Chapter Three #2
Then he focused on her again, squaring his shoulders. “It’s not safe out here. Shifters will track you. They have your scent, and they won’t let you go.”
She jerked at the top of her collar. “Hot.”
Devereaux stepped closer. “One bite, and I can take that burn away. My bite won’t cure you, not permanently, but it will help you for now.”
Vamp bites didn’t usually cause this reaction. She knew that. Her hand slid down her body to press against her heart. It raced far too fast. So fast her knees were shaking.
He closed in on her, ignoring the snow that fell onto his broad shoulders.
Her breath panted out. “Why am I…so hot?”
“A reaction to Charles. Because the fucking idiot didn’t understand what you are. I do. I won’t make the same mistake. I will help you, not hurt you. I give you my word.”
She expected to see steam rising from her skin. A bitter laugh pulled from her lips. “The word of a vamp…”
He was right in front of her. All tall, dark, and dangerous.
And she could see his features perfectly.
It was dark, but she could see him too easily.
She’d strained to see him back in the car, but now, even though it was still dark, everything about him was crystal clear to her, as if a veil had been lifted from her eyes.
She could see his handsome features. His sexy lips.
The fangs slipping from behind his lips…
The bite on her neck throbbed.
“I’m your only chance right now, Lark. If you don’t take my bite, you’ll pass out in the next five minutes.”
What?
“Your heart is racing. I hear it. It’s going too fast. Your body can’t sustain what’s happening. You feel like your lungs are closing on you. You’re getting dizzy, and the heat is consuming you.”
Yes.
“I’ll make all of that stop. One bite. Just a few sips of your blood…You said yourself, royal vamps were more powerful than others. I can fix what the other’s bite hurt.”
She shouldn’t believe him. Absolutely not. But she didn’t exactly have a ton of options. Lark felt like stripping and dropping her overheated body right into the snow. “Another deal?”
“Consider this just one friend helping another.”
Lark shook her head. “We aren’t friends.”
His arms curled around her shoulders. “Fine. Then consider it a favor that your future lover is doing for you.”
What? Future lover, her ass. But…The heat was too intense. She couldn’t stand it a moment longer. “Bite me!’
He smiled at her. “Sweetheart, I thought you’d never ask.”
His head lowered.
Her hands pressed to his chest. “It means nothing.” She had to force out each ragged word. Her racing heart shook her whole body.
“That’s where you’re wrong.” His fingers trailed over her throat. “It means everything.”
His mouth pressed to her neck. Lark expected to feel the hard, sharp pierce of his teeth. Instead, his lips feathered over her skin as he kissed her. Such a tender caress.
Uncertainty surged inside of her. “Dev?”
Then his teeth sank into her skin.
Pleasure exploded inside of her. A wild, hard rush of pleasure that was stronger than her best orgasm.
She cried out, her whole body trembling because this insane release was the last thing she’d expected.
Lark would have fallen right then and there—it was hard to stand when your whole body was clenching and churning with pleasure—but Devereaux just locked his arms around her and lifted her toward his mouth.
She’d staked Charles when he bit her. Lark still had her back-up stake, but she wasn’t shoving it into Devereaux’s chest. She was shoving her body closer to his.
Tipping her head back more because every lick and suck of his mouth had her pleasure increasing.
The wave of ecstasy went on and on and on, and her hips rocked against him.
Lust tore through her. Dark and wild and hot, and she wanted him right there. Right then. Sanity vanished. There was just need. A savage, consuming need. She’d never felt that way about a man. Never expected to want someone so completely.
Her skin didn’t feel as if it was burning any longer. An entirely different fire had flared to life. A dangerous desire. A lust that left her quivering. A lust that—
His mouth lifted.
No! She wanted Devereaux’s bite. Wanted him to keep drinking and drinking.
Something is wrong. None of this is right. “Let me go!” And she did finally bring up her stake.
But he’d already let her go. He’d backed away. Devereaux stared at her with a fierce lust blazing in his eyes. The same savage lust she felt.
“What did you do?” Lark demanded as her breath panted out.
“A bite—”
“No, a bite shouldn’t make me feel this way.”
His gaze never left her. “How do you feel? How is your heart? Your lungs?”
They were fine. What wasn’t fine, what wasn’t normal… “I shouldn’t want you this way.”
Devereaux seemed to tense. “What way?”
“So badly that nothing else matters.” So badly that she wanted to rip off all her clothes and fuck him. A vampire. Her enemy. A stranger. No. Lark shook her head and took a step back from him, sliding in the snow.
And Devereaux—vamp bastard that he was—smiled. “That’s a good start.”
Her hand clenched around the stake. The limo waited up ahead. Smoke drifted from the exhaust as the rear door hung open.
Devereaux offered his hand to her. “Shall we get back in the car?”
“Stay away from me.” She took another step back.
His features tightened. “It’s not safe for you to stay in the open. I told you that. It’s not safe—”
“It’s not safe for me to stay with you. A vamp bite isn’t supposed to make me want to tear off all my clothes and screw you.”
His brows climbed. “Is that what happened? Good to know.”
“It’s not good. Nothing about this is good.
” And forget it, she wasn’t trying logic with him any longer.
She couldn’t get into the limo. He wasn’t taking her home.
She had no idea where he was taking her.
If she got into the limo—it was game over.
He’d put his mouth on her again, and she might just give the guy anything he wanted.
Hadn’t her mother warned her to never trust vamps?
Since she wasn’t getting into the limo, there was only one other option. Run.
“Lark…” Devereaux’s voice held a warning edge.
He could take his warning and shove it. She whirled and she ran and—holy hell, she ran fast. Far faster than she’d ever been able to run in her whole life. The scenery passed her in a blur. A swirling, sickening blur, and it should have been impossible.
“Lark!” Now her name was a thundering bellow.
She didn’t stop. She kept surging forward, not even feeling the ground beneath her feet. She ran and she ran and—
Bright lights hit her.
She was in the middle of the road and those lights were barreling toward her. Lark stopped, staggering, and she threw up her arms, expecting to feel an impact that would probably kill her.
Instead, brakes squealed. She smelled burning rubber as the tires screeched over the pavement. And when her hands lowered, she found herself staring up at the front of a massive big rig.
Lark glanced behind her. There was no sign of Devereaux. No sign of the limo. Just how far had she run? It had only been a few moments, but, damn, she’d been speeding like a race car. How is that even possible?
The big rig’s door opened. “Girl, are you all right?” A woman jumped from the rig. A woman who barely topped five feet and who wore a thick, puffy coat. Her gray-streaked hair shot from her head in cork screw curls. She came toward Lark with lines of concern carved onto her face.
The big rig’s lights illuminated the scene as Lark stood there, her whole body…not the least bit tired. She’d run and run, and she wasn’t even a little winded. The scenery had passed her in a blur because she’d moved so fast.
Lark only knew of one paranormal creature who could move that way. One being who had super speed. A vampire.
She’d just moved like a vampire.
Impossible.
“Honey?” The other woman touched her arm. “You okay?”
“No.” Her voice was hoarse. Mostly because Lark was freaking terrified. “I’m not okay.” She swallowed. “Will you please help me? I-I need a ride.”
The driver nodded. “Of course. Where are you going, hun?”
“Away from here.” Anywhere. As long as I get out of here and escape the vamp on my trail.
The woman smiled at her. “Hop in the truck.”
Lark could have kissed the woman. Instead, she rushed to the passenger side and climbed into the seat. Heat blasted from the truck’s vents, warming her.
“You all right?” Her rescuer frowned over at her. “Looks like your neck might be bleeding.”
Crap. It was. Lark covered the bite marks with her fingers. “I’m okay.”
The driver grunted. “How the hell did you get out here?” She cranked the engine and the truck shuddered. “No one else is around for miles.”
Not true. There was a vamp out there, somewhere. Hunting her. But Devereaux wasn’t going to get her that night. She’d given him the slip.
Lark turned toward the window. See you in hell, vamp.
***
Fucking hell.
Devereaux watched as the big rig hurtled down the road. He hadn’t gotten to Lark in time. She’d outrun him. Something that should have been insulting, considering he was the current ruler of the North American vamps. Only, he didn’t feel insulted. He felt proud.
His mate was far more powerful than he’d expected.
And the bites she’d been given—they’d unlocked her powers. There would be no going back now. No trying to pretend that she was normal.
Normal was overrated. Lark had never been meant to be normal.
A new world waited for her.
He stepped into the middle of the road, staring at the red tail-lights of the big truck. His nostrils flared as he pulled in the scents that had been left behind. Lark’s sweet scent. It could be quite addictive. But…
His body tensed.
There were other scents out there, too. Other threats.
“Sonofabitch.” Lark didn’t get it. She probably thought she was safe now that she’d ditched him.
She was dead wrong.
And if he didn’t get to her in time…
Someone might just try to send his precious mate straight to hell.