"Uh-uh. I'm not ready for that yet."

"Not ready or the idea scares you?"

She took a deep breath then belched. "Both."

There he went again. Aloofness showed on his face. .She was saying the wrong things to the wrong person... vampire. Whatever!

"You're running out of time. I don't know how long we'll be stuck here in this cabin together." He leaned forward. The blanket wrapped around his waist fell open. His lower region shadowed. "I chased the rats out but with the food on the floor they'll want to come back."

"If I eat big meals twice a day, I should be okay."

"I've bitten you three times already," he said, ignoring her last statement." Then he covered his mouth in mock surprise. "Oh my bad. It's been four times."

She wanted to slap him so hard his brother would feel it. "You bit me when we made love last night?"

"I bit you in the apartment, in the subway as well as here in the cabin after we had s.e.x last night. I bit you the first time we made love."

"You didn't."

"I did. Think back, Ilida."

The aloof expression on Daedalus's face changed to cold hardness. His violet eyes turned icy blue. He bore into her eyes, waiting as a chill grew between them.

"Why don't I remember?"

"I didn't remember until after I woke with your taste in my mouth."

"That's bull! I thought you fed to live only."

"I've developed an appet.i.te for you."

Just what she wanted to hear. She gives a vampire a voracious appet.i.te. He gave her one in return, though it's an appet.i.te for all of him.

"So now what?"

"There's more. I shared blood with you once."

She couldn't help but touch her throat. She ran her fingertips over the bite marks. The jagged wounds pulsed. Reminding her, she was his.

"If I share blood with you again forget about going back to your old life."

"I swallowed your blood?"

"Not without protest on your part." He smiled. "You wanted to live. You swallowed my blood."

She remembered the salty sweet taste in her mouth. She shivered wrapping the blanket tightly around her, but it wasn't from the cold.

"You must hate the idea," he taunted. "You think we're all the same, Ilida, willing to bite anything that moves."

"And you're like a wounded child or animal striking at whomever might hurt you. I don't think you're like those other vampires."

"Well now. Why don't I believe you?" Daedalus's mouth took on a cruel twist. "Should I f.u.c.k you again to get the truth?"

"Read my thoughts. You have no problem doing that."

"A good f.u.c.k might work best."

Despite the fear coursing through her, she felt an unpleasant, hot desire. She didn't know which emotion to hang onto first. She wanted him.

He was in her blood, and she was going to give him whatever he wanted. "I think you're trying to scare me. But I've been scared enough for a lifetime."

He crawled over to her as if stalking her. His big erect p.e.n.i.s swung back and forth like a pendulum. She still cowered against the couch.

"I'm not trying to scare you, Ilida. Changing you might be the only way to save your life," he said as he leaped on top of her.

The cold rotted floor greeted her back. She bit her lip and parted her blankets. "You would make a wonderful relief counselor, you know that."

"Do you know I bit your c.l.i.toris last night?"

She followed his gaze to the hairy curls between her legs. Her c.l.i.toris convulsed. Her folds wetted. Her body and her erratic feelings had nothing to do with reason. He turned her on and that was the G.o.d's honest truth.

He didn't lower his hips to hers, yet. He touched her with his eyes and audibly sucked in air.

"You're already wet. Is this what frightened rabbits do when they want someone, but just can't take the leap?"

"I'm not a frightened rabbit."

"No you aren't. You're a beautiful, brave woman who can more than deal with anything that comes from this moment forward. Get used to the new you."

She didn't want to get used to anything. She wanted to go back to the way her life was before Daedalus blew into it. She gave him a right punch in the shoulder for it. "Go to West H!"

He c.o.c.ked an eyebrow. She knew it would have hurt an ordinary individual, but not him. She knew he read her thoughts then.

"You scare me, Illy."

He lowered his head for a moment then gazed at her hard.

"How?"

"You make me vulnerable. I don't like being vulnerable."

She believed him. His voice echoed around her and over the crackle of the fire. "Why do I make you vulnerable?"

"Because you care."

His expression was l.u.s.tful, hungry. She found her body responding. "Where I come from, caring isn't so bad."

"We're in a life and death situation. I have to think clearly. You don't make me think clearly."

She was so dense. Did he really care? Was she just another bed buddy until the next conquest? "Why are you telling me all of this?"

He shrugged. It infuriated her. More walls for her to break down. "Call it verbal diarrhea."

"Maybe you're being honest with me for a change."

His eyes blazed. "I'd rather f.u.c.k you than be honest now."

He was honest and cold. Ilida didn't know how much more she could take of this. He hovered over her naked. His muscles felt tense under her hands, like he was holding back. He was holding back. He would have been inside her now. His eyes glowed red in the darkness of the cabin. "Daedalus?"

"I love the way you say my name."

"You're stalling."

He paused, gazing at her notionally. "I have to feed."

"I know."

"How, Illy?"

"Your eyes are red so, I have to eat to feed you, right?"

"I have to keep you warm and feed you to keep you alive."

She forced her body to settle down and take what he was about to give, and take, from her. It was difficult with her pulse racing. "The fringe benefits?"

"s.e.x and feeding can be separated by a practiced few."

She gasped and bucked once as he rubbed the head of his p.e.n.i.s against her folds, against her c.l.i.toris.

Breathlessly, she asked, "Did you ever feed from the women you slept with?"

"No." He bent down. His lips kissed her neck. She shivered. Always she shivered. Her body bowed as he entered her slowly.

He stretched her as he pushed inside. The hood of her c.l.i.toris widened as he hotly rubbed against it. She was so sensitized her tiny glands felt every shove he gave her. Her hips pressed against him.

"Oh... Daedalus!"

Startled, stiffening pleasure, then awaiting o.r.g.a.s.m seasoned Ilida's cry. He took his moment. His fangs dug into her flesh as he moved against her.

He grew bigger inside her, harder than before as he drew out the prized liquid from her neck, and then the dance began.

It wasn't elegant the way they humped against each other. On the tiny couch, their movements were restrained but...effective. She arched into him meeting his hips. Her arousal seeped around him coating the couch underneath her.

Daedalus buried his head in the nook of her neck, seeking nourishment, seeking solace? Abruptly, he lifted his head from her neck. She rolled her forehead against his shoulder. He pummeled her hips; pushed her into the sofa.

Daedalus' eyelids shut and he threw his head back. He grasped her hips. Ilida shuddered, then her body stiffened again. He thrust so far into her that her o.r.g.a.s.m barely registered. She only felt the sweetness it left. At last, Daedalus fell over the edge and flooded into her. Her toes curled as another o.r.g.a.s.m hit her.

She caressed his neck, played with his hair. Her touch sent jolts through his skin. He barely noticed when her fingers made their way to his shoulders. His body stiffened when she traced the scars on his back. He jumped off her, pulling out of his warm, wet haven.

The smell of their lovemaking released into the air.

"What happened?" she asked. "Is it the scars?"

"The scars are none of your business."

"What?"

"You heard me!"

"I gave my blood and body to you twice. You owe me!"

I raised my fist at the wall, ready to punch it. Instead, I pivoted around, stalked over to her, grabbed her shoulders, and pinned her against the musty back cushion of the sofa. "My scars. My business. Remember that if you want to stay on my good side through this ridiculous ordeal."

Ilida's eyes were saucer-wide with fear; her body was rigid with tension.

Guilt seized me. "Don't be afraid of me."

"You're still scaring me." Just then, the blanket that was wrapped around her shoulders crept down on one side. It held its position anch.o.r.ed on her nipple made swollen by my ardent sucking. I realized I was too close to her. My eyes drifted to her full lips. "We're getting deeper and deeper into trouble."

"What do you mean?"

"Can't you feel it, Ilida? We can't keep our hands off each other. I have to work hard to stay angry with you. I didn't ask for this!"

"That night you were upset, afraid for your daughter. Your fear and anger was so overwhelming that it gave me a headache. I don't know why it was you and not someone else."

"You're sure about that? You popped into my head uninvited and set up camp without permission."

"It wasn't supposed to happen. My aunt had dampened my telepathic powers to save my sanity."

"Really? Tell auntie she didn't do a thorough job. We're blood bonded! The Hymeneal has started."

"Would you let go of your rage for one minute and tell me what that means?"

I stalked over to her and grabbed her about the shoulders again. "It means, Ilida Davis, that we are blood bonded for eternity. I feel what you feel. You feel what I feel. If I bleed, so will you. I can read your thoughts, and unfortunately, you can read mine, and the s.e.x is blindingly hot. When the blood calls for it, we won't ignore it. We're as good as married. Vampire style."

Both of us looked at where our skins touched. Familiar warmth invaded my limbs, and my c.o.c.k saluted her. I moved away from her and paced the floor, then squatted in front of the fireplace. I couldn't walk with the ever-ready hammer between my legs.

"You hate the closeness, don't you? You probably hate me."

"Hate you? How?"

"First you comfort me then you try to scare me. I don't know if you want to kill me from one moment to the next."