Scarlet Heat

  Desire raced through me, setting my blood on fire, causing the brand on my back to feel like it was actually burning a hole in my flesh. God, how I wanted her! Wanted to claim her, once and for all. Wanted to make her mine. But…

  “I don’t want to hurt you, Goddamn it!” I growled. I tried to pull away from her. Even with her hot and open before me and my shaft coated in her wetness, I tried not to. But Taylor suddenly had her legs locked around me again—I could feel the lips of her pussy part as she embraced me, could feel my aching shaft sliding along her wet folds, searching for her entrance…

  No, I can’t do this—I can’t! I closed my eyes. I am calm, I am centered, I am one. I am calm, I am centered, I am one. Iamcalm,Iamcentered,Iamone…

  For a minute I almost felt like it was helping and then Taylor changed the game.

  She bit me.

  I felt the familiar rush of pleasure having her fangs in me always brought. God, I loved that sensation—the feeling of her piercing me, penetrating my flesh with her sharp little fangs. It never failed to make me hard, to make me ache for her. And I was already aching, burning from the inside out I wanted her so badly.

  The beast roared inside me…begging to be let out…demanding to rut. For a minute I actually lost consciousness as he took over.

  The room is a red wash of lust and I see the female before me. She is bared, her cunt wet and willing and ready for my shaft. Her heat is high…her scent rising like smoke to fill the room, to fill my head. She will be mine, I will claim her, fuck her and fill her until no other male dares to even look in her direction…

  “No!” I shook my head fiercely, trying to drive him back and the room came back into focus.

  By that time I was on the bottom and Taylor had somehow crawled on top of me. She was naked now and my pants were around my ankles. She was straddling me, rubbing her sweet little pussy against my throbbing shaft. I groaned as I felt her hot wetness glide along my length and stop so that just the head of my cock was lodged at her entrance.

  “Taylor,” I said hoarsely. “Baby, no—you don’t want to do that. Not like this.”

  She didn’t reply in words. Instead, she leaned forward and dug her nails into my chest. I let out a low groan as she dragged them down, leaving red furrows over my pecs and abdomen. She was scratching the hell out of me and it hurt but it was a good pain—an erotic sensation that made my balls tight with the need to come.

  “Taylor…” I begged, raising a hand to her but she only bit me again, sinking her sharp little fangs deep into my wrist. I hissed with shock and a mixture of pain and pleasure. As mindless as she was, Taylor seemed to register what an effect her biting had on me. She pulled away and bit my other wrist, then leaned down and bit my chest and neck.

  She wasn’t biting to feed—my blood ran down her chin unnoticed. No, what she wanted was to make me hers. She was marking me in the same way a female were would mark her male—with scent and teeth and claws. God, it drove me crazy.

  “Goddamnit, Taylor!” I growled. “God-fucking-damnit—no!”

  She raked her nails down my chest again, threw back her head and gave a long, low, wailing cry that called to something in my blood. I felt the hairs on my arms stand up at that cry—it was the sound of a wolf bitch in heat—the sound she makes when she needs desperately to be bred. When she has to fuck or die.

  Fuck her, urged the beast inside my head. Fuck her—breed her. You do it or I will!

  I knew then that I had no choice. Taylor’s heat was dire and my own had grown to match it. Even if it meant losing any chance of having her permanently in my life, I couldn’t hold back anymore. I was too far gone—we both were. If I didn’t breed her, the curse would claim me. And if that happened, I would kill her—the beast inside me would literally fuck her to death. If the uncontrolled heat didn’t kill her first, that was.

  I shook my head. This was it then—she would hate me forever when she came out of this—hate me for doing to her what I had sworn I would never do. For doing what had to be done.

  I was committed to it now but knowing that I was about to ruin any chance I had of having her forever, made me angry. No, more than angry—fucking enraged.

  “All right,” I snarled, switching our positions suddenly, pinning her to the mattress. “You want to fuck, baby? Then let’s do it right.”

  I turned her over roughly and pushed her into position on her hands and knees in front of me. I hated myself for it but the beast inside me was so close to the surface I couldn’t be gentle, couldn’t be sweet the way she deserved.

  Taylor didn’t seem to care. She arched back against me, her naked ass rubbing my cock as I covered her lush body with my own. I was dripping with blood from all her bites and scratches but I barely noticed. All I could see was her naked body, all I could feel was her soft skin against my own.

  And all I could smell was her heat—the scarlet heat that filled my head with madness and wouldn’t let me go.

  Grabbing her hips, I pushed her knees apart just as I had in the vision she’d had on Skull Rock. Taylor moaned and tilted her pelvis for me, showing me her hot pink pussy, open and wet, practically begging me to fill her.

  I didn’t try to resist anymore. I lined the head of my cock up with her entrance and rammed home inside her with one hard thrust.

  She moaned and writhed under me when I reached the end of her channel. I felt her inner muscles contract, almost as though she was trying to pull me in deeper.

  The feeling of her hot little pussy squeezing my cock like a glove was too much, too good. Instinct took over and I lost myself in her. And as I did, I lost any tenderness or gentleness I might have had with her—with the woman I loved. There was no love in my heart now—it was completely buried by lust. My eyes were hot and burning and I saw everything through a red haze. All I knew was that I had to have her—had to breed her and make her mine completely.

  I’m ashamed to admit I wasn’t gentle—I gripped her hips and rammed myself into her as hard as I could. I didn’t try to be careful, didn’t try to be sweet or go slow—I held her down and fucked her hard—shoving my cock as deep in her tight little cunt as I could. She was mine, Goddamnit, and I was going to make sure she fucking well knew it.

  Taylor backed against me, her breasts swaying like ripe fruit with each savage thrust of my cock into her tender, unprotected pussy. She was gripping the bedspread and moaning, the high, keening sound of an animal in pain. Was it the heat hurting her…or was it me? Somewhere in the back of my head I knew I should be more careful, gentler, but I had lost all capacity for those softer emotions the moment I entered her. All I wanted to do now was fill her with my cum. All I wanted was to make her mine just once—even though I knew I couldn’t keep her.

  Taylor seemed to want the same thing. She wiggled against me, bucking wildly. I wasn’t sure if she was trying to get away or get more. What if I was really hurting her? What if she was in pain? In distress?

  God no, can’t do this. Let her go if she needs to.

  The beast inside me roared but a tiny bit of sanity reasserted itself in my brain. I eased my grip on her hips to release her. I couldn’t make myself pull out but if she wanted to run, I could at least let her go.

  To my mingled relief and desperate disappointment, she did just that, wiggling away from me and pulling her tight little pussy off my cock. But then, instead of jumping off the bed to get away from me, she turned and shoved me hard in the chest.

  Surprised and off balance, I fell over on my back. Once again, Taylor straddled me. Her face was wild, her eyes wide and filled with hunger as she looked at me. For a minute I thought she would lean down and rip my throat out. And God help me, I would have deserved it.

  Instead, she reached down and grabbed my shaft, making me hiss and tense in her grip. But instead of hurting me she fit me to her entrance and pushed my cock back inside her in one swift motion. Apparently, she’d just wanted to be on top.

  I groaned when I felt myself hit bottom insid
e her again. God, she was so tight. It was like being gripped by a hot, velvety glove. This time I knew I wasn’t going to last long—not with her riding me like that.

  “Oh God, baby!” I groaned. “Oh God…can’t take it any more! Love you…love you so damn much.”

  Taylor didn’t answer. She placed her palms flat on my chest and began to move in a rocking motion, thrusting her hips to take me in deep, making me groan and swear with each delicious stroke.

  I thrust up to meet her, pumping deep into her pussy, watching as her full breasts and tight pink nipples swayed above me. I wanted to suck them while I fucked her—or was she fucking me? I couldn’t tell anymore. I only knew I never wanted it to end.

  But we couldn’t keep it up forever. Taylor’s rhythm sped up and then she threw back her head and let out that wounded cry again. At the same time I felt her inner muscles ripple, tightening so much it felt like she was trying to fucking milk me.

  I wanted to hold out, wanted to make this last because I knew after it was over Taylor would probably never want to see me again. But I couldn’t help myself—I let her orgasm trigger my own.

  With a low growl, I grabbed her hips and pumped up into her, shooting my seed as deeply into her willing cunt as I could. She was mine—just this once and never again, mine completely. Mine to claim, mine to mark. Mine to love.

  And then it was over. Taylor collapsed on my chest, panting and I felt myself growing soft within her. I struggled to catch my breath, my lungs heaving like bellows. It was the most intense sexual experience I’d ever had—and the most forbidden.

  Despair hit me like a blunt intstrument. I’d done it—I had broken my word never to hurt her, never to take her against her will. Sure she’d been begging for it but she hadn’t been in her right mind. The minute she came back to herself she was going to hate me. Now that my lust was satiated, a wave of remorse rolled over me. What had I done? Oh God, what had I done?

  “Victor?”

  I looked up to see the frightened, wounded look in her big blue eyes.

  “Victor?” she whispered again. “What’s happening? What…what’s going on?”

  Shame filled me like hot bile and I couldn’t even look at her. I put an arm over my eyes, trying to hold back the emotion that wanted to swamp me.

  “Victor,” she begged. “Talk to me—look at me.”

  “I can’t.” I muttered. “I’m sorry,”

  I wanted to fucking die.

  Chapter Twenty-two—Taylor

  Oh my God—what have I done?

  I looked down at Victor in horror. His long, muscular torso was covered in scratches and bites—obviously marks from my nails and fangs. And there was blood—so much blood. Was I responsible for all of this? The taste of his blood on my mouth and the skin under my nails told me I was.

  “Victor?” I said again but he still wouldn’t look at me. He had his arm over his eyes and his hands were clenched into fists. My God, what had happened—what had I done?

  I raised up to get a better look and realized that I was naked—we both were. And when I moved, I felt something slide out of me— no, I felt Victor slide out of me.

  Oh no…oh no, no, no…

  Some people think a female can’t rape a male—those people had never seen my old mistress, Celeste in action. Time and again she had made me watch as she took an unwilling male and made him willing, manipulating his body until he was hard for her whether he wanted to be or not. She took great pleasure in riding her victims slow and hard, torturing them as she did so, cutting them with knives, scratching them, biting them… I looked with fresh horror at his bloody torso.

  Had I done that to Victor? Had the heat made me strong enough to force myself on him? To take him against his will as Roderick had taken me, over and over while I was still bound to Celeste?

  Shame and horror washed over me, leaving me cold and weak. I realized I was still on top of him, still pinning him down and I forced myself to move, to get off him, to get away.

  “Victor,” I whispered. “I swear…”

  “You were in heat,” he said, still not looking at me. “Too far gone. I couldn’t…couldn’t stop it. My curse…the heat…it was too much. There was no way to stop…”

  “Oh, no…” A fresh wave of horror washed over me. I was sure now that I was right—I had overpowered him and done the unthinkable.

  “Just go,” he said hoarsely, his arm still over his eyes. “I’m sorry, Taylor, but I think…maybe you’d be better off at Corbin’s place. You…you should be safe there.”

  I didn’t know what to say, what to do. I had done the unspeakable—the unthinkable. I had hurt him the way I had been hurt and it made me want to die.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered, unable to raise my voice. “So sorry.”

  “Just go,” he muttered. “Fucking…just go.”

  I nodded even though he couldn’t see me.

  “I—all right. I’m going.”

  I dragged myself off the bed and threw on some clothes. Victor stayed where he was, not looking, not speaking. When I left the bedroom, I felt like a murderer leaving the scene of the crime.

  I stumbled into the kitchen and grabbed my cell phone. By the time Addison answered, I was openly sobbing.

  “Please,” I begged her. “Please, just come get me. I can’t stay here any more.”

  It was a forty-five minute drive from Corbin’s club, Under the Fang, to Victor’s house. Addison made it in under twenty. Did I mention she’s a wonderful friend?

  “Oh, honey!” she exclaimed when I met her at the door with nothing but my cell phone in one hand and a wad of dripping red tissue from wiping my eyes in the other. “Come on, come here and tell me what happened,” she said as she herded me into the passenger side of the Mercedes.

  I could only shake my head. I was too ashamed to speak—at least at first. But finally Addison pried the story out of me.

  “And you don’t remember anything that happened?” she asked when I had finally related the incident in a low, broken voice. “You just woke up, uh, on top of him?”

  I nodded and looked out at the dark road whizzing past my window. We were almost back to Tampa now and the roadside was beginning to be dotted with convenience stores and gas stations.

  “Oh Addison, I’m so ashamed. After what I went through with Celeste…and now to know I went and…and hurt the man I love—”

  “Wait a minute.” She glanced at me sharply. “The man you love? You’re sure about that? You love Victor?”

  “More than anything!” I put my hands over my face. “I didn’t want to believe it before but now I know…now that I’ve…I’ve brutalized him.”

  “You didn’t brutalize him,” Addison said at once. “Come on, Taylor—it was probably consensual and things just got a little rough. Like what happened between Corbin and me.”

  “That was different,” I pointed out. “Corbin was out of his mind with blood- and fuck-lust.”

  “So were you,” she said reasonably. “I mean, you weren’t paying the Crimson Debt but you were in heat—that’s enough to make anybody crazy. I don’t hold what happened between Corbin and me against him—I’m sure Victor won’t hold it against you, either.”

  “Yes, he will,” I protested. “Addison, he couldn’t even look at me. He had his arm over his eyes and he told me to leave—to get out. He hates me now and I don’t blame him a bit!”

  “That can’t be true,” she said. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you—he wants you, Taylor. In fact, I honestly think he loves you. I mean, he gave you his mother’s pearls, for God’s sake!”

  Looking down, I realized I was still wearing the simple white strand. The pearls were flecked red with blood now—Victor’s blood—which made me want to cry all over again.

  “Addison, don’t you see?” I said brokenly. “When everything happened between you and Corbin, it was consensual on your part. It was rough but you knew what you were getting into. Victor never agreed to anything. He was tryin
g to do the right thing, trying to take me back to the house and get away while I was out of my mind. He never signed up to have crazy psycho sex with a fucked up girl who couldn’t even stop herself from hurting him. From…from…”

  But I couldn’t finish the sentence.

  “Oh, honey…” Addison pulled over abruptly into the parking lot of an all night fast food place and put her arms around me.

  “I’m sorry,” I sobbed. “I just…I can’t seem to turn off the waterworks—or in this case, the…the blood works.” I looked at her white silk blouse, which was now streaked red with my tears. “I’m r-ruining your s-shirt.”

  “Screw the shirt,” Addison said, hugging me tightly. “Just let it all out, roomie. You’ve been through a hell of a lot, lately. You deserve a good cry.” She rubbed my back soothingly as my tears came back again.

  “I’m sorry I’m so emotional,” I gasped at last, when the worst of the sobbing had passed. “I swear I feel like I did back when I used to be human and had periods. Remember how weepy I’d get?”

  Addison laughed. “Oh my God, yes. When those ASPCA commercials used to come on and they showed those awful sad pictures of all the poor abused animals…”

  “Don’t,” I warned her, straightening up and wiping my eyes. “I feel like I could start crying again at the drop of a hat. And I feel so…so…hungry.” I looked at her. “Is that awful? After what I did I should have no appetite. I should never want anything again.”

  “That’s bullshit.” Addison frowned. “Of course you’re thirsty—you’re probably at least a quart low from all the crying you’ve been doing. Look…” She sighed and rolled up a sleeve. “I know you’re not supposed to be able to drink from anyone but Victor but I think we have to at least try.”

  “No,” I shook my head when she tried to offer me her arm. “No, I can’t.”

  “If you’re worried about Corbin, don’t be,” she said. “I’ll make him understand. He might not like it but—”