Dark Awakening

Just you and me… you and me… you and me…

Tynan finished securing her wrists, but his hands lingered on her skin, his flesh cool against her own warmth, maintaining the connection that seemed to sizzle and snap between them the longer it went on. Through her blissful fog, Lily was suddenly very aware of his nearness, of the intense focus that was now entirely on her.

It seemed so natural, so right, to let the peace Ty had given her shift shape and form ever so slightly to become need. Something deep in the recesses of her consciousness wanted to struggle, but Lily turned away from it, wanting nothing but the sanctuary of Ty’s silver gaze. The horrors of the night fell away, leaving nothing but the moment. Her breasts felt fuller, tighter, and desire twisted into a pleasurable little knot deep in her belly.

Long, elegant fingers caressed her hands, and an errant thumb rubbed across her knuckles, sending shivers of sensation up her arms. Lily’s breath grew shallow as Ty’s hands slid up to her elbows, cupping them as he moved closer, slinking forward as smoothly as the cat he could become. Lily drank in the energy he seemed to radiate, the wild scent of him. Her lips parted in anticipation.

The long, seductive sound he made as he moved in, as she felt herself leaning in to meet him, vibrated all the way through her. Lily’s breath caught on a gasp as moisture pooled between her legs, that knot of desire twisting tighter and making her throb.

She had made him purr like that.

“Lily,” Ty said, exhaling her name like a prayer. “Just a taste. One taste, and no more.”

She had the fleeting thought that he was making a promise not to her but to himself. However, an instant later he’d slid over her, pressing his lean, rangy body against her own, and Lily could no more hold a thought than she could push him away. He eased her back against the mattress in one swift, fluid movement. Then her arms, the only barrier between them, were extended above her head, and Lily was fused against a form that seemed designed to mold perfectly with her own. One of Ty’s hands skimmed down the length of her, and she arched beneath his touch. In this moment, it seemed pointless to deny the connection between them. All Lily could do, all she wanted to do, was revel in it.

His hand returned to cup one aching breast as Ty rose above her for a breathless second, the lips she had imagined countless times but never tasted barely an inch from her own. And his eyes, glowing in the dark, were beautiful, burning…

Then he plunged in, taking her mouth in a slow and drowning kiss, melting into Lily until thought gave way to pure sensation, until she didn’t know where she ended and Ty began. Her body rose beneath him, restless with the need for more, now. Waves of pleasure flowed through her, over her as Ty’s mouth, surprisingly soft, moved against her own. He tasted her, tongue rubbing against hers in lazy strokes that deepened as Lily moved against him.

“Sweet,” he whispered against her mouth. He sounded as dazed as she felt.

Yes, was all she could think as his breathing roughened, as that tight, lean body surged more insistently against hers. Lily shifted, capturing him between her thighs so that the rigid length of him was nestled firmly against the part of her that was now slick and swollen with pure need. He pressed his hips into her once, almost tentatively, on a shuddering breath that caught on a moan, and Lily felt something within her, something dark and hungry, rear its head.

It wanted to bite, to claw, to take. To feed.

It was like nothing she had ever felt before. But it felt good, felt right, to give over to it here in the dark. She surged upward against him, turning the kiss rough, demanding. Her pulse quickened as she began to lick and nip, catching Ty’s lower lip between her teeth and pulling it before letting go. She heard him growl in response, a sound utterly inhuman, and it only fueled the wild need that was pushing her on.

In Ty, even her darker side had found its match.

His hand tightened on her breast, giving it a rough squeeze, then delivering a sharp tweak to the taut bud of her nipple. Lily quivered at the pleasure, the bit of pain that only made it sweeter.

“Shall I take you there, Lily?” he asked hoarsely. “I can feel how close you are…. Ah, gods…” He breathed a word she didn’t understand, Gaelic, she assumed. It was sensual coming from his mouth no matter the meaning. Then Ty rocked his hips into her again, beginning a grinding rhythm that had Lily’s breathing going ragged. She clenched her fists and twisted into him, wanting nothing more than to have her hands on him, to have his hands on her bare flesh. Pressure began to build deep inside her, pulsing in time to Ty’s movement as he continued to devour her.

His breath, shallow and catching, only incited her. His head dropped forward on a raw moan, and she couldn’t think, couldn’t recall anything that had ever existed outside of this. The fact that she was at his mercy gave her a dark thrill that would have shocked her had she been able to do more than just feel. As did the knowledge that in a way, he was just as much at hers.

She wanted him buried inside of her, wanted to put her hands on him, to explore him without these clothes that chafed roughly between them.

Even then, it might not be enough.

She could feel his heart racing, pounding in time with her own. Could feel him trembling like a man at the edge of his control.

Then he was gone, flinging himself with a furious curse onto the other side of the bed with a force hard enough to nearly send Lily bouncing off her own side. The rusty old bedsprings squeaked in protest, but Ty said nothing. All she could hear was his ragged breathing. And all the lovely oblivion of Ty’s gift, the removal of everything but pleasure and the immediacy of the moment, vanished. A hollow and insistent ache was all that remained in its wake. Soon, it was accompanied by Lily’s confusion and her shame. She had let go, opened up.

And he had rejected her.

Outside, the sun was doubtless on its way up into the sky, the world growing light. But in here, it was time for the vampire to sleep. And despite the toxic swirl of emotions roiling inside of her, Lily decided she’d be damned if Ty was going to pass out without saying something to her about what had just happened. Her head was still spinning, and she ached in places she wasn’t even aware could ache from sheer pent-up, unfulfilled sexual energy. Half of her wanted to punch him for taking such complete advantage, and never mind how accommodating she’d been.

The other half of her was seriously considering crawling over there and having her way with him. That was the half that frightened her, the half she was trying very hard to ignore. But Lily had seen, without a doubt, that she wasn’t alone in this odd bond she felt with him. It was Ty’s reaction to it that had her cheeks burning in the dark.

“Well?” she finally asked, her voice a hoarse whisper. “Aren’t you going to at least say something?”

He did. Ty’s ragged brogue couldn’t conceal the contempt, the utter disgust, in his tone.

“Damn you, woman,” he said.

“What?”

“You weren’t supposed to like it.”

Her mouth dropped open. In an instant, everything he’d made her feel withered and dried into something twisted and repulsive.

Never again, Lily thought, though the taste of him still lingered on her lips, and her mouth was deliciously swollen from his tender assault. She had trusted him. She’d made a mistake.

“You’re a bastard, Tynan,” she said by way of good night.

“I am,” he replied after a moment, his voice tight. “And you’d do well not to forget that.”

It was the last he said before his breathing turned deep and even, solving at least one puzzle for Lily about the nature of vampire rest during the day. The man wasn’t dead. He was just asleep. The asshole.

She lay there for quite some time, seething and listening to the slow and steady rhythm of Ty’s breath. Eventually, though she hadn’t thought it possible, Lily drifted off as well.

And dreamed of fires in the darkness.

Chapter EIGHT

IT HAD BEEN YEARS since she’d been to Chicago.

Lily found she barely remembered it, though really, most of her young memories of trips were little more than mental snapshots of the insides of opulent hotels and an ever-changing sea of nannies. Even if she had gotten out enough in the city to form clear memories of the place, Lily was pretty sure she wouldn’t have been in this part of town, except maybe by accident. She looked around, trying not to gawk at the fascinating sea of people wandering around her. She saw hair in every color of the rainbow, piercings in places she had never considered sticking a sharp object through, and lots of leather and vinyl. And rubber. And metal.

Every face was deathly pale.

Ty walked beside her, looking far less out of place than she felt. She looked like, well, normal, she guessed. Cute and boring. Ty, on the other hand, looked like a modern-day Heathcliff, stalking the city streets instead of the moors. His long black coat coiled around his legs as he moved, and it was a struggle to keep up with his long stride—not that Lily would ever have admitted it.

“Stop staring. It’s slowing you down.”

His tone was dry, but Lily thought she detected a hint of amusement. She slid a heated glance at him, set her jaw, and just kept moving. There was no way he was getting a reaction from her. Not after what he’d done, and after all the angry, awkward silence of the drive here from the motel.

Of course, all the anger seemed to be on her part now, Lily thought. Ty ran hot and cold. Caught up in her brooding, she had to dodge quickly to avoid a bald-headed woman, at least six feet tall, who seemed to have an unhealthy affection for safety pins and who looked a lot like Pinhead from Hellraiser.

The wind had a bite to it tonight, and it chilled the tip of Lily’s nose, which was full of the scent of smog and the promise of rain, along with whatever they were cooking at a little Chinese place across the street. Her stomach growled pitifully. She was pretty sure Ty had forgotten that she needed to eat regularly, but pride wouldn’t let her whine about it. Not yet anyway. The doughnut and soda she’d grabbed at the 7-Eleven a few hours ago would have to do.