Chapter Nine

IN HER APARTMENT, THEY were both undressed almost before the door closed. Katie considered his nude form. His big body was hard and chiseled. He had pleasing wide shoulders, a thick, aroused cock, and a rampant lust for pussy she could almost feel. This Jace Makefield would do nicely for a night or so.

Pushing thoughts of Mark aside, she looked into his eyes. "Do you know what I am?"

"Oh, yes. I know what you are. A latent vampire on the border of full-blood status. You're in bloodlust."

Thoughts of Mark and his sweet kisses and wonderful lovemaking made her pussy damp. "I am in heat." She flashed across the room and cupped his cock and balls. "I intend to fuck you and feed on you all night."

To her surprise, he whipped her hand away and flashed away from her. She blinked at him. She'd never seen a human latent move so fast.

"Maybe we should start again. I'm Jace Makefield and I came to fuck...not be fucked. And you will not be feeding on me, fem."

He flashed close and stared into her eyes. "I am telling you the way it's going to be, fem. No one fucks me. I do the fucking!"

She licked her lips, remembering her experience with Cal several days earlier. "Not tonight you don't. Tonight you will be fucked up your ass again and again while I ingest your blood."

Without warning, he lowered his shoulder and shoved hard. Taken by surprise, she lost her balance and slammed onto her back on the carpet. Before she could bounce to her feet, he'd thrown his big body on top of hers, forced her legs apart, and shoved his hard cock balls deep in her pussy with one forceful, luscious thrust.

Katie gasped, sucked in a breath, clutched his ass in her hands, tilted her hips, and they began a wild, no holds barred fuck. He thrust his thick, satisfying cock deep in her pussy again and again, sucking her breasts, frantically stroking his hands all over her body. He cupped her butt in his hands, and pumped deeper in her.

Katie moaned. She burned with heat and desire for the rampaging cock slowly conquering her pussy. He felt good inside her. His body on hers felt good. The lips that reined hot, voracious kisses on her mouth felt good...the thighs molded to hers felt good...his cock slamming into her pussy again and again with little regard for the pain it might be inflicting...felt good.

The heat in her pussy turned into an inferno. Her need for release built and rapidly threatened to overwhelm her. With his lips locked over hers, he withdrew from her and pushed back in slowly, brushing against her clit. She moaned, shuddered, and burst into a thousand tiny, flickering flames.

Still he thrust into her, holding her hips immobile, as he ravished her pussy with his hard length. When he came, he collapsed on top of her, pumping into her with a force and speed she'd rarely felt. Her pussy pulsed and erupted again, creating one of the most intense orgasms she'd ever had.

He lay on top of her, kissing and licking the side of her neck. She half expected him to feed on her. Just the thought was sufficient to send a fresh rush of moisture flooding her pussy.

He lifted his head and gazed down at her with dark eyes. "Now that we've had an appetizer, let's go to bed and enjoy the main course."

Keeping his cock embedded in her, he managed to stand up. She wrapped her arms and legs around his body. As he walked to the bedroom, he rammed his hard dick up into her. She shoved back and they fucked on the way to the bed. He exploded in her and his seed oozed out of her flooded cunt.

"You ain't felt nothing yet, baby," he promised, pausing outside the bedroom she shared with Mark.

"I want to fuck in this room." He pushed the door open and strolled to the bed. He maneuvered them onto the bed and continued fucking her—hard and rough, sawing his cock back and forth in her pussy, sending inconceivable amounts of pleasure through her.

Heat rose all through Katie's body as his hot, silken dick relentlessly pounded her pussy. His mouth burned fiery kisses against her lips. His hands stroked and caressed her body, keeping the blaze roaring throughout her ignited until she again exploded, sobbing with pleasure and release as he hosed her pussy down with blast after blast of his seed.

With his shaft still resting in her now drenched depths, he lifted his head and looked down at her. "Now for dessert." He withdrew from her, pushed a pillow under her buns, lubed up his cock and her ass, and plunged into her rectum.

He fucked her ass with as much gusto as he'd ravished her pussy. And she loved every forcible stroke of his hard, unyielding cock. She moaned and nearly came from the pleasure radiating out from her behind. She'd rarely had a man fuck her ass with such skill and obvious pleasure.

At the speed and rate he was tunneling into her, she knew even a latent wouldn't last long. Within moments, he blasted his load deep in her rear. Then, still hard, he began fucking her ass again, gentler this time.

He whispered softly to her, bit her neck, and nipped at her ears as he plowed slowly in and out of her ass, obviously savoring the experience. Katie closed her eyes and allowed her thoughts to drift mindlessly, conscious only of the incredible ass fucking she was receiving.

Damn, but he knew how to fuck a woman's ass. Her stomach clenched, the muscles in her thighs shook, and she came, creaming her pussy.

He held her close, with his arms wrapped around her body, and leisurely filled her ass with more of his seed. For long moments after they'd both come, he lay on top of her, breathing deeply. Then he gently withdrew from her behind. As they shared a long kiss, he reached between their bodies to finger her pussy.

"Hmm. Nice and creamy." He slid his body down and began eating her. In a matter of moments, she came again. She lay, moaning and shivering with delight as he licked her clean, giving her clit the occasional flit with the tip of his tongue.

Rising above her, he slid his dick back in her pussy and smiled down at her. "Let's have seconds."

They fucked again and again. Katie lost track of how many times Jace's cock thrust her to a creamy paradise. She'd never been fucked so hard and so forcibly. And she liked it. Lord how she liked it. He was going to pound her pussy to a pulp and she intended to lay under him with her legs splayed wide and let him.

Damn, she must have died and gone to heaven. He was so powerful and hungry for sex, and able to go at her again and again as she wanted and needed a man to.

Several hours later, she woke from a restless sleep to find him binding her hands to the headboard. Her ankles were already bound. She stared up at him, her eyes glowing and her incisors exposed. "No! These are not for me. I don't do bondage."

He grinned down at her and lifted a short, dark whip. "Tonight you do as I say, my lusty beauty," he said and slapped the flat end of the whip against her nipples.

Under the shock and slight pain, Katie was amazed to feel something akin to...pleasure? He hit her again. She moaned and twitched. It was definitely pleasure.

"Ah, I see you like it," he whispered. He slipped his cock into her, sucked one breast into his mouth, and began fucking and whipping her. He timed the lashes to coincide with the upstrokes of his shaft into her. Each lash of the whip against her body brought a stroke of pleasure-pain that sizzled through her.

The pleasure was so intense she strained against the leather restraints binding her every time he brought the wickedly wonderful whip down against her body. Her thighs and the sides of her breasts begin to burn and tingle. Her stomach muscles contracted. She gasped for breath, teetering on the edge of an explosive climax. When he withdrew all but the head of his shaft and brought the handle of the whip down against her clit, her passions flamed and ignited, consuming her in a firestorm of bliss.

"Oh, Katie, Katie! I'm going to have to come this way again," he whispered and pushed his cock back into her pussy.

As she floated back to earth one word filled her thoughts... Mark...Mark...then...Jace...Jace..."Yes...please," she begged, then her eyes glowed and she bared her incisors and easily broke free of her restraints. She reached up and curled her fingers in his hair. "Yes," she said more confidently. "You will come back. I command it."

To enforce her command, overcoming his considerable resistance, she spun them over so that he sprawled under her on his back. Then, feeling her lust for blood pounding in her own blood, she bared her incisors and sank them into his neck.

He groaned, dug his fingers deep into her ass and fucked his cock up into her plunging pussy as she fed on him. The feelings coursing through her totally overwhelmed her. She fucked and fed on him until she nearly passed out from the exquisite pleasure rolling over and through her in endless, wild waves.

They both came quickly, rested briefly, and began a new round of feral, primal fucking that totally satisfied her lust for blood and sex, but left her emotionally starving for Mark.

WHEN NEXT SHE WOKE, she found Mikhel lying on the bed, holding her in his arms and stroking her hair. "Katie...Katie...?"

She ran her tongue over her lips. She felt achy and sore all over. Even her pussy ached. "I...what happened?"

"I don't know. The last thing I remember was..." She bit her lip and fought back tears. "Mark walked out on me."

"That was several weeks ago, Katie. Where have you been since then? Serge and I have scoured the city and suburbs looking for you."

So, she'd been feasting for several weeks at least. "Is everything okay with he and Derri?"

His slow smile warmed her heart and set her fears to rest. "They're better than fine." He stroked her cheek. "I told you there was no need to worry about me sleeping with Derri. She's sweet and beautiful, but no one could ever replace my Erica. Derri feels the same way about Serge."

He shrugged. "I won't deny that she is and always will be very special to me. She and I formed a bond that neither of us expected."

Katie knew he spoke of a small, carved statuette of an exquisite black woman that had originally belonged to Serge's best friend, Chandler Raven, and had been partly responsible for Chandler falling in love with his wife Cassy. The Ebony Venus, along with a small charm of a mating couple Cassy had owned, had been responsible for Derri and Serge being able to "hear" each other's thoughts.

So he had stroked the breasts of the Ebony Venus and slipped his cock in the widening genital opening and fucked the statuette. "Who did it look like when you performed the ritual?"

He didn't respond and she sighed. "Have you and she fucked since Serge returned home?"

"Yes. She spent a long weekend at home while Dad, Serge, and I looked for you. Katie, you really don't have to worry about Derri and me. Both Erica and Serge know how we feel and neither of them have a problem with it. Neither should you."

She sensed a quiet pleasure in him. "Very, very pregnant. She's due within the next week or so."

"Oh, good, I didn't miss that." She frowned suddenly. "Mik? Didn't Aleksei look for me?"

"I'm sure he would have had he been around. He has not." He frowned. "Katie, you have to stop thinking about him as you do."

She realized that for the first time since her teenage years her thoughts of Aleksei were not lustful. "That's over," she said slowly. "He told me he would never...we would never..."

A disturbing memory teased her. She frowned. "Mik? Is...is Cal Harris all right?"

His gaze narrowed. "Yes, but you nearly killed him, Katie. He didn't deserve to be feasted on like that. We had to infuse him with massive amounts of blood to save him."

"I didn't intend to hurt him! Once I tasted his blood, I couldn't control myself, Mik."

He sighed and nodded. "Yes, I know, but he is a trusted friend and valuable employee. I will not have him hurt again, Katie. Understood?"

"Yes! I never really intended to hurt him in the first place. It's just that his blood intoxicated me. Once I tasted it, it was hard to stop. Did you explain to him that I didn't mean to hurt him?"

"I don't know...he...I don't know." He cupped the side of her face. "Katie, if you had not hidden from us while you were undergoing your feast, we would have watched over you and you would not have nearly killed him. Why did you hide from us?"

"I know it was wrong, Mikhel, but I wanted to be free to...to feast. I didn't want anyone stopping me as Aleksei stopped Serge from killing Diane during his feast."

"You wanted to be free to kill, Kattia? We were not raised to take pleasure in killing."

"I know, but I couldn't control my impulses. I had to be wild with other people so I wouldn't hurt Mark."

He nodded. "Okay. I know how powerful a drive the feast is...how impossible it is to resist without the help of another of vampire blood. Did you kill anyone?"

"No!" She bit her lip. "At least I don't think so. After what happened with Cal, I was more careful. I made sure I had more than one person to feast on so I wouldn't kill anyone."

"You're covered with whip marks. When I find out who did this to you, he is going to die." He stroked her hair. "How do you feel?"

"Lonely," she whispered and turned her face into his shoulder. "Mik...I need him."

"Mark! I want him...I think...I can't remember anything since leaving him and...oh, Mik! He's my bloodlust."

She had a quick memory of a man with dark hair and eyes on top of her, fucking her. She winced and bit her lip as he raised a short riding crop and brought it down across her breasts.

Although she couldn't recall the man's name, she knew he'd given her one of the best fucks of her life. And still she wanted Mark. "Yes."

He eased her onto the bed and streaked across the room towards the door. She flashed after him and grabbed his arm. "Mik! Wait! What are you going to do?"

"I don't want him hurt at all, Mik! Leave him alone! He has a right not to want to become involved with me."

She lifted her chin. "I will not allow you to hurt or coerce him. Just as you wouldn't allow Serge to go after Erica when she left you soon after you met. You let her go, just as I let Mark go. She came back to you of her own free will."

"What choice do I have? I can't allow his will to be subverted. He has to come to me of his own free will."

He sighed. "Are you sure, Katie? I won't hurt him and he won't even realize his will has been subjugated."

"Maybe not, but I'll realize it. I want to, but I can't do that to him, Mik. I...I love him too much for that."

He wrapped his arms around her and held her as tears streamed down her cheeks. She could sense his frustration and feeling of helplessness, but she knew he would respect her wishes and leave Mark alone. The question of whether she could do the same remained to be seen.

MARK WOKE ABRUPTLY from a sweet dream of Katie to find her standing over his bed. He blinked and closed his eyes. He had spent the last three weeks so lonely for her that now he had conjured her up. He opened his eyes. She was still there, nude, staring down at him with a look of longing in her beautiful eyes.

His gaze swept over her and he sucked in an angry breath. Her small, perfectly formed breasts and long, slender thighs were covered with welts. He bolted up in bed. "Oh, God, honey, you're hurt! Who did this to you?" He leapt to his feet, picked her up, and settled her on his bed.

He gently touched her body. "Katie! Oh, Katie, honey! Who hurt you? I'll kill whoever did this!"

That's something he'd wanted to do since he'd walked out on her. He eased her closer and slipped his arms around her body. "Oh, my Katie!"

She trembled and pressed closer. Her soft hands found their way to his shaft. It immediately began to harden. He felt like a piece of filth. She was hurt and all he thought of was slipping his cock into her pussy and making love to her until exhaustion took over. But he couldn't.

"Mark...Mark...I've missed you...I need you..." She rolled onto her back and parted her legs. She tugged gently on his shaft. "Please...please...it's been so long and I need you so badly."

Even as he protested, she lifted his body and settled it over hers. She wiggled her body and pressed forward. The tip of his cock rubbed along the length of her pussy and he lost it. He held her lower body still and slowly drove his cock into her. With half his dick cradled in her pussy, he had to pause and take slow breaths, afraid he was going to come too soon.

Her hands stroked slowly down his back. "Fuck me," she begged. "Please. It's been so long and I...I can't live without you. Please love me!"

"Oh, shit! I do love you!" he admitted and sank the rest of his cock into her. "Oh, God, I do love you!"

Lying on top of her, sucking her breasts and buried deep in her tight vagina, he knew he was where he wanted to be. He wasn't sure what the future could possibly hold for him in the arms of a vampire, but he did know that he wanted and needed her more than the air he breathed. Life without her really was not an option.

She reached up to cup his face between her palms. "Do you...can you accept me as I am?"

"Yes, my love," he promised and began to fuck her slowly, delighting in the sweet, involuntary timbres shaking her heated pussy. "Oh, shit, yes! I don't care what you are! I need and want you, my Katie!"

She clutched him to her and thrust her hips up against his, eagerly accepting his cock back inside her. He felt her soft lips brushing against the side of his neck and shivered. "I need you, my lovely one. I've changed since we saw each other and I have needs."

He sucked in a breath. He knew what her need was. He was more afraid of what was about to happen than he'd ever been before. But he loved and adored her and her need was a part of who she was.

She made her small, soft sigh and rolled them over. Lying on his back with her still impaled on his shaft, he stared up into her glowing eyes. His heart thumped as she bared her incisors. "Don't be afraid," she whispered. "I will not hurt you, my lovely one."

He felt her incisors against his lips as she devoured his mouth in a kiss that branded the taste and feel of her lips on his. Heat, love, desire, and passion engulfed him. She cupped his ass in her hands and rode his cock, her eyes glowing.

He closed his eyes and surrendered to her. She fucked him to the brink of one of the sweetest, most intense orgasm he'd ever had. Just as he was about to explode, she kissed the side of his neck. Moments later, the skin of his neck was pierced. An incredible rush thundered through him as his blood flowed out of his vein and into her mouth.

He shuddered and blew his load, wildly thrusting his dick as deep into her warm, moist pussy as he could get it. His climax shattered him and he collapsed back against the bed. He felt weak and limp.

Still clutching his ass, she continued to thrust her pussy on his cock, as she fed on him. The sensation of bonding he felt surprised him. He knew on some level that she should probably stop ingesting his blood, but he made no protest when she didn't. God, if she killed him, he would die very, very happy.

Finally, her pussy exploded around his cock and she removed her incisors from his neck. She climbed off his cock and gently stroked her hands down his damp chest. "Are you all right? Did I hurt you?"

He felt almost drunk with bliss. God, who knew being fed on would be so fantastic? "I've never been better. What just happened between us? It was more than love or lust."

She spread her body on his. "That was bloodlust, my lovely. Mark, you are my bloodlust, my perfect mate, the one man whose blood and sex I need above all others. Will you love me and stay with me? Will you be my bloodlust?"

He wasn't sure what was involved in being the bloodlust of a vampire, but he knew that he could not walk away from her again...ever. "Yes...yes...whatever you want and need from me, I'll willingly give you."

Her eyes glowed and she bared her incisors. "I need nothing more than your love, blood, and lust, my lovely one. Now, I need to taste your cock."

He shuddered and closed his eyes. She spent several minutes kissing and sucking his cock, firing up his passions before her incisors pierced his cock. He gasped and clutched her dark head against his groin. "Suck me...feed on me...take me, Katie. Devour me!"

She settled against him, her soft hands holding his dick. "We must go slowly, my lovely one. I have already ingested more of your wonderful blood than I should have. You must have time to recover."

"In a few days, my love. Until then..." She lifted her head and looked down at him. "Perhaps you would like to taste my blood?"

A lecherous thrill danced along his spine. "How..."

She lay on her back and parted her legs. "Here's how."

Heart thumping, he dived between her thighs and enjoyed the most incredible pussy he'd ever had. He came twice as he ate her. When she finally came, he sealed his mouth over her convulsing channel and eagerly consumed her feminine secretions, taking particular delight in the blood that flowed from her pussy and into his mouth.

He sucked and slurped at her until he felt bloated with lust and blood. Finally, she reached out and drew him up into her arms. She held him against her trembling body. "Oh, Mark...my love...my life...I would die for your love."

He smiled with satisfaction, sure of her sincerity. Hot damn! A young, beautiful, passionate vampire was in love—big time—with him! Double damn! "I'd prefer it, if you lived for it, my lovely, lovely, Katie!"

She sounded so needy...so unsure of herself. So un-Katie-like. "I was a fool to leave you the first time." He stroked his hands down her thighs. "It won't happen again...ever."

He felt dampness on his cheek and lifted his head. A flood of tears rolled down her cheeks. "Honey! Why are you crying?"

"Because I was so afraid you wouldn't have me and I didn't know what I'd do if you told me to go to hell."

He rolled over and folded her in his arms. "There was no chance of that happening. Before you came here tonight, I was trying to figure out how the hell I could get you to forgive me and take me back. It didn't take me long to realize how much you meant to me. When I did...I couldn't find you...you were gone."

"It's a long, ugly story, Mark. One that might make you turn against me when you hear it."

"No!" He pressed kisses against her hair. "Nothing, no matter how awful, could make me turn against you. I have to have you, Katie. I don't care what you are or what you may have done. I don't care what people will say or think. I have to have you."

"You have me, Mark! You've had me almost from the moment we met. You will always have me."

Filled with wonder and relief, Katie smiled and leaned in for a kiss. Their lips met and they shared a long, tender kiss devoid of the passion they usually infused into their lip locks. But it wasn't enough to seal their bond. She pierced her index finger with her incisors and extended her finger.

He hesitated and she sighed. They couldn't have a real relationship until he took that final step of ingesting her blood without pretending he was just eating her pussy. Finally, he took a deep breath and parted his lips. She pressed her bleeding finger between his lips.

At first she felt his resistance, but as her blood began to fill his mouth, she felt a change in him. He started to circle her finger with the tip of his tongue and began sucking on her finger rather than just letting the blood run into his mouth.

She allowed him to suck until she judged he'd sucked enough, then she withdrew her finger.

Mark realized he had crossed an invisible line when he'd sucked her blood directly from her finger. He felt lightheaded...almost drunk. Clearly ingesting her blood was affecting him already. But he didn't care. He wanted, needed, and loved her.

Later, as she slept, he held her slender body, unable to tear his gaze away from the finger he'd sucked her blood from. The longing he felt to ingest more of her blood shocked him. How the hell had he gone from being disgusted by her sucking his blood to greedily sucking hers?

Her blood gave him a natural high. His gaze went to her pussy. He felt a lecherous thrill at the thought of eating her when her period was on. Just the thought of ingesting blood from her pussy again made his cock hard. Damn, but he was ready to do any and everything she wanted to make her happy...even allowing her to fuck his ass if she still wanted that.

After Jennie's death, he had never expected to fully love and adore another woman with the same intensity he'd felt for his high school sweetheart and only true love. That he should have found Katie and fallen so hard for her stunned him. That she obviously felt the same way about him was even more astonishing.

He had a feeling their future together was going to be full of new discoveries and wicked delights. Katie had hinted that if he wanted to he could have limitless stamina. His gaze locked on her pussy. He definitely wanted to. He didn't delude himself into thinking he would have her all to himself, but he decided he could deal with whatever made her happy. If that meant she wanted to keep working, so be it...as long as she came home to him horny and still in love with him. He'd allow her to have sex with other men until he could fulfill all her needs...and maybe even after that.

Aleksei looked up from the murder mystery he was reading as Vlad appeared in his bedroom doorway. He saw at once that Vlad seemed disturbed. He put his book aside and patted the bed beside him. "Tell me."

Vlad slowly crossed the room and sprawled nude on the bed beside him. "It was the most incredible experience of my life. The sex was unbelievable and afterwards I felt so...like I've never felt before...content...happy...I wanted to stay."

"Then why didn't you? You've had more grief in your life than any vampire should have to experience. Why didn't you stay and take your happiness?"

Vlad turned so that he faced away from him. "I couldn't. I have not yet found the fems I am to dispatch."

The turmoil Aleksei felt in Vlad distressed him. "I will dispatch them myself. It was not something I should have asked of you. Go back and stay, allow yourself to feel something other than the need for destruction. This might be the beginning of redemption for you."

Aleksei gripped his shoulder and turned Vlad to face him. "No, it's more important for you to let yourself feel something other than hate...something good and pure and healing."

Vlad shook his head. "I'm not worthy. I've done too much, most of it bad and dark."

He tightened his hand on Vlad's shoulder. "Everyone has a right to find happiness. I will dispatch them myself. Go back...you must go back. Love can redeem you, as it did me."

"It matters not. Just allowing yourself to feel that love can be the start of redemption. And why should it be forbidden?"

He gently turned it back. "It's all right, Vlad. Even we are not always the masters of our destinies. Follow love, desire, and even lust where they lead. Seize the opportunity to embrace this new experience."

"I've never felt like this, Sei. I don't know if I like this...I don't know that it is love...I think it's just sex. Great sex, but still just sex."

He nodded slowly. "I will, but first I will dispatch those who would hurt one you love. That part is not open for discussion. Then...then I will go back."

He sensed Vlad's resolve. "As you wish. But I have your word that you will go back?"

Aleksei sighed and closed his eyes. Maybe his prayer of hundreds of years for the salvation of Vlad's soul was about to be answered. Maybe all would finally be well.

WITH HER EYES CLOSED and her senses still dulled from the intoxicating force of making love with Mark and relishing in the knowledge that he was indeed her bloodlust, Katie felt him. He was back! She eased away from the sleeping Mark and sat up in the darkened bedroom.

She heard the bedroom door open. Heart thumping, she slipped from the bed and walked down the hall to the living room, which was lit by the light of the moon.

"There were things I had to take care of." He released her and stood back to look at her nude body. His scrutiny once would have made her whole body hot with lust and passion. Now, she was pleased that she felt nothing, as she would have had it been Mikhel or Serge looking at her.

He narrowed his eyes and compressed his lips. "What has happened? Who dared beat you?"

She sighed. While binding Mark the night before as they fucked, the memory of her encounter with Jason Makefield had come rushing back to her. Recalling it had intensified her lovemaking with Mark. They had both had multiple climaxes. Still afraid of what Mikhel and Serge would do to him if they knew his identity, she had told no one of her recovered memory.

"Ah...yes." He cupped her face in his palms and stared down at her. "My pretty little puppy is now a full-blood. How did you find your feast?"

"For the most part? Frustrating. No matter how many men I had, they never satisfied me." Until Jason Makefield had bound her, beat her, and fucked her nearly senseless.

He nodded his head towards the hall leading to the bedroom where Mark slept. "And he does?"

She nodded. "Oh, Aleksei, you have no idea how much he does. When I'm with him—when we make love—it's like nothing I've ever experienced before. He's everything to me."

She stared up into his glowing eyes. She had managed to keep Jason Makefield's identity safe from Mik and Serge. She couldn't tell Aleksei. "It happened during my feast."

"And? Let's not play games, Kattia. I can pluck the answer from your mind, but I'd rather you gave it voluntarily. But I will have his name."

She pulled away from him. "It's none of your concern. I'm all right with what happened. I've explained it to Mark and he understands. And—"

"You are wrong!" He stared down into her eyes. "I have a right to know who beat you."

He paused for a long moment. Finally, he sighed and shrugged. "The blood you and I share is not as strong as that which you share with Mikhel and Serge, but it does exist."

She started to shake her head and then froze because she knew it was true. At last she understood why her lust for him had always shamed her. He was her brother. "How?" She glanced into his blue eyes...eyes like her father's. "Dad never said...I don't understand."

"It was a long time ago. Nearly four hundred years has passed since she last saw us—me. Many things, most of them bad, have happened to me since then."

"Us?" she asked weakly. She knew from talking to Mikhel that their mother had once had other children, but..."Her other children all died."

"I survived...despite her."

"No!" She balled a fist and hit it against his chest. "No! You wouldn't say that if you knew how she grieves...has grieved for a very long time. How could she not know you're her child? What happened?"

"She abandoned us is what happened," he said bitterly. "We never knew the love and protection you and your brothers have enjoyed all your lives. We knew only loneliness and the despair of knowing our mother had abandoned us to die."

"No! I don't care what you say! You will never convince me that she left you to die! She loves you and worries about you all the time and she doesn't even know you're her son. There is no way she would have left you...any of you."

She shook her head. "No! You tell me what you think happened and I'll come up with an explanation."

He shook his head. "Serge tried, but there is no explanation for the truth of what happened. She even went so far as to kill the witnesses to her...no. The truth is painful for me as well as you, but it is what it is."

"No. I won't ever believe the truth as you see it. She would have died before she left her children."

She stared at him, her lips parted, her eyes wide. "Aleksei! You can't really believe that!"

He took a deep breath. "My...our father was a freed slave, the son of a slave and her master's son."

"And you think because your skin isn't white she...no! How could you know her for these last fifty years and think that? Granted she's somewhat of a snob, but only when it comes to things vampire. She doesn't care about the color of a person's skin, only how much vampire blood he or she has. Aleksei, you know that. How can you hate her so?"

He sighed. "Hate her? I never said I hated her. I did once, but no longer. Now I just...but there are consequences from her past actions I may no longer be able to shield her from."

Katie's heart thumped. "What? What are you talking about? You plan to hurt her?"

"Then what?" She sucked in a breath. "What about the others? Do they bear her ill will?"

Her eyes filled with tears for the lost siblings she'd never known and for the one in front of her, so full of confusion and pain. "Why haven't you told her the truth so she could explain what really happened?"

"I didn't want to have her lie to me. I've learned to deal with what happened. I couldn't deal with her lying."

"She wouldn't lie! She never lies! You tell her and she'll explain everything. Just tell her."

"I will...in my own time. In the meantime, what I've told you must stay between us."

"I will tell him in my own time...soon. I just wanted to tell you so you'd understand why you and I could never be lovers." He touched her cheek. "I did not mean to grieve you, my pretty little puppy. I can feel your turmoil and confusion. Rest assured that I have no intentions of hurting her...ever...nor would I allow anyone else to hurt her. Be happy with your Mark...and keep my confidence?"

She nodded. She didn't know how she was going to manage it, but she would let him tell their mother who he was in his own time. "Okay, only don't wait too long."

He smiled suddenly. "I won't. I just need time. In the interim, you be happy with your Mark and tell me who beat you."

She sighed. "Please, Aleksei...I...on a purely physical level, I have never enjoyed anything more. I don't want him hurt." She lifted her chin and glared up at him. "I will not have him hurt."

"A vampire...I didn't know!" she said defensively. There was nothing more hated and feared in their community than a vampire hunter.

"No!" She clamped a hand on his arm. "Leave him be. I sensed nothing malicious in him while we were together. He means us no harm."

He stared at her. "Doesn't it bother you that one day he might come hunting you or someone you love?"

"No. The people I love are not the kind who attract the attention of his kind. Please, Aleksei. I know you put the fear of God in Damon Whitley."

"With a human male? Yes. With a vampire hunter? I'm not so sure. Kattia, who do you think has been killing all the vampires across the country in the last few years? Makefield."

His eyes widened in surprise. "I have seen and done too much in my life to fear him or any other mortal. It would take more than his kind to harm me. I have learned things and black arts that make me nearly impervious to death."

"Not for long," he said, sounding bitter. "There is no vampire hunter alive who could kill me."

She mentally reached out and he dropped the part of the shield he'd always held up, blocking her probing of his mind. Her senses were overwhelmed with the leashed power and hint of darkness she detected in him. "Aleksei?"

"You...you...if you try to hurt her, you'll have to face us all...me...Serge and Mikhel. You'll have to kill us all to get to her." She shivered. She was certain that Aleksei was capable of taking them all on at once and killing them all.

He stroked her cheek. "I have given you my word that I would never hurt her—I would never hurt any of you. The time when I wanted her hurt has long since passed. I am your brother. You must never fear me, Kattia."

She flushed and looked away. "I...I didn't say that. I just don't want him hurt."

She whirled around and was stunned to find Mark standing in the doorway. How long had he been there? How much had he heard?