Chosen by Blood (46 page)

She wanted all the pleasure he could give her, as well.

Straining closer to him, she bit his throat, certain that the feel of her blunt teeth nipping at his skin would send him hurtling out of control. Sure enough, his eyes flashed red and his muscles pumped up, something he allowed now but had obviously held back when they’d been together in Quantico. The first time he’d let it happen, she’d been furious at the realization that he’d held back from her, that even when they’d made love in the past, he’d had the control to hold back a part of himself.

As soon as their orgasms had waned and she’d regained her strength, she’d fought him like a tiger. Biting and scratching him until he’d subdued her with his body and the hard thrust of his dick inside her, pinning her to the bed. He’d driven her to another screaming orgasm. Afterward, he’d held her in his arms, whispering his apology and swearing he’d never hold back from her again.

Not now. Not now that they were finally together.

Sure enough, he wasn’t holding back, at least in that sense. But even as his body transformed, even as he grew heavier and thicker and harder inside her, he still maintained control over his slow thrusts. With his teeth clenched and his expression tightened into one of pain, he withdrew from her completely only to push slowly inside her again.

“Why? Why are you waiting?” she moaned.

He opened his eyes, blinking against the sweat that dripped into them, and smiled faintly. “Because I love how you fight me for it. And how good it feels when you stop fighting.”

She narrowed her eyes at him and tried to push him away. His dark laugh shivered through her even as he clenched her hips tighter, forcing her to take all of him. She held her breath and moaned at the feel of his cock tunneling into her. But she gave him what he wanted.

Every time he withdrew, dragging against the walls of her channel and shooting pleasure through every part of her, she squeezed her muscles tighter, not just in an attempt to keep his thick cock inside her swollen, fluttering flesh, but because, as he’d said, it would heighten their pleasure when he returned. As her body initially rejected him, he responded by pushing even harder to get inside her. And as his thrusts got harder, they got quicker, too.

Soon, he was out of control, fucking her with frantic, pounding thrusts of his hips that she answered with her own. “I love you,” she moaned out even as she opened her arms to an orgasm so powerful she saw her tremors shimmer through his own body.

“My wife,” he chanted as he continued to thrust. “Love you. My wife.” With one last thrust, he froze and arched his head back, the muscles in his throat straining as he groaned and emptied himself inside her.

They held one another for what seemed like hours. Felicia relished every second, just as she always would. She’d never take a moment of her life with Knox for granted because, in her heart, she knew someday death would take her from him. That is, it would separate them until he joined her in the Otherworld, which, given he was immortal, could be a very long time.

Despite what he’d said about her death preceding his by only seconds, despite the fact he’d begged her to let him, she’d refused to let him turn her. She’d done so despite the fact they both
believed
Knox’s death was only a possibility rather than a foregone conclusion. First, no matter what anyone speculated, Bianca never had and never would confirm she’d actually turned Knox’s father. According to Jacques, she’d take that secret to the grave, passing it on to her eventual successor the way she was supposed to, in a ritualistic ceremony complete with sealed, confidential documents. Second, a vampire who turned another might not automatically die, but the risk was still there; Felicia wouldn’t risk Knox’s life,
ever
, even if failing to do so deprived her of an eternity with him.

Knox would, however, always be part of her, whether she existed in this world or the Other one.

Tightening her arms around him, she pressed her lips to his temple. “My husband,” Felicia sighed. “My love for all eternity.”

 

 

Lucy was sipping at her Shirley Temple, watching the wedding guests, Others and humans alike, boogey on the dance floor to the classic wedding tune, “YMCA.” Wraith, of course, was in the middle of it all, her face wreathed in smiles until she happened to lock eyes with O’Flare, who was dancing in the corner of the dance floor with a petite feline with long chestnut hair streaked with caramel and blond highlights. Sighing, Lucy shook her head fondly. O’Flare was such a bonehead sometimes.

And speaking of boneheads? Lucy scanned the room, decorated in the frills and flowers that Felicia had insisted on, for Hunt. She hadn’t seen him at the ceremony, but she’d hoped he’d at least attend the reception. Even though she should accept he hadn’t come, for some reason she didn’t want to. Accepting that left her with the image of Hunt sitting at some bar, alone, knocking back a beer. While there was nothing wrong with that, Lucy couldn’t help thinking this was a time for all of them to be together. Excluding Knox and Felicia, of course, who could be forgiven for their absence.

Giving up the search for Hunt, Lucy stood and joined everyone on the dance floor. She was just beginning to enjoy herself when the band switched to a slow song. Wraith immediately left the floor, not sticking around to see the feline slip out of O’Flare’s arms or, a minute later, see O’Flare walk across the room, as far from Wraith as he could get. Shaking her head, Lucy moved back to the bar and watched Knox’s father hold Bianca Devereaux close. If all eyes weren’t on the couple, they should have been, Lucy thought.

Their love was a beautiful sight. A true miracle.

About thirty minutes later, a movement at the edge of the dance floor caught her eye. It was Mahone. She thought he’d left a long time ago, but—Lucy flinched at the raw agony that was on the man’s face. Before she could stop herself, before she could weigh the rightness of her actions, she reached out and enchanted him. Just enough so the pain raging inside him wouldn’t hurt quite so bad. Mahone turned and looked at her. For a second, his gaze pinned her in place, his expression grim. She assumed he’d felt her magic and was angry with her. But then he smiled thinly, tipped his head, and mouthed a thankyou. He strode swiftly toward Wraith, who was looking a little shell-shocked. Lucy wondered why. She’d seen her dancing with a handsome vamp, then Wraith and O’Flare had talked for a bit. Predictably, it was only a short time later that they’d separated, O’Flare going in one direction while Wraith had gone in the other. Lucy had thought Wraith had gone outside for some fresh air, but maybe . . . Had she and O’Flare snuck away together?

Lucy felt a spurt of jealousy as she remembered the way O’Flare had kissed Wraith in Korea. She hated her pettiness, but she couldn’t help how she felt, could she?

She watched as Mahone and Wraith spoke. The longer they spoke, the louder Wraith’s voice became. Lucy walked quickly toward them. In her periphery, she saw O’Flare heading that way, as well. As she reached them, Wraith said, “Don’t you tell me this takes precedence over my wants, Mahone. We had a deal, and the deal was the team would get the information I need.”

Mahone nodded, clearly trying to appease the wraith. “And this doesn’t change that, Wraith. You’ve earned the information, no one’s saying otherwise. But whoever’s drugging and raping the werecats has escalated things so that the whole feline community is out for blood. If we don’t give it to them, they’re going to turn on us. I need the Para-Ops team to settle the situation and then it can focus on your needs.”

“Maybe that’s not good enough,” Wraith hissed with a scowl. “Maybe I want someone to acknowledge that my needs are the most important thing for fucking once.”

Shaking his head, Mahone said, “I’m sorry.”

O’Flare reached them. “What’s going on?” he asked.

Wraith turned toward him. “Nothing. Mahone here was just telling me the details of your next mission.”

“
Our
next mission?” Lucy asked.

“That’s right,” Wraith said. “
Yours
. Because
I’m
done.”

“Wraith . . .” Mahone and O’Flare said almost simultaneously.

The wraith ignored them and stomped away. O’Flare was right behind her.

Lucy looked at Mahone. “What . . .”

Mahone shook his head. “The bride and groom have arrived. I’ll fill you in later. In the meantime, I need to talk some sense into Wraith. Tell Knox . . .” Mahone’s gaze homed in on Knox’s mother like a heat-seeking missile. This time, his face remained expressionless, his eyes devoid of a single spark of emotion. “Tell Knox and Felicia I said congratulations.” With that, Mahone strode outside.

Sighing, Lucy stared at Knox and Felicia. In addition to their matching medallions, each now wore matching rings, a simple band of gold symbolizing their never-ending love and engraved with a single word: “recognition.” Felicia had shown Lucy the matching bands, but she hadn’t explained the inscription.

She hadn’t needed to.

Lucy pasted a smile on her face and moved toward the newly married couple to obey Mahone’s orders.

C
aleb’s hands moved swiftly and efficiently as he set up the mobile radar equipment he’d spread out on the roof. The building below his feet had been swept and a perimeter established. Now all Caleb had to do was determine who was in the room with Mahone and whether Mahone was still alive.

Briefly, he glanced at Ethan Riley, leader of Hope Restored Team Blue and the four men, skilled in entry and perimeter surveillance, who’d accompanied them here. “Did you get in touch with the Para-Ops team?”

Riley looked up from checking his rifle. “They’ve detained the vampire Dante Prime. Devereaux said he tried to teleport here, but he’d depleted his powers in Korea . . .”

Caleb snorted. “No shit.” Although vamps could teleport to and from anywhere in the world, provided they’d been there before, that kind of travel drained them. Before he and the rest of the team had interrupted the Vamp Council to question Dante Prime for treason and conspiracy to commit murder, Knox had spent several hours teleporting between North Korea and the United States. Each time, he’d carried a wounded Other or one of his team members back with him. It was a wonder the vamp was even capable of talking at this point. Add everything else that had happened to him—

“Is it true you found his father? And that he’d been turned into a vampire?”

Caleb didn’t even look up. The Para-Ops team had trained with Team Blue’s aerial experts before dropping into North Korea. At the time, Knox’s father hadn’t even been on their radar and for good reason—everyone believed he was dead. How the hell news of Jacques Devereaux’s return had spread so fast, Caleb didn’t know. Still, Riley had to know how fruitless his question was. “No comment.”

He sensed Riley wince. “Sorry.”

Caleb shrugged. Just because a person expected a particular result didn’t mean he shouldn’t try to get around it. Caleb was always trying to get a different reaction from his teammate Wraith, regardless of how unlikely that was. “No worries. I’m as human as you, remember?”

Now it was Riley who snorted, prompting Caleb to smile tightly.

Okay, so maybe he wasn’t quite as human as Riley. They shared the same DNA but being able to communicate with his ancestors, hear the Great Song, and occasionally walk the Otherworld made him a little different.

Different didn’t always mean better.

His fingers moved faster. Almost there. Glancing at his watch, Caleb clenched his teeth and felt a bead of sweat trickle down his temple. He knew they couldn’t go in blind but—

“What about your wraith? Was she what you expected her to be?”

Caleb paused for only a fraction of a second before continuing his task. “She’s not my wraith. She’s a wraith who decided to keep the name Wraith, just to be ornery. And she’s exactly what I expected her to be.” What he didn’t say was that she was also far more than he’d expected. A heinous bitch, yes, but one whose attitude and mouth was designed to hide something textured and complex and . . .

Disgusted with himself, Caleb pressed his lips together and pushed thoughts of Wraith out of his head.

Get Mahone out. That’s all he could think about right now.

“Finally!” Snapping the last wire in place, Caleb flipped on the power and adjusted the radar settings, then scanned the building’s interior until the radar picked up body heat. “Bingo.”

Caleb immediately zoomed the camera in and got a good look at Mahone.

Dear Essenia, he thought, automatically invoking the name of the Earth Goddess to give him strength—strength he was clearly going to need to help Mahone. Although humans believed Essenia was an Otherborn deity, few knew Earth People—like the Native American tribe to which Caleb belonged—had prayed to the same deity for centuries.

With his wrists shackled to chains hanging from the ceiling, Mahone looked like he’d gotten into a fight with a chipper machine and lost. His face and body were covered in blood, and what was left of his clothes hung on his battered body in shreds. From his position on the rooftop above, Caleb once again adjusted the settings on the mobile radar equipment. The image on the screen zoomed out, losing detail and focus until it shaped the entire room, and provided grainy outlines of Mahone, a desk, a table, and one other individual, whose silver hair, height, and slim build proclaimed him to be a vampire.

When Caleb and the five members of Hope Restored Team Blue had arrived at the isolated warehouse twenty minutes earlier, Caleb had figured Knox, leader of the Para-Ops team, had made a mistake by not sending any Others with him. That, or Knox simply had faith in Caleb’s ability to take down anything that got in their way, human or not. Either way, Caleb was getting Mahone out and he planned on both of them to be breathing when he did it.