Rated M
Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing about this story... the writing is all L.L. Raand's and the Characters are from various televsion shows (South of Nowhere, The O.C., Orange is the New Black, Lost Girl, The Fosters, and The L Word) Credit goes completely to all listed above.
Stef went from dreamless oblivion to total awareness the instant her eyes opened. She immediately scanned the surroundings for danger. Her guards were outside the door, an agitated Were paced farther down the hall, and distantly, the life force of the entire Pack beckoned as a single heart beating. Her incisors unsheathed and hunger as endless as eternity seethed inside her. The bed beside her was empty, but Lena was near. Lena's heartbeat, the steady pulse of blood flowing through her arteries and veins, her soft breaths, eclipsed everything in Stef's world. All but the need to feed.
Blood barely flowed in her body now, a protective mechanism to prevent complete depletion of the scarce oxygen-carrying compounds between feedings. After she fed, her heart would beat for a short time, her cells would activate, she would be sexually potent. In those moments, she would come as close to living as was possible while still being something other than alive. Her biological drive demanded she feed, and if she delayed, she risked a blood rampage. If hunger overpowered her control, she'd cut a deadly swath through every living creature in her path until she was sated or staked. Need gnawed at her guts, and she focused on the scent of the nearest host. Lena. So deliciously alive.
"Get out," Stef rasped.
"You're awake." Lena spun around from the desk where she had been typing up notes on the details she'd been given of the raid on the secret lab. She wasn't sure when she'd be able to go public with any of it—but she was used to spending months digging out facts on a story. And no story had ever been more important to her—or as personal. Across from her, Stef lay as she had all day, staring up at the ceiling, her arms by her sides, her sharply handsome face tense even at rest. But unlike when she had been somnolent, now her naked body vibrated with tension. "What do you need?"
"Go," Stef ordered. "I await a host. Go, Lena."
"You need my blood, though, don't you," Lena said. "Your transition isn't yet complete, and I am your bonded blood mate. You need the compatible blood I carry."
One second, Stef was on the bed; the next she was in front of Lena, stalking toward her so fiercely Lena almost took a step back. Stef's incisors were dangerous spikes glittering against her pale lips, her eyes as bright and hot as purest flame. Her face was knife-edged with need. Lena took a breath, steadied her voice. "Tell me I'm wrong, Vampire."
"Don't argue with me," Stef said slowly, as if each word was a terrible effort. She stopped with her body millimeters from Lena. "I will drain you."
"No, you won't. You didn't last night and you were practically insane then."
"I have a ready host. You are not needed." Stef turned her head to the closed door and though she made no sound, a second later it opened and Captain Roberts stepped inside.
"You called, Liege?" Roberts wore a white silk shirt open between her breasts and tight, tapered black pants. She was barefoot. Her nipples were dusky circles beneath the sheer material, and her eyes, fixed on Stef's face, glistened with anticipation.
"She needs to feed," Lena said, grasping Stef's forearm. "And I'm staying."
Roberts's surprised gaze flickered between Lena and Stef, but she said nothing. Stef's arm was a steel band beneath Lena's fingers, the only outward sign of her struggle for control. Lena supposed if she was smart, she'd leave and let Stef feed from Roberts alone, but she wouldn't concede to Stef's fear of hurting her. If they were to have a true relationship, she needed to be part of Stef's life, including this part. She might not be as strong or resilient as a Were or as acclimated to giving blood as a human servant like Roberts, but she was Stef's blood mate. And she wasn't leaving Stef alone with another woman, blood servant or not. Stef was hers.
"You need this," Lena said, dropping her robe so she too was naked. She grasped Stef's arm. "Come back to bed."
"Lena," Stef said dangerously, her gaze caressing Lena's nipples until they hardened from the heat of her glance, "you play a dangerous game."
Lena shook her head, her heart hammering and her skin electric. "Oh no, I'm not playing at all."
"Always so stubborn." Stef lifted her so effortlessly Lena barely managed not to cry out in surprise.
Then they were on the bed, Stef hovering just above her, Roberts somehow beside her, their bodies lightly touching. Lena wrapped her arms around Stef's waist and slid her hands up and down Stef's back. Her skin was smooth and cold as marble. Oh God, she couldn't feel even a single heartbeat. She stroked Stef's face. So very cold. "Hurry, Stef."
"Roberts," Stef said without looking away from Lena, "are you ready?"
"Yes, Liege," Roberts whispered, turning on her side, pressing even closer to Lena.
Roberts' silk shirt brushed over Lena's breast like a gentle breeze. Roberts' voice had gotten slow and lethargic, as if she were drugged, and Lena realized she was. Thrall was very much like a drug. Roberts' hand drifted to Lena's hip and Lena didn't move away. Roberts was giving her lover life—she should not be alone.
"Do it, darling," Lena murmured, watching Stef's face, mesmerized by the intensity of her gaze, the hypnotic tone of her voice. "I want to be here with you completely. Don't enthrall me."
"You want to see me?" Stef's eyes became impossibly deep. "Watch."
Stef slid one arm around Lena's shoulders and lowered her head. Her lips caressed Lena's fleetingly before she took Roberts' throat in a single rapid plunge. Roberts gasped and her breath came out in a long, shuddering moan. Stef swallowed and her hips thrust between Lena's thighs.
"Oh," Lena whispered, her body igniting. She wrapped both legs around Stef's hips and fit her breasts to Stef's. She closed her eyes and pressed her cheek to Stef's shoulder, feeling Stef grow warm beneath her hands. This was Stef's life. Hers now. She had given Stef this existence with her own blood, freely and without regret. Stef's orgasm, Roberts' ecstatic groans, the life pulsating under her hands, pushed Lena close to climax. She groaned and pulled herself back. She wanted Stef. When Stef raised her head, Roberts fell away from them with a sharp cry.
"Oh God, Stef," Lena moaned. "I need you now." She turned her head to the side, exposing her neck. "I need you. I love you. Please."
The world exploded. Pleasure so exquisite she lost her breath, lost her voice, lost her sanity. Fire consumed her, burning her to ash from the inside out. Stef devoured her at the same time as she filled her. Power surged through every cell of Lena's body.
Lena came back to herself when she felt Stef moving away. She gripped Stef's hand. "Where are you going?"
Stef leaned down and kissed her. "To see that Roberts is protected while she recovers. I want to be alone with you."
"Don't go far."
"Never." Stef lifted Roberts, whose head lolled against Stef's shoulder in post-orgasmic languor. The door opened and a dark-haired Vampire dressed all in black stepped in.
"Liege."
"Dani." Stef passed Roberts to her guard. "See to her and keep watch on Alex's room. She is not yet awake. I'll be there soon."
"Yes, Liege."
"Have you all fed?"
"Yes, and well." Dani smiled. "The Weres are most accommodating."
Stef raised a brow. "And willing?"
"Quite."
Stef laughed and shut the door. She appeared by the side of the bed, cupped Lena's cheek, and kissed her again. Her lips were soft as silk and warm now. Her eyes had returned to the crimson darkness that was normal after she'd fed. "How do you feel?"
Lena laughed unsteadily. "A little like a phoenix—I feel like I've risen from the ashes. God, that was incredible. I was burning up and I never want it to stop."
"No pain?" Stef ran her thumb along the edge of Lena's jaw and over the fading punctures in her neck.
"God, no." Lena shivered as electricity streaked from the bite in her neck to her nipples and clit. "I love being with you anytime—any way—but that was…amazing."
Stef sat on the side of the bed and trailed her fingers down Lena's neck and over her breasts. "When I feed, some of my blood and hormones enter your body. The longer I feed from you, the more effect I'll have on you."
Lena pushed up against the pillows, grasping Stef's hand and molding it to her breast. She pressed Stef's fingers into her flesh, wanting nothing between them. She had a feeling these revelations were the things Stef feared would keep them apart. She wanted Stef to know she wasn't afraid of who Stef was or who they were together. "Is that why you don't have very many long-term blood servants?"
Stef smiled. "You understand more than most." She brushed her thumb over Lena's mouth and Lena caught the tip in her teeth, biting lightly. Stef hissed, her eyes darkening. "Absorbing a Vampire's essence, their power, imparts power to the host, but at a cost."
"What power?"
"Heightened immunity, for one thing. As a result, longevity and delayed aging."
Lena frowned. "How delayed?"
"It depends on the host," Stef said, "and the host's intrinsic potential for cell rejuvenation. Some families, like Roberts', are genetically predisposed for compatibility with the Vampire species. Their bloodlines are rare, but long-lived."
"How old is Roberts?" Lena asked, thinking she didn't look more than thirty.
Stef smiled. "Not much older than me—but others in her line are much, much older. She is likely to live centuries."
"Are you saying, because we're bonded, the same thing will happen to me?"
"Possibly." Stef's expression became remote.
"What?" Lena grasped Stef's forearm. "What don't you want to tell me?"
Stef sighed. "Sometimes, while initially compatible, eventually the host will reject the Vampiric emissions. The host could become ill. Possibly very ill."
"Or addicted, like so many hosts after a while, right?"
"Yes, although you show no signs of that."
Lena sat forward to kiss Stef's throat, the center of her chest, her breasts. "Oh really? Then I don't think you've been paying enough attention."
"I speak of the blood addiction that leads to insanity." Stef caressed Lena's face. "Your need for me is an addiction I desire. As your power grows, so will the pleasure we share."
"In both directions?"
Stef smiled, her incisors still extended, flames sparking in her eyes. "Oh yes."
Lena's breath came faster and her stomach tightened. "I want you again."
"Are you tired? Dizzy?"
Lena reached up and grabbed Stef's head, tugging her down. "What I am is hungry. Feed me."
"You've been pacing for half an hour," Spencer said, sitting up in their bed. As soon as they'd left the infirmary, they'd come straight to their den and tangled again. Now Ashley, naked, was wearing a path in the hard board floors. The midnight line of pelt that transected her ridged abdomen signaled her wolf was close and restless, and Spencer suspected that would be the case until the young were born. The Alpha wolf's ascendance probably also explained why Ashley's sexual need was pretty much constant too. Ashley was going to throw every susceptible female in the Pack into heat at this rate. Spencer didn't find Ashley's call a hardship in the least, since her pregnancy seemed to be heightening her need to tangle too, but an entire Pack in mating frenzy would leave them dangerously vulnerable. She had to settle Ashley down. "What is worrying you?"
"I have to decide what to do about Bo."
"What are your thoughts?" Spencer said carefully, reaching for a pair of loose scrub pants from a pile on a nearby chair. She didn't think it was her imagination that her jeans were tighter this afternoon than they had been in the morning.
"I can't allow an affront to you to go unpunished," Ashley growled.
"Everyone there saw what happened, Ashley. Bo did not attack me. She was frenzied, in the midst of a challenge from Tamsin over a female in heat. Under the best of circumstances her control would have been uncertain. Add to that all she's been through lately—"
Ashley spun around, snarling. "She is the leader of my warriors. She can't be undone by pain or frustration or the need to tangle."
"What about the need to mate?"
Ashley abruptly stopped and tilted her head, her wolf-gold eyes sharp. "Lauren?"
"I think so."
"Ah fuck." Ashley resumed pacing. "This had to happen eventually, but why now?"
"Biology doesn't keep to a timetable." Spencer pressed against Ashley, forcing her to still. She rubbed over her, coating her with her pheromones. Ashley rumbled and Spencer smiled. "Do you object to your centuri mating? None of them are."
"There's no edict against them mating, although they often don't. Their first allegiance is to me, and that often supersedes their desire to mate."
"The blood bond?"
"Yes."
Spencer nodded, aware of the near-sexual bond all the centuri shared with Ashley. If that aided in their protection of her, Spencer didn't mind. "Bo's bond with you is very strong."
Ashley kissed her. "I've never tangled with her, with any of them. Although that would be natural."
"I know." Spencer bit her chin. "Now you've lost your chance."
Ashley grinned. "Even mated Alphas exercise that right."
"Not this one."
Ashley laughed, then her face grew somber. "Lauren may not be open to mating."
Spencer heard reservation in Ashley's tone. "And it's not your place to tell me why? I consider Lauren a friend."
"I know." Ashley sighed. "If I thought you needed to know—for your protection or the good of the Pack—I would tell you. I think Lauren could use a friend right now."
"I'll talk to her," Spencer said. "But Bo is of more immediate concern. She needs you."
"And I need someone sound and strong in her position."
"I know." Spencer smoothed her hands over Ashley's chest and kissed her. "I know you do. And Bo is all of those things. Everyone in the Pack is a little unsettled. You've been attacked, you've taken a mate, our females have been victimized. It's a difficult time for everyone."
"All the more reason for discipline and order."
"Absolutely," Spencer said. "Your wolves need to know they have a strong and responsible leader. Every single one of them looks to you to lead." Spencer feathered her fingers through Ashley's hair and kissed her again. "I know what that costs you. Bo is the strongest of your wolves. You need her. We all need her. Show your Pack that you lead with their welfare in mind."
"And what if Bo can't control her wolf?"
"Any Were who can't control their wolf is a risk to us all. Then, your path is clear."
Ashley growled, the muscles in her jaw bulging. "I will put her down if she threatens you once."
"I understand. So will your Pack, if that becomes necessary." Spencer did not intend to let that happen, but should Bo or any one of them, including her, threaten the well-being of the Pack, there would be no other choice.
Ashley pulled her close. "I need to see her."
Spencer kissed her mate bite on Ashley's chest. "Good. I want to see Carmen and Alice. Are they up to it?"
Ashley nodded. "They're ready."
Spencer glanced at their bed with a sigh. "I guess some things will have to wait."
Lena's cell vibrated just after Stef left to see Alex. Private caller. She straightened in anticipation. "Lena Adams."
"I talked to you before," a raspy male voice said. "There's more you need to know."
"I remember you," Lena said, switching on her recorder and plugging it in to the base of her phone. "Please tell me your name."
"My name doesn't matter. We have people watching the lab. Something's happening there. They're moving out all the expensive equipment and they've gone to a skeleton crew."
"What lab?"
"We think there are more."
Lena caught her breath. "More Weres? In the same facility? How—"
"The underground complex is extensive. Multiple holding cells in separate wings. There may not be much time."
"Tell me your name. How can I get a hold of you? Who are you?"
"Friends. Not what they think."
"Not what who thinks?"
"The females they held captive."
"You were with them."
"I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt them. The others may not have much time."
The line went dead and Lena stared at it for a second. More Weres in the lab? How could Ashley and the others have missed them? She jumped up and ran to the door. She had to find Stef. And Ashley.
