Her Secret (22 page)

“Sar, this is your life we are trying to
protect. And you are still taking those pills, so it’s unlikely
you’ll react wildly.” He became seductive. “It will be like it was
before, Love. Only we’ll have to be a good deal more careful,
mainly me. Will you do it?”

I didn’t answer, not wanting to admit I was
off the pills, or commit to the plan. Danial was interested in more
than just marking me. If I were with him again, it would be almost
impossible for me not to fall back into a relationship with him
afterwards, not with how we felt about each other. I couldn’t do
that unless I accepted the future of becoming vampire. That meant
never feeling the sun again, ever. It meant never eating anything
other than blood, ever. I’d have to have donors of my own...

“Think about it,” Danial continued. “I’ll see
you Friday night at the latest. Until then, I’ll call you every
night at your home. Leave me any messages you like on my
voicemail.”

I’d made a lot of decisions in my life, some
good and some bad. This one would be unalterable once it was
done.

“Sar?”

“I’ll think on it,” I answered. “Be
careful.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I replied. “Goodbye for
now.”

Chapter
Ten

The day after
Christmas was a rainy Tuesday morning that dawned grimly. Shortly
after dawn, the rain became ice that coated the trees, leaving
their branches heavy and drooping with weight. I lay in bed,
watching them bend further and further as ice pattered at the
windows.

“That’s how I feel, like those branches,” I
told the dogs. “But Aran is coming by this morning. Sure, he isn’t
talkative, but he’s cheerful. Let’s make him some cookies,
okay?”

At the sound of the word cookie, the dogs
leapt up from their beds. Smiling, I threw back the covers and got
to work.

A few hours later, I took the last of the
cookies out of the oven, being careful not to burn myself. My
fingers had been clumsier than usual this morning, despite I’d felt
much more like my old self. After using both hands to put each
cookie one by one on the cooling rack, I went to sit down for a
while. Despite my positive mood, I was worn out from all the
emotional upset of the day before.

I went over my list, deciding on what I had
time to do next before lunch. Today and tomorrow, I planned to
spend at home. Friday, I’d go into Danial’s to finish up some last
email work. Friday night, Danial would return. By then, I had to
make a decision if I was willing to be vampire, or die trying to
save my humanity.

That was the real question I needed to
answer, not was I willing to have sex with him to let him mark me.
Danial hadn’t been making preparations all this month because he
was overcautious. If he was that worried, I had every reason to
think that if I entered that vampire Gathering unmarked—or
un-Oathed, for that matter—not only was he not coming home, I
wasn’t either.

Just what fate waited for me at the other
Ruler’s hands or their minions I didn’t know. Danial and Theo had
never elaborated about what they feared exactly, except death and
my being taken away against my will. But I could imagine being kept
a prisoner while powerful vampires studied my blood, or used it to
create a legion of dhamphirs. From my experience, un-Oathed humans
were somewhere below werecreatures in most vampires’ estimation,
close to animals. They would take what they wanted from me and cast
me aside when they were done.

What choice was there, really, given that? I
had to let Danial mark me. Maybe he was right, with enough care we
could find a way to be together without endangering me...

The clock chimed eleven. Worried, I glanced
outside, wondering if Aran would call to cancel. He’d said he’d be
going by on an errand for Cia, but the sky was dull white now. The
impending storm forecasted for noon might begin at any moment.

There was no sign of him.

We were supposed to get a foot or more,
something that irritated me. We’d gotten three feet so far this
season. With no warm days to melt any of it, the drifts were huge,
surrounding the plowed driveway like tall mountains.

I let out a yawn, blinking my eyes. With the
completion of the cookies, despite my eagerness earlier, my utmost
desire was a long nap under a warm blanket. Grinning, I made a deal
with myself that as soon as the snow flew, the couch was where I
was headed. Until then, I needed to keep on track. I hurriedly did
some light cleaning and laundry. I was just putting the vacuum
cleaner away when the clock chimed twelve.

I cast a look outside. Snowflakes had begun
to fall. Soon, they were falling fast and furiously, obscuring my
view of the barn.

“C’mon, Aran,” I said, scanning the drive.
“You don’t get here shortly, I’m walking down those cookies to the
mailbox and you can eat them frozen.”

All of a sudden, the snow-dampened roar of a
motorcycle was heard in the silence. Aran drove down the driveway,
his lone headlight catching the snowflakes in its circular light as
they fell. He was dressed in his usual black leather.

“You’re crazy,” I muttered, throwing cookies
into a plastic bag quickly. “Maybe werefoxes don’t get as cold as
normal humans did, but you still have to be cold in that.” I closed
the bag, then headed for the front door. “At least it’s something
between you and the pavement.”

Aran pulled up in front of the deck and
parked the bike, but didn’t turn it off. He faced the house for a
moment. As I opened the door, he gestured around him, then pointed
to my house.

I opened the door and yelled to him, “Sure,
you can stay ‘til it stops. I’m glad of the company. Go to the
bottom garage, I’ll let you in!”

He nodded, the visor of his helmet and his
shoulders already covered in snow. He drove on as I shut the front
door and ran downstairs. Pressing the button, I raised the overhead
door and he drove in.

Shivering in the cold blast from the door, I
quickly shut it as he parked his Harley and shut off the engine. He
began brushing the snow off himself.

“Why’d you bring the bike today of all days?”
I said, giving him a sarcastic smile. “I told you it was going to
storm. Now you’re stuck here. Cia’s not going to be happy.”

Aran got off his bike and continued to brush
him and it off, melting snow creating puddles on the concrete
floor.

“Why don’t you give me your coat, and I’ll
put it near the fire. If you want, we can watch a movie or
something. I was planning to head to the couch any—”

Aran unbuckled his helmet and in one smooth
motion pulled it off his head. Gold curls and waves fell almost to
his shoulders.

This was not Aran.

This was Devlin.

He stepped off the bike, and came toward me.
I was lost from the moment I looked into his golden eyes.

The garage remote dropped from my nerveless
hand as I moved toward him, shaking slightly. I stretched out my
arms to him, winding them around his neck, pulling him down to kiss
me. He kissed me lightly, nibbling the edge of my lips with his
fangs.

“Miss me?” he said seductively.

I pushed my body tight against his, desire
pouring through me. He groaned and clasped me to him, his soft kiss
becoming intent and reckless. Suddenly he lifted me, his leather
creaking as he carried me into the basement bedroom. He laid me on
the bed, kissing my mouth passionately, delving into me with his
tongue, then began to kiss his way down my body. I felt the brush
of his fangs on my bare skin and shivered, letting out a wild
cry.

He drew back suddenly to look at me, his eyes
molten. He paused for a second as if he was going to speak, then
seemed to reconsider his words. Instead, he kissed me again on my
throat and shoulders, pulling down my loose sweater so he could run
his fangs over my bare skin.

I tried to unzip his jacket so I could touch
him, but my hands couldn’t seem to clasp the zipper. Devlin gently
pushed my hands back, and unzipped it, throwing it to one side. He
had on a black T-shirt underneath and I ran my hands underneath it,
into his chest hair. His skin was cool under my hands, and my
desire increased tenfold. He shut his eyes at the feel of my hands
on his skin, his lips parting slightly in pleasure.

The sight of his fang tips made me sigh in
eagerness, my rapid breathing speeding up still more. “Please.” I
tried to pull him onto me.

Devlin looked down at me through lowered
eyelids. “Danial was right,” he said seductively. Oddly, there was
a sad undercurrent beneath the desire.

“Don’t be sad,” I murmured eagerly. “I want
you. God, I want you so much!”

Devlin pressed his body to me. I felt his
shaft hard against my groin, so wonderfully long and ready for me,
and instantly forgot everything else. I arched my back, trying to
push my body that much closer to him, baring my throat to him.

“Don’t worry, Sar,” he murmured to me between
kisses. “I’ll give you what you’ve been wanting.” He bit me gently,
not breaking the skin. At once, my lust roared up inside of me as I
gasped, writhing beneath him. I hadn’t felt The Lust in months, not
like this. The pills had kept it at bay, but I’d gone off
them...

“Please,” I gasped. “Please, Dev, I need
you!”

“I know what you need, Sar,” he murmured. He
held me to the bed with one hand and began to kiss me, running his
fangs over my neck. He breathing quickened as he pulled up my
shirt, and unclasped my bra, moving it aside as his mouth came down
over my breasts, his fangs pressing down slightly as he kissed and
sucked at my skin.

It was sweet torture. No matter how I begged
and writhed, he seemed to foresee my movements, speedily avoiding
my efforts to impale myself on his fangs. Finally, I was near tears
with frustration, crying out repeatedly in desperate need.

“No,” he said teasingly, drawing his lips
from my reddened breast. “I’m not done with the foreplay, Love.
You’ll have to wait.”

“Please, Dev, please,” I whispered, looking
into his molten eyes. “I’m in agony. I want you inside me. Please,
stop teasing me, please!”

He bared his fangs slightly, then kissed me
hard. Quickly, he moved back from me and began to peel off his
boots and socks. Then he slipped off his pants and pulled his
T-shirt over his head. He turned towards me nude, and I feasted my
eyes on the body I’d dreamed of for so many nights. The sight of
his swollen erection made me scramble for him, but he gently pushed
me back to the bed. Slowly, he rolled down my leggings and then my
underwear, kissing me as he did it. With shaking fingers, I yanked
off my sweater and my bra and threw them aside, then reached for
him, beckoning him as I lay back, my heart hammering.

As Devlin lowered his body atop mine, I felt
the length of him pressing, seeking entry. My hand darted down to
grab hold of him, but he pushed me to the bed, holding me in place
beneath him. “I had plans for us, Sar,” he murmured in my ear. “But
you’re worse off than I thought. They’ll have to wait.”

I didn’t know what he was talking about and I
didn’t care. I was aching for him, my desire back as if it’d never
left. Abruptly, he shifted his hips, bearing down and began to
penetrate me. “Hold still, Love,” he whispered, hissing my ear.
“I’ll be as gentle as I can.”

I shook beneath him, fighting my wanton
desire to pump my hips and get him inside faster as he slid into me
ever so slowly. My heart was pounding. I was beyond breathing hard,
the breath tearing out of me.

Finally, he was mostly inside me, my body
encasing him like a tight sheath. He held still then, his eyes
closed, savoring being in me, a look of utter satisfaction on his
face. Then he began to move, stroking me repeatedly as he had
months ago.

“I can’t wait,” I panted, clasping his
buttocks as I strained upward. “Please, don’t make me wait.”

Devlin let out an eager moan and began
thrusting fast within me almost immediately, though he didn’t go
very deep. It wasn’t enough. I wanted all of him. I wrapped my arms
around him and tried to pull his hips as close to me as I
could.

Devlin resisted, pushing back slightly. “Sar,
don’t,” he said roughly, the need for orgasm heavy in his words.
“Your body’s not ready for all of mine, I’ll hurt you—”

“I can’t wait anymore, Dev! Please!” I
screamed. “I need you! All of you!”

“Then you shall have me,” Devlin growled,
baring his fangs and sinking them deep into my neck.

The feeling of utter release after being
denied so long brought me spasming, screaming at the top of my
lungs. Devlin felt me come, and pushed deep, even as he drank me
down. His blissful sighs were muffled, even as he thrust faster. I
continued to spasm, continued to come for him, waves of pleasure
crashing over me from what his body was doing to mine. I screamed
over and over wordlessly, my arms clasped tightly around his head
and shoulders as he sucked rhythmically. Dev made a muffled cry,
then clutched me to him as tight as he could, driving himself
completely into me with abandon as he came. In the next second, he
bit deeper, his fangs sliding in completely as he sucked
insistently.

The sensation was too much, too good, too
big. I blacked out in his arms.

The next thing I knew, I smelled the sharp
odor of alcohol. I jerked my head back from it. “Sar,” someone said
softly. “Wake up, Sar.”

I opened my eyes. Devlin was looking down at
me, attentive but not worried. He put the alcohol soaked rag to the
side and gathered me back into his arms. He was dressed in his
T-shirt and pants again, though I was still naked. We were still on
the bed downstairs.

“Why are you dressed?” I asked curiously.

He gave me a considering look. “I thought you
might want me to leave when you came to,” he said simply. “Now that
you are back in control.”