Court of the Vampire Queen: Part 1 – Chapter 13

“Mina.”

Gods, the way this vampire says my name. I start to twist to try to see him, but he blurs, pulling out of me just long enough to push me onto my back and then easing his cock into me again. His eyes are pure black. Malachi thrusts a little, his gaze going to my mouth when I moan. “Mina,” he says again.

I don’t know what he’s going to say. I’m just not ready for this to be over. At some point, we’re going to have to talk about plans and blood wards and my father, but not yet.

I dig my hands into his hair and arch up to kiss his jaw. “Don’t stop.”

Malachi growls and then we’re moving again. This time, he keeps us sealed together as he rolls onto his back and takes me with him, leaving me straddling him, his cock still seated deep inside me. “Ride me.”

The new position makes me feel almost exposed. He’s still got a grip on me, but it’s light as I roll my hips, moving slowly until I find a rhythm that feels good. Fuck, what am I talking about? Everything feels good.

Having Malachi beneath me, seeing his powerful body spread out as if for my pleasure… It’s intoxicating in the extreme. We don’t need to speak at all. Not when my body already knows what to do, not when he’s filling me so perfectly. I plant my hands on his chest and begin chasing my own pleasure.

I’m almost there, so close to coming, when an unfamiliar dry voice cuts through my pleasure. “So this is why you haven’t bothered to find a way out of this cage.”

I freeze for half a second and then scramble off Malachi. He lets me, sitting up to shield me with his big body. Has he gotten bigger in the last couple days? I hadn’t really noticed, but now I’m sure of it. I look over his shoulder at the man standing in the doorway. He’s a white guy with a close-cropped beard and short dark hair, and he’s wearing an honest-to-god suit.

Malachi tenses. “Rylan.”

Rylan, the one Wolf said would show up at some point. He couldn’t be more different than the wild blond vampire. He looks like some kind of CEO, and I swear the room dropped ten degrees when he entered. I shiver, and he flicks a look at me. His blue eyes go even colder. “Leave while the grown-ups talk, little girl.”

My shiver turns into a full-out shudder and goosebumps rise across my skin in a wave of warning. Even without knowing he’s a bloodline vampire beforehand, the sheer power in his eyes would tell me an apex predator has entered the room. I start to inch toward the other side of the bed, but Malachi reaches out and grabs my hand. “Stay.”

Rylan raises his brows. “Keep your pet if you insist, but you know she’s a trap in a pretty package. You were about to come inside her.” His upper lip curls. “Idiot.”

“Make sure to tell Wolf how you really feel because he filled her up not thirty minutes ago.”

The crass words make me flinch. I’d forgotten. Gods, how could I have forgotten? Rylan scares me, but he’s not wrong. Imagine my father’s delight if he manages to trap Wolf with a child. He might love that even more than Malachi since Malachi is chained to this property by the blood ward, and that kind of cage could never hold Wolf.

I yank my hand out of Malachi’s, and this time he lets me, but he starts to turn in my direction. “Mina—”

“This pretty trap is taking herself elsewhere.” It’s too late. Far too late. Unless it isn’t? I snag my oversized shirt off the floor and yank it over my head. I have to catch Wolf before he gets back to this room. He can leave without an issue, can get me what I need to make sure this isn’t a mistake of epic proportions.

I stop a few feet away from the door Rylan still hasn’t shifted away from. “Move.”

He stares me down. “I should kill you now and solve all our problems. Can’t breed if you’re dead.”

The fire has nearly died down to ashes, but it flares high as Malachi climbs to his feet, eerily slow. “Watch your words or, friend or not, you’ll lose your head.”

Rylan’s eyes widen just a fraction. “You fool.”

“Fool or not, it stands.”

He shakes his head and finally moves back. Even knowing those couple of feet won’t make much difference if he decided to make a grab for me, I inch out the door and take off running for the kitchen. I find Wolf staring at a pot of water suspiciously. It’s odd enough that it almost distracts me. “What are you doing?”

“How long does water take to boil? I mean, honestly, this is just plebeian.” He glances at me and narrows his eyes. “You’re scared. What happened?”

“Rylan is here.” I jump forward when he starts to blur toward the door, barely getting there before him. “Wait!”

Wolf stops short. “He and Malachi need a referee or they’re going to rip this house down to the foundation.”

Even with that risk, this is too large to ignore. Especially when every hour counts and we’re quite a ways from the nearest human town. “Wolf, wait.”

He narrows his eyes. “What’s going on?”

I don’t know how I’m supposed to handle this, so I just blurt it out. “You came inside me.” When he starts to smirk, I rush on. “If I get pregnant with your baby, my father will use it to collar you. I can’t let that happen. Not to you or Malachi.” I lift my hands, but let them drop before I touch him. “The humans have something called the morning after pill. Or Plan B. Or something like that. I need you to get it for me. The sooner, the better.”

He searches my expression, looking uncharacteristically serious. “You’d go to such lengths?”

“It’s a pill. It’s not like I’m agreeing to surgery with no anesthetic.” When he keeps staring, I wrap my arms around myself. “Look, I know why I was sent here, and I know there’s no happy ending for this for me, but at least I can make sure I don’t screw you guys over. Malachi can’t go. Neither can I. It has to be you.”

He reaches out and catches my chin lightly. “You know if you did end up pregnant, I’d simply whisk you away to somewhere you father can never find you.”

That’s vaguely comforting as a plan of last resort, but that doesn’t create a fix for all our problems right now. “What about Malachi?”

“When you have forever, it gives you time to figure out alternative solutions.” He shrugs. “Most likely, once I secure you, I’ll snatch up some human and haul them back here to break the blood ward and free Malachi.”

“Let’s just shelve the idea of murder for time being” I hesitate. “And maybe get condoms, too? If you want to keep fucking?”

His grin is quick and wicked. “Oh, love, we are definitely going to keep fucking.” He kisses me, and then he’s gone, moving so fast my hair lifts in the breeze of his passing.

I exhale slowly. There’s nothing to do but wait now. I know I should eat, but my stomach is tied up in knots. I’ll just grab something and take it back to my room. Barricading myself in sounds like a good plan right about now. I know it’s more emotional comfort than actually a deterrent for a murderous vampire, but it’s better than nothing.

I feel the cold as I shut off the burner. It’s the only indication I’m not alone. The desire to curl into a ball is so strong, I almost lose it. Gods, I thought Wolf was scary. He’s nothing on this new vampire. I turn slowly and find Rylan standing in the doorway, watching me with those icy blue eyes. A quick glance over his shoulder confirms we’re alone.

Great.

“Malachi seems to think you’re something special.” His tone conveys his doubt of that pretty damn clearly. Rylan steps into the room with exaggerated slowness. “You sent Wolf away. I’m surprised he listens to you.”

“I’ve known Wolf a grand total of twenty-four hours and even I know he does what he wants, when he wants.”

He raises a single eyebrow. “You don’t know him. You don’t know Malachi. You sure as fuck don’t know me.”

If he lifted his leg and peed to mark his territory, I wouldn’t be surprised at this point. Fear is still threatening to clog my throat, but anger rises in steady waves, battling the chill I feel just from standing in the same room as this vampire. I narrow my eyes. “How long have you been harboring a sad, unrequited love for Malachi? Centuries? It’s got to sting he’s shacking up with a dhampir now.”

He flinches, the tiniest of movements, one I would have missed if not for my dhampir senses. When Rylan speaks, it’s with a dry tone which raises the small hairs on the back of my neck. “You’re bold.”

“I was doomed the second I was born.” I force myself to shrug, as if the painful truth of the sentence means nothing. “If not you, then someone else. The fact I’ve made it this long is, frankly, surprising. My father hates me.”

“A likely story.”

Anger is quickly surpassing fear. I glare. “Yes, you’re right. Fathers who love their daughters definitely ship them off to Gothic mansions haunted by famished vampires to be a resident blood bank and womb. Totally.”

I blink and he’s in front of me. Holy shit, he’s fast. I didn’t even see him move. This close, it’s strange to discover he’s only a few inches taller than me. His suit shows off a great body, but he’s not nearly as huge as his presence makes him seem.

Rylan’s hand whips out and closes around my throat. “I don’t care about your sad little life. I care about Malachi, and I care about Wolf.”

“Quite the exhaustive list.” Gods, why can’t I stop talking back? It’s like rage has hijacked what little verbal brakes I had. “Should I be impressed?”

He stares at me with something akin to surprise. “Do you want to die?”

“Not particularly.”

His dark brows pull together in a frown. “Why are you baiting me?”

“I don’t like you.” When he keeps frowning at me like I’m a disgusting, but vaguely interesting, insect, I snarl. “Either rip out my throat or get the fuck off me.”

“Malachi says you taste different.” He’s not talking to me. He almost sounds like he’s thinking aloud, musing to himself. “But he’s young. There’s so much he doesn’t know. I suppose there’s one way to find out.”

Comprehension dawns. “No. Don’t you dare.”

It’s too late. Rylan shifts his hand from my throat to my hair and wrenches my head to the side. I jerk back, but the counter is in my way, and even if it wasn’t, he’s too strong. They’re always too goddamn strong. He bites me, sinking his teeth into my throat. He tenses against me. “What are you?”

I don’t get a chance to answer before he bites me again. His free hand lands on the counter next to my hip and he presses his entire body to mine. Instant pleasure hits me in a wave. I grit my teeth, trying to fight it. I don’t want it from him. I refuse to orgasm as a result of this asshole’s bite, bloodline vampire or no.

But, fuck, it’s good. Each pull tingles through my body, a sensual touch that doesn’t care if I like this vampire. Pleasure winds through me, tightening with each movement of his mouth. I find myself clutching the front of his suit with no memory of moving my hands. I bite down hard on my lip, but the pain only spikes the pleasure hotter.

It doesn’t matter if I fight it. My body doesn’t care about how I feel when it comes to this vampire. It’s too good. He feels too good. Rylan grabs one of my legs and hitches it up around his hip, opening me just enough he can shift between my thighs. It lines us up perfectly, and then his cock is there, pressing against where I suddenly need him.

I whimper as I orgasm, hating myself. Hating him.

He lifts his head slowly and blinks down at me. His eyes have bled to a pure silver which looks otherworldly. “I see.”

“Get. Off. Me.”

He licks his lips. Slowly, oh so slowly, he releases me and takes a step back, and then another. “You sent Wolf for birth control?”

I reach up with a shaking hand to press my neck where he bite me. Two perfect puncture wounds. At least he didn’t tear the skin. I shudder. “It’s a temporary fix.”

He nods, expression still contemplative. “I see.”

“Stop saying that!” My head feels a little woozy. I really shouldn’t have gone so long without eating. Really shouldn’t have spent the morning fucking and forgetting exactly how much danger I am in. “Either kill me or get out.”

“You’re going to collapse before you take two steps.”

I’m not sure he’s wrong, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to lower myself to ask for help from him. I don’t want him to touch me again. I don’t… I try to push past him and the room turns into a sickening swirl of color and then goes black.