Mating Fever (14 page)

Trenton spun around and bared his fangs at me. He grabbed my throat. “He killed my Juliette. I watched him. When he did, he cut out a part of my soul. She was the reason I would’ve done anything for the council. Anything for him. We were friends once. And then she was gone. It was grueling to live without her, but then I began to take lives. That filled the void in my soul. And now, I’m going to make him suffer the same fate.”

He sliced through the ropes tying my hands. I tried to run, but he had a good hold of me. Trenton dragged me toward Keaton and forced me to my knees. Keaton was weak and holding on by a thread. He needed blood.

“Please leave her alone,” he whispered. The pain etched in his face was hard to bear.

“Say your goodbyes.” Trenton pressed upon my neck. So close to my mouth, I could feel the frigid, prickly energy that made him up. I closed my eyes and focused. I pulled on the energy imagining it sliding down my throat. His energy was colder than Keaton’s. I remembered the shadows that wound around me. It touched my insides and I drank it in. Trenton screamed and then threw me across the room. I landed hard, but I was okay. Trenton was seething and clutched his arm. The opportunity allowed me to race toward Keaton. The energy zinged through me. It settled over my eye and where I was hurt. I struggled with Keaton’s bonds and loosened them. Trenton grabbed me again and dragged me away by my hair.

I shrieked.

“You’re very clever. I’ve never met a human who could pull energy the way you have. The same way it’s difficult to get into your mind. I can see why Keaton fell for you. But it still won’t stop me.” He pressed his nails to my neck.

“You will leave her alone!” I heard Stephania’s voice behind me.

“And what are you going to do? If you do anything, then she dies.”

“You won’t kill her. Now let them go!” Stephania demanded.

Trenton released me. I looked over and saw Stephania had a crossbow aimed at Trenton’s heart. I moved back to Keaton and then helped him undo his ropes. I tried to help him up, but he fell to his knees. He needed more blood. I bared my throat and guided his fangs to me.

He bit down and drank in a few swallows and then withdrew. He needed more blood, but at least he was responding. When he finally stood up, Stephania had the crossbow against Trenton’s back. Keaton took the weapon.

“I’ll deal with you later,” he snarled to Stephania. “You’ll pay for this!”

Keaton pushed Trenton toward the sunlight. When he got into the sun, he bellowed. Stephania stopped me from going toward him.

“By order of the Council you are condemned to death. For kidnapping a mate, for killing humans, for being a dick.” Keaton released the crossbow and it went straight through the other vampire’s heart.

Keaton dropped the crossbow and then turned toward Stephania. I felt the darkness emanating from him. It grew and surrounded him. “You brought her to him. If anything happened to her...why?”

Shadows twined around her throat. Her fingers dug into the dark leash and tried to pull them off. I placed my hand on Keaton’s shoulder.

“Don’t.”

“She betrayed us. She must!”

“No. She said that Trenton had someone. Let her talk.”

Keaton snarled at me, but the shadows lessoned. Stephania drew in a long breath and dropped to the ground. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. He took my daughter hostage. I had to or he was going to kill her.”

“When did you have a kid?” Keaton asked.

“Does it matter? Please, I have to get her.”

I placed a hand on his shoulder. “Let her go, love. She only wants to get her child. You would’ve done the same for me.”

He stared at me and searched my eyes. I placed a hand on his cheek. The darkness around him receded back into the shadows. They left Stephania and joined with him. She ran off into the light. Keaton dropped the crossbow and then fell to his knees. I held him next to my chest. His power was fading. He had used the last of this strength to save me and standoff with Stephania. His mouth sought my throat.

I pressed his head to my neck. I sensed the hunger moving through him. His fangs pierced my throat. The pain was sharper than ever. It raged through me. His hands clasped my shoulders in a death grip. I tried to stay conscious, but the coldness descended and I went with it.

Chapter Ten

The next time I opened my eyes, I was back in bed at Keaton’s house. Light poured in from the open window. It was bright, but it didn’t hurt. I went to the window. The sky was overcast. A beam of light cleared the clouds and hit my hand. I yanked it back from the sudden sear and backed out of the light. It was nice to know that I could still move about in the day. Keaton was in the house somewhere. I followed that sense and found myself downstairs in a library. He was sitting at a desk typing away at the computer. I stood in the doorway and watched him. It took him a moment before he looked up.

“You’re awake.”

“Yeah.”

“How are you feeling?”

I shrugged. I didn’t feel much different. My stomach turned over and grumbled. When I thought about blood it wasn’t for that, but for regular food. “Kinda hungry. I guess.”

“That’s good. Honestly, I’m surprised that you haven’t turned yet. You were out for a long time.”

“How long?”

“Three days.”

I clutched the door. I had been unconscious, but I felt completely rested, but I still also felt human. “So, you’re okay?”

He rose from his chair and came over to me. Keaton pulled me into his arms and held me for a long time. He ran his fingers over my face and my neck. The hunger in him wasn’t for blood. It was for me. The concern was written on his face and burned in his eyes. “I’m fine. It was stupid of me to go to Trenton alone. I should’ve gone to the council first and then gotten backup. I was only thinking of protecting you. Then Stephania betrayed us and brought you there.”

I placed a finger on his lips. “Don’t think about it. We all made it out alive. Stephania was protecting her daughter. You should forgive her.”

A flash of anger sparked in his eyes. My mate growled. “Maybe. I did find several bags had been delivered here and my credit card was sitting on the table. Stephania must have brought them back. I put them upstairs in the bedroom.”

I kissed him lightly on the lips savoring the taste of him. The attraction for him spiked through me. It gripped me so intensely that I moaned a little in pain. The mating fever was upon me again, but this time I welcomed it.

“Thank you. She is our friend. You’ll forgive her one day. I’m sure that you were tempted to look in those bags.”

He gave me a devilish smile. “I was tempted, but I didn’t. Whatever you bought is fine. There’s plenty more that we need to get you. You barely have enough clothes to be wearing with what you brought from your apartment.”

I shrugged. He was right about that. “Well, I can rectify that. I’m going to get something to eat.”

He caught me around the waist and pressed his lips to me. His tongue plunged into my mouth but then he pulled away again. “Eating is a good thing. You’re blood gave me the strength to get us back here. Without it, I would’ve been a goner. You saved my life.”

“I would have done it anytime.”

His expression turned serious. “No one has ever been so selfless before. To be honest, no one that I know should’ve survived being human with the amount of vampire blood that you’ve ingested and that I have taken. It’s something I have posed to the other council members.”

“So you’re saying that I’m a mystery?”

“More than that. You’re my mate and you should be a vampire. But you’ve not completely turned yet. I don’t know why. Maybe it has something to do with the barrier in your mind and the fact you could pull in energy.”

I touched his cheek. “Does it really matter? I want to spend the rest of eternity with you. Eventually, I will change.”

“How do you know?”

I thought about it. “Because I can feel it. The sun hurts me and I feel almost like I’m in shadow. Or at least part of me is. I’m walking in between light and dark.” I shrugged. “I don’t know where that came from. But it’s the truth.”

“Whatever it is, I’m glad you’re mine. Now go eat.” He slapped my ass as I walked away.

I shook my head and then moved into the kitchen. The refrigerator was full. My heart went out to Ivan. He was a good guy. I wanted to get to know him better, but that wasn’t possible now. So I set out to cooking dinner. As I laid the food out, I realized I wasn’t as hungry as I thought I was. No matter, I cooked a little chicken and then made it into a salad. Keaton came in and stole a piece of chicken and then held it out. I tried to bite at it, but he pulled it away.

“That isn’t fair.”

“Life isn’t fair. Besides, seeing you eating made me realize that I was a little hungry as well.” He kissed the back of my neck. I knew what he was hungry for when he reached around and cupped my breast. Keaton sucked on my skin. His other hand slid lower until it went under my shirt. I grabbed his arm then.

“You don’t want me.”

I turned and saw the concern in his gaze. “I didn’t say that. Let me finish eating and take a shower. I’m kinda icky from being captured and tied up. I’ll come down with a surprise for you if you can give me the time.”

He bit me deeper and I moaned. “I can give you all the time in the world with a promise like that. Are you sure you don’t want me to join you in the shower?”

“Yes and you can do the dishes while I’m upstairs.”

“Ugh. I knew I never liked doing the domestic stuff. I guess that’s why I haven’t had a mate before now.”

I took another bite of my salad and hit him in the chest. He backed away and let me finish my dinner. When I was done, I placed the dishes in the sink. Keaton rolled up his sleeves and actually started washing the dishes, which surprised me. I shook my head and went upstairs to shower.

Before I headed in, I noticed the bags by the wall. I took out the parcels and found the twilight set of lingerie that Natalia had picked out for me. I laid it against my skin and loved the contrast of colors. In the same bag were panties and a dark blue robe. Underneath that were garters and silk, silver stockings that matched the lace. I hadn’t seen those or the robe before. I held them up and decided I could use those for later. Right now I wanted to get clean again.

Once I dried off, I dug around in my bags for something to put my hair up with. I found the clips and then I went back into figure out how I would get the corset on. I tried to remember what Natalia had shown me. I thought about it and then slipped on the contraption. I tightened the laces until I could barely breathe and then fluffed, moving my breasts a little higher. When I looked at my reflection in the mirror, I was happy about the corset. I realized that I did look a little bit different. My skin was lighter and my eyes darker. I looked at the panties and decided to forgo them and just slip on the robe. It covered just enough of me, and when I looked in the mirror I was satisfied.

I went downstairs and found Keaton back in his office. He was focused on his computer. I knocked on the door. He didn’t look up the first time. When I sauntered in and sat down on the desk that got his attention.

“Hi stranger. I thought you were going to be waiting for me. Here I find you back on the computer. You’re almost as bad a me.”

Keaton slid his hand along my thigh. “I have some council business to attend to. And I was answering my colleagues’ email about you.”

I peered around until I could see the email. I couldn’t read it though because Keaton took my head between his hands and brought me to his lips. His mouth pressed against mine. He sought it in a hungry embrace. Keaton leaned me back against the desk and I heard a clatter as the contents fell to the floor. He ripped the belt from my robe and gasped.