Myst was still getting razzed for hooking up with Nikolai five years ago, even by other Lore factions. Having the aggressively omnisexual nymphs ridicule one’s choice of lover was about as low as one could get. Mysty the Vampire Layer was the butt of many a joke.
Who was worse? Myst, who’d dabbled with a vampire, or Danii, who’d dabbled and had desperately wanted more?
Murdoch dreamed.
Sometimes he dreamed of the sun, sometimes of old battles. Now he dreamed of his father, of walking in on him wet-eyed, clutching a portrait of Murdoch’s mother on the fifth anniversary of her death.
Murdoch had loved his mother, though she’d been zealously religious, and he’d grieved her loss, but his father had been left a broken shell of a man.
At first, Murdoch had pitied him. Then he’d scorned the father who had scant time for his family, who’d all but orphaned his four young daughters with his neglect.
By this time, Murdoch had been enjoying women for years, knew that they were always about when he needed one. His father could have enjoyed the same—as a wealthy aristocrat, he could easily have found a woman to replace his departed wife.
“Get another one,” Murdoch had finally demanded, unable to comprehend what kind of hold the woman had over him. His father had refused to move on, obsessed with her.
A woman’s death had broken a strong man…
The dream began to change. Murdoch found himself with Daniela in a strange room made of ice walls. But he felt no chill from it, no discomfort.
He placed his palms on either side of her ethereal face—without giving her pain. When his thumbs brushed her delicate cheekbones, she smiled up at him, but her countenance was different. Everything about her had changed.
Wisping ice crystals had formed in half-moon shapes at her temples. More crystals spiked her lashes and tangled in her wild, shimmery hair. Her skin was even paler, her lips tinged with blue. Delicate cobalt-colored designs laced around her wrists and descended over her hands. In his dream, he knew they ran across her lower back as well.
Her eyes seemed to be filled with an ancient knowing, and they glowed as if banked with a blue fire.
She looked otherworldly. Like a completely alien being. She is otherworldly…
“Do you want me?” she whispered on a frosty breath, leading him to a bed in the center of the room.
He’d never wanted anyone more. “I have to have you.”
“Then take me, Murdoch.”
He was about to give her his standard warning, that this was only for a night. He wouldn’t be interested in more. But she pressed her chill lips to his, stunning him with the cold—and with the pleasure. Perfection. Delicious.
He lost track of what he’d been about to say.
As they kissed, he slipped her skimpy dress from her, then pressed her back on the bed. He tugged her panties down, left her heels on.
Sweeping his hands up her thighs, he spread her legs. Now that he could, he made a feast of her body for hours, licking her in secret places. Instead of her own fingers delving into her sex, his now thrust inside her.
He tormented her, first keeping her from coming, then forcing her to, over and over.
In his dream, he knew she’d never been with another man. He painstakingly prepared her body for his, determined to spare her pain as he claimed her virginity.
When he’d been human, he’d never been interested in virgins. Back then, much was taboo in his conservative country. Deflowering a maid one never intended to marry was virtually blasphemous.
So why was he continuing with Daniela, positioning his hips between her pale thighs? Why was he kissing her soft breasts, rubbing his face against them, sucking on those stiff nipples? Did he want to be bound to her? One woman. For more than even a mortal lifetime. Possibly forever.
These thoughts left him when the head of his cock found her wetness.
She softly cried, “Murdoch…” Lightning fractured the night, the thunder booming all around them.
With a groan, he slowly rolled his hips up, pressing the crown inside her untried body… the tightness, the connection.
When she gasped in his ear and made little whimpers of pleasure, he ran his mouth against her neck, licking her sweet skin, knowing he’d take her blood this night.
He rode her harder, faster, shocked when she met his frantic thrusts with a hidden strength. She dug her heels in to lift her hips, seating him even deeper inside her.
She told him she was about to come, and he was desperate to feel it.
Her sheath began squeezing his throbbing cock, and the power of her orgasm sent his seed climbing. The pressure would soon make him mindless. His cock ached; his fangs ached. No amount of will could prevent him from bucking his hips to lose his semen… or from piercing her neck.
With a yell, he sank his fangs into her tender flesh. And it was like coming home.
“Murdoch!”
He felt her crying out as her blood filled his mouth, coursing through every cell in his body.
Connection.
As the overwhelming urge to come inside her grew, he slammed his body between her legs. Growling against her neck, he began to ejaculate, spending so hard he knew she felt it inside her. Still sucking her blood, he flooded her womb.
Once he was spent at last, he collapsed atop her, releasing his bite. Afterward, as their hearts pounded, he couldn’t seem to stop kissing her neck and murmuring praise in her ear. This new bond between them was like nothing he’d ever known.
Yet she began fading, disappearing from him.
“Murdoch, what’s happening?” The fear in her eyes was like the night before—stark, filling him with dread.
“No! Daniela, don’t go… ”
A strange voice in his mind whispered, “How badly do you want her? What would you sacrifice?”
He woke to his own yelling, tracing to his feet. With her number still in his hand, he snatched up the phone, staring at one, then the other as he caught his breath.
He shook his head hard. What the hell was this? Like a spell on him, making him behave in ways he normally wouldn’t.
Calm yourself. Think this through. You have bloodlust for her.
He couldn’t control it. He acknowledged that. Yet he kept remembering his brother’s contentment. Murdoch’s mind seized on the rightness of being with Daniela in his dream.
Think, just think.… As he debated, he stalled, tracing to the kitchen to drink blood, though he had no appetite, then showering. He took time selecting which clothes he’d wear for the night—in case he decided to meet her again.
In the end, Murdoch found it impossible not to call her. To hell with it.
He was strangely nervous as he picked up the phone. After all, he’d never contacted a woman for an assignation. They’d always come to him.
He’d have to smooth-talk Daniela, since he’d left it so badly today. That wouldn’t be a problem. He’d been called silver-tongued by more than one lover in the past.
Eight-six-seven-five-three-oh-nine—
“Kristoff wishes to see you,” a male said from behind him.
He hastily disconnected the call, then cast a scowl over his shoulder. Lukyan, a Russian Forbearer, leaned negligently against the doorframe.
Murdoch didn’t trust the former Cossack. Not bothering to hide his irritation, he said, “Can’t it wait?”
“It’s about your brother. You’re to go to Blachmount.”
“What about him?”
Lukyan’s expression was studiously blank. “He’s probably about to be executed.”
CHAPTER 12
Danii had gotten into Val Hall undetected. Now I just have to get my things and get out.