Sanibel Sizzle - Vampire Werewolf Menage (17 page)

“I’
ve never seen
the mark of a species vampire.” A
nearby pain in the ass
intruded upon
his fun.

His
lass blinked
at the annoying female
. 
Disconcerted, she
replied
, “Okay?”

The female twisted her napkin
awkwardly and explained, “
I thought you might
show it to me…it’s not like it’s a secret
around here
or anything.  You left your mate
s
for Ciaran, right?”

“Left my….”
That clearly did it. 
Ciaran watched
wee canines slide over her bottom
lip; his
lass
transfixed on
the female’s throat. 
Through a hiss she spoke to the other woman as if she were a small child.
“Do you
honestly
think a bride could
ever
leave
a species vampire?”  An iridescent sheen
broke out and transformed
her skin
to
a mystic
splendor
. 
By God, you take my breath away.

Finally.

Ciaran stood and ordered,
“
Everyone out!
”
For those that took thei
r time
to gawk at his woman
, the Alpha
roared until the
elaborately
outsized
chandelier
threatened to shatter and rain down
on
their thick skulls
. 
“
Sentinels
posted
at the door
, Afanas!
”
 
The beast calmed right after all
males left the dining hall.  Possessiveness grew daily by
leaps,
and his werewolf didn’t care for the lust the others emitted around what was his
, so problem solved
.

She’s not yours!
 

He freaked o
n the Alpha in yet
another battle within his psyche.
 
S
he’s an imminent bedmate, but not a true
mate.
  The beast slammed his skull with pure wrath.  Ciaran refused to lift his hands and calm his features - a lesson from his father.  No one should know when the Alpha beast stirs, only when it’s loose.

In the next moment, he tied
her
to her
chair.
Now wasn’t the time for this delect
able morsel to run from his Alpha beast
.  He’d take that decision from her and save her the pain
. 
“Would you care for more?
”
He seated himself closer. 
Calmly s
pearing lamb with his fork and
acting as if nothing had just become obvious, Ciaran
brought the offering to her lips.
  By the look
on
her face, he thought she might bite off his fingers instead.
A little bite never hurt anyone
.
“Open wide,” he purred, unashamedly relaying the
evident. 
Ciaran wasn’t talking food and
they both knew it.  She did
as he asked because hunger would do that
to a pissed
off full-blooded
female.  In. Heat.

Ah, the beauty of what’s to come.

It didn’t faze her when
he
deliberately missed the mark
.  The meat she got, the sauce dribb
led.  If he was going to play,
he could have thought of cleaner foods such as whipped cream.  But no, he was a male werewolf, combining two of his three favorite things:  female and meat. 
The other?
  That would be the chase.   Dripping gravy down her chin and her throat, so he c
ould…lick…
every
…
last
…
drizzle. 

Could he use the heat to coax her cooperation? 
If she
could
somehow
forget who he
was and
how he’d frightened her for weeks,
would he hav
e a chance at more agreeable bed play
?
Ciaran’s tongue begged her to try.  Gliding over
her jugular, down in
to
the dip
of her right collarbone and sliding back up the cente
r, he twirled it under her chin, breathing,
“More?”

“I think I’m finished now.”

“Two
bites can’t fill you.”

“
In this case, they can. 
Think you could let me go now?”

“Never,” he smiled, but his fierceness betrayed him, coating the single word in layers of threats.  Leaning forward, he tr
ailed his fingers down her arms, the Alpha reading her tension.
  “If
I knew you’d si
t willingly,
dine with me as a female to her male.  Y
ou wouldn’t be secured to
your dining chair.”
Her wrists and ankles we
re bound
courtesy of
his
ever handy
sil
ver filled rope.   Even with the
immortal strength
he now knew she possessed, this female
wasn’t going anywhere until he relented. 
Wonder if she has claws?

“You say secured like it’s
for my safety, instead of displayed for your warped entertainment.”
She didn’t return his smile.  “Feeding me,” Rebecca shook her hea
d, too angry to finish.  She obviously knew
there was silver hidden inside the ropes
as she hadn’t bothered
trying
to free herself
. 

“Feeding you is my right, one of
many
.”  Hot steel mel
ted inside him,
metal
lava
.   He felt the burn as
the beast
fueled
his thoughts,
penetrating
his mind
.

Mark her.
 

Ah, werewolf
, I really should
.

“My mate
s
’ right
s!” s
he blew up, breaking his trance.
No more games, she
tilted her chin with a clear challenge. 

“You’re fortunate
he
lives, that we’ve come to an understanding.”
             

“
You…” She stopped, quickly
understanding that her true mat
e had been captured. “
If you’ve
tortured
him,” she warned, canines digging into her bottom lip until two beads of blood
formed
. 

“He’s well,” he cut her off. 
Slanting
his head
, he licked the dr
oplets before she had the chance to snap at him
.  Unmistakably
he tasted a
pure blood
from a very old and strong line.

“You played us all a
long.”
 

“Well, no one ever plays
me
, lass
.” Confidence dripped, coating his
simple sentence with the
supremacy of a thousand-year-old creature.

“You set the
first
two o
penings,” she said.  He studied
her expressions as the truth
unfolded
afore
her. “
Weakened
wards aren’t your style.  I realize
th
at now,
understanding
your power
…”she stalled, shaking her head, “
How are
you forming
and holding all wards on
such a vast property?  Ah,” she held th
at thought and clicked the pieces
.  “Druid s
pells, you’re full of the
m.  A true shaman who
never needed a back-up, you knew the entire time,” her laughter was weak, troubled, “
What are you going to do with…
?”

“Your true mate
?”

“
Yes, my true mate.  We’re u
s
and we’re one,
” she bit out
, watching him watching
her.

The Alpha beast stalked
,
and
she
clearly
sensed it.  Moving behind his eyes, pacing,
as if
he’d found his mate
again
.  A singular female, his queen, his true lover, the per
fect match in the game Weres played
, the Alpha thought she
was
the only one.

Helene is gone
.
He
reminded his beast
.

“I’ve decided not to cause you such insurmountable
pain, therefore
he’ll live
,” Ciaran stated baldly.
  The king was he.

“
Of course
, you undoubtedly
make those ‘life and death’ decisions daily, depending on the weather.” She had the nerve to be surly.  “
You want me,
Ciaran,
yet you don’t.”

“So young, so smart, so beautiful, so mine,” he mocked.
 
So dangerous to my
heart, in these harrowing times
of war
how will I protect
a
fair
butt
erfly gracing my hand before I’m forever
robbed of its very existence?
Especially when my enemies
find you’re my weakness
.
“
Don’t mistake
obsessive lust for needs to claim.  A
n
unmated male is
…
what he is, and I am one. 
I had a mate.  She died.
  You can’t replace her
.
”

“Never volunteered for
the job,” she softened her tone
, withholding the rancor.  Without a doubt,
she
sat
worried for her young male
.  “Nor
would biology permit,
”
she added.

Hooking his heels behind
her front chair leg
s, he scooted her over, knees pressing
knees
.
We will no longer
speak of mates.
“
You thought to
embarrass me
publically
with this manner of dress?”

“
You thought to
humiliate me by making me your bitch.
These hung
readied
in the closet.
I honored
your
dress code, making it real.”

Lowering his mouth to her bound hand, he kissed her fingertips.
“Otherwise the lines would blur for you?”

“No
t even if I tried,” she said hotly
, looking away
again
.

“Tell me who you are and
maybe
the lines will
better
define themselves.”
I smell the heat, the need.  You can’t fight me.