Addict (Hunter #2)(9)

My heart ached because I could feel his loneliness. It was a part of our connection. I could sometimes feel what he was feeling like it was my own emotion. It had to be extremely strong to transfer to me. Marcus wanted a lover, not some random female body in his bed. He longed for it. He longed for me.

This was why I couldn’t deny him a moment longer. I could feel his need.

“That’s a shame, Marcus.” I unbelted the robe and let it fall to my feet. I wasn’t wearing anything under it but my own clean skin. It made me vulnerable, but I was betting everything on the fact that he wanted me. “I was hoping to catch you with your defenses down.”

The vampire’s fangs lengthened and, if I wasn’t mistaken, that wasn’t the only part of him that got bigger as he stared at me. “Mia amore, sei un tesoro.”

“That’s good, right?” I wished he would touch me. Everything would be all right if he would touch me.

“You’re sure?” His eyes never left my body. He gazed on it, looking up and down as though memorizing the hills and planes. It made me feel beautiful. He pushed his desire my way, a warm wave that rolled over my skin. I realized how much restraint Marcus had shown. If he’d let this loose on me before, I would have given in easily. He’d waited until I was ready, and now feeling his desire was a gift. I’d spent my whole life feeling solitary even when surrounded by people. I couldn’t do that with Marcus.

“I want you, Marcus. I want to be your lover.”

He moved faster than my eyes could track. One moment he was standing by the fire and the next he was in my space, his nose running along the line of my neck. His hands barely touched my shoulders. “I want a mistress, Kelsey. It means more than lover. I am not a modern man, bella. I don’t understand modern relationships. I want you for my mistress. I want to take care of you, to be responsible for you.”

I didn’t see how he could possibly be more responsible for me than he already was. I lived in his home, slept in his bed, depended on him for my very sanity. His hands tightened on my shoulders, strengthening our connection. It hummed along my skin and reminded me of everything I stood to gain if I gave myself to this man.

“I am not calling you master in public,” I vowed as my hands found his lean waist. Master was the traditional term for a vampire lover.

“But in private?”

A naughty smile swept over my face. “I’ll probably do whatever you like, my master.”

He took a small step back and held his arms slightly away from his side. “Then undress me, my mistress. I want to feel your hands on me. I’ve wanted it from the moment I saw you.”

I stepped toward him and pressed my body against his, loving the places where his skin kissed mine. He went still, allowing me to explore. Now that we were here together, he seemed infinitely patient. Stretching up, I kissed the strong line of his jaw as my fingers worked the buttons on his dress shirt. My hands lovingly smoothed the shirt off him. Marcus’s chest was a thing of pure perfection. I let my palms run across smooth muscles. His skin was slightly cooler than a human’s. “Did you look like this when you were human?”

I was fascinated by the stories he could tell. Some nights I listened to him talk for hours.

His lips curled up in a supersexy grin that let me know he liked how I was looking at him. “Not quite. When a vampire turns, he becomes an almost perfect version of himself. Nutrition wasn’t the same in those days, especially for my people.”

Marcus had been among the first Christians, and he’d also been among the first martyrs. He’d been thrown to the lions back in the day. By back in the day he means the early first century A.D., and he’d actually taken out the lions and promptly been thrown into the ring with slightly more intelligent competition. His body showed no signs of his gladiatorial past, though I know it’s all in there. My honey knew how to fight, but I wanted the lover.

I worked off his slacks, pushing them past muscular hips. I quickly discovered that Marcus wasn’t a great believer in underwear. His big cock pulsed against my fingers as they brushed it.

When he was gloriously naked, his hands pulled me roughly to him. He pressed our bodies together, pushing his pelvis against mine. My nipples were hard pebbles against the strength of his chest.

“You belong to me,” he said as his fangs lengthened further and I was drawn into his magic.

I sighed as it ran along my every nerve and my * started to throb. I could feel myself getting wet and soft as he pulled me in. His fingers tangled in my hair, and he pulled my neck to the side.

When his fangs pierced, I came like I never had before.



“What the hell is wrong with her, Hugo?”

Somewhere in the distance, I could hear the king speaking.

An unfamiliar voice with a crisp British accent responded. “There’s nothing at all wrong with her. She’s doing what she was trained to do. It’s called focused meditation. You pushed her into a place where her two options were to allow her rage and fear to take over or go to a place where you can no longer touch her. She’s one of Marcus’s girls, isn’t she? He always did a damn fine job with Hunters.”

“Can she hear me?” the king asked. “Can you bring her out of it?”

“Marcus could,” Hugo allowed, and I heard Donovan sigh. “She’ll come out when she decides it’s safe. Is this why you called me here, Your Highness? You want me to work with Ms. Owens? Why isn’t Marcus continuing to work with her? I find it hard to believe he doesn’t want to do it. It’s been a long time since we had a Hunter to train. Academics tend to fight over them. Marcus always had a thing for these girls. He was damn good at training them and he genuinely cared about them.”