Quench (3 page)

“You can’t go.” He spoke softly and continued to stare off
into the distance.

“Look, I don’t know what the hell is going on but I’m
leaving.”

He shifted his body and faced her head-on. “I tried to
protect you.” His chest puffed out as he sucked in air. “Your power will
eventually return but I don’t care about that—I don’t want you to leave. I want
you to stay here.” His eyes gleamed with lust and he never looked away. “Be
with me.”

“What?”
Shit!
No punches pulled here. She had the
same feeling, the same need.

“You want me, I can smell it. And I’ve never wanted a woman,
beast or vampyre the way I want you right now.” Two steps and he stood before
her. He moved his hand to her neck and caressed it. His fingers slid up,
feathered across her cheek, and she leaned into them. Strong hands.

“I want you to come in, see what I want from you.” His eyes
blasted her with heat.

She fell into his mind like sliding down a slippery slope,
tumbling headlong into his memories. One dark corner stood closed and shrouded
in shadows. Hidden away from her.
Bastard
. He did not intend to let her
all the way in.

“Why do you hide part of yourself from me?”

“I’m letting you see all you need to know.”

“Go to hell.”

His arms enfolded her, snatched her tight into his hardness.
His cock bulged between them as his mouth crushed into hers. She wouldn’t open
for him and Alek didn’t force her. He peppered her face with warm, sweet
kisses. Licked her lips, nibbled on the lower one until it bled. Sucking on it,
he groaned.

Viv couldn’t help herself when her mouth opened and accepted
his tongue. His hands captured her breasts and kneaded them into wanton peaks.
He tweaked and played with her nipples through the material of her shirt, his
thumb and fingers drew slow, lazy circles around the nubs. Moving his hands
lower, he slipped beneath her top. Her clothes instantly vanished.

Alek chuckled at her haste. “Some of your magic remains.”
She bit his lip hard and her knees buckled at the exotic taste that flowed into
her mouth.

He caught her up in his arms and naked skin pressed to hers.

“The sun…”

“Shh, you will never be safer.” They vanished to a cool room
that held no windows. Candles blinked to life, revealing walls of murals
showing rainforests beneath blue skies filled with birds of every color. A bed
much larger than king-size was covered in a jewel-colored quilt that looked so
inviting. Deep, soft carpeting silenced each step. Fragrant lilies of every
color filled vases placed on polished tables with intricately carved legs. “The
prince keeps this room beneath the mansion for his vampyre friends. Nothing, no
one, will harm you here.”

He sat her on the bed. Stepping back, he let his eyes devour
her while she took in every inch of his body.
Damn, what a cock
. Viv
liked what she saw, wanted to taste it. Her tongue flitted out and again
laughter poured from him.

“You have a foul mouth and no modesty at all.”

Clamping her mind shut, she aimed a hard slap at his face.
He caught her hand in a steel grip and held her firm. “And I like it. You make
me hotter than hell.” He moved her hand to his mouth and planted a warm kiss on
the underside of her wrist. His tongue swept across the palm to the tips of her
fingers, where he nibbled playfully.

Alek sucked on each finger, sending tremors through her
body.

She wanted him badly. A moan climbed from her throat and she
mumbled, “Now.”

“Now, what? Tell me what you want.”

“Fuck me. Hard and fast.” Viv wanted to come.

“No.”

“Damn you, Alek, damn you to hell.”

“Soft and slow. I’ll make you beg for it. Let me in.”

I’ll never beg.
Viv couldn’t hold him out any longer.

That’s my tough-ass baby girl.

He caressed her breasts, her stomach. Alek pushed her flat
on the bed and kneeled on the mattress between her outstretched legs. His large
hands touched and lingered on every exposed part of her.

They moved over her face and he stuck his thumb through her
open lips. “Take it.”

She did. Viv pulled it in and sucked on it like a lollipop.

Leaning over, he used one hand to hold himself up while the
other was pushed between her legs. His fingers traced a scalding path along the
inside of her thighs. Moving up, he let them dance lightly across the shimmering
platinum hair that dusted her pussy.

“Beautiful.”

She whimpered and that was all it took.

He reached down and pulled her legs high, hooking them over
his shoulders until her ass rested against his belly with her nether lips
exposed to him. She opened her body, her mind to him, holding nothing back. She
slid her hands up and down his arms, marveling at their warmth. For an instant
Viv saw his soul shining through his emerald eyes and the look touched her in a
place she’d never let anyone explore. Her cold, dead heart grew warm and she
was sure it was Alek’s blood that pulsed through the chambers. She’d had such a
small taste, wanted so much more. Then he leaned over, blew warm air across her
already wet, swollen clit. His arms hooked around her thighs and brought her
pussy up to his mouth. When his tongue touched her, she screamed. He licked the
drops of moisture gathered in every fold. Long sure strokes set her on fire and
she bucked up against his face shamelessly. Right now, in this moment, he owned
her, could do anything he wanted and she’d love it.

Tell me what you want.

Grabbing a handful of his long striped hair, Viv ground into
his mouth, tried to get his tongue deeper into her core. One hand continued to
hold her in place while with the fingers of the other he plucked and tugged at
her nipples until she cried out again. His hand massaged her breasts, cupping
one after the other. Thumb and finger rolled the hard nubs until she was
riddled with delicious pain.

His tongue continued to prod at her pussy and lap at the
folds until her body was a mass of tremors. Each sweep through the creases left
her breathless and weak.

Viv took everything he dished out. Until he bit her clit.

The animal roughness of his tongue ripped juices from her
and then he licked her dry.

Alek raised his eyes and gazed at her. “I’ve never tasted
anything this good.”

“Oh my God, Alek, please. I need your cock inside me.
Please.”

Whatever you want.

Releasing his hold on her thighs, he let her ass slide down
his bent legs and onto the bed. Spreading them wider, he played in her cunt,
stroking his fingers back and forth through the wetness there. When he flicked
her blood-engorged folds and circled her nub with his thumb, Viv thought she’d
die.

You are dead, baby.

So are you. Now please, fuck me.

I will.

He drove two fingers deep into her channel again and again.
She quaked beneath his ministration, never wanting it to stop but needing it to
stop. Her body bounced off the bed to meet his plunging fingers.

“Oh please…”

Told you you’d beg for it.

Damn you
. Just as the words left her mind she felt
him nudge the thick head of his penis against the entrance to her core. One
hard push and he entered all the way to the hilt. His balls bumped her ass.

Yes! Now fuck me.

“I’ll love you,” he spoke aloud. “Just for tonight, I’ll
love you.”

He slammed into her and pulled out. Over and over.

Her vagina convulsed around him and she shuddered as he sank
deeper with each stroke. Rising up to meet him, she took every inch he
delivered. Viv dug her heels into the bed to prevent his hard thrusts from
pushing her away. Gripping his butt, she dug long nails into his ass.

Their bodies slapped together as she inched toward a
shattering climax. Alek slowed his pace and eased one hand between them. He
thrummed and pinched her clit some more.

He asked for everything she had and gave as much as he took.

Air whooshed from her body when he pulled out, lay atop her
breathing hard.

Not yet, not yet. I need more of you.

His lips covered her eyes with tiny kisses. Would she ever
grow used to the animal warmth that emanated from his body and touched every
inch of her? When his mouth captured hers in a searing kiss, she pushed her
tongue past his lips, savoring the taste and warmth of his mouth. Viv suddenly
wondered if she felt cold to him.

Never, never. You’re so damn hot I can’t wait to be
inside you again
. Rising above her, he used his knee to spread her thighs
again.
Touch me, handle me just like you wanted to.

He knew! No wonder he thought she had no morals. She did want
to handle his cock, touch it, fill her pussy with it. Reaching between them,
she grasped his shaft and stroked it. Viv tugged the skin back and forth,
eliciting a harsh groan of excitement.

Yes! Oh yes, Viv.

Silky cream slipped from the slit when she cupped the tip of
his cock. Unable to bear the smells, the clenching of her pussy, Viv quickly
guided Alek’s shaft to the moist opening between her legs. Finding his rhythm
once more, he jammed in and out of her pussy, going deep and hard, pulling out,
moving back inside her with short, slow strokes. He took her out of herself.
Viv felt like she floated on air with Alek still fucking her so sweetly.

“God, Alek, please, please…”

“Come for me, baby. Come all over my dick.”

And she did.

Cream flowed from her and his shaft cut through it with each
push in and every pull out.

Alek shuddered over her. He was on the verge of coming. His
cock slammed into her quicker, harder, his pace maniacal. His hips were wedged
between her legs as he jammed in and out of her pussy.

Air hissed from his lips as he slowed to short, jerky
strokes. His ass tightened in her hands and he drove deep with one final
thrust.

Throwing his head back, he growled in pleasure as his cock
erupted, sending a jet stream of cum deep inside her.

Viv squeezed her pussy tight and, clenching around his
throbbing hardness, she stripped him of every drop.

“Oh. Hell. Yes. Christ, don’t stop doing that.” He pushed
into her a few more times and emptied his balls.

Alek pulled away and shocked the hell out of her.

He moved off the bed and kneeled on the floor. “I’m not
done.” Spreading her legs so wide they hurt, he dipped his head between them.
His tongue swept up and down the insides of both of her thighs while his
fingers disappeared into her core.

A gasp escaped her throat and she shivered in delight when
his fangs bit into her vein. Moving her fingers through his thick hair, she
caressed him, held him tight to her thigh. Her mind was a shambles. Should she
have stopped him from taking so much of her blood? Alek would now have access
to her whole mind. She reveled in the feelings he brought to her, cherished how
his mouth felt tasting, licking her. His tongue was rough, electric against her
clit, yet he was so gentle, so soft and it caused her to whimper with joy. He
stroked her cunt with his fingers and an unexpected orgasm slipped violently
from her, sending a flood of liquid from her core into his hand.

He licked and closed the punctures then moved his mouth back
to her canal. His tongue delved into her pussy and his mouth captured the last
drops of cum slipping from her. Never had she been so thoroughly…wonderfully…
What had he said, ‘Just for tonight I’ll love you’. And he had.

Finished, he rose to sit beside her. “Now I’m done.”

Speechless, with no explanation for the emotions swirling
through her, she stared at his back.

Viv’s heart fluttered with life at the awe and surprise
tingeing his soft voice when he whispered—

“You quench my thirst.” Then he vanished.

Alek sat on the balcony and watched the sun climb into the
sky over the arena.

Quenched!

His chest rose and fell rapidly with the deep draughts of
air he drew into his lungs. Never had he stayed in bed all night with a woman
or beast. But he hadn’t wanted to leave Viv. She was vampyre through and
through and would be sleeping the sleep of the dead by now. He would have been
alone anyway. Damn, he wanted to lie there, touch her and smell her heavenly
scent all day.

Quenched! Is it possible?

No way could he let her find out about…about what?
Technically nothing had ever happened between him and the prince. Sure, at
times he had wanted to go there, at times they touched and mentally fondled
each other. That was all. They’d both drawn back in surprise and fear of their
out-of-control lust. Hell, he didn’t care about men loving each other, he’d
just always been attracted to women. Plain and simple. This thing with the
prince… Well, he couldn’t explain it. He knew wolf males often cavorted
together, lay with each other and that didn’t cause him to think any less about
them as people or men. Finding love, no matter where, should be a beautiful
thing. Cats just didn’t
do
it that way.

It was the blood, the vampyre elixir of life that made him
hunger for his friend.

She quenches my thirst. If only I could be sure
.
Unable to get the thought of his words to her out of his mind, Alek shook his
head in amazement.

Soon he’d be thirsting for the prince’s blood. But his body
exhibited none of the telltale signs yet. No needy sweating, no anxiousness.

The lion, his tiger, both preened and stretched inside him,
quietly alert and waiting. For what?

It was weird.

Suddenly the tiger began to prowl, clawed and pushed at the
lion, moved him aside. The only cat that ever emerged was his striped beast.
Would he ever see tan fur running down his body, wear the black mane of the
cave lion with its enormous paws? Shit, did he want to?

Nikol was a formidable sight when he changed. Not what the
present day’s small lions looked like in zoos or on the African savannas.
Today’s tigers were much larger than the fawn-colored cats. But they’d be no
match in size to the close to eight hundred pounds of muscle and sinew the
prince became.

His heart rattled an erratic beat. Something wasn’t right.

Alek’s striped hair lifted from his neck in a breeze blowing
across the balcony, spraying around his face, weaving a peculiar odor through
the air. Nostrils flared at the unknown scent and now the lion pranced about
inside him.

When both cats displayed nervousness, the pain was unbearable
as they fought for supremacy. “Fuck, what now?”

Don’t be afraid of what you are.

“Who in hell…” The voice in his mind was strong, a power
he’d never felt before.

His body lifted from the chair he’d sprawled in, floated
over the arena. Alek had no control of his extremities. His beasts growled and
ripped at his insides, both crying for release.

Become what you should be.

“Goddamn it.” Landing softly in a heap on the sandy ground,
Alek curled into the fetal position, sure he was about to die.

See what you can be.

Pictures flashed through his mind. A tiger and lion gamboled
together on a grassy knoll. Alek sensed he knew them, felt they were one.

Clothes vanished as his body bowed from the ground. A
keening sound wrenched from his throat followed by a growl that shook the earth
beneath him. “Let…me…go.” His pleading words slipped through parched lips
stretched in a grimace. Alek’s eyes watered, tears flowed into the hair at his
temples. Pain raged violently as he lurched to a kneeling position.

Changing will end the anguish.

“I…can’t.”

Do it now!

Remembering his first change to a tiger, he envisioned both
animals coming together. In his mind the cats reared on their hind legs and
joined in a weird circuslike parody of a dance.

“God help me,” he whispered. Pulling his body to an upright
position from the sandy earth, he doubled over.

Alek watched tan fur cover his legs, race up his hips and
across his chest. No stripes. Where the hell were his tiger’s stripes? Looking
closer, he saw faded lines faintly mixed in the fawn color of tough hide
parading down his arms to his fingertips. Claws emerged, hooked and deadly.
Longer than ever before.

Pain subsided into a jumble of mixed emotions and feelings
as the odd scent vanished.

This is what you are.
The presence drifted away,
carrying with it the strange odor that had swirled about his head.

He stood on all fours, alone in the middle of the warriors’
arena.

No longer in anguish and not afraid of what he’d become,
Alek slumped down, his beast’s belly hitting the ground hard. Huge paws sat
before him with a barely visible mixture of lines.

The animal’s tongue emerged and swept across his much larger
mouth. The essence was him but different. His scent was the same but different.

What the fuck?

His eyesight adjusted to the added inches as he stood on
shaky legs. He turned his much heavier head and took in the fuller girth of his
animal. No longer a tiger, not quite a lion.
I am one
huge
motherfucker!

Darting from the arena, he wanted to feel his new body, test
its strength, agility and speed. He covered the distance to the ravine in
record time and wasn’t even breathing hard. Alek skidded to a stop at the very
edge and peered at the other side. His tiger had never been able to make the
big leap across the way a lion could.

His new beast backed up a short distance. Pushing off with
his muscular back legs, he charged the ledge and bounded over the gully with
ease. He continued running and ended up at the lake on the compound. Plopping
down at the water’s edge, he drank.

Tigers loved to swim, would his improved ubercat mind the
water? He waded in and struck out for the other side.
Hell yes, this is
sweet
. Surfacing, he walked to a strip of grass and sat on his haunches.

Nose in the air, he caught the alluring scent of three tigers.
Bengal. His balls tightened but not in the way they used to. The aroma was
heady but the urge to take one was absent.

The group moved out of the grove of trees and came to a stop
with their mouths open, tasting the air and sniffing. Agitated, the felines
seemed unsure of what to do next. Normally they preened, danced around his
striped cat, seeking attention.

Not this time.

There was a difference in him. He smelled funny to himself.

First one then another female fell to the ground with her
tail tucked between her legs in a submissive position. Recognition dawned in
their eyes and they huffed out air and growled softly.

Alek didn’t want them anymore.

His mind drifted to the vamp lying in the safe room. His
blood heated up and the scent of arousal wafted in the air. The three females
made guttural sounds and rolled about the ground.

Nothing here for him.

Standing, he turned, plunged back into the cool lake and
swam to the other side. The felines’ disappointed roars followed him. He came
out of the water running at full speed back to the mansion.

It would be hours before the sun set and Viv rose.

His beast disappeared back into his body as soon as he
entered the arena. The man’s body strode naked toward the house. Warm sandy
soil sifted between his toes with each step. Normally he’d have clothed himself
and bounded to the balcony but he wanted the sun on his skin, wanted to feel
the breeze caress his body. He felt so freaking alive.

You’ve gone nuts.

Alek’s steps slowed. There was still the problem of needing
royal sustenance yet gnawing thirst remained absent from his belly—and it
scared the shit out of him. Another need blazed inside. Unlike the front of the
mansion, the back door on the first floor of the house leading from the arena
to the gym area always remained unlocked. His cock had risen like a barometer
and pointed to the doorway he’d been heading to when suddenly the door flew
open with a bang.

Torn from his reverie, he jerked to a stop. Jesus, he needed
to pay more attention to his surroundings and less to getting his dick wet.

Warriors stomped through the opening and came to a sudden
halt, noses in the air.

“Uh, you okay, man?” one asked, taking an involuntary step
back.

“Don’t I look okay?”

“You…smell sort of funny. Damn near like a lion.”

“Well, it’s me. And why are your asses late?” Should have
clothed himself. He wouldn’t be feeling so stupid and vulnerable. Damn if he
intended to do it now and skulk away.

The Reign shuffled from foot to foot, unsure of what to make
of him standing there, cock flying in the air. His growl cut short a snicker
from one in the back.

“You got something to say, boy, spit it out.”

“No sir.”

“I can’t hear you.” Alek was having a little fun. They were
afraid of him. Not the kind of fear you have for your ex-leader. Their fear lay
in not knowing exactly what he was.
Fanfuckingtastic
. “Get your asses
out there. I see any slacking in practice, you’ll answer to me. Go,” he
bellowed. His new sense of power overflowed and infected each of them as they
scuttled by.

Yeah, he was different.

Alek felt like the king of beasts.

* * * * *

She sat up in the strange bed, the smell of sex surrounding
her.

Alek was gone.

She was pissed off and her mind veered in every direction.
She cleaned and clothed herself using her people’s magic. Searching far and
wide around the grounds, she couldn’t feel the bastard.

Hell, she’d been with men both dead and alive. Alek was
different. Hunger clawed and twisted her insides. Viv’s veins contracted,
screamed for blood—his blood.
“
Lord, don’t do this to me.” She’d heard
about this feeling.

No way the weirdass cat could be her mate.

Unable to dematerialize, she paced the floor and waited.
When she got her hands on him she’d…

“What? You’ll do what?” Alek’s voice shook her to the core.
It was as if warm honey drizzled over her cold, dead limbs.

He strode across the room from where she stood. “I like your
hair out.”

Something was different, an air of superiority even worse
than before shone from his eyes.

Viv’s nostrils flared at his new scent. Lion…and tiger. Both
were so distinct she leaned into him sniffing loudly. Wonder replaced anger. He
smelled like a goddamn lion. Shit, the stories were true. A Kind abomination
already, a new mixture of monster stood before her. Three of the world’s most
dreaded creatures rolled into one.

Tiger, lion and vampyre!

And the crazy fucker could walk in daylight.

“Get me the hell out of here.” Fear, claustrophobia,
whatever, Viv needed the night air in her lungs. Her heart fluttered against
her rib cage. “I’ll kill Phoenix when I see him.”

Alek chuckled at her discomfort.

“Bastard, get me out of here. Now!”

“Easy, baby. You’re safe with me, nothing, no one, will ever
harm you.” Alek enclosed her in his arms. “But don’t make me go up against
Phoenix. I won’t win. Now, let’s get out of here.”

Wrapped tight in his arms, before Viv had time to blink she
sucked the cool night breeze through her lips.

“Tell me what the hell is going on?”

“Your power to vanish has been, well, the best way to
describe it—stolen. For now. I’m sure it’ll be returned.”

“You know that’s not what I meant.” Pulling away from him,
she walked to lean against the nearest tree. “What are you, Alek?”

He looked at the ground, rolled a stone with the tip of his
boot. Brief glimpses in his mind were no help. Viv needed to see more but was
unable to grasp anything. An audible gasp heaved from her throat at the turmoil
in his head.

Finally he gazed at her and moved to her side. Alek pressed
his body into hers, forced her against the hard bark. Raising his wrist, he
said, “Feed.” Thirst for sustenance beat at her. Desire for his blood and only
his drew her parched mouth to the vein in his arm. Her fangs lengthened. Biting
into his flesh, deep to the artery, Viv gulped at his life force.

Pictures flashed through her mind. Two cats on their hind
legs dancing, clinging to each other in the sun. Lion and tiger, neither
fighting nor giving in to the other. Balanced on large padded feet, they clung
together.

Never fear me, baby. This is what I am.

Jerked back to reality by the voice in her head, she stopped
drinking.

Releasing her hold on his wrist, she licked her lips and
savored the last drop. Her tongue swept across the wound, closing it. Viv
melted against the tree holding her up.

Alek’s mouth touched hers so softly she wasn’t sure it was
real until his tongue prodded her lips for entry and she opened up to him like
a flower. His taste fresh in her mouth, she kissed him back.

A dark corner in his mind remained shuttered with steel and
she couldn’t break the barrier.

Let me in.

You’re inside every part of me. Damn, I want you.
His
hands moved down her hips, one inched between her thighs.

What are you hiding from me?
She had to know.
Clutching his fingers in a viselike grip, she stopped his progress.

Viv caught herself from falling when he pulled away.

“Come on, I’m taking you out. We can both use food.” He
smiled at her brightly. “Who knows what else we can get into? Relax and have
fun with me tonight.”

For now, she let it go. “We walking?”

He glanced down at her stiletto boots. “Why don’t women wear
sensible shoes? They do look good on you though.” His wide grin annoyed the
hell out of her.