Chapter 24

Laughing, I opened the door to my room and motioned for Chase to go in. “Please! If anyone actually fought in those boots they’d break their ankle in three places!”

Chase shrugged. “It’s still sexy to watch a woman battle in high heeled boots. Although a real vampire is a lot harder to fight than that series makes it look.”

I held up my hand, shaking my head. “Do not destroy my illusions that the scariest thing in any realm is you and your brothers, please.” Really, vampires? I still couldn’t deal with more info about otherworldly creatures. My world would be complete without knowing any more than I did right at this moment.

He cleared his throat. “I could be persuaded to omit some facts of truth, for a price.” He gave me a teasing grin.

“What price?” I took off the case for my raptor and set it on the table.

“To see you fight in a skirt and heels.”

Turning around, I glared at him. “Not in this life or the next.”

“Aww, kitten, my fantasies are crushed.” The easygoing stance he’d had for the last few hours seemed to slide away and in its place that predatory glide returned as he came over to me slowly.

I liked the playful Chase, much better than the one with the lethal tone that scared me, but the man walking toward me now sent goose bumps over me with that look. I didn’t know if I liked this side of his personality, but my body did, as my heart beat kicked up a few speeds. “I enjoyed dinner and doing something relatively normal tonight.” My voice sounded weak even to my own ears.

He paused in his step and stopped where I was just out of reach. “As opposed to the freakishly abnormal thing I’m about to ask of you?” Flexing his hands, he tucked them into the back pocket of his jeans.

“I don’t think it’s freakishly abnormal…” He raised one eyebrow at me. I shrugged, “okay, it hasn’t been a part of my world up until now but all that’s changed now, hasn’t it?”

“I suppose that’s up to you.”

I gave him an easy smile, even though my heart was shuffling up my chest to the base of my throat. “Can I ask you a few things?” Trying to control the pounding of my heart, I took a deep breath. “I want to understand.”

Chase inclined his head, suddenly taking on a more regal posture. “Of course.”

“Do you only feed on humans?” It wasn’t what I wanted to ask, but I thought I’d lead up to it.

“No. Others from this side work too. I just prefer the human emotions they’re … I find them more satisfying.” He moved his hands and tucked them into the front pockets of his tight jeans.

“Does it hurt?”

He stepped forward and grasped my chin. “I would never hurt you.” His tone was dead serious.

“I know.”

Continuing to hold my face, he let out a slow breath. “It can hurt, depending on the emotion and the tactic used.”

“The tactic?”

“Whether I ask or just take.” He stood there, the look in his eyes told me he was waiting for me to judge him.

“What’s it like? For you?”

“In most cases, it’s a rush, I feel it move through me like blood through your veins it warms me.” He paused for a few seconds. “Depending on the emotion I’m tapping into it can exhilarate or even calm me.”

“Too bad the doctors on my side didn’t have that. They could calm the paranoid, recharge the drained...”

He grinned. “I don’t think there’s a way to mass market that part of me.”

“Is everyone on your side this way?”

Leaning down, he brushed a soft kiss on my mouth. “That is too complex a question to answer in one night.”

“Kind of like the history of here.”

“Mmm, something like that.” He rubbed his thumb lightly over my bottom lip. “If you prefer I can go elsewhere. You don’t have to do this.”

I swallowed. “I want to, but I think the emotions you’re going to get from me right now are really anxious edgy ones.” That’s what we needed, a very large man running around uptight and strung out.

Smiling, he leaned down and spoke with his lips brushing against mine. “I think we can change that.”

“Okay,” I whispered with a voice I hardly recognized.

Taking my hand, he led me over to the two overstuffed chairs. Sitting down, he pulled my hand gently until I had no choice but to sit across his lap. My heart was thrumming a fast beat again.

Cupping the back of my head, he cradled it in his large hand. “Let’s see if we can override those edgy feelings.” He feathered soft kisses over my lips as his other hand moved to rest on my stomach.

Before I had a chance to adjust to the teasing movement of his mouth, he deepened the kiss, stealing my breath. Reaching up, I grabbed a handful of his hair deciding at that moment I didn’t want him to move away. He lightened the kiss to a slow sensual one that took my breath away again.

Lowering his mouth to my throat, he slowly ran his tongue over my skin. When he reached the edge of my shirt, he pulled it off my shoulder and kept going. Moving back up to my jaw, he trailed light kisses until he reached my mouth again.

I expected more feather light kisses that made my head lighten but instead this time he crushed my mouth beneath his, leaning me back in the chair. Between the heat from his kiss and both of our emotions I felt like I was on fire from the inside out with just one kiss.

The longer the kiss went on the more I wanted to forget about feeding and just keep kissing. The man was the most sensual kisser I’d ever met. Then again if you have over two hundred years to practice it would give you a huge advantage in that and all areas.

He moved back to my neck and this time the teasing movement of his mouth became rougher as he traveled over my skin. Each time his lips touched me I was flooded with waves of lust so powerful I wanted much more than his mouth. The thoughts of what I really wanted from him should have shocked me but instead they made me hotter.

I pulled his shirt up so I could touch his bare skin. When I started running my hands down over his broad chest, he groaned deep in his throat and picked me up and set me down to straddle him in the wide chair. I could feel how turned on he was and the very idea made me want him even more.

Grasping the back of my head, he pulled my mouth back to his and kissed me with so much passion I squirmed against him. Chase lifted his head and looked at me, his eyes were glowing yellow and so intense I gasped as I remembered how to breathe.

Taking my chin in his hand, he ran his thumb over my bottom lip and did nothing but look at me. Another wave of lust hit me, making me rock my hips into him. The feeling kept growing and I wasn’t sure if I could sit still much longer and let him do what he needed to do.

With a soft curse, he blinked and then pulled my head back down so he could crush my mouth beneath his. Holding my thighs in his large hands, he stood up and began carrying me across the room. I couldn’t have cared less where he was taking us, just as long as he continued to kiss me the way he was.

He lowered us to the bed without breaking the kiss. I was shaking with need when his body covered mine. Desire pounded at me as I wrapped my legs around him, not wanting him to move away. Lifting his head, he gasped for air much like I did, his yellow eyes were heavy from lust and it was the most erotic look I’d ever seen on a man’s face.

Stretching my left arm over my head, he grasped my palm in his and lowered his mouth back to mine. Somewhere in the deep sensual kiss, I lost myself and clutched at his hair so he wouldn’t stop again. Rocking his body into mine, I couldn’t believe how good it felt despite our size difference we fit in all the right places. I moaned against his mouth and then gasped when he tore his mouth from mine and gently bit into the side of my neck. Even that felt good so I moved my head aside so he could do it again.

Another wave of lust hit me hard and I squirmed under him, wanting things to accelerate, now. As his mouth moved over that sensitive little spot on my neck I moaned again. His tongue stroked over it again, and then his teeth teased nipped at it, again heat burst into me and pooled where our bodies leaned into each other’s.

Without warning, he was off the bed and standing five feet away panting. I just lay there spread out on the bed not knowing what the hell had just happened. “Chase?”

Holding up a hand he shook his head. “I need a minute.” His blazing yellow eyes moved over me. There was a look of confusion on his face and panic started to cool the cravings I’d just been swamped with.

Sitting up on my elbows, I watched a thousand thoughts cross his face at lightning speed.

“I have to go,” he panted while still trying to settle his breathing.

“What?” I jumped up off the bed and almost hit the floor as my knees wobbled when my weight hit them. Moving over, I grabbed his arm before he could make it to the door. “What’s wrong?”

Emotions flooded into me, so many of them I couldn’t process what they meant.

Stiffening under my touch, he turned and looked down at me. “I …” taking a deep breath he shook his head, “I was about to mark you.”

I didn’t know what he was talking about. “Mark me?” Something told me I wasn’t going to like the explanation, but I held my ground and waited for an answer.

Closing his eyes, he opened them and then looked down at his hand. Reaching out he grabbed my wrist and looked at my hand and arm. Relief swept over his face. With a sigh, he moved away from me and went over and sat down in the chair we had started in. Leaning over his legs, he dropped his face into his hands.

I stood there, in shock from the sudden stop, confused by what he’d said and wanted to stomp my foot and scream. Would anything ever be simple again?

Lifting his head, he looked over at me, his eyes back to normal color but filled with a strained look. “I cannot feed from you.”

I opened my mouth and then closed it. Going over, I perched on the edge of the table in front of him. “Did I do something wrong?”

He laughed in almost a sadistic way and leaned back in the chair to stare at me. “Oh, no. It wasn’t anything you did, believe me.” Sighing, he ran a shaky hand through his hair. “I have never felt that, ever.”

I sat there, having no friggin’ clue what we were even talking about.

“I started to and the emotion was so strong…” He waved a hand around like he was trying to find his next words. “So pure it hit me like nothing ever has.”

Was that good or bad? Again, I had no idea.

“I have never…”

I jumped up and stepped back. “Yeah, never ever, we’ve covered this.”

He stopped and looked me up and down and I didn’t want to admit it but shivers traveled over each inch his eyes did. “I can’t explain it, Daxx, it’s not something that’s happened before, but I do know that feeding from you is not going to happen for now.” His voice was soft, almost pleading and my heart throbbed just hearing it.

“I really don’t understand.” Which was an understatement. “I thought…” I waved a hand at the bed. “We were…”

Getting up, he came over and stood in front of me, grasping my shoulders he leaned down so we were face to face. “Oh, we were and a few minutes more and we’d be having this conversation without our clothes on.” He sighed, “and you’d be really pissed off with me.” His look softened. “I almost marked you as my mate, kitten, and as much as I’d love that, I think we should try to avoid that happening right now.”

My eyes bulged. “What do you mean as your mate?” I looked at the bed like it had the answers. “I thought it was sex.”

Releasing my shoulders, he straightened up. “That too.” Shaking his head, he paced away from me. “My head is too full of you right now to explain it, but for now please accept that I cannot feed from you and we should avoid being too close until I understand what almost happened.”

The fact that he wasn’t quite sure made me feel a little better. A very little. “Fine.”

Chase turned and looked at me. “Please don’t be angry.” He came back over and touched my chin so I had to look up at him. “If I didn’t think you’d stab me with your knife afterward we’d be over there naked for the next twelve hours.”

I pouted. Twelve hours? How would that be a bad thing?

Lowering his lips to mine, he kissed me softly. “And you would stab me and hate me if I did what every instinct in my body is telling me to do.”

Wave after wave of emotion poured into me, I knew they were what he was feeling and it made me a light headed. Then they were gone as quickly as they had been there. Taking a deep breath, I tried to stay calm and sensible. “So what now?”

Brushing my hair back from my face, he offered an unsure smile before dropping his hand and stepping back. “I leave. You rest. We’ve have a big day tomorrow and once we get through that, we’ll talk and figure this out.”

My jaw dropped. I’d forgotten all about it. Since when had I ever let hormones rule over me? Never had the prospect of sex erased logic. Needing to sort through the why and how, I nodded. “Okay. I won’t say I understand but as I’m a little confused on what happened and you are as well, I think some time would help.”

He grinned. “On one hand, it might.” Stepping slowly backward toward the door, his eyes raked over me and those shivers returned. “On the other hand, no amount of time is going to stop me from wanting to hear you scream my name in pleasure, kitten.”

My breath hitched at the images that flashed through my mind. His smile widened like he could see them as well. “I’ll see you for breakfast.”

I nodded, not even remembering how to form words.