Sanibel Seduction - Vampire Werewolf Menage (Fanged Romance Series Book Four) (2 page)

Gage turned back, smiling coldly as her blood drenched his throat. No longer could his heart beat, taken just now by Satan himself. But he stood without revealing a hint of emotion, watching on as Ciaran released her mate. He fell to his knees next to her corpse, gasping for air.

“For merely a whore,” Gage whispered in a shadowy voice honed by raw pain while wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, “why does her death destroy you so?”

Evil met Gage’s eyes, vindictive and calculating, just as any immortal would be when faced with his mate’s murderer. With his pulse pounding in his throat, the vampire worked his mouth until the words were formed. “A mate for a mate.”

Ciaran laughed mirthlessly. “Your kind did that and more tonight, leech. Many died because of you and yours.”

But he wasn’t addressing Ciaran. With a shaking hand, he pointed up at Gage. “Your mate for mine.”

“I haven’t one,” Gage replied harshly, standing ankle deep in Clarice’s blood.

A rusty laugh left the vampire’s throat, backed by a promise of what was to come. “Ah, MacGelton, someday
you will
.”

This time, thankfully, her knees unlocked, and her legs carried her away.

Overhead, dark velvet made up a starless sky, highlighting a full moon incredibly close to the ground. Such a glorious presence she would otherwise find stunning, but not on this night, not when she had to run again. Now it seemed to hang as an ominous warning while feeding the dangerous creatures roaming nearby, encouraging them with its bizarre, celestial pull.
How can I feel it, too?
She forced her eyes away from the luminous saucer and kicked up her heels, pushing fear-infused icicles from her veins in an effort to move faster. Her bare foot struck a rough stone, painfully scraping it sole. She pressed forward while stifling a moan. Her trembling hands brushed through dewy leaves, hitting small twigs and random thorns, searching for any path leading back to safety, though she wasn’t having any luck this time.

This time was oddly different.

So decidedly different…

As her adrenalin spiked, rushing her veins, her heart reacted spastically with every quick footfall.

A heavy thud suddenly landed right at her back - shaking the ground - followed by three sharp breaths in and then one slow exhale out.
There’s that breath
again
, one from an awakened monster.

“No!” She cried out when a powerful hand reached for her shoulder, but she knew better than to hesitate for even a second.

Run. Run. Run.

“Mine!” It bellowed in a spine-chilling, guttural growl.

Wetness seeped from her foot and pain lanced through her ankle, in return, slowing her down. It inhaled sharply, drawing in the scent of her heated blood and answering in an eerie, keening sound. It rushed her without making the final connection, shadowing her without attacking. Searing, panting breaths hit the back of her nape – one after the other, and, somehow, she knew it was playing with her. Allowing her to think she could escape it, only to pull her back again quite easily. She wasn’t fooled into thinking she had any control over the situation.

But still…

She refused to be its next victim.

In desperation, she ducked lower, made a larger fist by clasping her two smaller hands together and spinning out, uselessly clipping it in the
shoulder
instead of its nose because it was too tall for her to reach its
head
!

All she could do was gape after taking her first real look at it.

It looked like a man, an incredibly beautiful man, though it had to be close to eight feet in height, maybe more. “H-how can a monster l-look like you?” It cocked its head, listening to her. Or possibly something else, she realized, whatever was gaining on them. Its shimmering skin glowed under the moonlight, seemingly to absorb its astral power. Hands tipped with lethal claws clenched at its thighs, they opened and closed with frustration, or could it be overexcitement? A long, rough tongue curled around one of its deadly fangs as it studied her in return. Those piercing, golden eyes blazed with pain. Not physical pain, she didn’t even faze it with her blow. But a deep emotional hurt that temporarily disjointed it as if it couldn’t contemplate that she would want to get
away
from it. That she would want to live.

A few yards away, another noise distracted them both, and the hairs on her arms stood straight up from the proximity of
the other
. Though it truly sounded like others – many others. Without a doubt, they were herding her, enclosing her within a space at which there was no foreseeable escape.

Gripping her with fingers so long they overlapped on her upper arm, it repeated, “Mine!”

It didn’t take long to realize that the more she struggled, the more she incited it.
It seriously wants to play first.
Azure tried to relax her body, mustering a trace of courage in order to survive. Amazingly, she somehow found the will to stop her fast, jerky movements and slowed to creep away instead, to some degree concealing her panic.

Right when a twig snapped behind her.

Strangely enough, the golden-eyed creature ignored it. It noticeably calmed
itself
as though subdued by her sudden acquiescence. It eased its grip on her arm and rubbed her in a soothing manner, petting her like an unhappy child or a small, frightened animal. However, she was not inclined to give its sudden show of compassion any thought when she needed to get away.

With the size and strength of it, the odds weren’t on Azure’s side, but desperation gave her a boost of courage. Without looking to see the other creatures gaining on them, she skirted to the left and rolled her body on the ground, gaining momentum down a slippery slope. In a flash, it toppled her, cradling her body and stilling her rolling descent. Shaking its head back and forth, it chastised her, “No!”

She pushed against its chest as its body pressed her to the ground. Pounding heart against pounding heart, its hips met hers, and she could feel the way it
truly
wanted her. And it wasn’t for food. “Your body is like fire,” she gasped in sudden horror, the reality of the moment finally sinking in. “I’m not in a dream this time! Oh, no, no, no, this is not one of my nightmares!” Trembling violently, she stared into its otherworldly eyes and demanded it answer her, “Is it?”

“No,” it growled low in a voice that didn’t belong to a human. Dipping its head, it drew a long breath against her throat. A rough tongue traced a delicate path, extending to the tender flesh behind her ear where sharp teeth delivered a possessive nip.

“Tasting me or warning m-me?” She gasped.

“Made for me” – his lips brushed the shell of her ear with every syllable, and then its cheek rubbed against hers – “scented you. Born for me.” One hand grasped the side of her throat, absently rubbing a clawed thumb over her jawline.

Then golden eyes were above Azure again. Its fangs seemed to lengthen as it memorized every facet of her features with shimmering eyes moving so rapidly she couldn’t keep up – couldn’t follow them though she tried. “Beautiful mine,” it purred, “wanting and waiting – waiting and wanting. For you.”

She swallowed thickly as it touched her mouth with its thumb, sinuously gliding the back of its claw over her lips. She was surprised to understand how glossy smooth something so fearsome could feel when used in a lulling gesture - or possibly a seductive one.

But she wouldn’t be lulled.

Nor would she be seduced.

“A-any chance you’ll l-let me go?”

A purely masculine rumble was her answer, its chest shaking hers with fascinated
laughter
. Cool air hit her thighs. When additional claws scraped her flesh, her arousal flew up, up, up. And to her utter shame, a jolt of liquid lust blasted through every cell in her body when it curved a large palm around the globe of her ass, firmly squeezing in an extremely proprietary manner.
Oh, my.
“Not good,” she mumbled with a sensual shudder, her mind frantically trying to remind her traitorous body why she should get away from a
monster
.

“Good,” it countered, sliding its thick finger under the elastic of her barely-there panties, “no more darkness - no longer lonely. So good.”

“Y-you’re lonely?”

“No more,” it groaned, lowering firm lips to hers as that same thick finger slid over the cleft of her ass. Stroking. Stroking. Stroking. Synchronizing with its tongue as it slipped over hers, tangling and sucking.

The faintest rationality suggested she should be worried about the large fangs pressed against her mouth and chin. Its lusty tongue speared between the sharp daggers. Maintaining its rhythmic motion, thrusting and delving unhurriedly into her mouth as its hands continued their possessive perusal of her body. It lifted her knee, angling its hips to sweeten their contact right where she needed it the most. So she asked that bit of waning rationality how could she fight whirlwinds of sensations she’d never yet known until now? Sensations overwhelming her, weaving through everything she was, branding her entire body and soul with just the feel of its body against hers. She shamelessly clung to it, thrusting her fingers through its silky hair, clutching it desperately to her body.

“More,” she murmured, arching her back as it kissed its way to her hardened nipple, and then sucked it roughly through her clothing. Another bolt of ecstasy raced through her bloodstream, torching everything in its path, cramping the pit of her stomach with a fierce, unquenchable need. “More,” she repeated, almost begging it now.

“More,” it echoed her chant, lowering its stunning face to her wetness.

“There,” she cried out, unable to resist as it nibbled her inner thighs and then expertly brushed its rough tongue where she ached. She dug her nails in its neck, unconsciously marking him.

As if nothing else mattered except for having this monster possess her.

The minute she wished for it, wholly succumbed to it, her monster was suddenly gone - replaced by a blinding blue light and the sounds of flesh beating flesh.

She clutched at air. Instantly realizing she had no anchor keeping her from her long descent, her body resumed tumbling down the gradient. As she rolled, thumping harder against the ground, she grasped for anything she could manage. But other than a rock clocking the side of her head, there was nothing solid to be found. Her hands uselessly slid in the mud. Tall reeds broke under her grasp the minute Azure touched them. All the while, she gained momentum. Azure cried out when she hit the water with a dull splash, swallowing the moldy, salt-infused liquid before sinking.

The power of a dangerous swamp surrounded her.

Its thick muck swallowed her whole.

Kicking out, she fought with everything she had, pushing herself to the water’s surface. But something rough and hugely muscled swam by, scraping her thighs while pulling her down with its teeth. She sank lower as she bled out. Watching bits and pieces of her life walk through her mind. Flashbacks. In the way that she’d heard about from countless others as they held her hand while nearing their deaths. She had no choice but to watch these damned flashbacks – frame by frame – and she didn’t like what she saw. She suddenly hated herself for wasting her life on others while never
once
taking into account her own life – her own joy – her own needs. Maybe it was her lack of oxygen talking, but she should have never spent her life being a martyr.

Someone without balance.

In the grand scheme of things, she wasted her life worrying.
I want that time back.
All for nothing and taking up too many moments that she could have spent doing
anything
else.

Just anything…

Possibly, she would have enjoyed life a little bit more.

But she couldn’t do that now. Death was her next life. Going deeper, pulling her down, wrapping her body in a cold, black abyss, a monster would finally consume her this night. In her surrender, she closed her eyes with finality, taking her last breath while in the jaws of a hungry, Everglades gator. As a small blessing, the darkness seeped inside her mind, closing off her consciousness before she felt real pain.

A heavy set of boots ran to the water’s edge.

“Thirty seconds,” he shouted out. “She’s been down thirty seconds! A human can’t last that long underwater!”

A head popped up, rippling the too-quiet water. “I’m a fucking vampire. Stop your bloody shouting. My ears will bleed. Besides, I think maybe they can go longer than that.”

“No! No! Don’t be foolish. Not without turning their brains to oatmeal, they’re frail,” he snarled. “Faster. Hunt faster!”

Another dive down and a full minute later, he bobbed up again and swam to the edge.

“Collin, have you found her?”

“Yes, Tare” – he held up her waterlogged, unconscious form – “I have the poor female.”

“Alive?”

“And chewed on,” he said with open disgust, nearing Tare while working his feet through the mud. Even as vampires, the swamplands weren’t easy to maneuver when they walked instead of misted. “Nothing wrong with her a little vampire blood won’t cure, though. But I need to feed immediately” – he nodded to the chunk of flesh missing from his right shoulder and bicep – “and this chit is a few pints short now.” His dark brows popped. “I had to fight off an alligator – a hungry one at that. Damn bastard nearly tore her precious leg off.”

“Seriously?”

“Quite. See for yourself.”

“Shit,” Tare hissed, reaching out for her but Collin refused to hand her over, pulling her closer to his chest instead. “That shifter fought madly, refusing to go down even with immortal fire backing me up. I didn’t see her hit the water until it was too late.”