Born in Fire (Page 20)

I pushed away. Sunlight danced in my eyes, but I didn’t have to squint. The most beautiful man, with gorgeous honey eyes, gazed down at me. His muscular arms held me on his lap as we sat in the middle of a bright green meadow. Wildflowers danced and played in the soft breeze, their movements like laughter. His hard, pulsing heat pushed against my butt.

Ten feet from where we huddled together, two bodies entwined as one, stood a cream-colored, regal animal. Light glowed from around it, and rainbows flickered when it moved.

“No fucking way.” I blinked a million times it seemed like, laughing, or maybe crying, from joy as I beheld the most glorious animal that had ever walked the Brink or the Realm. “Am I tripping on acid?”

“In a way.”

Oh man, that voice was sexy. Perfectly tuned for my listening pleasure.

Speaking of pleasure…

I leaned my head back as kisses trailed down my neck, making me shiver. When Darius sucked in the sensitive skin on my neck, I twisted so I could wrap my legs around his middle. His hardness was now right where I needed it. If it weren’t for these danged clothes, he could enter me. Over and over.

“Taste me,” I groaned as a fang trailed along my artery. “Take me, Darius.”

His fingers snaked through my hair and he made a fist, clutching tightly. His other hand hardened at the base of my neck, trapping me in his hold. A surge of desperation overcame me—a need so strong that I was panting with desire.

“Yes,” I cried, gyrating against him. “Yes. Harder.”

He shook me a little, proving his dominance. Ready to claim what was his. In contrast, his lips glided softly across my fevered skin, leaving a trail of scorching wetness.

This seemed so right in the presence of that great animal. Mating. Bonding. Celebrating life.

What the hell?

Shock, fear, and—most importantly—reality bitch-slapped me.

Have I gone fucking crazy?

I tried to struggle away, but Darius wouldn’t release his hold. The dull, delicious ache of fangs pressed on my skin, ready to puncture. “Don’t you fucking dare, Darius!”

I slapped my hands to the sides of his face and dug my thumbs into his eyes. His grip loosened. He flinched away. I used the space to my advantage by hooking my arms under his and ripping them upward, flinging his hands off. I hopped up and wobbled across the meadow, patting my body to make sure my weapons were in place. Once I was far enough away, I turned back and prepared to physically fight the man while I mentally fought his effect on me.

Darius rose slowly, the bulge in his pants prominent and a little smile tickling his lips. “My, my. What layers you have, my lovely Reagan. So much passion. So much fire. Come. Let me taste you.”

The shiver racing across my body turned into a heebie-jeebies dance. “Stop it. Did you feed me blood? Or what was it, and when does this acid trip wear off? Because I’m seeing things.”

Those delicious eyes glimmered with sex and mischief. My core pounded so hard that I wondered if it would dislodge from my body and skitter across the field.

“I am quite aroused, Reagan. Vampires my age usually only feel this way when we are feeding, and we only feed once in a great while. I should’ve been sated for months. But instead, I am harder than I can remember being. I want to be inside you, Reagan, while tasting the sweet nectar of your veins.”

“Awesome. Great info. Thanks for sharing.” I swatted at my arms to stop the tingles. Then squeezed my nether region for the same reason.

He walked toward me slowly—prowling, almost. Graceful and beautiful, his body was like a dance. An erotic, sexy—

I dug my thumbs into the corners of my eyes and backed up. “Make this stop. Please.”

“Whatever for? You were enjoying it as much as I was.”

“Look, dude, I will literally take out my gun and shoot you in the heart right now. Okay? I’m saying no. No means I’ll kill you if you don’t stop stalking me like a feral cat trying to make kittens. Back off.” I rubbed my eyes and blinked them open.

A smile drifted up his face, but he halted. “As you wish, ma biche—”

“Is that derogatory?”

“—but I will think on that moment for decades to come.”

“You need to get out more. Seriously. It wasn’t that hot.”

“You know that it was. I can still smell your desire.”

“Gross.” I put my hand up to stop the insanity. “What happened?”

“I felt you gyrating against my—”

“Not that part! After I blacked out, I mean.”

His smile brightened. “Come back to me, Reagan. Let me taste you, as you commanded.”

I ripped out my gun. “Really? That the road you want to take?”

“I want to slide my—”

I pulled the trigger. A slug dug into his leg.

Shock covered his features and he faltered before regaining balance on his good leg. He did not call out. There was no sign of pain in his expression. Instead, his sparkling sexual heat dimmed. His features smoothed out, arrogance and disinterest taking over.

I ignored the twinge of regret. Ignored it, and vowed to knife it out of myself if I had to.

He nodded once. It almost seemed like a thank-you.

Mental note: green light for shooting Darius in the leg to prevent sexy times and possibly fall under his enchanting vampire spell.

“You lost consciousness when your blade split in two,” he said, back to business. “Luckily, you had just made it through the last of the spell. I rushed you in here to see if I could get help. The mistress of the island, this great beast, took your measure, and found you worthy. She lowered to give you her life’s blood so that you could heal.” Darius regarded me warily now. “It had an immediate effect on you, and you had a…strange effect on me. I apologize. I lost control.”

“You’re a vampire and therefore bloodthirsty. Don’t stress. Shooting you was strangely gratifying.”

“I am an elder, and therefore not bloodthirsty. The unicorn blood enhances your allure. You call to me, more so than before. It is…unnerving.”

I waved my hand in the air, trying to wipe away the crazy. “You have issues, I get it. But— What?” I rubbed my eyes, blinked, and stared at the regal animal. It had pranced backward when I shot away from Darius’s warm, hard… “Dang it. Stop.”

“What?” Darius asked.

“Nothing.” I stared at the animal, a larger version of a Brink horse with shining cream…fur, almost. Silky-smooth fur, like velvet. The twinkle of rainbow when the animal moved had diminished, but it still seemed to shine in an ethereal way. On its head, like all the myths throughout time, protruded a vicious-looking horn with a point.

“This isn’t real,” I said, staring up at the clear, golden-orange Realm sky. No sun shone down on us, but the light was bright enough that Darius should be a smoldering wreck. “How are you even alive? This has to be some sort of hallucination.”

Darius bowed to the animal, received a horse nod in return, and waited while the animal regarded me.

“It is not my place to teach you civility, but the mistress saved your life. A thank you wouldn’t go amiss.” Darius waited for me patiently.

I kicked the ground and left a divot. I pinched my skin and felt the pain.

I regarded the animal again, which was looking at me with shining black eyes. It neighed, so much like a horse that the two must be related, the only thing separating them being magic, size, and a horn.

“If it gave me blood, where’s the wound?” I crossed my arms, having made my last effort to prove this was all in my head.

The horse stamped its foot before turning. A small drip of red graced its neck, coming from a tiny wound.

“Lucy, you have some ’splaining to do,” I muttered to Darius before I blew out a breath. I spoke to the horse. “I assume you can understand me, since you just turned, so…thank you. Really. You did save my life. I wouldn’t have been able to come back from that. I’d depleted my power too much.”

The great animal neighed, and small flashes of rainbows surrounded it. It bowed, that fierce point leveled toward me, and suddenly I felt a little faint. Something told me the animal had an extreme vicious side, and that it would use its glorious horn in battle to gouge its opponents. Considering its great size and—I imagined—incredible strength, that would be a mighty war-horse. Not to mention an intelligent one. With delicious and helpful blood.

“Does it let people ride on its back?” I couldn’t help but wonder.

The unicorn puffed out breath and turned, prancing away in all its majestic glory.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Would you ask that of a minotaur?” Darius scoffed.

“Um, yes. Why, do they have a thing against giving people rides?”

Darius stared at me. Clearly that was a yes. Also, probably silent name-calling.

“Can we talk about this for a second?” I sat down and hunched over my knees. “Was that really a unicorn? A unicorn! The fabled animal that has always existed in myth.”

“As you saw, yes, though they call themselves something different. Don’t ask what it is. They alone choose to whom they will reveal their true name. It bestows a sense of power and sight on any graced with the good fortune.”