He raised his hands in a placatory gesture. "It's nothing personal, Sam, I just -"

"When are you going to grow up and accept that we have to work together?"

"Sam -"

"This I don't need help' c.r.a.p is getting old now. Hurts your pride that you have a female Svente backing you up, does it? Tough. That squad is mine just as much as it is yours."

"I didn't say it wasn't. There are plenty of other places you could cover."

"I believe I already stated, Jared, that I wished for you to both lead the squad together during the attack," said Antonio. "It wasn't a request. Now, let us move on."

While Will and Lou put forward suggestions for the placing of the squads during the attack and what tactics each should use, I sat there seething. I didn't care that the irritation and lividness was pouring off me, or that everyone in the room could sense it. That sod had just tried to cut me out again. I felt utterly betrayed; he hadn't ever really seen me as an equal at all, had he? Not as a colleague and probably not even as a person. He definitely didn't respect me if he thought he could s.h.a.g me one minute then turn on me the next. I'd understand if I didn't take my job seriously or something, but it was the opposite. I loved my job and I had tried so hard with those recruits; I'd invested time and sweat in their training and it had paid off. And now Jared was happy to cut me out again.

I was surprised by how much it stung. This was a person I had come to care about and, as painful as it was to face, Joy had been totally spot-on: I was just another piece of a.s.s' to him.

Sam, will you just I didn't want to hear it. I slammed up my mental shields; Victor had made sure I had strong ones to ensure I could resist any vampiric attempts at brainwashing. If Jared was going to shut me out then I'd shut him out as well. He remained uncharacteristically quiet through the entire meeting which I thought was pretty wise because keeping a low profile in front of me was the only way I was going to calm down.

After much debating it was eventually decided that The Hollow's legion would cover the North of the island, Bran's legion would cover the East, Connelly's would cover the West, and Kaiser's would cover the South. It was also agreed that Alora would join Evan's legion for the attack; I suspected that this was the only way he'd be able to function, having her there where he could see she was safe.

The second Antonio announced that the meeting was over I was on my feet. Apparently Jared's common sense had left him because he tried to speak to me again. I pointed at him hard. "You stay out of my face."

"Why can't you just -"

"Sam," called Antonio as he approached, "might Luther, Sebastian and I have a word?" He gestured for me to follow them, and Jared, the cheeky t.w.a.t, actually went to follow. "Alone," Antonio added. Jared spat a profanity at the ceiling and then stormed off muttering to himself. It wasn't until we were inside one of Antonio's many parlours, settled on a bulky sofa that he spoke again. "I can only apologise for Jared's behaviour. I had thought that he would have accepted the situation and swallowed his pride by now."

"I don't want to talk about him," I said as I stroked Nero attentively, hoping to calm myself. "Let's just get down to business, shall we. You want to know what my new gift is, right?"

Antonio, Luther and Sebastian exchanged excited looks.

"The wait has been agonising," admitted Luther with a smile.

"I doubt your suffering was much worse than the shock I had when it surfaced." Seeing their looks of expectation, I decided to teasingly spoon feed them info. Simple pleasures and all that. I smiled. "It's really good."

"How good?"

"It turns out that this gift doesn't run in Svente lines either." I heard them all gasp slightly. "Should I be shocked by that or did you expect it to not be aSvente gift considering that my other one isn't?"

"We had no way of knowing," replied Antonio.

"It runs in Pagori lines just like Feeders. Oi, you don't think I'm really a Pagori, do you?"

"You're definitely a Svente as you well know," said Antonio impatiently.

Sebastian appealed to me with a look. "Is the suspense really necessary?"

"It's pretty rare."

"Oh Sam do stop this and satisfy three old men's raging curiosity."

"It turns out I'm now a Merger as well as a Feeder."

All three men gasped again then smiled approvingly.

Luther puffed. "I hadn't seen that coming."

"Oh this is even better than what my guesses were," said Antonio. "I've only ever met one Merger before. It is a substantial gift. He described the sensation of Merging with someone as slightly painful and uncomfortable but also very empowering."

I nodded. "You feel full of power, like you could do just about anything."

"That is why it can also be a very dangerous gift to have."

I nodded again. "It was so odd. I could tap into every single bit of energy that was inside Joy -"

"Joy?" asked Antonio, a brow arched. I continued on, regardless.

"- but I knew there was no way I'd be able to use her gift because she was resisting the whole experience. But I could have drained her." Full points to me for resisting.

"As I said, it is a dangerous gift to have. People can become drugged on the energy and power. But, then again, being a Feeder can be just as dangerous and yet you have more than mastered that. Still, be careful with it, Sam. Be wary of using it during the attack; you are still new to it and that would be the wrong time to experiment with it."

"What would be the point of having these gifts if I ain't going to use them?" I'd be using them for something else very soon too, and I was as eager as h.e.l.l for it. Jared would have no room to moan because he'd brought this on himself.

(Jared) s.h.i.t! s.h.i.t! s.h.i.t!

There was no denying that I had well and truly f.u.c.ked up. Just when I'd had Sam starting to relax around me and open up to me, I went and said something that pretty much guaranteed that she would hate me. I knew what leading the squad meant to her. I knew that she was capable of leading them during an attack. In fact, she was one of the most capable commanders I'd ever met. I knew how much the squad would benefit from having her there during the attack. I knew how much I'd benefit from having her there. I knew that she could take care of herself and didn't need mine or anyone else's protection.

So why didn't I want her covering the front line with me?

Because just the thought of her being in that level of danger made me feel ill inside, no matter how capable she was.

And why did the idea of her in danger make me feel ill inside?

For the same reason that the idea of her in danger scared the c.r.a.p out of me: I loved the crazy b.i.t.c.h.

I'd realised it the second I teleported into the office and saw her with Max. Or, I should say, I saw Joy with Max. It explained so much: why I hadn't been able to shake her off, why I'd wanted her so badly and so completely, why I sensed her and her emotions. I didn't know when it happened or if it had been a gradual thing that had only crept up on me today. I just knew that it was real and that if anything at all ever happened to her I'd never be able to get through it.

I also knew that I couldn't tell her.

Sam had told me that time in her apartment that she didn't want to love anyone ever again, that she didn't want anything complicated. Telling her I loved her would be a sure-fire way to make her keep as far away from me as possible. I was going to have a hard enough time getting her to calm down for me after what went on in the meeting so mentioning the word love' was out of the question.

Sick of twiddling my thumbs and procrastinating, I teleported from my apartment to the office to see her and face the music. I frowned at the empty room. Next I tried her apartment. No Sam there either. Was she staying away from the obvious places because she didn't want to see me? She had to know that all I had to do was tap into that link we had and use it to find her. Unless she wasn't aware of the link...?

Sighing, I reached for her through the link and immediately teleported myself to her. Suddenly I was at the arena which was empty apart from Sam. She was pacing at the Northern side and smiled evilly at me when she saw me.

"Took your b.l.o.o.d.y time," she snapped.

Then I watched as she sucked the surrounding energy into her palms and shaped it into her silvery-blue energy whip. Oh s.h.i.t. She'd known about the link, she'd known I could use it to find her, and she'd been counting on me doing it.

Chapter Fifteen.

(Jared) "Sam," I drawled in a calming tone, "let's talk, I don't want to duel with you." She cracked the whip at me. I jerked back a few steps and it missed me by inches. "Look, I know you're mad at me but -"

"I'm not mad, I'm p.i.s.sed." She cracked the whip at me again. This time it caught the hand I had held up in a white-flag gesture, and it stung like f.u.c.k.

"Jesus, Sam, will you just listen."

"What's the point? There's honestly nothing you could say that would change the fact that I want to whip your a.r.s.e around this arena until you beg me to stop. Not that I will stop."

Again she lashed the whip and again it caught me; this time on my ear. Even in spite of the pain, I couldn't help noticing how s.e.xy she looked right now with her eyes smouldering and that whip threading through her fingers. "Baby, just listen to me -"

"Oh no, you don't get to call me that. I'm not your baby." As if to punctuate that, she cracked the whip again and it slashed my chest, tearing my t-shirt and also the flesh underneath. It burnt even as it healed itself. What burnt more were her words.

"Like h.e.l.l you're not." With that I released a stream of electric sparks through my fingers, zapping the ground near her feet. I could tell by the maddened expression on her face that she knew I'd purposely missed.

"Fight me!" Abruptly she cracked the whip hard; it sliced along my cheek, lips and jaw. It hurt like a b.i.t.c.h! Without giving me time to recover, she cracked it again. A sharp stinging-burning pain ran along my thigh.

"I told you, I don't want to duel with you! Now will you just calm the h.e.l.l down so we can talk?!"

"About what, Heir Boy? About how I'm okay to s.h.a.g and feed from but I'm not good enough to lead alongside you? About how you're cutting me out again? About how you're a s.e.xist, lying, backstabbing b.a.s.t.a.r.d?" The whip slashed through my t-shirt again so there was now an X running through it.

"It wasn't that I was trying to cut you out."

"You've been trying to cut me out from day one!"

This time the whip cut through the flesh of my shin. Jesus, this woman was merciless!

"You know what's funny? Last night at the gathering when everyone was looking down on me 'cause I'm a Svente, I wondered if you'd go back to being like that after you'd s.h.a.gged me. Hmm. Seems like that was more of a premonition really."

"Dammit, Sam, I don't look down on you." The whip caught my earlobe so hard I jumped. "G.o.ddammit!"

"I can't believe I ever thought you might just respect me. Not that I thought you respected me as much as the others do, but I thought you might just be getting there. But no, you're still the s.e.xist t.w.a.t I met at the pool."

"If you'd just lower that whip for a minute and let me speak I can expl -" The whip clipped my earlobe again where it hurt the most; which was obviously why she'd done it again. Even though my blood had only seeped to the surface slightly with each tear of my flesh before repairing itself, the scent was still potent in the air. I could see that it was getting to her by the way her nostrils were flaring and how she was repeatedly swallowing hard. I was thinking of how I might be able to use it to my advantage but her next words cut off all thoughts.

"Max was right about you, I should've listened to the bloke. I should've stayed well away from you. I should've s.h.a.gged him!"

And there went my patience and my rationality. With my Pagori speed I was on her before she'd even finished lashing the whip, slamming her into the wall. "I don't want you on the front line because I don't want you being hurt, you insane b.i.t.c.h!" Then I closed my mouth over hers, forcefully thrusting my tongue into her mouth to stroke her own. It was a punishing, possessive, hungry kiss. That same blast of fire that always came with kissing her rushed through me just as it rushed through her, but I could sense she was still ready to fight me off. I palmed her breast and then, with my thumb, zapped her nipple with a brief electric discharge. She jerked and moaned so I did it again.

"How could you think I look down on you?" I demanded, but I kissed her again before she could speak. "Whether you believe it or not, I admire you, I respect you and I care about you." I held back the L word. Maybe there would come a time to tell her, but it wasn't now. I sensed the shock she was feeling quickly give way to scepticism. Cutting off whatever she was about to say, I cupped her and zapped her c.l.i.t. "It's true. And I can't stand the idea of anything happening to you." While zapping her c.l.i.t again with one hand I zapped a nipple with the other. She half-moaned half-whimpered and gripped my t-shirt as if to anchor herself. "Like that, baby?"

Her eyes flipped open and her glare was fierce. "I said don't call me that."

I cupped her harder and zapped her c.l.i.t again. "I'll call you that as often as I d.a.m.n well want."

"You're a b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

I freed my painfully hard c.o.c.k from my jeans. "Yeah? Well this b.a.s.t.a.r.d's about to f.u.c.k you, baby." With Pagori speed I slipped my hands under her thighs, hoisted her up, tore open her pants and plunged inside her; seating myself to the hilt in one harsh stroke. We both groaned. "Jesus, Sam," I breathed against her lips as her muscles clamped around my c.o.c.k. She was so hot and tight and wet, and she was all mine whether she liked it or not.

(Sam) Why did it have to feel so good to have him inside me? The way he filled me and stretched me made me feel completely and utterly taken. I wanted so much to hate him and his touch. I wanted so much to be able to snort at his claim to care about me and air-blast him away. If it hadn't been for that link I'd be convinced that he'd been talking tripe, but I'd sensed his honesty and also his fear that I was hurt. I had to admit to myself, though, that even if I hadn't sensed those things I probably wouldn't have been able to fight this need to have him, especially when this might actually be our last night together.

"Can you feel how much I love being deep inside you?" His voice was thick with l.u.s.t and a need to move that, for whatever dumb reason, he was resisting. I nodded. "I can sense how much you love it too."

It was at times like this that that stupid link really cheesed me off; him knowing things like this gave him power over me. To add to that, it made me feel exposed and vulnerable like I was an open book to be read at his leisure. What was frustrating me even more now, however, was that he wasn't moving. I tightened my legs around his hips and squeezed my inner muscles around his d.i.c.k, hoping to incite him.

"You want me to f.u.c.k you, baby?"

"You dare ask me to beg again and I'll rip your b.o.l.l.o.c.ks off."

"I don't want you to beg. I want you to admit that it's only me you want, no one else. What, you thought saying you wished you'd f.u.c.ked Max wasn't going to make me p.i.s.sed?"

Oh and he was p.i.s.sed. In fact, I'd never seen Jared this agitated before. In all fairness, though, if he'd have said something like that to me about another woman I'd have set him on fire and then done a celebratory dance around his ashes.

"Admit it, it's not him you want buried inside you like this, is it?"

"No."

Rewardingly he withdrew and then drove himself deep. I groaned and locked my arms around his neck. "And it's not any other guy you want like this either, is it?"

"No."

Again he withdrew and then surged into me, wringing another groan from me. "Who is it you do want? Tell me."

"You."

"That's a very good thing, baby, because if another guy even tries to touch you I'll f.u.c.king kill him." Palming my a.r.s.e to hold me still he began pounding into me like he was possessed. And that was exactly how I wanted him. G.o.d, it was absolutely amazing. Each thrust was harsh and ruthless. It was as if each time he drove into me he was driving home his words. "I've needed to f.u.c.k you since the second I laid eyes on you, Sam. Even then, even that very first day, I couldn't shake that G.o.dd.a.m.n feeling that you were mine."

I opened my mouth to say something but all that came out was a moan. I realised then that I had no idea what to say. Part of me wanted to deny that I was his or anyone else's, yet another part of me wanted to growl at him that he was mine too and that he'd better remember that.

I don't know what he saw in my expression but suddenly he raised a brow and growled, "Are you going to tell me you're not mine?" He knotted a hand in my hair. "Are you?"

Begrudgingly I said, "No, but you're still a b.l.o.o.d.y b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

He gave me a lopsided smile and then there was an odd sensation in my stomach and suddenly I was lying on my back on golden silk sheets. Jared was stood at the edge of his bed ragging off what was left of my pants and thong. He then rid himself of his own clothes but I didn't get much time to ogle because abruptly he closed his mouth over my c.l.i.t and suckled. Jesus! At the same time he ripped my top and bra wide open and started zapping my nipples again, subjecting me to a sensory overload. He really was a b.a.s.t.a.r.d.

I hated the way I was writhing and twisting and whimpering but I couldn't help it. I wanted to tell him to stop but if anyone knew how to tease it was Jared, and he was such a master at it that he robbed you of the ability to speak. He continued until I was not only speechless but mindless, then my entire body clenched and jerked and it felt like I'd imploded as my release hit.

When I opened my eyes again it was to find him gazing at me wearing the c.o.c.kiest, self-satisfied expression. I just wanted to wipe it right off his face. Oh and I was going to. I crooked my finger at him and instantly he crawled over me and meshed his lips with mine. His kiss was hungry and, again, possessive. If he hadn't been off-guard, I doubt I'd have been able to do it but I actually managed to flip him onto his back. He looked up at me as I straddled him, surprised but pleasantly surprised. But I didn't impale myself on him as he was obviously expecting. No, because I had a point to prove: that I could make him as mindless as he could make me.

I shrugged off my ruined top and bra and then crawled backwards until my head was level with his c.o.c.k which was, I have to say, a very impressive one. I licked the entire length of it from base to tip and then swirled my tongue around the head. Jared shuddered and groaned. Knowing this was going to shock the h.e.l.l out of him, I couldn't help smiling. I inhaled the energy around me just as I had that time in our office while we duelled and wrecked it. But instead of releasing a concentrated air blast, I threw my head back and exhaled a timid flame of fire, heating up my mouth. Jared's brows shot up and I smiled, but before he could speak I'd closed my mouth over his d.i.c.k.

(Jared) As Sam took my c.o.c.k into her scorching hot mouth I almost came right then, I'd never felt anything like it before. "Christ, baby, that feels so f.u.c.king good." It would've felt amazing having her deep-throat me purely because it was Sam, but this...Jesus she was going to kill me. She sucked me deeper each time, gliding her hot tongue along the underside and occasionally grazing with her teeth. I was completely hypnotised by the sight of my c.o.c.k disappearing into her luscious, talented mouth. She was sucking so hard that her cheeks hollowed. "Christ, Sam." And now she was playing with my b.a.l.l.s at the same time. G.o.d I loved this woman: this very crazy, borderline-homicidal on second thought, sc.r.a.p the borderline woman.

I drove my hand into her hair and began lifting my hips, surging up to meet her burning hot mouth. I was practically f.u.c.king it but she just smiled around my c.o.c.k. Knowing I wasn't going to last much longer, I pulled her head away. "I need to be inside you now."