Her Vampire Husband (14 page)

Deciding to go wigless, she combed through the long strands of her mink-dark hair and pushed them over her shoulder. A red jersey dress slithered over her skin, resembling a swimsuit cover-up as it clung to all her curves and exposed a lot. Creed would like it.

But before she went looking for the hubby, she needed to check in with her father. Though she had decided not to tell Ridge about Creed’s magic and the ring, she
wanted to see if she could get any more info from Amandus.

The office was the only place she’d seen a phone, so she headed down the stairs. On the bar, a white envelope was propped against a full bottle of wine. Her name was scribbled on the envelope.

Blu tore it open. Out slid a black credit card with her name on it and a note.
Don’t spend it all in one place.

She knew the black card was only given to elite clients, and it had something like a million-dollar credit limit.

“Oh, baby. The vampire doesn’t know what he’s done. I won’t spend it all in one place, Creed. That would be a crime, considering all the best stuff is spread out, and in Paris.”

The man lived in France. So did that mean he’d take her to Paris someday?

“Christian Louboutin, here I come!” The designer shoes were on the top of her wish list.

Tucking the card back into the envelope, she went in search of her hubby to give him a hug that would probably become a kiss and then a lick, and then…Well, she was ready to go there.

The house was quiet. Housekeeper had left hours earlier after vacuuming and dusting. The new girl was similar to Malena. Young, Latina and polite. And she must know her employer was a vampire, because Blu
figured there had to be blood on things occasionally. No vamp could be neat all the time.

On the other hand, he was taking his donors, as he called them, away from the estate.

She decided tomorrow she’d find out the new housekeeper’s name and then relentlessly use it around Creed. She’d get the guy to warm to the hired help one way or another.

Her bare feet took the Berber carpet softly, but she slowed as she neared the office. The door was open a crack, and Creed’s sexy, deep voice echoed out.

Pausing, Blu listened and got in on the middle of a phone conversation.

“The victim has been placed in the safe house? Good. I hope he survives. It wasn’t the River pack? But I thought the Western pack—Hell, really? They were a long way from home. And headed in the wrong direction. Doesn’t Dean Maverick lead that pack?”

Silence, then, “Seriously? Ryan has been seen with the pack?”

Blu sucked in her lip. Was he talking about her lover?

Ryan was supposed to be careful with his visits to Maverick. As scion of the Northern pack, it would not be tolerated for him to have contact with a rival pack. Her father would be outraged.

“Can we put a man or two on him? I don’t want what
happened last night to occur any time soon. Especially with the peace pact under such scrutiny. Though don’t get me wrong. Slicing that wolf’s head from his body was gratifying.”

Another pause. What had happened last night? she wondered. He’d killed a wolf?

Blu tilted her head and slid her hair behind an ear. Her hearing was good, but not acute enough to pick up the voice coming over the receiver. It had to be Alexandre, her hubby’s second in command.

“It’s going far better than we had hoped,” Creed said. “No, no bite. But it may be unnecessary. Yes. Yes, I understand. No, I believe the werewolves will see their princess has accepted a vampire, and will surrender to the peace pact. I’m beginning to wish it were not a farce.”

Blu stretched her shoulder along the wall, tracing the surface lightly with her fingertips. A farce? His conversation sounded so similar to the one she’d had in the van with Ridge.

“Yes, then when they’re not looking, we attack. I’ll be in contact. Goodbye, Alexandre.”

We attack?

But that was—That could only mean—

Blu gripped her throat. The vampires were plotting against the werewolves?

No. Freaking. Way.

Blu kicked the door and stomped through the doorway. Fists forming, she couldn’t immediately find words. But when she did, she shouted, “You bloody longtooth!”

Creed leaned over his desk, fists to the varnished wood. He had to know what she’d heard. “A good afternoon to you, wife.
Très bien?
”

“Ditch the French bullshit, longtooth. I heard what you said.” She crossed to the desk and smashed a fist near his. “The vampires are plotting against us?”

“Now, Blu—”

“Tell me the truth!” Her voice screeched when she got angry. She hated that.

“Blu, I don’t think it’s wise.”

“No, look at me. Tell me it isn’t true.” She beat a fist on his shoulder and when he turned to wrangle her wrists, she repeatedly pounded angry fists at his shoulders and chest. “You’ve been tricking me this whole time? That’s not fair!”

She kicked his shin and broke from his grasp. Creed groaned at the painful placement of her heel but didn’t race after her.

Stalking the other side of the desk, she hissed and let out a frustrated squeal. “I can’t believe I was duped! I should have been smarter.”

“Blu, this has nothing to do with my feelings toward you.”

“Bullshit! It’s all a lie. The intimacy. The kisses. The attention you’ve been showing me.”

“No, it’s not.”

“You’re a liar. I know it’s all a farce because it’s been so since the beginning. The wolves are doing the same thing. This was never to result in a peaceful ending. So there you go, the Huguenots are going to kick the Catholics’ asses!”

He whipped her around, gripping her shoulder so tightly she winced. “What? The wolves are plotting, too?”

“Let me go.”

“No. I want to hear this,” he growled. “So you’re telling me it’s all been a lie on your part?”

She hadn’t meant to blurt that out, but damn it, now she was angry. Was all this work to end because the vampires would beat the werewolves to the punch?

“A farce,” she blurted out. “A lie to convince the vampires they could trust my breed. And then when they’re not looking…?” She punched a fist into her palm.

“So you and I?” Creed shook her by the shoulders. The intensity of his ferocious gaze frightened her. The glint of Wolfsbane on the wall backed up his threat. “Has this been nothing?”

Through her anger, Blu had a momentary thought.
No, it’s meant everything to me.
But instead answered, “I guess so.”

“I refuse to believe that.” He swung her around and pushed her against the wall. Her shoulders hit roughly. The sword clanked on the hooks. “Tell me what you know. What is your father plotting?”

“I’ll let you run me through with the sword before I’ll tell you that.”

“Damn it!” He shoved her and stepped away, pacing to the desk. There, he swept a hand across the surface. Papers and folders flew through the air and scattered.

“Do you think I wanted this?” she countered.

“Of course not, you were pushed!” he said mockingly.

“You know nothing.”

“And you know more than I could have imagined.”

“Bloodsucking longtooth.”

“Deceptive hound.”

She hung her head.

“I didn’t expect this,” Creed said.

Blu chuffed. “No shit.”

All this time the vampires had been plotting against the wolves? Had her father anticipated this? He couldn’t have, or else he would have informed her to protect her back.

Then again, Amandus never told her everything she needed to know. Pack females weren’t allowed to know
any more than that they were in this world to serve and be used.

She had been a pawn.

“Blu, you don’t understand.” Creed turned to her. “I didn’t expect to fall in love with you.”

B
LU SUCKED IN HER
lower lip. Why did it tremble at the sight of Creed’s steady gaze? Of that sure promise in his dark eyes? Eyes she’d once been frightened of, but now only wanted to lose herself in.

Men weren’t supposed to be true to her. To want anything emotional from her.

To say things like
I love you,
and mean it.

And this one! He had been betraying her since day one.

As she had betrayed him.

It wasn’t in her nature to give herself to a man. They were simply big hunks of flesh and blood to be tolerated, appeased.

And yet, she could go there. Step up to the same dais Creed stood on, toss aside the stupid flowers and shout what she was really feeling. Because, in her heart, she believed what he’d just said to her.

She huffed out an exhalation. Damn it, there was no beating this man. “I love you, too.”

Their breaths thundered between them. Two souls forced together, colliding against their differences and surfacing in a new and wondrous pairing.

She did love the vampire.

This had nothing to do with being secretive or betraying his trust. Blu loved Creed’s gentleness. His austere simplicity. His chivalric need to protect her. His devotion to his tribe and the entire vampire nation. His darkness, and the clean lines of his body and face. His kisses and touches.

And his honesty in the midst of forced betrayal.

“Creed.” Her voice trembled, as did her body. “Both sides want to slaughter the other. We’re standing at the vanguard. I…I feel so small, so helpless to control the outcome. What will we do?”

He considered the question. Then, decisive, he offered, “We’ll stand together. It is all we can do. Will you be my ally, Blu?”

“Yes.” She nodded, knowing the answer could be nothing but. “Yes.”

He rushed to her and the kiss was a collision of differences. Atoms smashing and rejoining in midair. The world dropped away. The war between the werewolves and vampires misted to nothing.

There was only them. The two of them stranded as collateral damage amidst a dangerous undertaking.

Blu moaned at the sweet pain of her lover’s kiss. How desperately she wanted to hold it forever. To claim it as a war prize.

She tore at his shirt. Buttons popped and she fumbled with the diamond cuff links. The priceless jewels dropped at their feet.

She stepped into him, pushing him backward until his thighs collided with the desk. He pushed back. They hit the wall roughly. He slapped a hand to the sword to steady it and keep it from dropping. The red dress he pulled over her head, baring her to him.

Creed stepped back and she realized then that it was possible to look drunk with desire. The assessing look he gave her made her proud to stand in his gaze. Only for him.

“You are my wife,” he commanded. “And I will have you now.”

“Yes.” She gripped his pants and unzipped him. His kisses trekked over her breasts and up her neck. A fine-pointed hardness skimmed along her jaw. His fangs had descended. “Creed, no.”

“Yes.” He forced her shoulders to the wall. Parting his lips, he revealed his fully extended fangs. “Look at them. See what you do to me? Arousal brings down my fangs,
but I can normally control it. But you, Blu, you bring them down without volition. I cannot prevent it. You control me.”

She was about to protest, but he opened his mouth wider. The deadly fangs looked so sharp one prick would open her vein and start the blood flowing.

She controlled him? It sounded ludicrous. Women couldn’t control men.

“I know you don’t want my bite. I will not bite you, Blu. I swear it. Not unless you ask for it.”

“I would never. I don’t want your mark. Or the blood hunger that would result.”

“Understood. And you must understand, I desperately want to taste your blood, but I don’t
need
to. Accept that I cannot control them going down.”

“I make it happen?”

“Yes, you’ve such power over me.” He kissed her softly on the chin. Her nipples skimmed his bared chest. “How does that make you feel?”

She hushed out a sigh, then gripped his shoulder. “Powerful.”

“No blood drinking, I promise. Will you trust me?”

She nodded. She could trust him. More than she’d ever trusted any other male.

“Then prove it,” he said. “Kiss me.”

On his mouth? With his fangs proudly bared?

It wasn’t the sight of his fangs that frightened her. Gods, hers were as long, but thicker, made for tearing meat. And she’d seen him bite the man in the club, and had found that erotic. Then the sight of his fangs had actually turned her on.

Could she kiss him now?

Reaching up, Blu slid a finger along one of Creed’s canine teeth. He sneered, drawing back his lip, but allowed her the exploratory touch. It was pretty, monstrous. Yet she’d watched him take blood. It was his means to survival, his connection to life.

The longtooth was no longer repulsive. Because she had begun to understand him.

Her body was weak for him. Her heartbeat thundered behind her naked breasts. Despite the devastating discovery that the vampires were plotting against her kind, all that mattered right now was the two of them. Alone. Wanting to be complete with one another.

She needed her husband inside her. She craved the intimate claiming.

Blu plunged into the kiss. Fangs skimmed the curve of her lip but did not cut. She went so far as to tease her tongue along the hard column of one of them.

“Blu,” he moaned into her mouth. “
Dieu,
that’s amazing that you can accept me.” Lifting her against the wall, he slid a hand between her thighs. “So ready for me.”

“Come inside me, lover. Claim me.” She shucked down his pants past his hips. “Take your wife.”

She wrapped her legs around his hips and he entered in one forceful glide. So thick, he stretched her. Filled her. Impaled her upon him and against the wall beneath the sword that had slain hundreds of her kind.

Blu slapped out her arms, clawing into the wall.

“You are so tight,” he gasped. “Made for me. I can’t wait.”

Already he shuddered against her. The delicious prelude to what would be a stunning climax. He moved quickly, his length dragging at her clitoris and tweaking her better senses with every inch that he gave her.

“Deeper, Creed. Lose yourself in me.”

He moaned, hilting himself into her. The sharp canines rubbed her lower lip. She dashed out her tongue to touch the deadly weapons.

“Now,” he groaned deeply. “Now you are mine.”

Cleaving to him—yes, clinging—she released her tense muscles and surrendered as he cried out in triumph. A melty release wilted her against his chest, the slick muscles pulsing with his climax. Every part of him twitched and dazzled at their joining. He was alive and hers.

All hers.

“No regrets?” he whispered, breath huffing upon her mouth.

“Not a one.”

They would have to face the reality of their futures soon. But not now. Not for this day. “Take me to bed, husband.”

“T
HIS ROOM IS HUGE
.”

Creed laid Blu on his bed and shrugged out of his shirt. But one button had survived her ravaging. Feisty princess.

“Told you you’d be missing something.” Sliding off his pants, he kicked them aside.

“It’s like a Parisian boudoir. But manly.” Blu stretched her arms across the lavish bedspread and curved her body luxuriously as if a goddess demanding worship. “I can’t believe I didn’t peek in here earlier.”

“You mean snoop.”

“Don’t throw stones, Secretive Vampire Dude.”

“Admonishment taken, Undercover Werewolf Princess.”

The things they had learned about the other, about their respective pack and tribe. Creed didn’t want to think on it now. Not with a raging hard-on and the intense desire to nibble on his wife.

“So if you had snooped—er,
peeked
—” he said, “would that have seen you in my bed sooner?”

Climbing on the bed, he bent over her body. He melted his gaze along her stomach and bent to lick her nipples, hard, sweet jewels he toggled with his tongue.

“Maybe. It’s all so detailed and rich. The tassels on the bed canopy, the paintings and the Aubusson rug. Is that an original Renoir?”

“Of course. A friend, actually.”

“No shit? Oh, snap, this is a dream!”

She stretched her arms over the half-dozen goose-down pillows and sighed dramatically. “You know how to live large, I gotta admit that.”

Creed pulled her hips up and nuzzled his face against her flesh to worship her. Pointing his tongue firmly, he traced her inner curves and explored her wetness. She squiggled happily and moaned those delicious throaty moans that rumbled in his heart.

Mon Dieu,
he loved the sounds of her pleasure. He had taken a wolf to his bed. His wolf.

“You do that so well,” she drawled as she slid her fingers through his hair. “Your teeth aren’t down anymore.”

Charmed at her awareness, Creed swiped his tongue across his teeth. She was right. He hadn’t realized they’d risen.

Whatever it was about her that made his teeth react, he couldn’t be concerned right now. The sexy, dark, sweet taste of her frenzied him. He had to have all of her. Deeply, sucking, teasingly. She whimpered hungrily as each lash of his tongue found new ways to please her.

Sheets gripped in her hands just to the side of his head,
he watched as his attentions slowly worked her fingers looser. Then she’d clutch again. And finally her fingers spread and slid over the bed.

Her climax sweetened his tongue. He drank her as he would at the neck. But this sweetness was a treat he did not need for survival, only pleasure.

As she cried out, he moved up alongside her and nestled his face into her long black hair. Blu tilted her head and bit down on his neck.

She did not break skin. Her teeth were not sharp enough. Yet the exquisite pain of it, pinching his vein, exploded within him. Taken by the surprising clutch, Creed’s climax started first in his brain—she was biting him, giving him something he’d revealed was the ultimate in pleasure—and then he plunged himself inside her and filled her with his seed.

Her fingernails dug into his shoulder. Blu’s teeth slid over his flesh. The pain of it heightened his orgasm, expanding it beyond the usual. He tremored, coming wickedly.

Nothing with his werewolf princess would ever again be usual.

H
OURS LATER
, Blu posed at the end of the bed. She gripped the bedpost and wiggled her derriere. Her lover, who’d taken a break in the bathroom, returned and clamped his hands to her hips to take her from behind.

“Mmm, I like it this way,” she cooed as he entered her to the hilt. “I can feel all of you, deep inside.”

He massaged his palms up her spine, slick with perspiration. “I could feel your teeth on my neck earlier.”

“I didn’t break skin, but it was a sort of bite. Did you like it?”

“Christ, Blu.” His exhale, a guttural sigh, blended with a moan.

“I’ll take that as a like.”

“Don’t ever pause should you want to bite me, just know that.”

“I won’t. I like to give you pleasure.”

“This tattoo…” His fingers traced the intricate lines on her back as he pumped lazily inside her. “Tell me about it.”

“It’s just a design.”

“That means you don’t want to tell. Pretty girls like you don’t put any old design on their bodies. It has to mean something. You said—”

“It’s a symbol related to the pack.” A claiming mark. “Ryan inked it.” It meant little to her at this moment, so she didn’t want to discuss it.

Creed drew his hand over her breasts and along her throat, directing her to stand against him, his cock still deep inside her. He dropped a kiss to her shoulder, and then he smoothed over her throat. “Someday you will wear my mark.”

He said it as truth.

And Blu said the first words that came to mind. “Yes, someday.”

“O
H
,
SNAP
,
WILL YOU
look at this shower?”

Blu’s lover hugged up behind her as she stood at the massive shower entrance. His erection pressed into her derriere. She couldn’t get enough of it and his need to always rub it against her skin, so she wiggled to encourage him to press harder.

“It’s huge,” she purred. “The shower, too. I think it’s the size of my bedroom at the compound.”

“Sea glass imported from Venice,” he said of the indigo and pale green tiles.

“It seems to glow. Looks like pieces from a stained-glass window, with the sunlight captured in it.” She stroked the smooth tiles. They were small, about two inches square.

Creed stepped inside and turned on the water, adjusting the complicated dial. “The pipes are stretched the entire surface overhead. I can make it like a rain shower, if you like.”

“Sex in the rain?” She traced a finger up his thigh, and then higher. His cock bobbed expectantly. “You know I like the rain.”

When the water fell in gentle droplets from the ceiling, she tilted her head to catch it on her face.

Creed kissed her chin. He slicked his palms over her breasts. The warm rain beat in rhythm to her heart.

“This is magical.”

“It’s just a shower.” He kissed her, but she pressed him back. He gripped the steel bar overhead, groaning when she palmed his erection.

“It’s us, Creed. We’re magical, don’t you think?”

“The wolf and vamp thing? I suppose something like that. But I didn’t use my magic to coerce you, I promise.”

“I know you didn’t. I’ve never felt coerced with you. This is so much more than anything I can imagine. I feel so different in your arms. Like the world slips away and I’ve no worries. It’s just the two of us.”

“That is magical,” he said. “I’ll take that, and I’ll raise you a wondrous.”

“Remarkable.”

Cupping her breasts, he leaned forward to catch the spatter of raindrops against his mouth. “Breathtaking.”

She opened his mouth with her fingers and traced his teeth. “Dangerous.”

“Danger can be erotic.”

He followed her lead as she pressed down on his teeth and directed his mouth to her breast. The tugging and licking at her nipple zinged through her system. Every time his teeth grazed her flesh it rocketed her desire to orbit—yet also pricked at her fear.