Waverly released a sigh, bracing her arms against the wall. “Oh.”
“You have no idea the things I want to do with you.” Viktor palmed her breasts, teasing her nipples.
Ravenous, he spun her around and captured her lips in a desperate, urgent kiss. He lifted her up by the waist. With her back pressed against the shower wall and her legs wrapped around him, he thrust up into her wet pussy.
“Fuuu—” Her tight core spasmed around him, nearly making him come. His fangs dropped, and his mouth moved to her shoulder.
“Fuck me,” she screamed, undulating, grinding her clit against him.
With a swift thrust, he plunged inside her harder. Pumping in and out of her, Viktor lost control.
“Ah, baby, please,” she begged him, breathless. “Yes, yes, fuck me…that’s it.”
The shower wall shook as he plowed into her, harder and harder. With each thrust of his hips, she gasped in ragged breaths, her fingernails digging into his shoulders.
Rough and raw, he fucked her, brutally claiming his woman. No one would have her but him.
As he deepened the kiss, his desire to complete the bond escalated. Within their bond, she’d have immortality, be safe. Yet a voice in the back of his head warned him it was still too early.
Waverly screamed, her body shaking as she came hard. Viktor lost control, slamming into her.
“Do it,” she pleaded.
Without another word, he bit down into the soft flesh in her shoulder, her sweet blood coating his tongue. In a final frenzy, he fucked her hard, with wild abandon. Her pussy convulsed around his cock, milking him as he came hard. With a final short thrust, he drove himself up into her, exploding in release.
“Goddess,” he breathed, still holding her, his forearm up against the shower. “I…I…” Love you.
The reality of the situation slammed into Viktor. He’d fallen in love with a human, slowly embracing all the things he’d either missed or forgotten. His life would never be the same.
Viktor sat back in the leather chair and twirled the fleam in his fingers, ruminating, thinking about Waverly. In all his years, he’d never felt so out of control. More than wild fucking, their trust grew, the bond strengthened, their energies intertwining. Bordering on obsession, he couldn’t rest until they’d fully bonded. On the tip of his tongue, he’d almost lost control and told her he loved her.
Viktor ran his fingertip over the initials etched on the fleam and considered that Baxter would have killed Waverly long ago. The cold metal reminded him of the inhumane lessons his sire taught him, the flaying of his skin, each burning lash on his back still fresh in his mind after all these years.
Baxter deliberately starved his children, leaving them weak but functional to do his bidding. He treated them as work horses. From hard labor to murder, there was no task off limits. Refusing, breaking master’s rules would bring death. Falling in love was forbidden. Baxter killed humans like crushing ants under his shoe.
No attachments to humans. No attachment to anything. Viktor learned quickly that punishment came swift and hard, and to shut down his emotions. Humans were nothing more than food.
Several hundred years had passed before Viktor learned to keep his shields up, to prevent Baxter from reading his mind. It wasn’t until his death that Viktor truly found freedom.
Viktor glanced to Waverly, his heart full of emotion. Even though Baxter had died centuries ago, he still lived rent-free in his head, warning him not to love a human. Pain would certainly follow.
Waverly’s laughter broke his contemplation. She was sharing a meal with Rafe who recounted about his battle, how he’d been turned, dropping and retracting his fangs for emphasis. Rafe roared with laughter and raised his glass to her. As Waverly stole a glance at Viktor, he returned her infectious smile.
Viktor looked to Greyson who lay on the sofa pretending to watch football on the flat screen. Although Greyson had been tortured more than most of Baxter’s children, the burly vampire remained soft towards humans. His brother looked up to him in understanding.
“I know what you’re thinking. It’s not him,” Greyson commented as he adjusted a pillow under his head. “Quintus killed him. We all saw it.”
“Did we? Because if my memory serves me, we saw Quintus throw him in the canyon,” Viktor countered.
“The body was recovered,” Greyson argued his point.
“It was a body. We don’t know it was his.” Viktor scrubbed his fingers over the scruff on his chin.
“It scented as his.”
“He was nothing but mangled flesh and bones.” Viktor blew out a breath, summoning reason. “I know you’re right. It’s just this situation…I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation. And humans. This Adam. We’ve got to get more info on this ‘brotherhood’.”
“Adam did this on purpose,” Waverly interjected. “He knew about the painting. I think he sent it to me. And someone else was there. A woman. I didn’t see her but there was something about her that he seemed scared of. I could see it in his eyes. He stopped everything to go to her. Like maybe she’s his boss.”
“He knew we were vampires, but there’s something more,” Viktor said.
“You’ve got a vibe going on, dude. Quintessential vampire.” Greyson laughed.
“Well, number one, I’m not quintessential. I’m extraordinary. And number two, he acted annoyed when he saw us. But wasn’t surprised,” Viktor asserted.
“I agree,” Waverly said. “He also knew about Teagan.”
“Interesting.” Viktor steepled his fingers, his lips drawn tight. “Teagan goes missing. We’ve got this brotherhood of humans. They might be conjuring demons.”
“Or trying. I don’t know. It wouldn’t be easy for a human to conjure a specific demon on their own, but they could give a generic one a go,” Greyson said, keeping an eye on the game.
“It’s not easy but it’s doable. Nowadays it’s not like someone has to go searching far. There’re witches out there who practice dark magick, and they’re not all anonymous. They’ve got human clients.”
“I just have a feeling that this could be something bigger. The people at that facility trusted Adam, helped him do that to us. He wasn’t worried about being caught. The woman must have heard the commotion. I was screaming at him to let me go and no one came.” Waverly shrugged.
“To be fair, it could be argued he was threatened,” Rafe suggested.
“It could be argued we intimidated him but that’s a far road from attacking him. He’s a weak man. One who’s going to regret the day he ever met me,” Viktor promised.
“He wanted me.” Waverly’s voice lowered to a whisper. “I have a feeling whatever this is it’s dark. And Teagan—”
“Tell me again how you know Adam.” Viktor’s gut stabbed with an unusual sensation of jealousy, a foreign emotion.
“Not much to tell. Adam and I were grad students together. He loved art. I loved art. We spent a lot of time together. It wasn’t serious. He left to go to New York for a job. Teagan and I were roommates. So yeah. They knew each other, but they weren’t good friends. That I knew of anyway. But back there,” she paused in thought and took a sip of her water, “he knew something about her. He knew she was missing.”