Into the Darkness (14 page)

“If you give her too much, too often, you will develop a link to her,” Luke cautioned.

Stefan remained immobile. They already had a link. Before they’d even met they had a link. Another thing he didn’t feel the need to divulge. “I understand.”

Luke’s head tilted. “This is extreme for a pet, don’t you think? She’s pretty,” he shrugged, “but she is still just a human. They die
early, they can rarely access their magic with any consistency… Plus, this human has caused a rare amount of trouble. I would advise you to reconsider.”

Stefan
barely kept his eyes from drifting to Sasha’s face. “How many pets have I had, Luke?”

The doctor’s eyes squinted marginally, thinking. His eyebrows rumpled.

“Exactly none. I don’t keep pets. They are a nuisance and a waste of time, not to mention dangerous if they fall in love. As I’m sure you agree, humans can be unpredictable when they love or hate. Especially both at the same time. She is not a pet. I have had no interaction with her sexually. This is business, and she needs to live. Will my blood work?”

Luke sighed, raising his eyebrows in a facial shrug. “
If
you can get her to drink, she might pull out of it.
Might
. She should be dead already. But…well, she survived last time, so who’s to say?”

While some cultures of human did ingest blood regularly, it was the blood of cattle or goat, and generally localized to that culture. Most of the time, a person or animal had to have specialized digestive mechanisms to filter out the excess iron consumed in blood. If they didn’t, a person could easily sustain an iron overdose.
Just another difference between humans and his species.

Luckily, Sasha’s body had proved to handle his blood, which was both high in power and highly taboo to most human cultures. He didn’t understand why, but given the circumstances, it would save her life.
Again. Hopefully.

Stefan
nodded, allowing himself to bestow his gaze back to this woman that had a firm hold on his vitals for reasons he couldn’t understand or explain. The only thing he knew with certainty was that she could not die. Not just for her magic ability, but also because…

Stefan
shook his head. He refused to think about it. This was business, she was a rare find, that the enemy now had wind of, and she could-not-die!

“Get out,”
Stefan barked. He swung his gaze around the room to the half-dozen attendees.

As expected, everyone scattered, including the meddling Luke.

Stefan approached the bed slowly, his body tingling, his dick starting to pound. He should feed her his wrist. That’s what he’d done before. There was distance in the wrist—an arm’s length to be precise.

But he wanted to be closer. He wanted to be
inside
her while she drank his life’s blood. Unfortunately, that would be similar to tricking her, since his pheromones didn’t work on her and she would never consent to it with her boyfriend still in the picture. Damn unfortunate, because he knew she wanted him. Her self-control was just as slippery around him as his was around her.

He stripped his shirt and pants and crawled under the sheets, stretching out his bare body next to hers. He would bring her to his neck, only touching G-rated parts even though her clothes had been removed, and if she reacted so be it.

Why did this make him feel like a sleaze ball?

He slid his hand along her flat stomach, spreading out his fingers so he covered as much skin as possible. The length of his body touched hers, her skin too warm, but still soft and supple.

He was about to back off, opting for the wrist because of the obvious fever of her skin, when she let out a faint, melodious moan. She turned on her side, breasts flattening against his chest, pubic hair ticking the tip of his erection. The need to crawl on top of her and plunge into her feminine depths nearly overcame him. He squeezed his eyes shut, focusing on her health with everything he had.

He jabbed the right spot on his throat with his dagger before throwing it across the floor and out of the way. Bending quickly before control completely fled, he gently pulled her upper body up his chest so his neck butted against her lips.

Her hands came up weakly, trying to bat him away, her lips curling under to shut her mouth tight.

“C’mon, Sasha, just a little bit.”
Stefan held her tight against him, her lips pressed against his neck where a slow trickle of liquid begged her to suck.

She opened her mouth, but with the intention to kiss him rather than drink. Her smooth lips grazed his skin, firing up his body and making his erection throb uncomfortably. Her mouth fastened over the cut, her tongue flicking at the liquid. With a soft moan, her lips applied pressure. Glorious suction pulled at his body, reaching all the way down to the center of his being and tugging. His cock jerked, the tip tingling.

She sucked harder, rendering a moan from him this time, his hands sliding over her well-proportioned hip and down to her butt. Having lost control of his limbs in the sheer pleasure of the draw from her lips, he pulled her lower half closer, his cock sliding into the space between her upper thighs.

“Mmm,” she breathed, backing off.

“Drink more, love. You need more of me to heal.”

Her hand felt up his chest, her delicate fingers tracing his muscles, stopping o
n his flexing pec. Eyes closed, she bent her head to him again, the fire from her mouth consuming him. His fingers worked in between her butt cheeks, circling that small hole lightly. His cock skimmed her wet sex, working against it, parting her outer lips.

She groaned, taking a long, deep pull from his neck.

He lost his shit.

Feeling like she yanked a string directly tied to his stomach and cock, he rolled on top of her, flame licking his skin where she touched. She let go of his neck with a pop, her tongue flowing over her bottom lip, clearing it of the last drops of him. Her hands glided up his arms, over his shoulders, over his neck
, and to his head. She pulled him toward her.

Stefan
allowed her to lead, sinking between her spread legs, his manhood pressed heavily against her heat soaked, wet sex. He couldn’t remember ever being this wild; this desperate to take a female. He pounded with it. Throbbed.

Her lips touched his lightly, assessing.
Her tongue darting out to lick his lips, tasting. More pressure, their mouths opening to each other. Her tongue entered his mouth, seeking him, and then drawing him out. Playful and fun, experimenting. She tasted like chocolate, spice, and his essence, she smelled like fresh everglades in the crisp dusk.

His hips pushed forward, his tip parting her folds, her heat scorching him pleasantly. Further still, her body so tight he wasn’t able to push any farther without causing her pain.

Her head fell back, eyes not having opened yet. A small smile played around her lips as her chest heaved and her legs climbed up his hips. She was trying to work him in. In the meantime, she was driving him fucking wild!

Sweat beaded his brow, dripping down with the exertion of pulling out that two inches, then slowly, grindingly, threading it back in, allowing her to wiggle and squirm, trying to get it deeper.

“Ohhhh!” Her breath wound around his head dizzyingly, flirting with his ears. Her smell, so intense, he wanted to stop breathing lest he thrust into her blindly, stealing his will power.

“
More
.” Her voice was hoarse, her tone whispering.

She was sick.
She would hate that she did this. She would hate him for it, and he would hate himself because of his lack of control.

Knowing all of this,
Stefan couldn’t stop. He should never have started. He had completely lost control when she accepted his blood, and now it was too late. All he could do was follow her lead, trying not to hurt her any more than he already was.

He pushed in slowly, his body quivering, needing release with a fervor that wasn’t natural. He was halfway there, stretching her, filling her, getting squeezed by her. Fuck he was getting squeezed! How could a person be so
tight
and not be a virgin? Madness.

Speaking of madness, his sanity slipped. He pulled out, his body slick with sweat, his hands braced on each side of her. Taking her tightening of arms and legs as they wrapped around him
, he pushed in again, riding low, laying his body on hers but keeping his weight off by his taxed arms.

“All the way.”
Her voice drifted over him like smoke, infused by her smell, and flicked away the last trace of constraint.

He thrust in desperation, emotion
riding the action. His cock burrowed into her tight depths, making her squeal as he forced her to accept him. He paused a second, his dick wrapped in an earth-shattering, liquid fire, before pulling out again, starting a slow rhythm.

Her hands clutched at him, her mouth seeking his. He met her lips, their tongues dancing, their bodies grinding together pleasantly
; a thick fog of pleasure covering his awareness. He thrust blindly, over and over, the friction of her, the intoxication, driving all thought from his mind.

“Oh, yes,” Sasha said into his mouth, her eyes fluttered. “Oh…”

Stefan deepened the kiss, wanting to take her blood as well. He wanted to exchange their power, merge it, become one with it.

Before he’d realized what had happened, his mouth was at her throat, her hands at the back of his head, pulling down, wanting this as much as he did. He barely registered the blaring siren in the back of his head. If he took what little strength she had, he’d kill her.

Ripping his head away, shivers covering his body, then heat, he regained his control. She clutched at him, dragging his body closer, wanting as much contact as possible. His body pushed down deep, trying to hit the center of her. Her hips swiveled up to meet his, accepting his manhood in surges. He plunged and retreated, filling every inch of her. Raw desire fueled her frantic movements, having her panting and sweaty, moaning. Her eyebrows lifted, her expression turned to anticipated wonder. Her legs tightened, her fingernails dug into him.

“Going to…
oh!
” Her body shuddered, her already tight core constricting like a fist.

His body blasted apart, his cock shooting his seed deep into her, pumping it deeper still, needing a piece of him to remain within her as long as possible.
Knowing that that wasn’t enough. Knowing he’d only be content if he remained in her forever.

He let his body push her down into the mattress, trapping her under him, unlocking a secretion that his race hardly ever used. He remained within her, meeting her lips and holding, while the primal side of him slipped out from under his logic. She was his. He’d always known it. So had she. It was as permanent in their hearts as it was now in their bodies. Fate had chosen.

So he let the primal side take over, lowering his neck to her once again, needing her to take more.

Chapter
Seventeen

I awoke with a glorious stretch. “Ow.”

“Serves you right.”
Charles sat in a chair off to the side, his knitting needles clicking.

“I’m sore.”
Which was an understatement. Every single muscle felt like it’d been stretched.

Speaking of stretched… My lady bits ached, as if I’d been violated in the most pleasant of ways.

A dream came back to me, of Stefan moving over me, crushing me to the mattress, my body entwined with his. It had been the best dream I had ever had, equipped with the absolutely best orgasm I could imagine.

“Did…” This was going to sound really dumb. “Did the Boss…hang out in here?
At all?”

Charles didn’t even look up.
“Yup. He gave you more blood, pissing off that super bitch Darla to no end, and saved your life, yet again. Not that you deserved it.”

“How long are you going to be mad at me, exactly?”

“At least another day, then I’ll see how I feel.”

“You didn’t have sex with me, did you?”

I got a scathing glance. “As it stands, I will only consent to screw you because it would be a waste to refuse, but I will still be pissed.”

So no, then.
“Huh.”

Click, click,
click.

He tilted his head marginally, as if he couldn’t
help asking, “So, does that mean you’re offering?”

I scoffed at him as I sat up slowly, my body feeling strung out and my lady bits sending shooting remembrances of pleasure to my body. “The Boss didn’t…”

The glance was sardonic this time. “He barely screws people of his own caliber, let alone dumb humans that ditch their faithful,
loyal
guards for a ridiculous human boyfriend that always manages to need a woman’s help. Talk about thinking highly of yourself…”

Right.
That’s what I’d figured; but still, I was sore. Maybe it was just an effect of the magic. The rest of my body felt beat to hell, why not that part as well?

I tossed it out of my mind, stowing that delicious dream to the back of my head for later remembrance when I had some alone time to take matters into my own hands. My mind drifted to Jared. I cringed.

“How’s Jared?” I asked in a tiny voice.

Click, click,
click.

“I’ll blow you for information…” I kept my voice even. He was just young enough to believe me.

“Lies.”

Or not.

“Jared has made a full recovery. This time. What’s going to happen next time…? I wonder. It isn’t him they’re after. For some stupid reason…”

I sighed. He’d hit directly on the problem.
Since my infatuation with Stefan, and more so when I went searching for the living shadows, he’d been in danger constantly. I’d had to try and save him just as often. For a girl who could barely walk in a straight line without getting sidetracked by moving objects in the darkness, I wasn’t the best person to hang his hope on. Oh yeah, and I had no fighting skills, no arsenal besides a whistle and a letter opener, and no muscles. Jared was in the wrong hands.

I loved him, but I couldn’t play this game with him anymore. I didn’t know what my life held in store for me, but I had a feeling
that, with that knitting oaf following me around, and my wires constantly crossing with a guy that tugged at the fibers of my being every time I saw him, it wouldn’t be normal.

All Jared had ever wanted was a wife, house, picket fence, and family. And while I might want that, too, I would have to go about it in a very different way. Part of me always suspected that
—the part that figured I’d never have those things.

“Why were they after you, anyway?” Charles had lowered his pastime to stare at me.

I sighed, trying not to let my sinking heart squeeze out tears. Charles wouldn’t understand. “Because I rock, that’s why. Can you show me to Jared’s room?”

“Whatever gets you to stop the terrible
jokes?”

Ten minutes later I sat in front of Jared at a tiny table used for teatime. As such, delicate cups with pastel flowers adorned polished, mahogany wood. Books sprawled behind us, lining giant, floor to ceiling bookcases.

Jared’s eyes stared at me with equal parts wariness and distance. A chunk of his hair was missing, leaving an angry red patch of scalp in its place. A bandaged wrapped around his shoulder, a Band-Aid by his ear. I hadn’t even opened my mouth and my heart ached.

“Hi, how are you feeling?” I started in a gentle voice.

“Does
he
have to be here?” Jared hid a point under the table, his finger aimed at Charles in the corner, back to his knitting.

I nodded sadly. “He’s here to protect us.”

Jared shook his head sadly. “I can’t handle any more of this, Sasha. I wake up forgetting, then I end up in horrible situations where everything comes tumbling back. Then I forget again. I can’t do it anymore.”

“I know, baby. It’s my fault.
All of this. It’s all my fault.”

“I always thought you were eccentric, with your imaginary men in the shadows. I thought you lived in a secret romance novel or something.
But this…I just…I can’t keep up, you know? We aren’t the same people anymore. At least…well…
I
am, I think, but…”

He let the words trail into the air, hanging, sprinkling guilt down onto me like the first rain drops before a storm.

I hung my head.

“I’ve been offered a great opportunity in Florida,” he went on, “
and I think I’m going to take it.”

My head snapped up.
“A job?”

“Yes, a job. I think I should take it.”

“But…how? When?”

Jared reached forward to pat my arm, but stopped halfway and lowered his hand into his lap. “It’s for the best. I hold you back…maybe. I think. Just…this is for the best.”

I stared at him in something close to disbelief. A heavy weight filled my chest. We’d been together for years. He’d been my
first.
I’d learned to partially trust with him. I learned what love was supposed to be. Sadly, I also learned that love was beyond my ability to grasp.

He was right. He needed a stable woman with no demons.
With no weird past and strange magical abilities. Even if I hadn’t stumbled into this world where I now found myself, we wouldn’t have worked out. We were different in our very foundations, in different worlds.

This really sucked.

As a tear leaked down my face, I said, “I didn’t know about any of this, Jared, if that’s what you think.”

“I think I know that, Sasha. I just… You’re too…sparkly. You just…we don’t fit anymore. You grew into your body, and I…well, I’m still just the same ol’ me.”

I wanted to argue with this absurdity. With this nonsense. But I also knew that my future would only drag him down; drag him into danger. It was time for us to part ways. I needed to let him go, and it would be easiest on him if he had no resistance. If I didn’t cause him to doubt. I knew this, but…

But
God
it hurt.

I sucked in a big, sob ridden breath. “I don’t know what to say.”

He smiled, his eyes glassy. “How about goodbye?”

The second tear fell, followed by many others. I bowed my head, moving to him painfully. My arms wrapped around his neck, our cheeks touching. After a minute, he disentangled me, and I moved away, my eyes overflowing.

Jared got up slowly, painfully. With a final smile—the smile I had grown to depend on these last few years—he walked out of the room. The heavy door closed with a faint click.

I bowed my head into my hands, letting go. He’d been
my everything
. I had lain in his bed, looking out the window, talking about my dreams, and then listening to his. I had learned to trust, to depend on someone. He had been a huge chunk of my life.

I heard movement before two strong arms came around me. Charles held me tight, patting my back awkwardly like the young guy he was. I sobbed into his chest, my heart aching as part of myself walked away forever.

*****

Stefan
’s eyes snapped open as dusk fell. He had a ton to do tonight. His enemy continued to roam his territory and prey on his people without his people sensing the territory breach. He needed to stop that; give his clan back their reassurance.

He also needed to figure out the new situation with the human.

What the hell had he done?

Snapping straight, sheets falling away, he thought back to the night before. He’d pushed himself on a weak, half dead, vulnerable woman. She hadn’t been awake, she hadn’t given her permission—with any real clarity—and she probably had no idea she’d lain with him.

He had acted like a drunk teenager rather than the leader of this territory!

And he’d marked her.

Stefan groaned. What had he been thinking?

But that was just it—with her, he found thinking difficult.
But marking just wasn’t done anymore. Their clan—their race, actually--was sexually liberated. Multiple partners at any given time, his clan held nothing back, experimenting and engaging as often, with however many, as possible. A long time ago, when the humans ravaged their numbers in crusades and witch burnings, their current sexual outlook had saved their race from extinction; sex as often as possible, without pregnancy-hindering protection, meant his race started to bounce back.

Now it was a
thing.
It felt good, it helped identify possible breeders, and it was to everybody’s gain.

He’d nearly ended that for Sasha. Granted, she wasn’t of his race, but she exhibited
traits his clan could understand and appreciate. Even though she didn’t understand her sexual side, like her fearlessness, it lurked. It popped its head up and played peek-a-boo every time sex tumbled into the room.

Or even just
when Stefan hesitantly wandered close to her.

Damn it!
Just thinking of her gave him wood.

Her only saving grace: she’d been near death so he didn’t take her blood. He didn’t complete the marking. Not yet. At this half-done job
, his clan would sense his presence around her, like a ghost sitting on her shoulder, but it wouldn’t be an open challenge if they touched her.

Stefan
clenched his jaw and breathed through his nose. She was
his
. Something deep and primal knew that. Had faith in it. He wasn’t sure what he would do if she chose another.

Yes he did—he would challenge that male and rip his throat out.

Stefan took another deep breath. His life had been hard enough without her barging in and confusing it all to hell. And now she had some pretty potent magic. Worse, Andris suspected it. What a pain.

Showered and dressed,
Stefan waltzed out of his room. He crossed the campus of their estate, ducked into a hidden door, and walked into Sasha’s room a moment later, ignoring Charles as he bounded up.

Sasha sat in a large velvet chair across the room, her eyes bloodshot and puffy, a book open on her lap. A cotton pajama set covered her body from head to toe, only her hands, feet and face peeking out. Her hair hid within a towel.

She looked up, sadness radiating through their new blood line, intensified by their normal link.

“Sasha.” His voice carried across the room.
Testing the waters.

A spark ignited in her gaze, then dulled immediately. “Hey. Sorry I nearly got you killed.”

“I trust you…slept well?” Stefan asked evenly.
Do you know that we slept together?

She shrugged, her eyes sinking to her book. “Thanks for saving my life.
Again.”

He crossed the room, taking a chair next to hers. “You’re sad. Why?”

She shrugged again. “I ended it with Jared. Well, not true. He ended it with me. So, I guess it was mutual, all said and done.”

Sorrow radiated, this time accompanied by her bottom lip quivering.
Stefan had an impulse to wrap her in his arms until she cried herself healthy.

Deep breath.

“Why did you end it?”

He
listened as Sasha recanted the story. Nowhere in there that she’d cheated. Not even a hint. Finally, he tiptoed closer to the mark. “How is your body today? Are you sore?”

Her eyes showed the first glimmer of suspicion. “Why?”

“Last time this happened you could barely move. I’m wondering if you’re adjusting.”

Suspicion winked out. “Oh. I’m okay.
Much the same.”

She didn’t know. Guilt crashed into him.
Unspeakable, disgusting guilt. Then accusation. He’d taken something she wasn’t even offering. He couldn’t be any more disgusting if he’d tried.