Alliances (Guardians of White Light, #1) (20 page)

He scanned the room. Jenna seemed to be the antithesis to Alna when it came to clutter. She was
so
tidy. He guessed that it was the years of experience of living out of a bag. She didn’t carry that many possessions on her to begin with, just the necessities. The bedside tables were bare and her duffel bag was the only other sign that someone occupied the room. Oh, and the bed's rumpled sheets.

“Did I wake you?”
I thought she slept during the day like vampires.

She smiled sheepishly. “No. I was just relaxing.”

“The bed’s a luxury, huh?” he realized.

“Yeah.” She perched on the end of it and eyed him expectantly. “What brings you here? Is there trouble?”

“Trouble? No, I…we need to talk.”

“All right.” She folded her arms defensively across her chest. “Are you gonna stay there by the door?”

“I think that’s best.” He tried his damnedest to pry his eyes away from her. He could smell her from where he stood. The coconut scent of the shampoo that she’d washed her hair with, the natural sweet smell of her skin, the blood from his bite on her neck.

“Look, Mathias, you don’t need to worry. I get it. I’m a big girl.”

What? Worry? Where is she going with this?
“I don’t follow.”

She stood up and tightened the belt of the robe, hugging herself protectively. He watched her play with her long brown hair, twirling it around her finger. He could feel her anxiety. She seemed upset. Her words said otherwise, but her actions spoke volumes. The extent of her innocence struck him hard as he watched her continue to play with her hair, trying to seem aloof, but failing miserably and unwittingly revealing her emotions.

“I asked you for a favor. It was just sex. You don’t need to explain it to me.”
Please don’t explain it to me. Just leave. Walk away. Now.

To her surprise, he moved from the door and stopped just in front of her. She watched him blink hard and shake his head as though he was trying to will away something.
Desire?

“You don’t understand. Sure, yes, you asked me to do it. But that’s not why I did it.”

“Don’t worry about it affecting our alliance. I can separate it.”

“You
can’t
, but I appreciate the nobility. Virgins never can; the experience is too overwhelming for them. It unleashes a wealth of emotions that they’ve never had to deal with before.”

“That’s a broad statement if there ever was one.”

“Okay, then look me in the eye and tell me that you haven’t been obsessing about it since it happened, that you haven’t been consumed with the irrepressible need to do it again.”

She broke eye contact and her eyes darted around the room, looking anywhere but at him. “You think a lot of yourself,” she muttered.

“It’s not about me, Jenna,” he told her gently. He reached for her but she pulled back.

“Let’s just forget it happened, okay? Please just leave,” she said, turning away from him.

The air moved and he stood before her blocking her path. Before she could react his hands gripped her shoulders, pushing her against the wall. Instinctively, she looked up at him. He held her gaze, allowing her to see the truth in his eyes.

“I don’t want to forget it.”

“I know your M.O., Mathias.”

What was she talking about?

“Your vamp sluts? You don’t get
involved
with anyone.”

She purred as his fingers danced lightly over her hair. He was barely touching her at all, but something about his touch was so sensual, so intense. It set her senses on fire.

“It’s too late for that,” he whispered in her ear.

His words snapped her back to reality. She fought to regain her composure, to think straight with him touching her. She pressed her hand to his chest, easing him back.

“That’s what you came here to say?” she asked, surprised.

“I don’t regret what happened. I regret the
venue
. It’s not how I wanted it to happen. I lost control.”

“I came on to
you
. I pushed you.”

“Trust me, I didn’t need any pushing.”

A few moments of silence passed between them as they eyed one another with amusement. They’d both been so far off the mark, on completely different pages when it came to assuming what the other was thinking.

“Okay, so we don’t forget it. You may already know this, but—” she flashed him a smile, “I’m not really familiar with the ‘morning after’ routine. What do we do…now?”

“I believe the term you would use is ‘hang out’.”

She grinned. “We’re confined to this hotel for a whole day. We might as well,” she said, trying for a cool, detached demeanor. From the look of amusement on his face she could tell that he was seeing right through her.

She moved past him and then stopped short. Glancing around the room she suddenly felt at a loss. “Uh…what do you usually do to…entertain yourself?”

He shrugged. “Read? Take a walk? Train?”

“Wow, you’re really living the life, huh?” she teased.

“I’ve lived a long time, Jenna. There’s not much I haven’t already done.”

She racked her brain for a few moments. And then she had it. She grabbed his hand and pulled him onto the bed beside her. She reached for the remote on the bedside table closest to her and switched on the TV. A flood of noise filled the room. She pulled the blankets over them and sank into his embrace.

“Oddly, this is something I haven’t done,” he said.

“Really?” She craned her neck to look at him.

He nodded and patted her head gently, willing her to relax. He smiled as she guided his hands to her chest and gripped them tightly.

Jenna tried to relax and concentrate on whatever was on the TV, but it was impossible. The heat between them from earlier was still heavy in the air and she could feel the proof of his present arousal pressing against her. She rolled over to face him, breaking his embrace and propping her head up with her elbow.

“Let’s do it again.”

“That’s not why I came here,” he said, taken aback by her newfound sexual audacity.

“I know.”

“Aren’t you…sore?” he asked, eyeing her with disbelief. Things had gotten pretty rough in the cave, especially for her first time. He wasn’t sure she would be able to take it again so soon.

Her eyes sparkled and she smiled one of the most seductive smiles he had ever seen. “Let’s find out.”

“Jenna, I’m a vampire. Once we get going, I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop, even if you need me to.”

She climbed up onto him, straddling his hips and whispered in his ear, “Make me scream, vampire.” She knew her comment would fire him up, because he hated it when she brought up the vampire thing.

And she was right.

Growling low, he ripped open her robe, stripped it off her, almost tearing it in half, and pulled her towards him roughly. His nails dug into her back eliciting a gasp from her. Her gorgeous breasts hovered just above him. He teased them with his tongue, his teeth, his lips, watching her grit her teeth, doing her best not to release a strangled scream.

She drew his lips to hers, devouring his mouth wantonly. He eased her back as they kissed ferociously. He released her and ripped off his shirt, tossing it across the room. His hands were back on her in seconds, her heat burning his ice-cold skin once again. He wrestled her beneath him and pinned her arms above her head.

He only let go of her to reach for his pants.

“Stay still,” he ordered as he shed his pants and boxers and straddled her. To his surprise she complied. That was when he knew she was completely at his mercy.

“Get ready to scream, slayer,” he whispered huskily in her ear, causing her to tremble with anticipation.

He brought her hands down to her sides and gripped her wrists tightly. He gazed at her hungrily, pausing to get her attention. And then he buried his mouth between her legs.

She gasped as his tongue lapped at her most sensitive area. In moments he was driving her crazy. She lost all ability to maintain rational thought. She was gone.

Mathias knew exactly what he was doing to her. She couldn’t keep still. She was all sensation. He released her wrists and gripped her thighs, forcing her to remain still as he continued. Her breathy moans were music to his ears. He could feel her pulse reach fever pitch. She was on the edge.
Any moment now.

And then he pulled back, just before she could taste bliss.

He saw the look on her face. She couldn’t believe it.

“Please,” she begged, writhing beneath him with pained frustration.

But he wouldn’t, not until she gave it up. She’d challenged him to make her scream and he was determined to do just that.

He shook his head with a faux apology. Before she could attempt a protest, he entered her suddenly, thrusting deeply into her. She screamed from the surprise of it and he felt her tense around him. She gripped him so powerfully that he wasn’t sure
he
could take the intensity.

“Fuck!” he cried out through gritted teeth.

He felt her hands on him trying to move him into another position. She was so incredibly strong that before he knew it she had succeeded, her atop him now. He smiled at her reassuringly as she cautiously started to grind against him. He kissed her deeply, encouraging her, spurring her on. His hand slipped between her legs, awakening a deep carnal lust within her and she drove him into her harder, deeper, faster.

“Yes! Mathias! Yes,” she screamed, finally giving it up to him.

He drew her lips to his, kissing her hard. He traced his tongue down to the right side of her neck. His teeth grazed his mark and he felt her shudder in response. And then he let the demon take him. Fangs pierced her already broken flesh, burying deep. The tantalizing taste of her sweet blood flowing into his mouth sent him over the edge moments before her. He pulled back when he felt her relax against him.

He looked away and forced the demon to leave him. And then he fell back on the bed, taking her with him. She lay on top of him still trembling. He lifted her slightly and pulled out gently.

“You screamed,” he murmured, exhausted, as he wrapped his arms around her tightly.

“So did you!”

“That was an utterance, not a scream.”

“Sure, sure,” she murmured against his chest, sleepily.

He drew the covers up over them and held her tighter. “I care for you a great deal,” he confessed.

She looked up from his chest and gazed at him, smiling. “You mean; you love me.”

What?
She wasn’t asking. She was telling him as though it was a statement of fact.
How did she—? Why is she so sure?
He studied her for a few moments. She wasn’t joking in the least. She was serious. And that was when he realized he needed to be as well.

“Yes,” he admitted.

She rested her head on his chest. “I love you too” she said, snuggling close to him.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Silas leaned against the granite balcony and looked out at the dark night. The forest surrounding his estate was blanketed in thick fog. Even with his vampiric vision he couldn’t see past a couple of feet. All was quiet. It was the time of excitement and possibility for his kind. The time when their world came alive, when they ruled as humans slept.

“He’s here, my Lord,” one of his soldiers called from the balcony doors.

“Bring him to me,” he ordered, turning around.

The soldier nodded and seconds later he reappeared. “Leave us!” Silas ordered his underling.

Both Silas and his guest waited until the soldier had departed.

“Orion,” Silas greeted.

Orion floated towards him, his knee-high black leather boots barely touching the ground. They covered the calves of his leather pants. A white silky shirt that was unbuttoned enough to expose the start of his chiseled abs flapped violently in the wind.
Such a playboy showman.
He hadn’t changed one bit. He still even sported the same black spiky hair.

“Been a while, Silas.”

“I appreciate your time.”

“
I
appreciate you knowing better than to try to summon me forcefully.”

Silas nodded.

“I am not interested in the war you are raging. I quite enjoy humans. They are so easily influenced by the slightest touch of magic. It makes things interesting,” Orion told him.

“When my kind rules them there will be a great many at your disposal to do with as you wish.”

“There will be no challenge in that,” Orion said, running his hand leisurely along the wall of the balcony.

“I have no doubt that you will take on the mission I have for you.”

Orion smiled to himself. Silas’ arrogance rivaled his own. It was what he liked about him, the
only
thing he liked about him. He didn’t care for his political agenda or his supremacist sentiments.