Chapter 6
Balthazar
The tray I’d been carrying, with tea and six of the pastries that I knew Shane liked, crashed to the floor as a hard and powerful body hit mine.
Not for the first time, this wolf shifter, vampire hybrid had taken me by surprise.
I’d expected that after five days of feeding and orgasms, his body would need longer to recover.
I’d gone on my past experience, which was extensive considering how old I was, and thought he’d still be asleep.
My plan had been to wake him and see if he wanted some of the unhealthy shit he usually consumed for breakfast.
I almost growled in irritation as the clumsy fucker stepped all over my gift of his favourite food. So much for trying to make him feel better about all the intimate touches he’d demanded and I’d given in the last few days.
Even though I was weaker from blood loss than I’d been in hundreds of years, I was still far stronger than Shane.
It was hard not to let anxiety consume me as I felt the wasted muscles of his biceps and shoulders under my fingers.
His body was consuming every drop of sustenance I gave him, and he still needed more.
His desperation for blood far exceeded anything I’d seen before.
Shane had not recovered his bulk, even weeks after I’d rescued him, but all the weight he’d managed to put back on before his bloodlust was now gone and then some.
A nose raked up my throat, and I let him hold me in place as a low, hungry growl escaped his chest. My whole body tensed, but not because I was worried.
I wanted this male like I hadn’t wanted anyone in hundreds of years, possibly ever.
The only other person to confuse the shit out of me as much as him was currently downstairs in the living space she often used with Shane.
“You smell so damned good.”
Those lust-filled, gravelly words had my cock jumping fully to attention.
Even my sweats couldn’t stop the bolt of pleasure that rammed through me as he unashamedly ground his hard length against mine.
Gods, he had no idea how fucking sexy he was like this, totally lost to his baser needs.
The ones that told the truth, not what he thought society would accept.
I didn’t even believe he wanted me just because of the bloodlust anymore.
His reactions were too far off the charts, too raw and desperate.
He wanted me as much as I wanted him, but he still wasn’t thinking altogether straight.
And for some reason, I didn’t want to manipulate him into letting me fuck him without him being fully aware and able to make that choice.
I just hoped that once this was over, he wouldn’t go back to locking down his real needs.
Either way, for reasons that I didn’t want to look at too closely, I didn’t want him to think I’d taken all his choices away.
Before he could strike at my neck with canines that had sharpened exponentially, I spun him against the wall, grabbing him around the throat under his chin.
With little effort, I forced his head back.
Even his painful grip on my waist and arm couldn’t push me off.
Mirroring his move, I slowly dragged my own nose from his collar bone, up the column of his neck and along the side of his nose before sliding the tip down to touch his, making our mouths align.
“So do you, Shane.”
And he so fucking did. Gods, I’d not smelt anything as delicious as him in lust. His need drove me mad, and I was barely hanging onto my self-control, which was saying something for a vampire as old and dead inside as I was.
Shane had hit me like a freight train, and I was totally unprepared for how he made me feel.
The storm of emotions he’d awakened was spiralling out of control.
I shook myself. This wasn’t about feelings.
It couldn’t be. I needed to get a handle on that.
It was about getting this fledgling, who now belonged to me and my household, through bloodlust and making sure he lived.
If we both got off in the process, then that was a bonus.
He fought against my firm hold, and that sign of defiance only heightened my desire.
I didn’t care that, at this moment, pressed up against this male, I was almost out of control.
I needed to feel him beneath me, to watch him come apart, see pleasure flood his face, and hear his noises of bliss as I wrung every last orgasm I could from his body before he was once again exhausted.
My body trembled with the kind of weakness I rarely suffered, hunger, but I doubted Shane would notice.
I’d feed again after this next bout of bloodlust was done.
It was clear that Shane needed far more blood than I could provide, but the thought of letting any other person near him filled me with a possessive rage that stole my breath.
I slammed my hips against his and held his writhing body against the wall, not allowing him to move, no matter how hard he tried.
“Shane, still yourself.” I swallowed hard as he fought my compulsion.
Shit. No vampire had ever managed to defy me.
His power had to be off the charts. Whether that was the alpha wolf he housed, or some new variant of the virus that he’d been infected with, I had no idea. Right then, it didn’t matter.
I swiped my tongue across his lips. His eyes widened, and, for a moment, the redness of bloodlust receded.
It left him looking as surprised as I felt.
I hadn’t kissed him before, and I wouldn’t, but that taste of his lips was enough to test my miniscule honour code.
Fuck, I didn’t know why I was bothered about his opinion of me.
If it were anyone else, I’d just take what I wanted and not give a shit.
“Balthazar?” he whispered.
I wasn’t stupid enough to let him go, but my heart slammed against my ribs, my guts turning somersaults. The sound of my name on his lips did something to me. It awakened feelings that had been long buried. They needed to stay that way, but gods, it had sounded good.
“That’s right.” I lifted my spare hand, and his brow furrowed as I cupped his face. “Don’t worry, I’ve got you...”
His throat bobbed, and he nodded before blood swamped the intense blue of his irises again. A snarl curled his top lip. “Good. Now feed me and then fuck me.”
My whole body tensed, my own heart racing. “You don’t mean that.”
His smile was predatory and confident. “Yes, Count, I do.”
I held his gaze as I rubbed my body against his, trying not to let the pleasure that was stealing my thoughts show on my face.
“Good. Ask me again when this is over, and I know you are in full control.” Then, just to see the defiance that I found so exciting, I pushed a little more. “I may or may not grant your request.”
I smiled at the fury in his eyes right as another luscious scent hit my nostrils.
Shit! Sorcha was as stubborn as a damned mule!
I’d warned her to stay away from Shane until this was over.
The woman was infuriating, in more ways than one.
She’d burrowed under my skin just like Shane, and there was no way I'd let him hurt her.
Telling myself not to care about either of them had become pointless.
It had become abundantly clear that destiny was playing her cruel game, and they were the tools she would use to destroy me.
The prophecy was in motion, and there was nothing any of us could do to stop it.
I had a part to play just like they did.
Shane inhaled deeply, and his head whipped towards where she stood at the end of the corridor, gaping at him.
Her eyes travelled over both of us, and her pupils dilated.
It was easy for me to pick up her racing heart and scent the heady aroma of lust. It slammed into me and Shane at the same time, yanking on my already thin thread of self-control. Shane’s nostrils flared wide.
I put more effort into holding him still.
“Gods, Sorcha! I told you to stay away.” I grunted as Shane redoubled his efforts to escape my grasp.
I had no doubt that if he got to her, he’d rip her throat out.
It didn’t matter that he would never hurt her otherwise; he was a new vampire in bloodlust. He’d fuck her and feed until there was nothing left but a bloody shell.
He slammed his thigh upwards, and I couldn’t hold back a yell at the surge of pain in my balls. “Gods dammit, Shane! Stop!”
Channelling every bit of my compulsion and forcing it into Shane’s psyche made no difference.
He just roared, his eyes blazing bright and crazed as his wolf got in on the action, too.
His body grew, morphing into a creature that was both werewolf and vampire, with red eyes and a rough bone structure that served to make him monstrous by human standards.
Yet, to me, it only made him more attractive.
I clenched my jaw against such thoughts.
His teeth lengthened, becoming vicious spikes that could easily rip a neck apart. Mine included.
“Fuckin’ Hell! Sorcha! Get out of here, right now!
” My shout bounced off the walls. I’d never had to fight anyone as powerful as the monster Shane had become, not when my strength, speed, and compulsion always won out.
I’d not encountered anything like him before, but I’d be damned if I’d allow this hybrid to dominate me.
He was just a fucking Made, and no matter how much I wanted to fuck him, I had an agenda and no choice but to stick to it.
Right now, if he got away, this predator would hunt down the other important element of my plan and kill her without any remorse. I wouldn’t let that happen.