Chapter Seventeen

Hand in hand, in matching black Seeker dress uniforms, Tameth and Alaan entered the packed Council chambers of the Vampire Council of Ethics Eastern European headquarters. Black cargo pants, perfectly creased, were set off by black silk double-breasted dress shirts. For their mating, they wore no trench coats, no gloves and no weapons.

Bix and Carin stood with their two children and the rest of the elite team at the bottom of the wide carpeted stairs at the end of a long, royal blue runner. Alaana Serati, Alaan’s mother and the Matriarch of their clan, waited at the top of a raised dais. Her blue eyes, so much like Alaan’s, sparkled with inordinate pleasure. A hush fell over the crowd as they climbed the steps onto the platform with purposeful strides.

Bowing low in respect to the Elders, the couple waited until all ten members of the Council rose from their ornate chairs. Alaana’s voice rang clear over the hushed mass.

“You may rise now. Tameth Serati-Cole, daughter of Clan Serati and Seeker of the Vampire Council of Ethics, we wish to acknowledge the finding of your mate and bondmate, Seeker Alaan Serati, son of the Elders Serati.”

After a short round of applause, whistles and well wishes, “Do the Elders of Clans Serati, Vigee, Li and Sewell recognize the mating of Seeker Serati-Cole and Seeker Serati?” Alaana continued with the traditional questioning of the Council until each name was called and answered in the affirmative.

“Seeker Tameth Serati-Cole and Seeker Alaan Serati, we the Elders of the vampire clans, representatives of the Vampire Council of Ethics, recognize not only your mating but your bonding as well. We wish you goodly success. Seeker Serati-Cole, as a female of our Clan, you may now claim your bondmate.”

As a sign of her acceptance of Alaan, Tameth would give him the honor of her blood. Having already experienced the fierce and addictive rush that accompanied the taste of the rich red liquid, Alaan practically shook with anticipation of the pleasure. He let his fangs drop into place as she snapped open the cuff at her wrist and pushed the sleeve past her forearm.

And that lovely arm was presented in all its smooth, golden loveliness for his taking. Stroking the skin with a tease of his fingertips, he felt a shudder work its way through Tameth’s body. There was nothing like being able to give his mate goose bumps and make her tremble.

Gently, he eased his incisors into the fleshy part of her forearm near the crease at her elbow. The second the thin stream of blood flowed over his tongue the hard-on he’d exerted supreme control over snatched itself free of his will and sprang forward to push against his zipper. The clean, electrical blitz of Tameth’s lifeblood, her very energy, pulsed into him with a fierceness that swept his breath away. Caressed him everywhere at once, inside and out. He looked up and watched her little pink tongue skim over the tips of her incisors. The sight was so damned erotic his suddenly double-sized cock wanted out of his pants. Desperately.

“Oooh, that feels so good,” she hissed for his ears alone. Yes, it was exquisite. He wished he could make her come right here on the dais, but they weren’t finished yet. Not by half.

Sucking gently while swirling his tongue over her smooth skin, Alaan’s eyes closed. Immediately his mind overflowed with images of her plump, soft lips wrapped around his flesh, taking his life into herself from one of the thick veins twined around his pounding rod. He’d always fantasized of sharing something so intimate with a mate. And now that they were joined and supposed to share everything, why not let her in on it?

He knew the second she’d picked up on his thoughts when a wicked smile spread across her lips. Alaan licked the flesh to stem the sluggish flow of blood from her arm. Then he waited. As a female of his Clan, it was her choice as to where she would give him the ceremonial bite.

The slender fingers of his new wife slowly undid the buttons on the front of his shirt. One hand slowly spread the lapels, fingertips flitted over the tense, jumping pectorals and skimmed up and down the smooth, toned skin. His body tensed in anticipation of whether she’d choose the pecs or the neck. Either one, he couldn’t wait to feel her mouth on him.

“Tease.” He grinned.

“Damned straight.”

She buried her hand in the short cropped curls of his hair and rose up on her toes. With no resistance, he allowed his head to be pulled sideways, baring the hard beat of his pulse. The nick of her incisors almost sent him to his knees.

 

 

Nothing prepared Tameth for the barely controllable lust that wracked her body the second she took Alaan’s blood. Soul-stirring, intimate and wildly electric. This is what he’d experienced each time he’d bitten her as they made love. Now she understood why he wanted it. And now she was addicted, but only to him.

The thick ridge of living, swollen flesh pressed into her belly as Alaan pulled her close. Oh, the things the man could do with his cock. And if the erect shaft was any indication, he obviously wanted to do them right now. Panting into her thoughts, he spilled all his cravings into her very being.

“Oh, yes, Tam. Bite me, baby. Take me.”

She pulled harder with her lips, taking more of his blood. A tremor worked its way up and through her ribs.

“Damn, baby. That’s it, give me what I want,” he demanded.

The answering call of her body was instantaneous. Damn, if her pussy quivered any harder, she’d look like she was break dancing across the floor. The damp trickles between her legs urged her to move a little faster and complete the ceremony. She needed him inside her, buried so deep his beautiful blue eyes reflected behind her brown ones.

With a final rasping lick, she pulled away from the rigid column of his neck and almost stumbled, dizzy with passion.

Just that quickly, the bond completed, slammed into place and shook her down to her toes. She felt Alaan in every pore of her body, every corner of her soul. Closer to him than any person she’d ever known. Shaken, oblivious to her own tears, she stood trembling as Alaan gently wiped them away.

With a strong hand, he helped her down the stairs on wobbly knees.

“Woman, I need you right now. If you can’t move any faster than that I’ll just have to carry you.”

Whoa! A Clan Serati female didn’t get carted around, tossed over her mate’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She commanded her legs to move faster, but they didn’t give a damn. And honestly, neither did she. Her life was now joined to a man who loved her with every piece of his heart. A lover who genuinely cared about her needs but was no pushover. The perfect man for her. Suddenly she felt liberated, enlightened even. And all the care about propriety, what people thought and said, flew right out the window.

Stopping just short of the dais, she lifted her arms and said simply, “Carry me, handsome.”

The surprise on his face was replaced by sheer determination as she was tossed over a broad, and thankfully strong, shoulder. The collective gasp of the Council followed by a round of raucous applause said perhaps Clan Serati was in for a few changes. If not this century, then perhaps the next.

Back in their rooms, he stripped her naked, tossed her in the center of the bed and stepped back. He needed to practice undressing faster. Here she was again, bare-assed naked, and the man was fully dressed. He must have a thing for being the last one out of his clothes.

“Tameth, baby, I have a surprise for you.”

The twinkle in his eye should have warned her that his gift would be the last thing she expected.

He must have left the living room door open to the suites because a quiet knock sounded at Alaan’s bedroom door.

“Come in,” he called.

“Alaan, we don’t even know who it is.” Sputtering wildly, she grabbed for the sheets, scrambled underneath them, and yanked them up to cover her bare breasts. The door slid silently open. She looked up when it closed with a snap. This had better be impor…what?

“Kenoe, what are you doing here?”

Alaan answered, “He came to give you a wedding present.”

“Couldn’t it have waited until morning?”

“No, baby. This is something special. Kenoe is leaving in the morning and it couldn’t wait.”

“Leaving? Why? We’re all on leave for the next month and a half. Where are you going?”

Kenoe still hadn’t said a word. And she liked to died when he began shedding his clothes as he walked towards the bed.

Oh my God! Was he crazy? The last thing she needed was Alaan flying into Seeker, me-prime-male-back-away-from-my-woman mode.

Kenoe was barechested now. Rippling, toned flesh danced a pale translucent in the candlelight. And Alaan just sat on the bed, reclined on his back, arms folded behind his head. And he was…smiling? No, he was grinning! And now just about all of Kenoe’s pearly whites were showing, too.

Quieting her mind, she reached for her husband. Since neither of the boneheaded men in the room were saying anything, it was up to her to head off a potentially volatile situation before it got started. Sending a gentle probe along the bond, Tameth encountered…peace and quiet. No thoughts of shredding Kenoe or even harming him. Alaan’s emotions were either under a tight rein or the bastard did a hell of a job shielding her, damn it.

But that didn’t make sense either. The bond didn’t work that way. Once fully in place telepathic shielding of a mate was impossible unless Alaan was unconscious, which he obviously was not. He had to be genuinely at ease about this.

She snapped her head around to look at him. That damned cheesy smirk was firmly in place as he shed his clothing, returned to the bed and yanked her into his lap. Damned man.

“Do you trust, me, Tam?” he asked seriously. Still, the bond remained quiet and content.

“Of course I trust you, but I…”

“No, sweetheart, no buts. You deserve this. It’s my way of making up for the past six years of not being with you. And for being jealous of your close friendship with Kenoe when I wasn’t willing to be a friend to you. He’s a worthy man, Tam.”

“And,” Kenoe chimed in, “it’s my way of saying I love you and goodbye.”

Immediately her throat choked with tears. He was leaving, and this was his gift to her.

“Goodbye? But why? Are you coming back?”

“Alaan will fill you in, sweetheart. For now, congratulations on both your mating and your bonding. You deserve to be happy, Tam, and I’m very pleased things worked out.”

One prime male vamp crawled towards Tameth while the other was deliciously hard behind her. Sitting between Alaan’s legs, leaning back against his wonderfully wide chest, it was difficult not to relax under the firm fingers easing over her skin. Between index finger and thumb, Alaan pulled and twisted her instantly hard nipples before palming the weight of her breasts.

It felt so good. She’d always been particularly sensitive there, but as Alaan touched her, the stillness of the bond was a thing of the past. It flared and hummed with almost tangible desire. And the more he stroked her, the stronger the need grew between them.

Alaan leaned forward and reached for her thighs. A palm to the back of each knee, Tameth found herself spread wide like a banana split down the middle with her juices flowing freely down her slit like hot honey.

Then Kenoe was there. Strong, slender fingers parted her pussy to make more room for his nose. Buried in her center, he inhaled deeply then sighed with pure contentment. The face-first dive into her tender pussy had her gasping like she’d been too long underwater. Fingers dug into the meat of Alaan’s thighs, looking for the smallest piece of an anchor to reality.

Her clit throbbed and ached as Kenoe lapped at her creamy folds without actually touching her where she needed pressure the most. Hanging on the edge of the precipice of pleasure made her squirm, twitch, moan and gasp.

Well, it appeared she was going to spend some time begging tonight.

“So good. Oh, please. More,” she groaned, head falling back against Alaan’s chest, hips writhing all on their own.

“You hear that, Kenoe?” Alaan growled in that sexy baritone of his. “She needs more.”

The answering hum against her soaked flesh sent her senses reeling towards the ceiling.

Alaan’s strong hand slipped beneath her ass and lifted her clean off the bed. The thick cock that had been pressed into the small of her back now nudged at her pouty labial lips, seeking entrance. God, she could feel the walls of her channel pulse and flex for release. Suddenly, he was there, pressing, inch by delicious inch into her soaked pussy from behind, grinding and flexing until he was seated to the hilt.

The second he was settled, Kenoe spread her wide, wrapped his talented lips around her clit, and sucked it completely out of its hood and into his warm, wet mouth.

Orgasm burst through her hungry cunt, spiraled up and out until her cries engulfed them. With no rest or recovery, she was immediately thrown into another bone-melting climax when Alaan’s cock began shuttling in and out of her willing body as Kenoe followed the movement with his mouth, keeping hold of her clit.

She looked down between her legs and sucked in a breath at the sight of Alaan’s thick cock pounding into her cunt as Kenoe gobbled up the flesh spread around her husband’s hard length. Both men groaned their pleasure but she was taken aback by the untamed, lust-filled gleam in Kenoe’s blue-white eyes. He’d occasionally taken up this position a few times over the years, but he’d never looked as intense as this.

He sucked harder, his face covered with her juices as Alaan increased the depth of his strokes. She flew apart again, but knew they were far from finished with her.

 

 

 

Just before dawn, Alaan rolled over and gathered an exhausted Tameth in his arms. She deserved some rest. Between Kenoe and himself, the woman had rode, sucked and received more cock in one night than she ever had in her long vampire life. In the early morning darkness, Kenoe stole out of the bed with a quick kiss on the side of Tameth’s slumbering face.

Alaan couldn’t help but grin as he remembered Kenoe’s satisfied, languorous stretch before rising. Then the vamp had climbed naked from the bed. He’d declined Alaan’s offer of a hot shower, declaring Tameth’s scent would remain on his body until the last possible moment. With that, he’d headed off to pack.

Before the little pissant—a term of endearment between them now—had departed, they’d agreed to keep in touch during his leave of absence. Besides, Tameth might be Alaan’s mate but if anything ever happened to the Hatsept pipsqueak, she’d never let him hear the end of it. Kenoe was a good Seeker. He was also partly responsible for helping Alaan realize Tameth was the one for him. Because of that alone, Kenoe would always be welcome as more than just a teammate, but a friend.

Smoothing a few silky dark strands away from Tameth’s beautiful face, he gazed down at the peaceful loveliness sleeping perched atop his shoulder.

He’d been utterly undone, as completely as if the Indian goddess of love, Kama, had reached down into his heart, stirred it up, and spoiled him for every other woman. His life was so intertwined with Tameth’s, nothing came even close to the importance of her happiness.

He’d never cared about anything as much as Seeking and bringing justice. But now he wanted to Seek and bring justice just to protect his woman.

The revelation unnerved and humbled him.

Their lives were fraught with danger, chasing one rogue after another to the ends of the earth. But if he could make her smile in her sleep every night, just like this, everything he’d ever fought for, every hell he’d ever been through, every enemy he’d ever fought and continued to fight…would all be worth it.