Chapter Six

Tameth stepped out of a warm, relaxing shower, towel dried her hair and put on one of Carin’s too-short sweat suits. Looking down at her wrists peeking out of the sleeves, Tameth shook her head. Carin might be smart as a whip, muscular and athletic, but damn it if the woman wasn’t short. And Tameth loved her like a sister.

Well, at least her three-quarter shank boots would keep her ankles from showing. No sooner had she tied up the laces, than out of the corner of her eye she spotted a small bundle of energy hurtling through the front door of the apartment and into the living room.

“Mommy! Daddy said lunch is ready.” The little tyke stopped on a dime, squealed at a pitch high enough to break fine crystal, and flew into Tameth’s arms.

“Hi, Aunt Tamiff!”

“Hi, baby,” Tameth responded happily, catching Alaina at full speed and plucking her up off the floor for a big kiss. “I’m so happy to see you, little miss.” She smiled, running her fingers through Alaina’s long, windblown curls.

“Me, too, Aunt Tamiff. Uncle Lan said you have to go outside now.”

“Outside? Where, sweetie?” Tameth asked. When Carin started laughing behind her back, she almost wished she hadn’t asked.

“Out there,” Alaina said sweetly, pointing to the sliding glass that led out to the balcony.

“Out there? You mean down in the gardens?”

“Uh-huh,” she said with glee, showing a mouth full of sparkling white baby teeth. “Come on, Mommy. Daddy said we have to go to lunch now.”

“All right, sweetpea. I’m coming.”

“Don’t forget my brudder!” Alaina said sternly.

“Yep, that’s definitely your daughter,” Tameth chuckled at Carin as they were herded out of the apartment by a caramel-skinned, three year old Carin-to-be.

 

 

Carin and company walked through the double doors that led out into the extensive English gardens. Tameth held little Alaina’s hand and looked on as the other woman called to the brooding giant who had one foot propped up on a fountain bench.

“Hey, big brother.”

Even though the clouds overhead obscured the sun, Alaan’s expression brightened up the entire courtyard the second he laid eyes on his adopted sister and the new bundle of joy. Tameth frowned. His brilliant heart-stopping smile softened with a tenderness of which she hadn’t known he was capable. Would he ever light up like that at the mere sight of her? According to Carin, he already did, but he must’ve done it when her back was turned or something. After all, imitating the Terminator with a snarled “come wid’ me” before screwing her brains sideways and then whisking her away to the one place they weren’t supposed to go sure as hell didn’t count.

“Hey, sis, how are you?” he called, striding over to the grand double doors to meet them. He laid a gentle hand over the dark tufts of the small head lying on Carin’s shoulder. “So this is little Russian Bixler, eh? He’s certainly a hefty kid. And cute, too.”

“Damned straight. Say hello to your uncle Alaan, Russian,” Carin cooed against her son’s hair. Gifting Alaan with a sisterly smirk, she said, “We’re going in for lunch. Want to join us? You can challenge your nephew here for your meal.”

Tousling the little head full of curls, Alaan leaned down and planted a kiss on the baby’s brow. “In a minute. I need to talk to Tameth for a sec.”

“No problem,” Carin told him, hitching Russian higher up on her shoulder. She covered his head with a baby-sized blanket to protect him against the slight chill and headed inside. “Come see me before you head back to London,” she called over her shoulder. “I’ll be in my lab.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Alaan drawled with a mock salute.

God, the man’s deep voice made Tameth’s toes curl up in her boots. Her attention riveted on his profile as he watched Carin and the children disappear into the house. What an amazing contrast of parts. Hair so fair, a face so handsome and a body so muscularly perfect he could easily pass as one of heaven’s protectors. But when he got that prime male gleam in his crystal blue eyes accompanied by a little show of fang, he looked more like one of the Devil’s henchmen. Rumor had it any woman would take him in whatever way he chose to present himself. She happened to know those rumors were true.

Her gaze slid down the wide expanse of his chest to the outline of solid pecs visible through his unzipped black-on-black Seeker trench coat. But Tameth didn’t care how sinfully attractive Alaan was, nor how loyal he was to the Council and vampire clans. There was no way she’d settle for any man who wasn’t willing to conquer hell and high water for her, bondmate or not.

Hmm. The garden seemed strangely silent. Instantly in Seeker mode, Tameth discreetly scanned the area with her eyes. None of the vamps she’d spotted earlier through Carin’s window were on security detail anymore. Her senses picked up the subtle scent and faint sound of vamps in the immediate vicinity, none vicious, but none visible. And so quiet, it appeared to be just the two of them accompanied by a light spring breeze, endless blooming flowers, brilliant green grass, hedges and trees.

Being alone with Alaan Serati probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do right now. Not while the “want him, he doesn’t want me…does he?” perplexity controlled her typically rational mind. Not to mention her body didn’t give a rat’s rear end where her head was spending its time. All five-foot-eleven and a half inches wanted to lay under him and squirm until she passed out. This was so not good.

Thoughts of Sher popped into her head. Well, that snapped her out of her musing. Tameth broke the silence with an irritated clearing of her throat.

“So, you wanted to see me?” Tameth asked, her voice deliberately void of care. Not cold, just…unimpressed. Her conversation with Carin swirled around in the back of her mind. Perhaps she was just being silly. The man she’d always wanted made it crystal clear he had feelings for her. But still…she couldn’t help but wonder if she’d have all of his heart or just part of it. And part of it wasn’t an option.

“Yes, baby, I wanted to see you,” he said slowly, carefully. His strong fingers extended. He stood as if he had no doubt she would take them.

Tameth’s heart camped out just above her esophagus as she took his hand, certain of what she wanted, yet so uncertain. The second his strong grip encompassed her own, she gave up trying to guess what he felt. Instead she stopped thinking altogether and let her mind open to him. Immediately the bottom of her stomach hit the gravel path they stood on as his emotions flooded her head and overflowed her senses. The tidal wave of feeling grew ever higher, then crashed down over her in an overwhelming wave of longing. Oh yes, his need was there, but it wasn’t hot or urgent, but deeper, more profound.

Neither spoke as Tameth allowed herself to be led across the expansive gardens, through a wall of tall evergreen hedges that surrounded a thick grove of aspen trees. Suddenly her fingers were cold. She looked down. Alaan had let go and now stood staring down at her heatedly. Amazing. Even at her unusual height, half-an-inch shy of six feet, she felt short looking up at him.

A single digit tilted her head up and she bit the inside of her cheek to keep the gasp from escaping her throat. His expression was raw, dangerous. Delicious. God, the glint in those jewel blue eyes sent a tremor through her whole being—spirit, soul and body. One booted foot stepped towards her. Instinctively, she took an answering step back. Her chin dropped, unable to handle such acute heat and determination. He took another step. Oh, God. The man stalked her like a lion on the hunt in the Serengeti.

Ouch!

The air whooshed from her lungs when the back of her knees slammed against something with such force they buckled out from underneath her. Landing hard, her butt made contact with cold, solid stone. She looked down and could have kicked herself. Just great. So distracted by Alaan’s intent, she’d backed herself into a stone bench resting at the base of a huge budding tree underneath a dense canopy of leaves.

And Alaan moved in fast. Bounding to her feet, Tameth had every intention of halting his progress. But instead of pushing him away, her damned mutinous fingers curled into the leather of his long trench coat and held fast.

The baritone of his voice swirled around her as he said, “I will have you, Tameth.”

Oh really? Well didn’t he have a thing or two to learn? It was her last coherent thought just before he kissed the smart-aleck right out of the remark she’d fixed her mouth to say.

With no memory of rising up on her toes, Tameth stood practically on the tips of her boots doing a terrible imitation of a swivel-hipped Elvis with her arms wrapped around Alaan’s thick neck. His answering embrace engulfed and surrounded her until every breath was Alaan and leather. Mmm, the lips moved hungrily over hers, extending the kiss until her lungs burned for an intake of air. But who needed to breathe when she could live off of the essence of Alaan?

And what about her resolve to blow him off?

Resolve was overrated.

Mmm, his hard biceps flexed against her back when he eased himself down her body only to pluck her off her feet until they dangled several inches off the grass-covered ground. The ripple of tightly packed abs as they pressed against hers, the expanse and contraction of his wide, solid chest with each breath, could only be described as decadent. Like a dessert so rich, a single bite should satisfy, but so delicious you devour the whole thing. The tight column of his magnificent cock pulsed against her belly, requesting a response from her fluttering womb. And respond it did, with a spasm so powerful it bordered on pain as every drop of blood in her body sped south to engorge her clit and the lower lips of her sex.

Tameth allowed her tongue to tease the sensitive skin at the base of Alaan’s Adam’s apple. Exquisite musk mixed with a slight salinity burst onto her tongue. God, he tasted so good.

With one hand buried in the short curls on his head, and the other painting circles across his broad back, she decided to play some more. Pressed kiss after kiss down his neck and around to nibble just below his ear. Nipped at the tendons connecting the base of his skull to the bulging muscles of his neck. Pulled the taut flesh into her mouth and sucked hard enough to make him squirm, but careful not to draw blood. Damn, a beyond-sexy growl rumbled up from his chest. The deep timbre vibrated against her tongue, tempted and teased the little muscles fighting to control her fangs. Whispered for them to release their tight control and let her incisors come out and join the fun.

Come on, woman. Get it together. So damned tempting, but she couldn’t bite him. Not yet.

Just when she thought she had herself under control, a wicked flash of erotic sensation streaked from his body, slammed into hers, then back again. It singed the labial lips of her weeping pussy, then sent it up in a white-hot flame that couldn’t be doused even by the stream of honeyed dew gathering at her gate.

“Oh dear God.” She tried to hold the gasp inside but it was impossible. Rapidly approaching mindlessness, she finally realized what was happening. An infinite loop of lust and madness, both physical and psychic, circled them like a whirlwind until she was dizzy with it.

Oooh, and he was as close to out of control as she’d ever seen him…well except for the earlier bout of wild animal sex squeezed into the back of the SUV. Her lids snapped open so she could watch him. He made such a beautiful sight.

Eyes closed and head thrown back, Alaan held her crushed against his chest, his nostrils flaring wildly. She could have sworn she heard his teeth groan in protest of him clenching them. And damn if she wasn’t in the same sorry shape.

“Tameth, I swear if I don’t have you…” he hissed.

“You’ll what?” she panted, falling deeper, faster under his spell.

“I don’t know what, but it’ll be bad, baby. I swear it’ll be bad.”

She found herself set back on her feet. He spread his legs and ground his thick pole of a cock against her belly. Strong fingers explored the curves of her hips, kneaded the cheeks of her ass, sending a wild zing through her pussy. Her thighs trembled as the fabric of her sweats rasped over the bare cheeks underneath. While his hands were busy exploring from the waist down, his head dipped so he could nibble the tip of a pebbled breast through her sweatshirt. She held onto his shoulders for dear life as her knees buckled.

“God, that feels so good,” she whimpered, unsure whether she’d said the words out loud or not.

“Tam, I swear I’ve never tasted a woman so sweet. I’ve got to have you again. Mmm, I see my marks are already healing.”

Tameth shivered at the mix of menace and desire in his tone as he examined the slightly tender skin just above her collarbone.

“No problem, baby. I’ll just make some new ones.”

“Wha…?”

Alaan whipped off his black leather trench coat and settled it over the stone bench. The forest green silk of the lining blended with the dark grass where the edges puddled on the ground.

“Alaan, what are you doing?”

“I thought it was obvious, beautiful.” He chuckled. That too-damned-attractive one-sided smirk tipped up one side of his mouth. A mouth she’d like to taste again. A mouth she’d like to…oh God!

He dropped to his knees and took her sweat pants down to the ground with him.