“He’s gone insane!” Palgrave shouted, trying to get the referee’s attention. “You have to put him down.” The vampire backed up as Beck growled low in his throat and began to stalk him. He tossed down his knife and showed Beck his empty hands. He had retracted his claws, but the fangs remained. “I concede, Beck. We all concede.”
A horn blared. It seemed a distant, meaningless thing. There were still twitching bodies, so Beck knew his work couldn’t possibly be finished. His senses opened. Everywhere he smelled glorious death. The vamp was backed against the arena wall. He tried to shrink back as though he could force the stone walls to pull him in.
“I am asking for mercy, Your Highness.” There was a hitch in the vampire’s voice. He pulled away as though trying to disappear into himself.
Beck could smell the fear on him. It was good. He raised his sword as the crowd began to scream, but it was a single voice that stayed his hand.
“He asked for mercy, Beck,” a soft feminine voice said. “There is no reason to kill him.”
Beck turned on his heels. He sensed the vamp take the opportunity to run. He was too shocked by Meg’s presence to do anything about it. Dante stood at her side. Beck chose to turn his rage on his cousin. “Get her out of here. How dare you allow her on the battlefield!”
Dante had the good sense to back up, but Meg held her ground. “The battle is done, cos. It’s time for you to come down now.”
“Not until I’m finished,” Beck promised. His voice was rough with anger. His jealousy was taking over. What had his cousin been doing all this time he was sitting beside his woman? Had Dante been courting her? “You should never have walked out here. Are you challenging me?”
Dante’s eyes got wide, but Meg moved between them. “Beck, Dante is not challenging you. No one is challenging you anymore. They’re all running away. You scared the crap out of them.”
Beck bared his teeth as he realized she was correct. They were running. He took a step and made to follow when her soft hand found the middle of his chest. She didn’t seem to notice he was covered in blood.
“Meg, he’s too far gone,” Dante said. “You’ll have to…”
“I heard you in the stands, Dante.” Meg placed her other hand on his chest and stood very close. He could smell her. She smelled sweet, nothing like death. Meg smelled of flowers and some womanly scent he couldn’t name. She smelled of life. “Beck, I’m yours. Are you going to leave me alone to chase after the others? Shouldn’t you take care of me?”
“Not going to work, sweetheart.” Dante continued to back up. “Meg, if you can’t handle it, then I need for you to run. Run to the stands. I’ll distract him.”
“Shut up,” Beck yelled at the vampire. His jealousy was a roiling pain in his gut. “You don’t talk to my mate.”
Meg huffed at the vampire. “Fine, but you better be right. If I find out this was a stupid joke, I’ll stake you myself.” Beck was trying to move her out of the way. She threw her arms around him and went on her tiptoes to press her mouth against his. “Please, Your Highness, I am yours. You have to take care of me.”
Beck’s sword fell to the side as another type of need blazed through his body.
Meg took a deep breath and prayed that damn vampire was right. She pressed her body against Beck’s. Finally, she had his full attention. Her hands were shaking as she thought about what she was about to do.
Dante had been very concerned when the first vampire was killed. He’d explained to her that Beck’s control of his temper was a delicate thing. He was the warrior half of unbonded symbiotic twins. He needed his brother to balance him, but without a bondmate, his rage had begun to run unchecked. Dante had explained that if Beck went berserk, he would have to be killed.
Meg didn’t want Beck killed. On the practical side, if Beck was killed, she wouldn’t simply be freed. She would go to the last competitor standing and in his right mind, and that would be a vampire. As much as she thought Dante was a hoot, the thought of being claimed by a vampire left her cold. They were too calculating for her tastes.
The only way to save Beck was to turn his rage into something else. Dante explained that he might calm down eventually, but not until he’d killed the vampires and possibly the gnomes who would try to stop him. If they had a shot at salvaging the day, Meg was going have to take one for the team.
It wasn’t as if she wouldn’t be doing it anyway, Dante had explained as he’d leapt over the railing. He’d turned and helped her down before explaining that Beck would be required to prove he could sexually handle a mate.
If there had been even a second of time, Meg would have taken extreme issue with that, but Beck had been bearing down on a vampire who looked like he was about to pee his pants. She had run the distance between them, her bare feet sinking in the sand. She should have been terrified. He was a brutal fighter, and yet she knew he would never hurt her. Why she trusted this man she had no idea, but she did.
She pressed herself up. He towered over her. His gray eyes had been filled with rage. Now they gleamed down on her, a mixture of the rage he was fighting and something else entirely.
“You shouldn’t have come out here.” He growled as he took her face between his hands. He shifted them slightly until they tangled in her long hair. He looked righteously masculine, and Meg felt her heart speed up.
It took her a moment to form the words. “I had to come.”
He was so close. His neck and shoulder were injured, the wounds seeping blood. She should be disgusted by him, but she knew she was seeing a piece of him that was important. He was a warrior, and not the kind who dropped a bomb from above or pushed a button from miles away. He fought in close quarters. His life was always on the line. He was a knight, and she suddenly felt like his lady. He had been intent on destruction, but she had stayed his hand. It was a heady feeling.
His mouth latched on to hers. The world fell away. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that others watched them. She could even hear the announcer call the battle in favor of Beck. The crowd cheered, and then she heard something about a public display of sexual compatibility, but his tongue was sweeping inside her mouth. He held her head where he wanted it, and she was deliciously powerless against his assault. Meg felt her skin tingle everywhere it met his. He hauled her tightly against his frame. She could feel his desire. His erection pressed long and thick against her belly. His body moved against hers, and Meg found herself rubbing helplessly against him.
Meg opened her mind to the experience. It seemed like the right thing to do. Even as his body prodded hers, she felt his mind playing at the edges of her consciousness. It was almost as if there were gates to her mind, and like the marauder he was, Beck wanted in. Meg let them fall away and was suddenly overwhelmed.
She felt Beck’s insanity seeking a place to go. Rage poured into her brain. For a second, she was suffused with it, but instinct took over. It was odd. She could push it out of her own mind. It was almost as though she was a filter for him. The rage swept over her. It was so powerful that she was shocked Beck hadn’t killed everyone. He kissed her as his rage moved from his mind into hers, and then like a faucet that had been turned from cold to hot, it was replaced with desire. It raced through her body like a wildfire, and this time, she didn’t try to filter it. She wanted this feeling. It was completely different than anything she had experienced before. This wasn’t the sweet, slow arousal she normally experienced that typically led to nowhere. This was a blazing aggression that she knew would end with a dominant, overwhelming pleasure. This need would not be denied.