It was nightfall when Jacqueline finally saw her limousine arrive. She had a one-way ticket to London. Her desire to kill Damien MacQueen hadn’t waned in the last twenty-four hours, but she had given up on achieving his bloody end for the present. She would need to devise a new way to lure him out of hiding. She stepped off the curb to flag down the limo.
The limo driver hopped out of his side of the limo and came over to open her door. He was a quiet, pleasant-looking man, but her eyes slid right over him. He was unimportant, after all.
She slipped into the darkness of the limo’s back seat with a heavy sigh of relief. She was safe, but she didn’t trust that psycho little hunter not to track her down. Her lust spell was still intact, and the damage was done. Those little lovebirds could never be together. It was a better revenge, keeping the lovers apart rather than killing them.
Jacqueline’s lips curved in a small smile. She swept her hair over her shoulders and fished out the bottle of champagne that sat in the limo’s cabinet. She had already drunk half a glass when she realized that the limo hadn’t moved. It was still parked outside her building. Irritation sizzled inside her, feeding her anger.
She pushed a button, lowering the black divider between the driver’s seat and the back of the limo. “Driver! What’s the holdup? I have a plane to catch.”
The driver turned around to face her.
“Hello, Jacqueline.” Nicholas raised his gun, pointing it at her chest.
“You!” she gasped.
Nicholas gazed back at her, steely resolve in his brown eyes. She could feel the waves of power emanating from him. He’d recharged somehow since yesterday. How could he have?
“Like the champagne? I prepared it just for you.” He cocked the gun.
“What do you want from me?” she demanded, trying to think quickly of something she could bargain with in order to escape. Now she could feel the sickly-sweet anti-magic potion that Nicholas had put in the bottle of champagne. He was too clever. A worthy adversary.
“What do I want? I want to make sure you aren’t around to hurt Tamara.” His cinnamon-colored eyes lit with vengeance.
Jacqueline gulped.
“Surely you wouldn’t . . . You couldn’t do that, Nicholas.” Her voice ended more softly as she caressed his name.
“You nearly killed the woman I love. I’m not going to let you get away. I will do whatever it takes to make sure she’s safe.”
“Please have mercy on me. I’ll do whatever you want,” she pleaded, knowing that her powers were muted from the bewitched champagne. She was helpless.
“Have you ever shown anyone mercy? I’ve read your file. You’ve killed hundreds of people. You’ve murdered them in retaliation for petty slights. You’ve cast spells that have ruined the lives of those you left alive. The wake of destruction and death you’ve caused has finally caught up with you. I know that the second I show you mercy, you’ll turn and kill me or Tamara. I am going to make sure you never get that chance.”
Jacqueline knew she was going to die. She could see it in his eyes. She dove for the knife in her boot, hoping to catch him off guard. But she never stood a chance. As Nicholas fired, she had one last thought. Why had no one ever loved her the way Nicholas loved his hunter?
Nicholas opened the door to their apartment. The knotting pain in his stomach had finally stopped when the pulse in his lips faded. He raised a tentative hand up to his mouth, testing the skin. His lips were warm, but no longer burning with the spell.
“Nicholas? Where have you been?” Tamara burst into the living room, her face flushed with the natural blush of health. All signs of the energy draining were gone.
“I found her—the sorceress. She’s gone.”
“Gone?” Tamara blinked and tucked her hair behind her ears.
“Gone forever.” He ought to feel relieved, but he’d taken a life, something that never got easier. Even removing someone evil from the world demanded a price from his soul. He had never respected Tamara more than he did in that moment, for carrying the burden she did.
“Oh, Nicholas.” Tamara wrapped her arms around him, as though she’d heard his unspoken thoughts.
Sometimes it was a kill-or-be-killed world. Nicholas enfolded her in his embrace, breathing in the scent of her, cherishing her with his whole heart. He’d thought he’d never be able to hold her like this again, not if the lust spell had stayed intact. Yet here she was, warm and alive in his arms. For a second, he couldn’t breathe as joy flooded his heart. The time for holding back had passed.
“Do you feel different? I feel different.” She held out her arms and twirled about.
He caught her on the second spin, twining his arms about her, his lips finding hers. There was no draining, no life force dwindling from her, only the delighted feverish kisses she layered on his cheeks, lips, and neck.
“The spell is really broken.” His shoulders sagged in intense relief.
Tamara slowed in her kissing and pulled back to look up at him.
“Nicholas . . .”
With his name trembling on her lips, he could hear her unspoken fears: Did he want her? Would he break all the rules to be with her?
“Tamara, if we do this, we do it all the way.” They would have to hide it from everyone. No one could ever know—not Damien, not anyone.
“I would do anything to be with you. I’ve loved you since that night we passed the trials.” She blushed furiously at her confession and ducked her head bashfully.
His heart clenched with joy. Could one’s heart explode from so much happiness?
“It was the same for me. There’s never been anyone but you,” he murmured, pulling her face back to his, tasting her without a care as to the consequences. The burden of keeping himself away from her faded, and only joy and an irresistible desire for Tamara remained.
They moved together, stumbling along the hallway toward his bedroom, still kissing and laughing as they tried to strip each other of their clothes. Socks and boots littered the floor beside the door. Her jeans and top fell to the floor, along with his jeans and shirt. When they were inside his room, she pushed him backward onto his bed. He gazed up at her, grinning as she climbed up his body, straddling him. He slid his palms up her thighs to cup her ass, and she moaned and leaned down to kiss him. He slanted his mouth over hers, tasting her lips, flicking his tongue against hers as he gripped her panties in one hand and jerked. The delicate lace ripped, and he tossed it away. So close—he was finally going to fulfill every fantasy he’d ever had about her. As their bodies tangled and their mouths met again and again, Tamara’s eyes burned with questions.
“Do you really love me?” She brushed his hair out of his eyes as she gazed down at him.
He kissed the tip of her nose playfully. Her breasts, covered in a black bra, brushed teasingly against his chest, and he hungered to pin her down beneath him and explore every valley and curve of her body.
He answered without hesitation. “Yes.” He reached around her to unclasp her bra, and she let it slide off her arms and drop away. They were skin to skin, no more barriers between them, physical or emotional.
“When did you know that you loved me?” she asked, taking a playful nip of his bottom lip before he could respond.
With an amused chuckle, he shifted beneath her and rolled over her so he was on top. He tucked a lock of her dark wavy hair behind her left ear as he answered.
“I knew I loved you the moment you cut off your hair.”
A mischievous little smile curled her lips. “I did that to make you angry.”
“I know. It didn’t work.” He chuckled. “Any more questions?” His hand slid down her leg and up around her thigh, resting on the curve of her hip.
“Um . . . nope. No more questions.” Her breath quickened, and her voice turned breathless.
“Good. Now, where were we?” He brushed his lips against hers. He met her mouth with a deep, soft kiss full of years of tenderness, love, and affection that were at last able to break free. He settled between her spread thighs, shifting as he positioned himself. Their gazes locked as he pushed slowly into her. Tamara threw her head back and gasped as he filled her. She felt glorious around him, gripping him like a fist.
“God, you feel . . .” She panted softly. “So good. I can’t . . .” She jerked her hips up, encouraging him to move.
He braced himself above her, gently riding her, withdrawing and thrusting back inside, until she clawed at his back, demanding more.
“Faster! I need it harder!” She nipped his shoulder, and he gave in to the wild animal urge to fuck her hard.
They moved together, bodies sliding, breaths mingling, sweat glistening on skin as they made love with an unimaginable frenzy. The bed creaked and groaned in protest as they rocked the wooden frame. The headboard scraped against the wall, the rhythmic sound mixing with their cries as Nicholas shuddered and cried out as pleasure ripped through him. Tamara didn’t make a sound. Her lips parted, and she writhed beneath him, her face a picture of ecstasy as she came.
The world around them seemed to shimmer with a strange light, and he realized dazedly that he’d cast blue sparks over the bed, over them.
“What . . . what is that?” Tamara asked, her voice breathless as she went limp beneath him on the mattress.
“I honestly don’t know. It’s like my magic just . . .” Nicholas couldn’t quite understand what he was looking at, but it felt like a powerful spell, a spell built of pure love. The sparks seemed to flicker and zip in the air until they slowly settled like dying embers onto the bed around them, touching upon their skin like sparkling blue snow.
Nicholas dropped his gaze back to Tamara and feathered a kiss over her lips, and she sighed dreamily.
“Tell me we don’t have to leave this bed for days,” she asked him, her eyes closed as she smiled.
“We don’t have to leave it for days,” he promised. Now that they’d finally tasted the heaven they’d been denied for so long, he wasn’t going to let her go.
“Good, because I have plenty of fantasies I’d like you to start fulfilling.” Tamara curled her legs around his waist and ran her hands along his arms. “Starting with some very fun positions.”
“I like the sound of that.” He chuckled and lowered his mouth to kiss her again.
Nicholas’s cell phone on the bedside table vibrated, buzzing angrily.
He reached over and picked it up, staring hard at it where MacQueen HQ flashed across the screen. Tamara took the phone from his hand and set it down on the table again before she cupped his face, making him look at her.
“Leave it,” she murmured.
He nuzzled her cheek before seeking her lips again. Damien and the Brotherhood’s strict rules against fraternization were a problem they would have to face soon, but not today. Today, they didn’t have to hide their love. They could be together in their own private universe. The Brotherhood of the Blood Moon was only a distant dream, momentarily forgotten. What did it matter if their love was forbidden? Love was worth breaking every rule.
Thank you so much for reading Blood Moon on the Rise! More Blood Moon stories will come soon! Until then be sure you read my steamy dragon shifter romance series: The Brothers of Ash and Fire starting with Grigori. You can grab it HERE or start reading the first three chapters by turning the page!