Vengeance (The Captive #6)(67)
“What is this plan of yours?” she inquired in a low voice.
“Later,” he said as he approached her. “I simply need to be with you right now.”
Her mouth parted at his words; her eyes followed his every step until he stood before her. Resting his palms against her slender face, he cradled her cheeks in his hands as he bent to place a kiss against her luscious mouth. A sigh of pleasure escaped him, when her lips parted to the invasion of his tongue.
He’d never tasted or experienced anyone like her. The bond between them had been growing, but now he could almost feel it simmering between them, just as he could sometimes feel it between Braith and Aria, and Jack and Hannah. He didn’t know what it meant, but he found he didn’t care as her hands slipped beneath his shirt. He could figure it out later, now was for the two of them.
The minty taste of her filled his mouth; she was sweeter and more intoxicating than the finest wine. His hands slid into her hair. He pulled her closer and pressed her firmly against his chest. The heated pressure of her flesh against his was nearly his undoing. He couldn’t wait to rid her of the cumbersome clothes blocking him from being able to touch her as he lowered her carefully to the floor.
Later, when they’d finally separated themselves from each other and dressed again to make a speedy escape, he told her his plan. Silence filled the house beneath them; he didn’t hear anyone moving about as he spoke. Her fingers dug into the flesh of his chest; her head lifted so she could look at him.
“William, that’s insane,” she whispered.
“It will work,” he assured her as he brushed the hair back from her face. “At the very least it will provide a cover for you and the children to escape.”
“Not without you.”
“With or without me, you’re going to have to get out of this town, Tempest. My sister turned me, she can find me, and she will come here looking for me, or send others for me if I don’t get word back to her soon. They can’t walk into this insanity unprepared. They won’t kill me.”
At least he hoped they wouldn’t kill him, but he believed it would be far more likely they would try to use him as leverage against Aria and Braith. He couldn’t think about that possibility, not when Tempest was staring down at him with fear-filled eyes. Lifting his finger, he traced it over her full bottom lip. The smell of her blood pricked his appetite and caused his fangs to tingle. His mouth watered; his finger stilled on her lips as he relished the scent of her.
“You can’t guarantee they won’t kill you,” she murmured.
“They’ll know who I am. They’ll want me alive.”
Drawing her head down to him, he lightly ran his tongue over her bottom lip. “You can’t know that,” she replied against his lips, refusing to be drawn into his kiss. “I don’t like this at all.”
“It will work,” he assured her.
“What about the other vampires of this town? The ones who haven’t been drawn in or are still locked away? What will become of them?”
“This will give them more of a chance to escape than they have now. There was never much of a chance for them, even if we had gone to Aria and Braith. We never would have gotten back here in time to save any of them. This is the only opportunity they could have.”
Tears brimmed in her eyes; with the pads of his thumbs, he wiped away the ones sliding free. “Are you doing this because of Kane?”
“No,” he answered honestly. “If I get to take him out it would be an added bonus, but if I don’t, then I don’t. I will take whatever chance I can to get free. I promise you that, Tempest. You are far more important to me now than he is.”
Her eyes widened at his words. Before she could speak, he pulled her down for another kiss. She looked dazed; her lips were enticingly swollen when he broke the kiss again and smiled up at her. If she’d been about to argue more with him, or perhaps somehow deny what he’d told her, she’d completely forgotten about it now.
He gave her a lazy smile of satisfaction as he played with a strand of her hair. “Come on, lay down, you’re tired.”
She settled in against him, but her hand on his chest trembled. The supple curves of her lithe body fit perfectly against the hardness of his. He brushed the hair away from her neck as he fought the hunger tearing through him. He hadn’t been feeding as well as he normally did, but he’d never felt this burning clamoring for blood before. She smelled of winter, but her blood lit his body on fire.
Holding her close to him, he turned his nose into her hair and inhaled her scent. “I’ll be fine,” he promised when he felt the wetness of her tears against his neck.
Her lashes tickled his skin when she blinked back her tears. “You have to be,” she whispered. “You’re important to me, too.”
He dragged her so forcefully against him that it had to have left a bruise, but she didn’t make a sound of protest, and she didn’t try to break free from his hold. Instead, her grip on him became crushing in its intensity. He didn’t protest either.
***
Tempest stood within the shadows of the attic, listening as heavy footsteps thudded across the floor beneath them. She glanced at William, standing by the window and staring down at the side yard separating this house from the one next door. Most of the shoe polish had faded from his hair to reveal its auburn color.