Liam’s Mate (The Vampire Coalition #4)(5)
Author: J.S. Scott

Backlash!

It was already starting with a vengeance.

“With you…I have to be stubborn.” Regan’s chin came up and she ground her teeth as she stroked his wayward hair away from his face. She wasn’t about to leave him when he needed her.

“Ah…fuck!” Liam shouted as he started to shiver and Regan flinched as his body buckled and thrashed.

Shit. She hated this. Regan had been through this numerous times before with Liam after he had needed to take the life of a fallen. He felt backlash pain every time he took a life. Any life. It didn’t matter that he was ridding the world of evil. Backlash was guaranteed any time a vampire healer killed. And three? Dear God, it was painful enough when he had to extinguish one fallen. This was going to bad.

Really bad.

The intensity of the attack kept getting worse over the next ten minutes. Liam was incoherent and writhing on the bed. Regan knew the fact that he hadn’t fed wasn’t helping and she cursed his distain for feeding. Damn it. Why did he have to be so…so…moral? Any other time she might have laughed at the thought, but she wasn’t rational when it came to Liam being in horrible pain.

Liam was usually coherent during backlash. Hurting, certainly, but nothing like this. He usually talked his way through it while she stayed beside his bed and tried to take his mind off of his discomfort until he could fall into the oblivion of day sleep.

I feel so damn powerless! And I’m a mage healer.

A mage healer. She was a mage healer, and although healing a vampire wasn’t exactly her specialty, Regan wondered if one of her spells might work on him and help relieve some of his misery.

Regan tried to think rationally, her thoughts frantically going over various options. Maybe she could try something to throw him into his day sleep early…and he could drink from her. Her power was nothing compared to Liam’s, but her blood was certainly stronger than a human’s.

She didn’t hesitate as she stood and pulled her pink tank top over her head and shoved her jeans down her legs. Kicking them off, she slid quickly into the bed beside Liam clad in only a delicate pink bra and panties. Body to body contact might help. She would use any advantage she could get from being close to him. She wasn’t sure this would work on a vampire, but she needed her healing magic to connect with him.

Regan chanted the familiar spell without thinking about it as she scooted up against Liam’s thrashing, groaning body. Oh God, please let this work. I can’t stand to see him like this. Her heart was aching as she finished reciting the magical words of the spell, willing her strength and power into his body as she wiggled against him, her back to his front.

Yanking her hair aside, she reached behind her and pulled his face against her neck. “Bite me, Liam.” Her command was firm and loud, hoping his instinct would take over. “Take my blood.”

She closed her eyes, willing him to strike her neck. His body straightened as his arm encircled her waist and his lips nuzzled the vulnerable skin of her neck.

Yes. Take what you need. Bite. Please.

Regan nudged back and stretched her naked skin against his. She shivered as the light hair on his thighs and chest abraded her smooth skin. His body was blazing hot and now firm against hers, turning them both into a furnace. She pushed against him, willing him to take what she offered, begging him to take it. Cocking her head to one side to allow him better access, she pressed her hand more firmly to the back of his head.

“Regan,” she heard his tortured groan as his tongue traced her vein before he sunk his fangs into her exposed skin.

The initial strike was painful and her body tensed with the shock, but the slow suck and draw lulled her into a place of pleasure that she had never experienced before. She squirmed against him and buried her fingers into his hair as she encouraged him to take whatever he needed from her.

She tried to concentrate on her magic, but the experience was so erotic and her body so heated that she wanted to reach her other hand into her panties and find release. Her body arched back into him and she released a hungry moan. “Liam,” his name came out soft and breathy.

Regan swallowed a squeak of frustration as she felt him disconnect and close the tiny puncture wounds. His warm palm moved in a soothing, circular motion over her quivering belly as his tongue continued to lap at the punctures, laving over the tiny wound in sensual circles.

He finally buried his face in her hair at the side of her neck, panting wildly, “Did you know?” he asked her in a breathless, husky voice that was coherent but still filled with pain.

Confused but relieved that her idea had worked and he was talking, she replied, “Know what?”

“That we’re mates.”

His voice was demanding and she couldn’t deny it. It wasn’t a guess. Somehow, he knew the truth. “Yes,” she admitted in a strangled voice, her body quivering.

His other arm came around her like a vise, locking her firmly against him. Her ass was pressed against something intrusive, large…and extremely hard.

Oh, holy shit! Regan knew exactly how he knew she was his mate. The evidence was pressed firmly against the cheeks of her ass.

The mystery was solved; the secret of releasing a healer’s mating instincts was no longer an enigma.

“An intimate act with your chosen mate will release the mating instincts of the vampire healer…”

The act of intimacy was the taking of blood from their chosen mate. Was it always like that, or had it been so sensual only because she was his mate?

“Liam, I–”

Regan never got to finish her statement. Liam flipped her to face him and his mouth covered hers with a ravenous hunger and swiftness that took her breath away. Before she could blink, she was engaged in a kiss so hot that any thoughts that she had flew from her mind as his desire and her own completely consumed her.

*****

Chapter 3

Mine!

Liam’s blood was pounding so hard through his body that all he could focus on was the roaring in his ears and the primal desire and possessiveness that swamped his entire being.

Regan. Soft. Feminine. Hot. His to possess, his to claim.

My mate!

There was no technique or skill involved as he claimed her mouth with his and forced his powerful thigh between her silky legs. Raw need raged through him as he ravaged her mouth, his hand behind her head to keep her lips accessible. His nostrils flared as he breathed in her feminine, light floral scent, a fragrance that made his already hard c**k twitch and his heart hammer.

He devoured her mouth like a starving man, his tongue marauding, conquering, sweeping the warm cavern, demanding her surrender. He growled in satisfaction as her arms crept around his neck and her tongue entangled with his, giving herself to him.