Tall, Dark & Heartless

"Mind telling me where we're going?" he bit out as he quickened his pace to catch up with her.

"No, I don't mind at all. I'm going somewhere where I won't be tempted to bitch slap you every five seconds. Now be a good little boy and help me out by going away," she said in a clipped tone as she tried to put more distance between them, but he wasn't having that.

Admittedly, if his body hadn't been on fire for her he would have just taken off. He didn't need this bullshit, but damn if she didn't have him following her deep into the woods like some moron. If he had any brains he would get back into the car, drive to the nearest town, find a woman and f**k and drink this drug out of his system, but instead of doing that he was chasing down his unwanted mate.

He could accept that he had a mate, even an unwanted mate, but that didn't mean he had to go along for the ride. He'd f**k her, put her away somewhere and visit her every now and then to f**k her when the need arose otherwise he'd take care of his bodily needs with other women, women he desired and didn't have any connection with.

"You own me an explanation," he said, flashing in front of her and forcing her to stop, but of course she simply rolled her eyes and walked around him.

"I don't owe you anything, Caine, except maybe a thanks for saving my life," she said, pausing mid-step to shoot him a too cheerful smile over her shoulder as she said, "Thanks for saving my life." Just as quickly as it came the smile was gone and she was back to storming off.

"Don't walk away from me, Danni," he said, allowing his fangs to slide down as he went after her.

She immediately stopped and turned to face him, crossing her arms over her chest, not even bothering to try and cover up as she glared at him. The scent of aggression mixed with the lingering scent of her arousal hit him hard and he was lost. The need to dominate this woman was overpowering and he was done fighting it.

"You got rejected, Caine. Get over it, it happens," she said harshly as she moved to turn her back on him again, but he was done with this bullshit.

Before she could so much as take a step to walk away from him he grabbed her arm, gave it a good yank and turned her around to face him. When she opened her mouth, probably to tell him to go f**k off, he crashed his mouth down on hers. The kiss was brutal from the start. It was a punishment for all the bullshit she put him through, for getting caught, for scaring the hell out of him, for not coming to him for help and almost making him live in a world without her, but mostly it was for making him care.

In the back of his mind he realized that he should back off and smooth things over between them to get what he needed, but he was done playing around. She was his and she needed to f**king accept it so that they could both get this out their systems and move on. He cupped the back of her neck as he continued his assault on her lips. He expected her to bite him, shove him, scream or do a hundred other things every other woman would do in her situation, but what he didn't expect was for Danni to reach up and cup the back of his neck, digging her nails into his flesh to keep him right where he was as she launched an assault of her own.

Their lips battled for dominance as their teeth clashed, moans and groans were ignored as they stood in the small clearing in the moonlit woods. It didn't take long until their tongues joined the fight, twirling and rubbing with abandon as Caine used his hold on her to pull her closer, desperate to have her near him. When her grip tightened around his neck he growled with approval.

One kiss and he was ready to burst. That had never happened to him before, but then again he'd never been foolish enough to ingest drug laced blood before. Whatever they'd given him had been odorless and tasteless and he'd have to be a hell of a lot more careful in the future, but none of that mattered at the moment. The only thing that mattered was the way Danni's tongue slid into his mouth, sliding against his before she pulled back to caress his fangs with a caress that had the oversensitive head of his c**k weeping for her.

"I want you," he growled against her mouth as he reached around her with his free hand and palmed her bare ass, bringing her even closer.

She suckled his tongue, driving him out of his f**king mind before she ended the kiss and tried to shove him away. "No, you just want to get off. Go find someone else."

"I don't want anyone else," he said, shocking the hell out of himself and earning a scowl from her as she moved to shove him away again, but he refused to release her.

She gave a humorless laugh as she once again shoved him and this time he reluctantly let her go as the scent of aggression once again battled with the scent of her arousal. What the hell was wrong with this woman? One minute she couldn't get enough of him and the next she was shoving him away and leaving him in more pain than before.

Without her touch he was forced to lean forward, resting his hands on his knees as he desperately tried to catch his breath and calm his body down, but it was useless. He had to have her and with each passing second it became harder and harder to hang onto his humanity. If she kept denying him what they both wanted he knew he wouldn't be able to keep bloodlust at bay for much longer. He'd f**k her and drain her and then he'd do it again until his body was satisfied.

And she would hate him for it, but not as much as he would hate himself.

"No? Not even a half an hour ago you made it crystal clear that I was only good enough until something better came along," she snapped, taking another step to leave when his next words stopped her.

"You're driving me out of my f**king mind over jealousy?" he demanded, trying to keep the irritation and the pain he was feeling out of his tone and failing. He winced as the soft cotton of his underwear brushed the underside of his engorged c**k the wrong way and sent sharp pain to his balls.

She snorted at that, actually snorted. "I'm not jealous, Caine. I just don't like to get used and I hated having to settle," she said with a shrug, making everything in him go still.

"What the hell are you talking about? How were you settling?"

Another shrug had his teeth grinding until he was sure his fangs would snap off. "The change made me oversensitive to everything and intensified all my needs. I need sex," she said like it was nothing, "and you were the only man around. Face it, Caine, we were using each other. As soon as I get to a town I'm going to have all my needs taken care of," she said, throwing him a smug smile and a wink before she turned to walk off, leaving him fuming. "Have a nice life, Caine."

She wouldn't f**king dare, he thought as he stared after her, imaging her allowing some other male to touch her, to feed her, to f**k her. He would kill any male that touched what was his.

********

Danni forced herself to keep moving forward on trembling legs as she wrapped her arms around herself, willing her body to stop shaking. What the hell was wrong with her? She hadn't taken any of his blood since he ingested the drugs so why was her body acting like she was a junkie in need of a fix?

Because the scent of his arousal and touch were the most pleasurable things she'd ever experienced and she wanted the intense pleasure both promised, but she couldn't. She wanted him and he was only settling because there was nothing better around.

He could go to hell, because she wasn't about to play that game. She wasn't about to let some guy screw her while he wished there was something better beneath him. She wasn't that desperate and never would be. The only thing he'd been right about was that she was jealous and she really couldn't understand why.