Zauran (9 page)

“
One more rite, Zaria, and we'll be free of their interference.”

Rite?

But I'm thrust over the barrier, free falling back into the orgasmic drug flooding my body and tripping my mind into the space of weightless rapture.

Lost inside the communion with him, merging and dancing through spiritual sunbeams and shadows, our souls entwine round and round and round until I'm dizzy and can't breathe.

He anchors me with sharp pain on the side of my throat, below my ear and close to my jaw, and then I'm inhaling mint and marshmallows, tasting it in my mouth. When I open my eyes the world is washed in faded jade with glowing aqua edges.

It tingles and tortures, fusing through my marrow and branding me with his spirit. It's warm, gentle, unique and empowering.

The pressure on my neck becomes a focal point, like being injected with fire and fun, it's exhilarating and enticing.

Then it blanks my mind when the pleasure drowns me, immersing me so completely in his scent and power that I'm sighing and shaking, my nipples painfully hard. My body's slick walls vibrate uncontrollably around the vast muscle plummeting through it.

Floating on clouds of aqua mist and skies brilliant with petrol green, I'm in a hallucinogenic state staring at the room as if it's alive, everything glowing and vibrant, the colors brilliant.

His lips lift, the bite ends, and the room fades back to the dull insipid palette of human perception.

“
You saw through my eyes, Zaria. I've claimed you as my mate.”

“
You bit me,” I state to the wall I'm staring at with a gorgeous Marilyn Monroe blowing her flirtatious kiss at us, oddly barren without the bite of his teeth drugging my system.

He finally releases the strapping hold of his hand in my hair. He's invaded every aspect of me with the very essences of his being.

It's impossible and it's incredible. I think I was in a car accident on my way here and am having the best dream in the world while I lie in a coma.

“
Yes, I bit you. You have my mark on you now and it means they will never corner or manipulate you again.” Lifting up and leaning over me, his touch is gentle when he tilts my chin so I'm forced to look at him. “You are free, Zaria. Free to be with me. No more complications and no more bullshit.”

“
I
was
free... I think you just closed the door to the cell. You didn't give me a choice.”

“
You made the choice. You knew, because you've touched this truth. You even mused it was destiny. I believe it is destiny. I've never loved a human before. I've never cared so much for anyone. This was fated. I simply made it official so my brothers Ryan and Sveta can fight over
Božena
instead of you.”

“
Who's Božena?”

“
The woman you saw Darise with.”

It makes me instantly tense, and he mercifully withdraws his body from mine as I clamp up.

“
Am I really pregnant?”

“
Yes.”

“
Twins?”

“
Yes.” This time it's said with pride in his voice.

“
I'm not ready to be a mother.”

“
They'll wait. They'll only grow when you're ready for them.”

“
What?”

“
Yes Zaria, you have a choice.” Flopping his body over mine, his kiss is as sweet and soft as a shy teenager. “I'm not a monster, I just adore you enough to protect you every way I can.”

They'll wait? Wow. Okay.

“
For how long?” I frown, drawn back into the nightmare paradise of his opalescent eyes.

“
They can wait a decade.” His hands entomb my head and strong thumbs press into my cheeks, “You screamed my name. God I adore you!”

Pockets of kisses are rained across my face, his chuckle so delighted and sexy that I find myself smiling.

“
Tell me you love me... again. Say it to me instead of my back.” His eyes look instantly as strained as his voice.

“
I love you,” I whisper, squashing my cheeks into his hands when I smile.

“
You are so perfect. I'm the luckiest neuri in Serbia.”

That would make me the luckiest human. Pleasure like I've endured this night could kill a woman. Or make her Kali crazy. Beyond insane, the kind of looney that scares psychopaths.

He laughs, rolling me with him, “It's time I parched your other thirsts and replenished your body with sustenance. Coffee?”

Okay, now it's definitely official. Call a press conference. I have just found a perfect male.

“
I'd love some coffee,” I say through a cheek aching smile.

Cradling me in the crook of his arm, lifting me to stand with him, he pauses, staring down and into me with such severe tenderness it makes my blood ache, “Stay with me tonight?”

I nod acceptance. I'd already decided I would
if
it was offered. The very last person I want to face when I'm feeling this wonderful, is Darise. He's a problem that can wait for tomorrow.

His hand laces fingers through mine and clasps possessively, and I'm mesmerized yet again by the joy in his vivid aqua and dravite eyes.

*

Zauran:

Walking into the cavern of pre-dawn darkness holding her hand, feeling her vitality chasing up my veins through my skin, I hope I've done enough to keep her safe.

Will Jowendrhan come after us? Will Ryan back down?

I have a bad feeling slithering in my soul; something supernatural is coming. Shit is going to hit the fan, I just hope it's not because I stepped on a vampyre ego tonight.

Stepped? Ha, I fucking stomped it into dust.

Chapter 10

Božena:

Jowendrhan catches me again, using his weight and strength to snare my arms and pin me to the black wall. These passages are dim, deliberately. They're a haven for illicit activities and a lot of deep breathing.

“
Božena, we need to stop meeting like this, it's turning me on.”

Rough around the edges with a hint of domination play gets my blood pumping, and it acts on my mind the way an opiate would. It sedates me, kicking my docile gene to the forefront, the one that has
willing victim
tattooed on her scars.

It's like having survival palsy, no matter how much you think you are in imminent danger you are paralyzed to run, weakened so you can't fight, helpless but to watch it all happen and submit to the inevitable. I find it exciting when a man can be gentle and dominant simultaneously.

But Jowendrhan is no man, he's a vampyre.

“
Get lost, Jo.” To back up my words I lift my leg and stamp the heel on the tip of his boot, wrestling my wrists inside his grip and struggling against him, but it's futile.

I wouldn't stand a chance against him if he really means it, not unless I grow wings and become an angel.

Shadowing every one of my writhing movements with biting strength, somehow snaring me closer, he leans into my chest and destroys the breath in it, leaving behind an accelerated heartbeat. “Come on Božena, don't be like that. Why are you staying when you could be at home, with me, unleashing the wildcat floating in your blood.”

Pressing closer he sniffs softly with his nose next to my eye, “You love a fight, I can smell it.” Placing a kiss on my cheek, his baritone dances with me, “You love the hunt, I know you do. You're a hunter, like me.”

It's all spoken with his skin pressing into mine, chin to cheek, him aiming his low secret into my ear as intimately and quietly as possible. It makes me feel like we're in a veil of seclusion where nothing can save me and no logic will penetrate.

It's seductively clandestine and forbidden.

Bucking off the wall and thrusting both arms violently down to break his hold, I manage to get away from the wall, but my wrists are still caught in his hands.

Stepping further away, contorting myself in the process, I stare up into his now brown eyes and brown hair. “You're delusional Jo.”

“
Am I?”

“
Yes. Just back off or I'm going to start screaming so two demon bouncers can come and kick your ass.”

His grip punishes even more when he reclaims the space between us to flex chest muscles at me, “I'm not delusional darling. We kissed remember? I'm your sponsor in here. And because you exchanged body fluids with me I can hear your thoughts, smell the cortisol flooding your system...” He dips his head and whispers into my ear, “And smell the erotic reaction you're having to a mild display of aggression.” Teeth start massaging my earlobe along with evocative heated breath, “You're hot for me.”

I am horribly horny, but I'm not here for Jo, I'm here for Darise. Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.

He traces two blunt fingertips down my spine as he stands tall and releases me, giving me an inch of merciful air.

“
When you change your mind, just call,” he winks, turning and vanishing inside the shadows clinging to the walls.

They camouflage him so well it gives me the fear of knowing your stalker is right in front of you if only you could see them.

I sense him there, watching me from his throne of darkness.

Exhaling, running a shaky hand through my hair, I retrace my footsteps to the bar. Pravus has changed a lot in the time I was away from my homeland, but the dim lighting, strange scents, and red strobed lights remain the same. The closer I get to the main area the more lighting is supplied, flashing the muted red light in time to the beat of the music. Black red – black red – black – red.

It's enough to make you feel high when you've had one drink too many. Meandering past couples comprised of supernatural men and human women, I smile. Darise said this place is now owned by a neuri alpha, and all these yummy men are neuri.

This used to be a vampyre bar. It serves their men, not females. Only human women gain entrance, and only supernatural men come here to flirt and fuck their way into human hearts.

I wonder how many women even know this? They probably think they've walked into a supermodel bar with calendar gorgeous eye candy lining the walls and circling like hungry raptors around the dance floor.

We're prey.

“
Everything okay?”

Jarred out of my thoughts, I realize I'm all the way back to the bar which overlooks the dreaded dance floor. It's a swollen pond of doom-black, bathed randomly with the carnelian light that makes everyone's skin look singed and livid; whipped raw with hellish light and grateful to be stripped of the pretense. That dance floor is the cage where the oldest ritual on earth plays out, night after night, after night.

And that's where my focus was, staring at shirtless men hidden in blackout and randomly revealed with each red flashing strobe, shimmering provocatively with sweat and claiming interest with their psychedelic eyes.

When you know they're supernatural it makes sense. Until then you're simply mesmerized while they tap into the reptilian brain and course hormones to riot through your body.

Walking lust.

God made them in such a way that women cannot resist. Any normal woman would be deeply flattered by their attention.

Heck, I'm one of them.

Nodding to Darise, I sit back down on the stool I claimed at the crescent bar. “Yes, I'm fine. This place sure has changed.”

He leans over, running a hand down my cheek with a big smile, “It's so good to see you.”

Darise glides a thumb over my bottom lip as if recalling the kisses we shared earlier. It's a demanding touch, expecting more from my mouth as if kisses are promises of allegiance.

Supplication.

It's automatic to smile back even though my insides recoil. He's always going to be the Snow White of the vampyre world. Black hair, alabaster pale skin, and sinful ruby-red lips. “I'm glad you got to keep your fangs when you became mortal. They fit you.”

He pushes another dirty martini to me and lingers, leaning his weight onto the bar with elbows, bunching his impressive muscles. “I still bite.”

He says it with a wink, but it's sweet. He's always been sweet, I just forgot how saccharine he is. There's no danger in his eyes, in his movement, in his smile. He lost the rebel when he chose redemption.

But he still looks devilishly hot in coaled tones. I'm pleased he's still wearing black. It's a hooded threat when a man of muscle dresses in the color of night. It rivets attention and causes fantasies to go to places the mind seldom wanders.

He looks like he should have leather bands on his wrists that he can unwind to restrain you, tying you down, the wider ones to blindfold, hiding chains or cuffs in his back pocket, possibly with a tablet or two to ease the pain he'll deliver.