Dream Warrior: (Dark Warrior Alliance Book 1) (5 page)

“Mmmm, these are incredible. My favorites are the salted vanilla caramels. The others are…unique. But, I could live on those salted ones,” she moaned in ecstasy as she ate another.

She had a drip of caramel on her lip that he wanted to lick off. He ached to lick many places on her delectable body. That was not helping to calm his raging erection. His fangs shot down for the hundredth time since entering her apartment. Definitely not helping. How they ached to sink into her flesh to taste her life’s blood. That was an urge he almost couldn’t control. It had been too many months since he had been able to feed properly. He desperately needed blood.

“You will have some every day then,” he declared. He would buy the damn store to see the joy on her face.

She had finished her second drink and was waving her cup at Orlando. She already had the warrior wrapped around her finger as he jumped to refill her glass. And she called him bossy.

“Uh, I hate to tell you this, Mr. Bossy Pants, but you can’t say that. And, you definitely can’t buy me some every day. We aren’t in a relationship,” under her breath she whispered, “those days are over for me” unaware that his preternatural hearing picked up every word. That affected him more than he cared to admit.

Still, his eyebrow arched imperiously and he took on the challenge she unknowingly issued with her words. “Doona be so sure aboot that, lass. I have powers beyond your imagining,” he whispered in her ear.

She laughed out loud at that. “Oooh, I have powers beyond imagining. What can you leap tall buildings in a single bound? Oh, or do you have x-ray vision?” She threw her head back and really laughed at that. The joy in her expression was breathtaking. He sat up straighter knowing he had brought her happiness.

Her sister strolled over and sat between him and Elsie. She grabbed up the empty candy box and huffed, “Wow, El, you could’ve saved one for me. It is so good to hear you laughing again. And, I will help pay for the candy if it gets you eating.”

The sight of Elsie sticking her tongue out at her sister brought the blood right back to his groin. “Sorry, biz-nitch, they were too good to stop eating. Like Lays chips, you can never only eat one.” She was tipsy and fun when she had a bit to drink.

“Funny, I don’t have that problem with Lays. It’s John I can never get enough of,” her sister tossed back.

Elsie broke into a bout of laughter then stopped and gaped at Cailyn. “I can’t believe you said that in front of all these guys.”

Santiago settled his bulk on the floor and leaned back against the wall. “It’s no big deal, we’re family now.”

Elsie smirked. “In that case, I need another drink, Cabana Boy,” she called to Orlando.

“Sure thing, cupcake. Always at your service,” Orlando said and bowed before her with a flourish. Sarcastic as hell. Yeah, she liked him.

A knock at the door interrupted. Zander opened his senses and noted it was Gerrick and Jace. He watched Elsie’s superb ass sway as she rose and walked to answer the door. He wanted to take a bite out of that fine flesh. And, his fangs were back. They wanted to sink into the vein running up her inner thigh. He cursed under his breath.

“Um, may I help you?” Elsie asked, confusion on her face. She didn’t know who Gerrick and Jace were.

Gerrick rubbed his free hand down his chin, clearly uncomfortable. “Yeah, Orlando sent us a text and asked that we bring this over.”

“I’ve got this, El. Here’s your drink. Go back and join Zander and your sister.” Orlando pushed her back into the apartment.

“You had better start explaining or else,” she exclaimed with her hand on her hip. Orlando began talking and for once he was grateful for the insouciant warrior. It eased the tension. “Honey, I cannot watch the Mariners on that dinosaur you call a TV. Plus, our Blu-ray won’t play in your ancient VCR. And, I can’t let you paint my nails without the proper chick-flick playing,” he teased Elsie and bumped her hip with his.

“You assume I will allow any of you back into my house. I don’t need a new TV. Mine works perfectly fine.” He braced for a battle with Elsie. He already understood how stubborn she was.

Orlando chucked her chin lightly. “Ouch, that hurts. I thought I was irresistible. Think of this as being on loan.”

Elsie flipped her hair back over her shoulders, causing her curls to bounce before they settled over her back. The honeysuckle scent hit him again. He wanted this human beyond all reason. She was going to be the death of him. “Like I’d let you watch sports on my TV. No, it’s perfect for Food Network,” she retorted. “Snap to it, would ya? I want to watch that movie you promised.”

Saucy wench. He may have fallen in love.

Cailyn gaped at the hot men who seemed to have taken over her sister’s little apartment, and life. Despite how most of them were beyond domineering, she was mesmerized by the gorgeous one with the beautiful, amethyst eyes and long, black hair. Something stirred in her chest and reached for him. A fantasy about undoing his long braid and running her fingers through it as he pleasured her body popped into her head. Surely, she wasn’t that drunk, she’d only had two drinks. Having such thoughts was unlike her, especially considering she had a boyfriend she adored.

“Jace, Gerrick, this is my sister Cailyn,” Elsie introduced the two new guys as they carried a TV between them. Gerrick was frightening and it was hard for her not to stare at the scar on his face, so her gaze remained trained on Jace with his captivating amethyst eyes.

Jace smiled slyly and set the box down. He reached a hand toward her and murmured, “It’s nice to meet you as well, Cailyn. Orlando didn’t warn me how beautiful you and your sister are. I suspect he was hoping to keep you for himself.” He laughed when Orlando began punching him and cursing at him. Cailyn watched him and wondered at the feel of his full lips. Would they be soft when he kissed her? She cursed as her thoughts once again turned carnal.

Her sister plopped down next to her and heaved a sigh as the guys went about setting up the electronics. Cailyn wasn’t fooled though. Her sister had not smiled so much since before Dalton died. She grabbed Elsie’s hand and squeezed it. “They are something else aren’t they?” she asked her sister.

“Yes, they are eye candy,” Elsie muttered and they fell into a companionable silence, watching the men work.

Cailyn found she was helplessly transfixed by Jace’s bulging biceps as he hefted the TV out of the box and helped mount it on the wall. The muscles in his arms rippled under his dress shirt. And, damn, his chest flexed, straining the buttons. She prayed some of them would pop off and give her a peek. His chest tapered into a perfect V at his waist. Her gaze traveled down his pants, which he filled out nicely in the front. Righty. Her mouth watered. She wanted a view of the back, too, and almost asked him to turn around. She slammed her lips back together before the words flew out. He may not appreciate her ogling, and she had a boyfriend back home.

She tapped into her ability and tried to listen into his thoughts. It was surprisingly difficult for her to pick up on anything. She caught snippets. Enough to determine that he was a doctor and was anxious to get to the hospital where he worked.

Without conscious thought, fantasies of them intimately entwined played through her mind. A peculiar energy raced through her blood-stream as she obsessed over this stranger. No matter how hard she tried to pry her eyes away, they didn’t budge. She had never seen such a handsome man. It took every ounce of her energy for thoughts of her boyfriend, John, to penetrate her lust-driven brain.

She stood, needing to get out of the room. It was one thing to fantasize about other men, but she was perilously close to acting on her desires. Her fingers itched to run across his copper skin. As long as she was involved with John, or any other man, indulging was off limits.

*****

They had placed the TV on the wall when Jace was hit by the most delectable aroma. An enticing, cinnamon scent mixed with a hint of sultry, feminine heat teased his senses. He flared his nostrils and drew in a deep breath. His body hardened as he became unbearably aroused. This time, unlike previous encounters with females, his arousal was not accompanied by anger, shame, hopelessness, and unbearable thoughts of his past.

No time to make sense of everything, his cell phone vibrated with a text message. “Hey Santi, I have to get to Harborview. Catch you later. I’m on patrol with you and Rhys tomorrow night, right?”

“Yeah. You okay?” Santiago’s concern was clear. He hoped the shifter didn’t get a whiff of his arousal.

“I’m fine, there’s been an emergency at the hospital,” Jace responded, as he made his way to the front door.

“Ok, see you later. Thanks for the help.”

“Sure. Elsie, Cailyn, it was nice to meet you. Hopefully I’ll see you again soon,” he called to the two females. He allowed himself one last look at Cailyn. He had been covertly stealing glances at her since he arrived. She was stunning with her heart shaped face and hazel eyes. And then there were her full, big breasts. They way her flesh overflowed from the v-neck sweater should be outlawed.

He scrambled out the door and gulped down the fresh air once the door shut behind him. It wasn’t enough as the image of her was imprinted on his mind forever. Disconcerted by the arousal, he scrambled for the nearby bushes. Anger coursed like lava through his veins as he lost the contents of his stomach. It was always the same.

*****

Excitement raced through his veins as Zander impatiently wiped the rain from his eyes. He missed her already. It had been several hours since they talked. He shook his head in disbelief. Him, sitting and talking with a human. He was a man of action and struggled to sit through council meetings when they ran long, but he loved every second of being with Elsie. He had never enjoyed anything more in all of his seven hundred sixty five years, and wanted to be back in that apartment with her.

He had learned so much about her. They couldn’t be more different. She loved to cook where he knew nothing about the task, he had cooks for that. She touched everyone around her for the oddest reasons and he suspected she liked the physical contact. He was more comfortable with several feet of space between him and those around him. Except where she was concerned. He wanted her as close as possible.

He could use someone like her to help him run the vampires. She went out of her way to make sure each of them felt welcomed and their needs were met. The only thing he gave was orders. It would go a long way with his subjects and warriors if he focused on them as individuals. That was impossible for him given the burden of ensuring the safety of humans and supernaturals.

The differences between them highlighted everything he needed in his life, as well as her fragile, human nature. She was vulnerable and could be taken at any moment. She was determined to get vengeance for what happened to Dalton and wasn’t going to let that go until he had killed every skirm. He forced back his anger over that before it led to him doing something irrevocable. He hadn’t experienced this fear since his parents had been killed. He loved her tenacity, but it was a double-edged sword.

Orlando’s voice brought him back to the matter at hand. “What do we do about SOVA? You didn’t manage to get any new information from her and Killian hasn’t been able to find anything out.”

None of them had any idea how difficult making these decisions was. He took a deep, calming breath. Honeysuckle had his body as tight as a bow-string. His blood rushed through his veins and his heart raced. He had never felt so alive. He wanted to lose himself in Elsie’s delectable heat so badly his balls hurt. She was human and he couldn’t bed her without risk.

He couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his lips and transformed his sharp patrician features when he heard her tiny snore. It was endearing. “She is remarkable. I almost lost it when it sounded like she was tupping the caramels.” He imagined dripping caramel all over her body and slowly licking up every drop, paying special attention to her perfect, rosy nipples. He would lap it from her sex until she was screaming his name.

He shuddered with repressed desire. Not being able to have her was more torture than spending hours in the sun. He closed his eyes as he held his breath and regained some composure. His eyes opened to meet his warriors’ curious stares.

He ignored the questions he saw there. He didn’t have the answers. “Get to your patrols,” he ordered.

“Liege, are joining us on patrol tonight?” Gerrick asked.

“You ask me he’s staying right here to ogle Elsie. It’s what I would choose to do. The skirm are hard to pass up, but—” Gerrick smacked Orlando on the back of his head, cutting off his ribbing.

“Enough! Santi, Gerrick, you guys join Rhys downtown. Orlando, stay here with me. I need to enter her dreams to see if I can get more information on SOVA. As you pointed oot, Orlando, we don’t have the information we need. You will protect me while I’m in her dream.” Ignoring his desire to ravish Elsie, he watched Santiago and Gerrick disappear into the shadows.

“One of us needs to get close to her and I canna be there during the day. To avoid having to explain that, it will be best if you become her friend. By friend, I doona mean that you tup her. That is something I willna tolerate. She mentioned her sister is leaving tomorrow so my guess is that she will be meeting with SOVA soon. Hopefully we will find out who their members are. If they are out patrolling for skirm, we need to keep them safe and ignorant of the realm,” he expressed to Orlando.

“That will be my pleasure. I like her. She’s spunky,” Orlando responded readily.

Zander bit back the jealousy that comment inspired. He had no reason to have such feelings. He never planned to take the relationship further with Elsie, no matter how much he ached to. Anxious to be near her again, he leaned back against the evergreen, closed his eyes and accessed his dreamwalking powers. Within moments, he was inside her mind and was immediately stunned. She was dreaming about making love to him. He hadn’t expected to encounter that. Shocked by the erotic nature, he forgot to cloak his presence. He wanted to be inside her sensual body.

He would lose control if he went anywhere near her. “I canna do this, ‘tis too much,” Zander choked out on a whisper.

Intending to take one last look, he became transfixed by the sight of her breasts as they jiggled, and the desire to leave died. He was consumed by need and a vast number of virginal emotions. Before he could form a coherent thought, he felt his shaft enveloped by her tight sheath and was pounding into her body from behind. He had lost control of his dreamwalking for the first time in his existence.

His fangs shot out from his gums with a hiss, as his lust for her blood rivaled his lust for her body. He could not recall a time in his life when he had felt stronger bloodlust. His eyes fixated on the pounding flow of blood through the main artery in her delectable neck. He could lean forward and take a sample and she would never know. He clenched his jaw shut, refusing to give into that desire. But, he was unable to stop his cock from thrusting into her heat. Nothing had ever felt so good.

He reached around and grabbed her breasts. Her rosy nipples pearled in his hands. He pinched and pulled, eliciting a moan from her. “Oh, Zander, yes. Dear God, don’t stop,” she cried out. The way she pleaded his name sent him into a frenzy.

It didn’t matter to him that he was not physically with her. This was her dream, but spiritually, physically, emotionally, he had never experienced anything more satisfying. The connection between them was tangible. He forgot that she was a fragile human and grabbed her breasts and slammed into her hot pussy. Her walls began to tremble and spasm. She was close. He gave her breasts and nipples one last squeeze and ran his hands down the silky planes of her abdomen.

Her skin was smooth and he caressed the slight roundness of her stomach before trailing his fingers lower. He was touching and making love to Elsie. His hands shook with emotion as he worshipped her body. His fingers grazed her closely shorn mons and easily found the engorged nub at the apex of her thighs. It throbbed beneath his fingers. He wished they were awake and experiencing this skin to skin. He was beyond the moon that this fiery, little female wanted him despite the fact she had rejected any thought of a relationship.

Her pussy clenched his shaft tightly and he groaned in pleasure. “Careful,
a ghra
, I want this to last. You bring me to my knees and unhinge me. Goddess, you feel incredible.”

“Oh, yes. Zander…I’m close…” He knew what she needed. He pinched her clitoris and rolled it between his fingers and she detonated.

She cried out her pleasure. He stilled and clenched his teeth against the spasms surrounding his cock. Not yet. He wanted that again.

He continued to tease her flesh and brought her down only to withdraw and slam back in. “No, it’s too much. I can’t,” she protested while she met him thrust for thrust.

“Yes you can,
a ghra
, I want that again,” he growled as his hands explored her back and the round globes of her fine ass. His movements became frantic and he chastised himself. Get control, he admonished. Savor her. Show her how good it can be. Doona rut on her like a rabid animal.

He slowed his movements, but her passion was too high. “Mmmm…no, harder. Please,” she begged.

A beast took over his body, one that was intent upon having all of her. He bared his fangs as he pounded into her and lowered his head to her neck. A much needed moment of clarity struck. She feared vampires and wouldn’t like being bit. He kissed and sucked her neck and roved his lips to nip at her ear. Her breathing was erratic and her walls began to clench his cock. She was getting close again and he couldn’t hold back much longer.