[excerpt] (27 page)

Jonah.

He cast an unappreciated glance towards the werewolf. He still couldn’t get over the word belonged in his vocabulary along with vampires and witches. Curled up in a ball, knees to chest, and no headrest Jonah’s neck looked broken. Maybe Duncan snuck in and got him after all. He waited for the rise and fall of Jonah’s chest. He knew Duncan would never kill him, but he could hate him to death, for all the good it would do. He wasn’t at all sure what to do with Jonah. The werewolf didn’t stand a chance against the vampire’s enthrallment. He held remorse for the man/wolf. Lucian read Serina’s mind and heard of his life’s tragedies. Jonah seemed stuck in a cyclic intrinsic volatile atmosphere. Oddly, he categorized himself in the same sphere. They’d become two peas in a pod, like it or not. As far as Jonah’s welfare went, he would make no decisions in haste. With time now on his side, he would wait and see how Jonah played his hand. Even though Jonah did nothing to stop Jasper from killing him, the man helped Serina and that alone won his respect.

Duncan.

He eyed his best mate, his body guarded, rigid, his breathing rough and ragged. He appeared completely uncomfortable, as if plagued by nightmares. “What to do with you, my old man?” he wondered aloud. “I need you to know things will work themselves out.” He wanted to wake Duncan and hug the man, but he resisted. He had other needs that required his full attention. The little woman lying in front of him being his first concern.

Serina.

She resembled a living angel asleep with a trace of a devilish grin on her lips.
Be still my beating heart. The course of love never does run smoothly.

After sitting by the fire for an hour, he carefully sauntered to her side. Nothing stirred under foot. He placed his hand over her hands. Her warmth reached up to touch him.

She wrapped her fingers around his, held him close. Serina never woke, unaware her dream stood before her. He bent to her and inhaled her scent, held it deep in his lungs until they burned for release. Her body shivered beneath his touch as he skimmed over her cures. With his lips on her neck, he waited to feel her pulse ebbing. He found it and reeled back, almost landing in the fire. It was too dangerous next to her. She was warm and alive.

He wasn’t sure what the hell he was.

Her pulse lured him to her. She was the siren, he the enthralled vampire too new at this to understand a damned thing. This undeniable urge to take her regardless of consequence pummeled his will to a mere thread. He’d bitten her once already. He told himself he’d done it out of necessity to try and protect her from Jasper. Was he kidding himself? In all likelihood yes, but he had to get control of her before he lost her to that hideous beast. What would happen if he bit her again? His incisors lengthened.

Only one way to find out!

Lucian hung his head in shame. He lacked the strength to walk away even as his body screamed for sustenance, for his wife. He couldn’t move, he felt caged, with nowhere to run. Then she stirred. She rolled over, her eyes blanketed by thick dark lashes, and her lips curled, into a smile he would treasure for an eternity. Her beauty melted his being, and brought him back to life.

Serina stretched her arms out over her head slowly, not really trying to catch anyone. She wrapped her arms around his neck and reeled him in.

Her fingers gently twirled through his silken tendrils. She took a deep breath and recognized his scent—so sweet, so damned close her heart flip-flopped.

Serina pulled his face next to hers and brushed her lips against his cheek. He felt so real she didn’t want to wake up. She didn’t want to lose the closeness she now had with him. She would not live through the loss again. “Take what you need from me, Lucian. My life is yours, my love is yours, my heart is yours. Always, I am yours,” she whispered lost in her dream. “I love you.”

“I love you too, m’lady.” Salt-laden tears spilled and wet his lips. He tried wiping them away before they reached her, but a few slid onto her cheek. With a gentle caress, he brushed them away. As he bent forward to kiss the corner of her mouth, she turned into him, her warm lips touching his. His body shuddered, his heart slammed in his chest, and his penis turned to solid rock.
Thank god it still works!
Yes, it was on his top-five worry list. The remaining four seemed moot at this point. As he met her lips she opened her mouth, her tongue teased.

Eyes open, Serina smiled as if she’d never seen anything more beautiful or precious in her life. She hadn’t. “You kept your promise to me. Or I must be a pretty good witch to have dreamt you up and made you real. You’re definitely better than Pinocchio.”

“Harder too!”

She couldn’t help but giggle. His sense of humor was still intact. “If you are just a figment of my imagination and I’ve gone totally bonkers, please don’t tell me just yet, let me finish my dream and kiss you one more time, fair enough?”

“Fair enough, m’lady,” he whispered as he swept her off the ground and crushed her against him. “Oh, m’lady, your scent—I—” He walked them away from the fire, away from everyone. “I need things tonight, Serina, that you do not understand, and I am only just learning. You know how you have issues with patience? Well, so do I, and I am not faring well.” Lucian found a pine tree with a plump cushion of pine needles and dropped them onto it.

Serina leaned back in his arms and kissed his bottom lip, his face, his eyelids, his chin, and back to his mouth. “Oh, how I love your lips.” Deciding she wasted precious moments with words she went back to kissing him...touching him. Seeing wasn’t always believing. She needed concrete proof he was beside her. “Lucian please tell me this is real, you are real. I cannot lose you again.”

As her finger tips brushed over his lips, he took her hand, slid each finger past his lips and kissed them.

“Lucian, did you wake me up to talk, or to kiss me, or to bite me, or all of the above?”

He laughed, a low sensual tone that wrapped her in ecstasy and pressed every button on her female form.

“I’m real. And yes I plan on kissing you, talking to you and,” he hesitated, “we have things to discuss.”

“I’ve got so many questions for you. Are you all right?”

“Let’s say yes for now.” Lucian turned Serina around in his lap. “Wrap your legs around my waist.”

More than willing to accommodate the new position, she did a little happy lap dance for him, and ground her pelvis shamelessly into him. Lucian, in return, showed her just how happy he was to have her there. His erection grew with as much if not more need than his new dents.

“Hold that thought, luv.” Serina got to her knees, straddled him and got directly in his face. “Did you die? Did you see the proverbial white light at the end of the tunnel? Did you hear me? Is it true what they say about hearing being your last sense to go? Did you meet God? What’s she like?” Serina held no judgments only a need to sate her inquisitive mind. If Lucian actually died and came back a vampire, she’d find a way around it, no ifs, ands or buts about it.

“You know deep in your heart the answer. It’s so bloody strange. I can’t put my thumb on it, but something is different. As for the white light, yes I did see a light at the end of a long garden passageway, but as I went toward it, I heard you and then saw you lying on the ground above me praying that I stay with you, and then suddenly, luv, an invisible wall halted my passage. I had to turn back to you. I had no choice. I wanted none. Serina, listen to this…when I hit the transparent wall my mother stood on the other side looking as beautiful as she did the last time I saw her. She smiled and told me to return to you and my family. God, she is beautiful. I wish Ray could see her.”

Serina reached up to Lucian and wiped a few tears from his cheeks. “Do you have any idea how much of a miracle you were given?” Serina sat there for a moment letting that sink in. If people knew their loved ones waited for them to cross over it would make death so much more peaceful and beautiful. Well, as long as you liked those you were about to run into. Otherwise, that could be hell. Hump! Serina thought, two sides to a coin.

“Do you have any idea how much of a miracle you are to me?” Serina kissed him softly and as she did the hardened, jagged, pain that tortured her the past days dissipated.

Lucian nuzzled her head with his chin. “I think you’ve got the miracle part backwards, my wild rose. You’re mine. I don’t feel evil, although I know I’m going out of my mind with the desire to taste your blood again. How ludicrous is that?”

“Take what you need, Lucian.” Serina meant it. She focused on his lips, and kissed him hard, almost to the point of bruising her own. As she thrust her tongue into his mouth, she caught the edge of something very sharp, causing two things to happen at once. She tried to pull away to assess the damage to her sore tongue, and he latched onto her even tighter.

After a brief duel, Lucian relinquished his grip. She started to laugh.

“That hurt. You could have warned me about those things.”

“You should see the inside of my mouth. I look like a drunken, blind dentist had his way with me.” Lucian stuck his tongue out at her. Sliced up and raw he was. “We both have some adjustments to make. I’m petrified of attempting to kiss you in any of your favorite other areas. You’ll end up looking like a leaky hosepipe.”

Serina muttered, “There must be a way around this.” Because she’d grown quite accustomed to his lips everywhere on her body.

“Serina, I have to leave you again…”

“No! Absolutely not! You can’t leave me again, Lucian. I’m not that strong. I don’t ever want you away from me, ever again. Follow me anywhere, even into the loo if you must.” Serina would have crawled inside him if physically possible just then. She sat down again and tightened her legs around his waist knowing she couldn’t keep up the pressure without becoming a human pretzel.

“God, woman, I love you. I thought I’d never see or feel you again.” Lucian kissed the corner of her mouth. “I cannot live without these lips either, luv. “ He kissed the tip of her nose. “But I have things to do to protect you that require I go and get a few things under control first.” He continued to kiss her before she had the chance to argue with him. He should have known better.

Serina squashed his lips together. “Lucian please...you and I, we’re a team. Together we are unstop—”

He wiggled from her trap and eased his tongue into her mouth. Then he pulled away from her. “Don’t get too close to the teeth just yet,” he warned, “I know vamps have fangs, but, Serina, these come and go. I thought they were supposed to be a permanent thing, not that I’m an expert on vamp dentistry, but it’s different. They seem to lengthen when I get aroused or hungry and then recede afterward. And there’s something else, little luv. This is the big one…”

“You’re already big, Lucian, and apparently aroused.” Serina winked. She had her husband back and wasn’t about to lose him ever again. She swiveled in his lap, and pressed her private lips against his growing fondness. Definitely enjoyed the little ripples of pleasure that found their way between her thighs.

“Hold that thought.” He grinned, with a flash of fang just a bit lengthier than before.

“My, what big teeth you have!” She slid her hand down the front of his trousers and grasped onto the solid length of him. His body shuddered when she gripped and squeezed his hot shaft. His breaths came hard and fast and his head dropped back spilling black silken curls into disarray behind him. In that moment, the man looked wild and untamable. Serina never remembered him looking more desirable. Even the new teeth and the knowledge of what passion they possessed drove her to the edge of her precipice.

“Please—” Lucian gasped between clenched teeth. “—don’t.” He took possession of her hand, hoping to stop her before this finished all too fast. So very close to release, urgency and pleasure battled his body. A thrill coiled through him from his groin to his stomach. His last plea fell on deaf ears. “Serina, st—”

Serina finished his thought for him, “Stop? Never, m’lord.” His hand with hers, she made swift strokes over the length of his penis. His beautiful silvery-blue eyes glazed over.

He fastened his mouth over hers, and whispered, “I love you, m’lady,” through his kiss.

“I love you too, m’lord.” Curious, she pulled back and peeked into his mouth, and sure enough the incisors had lengthened. “Wow! That’s bloody amazing. What other tricks do you have stashed away?” Serina raised her brow to him. She felt like a small child watching a magician pulling a rabbit from his hat.

Lucian snapped his jaw shut with a loud chomp and sent her backwards with a gasp.

“You’re an idiot!” Serina shoved at his chest.

“I’m not sure if I’ve any other tricks. There isn’t a book out on the best ways to nurture and coddle vamps yet. How did you like being in the water?” He couldn’t help but grin. He knew fully well she liked the water. He kissed the side of her neck gently and her breath stilled. Uncertain whether it was from fear or anticipation he pulled away.

Never fear, Lucian. I know you would never harm me.

Serina nuzzled into the crook of his neck, and settled her head on his shoulder. With the intent of luring him back, she tossed her hair over her shoulder out of the way, giving him a glance at her neckline.

“My skillful, little seductress.” He hugged her to him and felt her warmth, her strength, and her love for him regardless of the uncertain future they now faced.