Claws and Effect (11 page)

"What do you mean, settlement?"

He continued to stroke my back, my arms, every inch of my skin that wasn't covered by the blanket hauled against my breasts. "Because of Andre. Vampires have a law that if you create another vampire, you must give half of your worldly possessions. Andre broke the laws, and as a penalty, half of his fortune has been awarded to you. I'm guessing someone in the vampire world wants possession of that money."

"I don't want it," I whispered. I didn't want anything that would remind me of Andre ever again.

"Even if you don't want it, it's still yours. Which causes a new set of problems. Even if we set you free, the vampires would never leave you alone, because they want control of your fortune. And since you're human, we can only protect you for so long." His arms tightened around me. "And I'm having to fight every bone in my body not to throw you down on this bed and turn you into a shifter just to keep you safe. Because if you were a were-cougar like Marie, they wouldn't be able to touch you. You'd be safe no matter what they threw at you, and you'd have the Alliance at your back."

For some reason, that made me cry harder. He didn't want to transform me because he wanted me. He wanted to transform me because he thought I'd be safer that way. Didn't anyone want me just for me? Not because I was their favorite flavor of blood or had some vampire's fortune?

Didn't anyone just want me? Lily Faust? Crappy human woman with no tail, no fangs, no claws, just a rather lonely heart?

"Lily?" Ellis sounded confused. His fingers brushed my cheek. "Don't cry. I'm so sorry. I know you don't want to be turned, but we're running low on options, and it kills me to think that a vampire might touch you again. I need to keep you safe. I have to. Do you understand?"

I shook my head.

"Please, baby," he breathed. "Let me do this. I want to keep you safe."

I wiped at my eyes. "Does it really have to come to this?"

"Why can't it?" he growled, frustration edging in his voice. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't turn you right now."

I thumped a fist against his chest. "Because I want you to do it because you love me, damn it. Not because you want to keep me safe."

He stiffened against me and then pulled me back. "Are you kidding?" The green eyes that glowed in his face were practically feral. "I'm fucking crazy in love with you, Lily. Why do you think I've been going so insane lately? I can't fucking sleep without you next to me in bed, and the thought of Austin here flirting with you is driving me nuts, and staying away from you has been utter hell. It’s cause and effect, you know? I leave you so you can figure out hwo you feel about me, and I’m the one that goes insane with need. All I can do is think about how all I want to do --"

I grabbed his face and kissed him. Hard.

Chapter Eight

Ellis groaned and his mouth parted under mine. Our kiss was wild, teeth clashing and tongues sparring. My mouth moved against his roughly, frantically, as if I were trying to devour him. Need consumed me, and he tasted so very good. "Ellis," I whimpered against him.

"My sweet Lily," he said fiercely, and he tore the blankets away from my skin with one arm, the other against my back, holding me against him. "Let me change you. Let me keep you safe."

I trembled in his arms. "But...then what happens to me? If you change me?"

"You become part of my clan," he said, pressing quick, eager kisses to my neck and moving to my ear. "You become one of us and then I claim you as mine because we both know that you belong with me."

"Because you love me?"

"Because you're my entire world," he said softly into my ear, then nipped it with his teeth. "Because if you leave me now, I'm nothing but an empty shell without you."

I moaned, my hands reaching up to twine my fingers in his hair. "Will you get in trouble if you change me?" I remembered his words about Marie and Josh, and how Josh had risked everything to turn her, and she'd been dying. I wasn't dying. I was perfectly healthy.

"Don't care," he said between kisses, and his fingers trailed down my throat. "All I know is that if you're wearing my mark here," he brushed his fingertips along the side of my neck, "then no one can separate us ever again."

That was exactly what I wanted. I ran my hands over his shoulders, watching my fingers dance along the tattoos on his upper arms. He was so warm, so hard with muscle. "Will it hurt?"

"Will what hurt? The mate mark or changing you?"

"Both. Either." I was setting myself up for a lot of biting, wasn't I? But if it was coming from Ellis...it wasn't exactly scaring me. Any trepidation was being quickly pushed aside in favor of desire as his hand smoothed down my bare arm and he pressed my chest to his.

"Well, I've never done either. As for changing someone to a shifter, I don't know if it'll hurt and I don't feel like getting up to ask Josh and Marie at the moment," Ellis said, then ran his tongue along my earlobe. "But given that mate marks are everywhere, I'm guessing they feel really fucking good."

I moaned. "Guess we'll just chance it, then." I clung to him, suddenly frightened. "If I...get too scared, will you stop?"

He pulled back and looked at me so tenderly that my chest ached. The backs of his fingers brushed my cheek. "Oh, Lily. I don't want to hurt you for anything. I'm not like Andre."

I leaned into his touch. "I know. I'm just a little scared."

"Don't think about me biting you," he murmured. "At least not in that way. If I bit your fingertips, would you be scared?" He lifted my hand to his mouth and began to nip at each fingertip.

A shiver wracked my body and I watched him, fascinated by his mouth on my fingers as he took each one between his teeth, nipped, and then licked the twinge away. "Not scared," I breathed. Turned on, yes. Scared, no.

He kissed my palm and released my hand, then slid his own hand behind my neck and pulled me closer. "And if I bit your ear, would you be scared?"

"We could always try it," I suggested, and bit my lip, because the thought of him nibbling on my ear was sending erotic flashes all through my body.

"Then let's try it." Ellis leaned in and I felt his tongue brush against my earlobe again. Then, he lightly bit down, flicking his tongue against the bit of flesh trapped between his teeth.

I moaned, my pulse pounding hard through my body and centering low between my thighs. My fingers curled in his hair in response, and I began to pant with need.

"We still good?" Ellis asked in a low voice, his hand stroking down my naked back.

I nodded, clinging to him.

He lightly nuzzled me along my chin, skin grazing my own. "You taste delicious, by the way."

I gave a small, nervous laugh. "So I've heard. I'm a great flavor."

Ellis's warm smile faded and I could have kicked myself for bringing up any reminders that I'd been a vampire's chew toy. It probably wasn't very sexy to think about, and my bare skin was still riddled with bite marks. I hunched my shoulders a little, trying to draw back from Ellis. "Sorry--"

"There's nothing for you to be sorry about," he told me gently. His fingers curled around my wrist and he lifted my arm, holding it out straight and stared at the healed bites along my arm.

My wrist was covered with red puncture marks, along with my biceps, all the way to my neck. I flushed with shame, knowing that the interior of my thighs - where the femoral artery was - had the exact same pattern.

"I look all used up," I said, ashamed. It wasn't pretty. I knew it wasn't. The marks were stacked all over each other and deeply gouged in some spots where Andre had fed over and over again. "I think he liked to leave big ugly bites on me because it was some sort of possessive thing with him. Like marking me up was going to ruin me as a vampire lunch for anyone else." Plus, he knew it fucked with my head, though I didn't admit that to Ellis.

He leaned in and gently kissed my wrist, right over one of the worst-looking bites. "I don't think they're ugly, Lily." His voice was so gentle that my eyes filled with tears just from the aching emotion in my heart. "They don't tell me that you're used up. They tell me that you're a survivor. That you've been through hell and came out the other side." He pressed another kiss to my skin, sending shivers up my arm. "And I love them because they're part of you. I love every inch of you."

"Thank you."

Ellis lifted his head. "That being said, it does make me jealous that you staked Andre, because I'd love to drive a big wooden peg through his ball sack a few times."

I giggled tearfully. "You'd have to stand in line for that one. I have dibs on torturing vampires."

"I'll give you dibs on that," he said with a grin, and continued to kiss up my lower arm, then dropped one final kiss in the crook of my elbow. "Is my biting bothering you so far?"

I shook my head.

"Can I keep biting other parts of you?"

"What other parts?" I asked softly, more curious than afraid now. There was so much adoration and love in every touch of Ellis's mouth and hands that I wasn't scared but intrigued. "My neck?"

"Not yet," he told me, and leaned in to kiss my mouth again. I made a sound of delight and began to kiss him back eagerly, moaning when his tongue brushed against my own. It felt as if he were raking it right over my core, and I shivered at that mental image. Then he pulled away, whispering, "I love the way you taste, Lily."

"I love you, Ellis."

"I'm going to keep biting now," he told me softly, his gaze locked to mine.

"Where?" I asked, feeling breathless and a little squirmy picturing all the places he could bite me with that delicious, talented mouth of his.

His hand reached up and cupped one of my small breasts. "Here."

I moaned, my hands clinging to his neck as he kissed and licked at my mouth again. His hand on my breast felt incredible. My breasts were so tiny I was practically flat chested, but I was ultra-sensitive, and the feel of his fingers grazing over my nipple was making me wild.

"I've been trying not to stare at these pretty little breasts for a while now," he murmured in my ear. "Figured if I ogled you while you were all freaked out, that'd make me an asshole. But I have to admit that I can't stop thinking about them ever since you took your shirt off in front of me." His thumb continued to stroke back and forth over my nipple, teasing it with slow circling motions. "Been wondering if they're as sensitive as I hope. Wondering if you'd like it if I sucked on them or if you prefer them petted instead."

His constant stream of description was driving me utterly wild. Having him touch me while describing to me everything he wanted to do? It only made things that much more intense. I loved it. My hands moved all over him, wanting to touch every inch of his skin and give him pleasure like he was giving me.

Ellis's fingers tweaked both of my nipples in tandem, and a shiver racked through my body. "Let me bite these, Lily," he said in a low voice, then leaned in to kiss my hungry mouth. "I'll make it so good for you."

"Please," I whispered.

His head bent and his hair skimmed against the bare skin on my neck and shoulder a moment before I felt him lift my tiny breast and aimed it for his mouth. His lips brushed over the tip once, twice, and then he popped the nipple into his mouth and sucked hard.

A whimper of need escaped me, dragging out into a moan. Oh god, that felt incredible.

Ellis's tongue flicked against my nipple, teasing it back and forth, and then he gently bit down with his teeth. "How does that feel, Lily?"

I moaned in response. It felt good. So good.

"You like that?"

"Y-yes," I breathed.

"What if I kiss the sweet little slope here?" He nuzzled against the tiny mound of my breast, licking at the skin and then giving it a playful nip. "Does that bother you?"

"No. I like it. I like everything you're doing." My voice was shy and I caressed his body with my hands, strumming over his skin. "I'm not scared. Not with you. I know you'll keep me safe."

He gave a low groan and pushed me backward, down onto the bed. "God, I love you, Lily. You're everything to me." His mouth pressed kisses to my breasts and valley between them. "I never knew why the others went so crazy over their mates, but now I know. All I can think about is your scent, your taste, the way your lips plump up when I kiss them...what it'd feel like to sink between your thighs and bury myself there." The tip of his nose skimmed lightly across my skin. "I think it'd be sheer heaven itself."

His words were driving me into a fever pitch, and I squirmed with anticipation as he settled between my legs. "I want that," I panted. "I want all of that. I want you to take me for yours."

Ellis growled at my words and his mouth trailed up to my neck. His fingers twined in my wet hair and he tilted my head back, exposing my neck. "You sure you want me to do this? Because I want to claim you right here." His tongue licked along one of the chords of my neck, exactly where Andre had left a mark. "I'd cover you with my claim here, so everyone would know I'd taken you for mine."

The possessiveness in his voice made me tremble. "I want to be yours."

"Then tell me if you get scared, and I'll stop." Ellis leaned in and licked at the spot again, then a third time.

I bit my lip, waiting. I wasn't scared. This man loved me. I loved him. There was nothing of the past in his gentle, loving touch. "I'm ready."

Immediately, I felt teeth clamp down on the skin on my neck, sharp and piercing. A barrage of memories shot through me, all of them bad. Andre, sucking hard. Andre, laughing at my pain. Andre's clammy hands and disgusting mouth as he took my blood and then discarded me on the dirt floor like I was nothing. I stiffened, all pleasure disappearing, and a frightened sound escaped my throat.

Then, a hot tongue slicked over the bite. "Shhh," Ellis said. "I've got you, Lily. It's done. You're mine now." The aggressive pride in his voice made me relax, and his arms continued to hold me close, his warm body pressing mine into the mattress. The feel of his big form over mine was reassuring, oddly enough, all that warm skin reminding me that this was different than before. This was Ellis. He'd never hurt me just to be cruel.