PS03 - Tall, Dark & Heartless (38 page)

at her clued her into that, but his eyes were still a beautiful gray and there were no points in his mouth peeking out. "No matter

what's going on with your body you need to be able to control your eyes and fangs," he said, moving to walk around her again,

this time pulling her towel away.

"And you think sex is the key to learning how to do that?" she asked in a disbelieving tone even as she felt her body ready

itself for him.

His chuckle was deep, sexy and irritating. "I know it is, baby," he said softly as brushed his fingers across her bottom as

he walked past her.

"How?" she asked, hating how her voice suddenly sounded breathless.

He shrugged as he made another pass to walk around her and somehow she managed to force herself to keep her eyes

forward even as something else brushed her bottom, this time earning a startled gasp from her.

"Sexual arousal is one of the body's strongest reactions. It's also one of the most difficult to ignore and when the body is

desperate for release in the way I'm going to make you in a few minutes," he explained softly, making her nipples ache in

response, "it's harder to control how our body reacts and even more difficult to focus on anything else. After I'm done with you,

you're going to be able to control your other side even when you're angry, hungry," he said slowly as he walked past her once

again, "or need to be fucked," he whispered in her ear as he traced between her cheeks with the piercing.

She had to bite her lip to stop herself from moaning. How did he do that? How did he turn her on more than any other man

and bring her close to begging for it? Maybe that was a good thing, she decided when he placed his hands on her hips and held

her as he continued to tease her bottom with his erection. If she could learn to control her reaction to Caine then she had a

fighting chance of keeping control around humans.

"How do I push my fangs back?" she asked, surprised that her voice sounded so normal when she had a gorgeous man

teasing her like this.

"Run your tongue over your teeth," he whispered in her ear, his warm breath teasing her skin as he continued his sensual

assault.

"That's all?" she asked, swallowing nervously.

"That's all," he promised as he pressed a kiss against her nape.

Not really expecting much, she did it and was surprised when they slid back up. "I did it!" she said excitedly.

"Now the eyes," he said, pressing a kiss to her shoulder.

She frowned at that. "How do I do that?"

"Control what you're feeling, Danni."

"How?"

"Ignore your body, Danni. Ignore what you're feeling, what you want and most importantly ignore what I'm doing to you,"

he said as if it were really that easy. "Take control, Danni."

"Take control," she repeated slowly, taking a deep breath and releasing it as she forced her mind away from what he was

doing and what she felt. She used the techniques her doctor showed her to escape the pain when the cancer medication didn't

work. Although it didn't completely take away her pain, it did help to make it tolerable.

She evened out her breathing and focused her eyes on the wall, noting that it was tinted in shades of red, but slowly, ever

so slowly the red began to fade until the wall became a light green. "I did it!" she said excitedly, barely aware of what Caine

was doing behind her.

"Good," Caine said approvingly as he released her hips walked around her until he was once again in front of her. "Now

let's see if you can maintain that control," he said as he reached out and ran the pad of his finger around her right nipple and just

like that her eyes burned as everything once again went red.

He chuckled as if her lack of control amused him and of course it pissed her off. Her jaw clenched tightly almost to the

point of pain as she struggled to force her mind away from his touch, her body's reaction and the need to make him eat his

words. Slowly, the red began to fade away as Caine continued to circle her nipple almost lazily.

"Very good," he murmured just before he flicked her nipple, turning her vision into dark shades of red and pissing her off

with that smug little smile of his.

"Try harder, Danni. You need to control it," he said, giving her nipple a slight pinch that had her knees shaking before

moving on to the next one.

"I am trying," she gritted out.

"Not very hard," he mused as his other hand joined the party.

She licked her lips as she fought against the urge to melt into him. She ignored how good his touch felt as she once against

focused on controlling her body. She looked over his shoulder at the wall, but that was no longer helping so instead she

focused on the tattoo trailing up his neck and along his jaw.

It took a little longer to ignore the way he teased and caressed her nipples, but somehow she managed. This time she held

her control for several minutes and even when he moved his hands to cup and caress her breasts she didn't lose control.

"Very good," he murmured, leaning forward and taking one of her nipples into his mouth, suckling it gently as he traced the

swollen tip with his tongue.

As she reached up and gripped his shoulders to steady herself her gaze flickered red. She licked her lips as she struggled

not to close her eyes and focused on the top of his head as he drove her out of her mind, but still she held on. Eventually her

eyesight returned to normal and when it did she couldn't help but smile and release a little moan of pleasure.

With one last lick he released her nipple and stood up, keeping his hands right where she wanted them. "Good," he said

approvingly as he continued to caress her breasts.

"Can you drop your fangs now?" he asked in a bored tone as he looked down to watch what he was doing.

"You haven't explained how to do that yet," she reminded him as she willed one of his hands to move lower to another

place that needed him.

"It's all about focus, Danni. Focus on everything you're feeling, your wants, needs and desires. Then step back and allow

the change," he said, sounding as if he was in a trance as he watched his hands mold her breasts.

She blew out a breath as she tried to do just that. When nothing happened after a minute she started to become frustrated

and he must have sensed it.

"Just focus on what I'm doing, baby, and what you want me to do," he said, but that didn't seem to help. She'd fought too

hard to get control and now he was asking for the impossible, for her to just let it go.

"Hmm, I guess we'll have to approach this in a different way," he murmured as he allowed his hands to drop away. He

walked over to an overstuffed chair and sat down, uncaring that he was naked or had the biggest erection she'd ever seen as he

got comfortable.

"You notice that my eyes aren't red, don't you, Danni?"

"Yes," she said, still struggling to drop her fangs. Why the hell couldn't she do this?

"That's because I'm in control. It took a long time, but now I don't react unless I want to, something you need to master," he

explained as he looked her over and still his eyes remained a beautiful grey steel even as his cock jerked in approval.

"That's not exactly helpful at the moment, Caine. Give me something I can work with here," she said, forcing herself not to

panic. She hated having a weakness, any weakness and the man knew that.

He cocked his head in an assessing manner. "Think of all the women I'm going to fuck after this," he said crudely and God

help her if that didn't get her eyes burning and her fangs dropping in an instant.

Caine grinned smugly as if her reaction to that little announcement somehow amused him. She couldn't hide the fact that it

made her want kill any woman who so much as glanced his way. This was crazy and she knew that, but she couldn't help it.

"Like I said, baby, it's all about control and you don't have it," he said tauntingly.

"Oh?" she said, forcing herself to focus as she ran her tongue over her teeth and had to stop herself from doing a victory

dance then and there when they slid back up, "and you do?"

He met her gaze dead on. "Absolutely."

Maybe it was time to make him lose that control, she thought, biting back a smile. "I bet I could make you lose it."

"There's nothing you could do to make me lose control, Danni. Nothing," he said, sounding so damn sure of himself that

she almost believed him, almost.

Chapter 31

"Oh God," Danni said, gasping as she pulled the bag away from her mouth for what was probably the fifth or sixth time.

After making her little announcement, she gave him a smug little smile as she returned her attention to eating, or rather in this

case, drinking. Once she bit into the bag and took her first pull on the cold blood her smug little smile was replaced by a rather

amusing expression of shock and disgust.

"I can't do this," she mumbled to him or herself, he didn't care.

"Yes, you can," he said, placing his hands over hers and pushing the bag of blood that she'd barely put a dent into back

towards her face.

She stubbornly shook her head even as her face squished up adorably. "I really don't think I can, Caine. M-maybe there's a

vegan alternative out there somewhere for Pytes. Maybe fruit juice, milk shakes, or hell, I'd even be willing to try wheat grass,"

she said in a rush as he forced the bag closer to her mouth.

"Just try a little more. You'll like it," he lied, knowing that there really was no other choice. He couldn't very well have

her attacking every human they came in contact with and if she didn't learn to feed from the bag that's exactly what she'd end up

doing as they made their way to Washington.

He could feed her from his own vein, his cock jumped approvingly at that thought, but of course that would mean that he

would have to overindulge during their entire trip and that would be a hassle. It would also leave Danni with a serious

problem once he left her. If she couldn't feed from bagged blood she'd be pretty screwed. He wouldn't have to worry about her

attacking humans and giving herself away since there wouldn't be any within a hundred miles of her, but she'd be left in

bloodlust then her body would start attacking itself.

He'd experienced starvation a few times and he sure as hell wouldn't voluntarily go through it again or let his mate go

through it. There was nothing like watching your body wasting away until there was only skin and bone and a constant hunger

that stayed with you day and night and by that point not even bloodlust could take over to give you a reprieve from the pain. By

then the body was used to feeding on itself it wouldn't go into bloodlust again until well after it became used to blood again. It

was hell and he wouldn't be able to leave her if he thought that future was a possibility for her.

"Stop stalling, Danni, and drink. If you drink it down fast enough you probably won't even taste it," he said, lying once

again, but it was for the best.

She licked her lips nervously as she stared at the bag. "You know what? You're right. I just have to drink it quickly," she

rambled on nervously and he really couldn't help but find this new version of Danni cute as hell.

"Come on, Danni. I thought you were going to take me down a notch. How can you make me lose control if you can't even

feed yourself, hmm?" he asked, taunting her just a bit and enjoying it probably more than he should, but then again it wasn't very

often that the tough as nails Danni couldn't handle something. It was actually enlightening to see the woman show a

vulnerability.

"I can feed myself," she snapped, looking pissed so of course he gave her a noncommittal shrug and said, "If you say so."

"I can," she said, shoving the bag of blood back towards him. "I'm not hungry at the moment." Her stomach chose that

moment to growl.

He cocked a brow as he held the bag up to her. "Drink, Danni. You know that you have to learn," he simply said.

She nodded woodenly before taking a deep breath, closing her eyes and placing the tip of the bag where she'd bitten

through in her mouth and took a quick, deep pull on the bag. Not even five seconds later the bag was shoved in his hands and

she had a hand slapped over her mouth and was making a run towards the bathroom.

Should this really amuse him? he wondered as he followed her, admittedly enjoying watching the way her bare ass moved

as she rushed over to the sink. When she spit the blood out he let out a tired sigh. Great, he needed to bring her across the

country tomorrow and she couldn't even keep down a mouthful of blood.

What in the hell was he supposed to do now?

Not only was she going to need extra blood because she was a new turn and her body was still adjusting to the change, but

because of the cancer, he thought as he gritted his teeth against the rage that began to simmer. The cancer was destroyed during

her turn and had used up most of the blood, leaving her a bit weaker than she should be. She was going to have to play catch up

and the best way for her to do that was bagged blood.

"I don't understand this. Why can't I drink it?" she asked, sounding irritated. "Your blood I can't get enough of, but that stuff

turns my stomach. It doesn't make any sense."

"Cold blood is an acquired taste," he said, holding out the bag of blood to her.