Hawk (22 page)

Her orgasm began ripping through her, stealing her very breath. Damn, but she didn’t think she’d ever had one so intense as he continued to pound into her, the slapping sound of flesh on flesh carrying to her ears. Seconds seemed like minutes as she tilted her head back and cried out his name. His hand at her waist now wrapped across her abdomen as if knowing her legs would no longer hold her. He continued to hammer against her until he reached his own climax, his muscles tightening his hold on her. With a sharp indrawn breath, Kaleb withdrew his fangs and licked the twin holes closed. Releasing her, she tumbled to the bed in a pool of languid muscles.

“Round two?” he asked, hearing the smile in his tone. The sound of rustling cloth told her he stripped his body before the mattress dipped and he joined her on the bed.

Suzi scooted closer to Kaleb’s heat. He wrapped his arm about her shoulder and nestled her against his side. Resting her cheek against his solid chest, she did her damnedest to calm her racing heart. Rank that right up there with the best sex ever. Kaleb certainly knew his way with women. Hopefully, for now and all her eternity, he reserved that for just her. Otherwise, she might be forced to take out every woman Kaleb showed interest in. Which might get her in trouble with her best friend the cop. She smiled.

“Can we have the lights on for that?” she asked, looking up at him, barely making out his features.

Her answer was the sound of his laughter rumbling up from his gut.

Chapter 22

Kaleb ran a hand through his hair and blew out a steady stream of air. Damn, he needed to catch his breath before heading into round two. And he would. He was far from done with Suzi. Not that what just happened wasn’t hot as hell, but he wanted to take his time and enjoy her … make love to her. The animal had certainly come out at her suggestion to skip the foreplay. Not that he minded. Hell no, he had been so fucking horny that he thought he might just split his jeans as he stood in the doorway and watched her remove each article of clothing, leaving her in white lace.

Now? He wanted to watch her face as he brought her to another orgasm. Her suggestion at putting a light on, definitely worked for him, even though he could see well enough in the dark. The fact she didn’t seem to mind the way his face changed from its human form certainly pleased him. Hell, in truth, Suzi seemed turned on by his vampire side … and that he really liked. Most donors seemed unable to look him in the eyes once the change begun, as though they desired his human side and only tolerated his true nature. Not Suzi. Anytime she spotted the change in him, he could smell her desire rising. A smile came to his lips. Yeah, he really liked that.

Kaleb reached over and switched on the bedside table lamp, the soft glow filling the room. “Better?”

Her smile reached her eyes. “Better.”

He had put that grin in place, which charmed him more than he’d care to admit. Never had he seen anything more beautiful than when his little
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beamed at him. Damn, it cut straight to his heart. First order of business though, he needed to confess. She had to know he would never be so cruel as to toss her necklace carelessly along the side of the road. Time to stop trying to piss her off just to hold her at bay. He’d much prefer to have her sated, and lying naked in his bed.

“I have something of yours,” he said, drawing her attention from tracing the tribal art on his arm with her forefinger.

She looked up at him. “What’s that?”

Kaleb eased her to the mattress and rolled to his side, opened the drawer of the bedside table and withdrew the leather cord. “I believe this belongs to you. I never threw it along the road as I said.”

Suzi gasped. “You lied? Why?”

He tightened his hold on her, tucking her firmly against him, not wanting her to dash off because of his mean-heartedness. “Honestly? I didn’t want you to have it. I couldn’t stomach the thought of any one of the Sons having their mouth on you, to feed or otherwise.”

“What changed your mind?”

“You need to be the one to make that decision. I don’t own you,
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. That choice needs to be yours.”

Suzi slipped the necklace from his hand and dangled it above her before fisting it and looking back at him. “I don’t want to feed any of your brothers, Kaleb. Only you.”

“Seriously?” he said with a smile. “Does that mean you’re back to being my personal donor?”

Why the fact she chose to only feed him didn’t really matter, but it thrilled him nonetheless. Kaleb looked at the ceiling, more content than he had been in years. And although he accepted the fact that he enjoyed having her in his bed and his life, there still lay so much between them. Too much hate darkened their past. If he were going to keep her in his life, then he needed to come to terms with what happened … even if the pain of it killed him. It was time to let old hurts go.

“Can I ask you a question?” he asked.

“Sure.” Suzi hooked the necklace around her nape, the vial falling back to the hollow of her throat before giving him her full attention. “I have no secrets, Kaleb. I never have. You just never bothered to ask the right questions.”

Kaleb thought about what she said. He hadn’t bothered to question her at all and had only been too quick to accuse. “Ion … why didn’t you mourn his passing?”

Suzi sat up beside him, brought her knees to her chest and hugged them. “If we’re going to go there, then you need to know the truth, Kaleb. I’ll no longer lie or hold back anything from you. You have to promise me you won’t now accuse me of being untruthful and realize I have no reason to be. Deal?”

He nodded, too confused by her statement to comment anyway.

“I loved Ion. And Ion truly loved me. I know that. I also know that he told you he wanted to take me as his mate.”

Kaleb’s heart panged at the reminder, but he remained silent. What the fuck could he say? He couldn’t blame his nephew for wanting her.

Suzi swallowed before continuing. “It was never that kind of love, Kaleb. I never chose Ion over you. You were too busy parading women in front of me and breaking my heart that Ion became my rock. He was there for me when you weren’t.”

“I’m sorry … I never meant—”

“You did, Kaleb. You made it clear you didn’t want one woman. Or for that matter ever wanted to mate. And honestly, I couldn’t even fault you for that. Not when there were always so many women throwing themselves at you and vying for your attention. Ion kept me sane, treated me like I mattered.”

Kaleb growled, but said nothing in his defense. He had been an ass.

“As a friend, Kaleb. He never loved me the way you’re thinking. And I never had that kind of love for him either.”

“But you slept with him.”

“I won’t sit here and say that I’ve been celibate. I wasn’t going to wait around for you to come to your senses. You were usually too busy to notice me anyway. But no, to answer your question, I never slept with Ion.”

“Why not? He was a good-looking man.”

Another smile graced her face as though the mention of his nephew brought back good memories for her. “Ion was handsome. But he wasn’t you.”

“Me?”

Suzi laughed uneasily. “You can be pretty thick-headed at times, Hawk. It’s always been you. No man could ever live up to the damn pedestal I tried to keep you on. Even if you did fall off the thing more times than I care to count. But I did try to move on. I even propositioned your brother once.”

“Kane?” his voice raised. “I’ll kill him if he so much as touched you.”

“Down, boy.” She smiled, doubtlessly pleased by his show of jealousy. “He turned me down. At the time, I looked at it as just another failure. But in reality, it wasn’t Kane I wanted. I wanted to hurt you. I thought I could use Kane to do that. My plan backfired. He didn’t want me either.”

“Oh, I wanted you, sweetheart. Don’t mistake that.” Kaleb reached out, wrapped his hand about her calf, then ran it along the smooth flesh, just wanting to touch her. “So you used Ion to hurt me as well?”

“No, not Ion. It was the other way around, Kaleb. Ion used me.”

His brow furrowed.

“Ion helped me through a tough time. I was dying inside watching you with all your women. I could barely stand it.” Suzi drew her lower lip between her teeth, as though studying his reaction before continuing on. “He showed me how to survive without you and love myself because of the strong man he was. Ion lived with a dark secret, knowing his father, uncle, and all the Sons might very well turn their backs on him if they knew. And yet, he couldn’t change that part of his life, nor did he want to. In truth, Ion needed me as a cover, which was his reason for wanting to take me as his mate. Because I understood him, knew who he was inside and out, and loved him anyway.”

Part of Kaleb wasn’t sure he wanted to Suzi to continue. “What could be so fucking bad that Ion would feel the need to hide it from Kane or mw?”

Tears welled in her eyes and slipped down her face. “Kaleb … Ion was gay. He had a boyfriend, significant other, who he loved with all of his heart.”

Shock tore through Kaleb, making him dumbstruck. Not that Ion being gay would have made him love his nephew any less, just that Ion had hid it so well.

“When you told me Ion had died, I was numb. All I could think about was breaking the news to his lover, the one person Ion couldn’t live without. The real person he wanted as a mate … not me. I couldn’t break Ion’s confidence, especially in his death. I had to let you believe what you would because I couldn’t allow your memory of him to be tarnished. I lived with his secret to protect you and Kane. It was never my secret to tell.”

Suzi placed a hand over her trembling lips as she tried to hold back her sorrow. Her shoulders shook and tears wet her cheeks.
Oh, for fuck’s sake!
He really had been an ass. Kaleb sat and gathered Suzi into his arms, smoothing his hand down her back as her tears continued to fall, wetting his chest. How the hell had he been so blind? He had made Suzi suffer his anger and wrath for ten long years when she had deserved none of it.

In truth, he had been so fucking jealous of Ion. He had wanted to be the kind of man his nephew had been, and offer Suzi the one thing he never thought he’d offer to anyone … to be his mate. Even now he wasn’t sure he could be that man for her. His heart broke in two at the sound of her sobs, to know that she carried this grief and Ion’s secret for far too many years. Damn his nephew for being a coward and not trusting him or his father, and instead laying all that guilt on a young, innocent woman. No one should’ve had to carry his secret in life, let alone death. He should have manned up and trusted in his family that they would have loved him regardless.

Kaleb gripped her shoulders and sat her back from him. She used the heels of her palms to wipe away the wetness, her lower lip quivering adorably. Leaning down, he kissed her gently, not one of passion, but one of adoration. If he were honest, then yes, he loved this woman who had shown nothing but bravado and courage over the past ten years. The one person who had put her prejudiced aside to come see if he were indeed all right after nearly being beheaded. And he had accused her of being a cold-hearted bitch. What a selfish bastard he had been. He didn’t deserve this woman in his arms. His heart swelled and he knew how his twin must have felt when given the choice to save Cara’s life.

“I am so sorry,
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. You deserved better … you certainly didn’t deserve my wrath.”

“No.” She smiled through her tears. “I didn’t. And I wanted to hate you for it, only I couldn’t.”

“Thank the good Lord you didn’t,” he whispered, before covering her mouth once more and following her down to the mattress.

His dick hardened, needing to be inside her again. But this time, he’d make love to her and show her what his lips could not yet say. Maybe it was time to start thinking about a lifetime with her. Because suddenly an eternity without her scared the hell out of him.

* * *

Blinding white strobes flashed about the club, while rays of red, blue and green lights sliced like a saber sword through the fog-filled room. Ravers gyrated in what appeared to be slow motion from the strobes on the dance floor, most likely high on X. Grayson’s conversation with Draven had ended with allowing the barkeep to sell his stash over the course of the evening and to not peddle another pill or suffer the wrath of the Sons. In truth, due to Cara and Detective Hernandez’s little surprise Q&A the day before, Draven had been more than amendable. The Blood ‘n’ Rave had just gotten out of the pill pushing racket.

With the MC business now behind him, the real party had just begun. The Prodigy blared through the giant speakers hanging from the corners of the large dance floor, the bass drumming against his chest. He lived for this shit. Loud music, wild women and great whiskey. Let Kane and Kaleb fuck up their eternity saddling themselves to one woman. Of course, Kaleb had yet to take Suzi as a mate … but he would. He was as much of a fool as his twin.

Variety was the spice of life.

That Cowper dude knew what the fuck he was talking about when he coined that phrase. Grayson tossed back another shot of Jack, leaned against the polished bar and studied the small group of women dancing just for him. He’d always been popular with the ladies. Not that he was arrogant about it. Hell, no. He didn’t figure he was any different than any of his MC brothers, but the number of women surrounding him at any given time spoke for itself. 

The ache in his gums told him he’d need to decide which of them would follow him upstairs to Draven’s private quarters and soon. He didn’t need his vampire self coming to light in front of the women when all of them weren’t wearing donor necklaces. His thirst wasn’t even his biggest issue at the moment, his lust was off the charts, largely due to the curvy redhead dancing at the front of the pack. Damn, but her dark blue, skinny jeans fit her ass like a glove. She was the same redhead Suzi had all but had a conniption fit over and swept her from his embrace and took her home before Grayson could sample a taste. Lucky for him, Kaleb kept Suzi’s ass busy tonight, because the redhead was number one on his list of contenders.

With her fiery red hair, she definitely stood out. Maybe he’d veer from his norm and enjoy a little one-on-one action tonight. He certainly wouldn’t mind spending some time getting to know this one. Not about to waste another minute, he crooked a finger at her, beckoning her forward. She smiled wide and sauntered in his direction, her hips swaying nicely in her tight jeans. He all but swallowed the piece of gum he chewed. Damn, but she was a hot piece of ass. Yeah, he definitely didn’t need any other woman fucking up his chance to get inside this one.