Lover Unbound

his fear, he reminded himself that Blay had made it through. So had Qhuinn.

So had all the Brothers.

So had his sister.

He met Beth's dark blue eyes, and from out of nowhere a hazy vision came to him. He was in a club… in a Goth club with… Tohrment. No, he was watching Tohr with someone, a big male, a Brother-sized male, whose face John could not see.

John frowned, wondering why in the world his brain would cough up something like that. And then he heard the stranger speak:

She's my daughter, Tohr.

She's a half-breed, D. And you know how he feels about humans. Tohrment shook his head. My great-great-grandmother was one, and you don't see me yakking that up around him.

They were talking about Beth, weren't they… which meant the stranger with the blurred features was John's father. Darius.

John strained to get the vision in focus for a single look into his dad's face, praying for clarity as Darius lifted his hand to catch a waitress's eye before pointing at his empty bottle of beer and Tohrment's nearly dry glass.

I'm not going to let another of my children die, he said. Not if there's a possibility I can save her. And anyway, there's no telling whether she'll even go through the change. She could end up living a happy life, never knowing about my side. It's happened before.

Had their father even known about him? John wondered. Probably not, given that John had been born in a bus stop bathroom and left for dead: A male who cared so much for his daughter would have cared for a son as well.

The vision started to fade, and the harder John tried to hold on to it, the faster it disintegrated. Just before it disappeared he looked at Tohr's face. The military haircut and the strong bones and the clearsighted eyes made John's chest ache. So too did the way Tohr stared across the table at the male sitting with him. They were close. Best friends, it seemed.

How wonderful it would have been, John thought, to have had both of them in his life-

The pain that hit was cosmic, a big bang that splintered John apart and sent his molecules spinning from his core. All thought, all reasoning was lost, and he had no choice but to submit. Opening his mouth, he screamed without making a sound.

Jane could not believe she was looking into the face of a vampire and praying that he'd have sex with her. And yet at the same time she'd never been so sure of something in her life.

'Close your eyes,' V said.

'Because you're going to kiss me for real?' Please, God, let that be the case.

V reached up and ran his ungloved hand down her face. His palm was warm and broad and smelled of dark spice. 'Sleep, Jane.'

She frowned. 'I want to do it awake.'

'No.'

'Why?'

'Safer that way.'

'Wait, you mean you could get me pregnant?' And what about STDs?

'It's been known to happen with humans on occasion, but you aren't ovulating. I'd smell it. As for transmittable diseases, I don't carry any, and you couldn't give me any, but none of that's the point. It's safer for me to take you when you're not awake.'

'Says who?'

He shifted on the bed, impatient, restless. Sexed. 'Sleep's the only way it can happen.'

Man, just her luck he was determined to be a gentleman. The bastard.

Jane pulled back and got to her feet. 'Fantasies don't interest me. If you don't want us to be together for real, then let's not go there at all.'

He pulled part of the duvet over his hips, covering an erection that was straining against his flannels. 'I don't want to hurt you.'

She shot him a glare that was part sexual frustration, part Gertrude Stein. 'I'm tougher than I look. And to be honest, the whole male-driven, I'm-looking-out-for-your-best-interests bullshit gives me the scratch.'

She turned away with her chin up, but then realized there was nowhere really to go. Way to make an exit.

Confronted with an utter lack of alternatives, she went into the bathroom. As she paced between the shower and the sink, she felt like a horse in a stall-

With no warning at all she was tackled from behind, pushed face-first into the wall and held in place by a rock- hard body twice the size of her own. Her gasp was first one of shock, then one of sex as she felt V grind into her ass.

'I tried to tell you no,' he growled as his hand buried itself in her hair and locked on, pulling her head back. As she cried out she ran wet between her legs. 'Tried to be nice.'

'Oh… God-'

'Praying's not going to help. Too late for that, Jane.' There was regret in his voice-as well as erotic inevitability. 'I gave you a chance to have it on your terms. Now we'll do this on mine.'

She wanted this, She wanted him. 'Please-'

'Shh.' He cranked her head to the side with a twist of his wrist, exposing her throat. 'When I want you to beg, I'll tell you.' His tongue was warm and wet as it rode up her neck. 'Now ask me what I'm going to do to you.'

She opened her mouth, but could only pant.

He tightened the hold on her hair. 'Ask me. Say, 'what are you going to do to me?' '

She swallowed. 'What… what are you going to do to me?'

He wheeled her to one side, all the while keeping his hips tight to her ass. 'You see that sink, Jane?'

'Yes…' Holy shit, she was going to orgasm-

'I'm going to bend you over that sink and make you hold on to the sides. Then I'm going to pull your pants off.'

Oh, Jesus…

'Ask me what's next, Jane.' He licked up her throat again, then clamped what she knew was a fang onto her earlobe. There was a delicious lick of pain, followed by another rush of heat between her legs.

'What's… next?' she breathed.

'I'm going to get on my knees.' His head went down and he nipped her collarbone. 'Say to me now, 'And then what, V.' '

She nearly sobbed, so aroused her legs started to fail her. 'And then what?'

He tugged on her hair. 'You forgot the last part.'

What was the last part-what was the last… 'V.'

'No, you start over. From the beginning.' He pushed his arousal into her, a hard ridge that clearly wanted in her now. 'Start over, and do it right this time.'

From out of nowhere an orgasm came bearing down on her, the momentum carried forward by the rasp of his voice in her-

'Oh, no, you don't.' He backed off from her body. 'You don't come now. When I say you can, you will. Not before.'

Disoriented and aching, she sagged as the need to release receded.

'Now say the words I want to hear.'

What were they? 'And then what… V?'

'I'm going to get on my knees, run my hands up the backs of your thighs, and spread you open for my tongue.'

That orgasm rushed back at her, making her legs tremble.

'No,' he said in a growl. 'Not now. And only when I say.'