Eternal Captive: Mark of the Vampire (10 page)

Bronwyn didn’t move. She just stood there, her mouth trembling, her hand tingling from the double contact with his cheekbone and jaw. She couldn’t do it again…didn’t want to…

“Fine, I’ll shut us both up.” He pulled her to him and covered her mouth, kissed her hard and hungry until her lips were bruised and she whimpered.

Tears spilled from Bronwyn’s eyes as he eased back just a fraction of an inch. She should’ve had the urge to ram her knee right up between his legs, push him away, tear at his lower lip with her fangs. But her body betrayed such thoughtful, protective instincts. Instead, her skin pleaded for more, her breasts ached for his hands, his fingers, his mouth. “You disgust me,” she
whispered, her tone fraught with passion and fear and desperation.

“Good,” he returned harshly, but his mouth trembled too. “Then you won’t be tempted to run after me again.”

As he backed away, turned, and headed down the beach, his dark and dangerous scent following after him, Bronwyn stared, unblinking. She’d gone after him and tempted him, tempted the beast within him. Why? Why would she do such a foolish, harmful thing unless she was asking him to take her—asking the Breeding Male buried within him to take her…

That thought broke her soul in two.

“You disgust me,” she’d said to him, nearly against his mouth.

As she watched him advance farther down the shore, she wondered just who those words had truly been meant for.

Were they really aimed at Lucian Roman?

Or herself?

A
lexander returned to the villa just as the light was changing. As expected and hoped for, his true mate stood anxiously outside the massive front door, her blue eyes sweeping over him, checking for blood or bruises—anything to explain his long absence.

Sara shook her head. “It’s nearly dawn.”

“I’m sorry, my love.” He gathered her in his arms and kissed her temple. “I couldn’t leave until I had some news.”

“News? What do you mean?” Her expression changed again as she noticed who wasn’t at his side. “Where’s Lucian? And the other one…Bronwyn’s mate?”

“I don’t know.” His jaw tightened. “Lucian never came back, and no member of the Order popped down to the caves to fill me in. I’ll return at first dark.”

“And Bronwyn’s mate?”

“When Lucian didn’t return, Synjon decided to go look for her on his own.”

“I don’t like this,” Sara said. “Luca being held. I don’t want you going back to the Hollow.”

“He is all right, my love. I would know. I would feel it if he weren’t.” Alexander shook his head. “But I have to find him. Just as you could not abandon your brother, I must help Lucian.”

Sara appeared tense, but she nodded her understanding.

Giving her a soft smile, Alexander asked, “Is Nicholas here?”

“He just returned as well,” she said, urging him forward, inside the house. “Come on, before the sun claims us both.”

Keeping her close to him, Alexander stepped into the entryway. “The sun will never hurt you, my dear.”

“Make no mistake,
Paven
,” she said, settling into the crook of his shoulder, “if it claimed your life, it claims mine as well.”

Alexander’s gut clenched with feeling. Time couldn’t be spared, but he was a
paven
in love, a
paven
who was trying to create a family, and this female was ever reminding him of how lucky he was. His arm curved around her waist and he pulled her close and kissed her.

“I love you,” he whispered against her lips, his forehead touching hers.

“I love you,” she whispered back, then tipped her chin up and ran her fangs across his top lip. “Always.”

He groaned at the erotic, possessive sensation. “Not fair.”

“I know.” She laughed softly. “Come now.”

Again his mouth claimed her, hard and demanding.

She laughed and tried to pull away. “Alex…”

“I’m only doing what I’m told.”

“I know, and I appreciate your obedience,” she said with a grin. “Your brother’s in the library.”

He nuzzled her cheek. “I don’t give a shit about my brother.”

“Yes, you do.”

“Yes, I do.” He dropped his head and sighed. “Fine. Let’s go, but later…”

“I am yours. Every inch.”

“But not too much later.”

She laughed again and took his hand. “I’m not going anywhere. You will always have me.”

In a low, gravelly voice, he demanded, “Swear it, my love. Swear you’re mine now and forever.”

“Cross my heart.”

“I hate that saying,” he grumbled as they walked down the hall.

Nicholas was behind his desk when they arrived in the library, his eyes running laps over the computer screen. He didn’t even look up. “I didn’t hear any fighting outside the door, so I assume Lucian and his new playmate aren’t with you.”

“The playmate went off on his own,” Alexander said, heading over to the desk. “Lucian is still with the Order.”

That made Nicholas look up. “What?”

“I’m going back at first dark.”

“With you, Nicky,” Sara said, sitting down on the couch. “God only knows what the Order is up to now. You’re stronger and more effective together.”

“I don’t need backup with the Order, my love,” Alexander stated flatly and with a touch of arrogance.

“Good,” Nicholas said. “Because I have a meet.”

Sara released a weighty breath. “Then you will contact Dillon, Alex. All right?”

“Dillon is freezing me out,” Alexander put in with irritation. He’d attempted to contact the bodyguard to a human senator several times in the past two weeks to assist them in finding Nicky’s
gemino
, but his old friend wouldn’t even call him back to tell him to fuck off. Wasn’t like her. Wasn’t like her at all.

Sara shook her head. “Just as Gray is avoiding me.”

“When they are done acting like
balas
, they know where their true family lies,” Alex said, tightening his hold on his true mate, then turning back to Nicky. “Who’s the meet with?”

“The Eyes,” he said. “They hooked me up.”

“With whom?”

“A
paven
who used to run odd jobs for the Order when he was a
balas
. They paid him in blood.”

“Of course they did,” Alexander uttered darkly. “And were you able to extract information on the
gemino
from this
paven
?”

Nicholas’s fingers paused over the keyboard. “I found out that he was given away at birth.”

“Why?” Alexander went over to stand behind him.

“He had a deformity,” Nicholas said so quietly and without emotion Alexander wondered what the
paven
was thinking.

Behind him, Sara inhaled harshly. “Your mother gave him away because of a birth defect?”

Nicholas nodded, his eyes lifting to meet hers. “Perhaps
she was not in her right mind. It is the only excuse, isn’t it?”

“It’s pretty rare for a vampire to have a defect,” Alexander stepped in, trying to switch the focus in the room from pity to purpose. “What did he have? Blood disorder? Limb missing?”

“No.” It wasn’t Nicholas who spoke, but Kate. She walked into the room and went straight over to her mate. “Just got Ladd to sleep.” She sat on his lap and curled into him, gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Nicky, just tell them.”

Alexander glanced over at Sara, then back at his brother. “Tell us what?”

With a weighty breath, Nicholas said, “The
paven
said that our brother is a
mutore
.”

“Mutore?”
Alexander repeated, then burst out laughing.

Nicholas nodded. “That’s right.”

“He’s lying to you. I hope you did not pay him.”

“Wait a second,” Sara said, confused and curious. “What is this?
Mutore
?”

With a snort Alexander replied, “It is only a fairy tale, my love.”

“More like a ghost story,” Kate added.

Sara shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

“A
mutore
is a vampire who is genetically wrong,” Nicholas explained. “Born with more than a birth defect. They are mutants.”

“I’ve never heard of such a thing,” Sara said, her gaze moving from Nicholas to Alexander. “Are they vampires? Pureblood? Impure?”

“They are nothing,” Alexander put in with tight assertion. “They do not exist.”

“They are Pureblooded vampires,” Kate said, then paused for a second before adding, “and shape-shifters.”

“Shape-shifters?” Sara cried. She looked around the room for confirmation, explanation. “What kind of shape do they shift into?”

Alexander chuckled, but it was a bitter sound. “I have never seen one. They don’t exist.”

“I have heard they are Beasts.”

It was Nicholas who spoke, who tightened his hold on his true mate with one hand, and returned to the computer keyboard with the other.

“I have heard they have claws instead of hands, scars instead of skin. But tonight”—he nodded at Alexander—“as you go after one brother, I will find out the whole truth about the other.”

Lucian had no idea what time it was, but he’d been walking up and down the beach for hours, his eyes as watchful over the
veana
as he could manage without causing excessive strain and need within himself. That kiss had been a mistake—as had the goading her into hitting him, inciting her anger, her passion. Both had been proof positive of how strong his desire for her continued to be. It didn’t take a genius to realize that if he was to remain sane, he must also remain calm.

As he passed by her pallet once again, he saw that she had taken to lying down. Her arms were wrapped around her torso and her legs were pressed together. He moved away from the water and trudged up the sand to the closest palm tree. He was a damn good climber and it took him only minutes to pry a soft, green frond away from its host and drop down to earth again.

Quietly, he walked over to where Bronwyn was lying,
and with supreme gentleness he spread the wide leaf over her. It wasn’t much of a blanket, but it was the best he could do. All he could do. No way was he using his body as warmth, as a shield to her skin as he wanted to.

He was about to walk away when her voice caught him and held. “I’m growing in hunger, Lucian.”

It was the worst thing he could hear at that moment, and yet his reply, his own admittance could be far more damaging.

“And I grow in animal.”

She sighed. “What are we going to do?”

“Think of your true mate,” he uttered with disdain.

She sighed. “I’m scared.”

“I know.”

“I don’t want to be a coward.”

On a heavy breath, he turned to see her watching him, her eyes so exquisite and tortured in the false light of the new morning. “That is the last thing you are, Princess.”

“You don’t know…” she uttered so softly he could barely hear her.

“What?”

She shook her head.

He stopped himself from pressing further, from forcing her secrets from her. They would do nothing but complicate things more. “Try to sleep,” he said. “It’ll help with…everything.”

“Lucian?” she said as he turned to walk away, get away—keep away.

“What is it, Princess?” he said, glancing over his shoulder.

She smiled softly. “Thank you for the blanket.”

The ache inside him squeezed and clawed. “It is all right?” He was a fool, a dangerous
paven
because in that moment he almost hoped she’d say,
No, I need you
.

But all she said was, “It is well and good,” saving him from himself once again.

H
is ass to the sand and his back against a palm, Lucian had shut his eyes for only a moment. But a moment was all it took for him to dream.

This time, he was in the ocean, standing upon a rock, not cold but shivering nonetheless. On the shore stood a goddess, dressed in nothing but her long dark hair and an expression of such intense desire he would’ve drunk the entire sea to get to her. But his body wouldn’t move. His legs were affixed to the rock and if he struggled any farther to reach her he would fall into the water and, unable to swim, drown.

She smiled at him then, her fangs descended, and she called to him, “Lucian! Lucian, come to me.”

He couldn’t resist her plea, her need of him, and he dove under the water. But his feet remained affixed to the rock and with the power of his dive, he curled under and into himself and smashed headfirst into the stone beneath his own feet.

“Oh, God, Lucian!”

Blood spread in the water like gathering thunderclouds and his eyes went dark. Yet still he heard her calling him…

“Lucian! I’m begging you.”

Fuck…Would he forever hear her calling him…

“Please, you have to wake up…It hurts.”

He came awake with a jarring lurch, back into the reality that was really no reality at all. Something heavy was on his chest, something sweet burned his nostrils and made his cock stir.

“Shit, no!” Oh, God…Bronwyn was on top of him. “Not good,
Veana
.” His fingers gripped her upper arms and he eased her off of him and onto the sand. “What are you doing? Are you trying to send us both to hell?”

On her knees beside him, panting, her tongue lapping at the tips of her fangs, Bronwyn stared at his neck. “I…I need you.”

The scent of her supreme hunger hit him—hit his nostrils, the back of his throat, the heavy organ between his legs. “You need blood.”

Her lids flipped up, and her dark eyes pinned him where he sat. “Your blood.”

His cock pulsed against the thin fabric of his boxers. This was bad, dangerous…delectably dangerous.

“The hunger,” she moaned, her eyes glassy now. “It really hurts. It’s been too long.”

Lucian stilled. “How long?”

“Weeks. I waited until the Veracou.”

“No.” The word came out in a rush of heat and regret.

“I thought…” She shook her head. “God, I don’t know what I thought.”

Lucian cursed again, dark and loud and angry. “You and your primitive ideals.” He smashed his fist into the sand, which was growing warmer by the minute as the morning progressed. “
Virgini
foolishness. Where do they get you when you’re in trouble?”