couldn’t get enough of her. As though he wanted more.

  As if in response to him, her body made even more, her honey welling up from within like an inexhaustible fount.

  The effect on Stavros seemed to be electric. He growled low in his throat and suddenly the big hands that had been resting lightly on her thighs, slid down to grab her ass.

  “Can’t help it, falinda.” His voice was low and hoarse and the bottom half of his face and jaw were wet with her juices. “Need to taste your honey right from the source. Need to put my tongue deep inside you.”

  “I…you…want to what?” She looked at him uncertainly. “But I—”

  “I need to fuck you with my tongue,” he said roughly, his eyes glinting with need. “Gods, I need that so badly, Charlie. I need to feel your juices flowing right from your center…feel you quiver against me as I penetrate you to the core.”

  He was waiting for her permission, Charlie realized. Waiting and barely hanging on to his desire by the thinnest of threads. At any moment that thread might snap and he would take her whether she wanted him to or not. But for this one moment, he was holding on, waiting for her.

  “All…all right,” she whispered at last. “If you really want to—”

  “Don’t just want to—I need to.” His deep voice was a hoarse, hungry growl. Then he wrapped those long, muscular arms around her thighs and split her wide to bare her completely.

  Charlie gasped at the suddenly motion and reached out for something to hold on to. Somehow she found her hands buried in the thick auburn pelt of his hair. And then he pressed his mouth to her pussy and she felt something long and hot thrusting deep inside her channel.

  “Ah!” Charlie arched her back at the sudden penetration. She had never expected to be able to enjoy this act. And she’d even less expected to find a man who would enjoy it. But Stavros was plainly loving every second of it. In fact, he couldn’t get enough of it—of her.

  He thrust in and out of her, pausing to bathe and tease her clit with his tongue until her pussy welled up again, and then pressed deep to penetrate her and taste her honey again. Sparks of pleasure shot through her, making her pussy spasm with need around his invading tongue.

  “Oh, God…” she cried, gripping his hair even harder. “Oh Please, Stav…please, I’m close…so close…”

  Suddenly, he pulled back, leaving her wet and naked and alone.

  “Stav? Stavros?” She looked at him uncertainly. “Did you…you don’t want to…”

  “Of course I want to make you come,” he growled, answering her unfinished question. He was panting, his big shoulders heaving with effort. “I want it so damn badly I can hardly stand it. But I didn’t in your dream, remember?”

  Charlie groaned. That damn dream! Of course he hadn’t made her come with his tongue—he’d bitten her. A thrill went through her at the realization. Finally her fantasies would come true!

  “So now you’re going to bite me?” She couldn’t keep the anticipation from her voice. She was already so hot and open and his fangs looked so long and sharp. She had felt them pressing against her while he tongued her pussy but he had never even scratched her with them. What would it feel like to open herself to him completely and have those fangs sinking into her tender skin? What would it feel like to have him drink from her?

  “You don’t sound very upset about it,” he pointed out, raising an eyebrow. “For someone who didn’t want to become my ‘personal pincushion’ at the start of this mission.”

  Charlie bit her lip. “I know what I told you—all the rules we made. We’ve broken most of them already—but we had to.”

  “We had to,” he acknowledged softly. “But I want to, too. Want to bite you, Charlotte and inject my essence.”

  “I…I want it too,” Charlie admitted. She had only made that damn rule in the first place because she feared how much she wanted this. She’d had vampire fantasies since she’d first picked up an Anne Rice book at age twelve. And now…finally they were coming true.

  “Gods, to hear you say that…” Stavros took a deep breath, obviously trying to master himself. The hungry light was back in his eyes and his fangs were longer and sharper than she had ever seen them. He started to lean down towards her thigh but Charlie stopped him with a tap on the shoulder.

  “Wait.”

  “What is it?” He looked up at her uncertainly. “Have you changed your mind?”

  “No, of course not. I…I want you to bite me,” she whispered, knowing the effect it would have on him but unable to help herself. “Want it a hell of a lot. But…I want to see your fangs first. Want to feel them. Can I?”

  “If you like.” Leaning towards her, he parted his lips, showing the long, curving double set of fangs on either side of his mouth where a human’s canine teeth would be.

  Daring greatly, Charlie reached up and traced one of those long, sharp daggers of bone with her fingertip. The big Kindred made her think of every vampire novel she’d ever read and yet, he was more primal somehow than all the white-faced, silent, blood suckers of her fantasies. He was so big—dangerous and desirable at the same time with that wild, hungry look in his eyes. More like a saber tooth tiger than a creature of the night.

  He shivered as she traced his fangs, his big body shuddering with need. Charlie knew he wanted to bite her every bit as much as she wanted to be bitten and the knowledge made her feel both powerful and vulnerable at the same time.

  Slowly, her eyes never leaving his, she leaned back once more against the arm of the couch. Spreading her thighs wide, she beckoned to him.

  “C’mon, baby,” she murmured. “Come and bite me—bite me hard. I want you to.”

  With a low growl, Stavros pounced. Wrapping his arms around her legs again, he spread her wide and leaned down to lick her right thigh clean of her juices. Then, just as Charlie thought he was going to strike, he looked at her again.

  “Watch me.” His voice nothing but an animalistic growl but somehow she understood him. “Watch me bite you, Charlie. Watch me make you mine.”

  And then he struck, the long, sharp needles piercing the tender flesh of her inner thigh and driving in deep, penetrating her completely.

  “Ahh!” she gasped. There was an instant of bright, burning pain and then Charlie’s entire body was flooded with pleasure in a way she’d never known before. She cried out, her back arching involuntarily as orgasm after orgasm rushed through her, as overwhelming and unstoppable as the tide coming in.

  “Stavros…Stav!” she gasped, winding her fingers into his hair again. “Oh God, baby…yes please! Bite me—Do it! Do it harder!”
>
  He did, growling low in his throat, marking her, possessing her in the most primal way he could. She could feel his fangs digging deep, penetrating her flesh and pumping his essence into her body, into her bloodstream. Marking her as his, claiming her in a way that couldn’t be mistaken for anything but complete possession.

  Charlie didn’t know how much more she could take. Her clit was throbbing, her pussy flooding with juices, her back arching as she came and came, her system overloaded and overwhelmed by the essence he was pumping into her. Her blood was rushing in her ears and her heart was pounding harder and harder and faster and faster as though she was running a marathon.

  Somewhere in the cloudy mists of her mind where she could still think a little voice whispered that this probably wasn’t good for her—that her entire system was going to short out if she didn’t stop. But like an addictive drug, the feel of his fangs in her and his essence in her body made her want more and more even though it was getting hard to breathe, hard to think…

  Suddenly, just when she was gasping for breath, the sharp fangs withdrew.

  For a moment Charlie just lay there panting, black spots dancing before her eyes, and then she felt him on top of her.

  “Stav?” She looked up at him uncertainly, her vision a little blurred from the intense pleasure. As he came into focus she felt a stab of fear sharper than his fangs.

  The look on his face had gone past possessive and into animalistic. Bestial. His pupils were dilated to black and his mouth was pulled back in a lustful snarl, his blood-stained fangs prominent in his inhuman face.

  “Stavros?” Charlie asked again, hearing the fear in her own voice. He didn’t respond…didn’t move at all until she tried to sit up. Then he pushed her back down and she felt something long and hard and hot rubbing against her slick pussy.

  “Stav…what? This wasn’t part of the deal!”

  At last he spoke, in a low animalistic growl.

  “Need to breed you…bond you. Need to make you mine completely.”

  “What? No! You can’t,” she whispered wildly. “You can’t.”

  “Have to.” The thick head of his cock was nudging her entrance now, preparing to enter her. At the same time his fangs were ready to sink deep into her neck. Charlie had never felt so vulnerable in her life. She knew somehow that if she let him do this—if she let him bite her and fuck her at the same time—an irrevocable bond would form.

  She thought of Missy—of her fear of never being free. The Kindred bond was unbreakable—something you could never get away from. A chain and manacle around your very soul.

  “Stavros, no!” She reached up to push against his broad chest but it was like pushing against iron. He loomed over her, the head of his cock still lodged in her entrance, and there was nothing human left in his face—nothing left but a snarling, lustful beast intent on claiming its mate.

  “You’re mine,” he growled. “Mine.”

  “No!” She tried to kick out, to free herself, but the motion only pushed the head of his cock deeper into her. He growled appreciatively and tightened his grip on her, wrapping his long arms around her thighs.

  “Give yourself to me.” It was a demand, not a plea and she had the feeling that soon he would be past asking—he would simply take what he wanted. What he needed from her. His eyes glowed as he waited for her answer. “Give yourself to me now.”

  Charlie gasped, fear overtaking her. But not just fear of the rutting beast her partner had become—fear of her own desire. Because part of her, no matter how small, part of her wanted to stop fighting. To open herself to his fangs and his cock and let him take her completely as he seemed so intent on doing. To give in to his demands and simple accept her fate.

  But then you’ll never get away! Never be free! a panicked little voice whispered in her head. It sounded like Missy.

  The thought of her sister seemed to galvanize Charlie in some way. She looked up, catching those wild, animal eyes and holding them with her own.

  “Stavros,” she said clearly, her voice trembling only a little. “You told me when I met you that you would never take a woman against her will. That you didn’t believe in rape.”

  Was it her imagination or did the fierce hunger burning in his eyes cool just a little?

  “I don’t want this,” she said, raising her voice. “I don’t want this!”

  He closed his eyes briefly and his entire body shuddered—she could feel it run through her like a minor earthquake in the place where they were joined. Then with a swift backward motion he pulled away, leaving her empty. He leaned down to her, putting his face close to her ear and snarled,

  “Run!”

  “Stav?” she whispered, looking up at him.

  “Run now, before I take you.” His eyes flashed. “Run before I fuck you. Run!”

  With a little gasp, she rolled off the couch and made a dash for the bedroom, not daring to look behind her in case the beast was hot on her heels. She got through the bedroom and into the bathroom, slammed the door and locked it behind her.

  Then she backed into a corner and held herself tight, shivering. God, what was she going to do?

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Stavros fought a brief, fierce battle within himself. Part of him—the possessive animal side, the side that had bitten her—claimed that he had to go after Charlotte. That he had to drag her down and breed her—that he had to finish the job he’d started on the couch.

  “No,” he growled to that part of himself. “I can’t—she’s not mine to take. Not mine to breed or bond or love. She’s not mine.”

  She is! insisted the voice of the beast. You’ve marked her—injected your essence. Now you must finish the job. Make her yours, take her completely. Fill her with your seed and mark her with your scent! Be sure no other male will ever get near her again!

  He was up and about to go after her when he remembered the look in her eyes.

  “I don’t want this,” she’d said. “I don’t want this.”

  She didn’t want a permanent bond with him or any other Kindred. And even if she did want to bond he couldn’t. He was one of the Cursed—a Sin Eater. It wasn’t fair to tie any woman to him. He had to let her go. Had to calm down…calm down…breathe…

  Hands balled into fists, Stav sank to the carpet on his knees. He drew ragged, sobbing breaths into his lungs, waiting for his blood to cool, for the unquenchable fire to go out. Gods he wanted her so much. And not just because of the way she looked or tasted—because she was who she was. Because she was Charlotte.

  “She doesn’t want to bond…doesn’t want to breed,” he growled to himself, trying to regain control. “I can’t have her—she doesn’t want me or any Kindred.” She had told him so in no uncertain terms. Just as she’d told him she didn’t want to have sex.

  And instead of listening to her and respecting her wishes what had he done?

  “I fucking raped her—or near enough.” Stavros groaned. As his blood cooled and the overwhelming urge to bond with her receded, the enormity of what had happened between them began to press on him.

  Gods, what have I done? What have I done?

  And will she ever forgive me?

  * * * * *

  “The dark one…he’s coming for me. He’s coming and I’ll never be free of him. Never be free!”

  “Don’t say that, Missy!” Charlie hugged her sister tight. “Please don’t say it. I won’t let them take you—I won’t!”

  “You can’t stop them—no one can.” The look in Missy’s eyes was desolate…desperate. “I so afraid to sleep…afraid I’ll see him and I won’t be able to wake up. And then I do wake up and it’s not a bad dream, not a nightmare—it’s real. He’s coming for me and no one can stop him—no one even wants to stop him. I have to go with him because it’s the law.”

  “Missy…” Charlie felt so helpless. What could she do? How could she deny or refute her sister’s claims when they were all true—absolutely true?

  “He’ll take m
e away and tie me to him permanently. You know how it is—the Kindred don’t do divorce. Once they’ve got you, you can never get free. I’ll lose everything. And, Charlie, we’ll lose each other…”

  Charlie knew it was true. Tears squeezed from her eyes as she held her sister tight. To never see her again…to lose her to some strange, dark alien who could come for her anytime he wanted…was coming for her now…

  “I hate them,” she whispered passionately into Missy’s tangled hair. “I hate them all so much…”

  “I’m just afraid.” Missy looked at her with wide eyes. “Afraid that once they have me, I’ll never be free…never be free…”

  “Never…be free,” Charlie muttered in her sleep.

  “Charlotte?” The tentative knocking on the bathroom door startled her out of the doze she’d fallen into.

  “Huh?” She looked up, feeling groggy and out of sorts. Where was Missy? And why was she sitting on the cold bathroom floor naked except for some towels she’d wrapped around herself? Stavros’s blood was starting to wear off and she shivered in the chilly air.

  Stavros’s blood.

  Her blood.

  His bite.

  Suddenly it all came back to her. Stavros giving her his blood…tasting her…biting her…and nearly bonding her to him forever…

  “God!” She sat up suddenly, one of the towels falling from around her bare shoulders.

  “Charlotte?” he murmured again. This time the soft knocking made her jump.

  “Stavros?” she croaked. Then she felt stupid—of course it was him. Who else would it be?

  “Are you well?” he asked. “I should not have…I am deeply shamed at the way I acted.”

  Charlie shrank back for a moment shivering, her dream and the experience with the big Kindred fresh in her mind.

  God, what we almost did—what he almost did. And part of me…I wanted to let him. To forget everything that Missy went through and betray her memory and just…let him. What the hell is wrong with me?

  The realization of how close she’d come to bonding with him made her shake. The fear of being trapped gnawed at her mind like an animal caught in a trap gnaws at its own leg to be free.