Crave (14 page)

Callum nodded. Antoine would be making sure he knew that soon enough.

“I don’t care what those vampires think... I don’t even care what Javier, Snow and Antoine think of me. They can punish me all they want. All that matters is that I love you, and that you’re safe now, back in my arms.” He smiled down at her when she stopped and looked up into his eyes, her hazel ones full of warmth and affection. “You’re addictive... the feel of you, your touch, your kiss, your smile... the sound of your voice and how you feel in my arms when we’re sleeping together. I crave you.”

She smiled. “I crave something too.”

“Me?” he said.

Her smile turned wicked. “That’s a given. I’ve spent a week with you and can’t get you out of my system... and now I plan on going to that no doubt fancy hotel you mentioned and keeping you all to myself for a week or maybe five.”

“Or maybe forever.” Those words came out before he could consider the consequences.

Kristina tensed and so did the two females behind him. It wasn’t everyday that a vampire voiced an intention to spend the rest of his life with a werewolf but that was what he was doing, and now that it was out there, he felt lighter inside, as though a weight had lifted from his heart.

Her smile was all the answer he needed. It was brilliant and dazzling.

“Or maybe forever,” she echoed and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. He wrapped his arm around her again, warm from head to toe. “But you know what I really crave?”

“What?” he brushed a kiss over her hair and had the feeling the food bill at the hotel was going to be even higher than the cost of the rooms and clothing combined.

“Bacon and eggs,” she said and he smiled.

They walked a little further through the theatre, heading for the foyer. That was a small list of food for his werewolf. Something told him she wasn’t finished. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. She grinned to herself, eyes lighting up, and rubbed her stomach.

“No... I really want pancakes, and waffles, with strawberries and cream and chocolate sauce. With a milkshake. Banana flavoured... and a tropical smoothie.”

Callum looked over his shoulder at the two females behind him, trying to see if this was typical werewolf behaviour and they were thinking about all the food they wanted too.

They were staring at the back of Kristina’s head, strange smiles on their faces, as though they were in on a joke and he and Kristina weren’t.

“And I want bacon in the smoothie... and oh... I want onions... and beetroot, together. Can I have some beetroot? Beetroot onion ice-cream.”

Each step closer to the limousine he took, her list of food she craved became stranger and the temperature turned colder around Callum, until he was barely moving.

Craving.

He looked down at her hand on the black velvet covering her stomach, recounted the list of bizarre things she wanted to eat, recalled that female humans had such behaviour during certain times, and then the way the two female werewolves had been protecting her on stage. He looked back at the werewolves. They smiled at him.

His eyes widened.

He swallowed hard.

Kristina smiled brightly at him. “What’s wrong?”

He frowned and thought about how to broach the subject. It seemed impossible. He told himself that was because it was. To prove it, he placed his hand over hers and focused his senses on her stomach, staring at it and feeling beyond their hands.

“Callum?” she said and at that moment, he felt the tiny pulse of life within her. Her eyes shot wide.

“It isn’t possible,” they said in unison.

“It most certainly is.” The blonde werewolf pushed the door to the foyer open.

The brunette nodded in agreement and placed her hand on Kristina’s shoulder before passing her. “I’ve seen it before.”

Callum stared down into Kristina’s eyes.

The shock in them faded and then she dropped her gaze to her stomach and their joined hands. Callum linked their fingers, silently showing her that she didn’t have to be afraid. He would stay with her through everything, would remain at her side and would raise their child with her.

He had never thought about a family before, but he couldn’t think of anyone else in the world he would rather start one with than Kristina.

“Whatever happens,” he said and she met his gaze again. “This is proof of our love for each other. I will do all I can to be a good father, and a good mate for you, Kristina. We will raise our child together, surrounded by our love, so it will never feel like an outcast. It will know that love between our species is possible. Be my mate, Kristina... my wife... and I will be your husband.”

She smiled, threw herself into his arms and kissed him. “Yes.”

Callum held her close, swept her up into his arms so he was cradling her, and carried her towards the car.

“Now, let’s see what we can do about getting you a suite and all that food you’re craving,” he said.

She grinned up at him. “I’ve changed my mind. I want something else now.”

He looked down at her and raised a single eyebrow.

“I have an intense craving for you.”

Callum growled and kissed her. He could satisfy that craving. He would spend the next week satisfying it and every desire she had, making love to her from dusk until dawn, and then sleeping with her in his arms.

And then when the week was done, he would do it all over, and then repeat it again.

Forever.

The End

Sera’s attention wasn’t on the show. While her sire sat beside her in the sumptuous red velvet seats in the dark stalls watching the erotic acts playing out on the stage of Vampirerotique, Sera’s gaze was elsewhere, drawn to a man who had been on her mind since the first time she had set eyes on him over a year ago. He stood at the edge of the theatre, shadows clinging to him as though they too were drawn to his lethal beauty, his own gaze on the stage. Not once did it stray from the performance—not even when she prayed under her breath every second that it would come to rest on her—and never did the intensity of it lessen. His pale icy eyes scrutinised everything, watching closely, as though he was studying it so he could give a blow-by-blow description of it to someone after it had ended. Perhaps he did. He often disappeared as soon as the show reached its climax with the bloodletting, heading through the double doors that led backstage to an area she could only imagine.

Her sire, Elizabeth, had described it for her a few times but she had always been more interested in learning more about the enigma that was the vampire who ran the theatre.

Antoine.

His name was as exotic as his looks. The deadly combination of lush chocolate brown hair, those intense pale blue eyes and his lithe figure that just screamed he would look like a god naked, was too much for her. The more she saw him, the more she wanted him.

Regardless of the warnings that her sire often whispered in her ear.

“Perhaps I should arrange for a seat closer to him next time?” Elizabeth hissed across at her, amusement ringing in her tone.

Sera tore her eyes away from Antoine, ashamed that she wasn’t watching the show that had cost her sire a pretty penny. Elizabeth had been getting her better seats with each performance and Sera knew that the closer they were to the stage and the action, the more expensive the tickets became. Not only that, but she had paid for Sera’s new outfit of a lacy deep green camisole top that matched her eyes and tight black jeans that showed off her legs to perfection, and the new highlights in her long blonde hair as well as the makeover they had both enjoyed this evening before attending the theatre.

She tried to watch the show, concentrated hard on maintaining her focus on the act playing out on the black stage but she couldn’t take in any of it. Her head swam, unable to keep track of what was happening, focus diverted by the drop-dead-gorgeous man who stood barely twenty feet away from her. She gritted her teeth and frowned, forcing her eyes to follow the performers. It didn’t help.

Seats closer to the stage just meant closer to Antoine, presenting her with a much better view of him. A view she didn’t want to squander. Her gaze drifted back to him as though he had his own gravity and she was powerless against its pull. He stood side on to her, his tailored black trousers and crisp charcoal shirt accentuating his figure, igniting her imagination. It raced to picture him naked. Long legs and powerful thighs. Firm buttocks with sexy dimples above them. A lean back that followed the sensual curve of his spine and flowed into strong shoulders that would be a pleasure to study as he moved. And finally, a chiselled torso blessed with rope after rope of honed muscles down his stomach and a chest that would feel solid beneath her cheek and palm as he held her protectively in his embrace.

Elizabeth giggled, the sound so out of place during the intense erotic performance that the dark-haired man in front of them looked over his shoulder and frowned.

“You don’t want to get involved with him. It wouldn’t end well,” Elizabeth said.

Sera wished that her sire had waited for the man to turn away before saying that. Now he was frowning at them both, dark eyebrows drawn tight above red eyes.

Elizabeth dismissively waved her hand, long scarlet nails catching the bright colourful lights that illuminated the stage. “I’m not talking about you. You’ll miss one of the best bits.”

The man’s frown hardened but he turned back to the show. Elizabeth swept her wavy deep red hair over her shoulder and returned her attention to the performance too. Sera fidgeted on her seat when she caught a glimpse of the man on stage. Victor. Elizabeth had worked with him during her time at the London theatre. He had been with Vampirerotique since a few years after it had opened a century ago and was their star performer. The large brunet male was currently pumping a woman in centre stage, his fangs enormous as he growled and fucked her side on to the audience so they could witness the whole act. The petite brunette bent over in front of him was moaning with each deep plunge of his cock, her hands grasping her knees and breasts swinging in time with his powerful thrusts. Two other men were pleasuring human females a short distance from him. The men sat on the red velvet gold-framed couches, one on each, flanking Victor where he stood close to the front of the black stage. The human females under the thrall of the other two vampires were facing the audience, kneeling astride the one who controlled them, bouncing on his cock and groaning as they palmed their breasts. Sera looked away, cheeks burning.

Elizabeth leaned towards her. “Besides, he’s as frigid as a nun and as cold as ice. In the fifty years that I worked for him, I never once saw him with a woman. The only person he loves is his messed up brother, and that’s one relationship you don’t want to interfere with.”

Sera had heard the warnings so many times now that they were losing their effect. Every time Elizabeth brought her to the theatre to watch a performance, she reiterated the long list of reasons why Sera shouldn’t want Antoine. Unfortunately, those warnings only made her want him even more. According to Elizabeth, the gorgeous male vampire had been alone for God only knew how long. She wanted to be the woman to smash his armour and tear down his defences, and end his loneliness.

If he was lonely.

Her gaze slid back to Antoine. He stood rod straight, posture perfect, shoulders tipped back as he continued to study the performance. The first few times she had seen him, she hadn’t thought to ask her sire about him. She had thought he was just one of the crowd stretching his legs. When Elizabeth had noticed her staring, she had told her that he was one of the owners of the theatre, and an aristocrat vampire. That had explained the tilt of his chin and the air of pride he wore, and perhaps even the coldness that settled on his face at times when he was greeting the more important guests before the show started.

He was so distant, even looked miles away as he studied the show, lost in thoughts that she wanted to know.

Elizabeth nudged her and she looked back at the stage, trying to keep her eyes off Antoine. If she couldn’t recount at least half of what had happened, Elizabeth would give her an earful on their way back to the city centre apartment they shared.

Things were heating up on stage. Victor had finished with his vampire female and was now toying with one of the humans, a young redhead with full breasts. The blond male vampire that had been with the female on the couch was with them, kissing her as Victor stood behind her, palming her breasts and rubbing himself against her backside. The blond male looked into her eyes and she turned obediently in his arms, coming to face Victor. She stared at him. Or beyond him. Her glassy expression said that the male now behind her wasn’t lessening any of his control just yet. It felt so wrong to watch a woman under the power of a vampire, unable to do anything to disobey her temporary master, but she couldn’t deny that it turned her on a little. The woman wouldn’t know any discomfort or panic. She was so deep under that she was probably experiencing the purest hit of pleasure she had ever had. Exactly what she had signed on for.

Elizabeth had let Sera in on a secret. Apparently, all of the humans who participated in the shows had agreed to the erotic acts in exchange for a rather handsome amount of money. Elizabeth said it hadn’t always been that way, but modern times called for a modern approach, and it was far easier not to kill them. The humans knew they would be participating in an on-stage orgy for an audience, and most of them had done such acts before, they just didn’t know what they shared that stage with. Vampires. That meant they also didn’t know they would be doing things under hypnosis.

Not that many of the humans required hypnosis to make them fully participate. The blond male vampire had lessened his control over the redheaded female human bent over in front of him, letting her desire rule her instead, and she was moaning and writhing against him, rubbing herself against his long hard cock.