He rolled them to their sides, Tori"s body pressed once more between his and Eli"s. She felt the hard pressure of Eli"s c.o.c.k at her back and she flushed, realizing just how aware part of him really was. Vaguely, she grew aware of something, a dull pounding ache between her thighs. When Declan eased his semi erect shaft out of her, tears flooded her eyes and she gasped in pain.
Soothing kisses dried the tears from her eyes while Declan murmured in her ear, "I"m sorry, baby. So sorry."
She felt the rising tide of guilt and self anger that rose in Declan and she arched up to press her lips to his mouth. "Shh," she whispered. "I"m fine, just not going to be up to much playing for a while."
He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly.
"I want you so much," he muttered as shame and anger flooded his gut. Sympathy pains, or echoes of the pain Tori was feeling had his lower abdomen and groin throbbing and aching and he could only imagine how badly she was hurting now. "I"ve been told the need does lessen, in time." "Need?" she repeated, curling her knee up slightly, stroking one hand down his stiff side.
"Aye. You"re my mate, you see. The shifters, inherents or otherwise, have a driving need for a mate. Once you find it, you want it, always and forever and you"re overtaken by an urge to mark your mate," he said quietly. "I"ve known you were mine since I first saw you, and I"ve controlled the urges. I"m afraid I am losing control now. All I have to do is think of you and I get hard. The need to mark you and ride you and f.u.c.k you constantly is driving me insane. I can"t control it." He didn"t speak of how the urge to f.u.c.k had been augmented by his need to do everything to protect, until the need had near driven him insane.
But she knew.
With a smile, she kissed his chest, nipping gently at one flat nipple before she said, "I think of you and I get wet.
Stop feeling bad. I heal quick, right? That"s part of this.
And it was worth it." She closed her eyes in remembered ecstasy- the feel of his c.o.c.k inside her, the feel of being pressed between their two bodies. The feel of Eli thrusting that thick c.o.c.k of his in her a.s.s while Declan pummeled her v.a.g.i.n.a. Even the thought of it had tight little spirals of need spiraling through her belly, even though her aching p.u.s.s.y begged for a respite.
Oh, yeah. Worth it.
Declan"s shame at his lack of control faded as he felt that deep satisfaction that radiated from her. "You"re not angry, are you?"
"For what?"
"I bound us together last night. And I never gave you a chance to say no," he said, lifting her chin and staring into her eyes. "You understand, don"t you, that ya canna go walkin" away from me, from us. Not now, likely not ever."
"Can you force this bond on somebody who doesn"t want it?" she asked, a frown furrowing her brows. Part of her rebelled at anybody taking a choice from her, but another part, something inside her heart she had barely even known existed, rebelled at anything that could separate her from Declan-even her own anger. And it wasn"t like she had ever had a true choice anyway.
They were m e ant for each o ther.
"No. It cannot be forced," he said, his accent thickening into that rough brogue that had shivers running down her spine. "The bond goes both ways. It"s not a marriage, but a union, our hearts and minds and souls melding to one. That cannot be done to one who isn"t willing. But that doesn"t mean I had the right to let it happen, if I could have stopped it. Or let you know it was likely.
"I knew it would happen, if I let it. I could have stopped it, simply by not touching you."
With a brush of her fingers against his mouth, she asked, "Is not touching me a simple thing?"
He seized her hand, pressing a kiss to her sensitive palm, stroking it with his tongue before taking one finger into the wet cave of his mouth and sucking it, his rough tongue caressing and stroking before he drew it out and said flatly, "No. It"s the hardest f.u.c.king thing I"ve ever done, to not touch you. But-"
"No buts. Declan, I love you. I think I always have and while I don"t like having choices taken from me, this isn"t a choice. It would have happened, it was meant to happen. And I can"t think of being without you, when you are so much a part of me now," she said, staring into his face, caressing his roughened cheek as she kissed his chin. "I love you."
CHAPTER NINE.
It was later in the day that she grew aware of the malevolent force that was battering at her mind. It was like a battering ram that was trying to get in, and the longer it fought and failed, the more the anger grew.
"He"s here, isn"t he?" she asked quietly, braving the sunlight at four in the afternoon to stare briefly out the window. The blinding light hurt her eyes, and as moments pa.s.sed, it started to sting her skin, but she stared into the woods beyond the wood and gla.s.s houses, beyond the small guesthouses, wondering where he had gone to ground.
"I do not think he is on Eli"s territory yet," Declan said, taking her hand and guiding her from the window, letting the heavy, light blocking drapes fall back down. He had carried Eli into a middle room, his bedchamber, a windowless room that was protected from any and all sunlight. It wasn"t a bas.e.m.e.nt room, though. Eli had a dislike of such things, a remnant from his human days.
"He is," she whispered, her eyes closing while her mind went drifting down a dark mental path.
"He is close," the wise old woman whispered. "He had his slave bring him while he slept. He must hate you very much, to have traveled in his sleep to get to you. He is certain you will run, and he doesn"t want you to have the chance."
"I"m not running," Tori said softly, pacing the room.
"What?"
Tori ignored Declan"s voice while the old woman murmured, "I know you will not run. That is why I chose you. I need your help. Until Manuel is gone, I cannot rest."
"Can you tell me your name? Why would you help me? I will see him dead-you know that, don"t you? Why help me when you know I will kill your son?" "My name is Rosa, and I help you because I do know you will see him stopped, I know Manuel better than all others, and his evil, foul deeds. I help you because he must be stopped."
"Why me?"
The old woman laughed and replied, "Why not you? You threw off his compulsions. You fought against him. You hurt him. Manuel hasn"t been hurt by a human since before he was changed."
"How long has he been a vampire?"
Tori stumbled in her tracks and came to rest against the wall as Rosa said sadly," More than five hundred years.
Manuel was an Inquisitor before he was changed."
" Inquisitor?" Tori thought, her mind whirling.
"The Spanish Inquisition, when Isabelle sought to purify all of Spain. Her purifying was the most foul and evil deed I had ever seen done...at the time. So much evil in the world, so many evil, terrible things I have seen. I am weary and long to rest."
Death toll in the hundreds of thousands, people pulled from their homes and cast into fires. Tori"s mind stumbled to a halt and stared unseeingly out the window. "He was alive then?"
"He was. It was how he met the man who changed him. He took pleasure in what he did, in the suffering that he caused." Her sad, mournful sigh brushed through Tori"s mind like a cold wind. "He was always evil, from the time he left my body." "Oh, G.o.d."
"G.o.d had nothing to do with it. He was just...evil.
Always evil. Five hundred years he has traveled this world, inflicting his evil and malice on others. It is time he be stopped."
"Five hundred years? Vampires get stronger with age, don"t they?"
"They do. But you are not just a vampire. And you are not alone."
Declan"s hands landed on her shoulders as another voice joined in. Declan"s mind was troubled and in turmoil but his mental voice was strong and clear. "She will never be alone, old woman."
"Old woman, handsome wolf?" Rosa asked, her voice light with amus.e.m.e.nt. "Hmm. Go, Tori McAdams. Go be with your mate, but be ready. Manuel is too foolish to fear the wolf."
Her mental touch faded and Tori fell back against Declan.
"She was his mother," she murmured a few moments later. "I don"t know much, but I know he sought out the vampire and wanted to be changed. And then he fed from his own mother and killed her."
"Five hundred years," Declan whispered. "He was born about the time the Spaniards settled in Florida.
Manuel will be strong."
"She said he was an Inquisitor, as in the freaking Spanish Inquisition. Burning people, torturing people, dragging them from their homes at night and killing them," Tori murmured, her head spinning. Too much.
Too much to take in.
"She waited for me," Tori said, her voice gruff and thick with tears. "I might have died, if she hadn"t been whispering in my head. She helped me, but it was because she thinks I can kill him."
"She"s caught, Tori, tied to her son for always, unless somebody is able to kill him. Can you blame her for taking a chance on a strong woman?"
Shaking her head, she wiped away one tear with the back of her hand. "I don"t blame her. I pity her, I hurt for her. But what if I fail her?"
"We won"t," Declan whispered.
Failure wasn"t an option, not to him.
Failure meant death.
Tori prowled the house, as the sun edged down lower.
It was late afternoon, but sunset was still hours away.
The summer brought long hours of daylight, confining the creatures of the night to their lairs.
"Stop pacing, Tori," Declan said in exasperation.
"You"re making me nervous."
The roiling energy in her gut was begging for release.
She had noticed, after feeding from yet another of Eli"s people that her body was eased and the aching between her thighs had faded.
And she recalled the euphoric, powerful strength that rolled through her after s.e.x. She turned and propped her back against the wall, her fingers going to her shirt, watching Declan as he tried to focus on a book. She caught his attention before her shirt had opened to her navel. Peeling back the sides, she opened her bra, the lace cups falling away to frame her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "Change,"
she ordered in a soft voice as she flipped open the b.u.t.ton of her jeans.
"Excuse me?" Declan asked, his eyes latched on her naked b.r.e.a.s.t.s as he rose from the chair.
"Change," she ordered in a hot, smoky voice, rolling her shoulders and sending her shirt floating to the floor. "You f.u.c.ked me your way last night. Now I want to f.u.c.k my wolf."
"You"re too sore," he rasped, his erection pressed against his jeans. Mouth dry, he stared hungrily at her naked b.r.e.a.s.t.s and licked his lips.
"No. I"m not. Change. Or don"t you want to?" she asked with a pout.
His head fell back, his teeth bared in a pained, silent snarl as the flow of fur started the change-his hair lengthening, thickening and spreading down his neck, back, and chest.
Fur flowed downward and his arms flexed, shifted as the muscles bulged outward and enlarged while the hair raced down his arms. His nails shot out, became longer, curved and deadly.
The ridged muscles of his chest and belly became more obscured as the fine line of hair between his nipples spread outward and became a furred pelt that covered his entire torso, spreading around his trunk and back.
His jeans fell around him in shreds moments later as his enlarged muscles tore the seams, his hide darkening and mellow gold fur spreading to cover his body. His c.o.c.k rose, naked and ruddy, from the thinner hair that covered his groin. Longer and thicker, it jutted up and Tori licked her lips when Declan closed one clawed hand around it, stroking carelessly while the change completed.
His muscles shifted and bulged as he moved slowly toward her. "Suck it?" he asked, the words a soft growl as he guided her to her knees and urged her mouth open with a clawed finger. Her mouth stretched tight, too tight, around his thickness and she whimpered, her p.u.s.s.y wet and hot, tight and hungry. She couldn"t take him all the way down her throat like this. He was too long, and too thick; the feel of him bruised her throat as she took him inside in slow, hesitant strokes.
He pulled away a moment later and stared down at her, his hooded eyes glowing and green. "On your knees. f.u.c.k you like that."
She turned slowly, presenting her a.s.s and bracing her weight on her hands. "Don"t want to hurt," he said, his voice deep and growling, sending shivers down her spine as he dropped to his knees behind her.
"I want you to," she said darkly, rocking back and brushing her a.s.s against his pulsating length. "Hurt me a little. I need it." Reaching out, she felt for him along the mental path that joined them and felt his need. "You need it, too, Declan, don"t you? I can feel it inside you, like an animal caged. You haven"t let him out once with me. Let him out now."
In answer, his hands, big and hard, covered with fur and tipped with ebony claws, closed over her hips and he drove inside her. Halfway in, her body started to resist and he pulled out, worked his c.o.c.k back in again a few more inches, then out. Back in a little deeper, out, over and over again until the tawny gold of his furred belly stroked the pale curves of her a.s.s as he drove inside her, forcing her to take his entire length, a rough grunt falling from him as he stared down, watching his ruddy c.o.c.k, wet with her cream, spear the swollen lips of her s.e.x.
He lifted his hand and smacked her a.s.s roughly, shuddering as her flesh pinked under his sharp slap.
Tori mewled and thrust back against him, the burning biting pain in her p.u.s.s.y making her delirious. She yelped when one hand landed hard on her backside in a slap. A second one had her keening, and the third one had her bucking up.
She could feel his hot c.o.c.k as it stretched her sheath almost unbearably, her flesh resisting his brutal intrusion while it held him deep each time he started to pull out. Another hard slap on her bottom, followed by another, and she pushed back, taking him inside again.
"Harder," she begged. "Deeper. Faster."
Declan went wild, shuttling his c.o.c.k in and out while she screamed and pleaded beneath him. He shoved her hips lower, angled her a.s.s a little higher until her torso was flat on the floor and her a.s.s was in the air, canted up so that he slid across the bundle of nerves deep inside her pa.s.sage with every stroke. She closed over his c.o.c.k tightly-making him growl as her pa.s.sage fought it every time he plunged back inside her sweet depths.
Sweet little f.u.c.k, Tori, he thought, feeling her along the mental paths, speech coming easier through their bond than it did vocally in this form.
He felt the silent pleading racing along the bond and raised his hand, spanking her again, admiring the way the cheek of her a.s.s pinkened under his blows.
"Like f.u.c.king your wolf?"
"My wolf," she whispered, her body shuddering as he lodged himself deep inside her. She felt the silken hair of his pelt caressing her a.s.s and wondered how it would feel to take him in this form with her on her back, him between her thighs.
"Find out," he offered, pulling out and flipping her onto her back before she had even realized he could sense what she wanted.
But once she figured that out...He lay between her thighs and, using two claws, spread her lips gently before sliding his long tongue out of his mouth and into her s.e.x. Tori screamed as he flicked and stroked inside her, pulling away to lick and nuzzle her c.l.i.t with his nose. He grabbed her behind her knees and shoved her legs high, lifting her bottom off the floor as he pierced her v.a.g.i.n.a and pulled her onto his length roughly, forcing her thighs wide, staring down at her.
"Feel good?"
"Oh, yes," she murmured, relishing the tight swollen fit of his body inside hers, the gentle, alien brush of his fur on the sensitive skin of her inner thighs.
"Slow?" he asked, stroking his length in and out gently.
"Or fast?" And he drove his length inside her, hot little licks of pleasure pain flooding her body.
"Fast, oh, please, Declan, fast," she begged, her head thrashing on the floor. "I don"t want gentle right now."
"My baby," he purred inside her mind before lunging and driving deep inside her body, the flared head of his c.o.c.k leaving her v.a.g.i.n.a before driving back in, each rough stroke dragging across her swollen engorged c.l.i.t until she was panting and pleading and begging.