chapter 14
Liam stepped off the porch and into the blinding snow. He clapped his gloved hands together as he huddled deeper into his coat in an attempt to ward off the chill of the whipping wind. He watched in disbelief as Danielle, Sera, and Kathleen rolled a large ball of snow. They were laughing happily as they shoved and pushed at the huge ball, seemingly oblivious to the blizzard around them.
His gaze settled upon Sera. Her hair had fallen loose from its ponytail to hang in damp curls around her beautiful, reddened face. Her laughter filled the air, and he felt a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth in response.
“What are you doing?” Mike called to them.
“Building a snowman,” Kathleen yelled back. She laughed loudly as she fell on her ass.
Sera helped her to her feet as the four of them walked over to join them. “Awfully big snowball. How do you plan on getting that one on top of the other one?” Jack asked as he pointed to the larger ball five feet away.
“That’s what we have you big strong men for.” Sera punched him lightly on the arm.
“Good plan,” Doug commented dryly. “Glad we were informed.”
“Well, now you know,” Danielle said as she clapped her snow covered mittens together. “So you can help us.”
Unable to keep his hands off her, Liam reached out and pulled Sera into his arms. Her eyes sparkled brightly as she tilted her reddened face up. “Don’t you think you should go inside?”
“Nope,” she said with a grin. “We’re going to get Frosty together, and you’re going to help.”
“Actually,” Liam said. “We were going to go for a walk.”
Sera’s eyes darkened as her brow furrowed. “In a blizzard?”
“You won’t get far, the snow’s too deep, and it’s really hard to walk through,” Kathleen told them.
“That’s okay, it’ll be good exercise,” Doug said. “Plus, I need to stretch my legs before we can’t go anywhere.”
“That’s not a bad idea; we’ll come with you, right girls?” Kathleen said enthusiastically. “I’ll show you the lookout. You’ll love it. It’s an old tree house where you can see everything for miles around. The mountains will be beautiful with all of this snow.”
“You know, we weren’t planning on going that far,” Mike said.
“The look out’s about a half a mile away. It won’t take us long to get there.”
Liam’s arms tightened around Sera as Mike shot him a look. Sera looked quickly up at him, and then over at the others. Her brow puckered in confusion before her eyes widened in dawning realization. Her hands tightened upon his jacket as she turned toward Kathleen. “I would rather stay here and finish the snowman.”
“We can’t finish it without their help,” Kathleen retorted.
“We can roll the last ball and wait for them to come back,” Sera insisted. “Besides, I’m getting pretty cold. If we walk through those woods just think about how much colder we’ll be.”
Kathleen shrugged and stomped her booted feet. “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” she relented.
Liam blew out a sigh of relief as Doug and Jack swung shocked and impressed eyes toward Sera. Pride bloomed in his chest as he hugged her tighter. “We’ll let them get cold, and when they get back they can put the snowman together for us.”
“Ouch,” Jack said as he grinned happily. “That’s just wrong.”
Sera grinned as she stood on her toes to kiss Liam. “Right?” she asked sweetly as she batted her eyelashes playfully.
“Blackmail is illegal,” he whispered in her ear.
“Yes,” she murmured softly. “But so is what I am going to do to you later.”
He laughed loudly and kissed her, he was secretly pleased that her shyness seemed to be slipping further away. His dick began to harden as he thought about exactly what he was going to do to her tonight. “I’m going to hold you to that.” He let her go before he decided to forgo the walk and carry her back into the cabin for the rest of the day.
“You’d better. Be careful.”
She tossed an enticing grin over her shoulder before bouncing back over to Danielle and Kathleen. She sat on Frosty’s stomach, a smug look on her beautiful face as snow fell down to coat her hair, and clothes. “Don’t be too long!” Kathleen called after them. “It’s going to get dark fast tonight!”
“We won’t!” Mike yelled back.
They trudged through the knee high snow into the woods. “I guess it’s all right that you told her,” Jack said after awhile. “She is pretty cool.”
“She’s more than cool,” Mike joked. “She’s hot.”
“Oh yeah,” Jack said eagerly. “She is definitely hot.”
“Don’t make me have to threaten to kill you again,” Liam replied lightly as some of the tension left his body.
“You might have too,” Doug said as he slapped Jack on the arm. “I think he’s in love.”
They all laughed as they trudged their way up the mountain.
***
Sera clapped the excess snow off her gloves and stepped back to look at their three very large snowballs. The snow was coming down harder, and the wind had risen to a thunderous crescendo. Branches snapped loudly as the trees bent and swayed from the force of the gale.
Her hands and feet had long ago gone numb, and her hair was a tangled, wet mass. Kathleen and Danielle had already gone inside to warm up. Sera knew that she should go too, before her feet froze into the snow, but she couldn’t stop staring into the woods.
With a soft sigh, she turned and headed back to the cabin. She wasn’t going to make them magically reappear by standing there and staring. She wiped the snow out of her eyes as she pushed back an annoying piece of hair that was whipping painfully across her face. “Hello!”
Sera jumped in surprise and almost fell into the snow as she spun awkwardly around. A young girl waved to her from the edge of the forest. Sera waved numbly back as the girl made her way easily forward, the snowshoes strapped to her feet made her journey quick. Sera stared in amazement, and curiosity. She didn’t know what could possibly bring someone out in these conditions. The girl stopped before her, her black hair billowed in the wind like a whipping banner that contrasted sharply with the white surrounding them.
“Hi,” Sera greeted in disbelief.
The tiny girl was amazingly beautiful. She had soft, striking features that were delicate and sweet. Her nose was small, and gently sloping, her lips full and luscious, and a deep blood red. Her eyes were shimmering, blindingly brilliant, emerald orbs. Sera stared at her in amazement, and the girl stared back with a soft smile on her pouting lips. She was small and petite, at most she was five three, and only weighed a hundred pounds with all of her snow gear on.
“What are you doing out here?” Sera asked worriedly. “Is everything all right?”
The girl laughed easily, a sweet, tinkling sound that carried through the air. “Oh yes,” she said happily. “I live in the cabin about a mile down the road. I was going stir crazy so I decided to go for a walk.”
“Well, why don’t you come inside and have some hot chocolate with my friends and I?”
“Oh, who are your friend’s? Maybe I know them.”
“Kathleen’s parents own the cabin, and she’s inside with Danielle now. A few of our other friends went for a walk.”
The girl studied her for a moment before she turned to look at the woods. “A walk huh?” Something flickered over her delicate features that caused a chill ran up Sera’s spine. The girl smiled happily as she shook back her midnight hair. “No, that’s all right. I was heading to my friend’s cabin. They’ll be worried if I don’t show up. Maybe I’ll stop on my way back.”
Sera felt as if there was something wrong with this girl, but she didn’t know what, and she couldn’t just let her walk through a blizzard without trying to help her. “Are you sure you don’t want to come in and warm up for a couple of minutes first?”
“No, I really should be going. My name’s Elizabeth by the way, but everyone calls me Beth,” she said as she extended a small, gloved hand.
“Serendipity, but everyone calls me Sera. It’s nice to meet you.”
“That’s unusual, pretty though. It’s nice to meet you too.”
“Thanks. Have a safe walk.”
“I will. Have a nice day.”
Sera hurried back to the cabin and quickly climbed the steps. She swung the back door open and stomped the snow from her boots as she pulled her gloves off. She stripped her jacket off and hurried into the warm kitchen. Danielle and Kathleen were slowly sipping hot chocolate and bickering over a crossword puzzle as they sat at the island.
“They back yet?” Kathleen asked.
“No, not yet.”
“For not wanting to go very far, they’ve been gone awhile,” Danielle said.
“Well over an hour,” Kathleen muttered.
Sera poured a mug of hot chocolate, and held it in her numbed hands to help warm them up. “They’ll be back soon,” she said as she took a sip.
“I hope so, it will be dark soon.”
Sera moved over to the island and stared unseeingly at the crossword. The heat was rapidly sinking into her as shooting pains lanced through her numbed fingers. “I just met a neighbor of yours,” she said to Kathleen.
Kathleen frowned as she lifted her head from the puzzle. “A neighbor?” she asked. “Where?”
“Out back, after you guys came inside. She was walking through the woods.”
Kathleen plopped her pen on the counter as her gaze darted to the windows. “We don’t have any neighbors, Sera.”
Sera frowned as she took a sip of her hot chocolate. “She said she was from a cabin about a mile down the road.”
Kathleen chewed on her bottom lip as she glanced back at Sera. “That’s funny.”
“Why?”
“Well that would be the old McDonald place. His wife died last year, and Mr. McDonald died last month. As far as I know, no one has bought the place.”
“Maybe she was a grandkid or something?”
Kathleen shrugged as she picked her pen up. “Yeah, maybe.”
“She said she was going to a friend’s cabin.”
Kathleen glanced sharply at her as she lowered her pen again. “Sera, were you hallucinating or something?”
“No, I swear! Her name was Beth.”
“The closest cabin is five miles away. Unless she was planning on spending all night walking I doubt that’s where she was going.”
“I’m just telling you what she said.”
“Maybe you misunderstood her.”
“No, I understood her just fine.”
“Then she must have been lying.”
Sera shrugged as she glanced back out the window. She couldn’t see anything through the snow blasting against the pane. Worry was beginning to gnaw at her stomach as she noticed that the sky was darkening. She took another sip of hot chocolate and placed the cup down. “Maybe,” she replied. “But why would she?”
Kathleen shrugged as she quickly wrote down an answer. “Are you sure that’s right?” Danielle demanded.
“It fits, doesn’t it? She may have been too shy to come inside.”
She didn’t seem at all shy to Sera, but she couldn’t think of any other reason. “Maybe,” she agreed absently. “Do you think they’re all right?”
“I’m sure they’re fine, stop worrying about it. Why don’t you go take a shower before the electric goes out? I’m sure they’ll be back by the time you’re done.”
The idea of a shower was very tempting. She was exceptionally numb and she needed a distraction from her worry. “That sounds like a good idea. I’ll be back in a bit.”
“The towels are in the hall closet!” Kathleen called after her.
Sera quickly gathered dry clothes and practically leapt up the stairs as the warm shower beckoned to her. Stripping out of her wet clothes, she adjusted the shower to the hottest temperature she could stand and stepped inside. The driving needles, and the fiery warmth, helped to melt some of the tension from her body. Once the pain of her frozen extremities began to fade, she savored the warmth of the water, and the steam rising around her while she leisurely washed her hair.
The shower curtain suddenly ripped open. She cried out in surprise, and fear, as she instinctively covered her naked body. Liam grinned at her as he stepped into the large tub. “Jesus!” she gasped, her hand flying to her heart. “Don’t do that! Didn’t you ever see Psycho!?”
He laughed softly as he wound his hands into her wet hair and pulled her closer to him. She scowled fiercely at him, not ready to forgive him for scaring the hell out of her. “Sorry,” he mumbled as he dropped a light kiss on her mouth. “But the idea of sharing a shower with you was too tempting to resist.”
Her anger began to melt as he nibbled gently on her lower lip. Her hands fluttered to his chest. “You’re freezing!” she gasped as she dropped her hands.
He grinned at her as he stepped under the warm water. “Come here and warm me up.”
She raised an eyebrow haughtily at him. “You come in here, scare me to death, take over my hot water and expect me to be accommodating?”
The sensual grin he shot her warmed her more than all the hot water in the world could have. “Yes.”
She couldn’t stop the small smile that played at the corner of her mouth. He tipped his head back to let the water run down his face and plaster his hair back. Sera’s mouth went dry as her heart began to pound rapidly in her chest. He was absolutely magnificent. Water slid over his bronzed skin, ran over his broad shoulders and hard chest in tantalizing rivulets that made her wish her hands were the water. He was already hard, and the throbbing tip of his shaft glistened with beads of water.
She swallowed heavily as her body grew taut with anticipation. She looked up to find him watching her with a small smile and a feral gleam in his emerald eyes. He opened his arms to her and she went eagerly into them. His mouth was savage and fierce as it seized upon hers. Sera was instantly swept away by his fierce need, and her own.
His hands seized upon her waist as he lifted her easily up. Sera gasped in surprise as he thrust deeply into her. “Hold onto me,” he grated hoarsely in her ear.
She wrapped her arms and legs around him as he turned her into the wall. He braced her firmly, and used his hands to guide her movements as she slid slowly up and down. Her tight sheath was so very warm and inviting, so wonderful. The water ran over her, flowing down her breasts and dripping off of her hardened nipples. He seized one of them, sucking upon the sweet bud as he licked the water from her.
She cried out, arching against him as her fingers tightened upon his neck. His eyes seized upon the dark marks on her neck. His marks. His body hardened and grew tauter as a fierce hunger ripped through him. His teeth instantly lengthened and the animal inside of him sprang forth. An inhuman urge to mark her once more seized him. He wanted her sweet blood, needed the resurgence of strength it gave him. He wanted to brand her as his own again so that everyone would know that she belonged only to him. His hands tightened upon her hips, his need became savage as he drove fiercely into her.
She cried out as she withered wildly upon him. Her hands clawed into him as she sensed his urgency, and met it. His mouth began to water as her head fell back and he could see the blood throbbing through her veins. He almost drove his teeth into her neck. Almost took her against her will. He managed to take a ragged gasp and rip his gaze away from her tempting throat. He had to stop; he had to get away from her before he lost all control and devoured her completely.
“Sera,” he grated. “Stop. We must stop!”
His words barely pierced her erotic haze. When they did, she dropped her head to gaze at him. Her eyes widened at the sight that greeted her and terror hammered through her veins. His face was twisted with beastly need, his teeth long and sharp. She could see the struggle for control in his clenched jaw, and flaring nostrils. His eyes blazed a brilliant green with ferocious hunger. Although he had drunk from her last night, he had never looked like this. This Liam was wild, and primitive, and utterly deadly.
“I can’t,” he somehow managed to say.
Her eyes came back to his, wide, and innocent, and beguiling. He grit his teeth hard as he tried to regain control of himself. He had never lost it before, and he wasn’t about to lose it now. Not with her. He would hurt her. He took a step away from the wall and released his hold upon her.
“Get out of here Sera. Stay away from me for awhile.”
“No.”
“Sera!” he hissed as he seized hold of the hands wrapped tightly around his neck.
“I said no.”
Anger flared through him as he met her determined gaze. “Damn it Sera, I’m going to hurt you!”
“No you won’t. I know you won’t.” Her simple words managed to dampen some of the beast within him.
He groaned as his hands convulsed upon hers. “It’s too soon.”
“Will it change me?”
“Not if you don’t drink from me, and I can control myself.”
“Then control yourself.”
“It’s not that easy,” he groaned. “Not with you.”
Her smile was softly seductive as she slowly lifted herself up and slid back down his hardened cock. He stiffened, his hands tightened upon hers as she rubbed her hardened nipples against his chest and lightly nipped at his bottom lip. She rose again and slid leisurely back down, her muscles clenched tightly as she drew him all the way into her. He made no move to meet her actions as he stood stiffly. She felt so exquisitely good, but she was playing with fire, and she was going to get burned. He couldn’t let that happen.
Sera rode him slowly, determined to melt his resolve; determined that he was going to give her what she wanted. And she wanted all of him, consequences be damned. She bit lightly into his neck. His hands tightened as his body stiffened. “Sera!” he grated.
She couldn’t stop herself from smiling. No matter how hard he tried to fight her, and himself, she knew that she was going to win. She nibbled lightly at his neck as his hands seized upon her hips. His grip was bruising but she didn’t care. She bit into his earlobe, tugging lightly on it as he trembled and groaned.
Suddenly his grip eased as he pushed her against the wall. His body was hot and hard as he throbbed and pulsed within her. His head fell to her shoulder, and she could feel his teeth pressed against her skin. His breath was warm as his inhalations became ragged and harsh. His body trembled as he fought for control.
“Take me Liam,” she whispered. “Make me yours.”
He shuddered violently as her words drifted over him. All of his control snapped. He drove fiercely into her as the creature within took over. She tilted her head back as she rode him with abandon. He didn’t know why she wasn’t afraid of him, why she didn’t want him to stop, and at the moment he didn’t care. All he wanted was to own her, to have her, and to have her know that she was his, and only his.
With a savage cry he bit deeply into her. She cried out in ecstasy as her hands clawed wildly into him, tearing at his skin as the overwhelming urgency for more threatened to destroy them both.
***
It was awhile later before Sera was able to rouse herself from her languid state. She felt thoroughly sedated, deliciously satisfied, and very well used. Somehow, they had managed to make their way to the plush rug upon the floor. She curled one hand into it and smiled with contentment as she nestled closer to Liam.
His hand tightened upon her hip. She slowly lifted her head to gaze down at his exquisite face and bright green eyes. There was a haunted look in them as he slowly searched her face. “Are you all right?” She smiled and nodded as she lightly stroked his chest. “I didn’t hurt you?” Her smile grew sweeter, more content as she shook her head. “You should have let me stop.”
It was the self contempt in his voice that caused her hand to still, and her smile to fade. “No.”
His hand seized hold of hers as he levered himself onto his elbow. He loomed over her, large, and frightening, and hers. “I could have hurt you.”
The sweet smile that flitted over her face tugged at his heart. “No, you couldn’t have.”
Her blind trust, and utter belief in him, caused a fierce tightening in his chest. He had done nothing to deserve it, nothing to deserve her, and yet, he had her. Her eyes were soft and dreamy as she gazed at him. Never had she looked more beautiful than at that moment. There was a soft glow about her that radiated from her dreamy eyes. Her golden hair cascaded around her to spill onto the floor in a damp, wet mass that he found impossible not to touch.
“Come on, let’s get you dressed.”
“Do we have too?”
He raised an eyebrow at her and nodded briskly. “Unless you want to spend the rest of the night in this bathroom.”
She grinned saucily. “This rug is rather comfortable.”
To his surprise, Liam felt himself growing hard again. Her body was warm and supple beneath his and utterly tempting. He didn’t know what was wrong with him. His desire and need for her wasn’t dimming at all, it was growing stronger with each time that he took her. He had fed on her last night, caught a few rabbits today, and fed upon her again, but suddenly he found himself hungry for more of her.
Shit, he would kill them both if this kept up. He shoved himself off the floor and to his feet. “Come on,” he said more briskly than he had intended.
She blinked in surprise as he grabbed her arms and pulled her to her feet. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes.” He tossed her clothes to her and turned away. He couldn’t look at her anymore. He needed to get out of this room. It was growing smaller by the second.
Sera tugged her jeans on as she watched him. His back was tense and his jaw was clenched tightly as he stalked over to turn the shower off. The water had long since grown cold, and the steam in the room had evaporated. She pulled her turtleneck on and then tugged on her sweater. He was standing by the sink, quickly pulling on a pair of jeans as he kept his back to her. It was then that she noticed the claw marks that marred his smooth, taut skin. She swallowed heavily as her eyes widened in surprise. She couldn’t believe that she had done that to him. A fierce blush began to burn her face as she lowered her gaze. What had he turned her into?
She bit into her bottom lip as she searched for something to turn her mind away from her thoughts. “Was your walk successful?”
“Yes. You ready?”
His clipped tones drew her attention back to him. She frowned as she pulled her turtleneck higher. “Liam, what’s wrong?”
He kept his back firmly to her as he gathered the clothes off the floor. “Nothing.”
“Are you mad at me?” she asked in confusion.
“No.”
“Then why are acting like it?”
He scooped the last article of clothing from the floor and shoved them onto the counter. He ran a hand wearily through his hair as he turned to face her. “I’m not mad at you Sera.”
No matter what he said, his voice was still cold and strained. She stared at him in confusion. “Then what is the matter?”
He frowned as he studied her. She was slightly paler than normal, and there were shadows under her large, luminous eyes. “How do you feel?”
“I feel fine.”
“I’ve taken a lot of blood from you Sera, are you sure that you’re all right?”
She smiled as she nodded. “I’m fine.” Her words did nothing to ease the harshness in his face, and the coldness in his eyes. “Liam, what is wrong?”
He opened his arms to her. “Come here.” She hesitated for a moment before stepping into his embrace. “I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at myself, and I’m confused.”
Fear constricted her heart. Was he confused about her? About the way he felt about her? “About what?” she asked in a strangled voice.
He pulled slightly away and tipped her chin up with his finger. “About the loss of control I have when I’m around you.”
She blinked in surprise as she frowned at him. “What do you mean?”
“Sera, what happened earlier shouldn’t have. I should have been able to stop myself from changing, from feeding off you. But I had no control, it just took over. And now I would like nothing more than to do it again.”
He expected to see fear or revulsion in her eyes. Instead, they clouded with desire as she bit into her enticing bottom lip. “Oh,” she whispered.
Sera shivered with want as his steel arms tightened around her, and his words stirred something deep inside her. She had no idea what she was becoming, what he had brought out in her, but words that should have frightened her, should have warned her to stay clear of him, at least for a little while, only served to make her tremble with want, and need. Was it because his blood coursed in her veins? Was there now part of a vampire inside her?
She should have been terrified at the thought, but she wasn’t.
Liam’s fingers lightly stroked her cheek. He tugged at the edge of her turtleneck and pulled it down. He gazed at the two marks that marred the creamy perfection of her skin. His marks. His eyes dilated as his teeth instantly lengthened. He wanted to brand her again, to taste her again; to fill her veins with his blood so that everyone knew that she was his. So that she knew that she was his.
He clamped his jaw tightly as he willed the demon inside him to subside. Slowly, he was able to regain some control of himself, and meet her eyes again. “I thought you said the marks faded,” she whispered as she watched him intently.
“They do when we use our saliva to make them close faster.”
Her brow furrowed. “Why didn’t you do that with me?”
His eyes gleamed with a feral light that made them flash red for a second. Sera’s eyes widened, but to her surprise she felt no fear of him. “Because I wanted you to bear my mark. I want everyone to know that you are mine. And you are mine Sera. No one else is ever going to touch you.”
Normally she would have been angered by his highhanded, possessive tone. She would have been enraged at the thought of anyone thinking they owned her. Instead, she found herself thrilled by it. “I mean it,” his eyes flashed again as the creature within neared the surface. “If anyone touches you...”
She placed her finger over his mouth to silence him. A muscle in his jaw twitched as his eyes gleamed violently. “I am yours Liam,” she whispered. “Only yours.”
He closed his eyes as he fought against the vampire that wanted to break free and finish what it had started. Slowly, her words sank in and helped to ease his fierce need. “Good.”
“And you’re only mine, right?”
He opened his eyes. She was staring intently at him, her eyes narrowed, and a fierce spark in them. He smiled softly at the ferociousness in her gaze as he traced her swollen lower lip. “Yes.”
She grinned as she stood on her toes to kiss him lightly. “We had better go before they send a search party for us.”
She pulled her turtleneck back up. Liam’s hands clenched as he fought the urge to rip it back down so that everyone could see what was beneath it, but he knew he couldn’t risk Kathleen and Danielle realizing that it wasn’t just a hickey she bore.