"Slade."

"That's it, honey. Open for me."

His lips closed gently around her c.l.i.t, pressing softly as he pinched her nipple again. She arched up into the caress with another incoherent cry as he parted her folds with his finger, easing first one and then another into her tight channel. She couldn't hold back a moan at the intimate stretching, gasping as he sucked gently and eased his fingers deeper. She gave up the last of her resistance with a breathless cry as he did it again, and again, her legs going slack, no longer fighting him, no longer holding him, just laying there letting him take her wherever he wished.

He took her higher. Always taking her higher. The pleasure drew into a tight, explosive ball between her legs as he took her deeper into his mouth, into the pa.s.sion. Her arms quivered and her breath caught in her throat. Her nails sc.r.a.ped across the sheets in a fruitless effort to hold on as he twisted her nipple harder, thrust deeper, spiked the flames hotter. It was too much. It wasn't enough.

She twisted on the bed. "Slade."

Pleasure tore his name from her lips, her mind. Energy whipped from him to her, crackling around them as he growled his enjoyment. When he tested her c.l.i.t with the edge of his teeth, the air was suddenly too thick to breathe, her mind too heavy to think, the pleasure too intense to be born.

"Please ..." She was there, right there, every muscle quivering, every sense tuned to him. Gathering the sheets in her hands, she groaned. "I need to come."

"Not yet."

This time she grabbed his hair and yanked. It didn't do any good. All it got her was a chuckle as Slade kissed his way up her body, avoiding those spots that would've tipped her over the edge. Against her thigh, his thick c.o.c.k pressed. Catching her hands in his, he pinned them to the mattress above her head. She glared into his face. He smiled down into hers. How could he smile at a time like this?

"Spread your legs."

Defiance rose at the order. This was her life, her moment, and she would not be dictated to. "No."

Instead of getting mad, he smiled. Then leaned down. She couldn't take her eyes away from his lips. "No?"

With a slow twist of his hips he overrode her weakness. His thigh slid between hers, his c.o.c.k pressed against the crease in her p.u.s.s.y. For the pulse of a second he let it rest against her, letting her absorb the heat, the size, before he slowly dragged the thick length, tip to base, along her swollen c.l.i.t.

And that fast, her objections died. He could have anything he wanted of her as long as he didn't stop. Her legs spread. Her breath caught.

"That's right, let me in. Just let me in, no fighting."

Her "Why not?" died in a squeak, but they were so connected he heard it anyway.

"Because I'm on the edge. Because I'm vampire and you're my mate and the need to change you is strong in me."

That snapped her eyes open. She wanted Slade, but she didn't want to be vampire. "No."

He kissed her objection into oblivion. "I won't convert you, but we will have this."

This was a settling of his c.o.c.k into the well of her v.a.g.i.n.a, heavy and thick. Another tension entered the mix. She didn't know if she could take him.

You can.

She was getting used to the way he slid in and out of her mind. "It's been a long time."

He kissed her lips, softly, an oasis of calm in the middle of the storm. "Then we'll take it slow. Put your arms around my neck."

She did.

Holding her gaze, he eased his body into hers, blending them together in a steady push. She shivered and gasped as delicate inner muscles caressed his thick shaft. It was hot, wonderful. So good. The pressure built as he pressed deeper almost to the edge of pain.

Digging her nails into the back of his neck she gasped, "Slade."

He stopped, resting inside her. "Too much?"

"I can't..." She shook her head not able to convey to him what was going on inside, the desire to run. The need to stay. A conflict too big to put into words, but she didn't need to. His mind was meshed with hers.

"Shh. It's all right. We're in no hurry." He continued to kiss her and stroke her and hold her until her fear faded and her inner muscles relaxed. His c.o.c.ked flexed, stretching her oh so deliciously. Arching up, she took more, shivering as his c.o.c.k flexed again. Nothing had ever been like this, felt like this. Nothing else ever would.

"So good," she groaned. "You feel so good."

"Very good."

The masculine whisper filled her mind. His energy wrapped around her. Pa.s.sion. Perfection. He offered it all to her in a steady thrust. She gasped and he held himself still, letting her adjust, before pulling back and slowly, steadily seating himself to the hilt. As his groin settled against her swollen c.l.i.t in a slow grind, his fingers grazed her cheek in that way that said so much. "Okay?"

She nodded and turned her head, amazed she found her voice amidst the tumult. "Better than okay."

"Good." Leaning down, he sucked at her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, nibbling the tip, catching it between his teeth, biting lightly. It wasn't enough. She needed more.

"Oh please. Harder."

"You sure?"

Did he think she would break? "Positive."

His hand slip between them, settling on her c.l.i.t in a tiny culmination that became something bigger, growing as he rubbed at first gently and firmer, never quite giving her what she needed to come, keeping her balanced on that sharp edge of desire.

She could feel the force of his pa.s.sion. His need to possess. He needed her like she needed him, yet he was denying them both. Why?

"Slade!"

"Right here."

Wrapping her thighs around his hips, she drew him to her. "No more games."

"I'm not playing."

"Neither am I." Lifting her hips, she took him deeper still, smiling at his groan, at the breach in his energy that signaled his loss of control. Relishing the rush of desire that rolled over her. Relishing the knowledge that he couldn't resist her anymore than she could resist him. Smiling, she met him thrust for thrust.

"That's right, take what you want."

What she wanted was everything. "More," she gasped, twisting up into his thrust. She wanted more. He gave it to her, but it wasn't enough. She needed him deeper, harder. She needed him wild. "Son of a b.i.t.c.h."

In a move so fast it left her blinking, he flipped her over onto her hands and knees. For a second she saw herself through his eyes. Hips white and rounded, looking impossibly lush above her parted thighs and swollen p.u.s.s.y. He loved her a.s.s. She went with him mentally as his gaze followed the line of her spine to where her hair fell away from the nape of her neck, leaving it exposed and vulnerable. She felt Slade's pleasure. Slade's l.u.s.t as his c.o.c.k pressed against her. On the next breath the image snapped, and then it was just her l.u.s.t consuming her, her need. Her pleasure.

His hand came down on her hip in a light spank. "Now."

Spreading her legs, she welcomed his possession, pushing back as he thrust in, groaning as every inch of his thick c.o.c.k stroked along that certain spot inside that was like striking a match to tinder. He felt bigger this way. Better. Harder.

"More," she gasped. She just needed a little bit more.

He gave it to her, thrusting harder, deeper, slapping her a.s.s when she cried out, doing it again when she begged. The sting blended with the heat. Just a little more. That's all she needed. Just a little.

"Slade," she called his name, needing him there with her when she lost track of herself. "Slade!"

"Jane."

Her name was a harsh curse on his lips. A blessing. An inducement to push harder, to demand more. His fingers wrapped in her hair, pulling her head back, pulling her back into every thrust. "More." Oh G.o.d! She needed more. "I need all of you."

"s.h.i.tyes!"

He came over her back, bracing himself on one hand while his other slid down over her stomach to cup her p.u.s.s.y, anchoring her there as his fingers found her c.l.i.t, centering her with a pluck.

"d.a.m.n it, Slade! Don't tease."

"No, baby. I won't." His breath caressed her nape. "I just want to be sure," he breathed as he tested the tight flesh around their joining. His lips touched the side of her neck. Every nerve tingled. Goose b.u.mps rose over her skin. He wouldn't ...

Before she could gather a protest, he pinched her c.l.i.t, rolling it between his fingers as his c.o.c.k slammed home. Pleasure exploded into ecstasy and she came, crying his name, hearing him whisper in her ear and then feeling his teeth grazed her neck. She froze as another whisper followed the first.

Mine.

"No!" Was all she managed to gasp before his will overpowered hers.

She didn't want to be vampire.

13.

THE SUV pulled up to her bungalow on its quiet street in its quiet neighborhood. It would be so nice if everything else was quiet, but it wasn't. The energy filling the SUV was tense, almost angry. And it wasn't only because Derek, the big rough military-looking werewolf who was a friend of Slade's, was with them. The man radiated hostility in a restrained it-would-just-take-one-little-thing kind of way. He was a perfect example of suppressed rage eating a man from the inside out. All the werewolves were tense.

As if he heard her thoughts, Derek turned and ordered, "Wait here."

Opening the door, she got out. The look he shot her would have turned her to stone if he'd had the power.

Jane gave him her sweetest smile and hitched her laptop case onto her shoulder. "You forgot to say please."

Slade caught her wrist and pulled her back. There was something both endearing and enraging in the way he was always pulling her away from the edge of her own recklessness.

"I've got her."

Derek grunted and motioned the other weres forward.

As they disappeared into the shadows surrounding her quaint little home, taking their tense energy with them, Jane felt the anger inside her lessen.

"Do you really think the big bad Sanctuary is sitting here at my house waiting on my visit?"

"I think they've got the place watched."

"Not anymore."

Tobias slid up beside them. A shadow shifting within the shadows. Jane couldn't help her jump. The man made her nervous. His energy was such a seething ma.s.s of indefinable qualities. She didn't trust anyone who wouldn't fit some pigeonhole somewhere.

"Stop creeping about."

He didn't apologize, just gave her a look that mirrored the one Derek had shot her. No sound came from the house.

"There were only two lookouts," Tobias told Slade.

Were. She shuddered. Slade squeezed her hand. It was an almost absentminded gesture. Like the others, his attention was on their surroundings.

"Did they get notice out?" he asked Tobias.

"Not those two, but it's possible there were others. It was foolish for her to come."

Jane slammed the door closed. Her? "What is your problem with me, Tobias?"

He looked at her over the roof of the car. "You keep secrets."

"So do you."

"Your secrets could get people killed."

"And yours won't?"

Slade's grip on her arm tightened in warning. "Are you questioning my mate's loyalty, Enforcer?"

"She's not your mate in fact."

"As far as you're concerned, she is."

Jane wanted to push them both aside. She had had her fill of arrogant men.

"That true?" Tobias asked.

He was trying to back her into a corner. Did he really think she was that easy to manipulate?

Yes.

Good G.o.d! He was in her head. "Go to h.e.l.l."

"We're all going to be there soon if you can't bring in the promise of your research."

"I can bring it in." Just maybe not in the time Joseph needed. She pictured the baby's wan little face. Nothing short of his plight could have forced her to reveal her hiding place, but without her notes, she couldn't attempt his cure. So in a blind leap of faith, she'd agreed to this trip. "But it does seem to me that if I can't pull this off you're simply back to where you started."

"There's no putting the genie back in the bottle once it's out."