Immortals After Dark 03 - No Rest for the Wicked

his arms capturing hers against her body. She gasped, but when he pressed an open-mouthed kiss to her neck, she didn’t immediately fight him, seeming to await his next move.
    Good. He wanted her to surrender to him—in all ways, not just in this contest. She was close enough to feel his cock straining against her, and he wanted her to feel it. He wanted her pinned beneath him in bed, mastered by him. At the idea, he thrust uncontrollably against her soft ass. She sucked in a breath and seemed to flex her body into his. Emboldened, he brushed the backs of his fingers over her nipples. She shivered.
    The storm whipped up outside, seeming to goad him. His hands caressed up from her flat belly, sliding under her bra and shirt, lifting them above her breasts. She sucked in a breath but didn’t stop him. He sensed she was curious about what he would do. So was he.
    He gently cupped her full breasts in his palms, groaning with pleasure. Her breathing quickened when he thumbed the peaks. She had luscious nipples, small and deep pink, begging to be suckled. He rolled and pinched them again and again, until they were so hard he imagined they ached. He saw her fingers go limp, and her sword clattered to the ground.
    That was his permission. He kissed her neck, thrusting slowly against her. He wanted to do to her what her touch had done to him—stripped him down until there was no thought, only the need to have her. He wanted to make her shiver more, to wring moans from her lips.
    When she raised her hands behind her to thread her fingers through his hair, he closed his eyes in bliss, groaning, kissing, kneading.
    She froze just as a sudden jolt of ecstasy shot through him so much sharper than before—as if fire coursed through every vein in his body.
    Her blood had touched his tongue.
    “Bastian? Did you... bite me?”
    Can’t deny it. He was shuddering, and his eyes were rolling back in his head as he squeezed her. He’d accidentally grazed her neck in his frenzy, taking the merest drop.
    She shoved his hands away from her, yanking her clothes in place and struggling to be freed. He finally managed, “I didn’t intend to. I didn’t plan to—”
    When he released her, she turned, casting him the expression he’d hoped never to see again. Seeing that betrayed look in her silver eyes was worse than he could ever have imagined.
    Her hurt was swiftly overcome by fury. “You had no right!” The doors at the balcony flew open as the spray of ocean and rain punched inside. With the wind tugging at her long hair, she screamed, “You’ve stolen more than my blood!”
    She sank down, snatching her sword, then charged him, slashing. He traced to his sword to block her. She feinted a forward parry, then twisted to swing backhanded at his torso, putting all her strength into the blow. He traced back at the last second, or she’d have cut through him.
    “ I’m sorry, ” he rasped, leaving her.

    Back at his castle, he sank into the bed, staring at the ceiling. He’d taken her blood, the smallest drop, and the taste of her had pleasured him so profoundly he knew he was changed forever.
    He’d rather not know exactly what he could never have again.
    Kaderin was right—it was more than just blood. But why did she think it so? What more had he stolen?
    It had been an accident, but how many times could he continue to use that as an excuse? Intent, or lack of it, rarely erased the offense, anyway. This he knew.
    He’d taken straight from the flesh. A true vampire. He remembered Murdoch had told him, “There are dangerous side effects to drinking from a source. You could turn evil.”
    “And then I might be in danger of losing my soul?” Sebastian had sneered.
    He could no longer be a Forbearer, should he have chosen that road for himself...
    Hours passed as he analyzed this eve. He recalled every word, every look, struggling to make sense of what had happened.
    When he finally fell into a deadened sleep, Sebastian dreamed of a foreign land, inundated with rain.
    The sun shone through the deluge, that bright intense light found in the northern lands. Kaderin was there, blinking against the rain. He saw it all as though through her eyes, and he knew it was very long ago.
    She and others of her kind were trying to sleep on the bare ground on a hill. Only on an incline would the mud and water run down and not soak them any more than need be. They wore armor, breastplates of gold that were dented.
    Kaderin’s beaten armor