Chains of Frost: The Bellum Sisters 1 (21 page)

What would happen to her after
her moon cycle was over and she reached full sexual maturity? From then on,
she’d require sex every day, just like a human does with food, or a vampire
with blood. Her eyes widened as a realization hit her. Who would feed the
vampire? He finished with some businessy conversation on the phone and closed
it.

“Tyrian?” She bit her lip,
excitement making her heart race. She loved trying new things, and this
particular thing she
really
wanted to try.

“What?”

She thought for a moment on how
best to approach this subject and decided to go outrageous since that always
seemed to work with him. Dropping the towel to the floor, she walked to him.

He heard her coming and turned to
her. Chloe smiled when his eyes widened and the barest of flushes graced his
cheeks. He was the biggest ego stroke she’d ever had in her whole life. With
one simple look, a look that he was obviously trying not to show, he managed to
make her feel like an irresistible goddess. As if he had to steel himself just
to deal with her. God, did she love it.

She stopped in front of him and
pressed her palm against his chest. Encouraged when he didn’t pull away, she
pressed the other against his heart. Was she finally making leeway with the
vampire commander?

“I want to feed you.” His lip
twitched and he looked back out the window.

“No. Come on,” he said. Not
bothering to wait for her, he grabbed her by the hand and took her into the
bathroom. He paused then said, “Stay in here while I shower.”

She couldn’t help but laugh.
“That’s not a problem.”

His words were icy cold when he
said, “This isn’t for fun. In case something happens, I want you near me.”
Chloe sent him a saucy wink and leaned against the sink. His eyes flicked over
her hard nipples before he dragged his gaze away and undressed in quick
movements.

“Don’t rush, baby. Go slow. Tease
me. Mmm, yeah. Just like that.” He kicked off his boots and glared at her, his
icy eyes glittering. She smiled and hopped up onto the sink counter for a
better view. “You have one delicious body, Ty.” He reached for the tie holding
his hair and released it. Black hair spilled out across the breadth of his
shoulders.

His body didn’t look baby soft or
even smooth, for that matter. He had a variety of scars from his arms all the
way down to his calves. Some were small gashes like thin cuts and others were
deeper, wider and were probably once very nasty. A light dusting of black hair
covered his stomach but did nothing to hide the hard muscles he kept there.

He turned his back to her and in
full light; she finally got to see that strange tattoo again. He got into the
shower and closed the glass door with a bang.

“Tell me about the tattoo.”

He started soaping himself and
said, “No.”

Undeterred Chloe said, “Either
tell me about the tattoo or tell me about your family. I’d prefer to know it
all, but I’m nice, I’ll let you get away with just one for now.”

“No.”

“If you don’t,” she rushed to
think of something, anything that she could use as leverage, “then I’ll sleep
with Draven, Rayn, and Henry. I mean it. I will. Maybe even at the same time.
And you know they will. Don’t push me on this because I know that somewhere
deep inside you, you really don’t want that.”

Silence greeted her except for
the water sloshing as he created suds and lathered them over his arms and
chest. Her stomach tightened at the sight and she really, really wished he’d go
slower.

“Papa raised us different than
other succubi families. He didn’t believe that the man needed to be head of
household or that he had any right to decide whom his daughters should love or
be with. My sisters and I respected that, especially as we got older and really
understood what it took for him to do that. Some families ostracized us,
criticized my father for breaking the time-honored tradition of creating
submissive women. Ha, it was a joke,” she said. Tyrian had slowed his motions
and she knew he was listening.

“Other daughters and even a few
mother’s we’d see on occasion secretly told us how incredible it was that our
father was letting us choose who we’d have at the time of our new moon. You
have to understand that knowing one day you could die if you don’t have sex,
sounds crazy, even to a young succubus’ ears. You know it’s going to happen,
but it doesn’t make it any easier.”

“But Francis left you to me
anyway,” Tyrian said.

“Yes, and I don’t know why. He
never mentioned it to my sisters or me. He spent our whole lives making us
independent from men. He told us we could choose whom we wanted to mate with,
who we wanted to become our Protectors. Then he died so suddenly,” she stopped
speaking, her voice clouding with grief.

Looking away, she blinked away
the tears. “I loved him so much, you know. And the one thing I’ll always
remember about him, the one thing he stood for, ended up being a lie when he
died. He wrote away his daughters to three unfamiliar, strange men as the last
thing he did. He left me to you.”

She took a ragged breath and
looked back at him. He had his hands planted on the shower wall, his head bowed
as water poured over the long lean muscles of his back and legs. After what
seemed like minutes passing, he spoke. His words were carefully chosen as if it
was difficult for him to speak about it. His words were icy in their control.

“I was raised in a vampire clan
near what is now Hungary. Only certain men, and occasionally strong women, were
trained to become warriors. Everyone had their place in the clan. Some were
workers who made clothes or weapons. Others were
frimars
respected
highly among all.” Chloe’s eyes widened, her jaw dropping in shock that he was
actually telling her about his past.

“We warriors trained every day.
No matter rain, snow, or storm, day or night, we were constantly tested, always
fighting. It hardened us, made us good fighters.” He rolled his neck back so
the water streamed in rivulets over his face. When he spoke again, his words
were muffled from the water. “The seal of my clan was the crow. Crows are
intelligent creatures. Myths from my clan said the crow was a clever hunter. It
would plan before it fought, then attack and kill its prey swiftly. This was
what we were taught.”

“So they tattooed the crow on
your back?”

His back stiffened and she
wondered if he remembered getting it. How painful was it?

“All the warriors have one. It
was a great ceremony, a proud celebration to receive the brand. You were not
allowed to shed a tear or cry out as it was done or else you would shame your
family and the clan. It was the last step to becoming a full warrior.”

Chloe looked at the etched
pattern of short and longer lines that formed the pattern of the crow. “It’s
not like any tattoo I’ve ever seen,” she admitted. “How was it done?” His
fingers reached back as if to touch the marking, but then he pulled away.

“A very sharp knife. You laid on
your stomach. One person specialized in creating the brand. He sharpened the
blade for hours until it was perfect, then as everyone gathered around, he
started cutting.”

Chloe grimaced at the sheer size
of the brand. It covered him from each shoulder blade and down nearly to his
waist. It must have taken quite some time to do that with such meticulous,
straight cuts.

“Do vampires not regenerate skin
back?”

He grabbed the soap and lathered
the rest of his body before answering. “We do, but not very quickly. Within a
few days or even a week, depending on how bad the injury is.”

“How did they get the crow brand
to stay, because it’s not very deep looking. Wouldn’t it have fixed itself?”

He shook his head. “After the
final cuts are made, the blood is rinsed off with water, then dried. The salt
is the final test. If you cry out, then they will clean off the salt. Your skin
will grow back and you will not be a warrior. They pack the salt on it in heavy
clumps.”

“You never made a sound,” Chloe
said in wonder. He shut the shower off and stepped out. He wasn’t modest about
his nudity but grabbed a towel from the wrack and wrapped it around his waist.
He started past her, but Chloe grabbed his shoulders.

She gasped. “You’re cold! You
took a freezing cold shower this whole time? You are such a bastard.”

He flashed her an angry look. “Excuse
me?”

Chloe shook her head at him
quickly hopped onto him from the sink, wrapping her arms and legs around his
icy cold skin.

“Shit, baby,” she said, her teeth
chattering.

“God dammit, let go of me,
Chloe.” He tried to push her away but she locked her ankles together.

“Not until you’re warm. Besides, I
like this.”

He took a deep, angry breath,
then marched out of the room with her on him. Chloe grinned when he started
pulling back the bed covers. He sat down and pulled them both under.

“You’re really sweet sometimes,
you know.”

“I am your Protector. It’s my
duty to see to your comfort.”

Chloe burst out laughing and
pressed kisses over the stubble on his jaw. She pulled back and looked at his
scar. His eyes watched her, but she ignored him. The growth of beard coming in
spread over his neck, chin, and jaw, but not in the crevice of his scar, making
it stand out even more.

“How did you get it?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Of course it does,” she
insisted.

“Why?” He sounded sincerely
confused.

“Because I want to know.” His
skin was warming up nicely against hers, making her feel all kinds of sexy.

“In The Great War, I was fighting
a group of demons and another came up on me by surprise. His sword flew at my
neck and I never saw it coming. Francis kicked the demon back and killed him.
The blade only nicked my skin.”

Chloe’s jaw dropped. “Francis as
in Frank Bellum? My Papa? He saved your life in the war?” Tyrian shifted his
eyes away looking uncomfortable. “Oh my God, that’s the debt you owe him, isn’t
it?” She couldn’t keep the excitement out of her voice.

In her zeal, Chloe wiggled her
hips against him and felt an unmistakable, hard press. Her eyes popped open and
she looked down between their bodies to find his cock a massive pole between
them.

“Oh, baby, why didn’t you say so?
She purred.

“No,” he said, already denying
her. His hands grabbed her hips and started pushing her to the side.

Chloe squealed with laughter as
she fought against him. She ended up on top of him. She didn’t waste any time
placing her hips in just the perfect way, then quickly pushed down on him. He
entered through her soft wet pussy on a hot, hard glide. His hands stopped
pushing her away and instead held her there, his hands gripping and squeezing
her.

“Wow, it feels…different like
this,” she said, her voice breathy. Chloe leaned onto his chest and watched as
pleasure tightened his face, made his breathing labored. “I didn’t know.” She
lifted herself partway then lowered. The motions were shallow, but repeatedly
hit her in some deep spot that drenched her in pleasure. “Tyrian,” she gasped.

His hips started pumping then,
working his length into her with a vigorous passion that stole her breath away
and left her gasping. His hands curved around to her bottom and urged her
faster against him.

Oh God, it was so good. She
couldn’t breathe fast enough. He was so deep inside her. Every downward push
pressed her core against him and threatened to send her toppling over.

“Chloe,” he said, his voice
hoarse and hot. Her eyes fluttered open to see him staring with hunger at her
breasts bobbing near his face. “Bring them to me.” She was mindless with
pleasure as she leaned forward and brought her breast to his mouth.

He made a growling noise, then
her breast was in his mouth. One hand came up to squeeze it, putting delicious
pressure on it so that he could suck her nipple into his hot mouth. His raspy
tongue circled her nipple then rubbed over it again and again.

Chloe’s rush to release came
swiftly. Her body came to a boil, blood rushing like a waterfall through her
body. She threw back her head and screamed as his thrusts became faster, harder
inside her. He kept going, sucking as her body quivered and jerked against him,
her breaths sawing in and out.

Suddenly he pulled his mouth away
from her breast, tugged her head to the side. She had only a glimpse of sharp,
white fangs before they sunk into her neck. Instant heat built at her neck and
pleasure again built in her sex as he thrust faster, sliding in and out of her
wet core. He drank from her with greedy pulls, his tongue licking at her with
swipes.

Languid euphoria swept through
her like a fog, closed her thoughts off to everything but the next climax
rushing inside her. She concentrated on the feel of him tunneling inside her so
thick and long. Each drugging pull at her neck, brought her closer, but it
wasn’t until she felt him become lost that she finally came apart.