Zande slipped out of the bus dressed in soft, faded blue jeans. Her shirt was ribbed cotton, V-necked, and form fitting. Deliberately she had not fed this night and kept hunger uppermost in her mind, knowing Dedari might scan her. He had gone off to feed and might occasionally check on her.His lecture had been long and severe. She was feeling especially defiant and a little bit desperate. She had promised Jacob that she would meet him, and she knew if she didn’t show up, he would come for her.This is very dangerous.She searched for him, sending out her exasperated distress.Dedari and the others will be watching me.There was a moment of silence, just long enough that she thought perhaps she hadn’t connected on the correct path with him. Completely unperturbed, totally arrogant, Jacob responded.If you prefer, Zande, I will be more than happy to meet with them and discuss this rationally. You belong with me. They cannot interfere. And just who are those other two clowns? Do not try
Zande expected a savage ravishment, for Jacob’s hunger ran so deep and strong. The first touch of his lips was incredibly tender, his mouth moving over hers, memorizing the feel and shape of her, as if he were being swept away, as if he loved the taste of her. It disarmed her as nothing else could. Her legs went rubbery, but he simply gathered her tightly against him, protectively, as if sheltering her with his heart. His hand encircled her throat lovingly, his fingertips moving in a tender caress that sent heat pooling low and a wave of weakness flowing through her body. She made a sound, a low moan of alarm. He was stealing her soul, taking her heart with his gentleness. She found his thick mane of golden hair with her fists, clung to him for support. He was ensnaring her for all time, and she was giving herself to him without a fight.He was a dangerous, violent predator, yet he held her protectively, kissed her as if she were the most precious thing in the world. It was as if he
Jacob shared the beauty of the night with Zande. He had not seen color in more than three years, so it was all new and wonderful to him. The silvery leaves of the trees glittering below them, the sheen of water from the large lake nearby, the haunting shriek of an owl as it missed its prey, and the rustle of gray mice scurrying through vegetation on the forest floor.Dedari would be unable to track Zande while they were merged so fully together. The moment they were apart again, he could find her. The trick was to take her far away, set up as many blinds as time would allow, so that Dedari would have no choice but to turn back, seeking safety before the dawn broke upon them.Zande faltered for a moment when she read Jacob’s intentions. She had not considered being away from her family during the day, when she would be completely vulnerable. At once Jacob sent her waves of warmth and reassurance, the implacable resolve of the male to protect his mate above all else. While she was with
Jacob’s smile was like a physical touch on Zande, a soft caress. "I have lived years without seeing color or feeling emotion. And then I found you. The world is now beautiful again and filled with life, with color, with so much intense emotion I can barely process it. When I look at you my body is alive. My heart is overwhelmed. You are the one.""What happens if the woman does not feel it also?"Zande asked, curious. This was an entirely new concept to her, one she had never considered."There is only one true lifemate for each of us. If the male feels it, so does his mate." His white teeth flashed at her. "Perhaps she might wish to be stubborn and not admit it right away, not wanting her freedom curtailed for all time. Because there are so few of your women, they are guarded carefully from birth and given into the care of their lifemate as soon as they are of age.""What do you mean, her freedom is curtailed for all time?" Zande suddenly felt restless. Just watching the easy way his
At once pleasure beat at Zande; it took hold and rushed through her body like a wall of flame, a firestorm of beauty and ecstasy. Sweet and hot. Immeasurable. Like nothing she had ever known. It was addictive, consuming, eternal. There would never be a Zande without Jacob. Never a Jacob without Zande. She would need his body, his blood, and his soul for all the rest of her days. He would need hers.Gasping, terrified, Zande closed the tiny pinpricks and held on to him, the only solid anchor in a world that seemed to be disintegrating around her. At once his arms were there, real and strong, his chin nuzzling the top of her head so that silken strands of her hair were caught in the golden shadow on his jaw, weaving them together like threads. "Do not fear this, piccola." He muttered softly."I know what to do. I am ancient and powerful and know the ways of our people. This is natural for us."She shook her head, her heart pounding. "Not for me. You do not understand at all, Jacob. I
Zande lifted her head from the warmth and temptation of Jacob’s chest. Her enormous eyes were soft with sadness. "I know you do not understand, but I can do no other than return to my family right now. I refuse to continue being irresponsible, selfish, when my brother has given so much."She expected Jacob to argue with her, and her hand, positioned over his heart, trembled. Jacob’s golden eyes drifted possessively over her upturned face. His burning hunger, so intense, so blatant, took her breath away, stole her resolve. How could a man need her so much? How could he show that need to her without ego or fear that he would be totally vulnerable? How could she turn away from such an honest burning need? "Jacob." She whispered his name, an aching desire, feeling torn between two strong men, two loyalties, one she didn’t even understand."We have a few short hours until the dawn, cara. If you insist on returning to Dedari, then we must do so." His voice was a soft, mesmerizing spell,
Jacob swore the ground moved beneath his feet. Zande knew she heard the roar of thunder and felt the blue-white lash of lightning. Jacob kicked open the door to the cabin and managed to make it inside, his body raging. The beast within, ever present, fought for supremacy. He fastened his mouth to hers, a little out of control, a soft warning growl emanating from deep within his throat as she tried to lift her head.His hand spanned her throat, holding her to him, holding her as if she were a part of him. Holding her as if she was the most precious thing in the world and he couldn’t be without her. His other hand skimmed her waist, then stopped to rest there, hot and urgent even though his palm was lying quietly against her skin. Zande was so aware of it, aware of how close it was to the most intimate, sensitive parts of her body. She ached for him. Wanted him. She was beyond thinking rationally; she wanted his hand to move. Either direction, it didn’t matter. His mouth was hot a
The intensity of Jacob’s feelings, the burning pleasure he was experiencing, were there for Zande to share, just as he could feel the rapture of her own body, reveling in his possession. He began to move, surging into her with sure, hard strokes that seemed to build in intensity, causing a fiery friction between them so hot they were consumed with the flames.She clung to him, her safe anchor, as he transported them higher, ever higher, to a place of such ecstasy she wasn’t certain she could stand it. His mouth fed at her, his hips drove into her, a frenzy of lust and love, of reverence and craving. It went on and on until her body seemed to belong to him rather than her, until she heard herself give a soft cry of sheer shock as her body seemed to fragment into a thousand pieces, to shatter, as wave after wave of fire rocked her, convulsing her muscles so that she tightened around him even more, gripping and demanding.He swept his tongue over the curve of her breast, closing the t
When they clambered to the surface of the ground, away from the lab, the girls breathed in relief, freed from the nightmares they had been subjected to for years. It was then that Olivera took a blood bag from the polythene in her arms, feeling better in the night hair, and took a sip, wary of how the blood would taste. She had heard Jacob talking about the heady feeling, worse if it came from an ancient. But it still hadn’t prepared her for the kick of pleasure. She found herself moaning as she greedily drank the blood, until she drained the bag. When she was done, she looked at the others. They were staring at her with unexplainable emotions on their faces. At least it wasn’t disgust. Olivera thought with a shrug, before handing the bag over to Miriam. When her friend hesitated in collecting it, she piqued an eyebrow. “You want to do the dismantling of the structure, without alerting the soldiers?” Miriam huffed, and took the bag. As much as she had great magic, she didn’t want
The first thing Olivera saw when she stepped into the hole where the passageway stopped was the largeness of the space, which could contain more than five thousand people. Then she saw the tubes, the boiling liquids and the lab rats. A modern lab.‘Where are you?’ She asked the girl, needing to get out of here; it was making her nauseous. Ten more minutes here, and she might be vomiting all over the place. And there was the fact that she didn’t know when the soldiers would be waking up. ‘At the far end of the cave…’Olivera nodded as if the girl was speaking to her physically. And gesturing with her head, for Miriam to follow her, she sauntered toward the end of the hall, making sure not to look at the tubes housing different organs and parts of an organism. What the hell! She screamed mentally when she saw a full brain at a table which looked like a butchering table. “Oh, my god…what are they doing here?” She heard Miriam ask beside her and sighed. Whose brain was that? A human
Miriam’s heart pounded erratically as she followed Olivera, who seemed very confident on what she was doing, and on where she was going. Three times she thought of grabbing Olivera and walking away from the region, but she also knew it would have been a futile attempt. Her friend’s mind was already made up. She watched as the latter walked past the last barrack, and stopped by a pole, the only pole in the backyard. Behind it were the gates towering them. They have come to a dead end. “Olivera, there is nothing here? Are you sure this girl is real?” Olivera gave Miriam no answer, instead she concentrated on looking around her, waiting for the signal. When she got nothing, she traced the vibration residue, touching the girl’s mind. A jerk in her mind path told her that the girl was surprised she had breached her mind guards. But should she be surprised? Or was something else at play here? ‘Where next should I go?’ She continued, because she knew she was at the right place, that t
“How are we getting past that?” Olivera asked Miriam as they came to stand before a huge gate that towered many feet over them. She could now see why Miriam had wanted the journey to be done in the privacy of the night. As much as she could see—as they had zapped to this point—this area wasn’t open to the city dwellers, only to the special few. She looked around her again. Barracks with soldiers sleeping within. None was even standing guard at the gates. She didn’t believe such a thing would exist at this time. City gates. Where did it lead? She piqued an eyebrow when Miriam smirked. What was the latter thinking? “As if you don’t already know…which other way, if not by mist…there is no way I am climbing that. I don’t think I am ready to fly with you above it…” Miriam spoke, covering the distance between them, and wrapping her arms around Olivera, her mouth fixed in a pout. Olivera shook her head, yet unable to stop the smile that cascaded her lips. It seemed that her friend was g
A knock woke Olivera up from her deep slumber. After bathing and eating off the snacks she had bought earlier in the day, from the shops in the new city, she had fallen like a log of wood to the bed, and hadn’t even stirred after that. Still groggy from the smooth sleep, she let her hand search for her phone which was the only thing that had gone to bed with her, should Miriam call for her. She peered at the screen. It was one in the morning. It was time then. She yawned like a hyena, causing Miriam to chuckle from behind the door. The chuckle dissipated the remaining fog fostering around her head. Taking a deep breath in, she stood up from the bed, flung a sheet around her naked body, and walked to the door. When she opened it, she saw that Miriam was alone, and carrying a tray of steaming food. “You are a lifesaver.” She muttered, opening the door wider for her friend to come in; the rumbling sounds that emitted from her stomach in agreement with her. Miriam chuckled again, an
“Where are we heading next?” Olivera asked Miriam immediately they stepped out of the borders of the town, into a city sprawling with people. After they had left the males who had tried to detain them because of her eating habits, they had walked to the largest building in the town, because if Clooney was a big name, it was probably because the man was rich. They hadn’t been right in their deduction, but they had at least gotten away from the unsettling males. Olivera had taken her friend behind the building, and had quickly switched to her mist form, turning Miriam into the same, and together they had zapped the remainder of the city without stopping, till they were out of it, till they were in a new one which looked more modernized than the previous. She looked at Miriam, who was staring at the city with artificial skylights, and wondered if her friend had ever been here before. “I never get over the culture shock, you know, seeing the drabness of the town we just left. The cont
What now? Olivera thought, looking at the six males that couldn’t be a year older than twenty five years old. What were they doing in front of her? “State your names, and what you are doing in this town…” The male, slightly in front of the others, spoke with a steel voice, causing Olivera and Miriam to exchange furtive glances. What was going on?There was a minute hesitation before Olivera spoke. “I am Darcy. My friend is Lilian. Who are you?” She patted herself mentally for names well cooked and delivered. Darcy and Lilian? How had she come up with those seemingly true names? She watched the male that had just spoken, looked to his comrades behind him, and judged that he was the leader of this small group. Were they the police? She looked at them again. They didn’t look like the police. Vigilantes? Maybe. But why were there vigilantes in the town? She kept a seal on her thoughts when the male returned her attention to her. “My name is Luke, and these are my associates. Our job is
“We will kill him right?” Miriam asked, as they stepped out of the camp, and turned around to look at it again, reliving what they had seen in there. “We need to. He is evil. Why will a sane man work with a vampire? Is he crazy?” Olivera just couldn’t understand the foolishness, no matter how much she tried. Why would one make a deal with an almost eternal wickedness? Had he no fear for his life, for his family? “I think he is crazy. Evil-y crazy. But that’s by the way. What are we going to do now?” Olivera looked around the camp, and spat in disgust. “We will burn it down. We will burn it until it’s nothing but dust. We will eradicate this curse from the face of the earth.” Miriam couldn’t agree less, but then she remembered that the ancients might have use for the materials in there. Olivera, having sensed the latter’s thoughts, shook her head. “They won’t be needing it. I’ve already transferred the necessary details to Raul, and Jacob. They can take it up from there. The mater
“Do you think anyone is in there?” Olivera asked Miriam, immediately she shifted to human self. Miriam looked at her clothed self and smiled. “Seems you have gotten the best hang of shifting, and still keeping your clothes on.” Olivera shrugged her shoulders. “There was no other choice. I can’t keep going up and down with my clothes in my hands or mouth. Since I’m part ancient, I have to improvise.” She took in a deep breath, inhaling the air tainted with magic and something else. “This place is tainted with magic. You smell it?” She shook off the imaginary dirt on her clothes, just in case, whilst waiting for Miriam’s reply. When she looked up, her friend was smiling. “What’s tickling your fancy? I don’t think my question has that much prowess…” Miriam cackled. “I never thought riding on a wolf would be so exhilarating. If I had known, I would have befriended a werewolf, and snagged rides every week at least. It’s quite freeing and therapeutic.” Olivera nodded. It was just as