Aaron's Kiss Series Boxed Set (Books 1 - 7) (33 page)

~CHAPTER FOURTEEN~

Shade woke up with Colin wrapped around her, holding her tight against his big body, his leg heavy across hers. She needed to get up and use the bathroom, but she didn’t want to wake him. Waking him might have him asking questions, questions she didn’t want to answer, not yet at any rate. She didn’t know what had made her do what she had done; she had practically raped the man, did rape him, in fact. Not that he put up much of a resistance, she thought, but that did not negate the fact that she...she had...she needed to get up and leave before he woke up. She had only moved his arm when he tightened it around her, pulling her close again.

“Good morning, love. How are you?” His voice was soft, slightly gruff from the many times he had growled and groaned with her, she thought with an embarrassing smile.

“Can I get up? I need to...I really have to pee, please.” She was squirming now, her need to go getting stronger by the moment.

“I bet you could use a bath as well. Let me get that going for you.” He was up now, striding around the end of the bed toward her side and the bathroom. He was naked and hard, his erection jutting out from his groin beautifully. Her mouth watered. She no longer had to use the bathroom; suddenly, touching him seemed so much more important to her.

When she looked up at him, seeing the need in his eyes, she moaned. Colin’s eyes, they had changed to a dark gold. She stared, mesmerized, while he fisted his cock, stroking up and down twice.

“See something you want, love?” He tightened his grip, moving his hand up and down. He was making her ache with need and he hadn’t even touched her yet. When he suddenly stopped and move toward her, she stopped him.

“Don’t stop that, keep touching it.” Her voice took on a purr, her body suddenly restless and needful again. She could feel her pussy weep for him. She wanted to touch him again. She wanted to look, to watch what he was doing to himself more.

“My cock, baby. It’s my cock. Say it. Tell me what you want me to do with my cock.” He continued to stroke himself, faster now. Her own body tightened and ached with need. How she could want him again so soon, she thought, after they had just had sex not but not a few hours ago? She sat up, spilling the sheet away from her body, it pooling at her knees, baring her for him. He moved closer as she reached for him. “Shade, tell me what you want,” he demanded of her in a growl.

She licked her lips, mesmerized as his eyes darkened to a deeper red. When she touched him, running her thumb over the blood filled head, a tiny drop of cum seeped from the end. She gathered the drop on her finger and put it in her mouth, sucking it clean, moaning with delight. That was all the encouragement he needed because he moved closer, cupping her head and pulling her mouth up to his, kissing her, his tongue tangling with hers, dancing a dance that lovers used. She wrapped her hand around his shaft, never breaking contact from his mouth. His hardness filled her hand, his width almost too much for her small fingers. He felt like velvet covering steel, thick and hard for her, just for her. Touching his mind gently, she knew what he wanted, what he needed, and she gave it all to him.

“I want your cock, Colin. I want to taste more of you, please? Please, I need to taste you.” While she begged him, she moved her mouth down his delicious body, licking, biting, and nipping at his chest, his abdomen, moving closer to what she wanted. When her tongue touched his cock for the first time, he surged into the wet heat and began gently fucking her mouth. She pulled him deeper still, licking the underside of the head, forcing a groan from deep in his body.

Shade had no experience with sex, none in pleasing a man, and she so wanted to please him this one time. She gently reached out and touched him mind again, looking for his needs and seeing what he wanted. As soon as she touched him, it felt as if his mind wrapped around her, through her. She moaned at what she found there, his thoughts and images all centered on them and what he needed, wanted. This would be her last chance, she thought, and she was going to get as many of her own memories as she could.

She ran her tongue along the length of him, touching, and then cupping his balls. His moans vibrated through her, intensifying her pleasure. When she swirled her tongue around his head again and cupped his balls tighter, he gripped the back of her head and began pumping into her mouth none too gently now, his need to come driving him beyond reasonable control. She wasn’t sure how she knew this, but was sure.

His balls, heavy and hot, tightened closer to his body. When he tightened his fist in her hair, pulling it hard, she was afraid he wanted her to stop. There was no way that was happening, she thought, and sucked harder.

“Shade, I’m going to come. I’m so close, baby. I want you to touch yourself. Give yourself pleasure for me; I want to watch you touch yourself. I want to watch you while you give yourself a climax.” She had never done anything like that before, but the look in his eyes made her want to try, for him. When she reached between her legs and stroked her clit first with one finger, then two, she moaned with his cock deep in her throat.

She experimented with her fingers until she found what brought her the most pleasure and began finger fucking her pussy with wild abandonment, her moans running along his shaft longer and faster. She could feel her climax racing to completion, her body taut and hard with the need to come. With her other hand around him, she pumped hard as she came, and he joined her. With a final push, he came, spurting his cum into her mouth, down her throat hot and fast. She swallowed him, taking all of his seed into her, not missing a drop.

When she flicked her tongue at the end of his cock, catching the last drop, he jerked her up to his body. Adjusting her legs around his hips, he crossed to the wall and pressed her up against it. He surged into her hard and fast. She was wet and her cream ran down her thighs, making his entry quick. It didn’t take long for them to reach their peak again; they were both so close. It took very little to have them both tumbling over the cliff of intense pleasure not two minutes after having a mind blowing orgasm on the bed.

~~~

The next time Shade woke up, for as much as she wanted to stay with Colin, she knew she had to leave. Her body tingled and ached. But she had never been so relaxed, or so sated in her life. She hadn’t known sex could be like that, not that she would have had it sooner. Shade also knew that had it have been anyone else, it would not have been nearly as good or so fulfilling.

She was able to get out from under his arms and Colin didn’t move, nor did he try to keep her to him this time. She felt for his pulse. It was then that Shade realized that it was daylight outside and he was in the deep sleep of his kind. She stood over the bed looking at the man she had spent the night with. He was so beautiful and so flippin’ stubborn. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to stroke his strong jaw line or smack it. She did neither, but slipped out of his room and made her way to the upper floors.

It was still early morning, around eight-thirty, when she stepped into the beautiful kitchen. Her hopes of getting out undetected were dashed when she found the rest of the house in there having breakfast.

Penny was making the biggest omelet she had ever seen with peppers, onions, cheese and mushrooms filling it to overflowing. When it seemed to satisfy the cook in her, she set it down in front of Sara with a glass of dark juice, toast and a full rasher of bacon.

“Good morning, Shade. You look better this morning. How about you have something to eat?” Sara had spotted her first and the big man across from her turned around to look at her. She had never met him, but knew he was a vampire immediately, sensing his signature. The other man, Aaron, nodded in her direction, being totally engrossed in watching his mate eat. For whatever the reason, Shade could not fathom.

“No thanks, I was just leaving.” She moved closer to the back door, but was brought up short by Aaron’s cool but authoritative voice.

“Don’t even think about it, young lady. You and I haven’t had our little talk, and it’s long overdue. Dominic, I’d like to introduce you to Colin’s mate Shade Doe. Shade, this is Dominic Marshall. He’s a friend of ours and the tracker we hired to help us find you. You’ll be seeing a lot of him around, I’m sure. Have a seat please.” While he said please, Shade knew a command when she heard one. It made her bristle a little.

“Why would you believe I’ll see him again? Never mind, I don’t care. I’d like to get this over with so I can leave. I have things to do today. While I’m sure you’ll find this hard to believe, things that I do don’t revolve around you. Where can we talk?” The smell of the food was making her hungry and slightly weak. This man, this master, drove her crazy on so many levels that most of the time she wanted to smack his smirk right off his arrogant face. She wondered, not for the first time, when she had become so violent and hostile. Then she glanced at Aaron and remembered.

“Really? And I thought you and I were going to be the best of friends. Here is just fine. Sit. Penny will fix you something healthy to eat and while you’re enjoying it, we’ll talk. And don’t count on leaving when we’re finished either. Colin will have a say in that, I’m sure.”

“No thanks, she doesn’t need to go to any trouble. I have this to eat. And Colin isn’t my boss or my mate. Whatever the hell you seem to think either of you are to me, Mr. MacManus, I answer to no one. If you believe otherwise, then you’re as nutty as he is.”

She pulled out a package of Ramen noodles from her pack and began eating them dry like a large cracker.

Shade had been eating them for so long, and dry like this, that she didn’t think how odd it must look to others, not that she would have cared overly much. When you couldn’t count on having electricity or sometimes water, you made do with what you had.

Apparently, Aaron thought that what he said was law and moved accordingly, snatching the dry noodles from her hand and asking Penny to add bacon and sausage to her big breakfast as well. When Shade only glared at him when asked what she wanted in her eggs, he told the nice cook to put the works into it.

“And you will eat every bite of it if you know what’s good for you,” he said to her with a sneer.

Arrogant asshole,
Shade thought. It would serve him right if she were to puke the whole mess right down the front of his nice, probably very expensive suit.

“You bloodsuckers certainly are a bunch of asses, aren’t you? Lording over all of us peons as if we are too stupid to know which way is up. I got news for you, fang face, you may be bigger, but I carry a much larger stick with these friggin’ abilities I’m stuck with. Now, back the fuck off. Ask your questions so I can leave here. And don’t even think about trying to stop me.” She wanted to leave right then, but she also wanted them to get this question and answer session over with so they would leave her alone for good.

Her hair, loose from her shower, started to lift and blow from an unseen breeze. She could feel her magic fill the room so full that it settled on her tongue, bitter and hot. Shade realized what she was doing and dropped her head down to her chest and took several deep, calming breaths to bring everything down and back under her rigid control.
Damn it
, she thought,
I’m a harpy and a flippin’ time bomb because of these people.

“If you had more practice with your powers, Shade, they wouldn’t get away from you like that. I told you before that I’d help you with them and the offer still stands. I really think it’s necessary that you let me before you hurt yourself or someone else.”

Shade had never met a bossier group of people in her life. She wondered how they managed their own lives what with trying to run everyone else’s. She glared at the two of them. She knew she didn’t have much control. She never used the flippin’ things, so what was the purpose of wanting to get better at them?

Shade looked from the woman to the man, ignoring for the moment Sara’s offer of help. “Well? Are we going to get to this or what? I suppose I could wait until high day and watch you fry up like a burnt offering, but like I said before, I have things to do. Though, I will admit that the thought of you as a pile of ash does sound kinda fun.”

~CHAPTER FIFTEEN~

Shade sat and toyed with the plate in front of her, moving the food from one side of it to the other. She was actually afraid to eat it. She didn’t think they would poison her; she just didn’t know if she could handle rich foods anymore. It had been years since she’d had any eggs, even longer for anything like meat. She did eat the wheat toast with a little bit of jam and drank most of the juice. And she had to admit, those were ambrosia to her taste buds.

Aaron, seemingly just realizing what he had done to her with the food, took pity on her and reached over and took the plate of food, asking Penny to make Shade some cereal. It was Penny who suggested cream of wheat. While it cooked, Aaron began asking Shade his questions. Just the three of them sat around the kitchen table as Dominic had already left. The sun was too high for him to stand.

“Where are you from? I’m guessing you don’t live in a traditional setting, nor do I think you live where there is much in the way of amenities such as heat, water...you know, luxuries,” he said.

Aaron didn’t seem to realize that the simple pleasure of four walls had become a luxury to her over the years. That surviving every day had been so hard, though she had never given up, nor would she. It was such a struggle some days.

“I live close to the city, as I’m sure you know, in one of the abandoned warehouses on Merchants Way. I have water now, not that it’s any of your business. When I don’t, I make do with what I can find. I’m very resourceful. I’ve lived in that general area for about six years now in different buildings. I’ve actually just moved into one of the newer buildings a few days ago, but I believe that I’ll be finding other accommodations as soon as I’m done here.” Leaving Aaron in no doubt that she was still planning to leave as soon as they were finished. She noticed that Aaron chose to move on for now.

“Why don’t you have an apartment, or a job at least, and not one that pays you under the table? You seem able bodied enough, and you’re certainly not too terribly stupid. You know enough to come out of the rain, at least some of the time.”

“Oh, ha ha, you’re such a funny old man. I don’t have any of those things because I really enjoy stealing for a living. The thrill of it all, you know, of the chase. I’m sure you know how us humans can be, living off the teat of the land, sucking it dry. Oh, sorry, that’s your job, sucking things dry, isn’t it?” She didn’t even try covering up her sarcasm. It practically dripped off each word.

Sara’s laughs turned into a cough when her mate turned to glare at her, as if to say, “do not encourage her, please.” Shade giggled at that. Anything to put the bossy man out of sorts was just fine by her.

“Shade, we are only trying to help. Please, why don’t you just answer the questions and try not to be so...so snarky with us? We only have your best interests at heart,” Sara said with ill-disguised humor.

Shade thought she could almost like the woman if they had met under different circumstances.
Nah, probably not
, she amended with a shrug.

“Look, I don’t know anything about myself before about fifteen years ago. I just woke up one day with a gash in my head and no memory of anything prior to that. No one has put out a missing persons report in all this time that I’m aware of. I’m guessing that either everyone else is dead, or didn’t care enough to report it. I have these freaky abilities that seem to get me into more trouble than anything else, so I seldom use them. I will heal fast if the wound is life threatening, otherwise I heal like a normal person, bruising included. I’ve never had a cold or the flu that I know of. I’m never sick, actually. Up until I taught myself how to close off my mind to everything around me, I could hear things that no one else could, creepy things, but that isn’t important, nor any of your business. As for what I am, I...I don’t know, and frankly, don’t care either. Now, I’ve answered your nosey ass questions as best as I could, Lord Vampire, or whatever you call yourself, and I’d like to leave. You have no right to hold me, you know, and I’ll hurt you if you even try.”

“Do you have any kind of mark or a tattoo, Shade?” Aaron asked her quietly.

Shade froze. She hadn’t even thought of her mark in months now, probably years.

That was the one thing that terrified her more than her abilities, more than her ability to heal quickly. It was the stupid tree, the tree that moved around on her body seemingly without rhyme or reason. How he knew about it was anyone’s guess, especially when no one could see it but her and that, too, scared her. The thing had been on her face for nearly three weeks once and no one commented on it once. Then it would just move to another place, showing up randomly and staying for no set amount of time anywhere. She just left it alone, trying not to think about it when it was invisible and choosing not to even if it was. Now someone was asking about it. His knowledge of it meant that someone might be looking for her. A vampire of all things, and why now? Now with a “mate” coming around trying to claim her.

“Why do...I don’t know what that has to do with anything that you should be concerned about. I don’t want to talk about...I don’t want to talk to you anymore either. I’m leaving. I have things to do, a job.” She stood up, pulled on her coat, and moved toward the door. He stopped her with a word.

“No.”

It was a word she didn’t pay much attention to, not before these beings came into her life, and especially not now. Shade had had enough of them telling her what she was going to do, when she was doing it, and how she was going to live. Shade didn’t turn around to look at him, knowing that he hadn’t moved an inch.

“Why not? What possible reason could you have to keep me here as a prisoner, because that’s what you’re doing, you know. I didn’t do anything to you or anyone else of your kind. I want to check on someone, a friend of mine. I need to see him. I just want to leave before...let me leave, damn it.”

Shade caught herself before she stamped her foot.
Oh, that would have really showed him,
she thought.
I’ll just have myself a temper tantrum while I’m trying to be tough
.

“If you are speaking of the human boy, Brent, he disappeared from the hospital three days ago. It seems the police are baffled. No one knows how it happened or who was involved. The mother, a wonderful human being, as I’m sure you’ll agree, thought that you had had something to do with it. But Thomas Reilly, your physician and another good friend of mine, has assured the police that there wasn’t any way you could have been involved. He told them as you’ve been here recuperating from a fall that has rendered you bedridden. I thought it best we didn’t say you’d been beaten by a she-wolf so badly that you couldn’t move, at least not until I have reason to believe you didn’t start something with her that got you in over your fool head. But we’ll get back to that and the wolf bitch and your involvement with her at a later time. Now…” He didn’t get the opportunity to finish; Colin came into the room just then, clearly having felt her distress, his face a mask of concern as he looked at her.

It was very odd that he was there; it was nearly ten in the morning and the sun usually had its normal effect on vampires of his age, burning them badly. Colin stood in the doorway, glaring at the room in general.

Shade had felt him enter the room and she turned to look at him as he stepped through the door. A raw and primal hunger for him swept through her. The need to touch and to be touched by him nearly had her leaping into his arms and taking him into her right then and there. She felt herself blush even as the heat of her need swept through her again when he made eye contact with her. Christ, what was wrong with her?

“Aaron. What’s going on here? Why are you upsetting Shade?” Colin glared at the master, his concern for Shade touching, but a little overwhelming. She could feel his confusion too. She sensed his need for her, to protect as well as his need on a more basic level. Sex.

Shade wanted to be frustrated, but found that she also enjoyed being cared about. Especially by this man, and that confused her even more.

“Ah, Colin, my friend, you’re up.  Good. And look what timing. Shade’s breakfast is done as well. Would you be so kind as to help her eat it while we get started? She was just about to tell us about her sigil, weren’t you, love? Come on, sit down. We have lots to discuss.”

The man is an arrogant bastard
, she thought, not for the first time. She stomped her feet all the way back to the table as she glared, yet again, at the Master of the Realm. Shade wondered if he knew how ridiculous that sounded, like he was some king or something. She then realized he probably made up the title just to hear people call him that.
Master Ass of the Sarcastic Wit
would have suited him much better.

Duncan came into the overcrowded kitchen to tell her ladyship that she had a phone call. Sara looked confused, but went into the study with Duncan anyway. Shade didn’t understand the look, but had more important things to think about right now. Like how the hell she was going to get out of this flipping house.

Shade tried to move past Colin only to be scooped up in his arms and settled on his lap as he sat down at the table. He pulled the hot and creamy cereal toward her and handed her a spoon without saying a word.  She held the spoon in her fisted hand and looked at the people in the room.

These people, she thought, were taking her over one day at a time. When Sara walked in, Shade looked up at her and started to cry, softly at first, then in hard sobs. It had suddenly become too much for her, all of it. She had been responsible for herself for so long, living alone, talking to no one for days at a time, that the crowd of these three people overwhelmed her. Sara simply reached out, took her by the hand, and led her from the room, spoon still clutched in her hand.

“Come along now; let’s see what we can do about this.” They walked up the stairs as Sara spoke. “I understand how you feel. Before I met the Carlovetti’s and Aaron, my life was predictable and quiet. For weeks at a time, the only ones I would talk to would be the people in the control tower at the airports where I landed or took off from. I thought I liked it that way.”

“What changed your mind? I mean, I like my quiet time too. Why did you want to keep hanging out with these guys?” Shade was nearly to the room when she turned to ask Sara.

“I needed them, mostly Aaron, but I did need them. So I saved their lives, April, Demetrius, my bosses at the time, and Aaron, killing three rogue vamps, and suddenly had an entire family I didn’t really want, but now could not image living without. So you see, I know just how you feel.”

They were standing outside a set of large double doors and Sara turned to Shade. “My mother, grandmother, and cousin are on their way here, April Carlovetti too. You’ll like April; she’s pregnant as well. Hey, maybe you could show her how to talk with her baby as you did for Aaron and me? Aaron and I can’t thank you enough for showing us that; it’s tremendous. Oh, we should show my grands how to do it as well. You know, I think we are about the same size; maybe you could help me clean out some of my things because I can’t fit anything more in there, and I so have been addicted to shopping. I’m babbling, aren’t I? Feel better yet?”

By the time her babbling had run down, they were in the upper bedroom of the estate’s couple. The bedroom was beautiful and as big as the entire floor of the warehouse Shade was staying in. The furniture was an old, deep red cherry. The comforter was of the same deep reds and pinks, as well. The flower motif throughout the room was also prominent in the carpet and drapes, which were open to the morning sun. There were fresh flowers everywhere in every type of vase and bowl. It must have cost a fortune, Shade thought, to have them in the dead of winter.

Sara did indeed have a closet stuffed full of clothes. Arranged around the big room were four of the most beautiful women Shade had ever seen. Their magical powers combined were simply amazing; the room shimmered with unspent energy.

“Oh my, you are beautiful, aren’t you?” The woman on one of the chairs said with awe in her voice. Shade actually turned to look to see what other beauty had followed them in. “You, love, I’m talking about you. Oh, Eliz, just look at her glow. She practically vibrates with her magic, doesn’t she?”

Shade stayed by the door, as always ready to make her escape. She had pulled a tighter clamp down on her mind when she felt the first stirring of someone trying to invade it.

“I don’t want to be here. I’d like to go please. Now. I want to go now.” The large room actually fluxed with her power.

Ignoring the unintentional show of power, Sara introduced her to her relatives. “Shade, I’d like you to meet my family. The woman over there in the big chair is my Aunt Savannah, and my grandmother Elizabeth, Aunt Savannah’s mother, is the lady sitting on the bed.”

Shade nodded to the two women. The woman called Savannah looked as regal as her name. Blond hair spilled over one shoulder and hung to her waist in a soft braid. Her eyes, a beautiful shade of periwinkle, looked back at Shade and made her think of flowers in the spring. Savannah’s skin looked milky and Shade knew that it would be as soft and smooth as a baby’s. Her clothing, soft and brightly-colored, sparkled in the lamplight beside her.

The other woman, Elizabeth, didn’t look nearly old enough to be anyone’s grandmother, Shade thought. Her hair was a black as her daughter’s was blond. Eyes the same blue twinkled and shone friendliness that made Shade want to trust her immediately. Sara continued with her introductions.