Tegan's Power (The Ultimate Power Series #4)
Read Tegan's Power (The Ultimate Power Series #4) Online
Authors: L.H. Cosway
Book
Four in the Ultimate Power Series
By
L.H. Cosway
Copyright
© 2013 Lorraine McInerney
All rights
reserved.
Cover picture by
Mayer George.
Cover design by
RBA Designs.
This is a work
of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without
written permission from the author.
Books by L.H. Cosway
YA Paranormal Romance
A Strange Fire
(Florence
Vaine #1)
A Vision of Green
(Florence
Vaine #2)
Urban Fantasy
Tegan's Blood
(The
Ultimate Power Series #1)
Tegan's Return
(The Ultimate Power Series #2)
Tegan's Magic
(The
Ultimate Power Series #3)
Tegan’s Power
(The
Ultimate Power Series #4)
Crimson
(An Ultimate Power Series Novella)
Contemporary Romance
Painted Faces
The Nature of Cruelty
Still Life with Strings
(Coming 2014)
Author’s Note
Dear
readers,
Thank
you so much for taking this journey with me. We’re almost at the end, but not
yet; there’s one final adventure to be had! When I began writing this book I
knew that if I wrote it only from Tegan’s point of view there would be
something vital missing. From the very beginning Finn has been a character
whose voice came very naturally to me and I wanted to let him have his say. In
Tegan’s
Power
that’s exactly what he gets. I won’t say anything more, because I
don’t want to spoil any surprises, but I sincerely hope you all enjoy the final
instalment in the series.
Yours,
L.H.
Cosway.
There are more things
in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
-
Hamlet
by William Shakespeare.
Let Me Be Your Ruler
Tegan
My view of reality is foggy.
I see Ethan standing on
the roof of a high building. His body shimmers with a silvery glow and there
are hundreds upon hundreds of vampires on the street below, bowing to him as
though he’s a miracle made flesh. Their fangs are out and their red eyes are
like a sea of crimson lasers.
In my hazy mind my
vision expands over the entire city, where it seems like every vampire has
sensed Ethan’s change into something else, something extraordinary.
Indestructible. No matter where they are, they bow. Some in fear, others in
awe.
I can feel it in my
blood that’s rushing through his system.
The black chaos mists
retreat from the humans, called away by their master, Theodore. He needs to
regroup, lay low until he can figure out how to approach Ethan’s
transformation.
I hear Ethan’s strong,
familiar voice shouting orders. He tells the vampires to rise and face their
new leader. His old Romanian accent is more dominant than it had been; the
American twang he once affected has almost completely receded.
He speaks but I can’t
figure out the words. The vampires stand to attention, taking his orders with
renewed enthusiasm, their red eyes staring up at him like he is the ruler they
had been waiting for. Gone are the days of the Herringtons, of Jeremy Whitfield
and his wars. A new era has begun, and the possibilities are endless.
I’m slumped weakly over
the edge of the building, staring down at the vampires who now begin to
organise themselves into groups as they clear away the dead bodies and carnage
that has drowned the city in a sea of blood and mess.
Some humans are not
dead, just unconscious. The vampires leave them where they lie. I wonder in
horror how many innocent people were killed tonight.
Arms as hard as steel
wrap around me and lift me up. My dizzy head sinks into the crook of Ethan’s
neck, my safe place to fall. My energies are vastly depleted from blood loss.
He starts to move at vampire speed. Incredible vampire speed even faster than
before. I can’t take the whooshing colours, slipping in and out of consciousness.
Then I sleep.
When I wake up my head
and my eyes hurt. It feels like I’ve been sleeping for days. I’m lying naked on
a bed that’s not my own. Cool Egyptian cotton sheets cover my body as I stretch
out my aching limbs.
The windows are wide
open and morning light shines into the room. I look around, recognising Ethan’s
bedroom in his house on the south side of the city. The house Whitfield had
exiled him from.
I sit up, the cotton
sheets falling to my waist. Ethan is lounging in his armchair by the bookshelves.
His eyes are closed and he’s holding his serene face up to the daylight.
I gasp as the events
leading to my being here rush through my head. His eyes open when he hears my
sharp intake of breath. Oh wow. They’re incredible. Deep royal blue edged in
silver. His blonde hair shines even more so now; his golden olive skin is even
more flawless. He stares at me intensely and I can’t tell whether or not I’m
safe, whether or not he’s still Ethan, or something else.
“Am I safe?” I whisper
and he tilts his head questioningly in response.
“Are you
safe
?”
he repeats back at me, his old accent doing all sorts of hot things to my
insides.
A long stretch of
silence elapses. I pull the sheet up to cover my chest.
“Well, am I?” I ask
uneasily.
“You are safer than
you’ve ever been, my love. Do not cover yourself.”
I blush and let the
sheet drop again. Ethan stands from his chair and walks toward me. He sits at
the end of the bed and runs his hand along the fabric of the sheets.
“How long have I been
out for?”
“About a day,” he
answers, not lifting his eyes from the sheet. “I imagine you needed the rest in
order to recuperate from the substantial blood loss.”
“God. My muscles are
all sore.” I stretch one arm up over my head and then the other. “What happened
while I was sleeping? Where is everyone?”
He smiles vaguely. “I
have not yet located the others. I believe they fear I have changed into a
monster and are hiding out. Vampires have been queuing up all the way down the
street waiting to speak with me, to pledge their allegiance. I have not yet
opened my doors to any of them. They left at daybreak and I went outside in the
sun, something I have not been able to do in all my years. It’s unimaginable
this gift you have given me, Tegan. You are such a treasure,” he breathes.
I wince. “Don’t call me
that. Theodore always calls me his dear little treasure. It makes my skin
crawl.”
“I apologise,” says
Ethan, raising his magnificent eyes to me now. “You look pale. I want you to
take some of my blood. It will restore your strength.”
My mouth waters at the
prospect, but I shake my head. “I shouldn’t.”
He moves across the bed
with warp-like speed, and now he’s hovering over me. The air thickens and my
breathing becomes laboured as my eyes roam his chiselled torso. All he’s
wearing is a pair of light denim jeans.
“Your accent has
changed,” I comment to distract myself from his perfect body. “Why is that?”
“You’d prefer me to
speak a little more like this, darlin’?” he asks, putting on the American twang
I’m used to.
“I don’t mind either
way. I was just curious.” Goose pimples prickle at my skin.
“I’ve changed the way I
speak over the years to acclimate with the times I live in. Now that I am
transformed, I no longer feel the need to disguise my true self.”
“Oh.”
“You once told me you
couldn’t resist my Romanian accent,” he says in a low voice, bringing his hand
up to run his knuckles along my jaw.
“I can’t. It’s sexy as
fuck,” I whimper as he leans closer.
“Where would you like
to drink from this time?” he asks huskily.
“I said I shouldn’t.”
“Shouldn’t doesn’t mean
you won’t. Choose a spot, Tegan.”
My eyes flicker to the
masculine line of his throat. “Your neck,” I answer quietly.
He smiles with
approval. “Good choice.”
My attention is drawn
to the thumbnail of his right hand, which has grown to a sharp blade-like
point. “Is that one of the changes of your transformation?” I ask with
trepidation.
“Yes. This nail is the
only thing that can cut through my skin.”
Using the nail, he
slices a line a centimetre long across the side of his neck. I can practically
smell his blood as a trickle seeps out. It’s no longer black like a normal
vampire’s, it’s now a silvery red. I lick my lips and bring my hands up to
clasp his shoulders. He picks me up effortlessly and sits me astride his lap,
fully naked.
Moments later my lips
are on his skin and I’m gulping down the sweet nectar that runs through his
veins. It’s more like the ambrosia of the Gods now, though. I practically
orgasm just from the taste of it.
Ethan groans loudly and
his hands move down my spine with delicious pressure. I continue sucking his
blood into my mouth, my body coming alive with it. It slides down my throat
like liquid magic, igniting everything it touches.
I moan softly,
clutching him to me. He feels powerful, addictive,
alive
.
He slips his hand
between my legs, several of his fingers plunging inside me at once. My sharp cry
is muffled as I continue to drink.
“You are exquisite,” he
whispers to me. “You are my queen. Always.”
His fingers pump in and
out of me fast, faster than I would have considered possible. The pleasure is
too much and I release his neck, falling back into the pillows and writhing
against him. His eyes consume me, taking in every part of me, my every
reaction. With his other hand he smears his blood across my lips and his mouth
hangs open, bewitched.
“Oh, God, come closer,”
I mumble, reaching for the waistband of his jeans.
He does as I ask,
allowing me to lower his pants. His erection springs free and he poises himself
at my entrance. Foreign words tumble from his lips; I close my eyes and just
hear them, feel what they do to me.
Agonisingly slowly, he
fills me up. No ordinary man could tease me with such slowness, such attention
to detail. He bends over me and sucks my nipple into his mouth, his tongue
flicking over it in a frantic, inhuman rhythm, like the wings of a butterfly.
My heads spins with his
blood in me, not just regular vampire blood, which is quite the high, but
ultimate
power
vampire blood. Everything in my line of sight sparkles. Psychedelic
colours wash away the room, the house, my corporeal form, until I become an
entity solely made to be pleasured, to
feel
.
What was it that the
Epicureans used to say? Pleasure is the highest good?
Well, if that’s the
case then I’m being really,
really
good right now.
Ethan fists my hair
with his hand, pulling my neck back as his hard length sinks into me again. Then
he licks a line directly from the base of my throat to the hollow behind my
ear.