Chapter Eight
Raven was glad they hadn’t talked more about the incident that morning. She was still mortified about practically begging a vampire to have sex with her. If he’d been human, it wouldn’t have bothered her so much. If he’d been human, she wouldn’t have asked him to stop. This sort of thing had happened more than once, and it never bothered her. Of course, she’d never had a man ask her if he should stop before. Usually, the man was just as far gone as she was. She wondered if Connor’s restraint was a vampire thing.
Jack came by with breakfast, interrupting her self-pity, but she figured she’d have plenty of time for that later.
“Good morning!” he greeted with a friendly smile.
“Good morning, Jack” Raven responded, unable to resist returning his smile.
Connor watched the exchange with a scowl.
“You’re going to have to figure out how to keep Raven fed, Con,” Jack remarked. “My wife isn’t going to act as your personal chef indefinitely.”
“Great,” Connor muttered, grabbing a bag of blood from the refrigerator and emptying it into a glass. “One more thing I need to figure out.”
“You should have thought about all of this before you decided to get a wood nymph,” Jack teased. “I’m not sure you’re ready for this kind of responsibility.”
Raven giggled despite her efforts not to.
“You are just too funny, Jack,” Connor remarked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Is he always this irritable?” Raven asked Jack.
“Nah,” Jack replied. “Sometimes he’s asleep.”
“Speaking of sleep,” Connor began, “I need you to arrange some things today. I need bars put on the window of the extra bedroom upstairs. I also need a lock for the outside of that door, a good one. Oh, and a nice bed with some soft girlie bed stuff.”
“Thank you,” Jack said with a triumphant smile.
“For?” Connor asked with a raised eyebrow.
“I bet Shelby you’d move Raven into her own room as soon as possible. She was sure you’d want to keep her in your bed.”
“You were betting on where I’d sleep?” Raven asked, more amused than annoyed.
“Yep,” Jack said. “Sorry if that was a little insensitive, but we’re all pretty excited to have you here.”
“You are?” Raven was surprised.
“Sure,” Jack replied. “We’ve heard about wood nymphs, but you’re the first one we’ve met. Plus, you bring so much disorder to Con’s life, and we all love that.”
“Just go work on Raven’s room,” Connor ordered with an exasperated sigh.
“What size bed?” Jack asked. “Sheet color? Should the bars unlock in case of emergency?”
“Maybe I should send you a list,” Connor stated, pulling out his phone and what looked like a small pen to make notes. “What colors do you like?” he asked Raven.
She hesitated because the question came as a surprise. “Why?”
“For your bedding,” he explained.
She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”
He studied her for a moment and then started talking as he made more notes. “Your wife can pick the colors, Jack.”
The discussion about her room was interrupted when Shelby raced into the house.
“Ian brought in some captives,” she told Connor with an edge of panic to her voice.
“Sonofabitch!” Connor cursed. “Where are they?” he asked impatiently.
“The backyard of his house,” Shelby replied. “This time he has really outdone himself.”
Connor grasped Raven’s arm and lead her out the door. While she wanted to protest being manhandled, his foul mood convinced her to keep her mouth shut. They walked three blocks to another house similar to Connor’s but slightly larger. All the houses on Ian’s block were larger. Ian’s house was on the corner, so they walked around the side and entered the yard through the gate.
There was a cage on the ground with a woman and two children inside. The cage was so low to the ground that the woman had to sit hunched over uncomfortably. She was crying and holding her children. Her blonde hair was matted with dirt and possibly blood. The children, a boy and girl, looked no older than five years. They were both in better shape than their mother but obviously frightened.
“Did you come to see my new toys?” the vampire Raven assumed was Ian asked. His emerald green eyes were sparkling with challenge and merriment.
Raven started to open her mouth, but Shelby came up behind her and whispered in her ear. “Don’t interfere. If you fight Connor, he’ll have to take action. Just stay out of it.”
“They seem a little young.” Connor remarked in an almost bored tone. “Not much you can get from them. Besides, you know the law only allows you to keep one human for blood, and they need to be an adult.”
Ian flashed an evil grin. “Those are your rules. Don’t worry. I’m not going to feed on the kids. How could I separate a mother from her children? Besides, you know mothers will do anything to protect their young,” he said, and Raven got the impression that statement was meant to anger Connor. “Isn’t that right?” he asked. “You’ll do anything I ask to keep the brats safe?”
She nodded and continued to cry.
Raven saw the angelic looking blond vampire leaning against the fence. Simon, if she remembered right, spoke. “You know he isn’t breaking any laws, Connor. You may have rules here, but they aren’t really the law.”
“Why are you here, Connor?” Ian sneered.
Raven ignored Shelby and approached Connor. “Please let them go,” she begged.
Connor looked more than a little annoyed when he turned toward her. “Playing the martyr again, little nymph?”
She dropped her head, but he caught her chin, forcing her to look at him.
“What are you offering this time?” he asked. “You offered your freedom for your friends. What are you willing to give up for complete strangers?”
“Whatever you want,” she said softly.
Ian moved forward and eyed her. “I’ll bargain with the sweet little nymph. I’d be willing to let them go for a taste. Just one little taste of the nymph, and they can all go free.”
“That seems like a reasonable trade,” Simon added with no emotion.
Connor glared at Simon. “I don’t need his agreement if I want them released, and I am certainly not sharing my prize. Regardless of the laws, I’m in charge, and I decide if captives are released.”
Raven tried to take a step back to get some space, but Connor caught the collar around her neck. “This is inconvenient, but I can’t let an offer like this slip through my fingers, can I? Do you really intend to pay any price I ask for their freedom?”
Raven nodded, trying to look meek, but sure it came across as defiant. She’d never been very good at meek.
“I want you to enter into a blood bond with me,” Connor told her after some thought.
There was a gasp. If it made the vampires gasp, it couldn’t be good. She’d said anything, but she wasn’t dumb enough to just agree. She was going to end up agreeing, but she wanted more details first.
“What’s that?” she asked hesitantly.
“I’ll take some of your blood, and then you’ll take some of mine. Since you’re a nymph, you’re immune to the Moon virus,” he explained. “It’s all pretty simple.”
“It sounds simple, but what will it do to me?” she asked.
“Clever nymph,” he praised. “It’ll allow me to find you anywhere. You’ll never be able to go back to your old life without leading us straight to the human settlement. You’ll never be able to leave me. The good news is we can remove this collar. Oh, and you’ll no longer be capable of killing me, so I won’t need the lock on your bedroom door or the bars on the window. In some ways, it’ll give you more freedom.”
“Will you still be able to kill me?” she asked, amazed she sounded more curious than disgusted by the whole thing.
He gave her a smile revealing a hint of fa
ng. “Why would I ever want to kill you?”
“I didn’t ask if you’d want to,” she pointed out, meeting his gaze. “I asked if you could kill me.”
He shrugged. “That’s never been tested, but I assume it works both ways. Then again, I have plenty of people here who want you dead, so I probably wouldn’t have to do it myself, anyway.”
Raven looked at the family in the cage and nodded. Even knowing she was essentially ending her life, she had no choice. She fought against the tears wanting to spill from her eyes.
“You can’t do that!” Ian shouted.
“Actually,” Connor said without taking his eyes off Raven, “I can. You know you would do anything to keep the nymph, too.”
“He’s right,” Simon agreed. “None of us would let her go.”
Raven held out her wrist nervously, but Connor shook his head.
“Oh no, little nymph. A blood bond should be much more personal.” He spun her so her back was pressed against his chest, and then he leaned down to her neck. When she tried to pull away, he held her in place. “Too late to change your mind. I can make this pleasant for you. It doesn’t have to hurt like it did last time. I can make it the most arousing experience of your life.”
“I prefer the pain,” Raven snapped angrily.
Shelby laughed but then coughed to cover her amusement.
Connor removed the collar and growled against her neck. “You’re going to have to learn to be more obedient, at least in public.” His fangs sank into her neck before she could respond.
It didn’t hurt. In fact, her body was suddenly on fire. She squeezed her legs together to try to relieve the pressure. Despite her best efforts she found herself thrashing against his chest and moaning.
When he removed his fangs, she cried out begging him to put them back in. “Hush,” he crooned, pressing his own bloody wrist to her mouth. She was so far gone, she sucked greedily, and her lust seemed to double. Mindless of the audience, she put her hand between her legs to try to relieve the ache.
Connor pulled his wrist back and held her writhing body against his chest.
“Shelby, take the humans away from here. Deposit them somewhere safe,” Connor commanded before lifting Raven from the ground and carrying her into Ian’s house.
“Why did you do this to me?” she moaned.
Rather than answering her question, he merely carried her up the stairs. Most of the living room was taken up with photographs, but Raven couldn’t focus on them. Her lust was making it hard to think.
He set her on the bed in one of the rooms and ran his hands through his hair.
Raven thrashed around. Her clothing was making her over-sensitized flesh almost painful. “Please,” she begged.
“Something’s wrong,” Connor muttered as he stared at her. “It shouldn’t have lasted this long.”
Raven climbed up onto her knees and pulled Connor toward her. “I need you, now!”
He tried to pry her hands off his shirt, but she held tight. “Not gonna happen. Right now, you’re asking for it, but later you’ll be disgusted about touching me.”
“Please, Connor, it hurts.” On those words, her body started to spasm, and she collapsed back onto the bed, trembling with need. In that moment, it didn’t matter that he was a vampire. It didn’t matter that she was a prisoner. All that mattered was he was a man who could relieve the terrible ache.
Connor locked the bedroom door before quickly stripping off her leggings and panties. Then he came to the bed and lifted her legs over his shoulders. She moaned loudly when his mouth covered her aching flesh. He slid two fingers into her and groaned. While his tongue stroked her, his fingers worked her core. It wasn’t long before spasms tore through her body. When Raven relaxed onto the bed with a sigh, Connor removed his fingers from her and licked them clean.
Raven groaned as she watched him. No matter how much she hated Connor, her body responded to him. In fact, at least one part of her anatomy seemed to have a major thing for grumpy vampires. Too bad he didn’t want to have sex with someone who hated him. She knew for a fact he wanted her, but he refused to give in. She wouldn’t stop him, but maybe he was right about her using it against him later. It was entirely possible she would hate him more if he gave in. She just didn’t know. The undead thing creeped her out, and she was a little disturbed by what they’d done so far.
Then a thought occurred to her. “When you were behind me,” she began in a shaky voice, “I felt your heart beating.”
“Only turned vamps are undead,” he explained as if it were common knowledge. He set her leggings and panties on the bed beside her and turned around to give her privacy to dress.
“What other way is there to become a vampire?” she asked in confusion. She still hadn’t made any move to put on her pants, but she wasn’t exactly the modest type. She supposed since he had turned around expecting her to dress, she should.
“Vampires are either turned or born,” he explained. “The terms are a little confusing, but the ones who aren’t undead are all called born vampires.”
“Born?” she practically screeched. “Wait! Are you trying to tell me the children I saw on the streets are vampires?”
He shrugged. “Some are. Hurry and put your clothes back on. We need to leave. Ian is probably pissed about us using his bed.”
“Are you really going to let the family go?” she asked.
He turned, suddenly looking angry. “Yes, I’m going to let them go. Shelby has probably already taken them out of the settlement. Had you waited, you would have seen I was going to let them go. Next time, give me a chance to do the right thing before you martyr yourself, because you’re running out of things to bargain with. You still have a few things I’d love to have you offer me, but at the rate you’re going, you’ll trade them all to me in the less than twenty-four hours.”
He stormed out of the room without waiting for her to follow. With a sigh of frustration, she followed him into the yard and found a very angry Ian scowling at them.
“In my bed?” Ian practically snapped.
Simon laughed. “Based on the sounds, I’d say yes. You do remember Ian keeps all the windows open, don’t you, Con?”
Connor seemed embarrassed. He turned toward Raven and opened his mouth to speak but quickly closed it and looked away. “You’re right to be mad. I’ll get you a new comforter, Ian. I fucked up with the blood bond, and I had to fix it.”
Raven was shocked Connor was admitting to a mistake in front of Ian and Simon. She was sure they weren’t big supporters of Connor’s, and he was giving them a weapon to use against him by admitting to such a huge error in judgment.
After seeing what Ian was willing to do to humans, Raven was sure she didn’t want him in charge, so she decided to help Connor out. “You couldn’t have possibly known how it would work with a nymph.”
They all turned to stare at her. It was a little unnerving, but she continued anyway. “I mean, I’m sure this doesn’t happen with humans, but nymphs are very sexual. It takes very little to arouse us, and it can be a little overwhelming.” Now she felt like a babbling idiot.
“Well,” Ian said, still sounding annoyed. “Now we do know how it works with a nymph, we can all agree it should be done in your own home. The idea of your bodily fluids on my bed makes me want to burn down the entire house, Connor,” Ian shuddered for emphasis.
“Would it help if I told you they were only her fluids?” Connor asked with a smile, and Raven was mortified to realize she was blushing.