14. Embry
Chapter 14
Embry
H is evil laugh has invaded my dreams sleep after sleep since that deadly night when I learned for certain that he was the ultimate traitor. Lucas, the right hand to the powerful vampire overlord for centuries, the very vampire who helped Descallia build a world where pureblooded vampires are now respected and powerful in their own right. Risen to a species that controls the underworld but no longer seeks out blood from unsuspecting victims like it did centuries ago.
Even accepted by the humans as partners in business, heads of corporations, and even by the most notorious criminals of all. No, now they all want to partner with us. Because of Descallia and Lucas, who worked diligently to change the fate of the vampires.
Only Lucas changed, and when he stares at me faced off in the cavern after leaving the safety of the others to find him, that evil laugh and not the steel of his blade that threatens to slice me in two is what I fear the most.
Someone has taken Lucas’s soul. He is no longer the vampire he used to be. The one who would have done anything for Overmaster Descallia, any of the master vampires, lords, warriors or anyone without an official title. He loved them all equally, and would have killed, did kill, in cold blood for them many times.
To support a cause, the one he now rails against as he screams at me in my dream, in a fit of rage. “Do you know what we do to traitors of the rogues, Embry? We kill them. Burn them at the stake or run them through with a stake to the heart.” His eyes flare red. “But that’s not what I’m going to do with you. No, we’re going to wait until the masters arrive, and then I’ll kill you right before their very eyes. They will see what their actions have caused.”
I try to run but he transports across the cavern sealing me into the cave. His hand grabs my neck and squeezes so tight that I’m losing air fast. “No,” I yell as loudly as I can knowing that in minutes my voice will be completely gone.
A rough shake to my shoulders and a deep voice calling my name drag me from the terror of my dream. “Embry, look at me.”
My eyes are like weights, and it takes effort to open them. “Come here.” Corvinus drags me into his arms, stroking my hair, kissing the top of my head, and rubbing my back until I begin to calm. “A bad dream? Your skin is damp, and your heart is racing. Tell me.”
I swallow through the emotion, barely able to choke the words out. “Lucas. Same thing, it happens the same way every single time. I can’t get it out of my mind. And every time one of those gossiping vamps in the community begin running their mouth about things they’ll never know, about what happened that night, about what I tried to do, it just brings all the injustice and hurt I feel raining down on me all over again. I went after him, thought I could find him where others had failed, but they don’t believe that. They think I went to be with him.”
“The important people don’t believe it.”
I swipe at a tear, furious with myself for letting this ruin our perfect night. “I’m sorry. I’m trying to get a handle on the dreams. They don’t happen every night now, maybe a couple times a week, which is a hell of a lot better than before, but still, they feel so real. I’m glad you were here tonight,” I tell him, because it’s the truth. The protection of his arms is comforting. “Just because I sob in your arms does not make us in a relationship, vampire.”
He turns my face to him, and his dark eyes meet mine. “We’re sure as hell caught up in something but I haven’t been able to put a name to it myself yet.”
My eyebrows arch. “Secret bed buddies. That’s what we’ll be.”
The devil smirks. “Because you think it will happen again?”
I slide my leg against his, and roll on top of him, pressing my pert nipples against the tattoos on his chest, so close that our lips are almost touching. “Don’t tease me. This thing, it’s not going to run its course until we’ve completely sated our desire, vampire. And I’m hardly sated at all.”
The power-hungry beast rolls me in one flip, caging me beneath him, crushing his lips to mine while parting my thighs with his leg. “Open,” he growls.
A take charge alpha in and out of the bedroom is exactly what I like. I’ll do whatever the beast wants me to do because I know exactly what it’s going to feel like when he drives that massive cock deep inside. There is no need for foreplay or games for us. Our chemistry is always on ready. And when it flares to life, we do not hold back. My pussy is already wet for his cock and the carnality that joining will bring.
We know what we want, and we want it now, intense gratification, and that deep cock of his drives home, straight to the end of me while his finger and a thumb toy with my tips, first one and then the other, rolling them, first gently and then with more pressure, finding just that right spot between pleasure and pain, the one that sends streaks of pleasure all the way south.
But the sexy vampire lord is not ready for me to come. “Not yet, love, you’ll spill your juices when I allow it and only while I drink my fill.”
Corvinus drives harder and harder, my legs wrapping around his waist tight as he lifts me from the bed, and into his lap while his lips find my neck. “When I pierce your flesh, then you’re ready, love,” he growls, teasing me unmercifully before taking what he needs and exactly what I crave. The minute his fangs sink deep into that vein, lightening washes over me, heat and energy, and a flood of lust spills from my center over the top of his rod.
When he’s had his fill and emptied all of his load, he cradles the back of my neck, kissing me with blood-soaked lips, the taste of my blood mingling between us, sweet and forbidden, just like us and this relationship.
We both know the rules about masters and lords taking protégés or lesser positioned vampires in their employ as mates, but yet, destiny has put us together for a reason. And rules be damned. I don’t want this to end. We’ll keep it under wraps, and no one will be the wiser.
He strokes my face. “They’ll know love. Anyone will be able to tell the moment we walk into a room. The chemistry will give us away.”
I swallow through the lump in my throat. “Then we won’t walk into a room together around the vampires.”
Corvinus smiles. “You tell yourself that. We’re sheltered in our little cavern in the woods, and for now, it’s fine, but when we go back home, and we will go back home love, we’ll need to have a plan.”
It may be true but I’m not planning to go home for a very long time. It’s he who will be returning and whether the vampire knows it or not, he’ll be leaving alone. There is no way I’ll go back to being the butt of their cruel jokes, their taunts and all the feelings I left behind.
A fresh start is what I need and falling into a relationship, no matter how sexy Lord Corvinus is, will never do. There’s no way it would work between the two of us, both in different regions of the world. And even if I did return. How is that going to work? I can’t go back to the warriors, especially if he’s the boss like everyone says he will be. A no-win situation. Better to enjoy our company, and then say our goodbyes like two ships passing in the night.
That won’t work.
I inwardly groan . Stop reading my mind, vampire.
He rolls me over, swinging a leg over the top of me and keeping me in place with an arm on either side. “See, this is how things are going to happen. You are going to find out what you need to learn about your grandmother and about Lucas. Overmaster Descallia will want to know what you learn about the situation between the two of them, and if it connects in any way with what’s happened recently.”
“But…”
He puts a finger over my lips. “No buts... We are going to do it in a way that does not upset the delicate balance between the vampires and the witches. You heard Rupert, there are things at play that we are not aware of, things that may matter greatly that we should learn while we’re here. It could be valuable to the vampires in the future. When we’re done with that, you will come home with me.”
“But…”
That finger touches my lips again. “No buts, love… You will come back with me. You will keep that head raised and walk back into the community with a steadfast resolve because you have nothing to be ashamed of, right?”
I shake my head. “I don’t but you don’t know the half of it. Why do you trust what I say now? You didn’t before.”
His dark black eyes meet mine with a gentleness that chokes me with emotion. “Because, love, I can read your thoughts as well as I can hear my own. We are connected in the universe, by some unknown force that so many vampires can use to communicate. We are joined.”
“Gramma was a psychic. I’ve often thought I had the gift.”
He arches an eyebrow. “Or it could make you a witch.”
I suck in a breath. “I’ve always hated the witches, until some of the vampire masters took them for mates. Even then I didn’t trust them at first. Kinda gave them a hard time to be honest. But many of them are very good friends now. I don’t know what to say to them now. What if I am a witch?”
He kisses my lips lightly. “It’s daylight already. Get some more sleep. You’ll feel better before the sun goes down tonight and it will give you time to figure out what you want to ask and how much you want to learn, before we find the witch.”