Darkness Awakened (16 page)

“Why not?” she asked just as quietly.

“When I thought…you’d had a child with someone else, my first instinct was to hunt him down and kill him. My wolf was dangerously close to taking over.”

She might not have an inner animal to control in the same way he did, but she certainly had to control her baser instincts. At least where he was concerned. If she’d scented anyone on his sheets or in his bedroom…yeah, she didn’t even want to go there.

Finn’s hand played with the hem of her tank top, splaying across her belly. He moved across her skin slowly, almost as if he was asking for permission. The skin on skin contact made her nipples harden, the points rubbing against her cotton shirt.

His fingers slid lower, lower, until they dipped below the band of her thin sleep shorts. She wasn’t wearing anything else and when he realized that, he sucked in a sharp breath. His fingers skated over her bare mound until he was cupping her possessively. Her inner walls clenched and tightened, wanting him to fill her. But he didn’t go any farther or even stroke her folds or clit. He just held her.

“Tell me to stop,” he growled, but she could tell he didn’t want her to. His breath was warm against her neck, sending tingles down her spine. He rolled his hips against her once, pressing his hard length against her.

She should. They needed sleep and the sun would be setting soon. And once they crossed this line there would be no going back for her. The truth was, there was no going back now. She was completely lost over this male. “Don’t stop,” she found herself saying instead, the words torn from her chest.

Maybe she had a masochistic streak because there was no way things would ever work out between them and this would just make it harder to leave later. They were from two different worlds. Their people had a long, violent history of despising each other. Their relationship hadn’t worked before… Could it now? She was afraid to even hope.

This wasn’t about a relationship anyway, it was about finding escape until they could leave the house—that was the lie she was trying to tell herself.

It wasn’t that simple for her, but she couldn’t afford to assume this meant they had a future. She knew without a doubt that he still cared for her, probably loved her—otherwise, he’d have taken lovers since they’d been apart—but that couldn’t negate that he was an Alpha and she was a vampire.

He growled softly and nipped her ear. Everything else fell away as he slowly started teasing her clit with his middle finger. Her entire body jolted at the feel of the rough pad against her sensitive bundle of nerves. She pushed back into him, rubbing her backside over his hard length as he teased her. And he was definitely teasing.

He knew her body well enough to realize that his gentle touch wasn’t going to be enough. “Faster,” she demanded.

Instead of doing what she wanted, he pulled away. Before she could protest, he flipped her on her back. With her heightened eyesight she could see the hard planes and striations of his perfectly chiseled body. Straddling her hips, his cock curved upward in a thick, impressive display she wanted to taste and touch.

Keeping her gaze on his, she reached out and grasped her fingers around his cock. His thick length was hot in her hands. She stroked him once, twice, savoring the way his entire body trembled as she touched him.

“Lyra.” Her name was a prayer on his lips, reverent and strained at the same time.

Squeezing, she smiled when he rolled his hips into her grip.

Taking her off guard, he grasped her wrist and pulled her hand away. “I’m not coming in your hand.”

Guiding both her hands above her head, he held her wrists in place in that impossibly firm grip as he bent his head down to meet hers. His lips brushed against hers, softly at first. With each stroke of their tongues, his kisses grew more demanding, hungrier. As if he wanted to completely devour her. To brand her.

Unable to move her hands, she arched into him, rubbing her breasts against his rock hard chest. Her nipples, already painfully erect, tingled with each contact, the friction making her crazy. It didn’t matter that she still had the tank top on, it was so thin it might as well not even be there.

Her inner walls were clenching out of control, desperate to be filled. But Finn had her pinned down completely with his large body, his cock resting against her lower abdomen as he continued kissing her. Her shirt had pushed up so she felt his erection against her bare skin. It was almost more than she could take. She didn’t want to feel him on her stomach, she wanted him claiming her in the way only he ever could.

She grinded against him, trying to encourage him to do more. The simple stimulation of her nipples was almost enough to send her over the edge. But it wasn’t just that. It was Finn.

He was on top of her, holding her down, dominating her the way he’d done countless times years ago. He was Alpha everywhere, including in the bedroom. Especially in the bedroom. It was the one place she didn’t mind his dominance. If anything, she craved it here. He always made her feel safe, treasured.

When he started feathering kisses along her jaw up to her earlobe, she rolled her hips against him again. She wanted to feel his thick length pushing deep inside her, wanted to drink his blood while they made love. They’d done it so often in the past and she missed it more than she wanted to admit.

But she didn’t dare ask for that. He might have offered his neck to her before, but it had been because she needed it. For her to feed from him while they were making love would make him vulnerable and she didn’t know if he was willing to do that. She was too afraid to ask.

When he started a path down her collarbone to the upper swell of her breast, his teeth nipping her skin, she lost what little control she had left.

“Fuck me,” she whispered, knowing the reaction she’d get.

There was no way she could have contained the words. Couldn’t have even if she’d wanted to. Her body craved his in a way that defied logic. It was like she’d been made for him. And him for her.

Letting her wrists go, Finn sat back. Breathing hard, he stared down at her, his blue eyes seeming to glow in the dark room. He’d been serious about how close his wolf was to the surface, ready to take over. She knew he was running on empty and needed a few precious hours of sleep. That, she could give to him. Later, if there was a next time for them, they could take things slow and relearn every inch of each other’s bodies. But not now.

His eyes flared bright as he reached for her shorts. He practically tore them down her legs as she did the same to her top, frantically yanking it off and tossing it away.

Once she was completely bared to him, his stare went molten. “You’re mine, Lyra.” There was no control in his hoarse voice.

She nodded, not bothering to deny the truth. She was his and had been from the moment she’d stepped into that shifter bar so many years ago. He owned her heart and soul. She knew that made her ten kinds of stupid, but she didn’t care.

He cupped her mound in that possessive way of his, dragging his finger along the length of her wet slit. When he slid two fingers inside her, testing her slickness, he shuddered, but didn’t take his eyes off hers.

Moving away, he pulled back before settling his cock between her legs. His hard length pushed at her wet opening, but didn’t fully penetrate.

“Don’t tease.” She couldn’t take it. Her inner walls tightened, knowing what was coming.

Inch by inch he pushed inside her, his thickness filling her completely until she forgot to breathe.

Growling, he buried his face against her neck. He scraped his canines against her soft flesh. “You feel amazing.”

He did too, but she couldn’t find her voice. But she could show him what she needed. For him to move. Clutching onto his shoulders, she rolled her hips.

He growled again and they found a steady rhythm as he thrust harder with each stroke. Each time he pushed deep inside her, her already building climax raced closer to the edge of that cliff.

“Feed from me.” His strangled demand slammed through her.

She couldn’t believe what he’d said but she wasn’t going to question it. She’d been keeping her fangs in out of fear she’d take what her body was demanding without his permission. His demand set her free.

Releasing them, she sank her teeth into his neck the instant he tweaked her clit. As she sucked deep, his sweet blood coating her tongue and running down her throat, her orgasm surged through her.

The sharpness of it took her by surprise. Hitting all her nerve endings at once, she lost all control as she was consumed by pleasure. She was filled with him, both his body and his blood, surrounded by his scent and his strength.

“Lyra.” There he went again with that low, sexy voice.

He continued thrusting as his climax built, his movements now unsteady and out of control. She knew he was going to come the moment before he let go. His entire body, including his neck muscles, pulled tight as he shouted her name. She sucked harder against his neck, knowing the reaction it would elicit, the intensified pleasure it would bring him.

He groaned even louder as he continued slamming against her until they both collapsed, boneless. She licked the small puncture wounds, though they were already healing. She just wanted to taste him more, couldn’t seem to make herself stop.

He simultaneously nuzzled her neck, murmuring her name under his breath. It sounded so much like a prayer that tears sprung to her eyes. She quickly blinked them away as sleep set in. Staying wrapped around him, she said, “Sleep, Finn.”

He rolled to the side, tugging her with him as he moved. She curled up against him, soaking up his warmth as she let sleep overtake her. It touched her on the deepest level that this powerful Alpha trusted her enough to sleep in the same bed, to make himself even more vulnerable with her. She tightened her grip around him, taking advantage of their limited time together. As she started to doze she could hear his breathing even out. Good. In a few hours God knew they’d need it because she was going to rip this city apart until she found Vega.

Chapter Fourteen

Lyra jerked up in bed at the low ringing sound, panic thrumming through her. Finn was gone and her internal clock told her sunset was maybe half an hour away. She snatched her phone off the nightstand and frowned at the number. She didn’t recognize it, but for all she knew it could be one of Finn’s packmates or he was using another phone.

“Hello?”

“Mom?” Vega whispered, her voice shaky.

“Vega!” she shouted, then cringed. “Honey, where are you?” Lyra grabbed her discarded pants from the antique chair in the corner of the room and started tugging them on.

“In a graveyard. I had to steal a phone from a human groundskeeper using mental persuasion. Then I told him to go home and forget he ever saw me.”

She didn’t care if Vega had out and out mugged someone. She just needed her daughter’s location. “What graveyard?”

“I’m not sure where we are,” she whispered again. “Claudius had me and another prisoner in chains. The prisoner helped us both escape but he’s hurt and we’re both exhausted. We…ran as far as we could but it wasn’t far. I don’t think any of his people followed us though because it was right at sunrise. I wanted to call you earlier, but we passed out. I barely managed to drag us into one of the empty vault tombs but mom, this guy is hurt and I’m exhausted. I can’t get him to wake up. We’ve got to help him and we both need blood bad.”

Lyra grabbed her shirt, blade, shoes and jacket as she sprinted out the bedroom door. Keeping the items gathered against her chest, she raced down the hall, following the scents of the others in the house to guide her. “Can you see any kind of landmark? Is there any unique architecture in the cemetery? What stands out?” She barreled into the kitchen downstairs to find Finn, four of his packmates and Justus and Christian strapping on weapons. She mouthed Vega’s name as she pressed speaker and put the phone on the marble island. Lyra tugged her rumpled shirt on as the room quieted.

“Hold on,” Vega said.

Next to Lyra, Finn stared at the phone and gripped the island top until it cracked.

“She escaped with another prisoner and is in a cemetery but doesn’t know where they are. She’s trying to figure out her location,” she murmured even though Vega would hear. She wanted her daughter to concentrate on her surroundings.

“Okay, I see a lot of vault tombs. There are too many to count…” She trailed off for a moment and Lyra thought of something else.

“Didn’t you say you stole this phone from a groundskeeper?” she asked.

The moment she spoke, Lyra watched out of the corner of her eye as Spiro flipped open one of the three laptops on the counter. Without pause, he moved to the phone and looked at the caller ID before hurrying back to his computer.

“Yeah!” Vega sounded excited now. “He was wearing a green and white uniform. It had…crap, I can’t remember what the patch on his shirt said.” Her voice started to waver and Lyra knew she was trying not to cry.

“Honey, we’re going to find you, I swear. One of your father’s packmates is doing some magic on his computer right now.” She looked at Finn as she spoke. His jaw was clenched tight but she could see the determination on his face as he met her gaze.

“I’ve got his billing address…his city of residence…hold on…” Spiro’s fingers flew across the keyboard and Lyra watched as a social media site popped up. “Got his current place of employment!” More typing and another screen popped up. “And from the cemetery website, the picture of their employees’ uniforms matches her description. This is the place.”

“Did you hear that? We’re on our way,” she said as she watched Spiro pull up different maps.

“Please hurry.” She sounded so young and vulnerable and Lyra wanted to kill her brother in that moment for putting Vega through hell. But more than anything she just wanted to save her daughter.

“It’s isolated and not far from here,” Spiro murmured as he mapped out a path from their current place to the cemetery.

“We’re going to find you, Vega,” Finn said, his voice thick with emotion.