Blood Crave 2 (11 page)
Authors: Jennifer Knight
Tags: #Social Issues, #Love & Romance, #Vampires, #College Students, #Juvenile Fiction, #Paranormal, #General, #Romance, #Werewolves, #Dating & Sex, #Fiction, #Occult & Supernatural
“Wasn’t there something you wanted me to tell you?” I asked between his lips.
He made a deep throaty sound that was half arousal, half warning.
It was all I could do not to make a fist-pump into the air. I loved winning when it came to us.
“Are you sure?” I asked, doing my best to keep my voice innocent while my body told a totally different story.
“Shut up and kiss me back.”
“But then I can’t tell you my news.”
“To hell with your news.” He began pulling my shirt up.
I laughed, pulling it back down. “You’re too easy.”
“You’re too evil.”
“I know. But seriously, I want to tell you what Yvette said.”
“You brought this on yourself.” He pried my hand away from my shirt and brought it all the way past my chest.
“Lucas!” I gasped, pulling it back down again.
He growled at me.
“Bad dog,” I said with a nervous laugh. “Don’t make me knee you in the crotch.”
Defeated—for the moment anyway—he collapsed heavily on top of me, muttering swear words.
“Lucas,” I panted. “Can’t. Breathe.”
He rolled to the side, still fingering the hem of my shirt as though waiting for me to lose focus so he could whip it off.
“Fine, fine,” he grumbled. “But make it quick. I have big plans for this trigger-stopper thing you can do.”
“Maybe do,” I qualified.
“You did it in the silver room,” he said.
“That’s because ... well, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” I gave him a brief recap of how I’d discovered that Yvette was like me, and that she and Rolf were like, link-mates or something. And that we were, too, or so it seemed.
“Apparently each person with the sense has a werewolf match,” I said. “And with that werewolf, the connection is so strong that they can control them even when their human. That’s how I was able to save you in the silver room. Because you’re my match.” I beamed at him.
Lucas’s face betrayed his amazement, and for a long while, he was silent. “Wow,” he muttered at last. “I—ah, I don’t know how to feel about that, exactly.”
That hadn’t been the reaction I’d wanted. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I was already a little iffy about you controlling me when I’m changed. I was only okay with it because it protected you and it could keep me from doing some bad stuff. But controlling me when I’m human? That seems like a little much.”
“But I’d never use it to make you do something you didn’t want.” I didn’t mention that I’d accidentally done it last night. Thankfully, he hadn’t even noticed. It had been a mistake. One I would never let happen again if I could manage to stop it.
“I don’t know, Faith.”
He looked so upset about this—so the opposite of what I’d wanted. Why wasn’t he seeing the positive side here? And then I remembered: “You can block it,” I said at once. “Yvette said it takes practice, but you can keep me out. So if you ever get ridiculously stubborn about something and don’t want me to try and sway you—not that I ever would—you can stop me.” Well, I wouldn’t use my power to sway him. I’d use my other charms, which, I was happy to say, were in excellent working condition. Go me.
Lucas chewed on his bottom lip. “Well, I guess that’s okay. We’ll practice with it sometime.” He tucked a stray lock of my hair behind my ear. “It’s not like you can stop it. I’ll just have to trust you.” He gave me an adorable half smile. “If you can trust me not to change around you, I can trust you not to abuse your power over me.”
“Deal.”
“Odd,” he said, still smoothing the lock of my hair in his fingers. “There’s never been a human in existence that had any power over me. And you—the one person with the power to make me do anything you wanted,” he shrugged. “Hell, you don’t even need it. I’d already do anything for you.”
It was kind of strange to think that a three-hundred-year-old werewolf was Jell-O in my hands, but if we were going to be together, then I really wouldn’t have it any other way. After all, I was Jell-O in his. Might as well make it even.
I was about to dive in for another exquisite kiss, when he said, “Hey, you know what this means?” A devious smile crept over his lips. “If we’re matched or whatever, then I’ll bet you really can suppress my trigger. We might be able to . . .”
Now
he was getting it. “Yeah, I thought of that, too.” I settled closer against him. “Actually, that’s the whole reason I brought it up.”
he was getting it. “Yeah, I thought of that, too.” I settled closer against him. “Actually, that’s the whole reason I brought it up.”
He began kissing me, harder now, and my body felt like it was on fire. “Try it,” he said against my lips. I could feel his energy growing more and more uncontrollable along with the passion of his kisses. He began to shake.
I wanted to try and repress his trigger, but I couldn’t think about anything except how amazing his hands felt as they crept lower along my sides and the fact that if this went well, we might actually be able to make love for the first time ever. Like now. And, yeah, I was nervous. “It’s . . . kind of hard ... to concentrate. . . .”
He laughed lightly, pulling back. “Yeah, I guess. And there’s one small problem, too.”
Panting slightly, I gave him a questioning look.
“You smell,” he said.
“Bad?” I asked, mortified.
“Sort of. Like vampire, but different. I guess it’s Derek.”
I pressed my nose against his chest and sniffed his skin. He smelled like an aphrodisiac, but I wasn’t about to admit it.
“You don’t smell so hot yourself,” I said.
Lucas buried his face in my hair. “Do you want to shower with me?” His voice was husky in my ear. “We can test this theory out in there.”
My heart thrilled at the thought, but I was still nervous that I wouldn’t be able to do it, matched or not.
“Maybe,” I managed to say.
“I think you do.”
Lucas hopped off the bed and scooped me up in his arms. I squealed as he hauled me to the bathroom across the hall and set me down. Eyes burning into mine, he locked the door behind us.
I
t worked. Oh, did it work. Lucas and I didn’t make love, but I managed to keep him from changing during a
very
long shower. It had been difficult at times because I was so easily distracted. To my credit, trying to concentrate while Lucas was pressed up against me, totally naked and dripping wet was more than a little unfair. And God, Lucas looked amazing wet. The way his hair plastered itself to his forehead made me crazy, his lips dripping with water, the rivers running down his chest, over his hips ...
t worked. Oh, did it work. Lucas and I didn’t make love, but I managed to keep him from changing during a
very
long shower. It had been difficult at times because I was so easily distracted. To my credit, trying to concentrate while Lucas was pressed up against me, totally naked and dripping wet was more than a little unfair. And God, Lucas looked amazing wet. The way his hair plastered itself to his forehead made me crazy, his lips dripping with water, the rivers running down his chest, over his hips ...
Plus, I had never been naked in front of a guy before, and I’d certainly never been naked
with
a guy so I was more than a little nervous. But the obstacles were part of the fun, and by the time the hot water ran out, I’d almost gotten his trigger completely subdued.
with
a guy so I was more than a little nervous. But the obstacles were part of the fun, and by the time the hot water ran out, I’d almost gotten his trigger completely subdued.
Once we’d toweled off, it was well past nightfall, and it was time to check on Derek—a much less pleasurable event. Not that I didn’t want to see Derek. I did. But dragging ourselves out of that shower was torture.
Lucas and I walked hand in hand across the living room. The house was now empty of most of the werewolves that had been here last night. I could hear murmurings in the kitchen as we passed, but I saw no one. We stood in front of the door to the basement, staring at it.
Lucas pecked me on the cheek one last time as if to signify that it was the last time he’d do it for a while (a thought that deflated the happy bubble bouncing in my chest) and pulled the door open. Derek was sitting on his sleeping bag, his chin resting on his hands. He perked up when we entered and stood up in a superfast movement that rivaled Lucas’s speed.
“Hey, guys,” he said. “Jeez, I was bored. I was too scared to go up there—you know—since everyone pretty much hates me.”
“Nobody hates you,” I said, but quickly changed the subject. “We’re going back to CSU tonight. It’s time to get back to—well, some semblance of normalcy, anyway. You got all your stuff?”
Derek made a face at me. “The only stuff I have is me. These aren’t even my clothes.”
“Oh!” I suddenly remembered that Derek was still in need of a shower and clothes, not to mention a big honking meal so that he wouldn’t feel inclined to eat me on the way home. Shame overtook me when I thought of him sitting down there in the dark, filthy and starved, while I luxuriated in the shower with Lucas.
Lucas sent Derek to the guest shower and instructed him to get his stuff from the bedroom he’d stayed in while he transformed. Once Derek was off, Lucas led me to the now abandoned kitchen to cook him some thick, bloody steaks.
Twenty minutes later, Derek came downstairs in a pair of Lucas’s jeans and a black AC/DC concert tee. I smiled at him and handed him the plate of steaks like it was an Olympic gold medal.
Lucas had his own towering plate of steaks, while I contented myself with some cereal. All three of us sat at the breakfast nook in the kitchen and dug in.
“My mom’s gonna freak,” Derek said as he chewed. “I saw myself in the mirror just now. I look like a corpse.”
I squeezed his arm briefly. There was nothing to say about that. He did look dead.
“And what the hell are
these
?” Derek asked, baring his teeth. He pointed at his elongated canines.
these
?” Derek asked, baring his teeth. He pointed at his elongated canines.
“Fangs,” Lucas said flatly. “I got ’em too, you wanna see?”
“No!” Derek and I said at the same time.
Lucas leaned back in his chair, seemingly proud of himself for scaring us.
I turned to Derek. “You can just tell your mom you haven’t got much sun since you moved here.”
“That’s a heck of a way to put it.” He sighed. “Man, I’m gonna miss the sun. I remember you and me at the beach, baking all afternoon.” He smiled for a moment and then turned to his plate. “Guess that’s not gonna happen anymore, huh?”
“We can still go to the beach,” I said. “We’ll go at night. The sun causes cancer anyway.”
For a long time, the only sounds in the kitchen were of silverware clinking and Derek clearing his throat awkwardly the way he did when he was feeling anxious.
“So, speaking of the beach,” I said, trying to maintain the conversation. “We still have six days left before class starts. Why don’t we go to San Diego to visit? I know my mom misses me, and your parents will want to see you—even if you look a little ... peaky.”
“How’re we going to get all the way over there when I can’t be in the sun?” Derek asked. “And don’t you think it’ll look pretty suspicious to my parents if I only visit them at night looking like I just crawled out of the grave?”
“Since when do your parents notice anything?” I reasoned.
Derek lifted his eyebrows and nodded, taking a massive bite of his steak. His parents were divorced and totally into their own lives.
“Come on,” I cajoled him. “Don’t you want to feel the sand again? Smell the salt of the ocean? See our old friends?”
Derek was still silent as he chewed on a bite of steak. I was about to start mentioning our favorite hot dog stand near Del Mar beach, when Lucas said, “Yeah, well, I’m not sure I’d go, either.”
“What?” I asked, crestfallen.
He shrugged. “A vacation sounds great right about now, that’s for sure, but, I don’t know ... with the uprising . . .”
“What uprising?” Derek asked loudly.
“Shh!” I hissed.
Lucas and I exchanged glances. Last thing we needed was for Rolf to hear we were still discussing this. I motioned for Derek to come closer and quickly whispered everything he needed to know.
When I’d finished, he sat back looking a little paler than usual.
“So yeah,” Lucas said. “With all of that still unresolved. It feels a little frivolous to be jet setting to Cali.”
Under normal circumstances, I would have agreed, but these were not normal circumstances. Over the course of the last four months, I’d not only discovered a secret world of supernatural creatures, I’d also been kidnapped by a vampire, almost turned against my will, attacked by a rapid pack of werewolves, and been forced to turn my best friend into a mutant. I needed to get out of Colorado and I needed it now.
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