"That is shared pleasure," Basil growled, breaking their kiss. "What you are experiencing is what I feel when you touch me. I also feel your pleasure in the same way when I touch you. And the reason it is all so intense is because your pleasure and mine bounce back and forth between us, all the while amplifying and building to an unbearable level so that we lose consciousness."
"I fainted," Sherry realized with amazement as she continued to touch him. She had been so startled at Teddy's waking them, she hadn't recalled or considered what it meant that she lost consciousness while in the throes of orgasm. She also hadn't realized he'd lost consciousness too. She'd thought him just sleeping.
"Yes," he said through gritted teeth, then caught her by the waist and lifted and shifted her to straddle his lap with a muttered, "I am sorry. I cannot take that anymore."
Since she was experiencing his pleasure along with him, Sherry understood completely and didn't protest. She simply released her hold on him and grabbed for his shoulders. She already knew it was going to be a hell of a ride.
It was fully dark when Basil woke up. He glanced at the streetlamps and the headlights of passing vehicles, and then shifted his glance to where Sherry lay slumped with her head on his shoulder and wondered what time it was . . . and how soon Victor and Elvi would return. He didn't want Sherry to be embarrassed by their getting caught like this.
"Sweetling," he murmured, brushing the hair back from her face so he could see her eyes. "Sherry?"
Murmuring sleepily, she tightened her arms around his shoulders and turned her face into his neck, releasing a little sigh as her pelvis shifted against his. That small action was enough to wake the beast in Basil and cause his cock to begin to swell between them. He closed his eyes briefly, trying to maintain control of himself. Dear God, he'd forgotten how all-consuming and damned inconvenient life mate passion could be, he acknowledged, grinding his teeth together. After a moment where they both remained still, it eased again and he let his breath out.
Now all he had to do was get them up, out of this room and into hers, or even his, without waking the beast again. A much harder prospect than one would think since all he really wanted to do was roll her onto the lambskin rug on the floor and thrust into her over and over until they passed out again.
"And thinking that way is not very helpful at all," Basil muttered to himself with disgust. Damn, life mate sex was bloody addictive.
"What?" Sherry murmured sleepily, lifting her head and sitting up in his lap.
"Oh, God, no," he gasped with alarm, clasping her hips to hold her still. "Do not move."
Sherry froze at once, confusion and alarm her first reaction, but those were quickly overridden by hunger as his response to her body moving against his hit her, his pleasure transmitting itself to her body.
"Do not look at me like that," Basil hissed, closing his eyes. "Do not move and do not look at me like that. I am trying to resist you."
He knew at once that was the wrong thing to say by the way Sherry immediately relaxed in his lap.
"Don't," was all she said, and then she was nibbling at his lips, her hands moving over his skin, caressing his shoulders, his chest, and pausing to flick at his already erect nipples as she shifted her body, rubbing herself along his growing erection.
"Sherry," he growled, turning his head away. "I do not know what time it is, but it is dark out. Elvi and Victor could come back at any moment."
"Then we should move to my room," she murmured, licking and nibbling at his neck even as she shifted herself over him again.
Basil growled and then turned to catch her mouth with his, kissing her punishingly even as he caught her behind in each hand and stood up.
As punishments went, it wasn't very successful, he decided when Sherry immediately wrapped her legs around his hips and kissed him eagerly back. She was obviously too caught up in the life mate madness to see sense. He would have to think for both of them. Getting her dressed for the coming trip through the house wasn't likely, he decided when he broke their kiss and she turned her attention to licking and nibbling her way around his neck and ear.
Although she wasn't really undressed, he noted. The passion had overwhelmed them quickly enough both times that they hadn't got around to undressing. She still wore her skirt, it was just up around her hips, and her blouse was on, just open. Come to that, he still wore his shirt, it was merely unbuttoned as well, and his pants were on, just--
Okay, they weren't on anymore, he acknowledged as they suddenly slipped down around his ankles. Maybe they wouldn't run into anyone, Basil thought hopefully as he stepped out of the pants and headed for the door.
Sherry was aware that they were moving. She also knew she should probably be more helpful in this situation, have him put her down so she could straighten her clothes and walk to her room on her own two feet. Unfortunately, she just couldn't seem to do that. She didn't want to. She wanted Basil to go back to kissing and caressing her and she wanted him inside her again. And while she knew she should care that Elvi and Victor might be back at any moment and find them doing the nasty in their sunroom, she couldn't seem to manage to care about that. She just wanted Basil. Her mind was full of what she had experienced with him. Her body ached for him. She hungered for him like no one and nothing she'd ever before experienced. It was bad, really bad. Being deprived of oxygen was the only thing she could compare her need for him to. Every nerve ending in her body was aware of him and screaming for him. She felt like she would die if he didn't make love to her again.
It was madness, Sherry acknowledged, and didn't care about that either. If she was mad, they could lock her up, so long as they locked her up with Basil, she thought, and then glanced around when he abruptly stopped. They had reached the door and he'd pulled it open and was now surveying the dark hall and listening.
Sherry could vaguely make out voices, but they sounded far away. Probably downstairs, she thought, and lost interest. Her attention returned to Basil and she began to nibble his lobe and then run her tongue around the rim of his ear.
"Stop that," he hissed, and then moved forward to the end of the short hall to peer cautiously out into the main hall.
Sherry didn't stop that, started to let her hands roam, running them over his back and shoulders and up into his hair. But when she tightened her legs around his hips and used her hold to try to lift and shift herself onto the erection she could feel pressed between them, Basil cursed and started quickly up the empty main hall.
They were perhaps halfway to her room when Basil suddenly froze. It took another moment for Sherry to become aware of the footsteps coming up the stairs . . . and quickly. They would never make it to her room.
Sherry barely had the realization when Basil bolted for a door a few steps ahead of them and pulled it open to duck inside with her. Just before he pulled the door closed, she caught a glimpse of shelves and neatly folded towels and sheets. They were in the linen closet, she realized, and for some reason that made her laugh. When Basil immediately covered her mouth with one hand to silence the sound, Sherry jerked her head back in surprise, slamming it into the wall.
"Ow," she muttered when he removed his hand and whispered, "Are you all right?"
"Hello?" someone said outside the closet door before she could respond.
Sherry stilled and glanced toward the crack of light around the door. It sounded like Stephanie's wary voice, she noted, but took her cue from Basil and remained silent.
"Sherry? Basil? Is that you two in the closet?"
Basil sagged with defeat, and it was Sherry who said, "No," on a laugh.
"Yeahhhh . . . rrrrright," Stephanie drawled, and then sighed with exasperation. "You do know you're in a boardinghouse, right? I mean, there are a ton of bedrooms in this place and you both have one. Why are you in the linen closet?"
"Because Basil has no pants on," Sherry admitted with a wicked grin.
Basil groaned at her announcement, but he wasn't alone. Stephanie groaned too and the
n said, "Oh, that's just gross. He isn't touching any of the linens is he? I don't want Basil's bare butt prints on the next face towel I use. Gawddddd. You life mates are all crazy."
"I am not touching the linens," Basil announced with what Sherry considered great aplomb considering the situation. "And we shall be moving along just as soon as you leave the hall. I simply did not wish to alarm you . . . and possibly ruin your dinner," he added dryly.
"Too late," Stephanie announced. "Well, you can come out. I'm going to my room to get something. Please, please, please move the party to Sherry's room or yours before I come back."
"Certainly," Basil responded with dignity.
"Good. I'm going now," Stephanie announced. "Count to ten before you come out so I can get to my room."
"Of course," Basil said on a sigh.
"Where is her room?" Sherry asked curiously.
"The back right corner if you are facing the house. On the other side of the small hall to the sunroom," Basil answered as they listened to her footsteps move away.
"Oh," Sherry murmured, and then smiled wryly when she heard a door slam shut from that direction.
"I believe it is safe, if you could get the door?" Basil said in a ridiculously polite voice.
Sherry reached for the doorknob, quickly opened the door and then closed it again after Basil carried her out. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders again as he carried her to her room.
"You do know you are a menace, do you not?" Basil asked conversationally as he walked.
"Am I?" Sherry asked with amusement.
"First seducing me in the sunroom, then trying to keep me in the sunroom when I very chivalrously tried to bring you to somewhere safe from prying eyes and then, 'Because Basil has no pants on,'" he quoted back to her dryly. "Was that punishment for not letting you have your way with me in the sunroom and insisting on moving to another room?"
"Yep," she admitted.
"Yep?" he echoed, apparently surprised she'd admit as much.
Sherry shrugged unrepentantly and then reached out to open the door to her bedroom when he stopped in front of it. "Guess I'm just a naughty girl," she said as the door opened. Turning back, she grinned and asked, "What are you going to do about it?"
"I'll think of something," Basil muttered, carrying her into the room and kicking the door shut with one foot.
Eight
"So then I look out the window, and the shed's on fire," Victor said, shaking his head. "And who do you think is locked inside?"
"Elvi?" Sherry and Basil guessed together, both grinning with amusement.
"Exactly," Victor said, and reached out to squeeze his wife's hand affectionately as he added, "The woman nearly got herself killed half a dozen times after we first met. If it weren't for the nanos, I would have hair as white as snow now."
"Fortunately, you do have nanos," Elvi said dryly, and then pointed out, "Besides, you were the biggest threat to my life. You were here hunting me."
"What?" Sherry squawked, dropping her fork onto her plate with a clang that drew as much attention from the other guests in the restaurant as her shocked cry did.
"Victor was a Rogue Hunter," Elvi told her with a nod. "He was sent to hunt me down and bring me in for judgment."
"I was," Victor agreed mildly. "But the moment I realized you were my life mate, I knew I could not do it."
"You were a rogue?" Sherry breathed, staring at Elvi with disbelief. The woman was so nice, so kind, so . . . nice. It was hard to imagine she was ever a rogue anything.
"I wasn't rogue," Elvi assured her. "Well, I suppose I was, but only because my friends made me one."
"Your friends?" she asked curiously.
"Yes. Teddy and Hazel. My best friends," Elvi said dryly. "Not on purpose. How were they to know advertising in the personals section of the newspaper to find me a male vampire might get me hunted down and executed?"
Sherry's eyes widened incredulously. "They put an ad in the personals?"
"They did," she assured her. "And, without warning me ahead of time, mind you."
"Oh my," Sherry said with amusement.
"Mmm." Elvi smiled faintly. "It's funny now, but it was not funny then. I was mortified."
"I can imagine," Sherry said sympathetically. "I hate setups too. Stephanie is just the latest in a long line of people who have tried to set me up with someone over the years. It's like people can't stand to see a woman on her own or something. But the setups never work. They are always a disaster."
"Over the years?" Elvi asked curiously. "Have you never been in a serious relationship?"
"Yes. I was engaged once," she admitted.
"But you didn't marry?"
"It just didn't work out. These things happen. It's better this way," Sherry said with a shrug, and then asked. "What made Teddy and Hazel decide to put an ad in the personals?"
"Oh." Elvi smiled faintly. "It was really very sweet. Teddy and Hazel were my best friends from childhood on. They were getting old, though. All our friends were, and they were starting to pass on around us. Teddy and Hazel started to worry about dying themselves and leaving me alone, so they decided they had to find me a vampire who could keep me company once they were gone."
"Oh, that is sweet," Sherry said.
"I know," Elvi said on a little sigh. "Teddy and Hazel have always been the most amazing friends."
"Teddy." Sherry smiled faintly. "It's such a rare name and yet there are two of them here in Port Henry. Katricia's Teddy and your Teddy."
"No. There's only the one," Elvi assured her. "Katricia's Teddy is my friend Teddy."
"But he's not old," Sherry protested with amazement. "Why would he be worried about . . ." Her voice trailed away as understanding set in.
"Yes. He was mortal before Katricia turned him as her life mate. He was sixty-four when they met last Christmas," Elvi told her.
"Wow," Sherry breathed, thinking of the good-looking, dark-haired, silver-eyed man at the house. Like everyone else, he seemed no more than twenty-four or twenty-five. He was also gorgeous, and looked damned fine in the police uniform. "He looks good for sixty-four."
"Sixty-five now," Elvi said with amusement.
"Oh." Sherry nodded and then glanced at her sharply. "He was your best friend and was mortal?" When Elvi nodded, she asked, "Does that mean you were?"
"Mortal? Yes," Elvi admitted. "So was my other friend, Hazel. She's immortal now too, though."
"So Katricia was born a vamp--immortal." Sherry corrected herself quickly when she noted the way Victor and Basil winced as she started to say vampire. Stephanie had said older immortals didn't like the term, and it appeared she was right. "So Katricia was an immortal and Teddy a mortal. Victor was born immortal and you were mortal. Hazel was mortal . . ."
When she hesitated, Elvi said, "Yes, D.J. was immortal."
Sherry nodded. "What about Drina and Harper? Which of them was mortal?"
"Neither," Basil announced. "Both were born immortal."
"Oh," she said with surprise. "So a life mate can be an immortal too?"
"Yes," Basil assured her. "Though it is more often a mortal, but that's probably a function of population ratios. There are a lot more mortals than immortals."
"Right," Sherry murmured. "But mortal life mates are expected to become . . ." She just couldn't say it, and didn't have to. Elvi smiled sympathetically and nodded.
"Yes, an immortal's life mate usually becomes immortal too."
"Of course," Sherry murmured, and sat back. She'd known that, of course. In some part of her mind she'd realized that would probably be the case. All the people she'd met at the Rogue Hunters' house were immortals and most had been couples. Besides, it just made sense. She peered at the people at the table with her. Every one of them looked to be in their early twenties. Anyone looking at them would think she was the oldest one here at thirty-two, but not one of her companions was actually younger than her. Elvi was in her sixties, and she had no idea how old Basil and Victor were,
but Basil's daughter had been born in 411 AD so he had to be older than that.
And that was just madness, no one lived that long, she thought faintly. But then it was all madness. Vampires, drinking blood, reading minds, controlling mortals . . .
But the maddest thing of all was that she believed it all. She'd obviously lost her mind . . . or maybe she was dreaming, or they'd dosed her with LSD or something and she was hallucinating the entire thing.
That had to be the answer, she thought now, because . . . well, frankly, it was all kind of hard to swallow. It was like suddenly being told that Santa really did exist . . . or the tooth fairy. Even the extreme passion, or perhaps especially the extreme passion she'd experienced with Basil, was hard to accept as a reality. She was not a virgin, she'd had sex, good sex, great sex, even, over the years, but nothing like the mind-blowing madness she'd experienced with Basil. All he had to do was touch her and she went up in flames. When he kissed her, all she could think about was taking him into her body and riding the pony to unconsciousness again.
Hell, he didn't even have to be conscious for her to want him like a drug addict in serious need of a fix. After they'd escaped the linen closet and made it to her room last night, they had another very fast round before passing out from pleasure again, but this time Sherry had woken up first. She'd blinked her eyes open, found herself lying on his chest, smelled the combination of spice and woods that was his cologne mixed with his natural odor, and then found herself licking her way down his body. After passing out that time, she woke to find that Basil had decided turnabout was fair play and buried his face between her legs. She'd barely woken up in time to enjoy the orgasm he gave her before she was sent back to unconsciousness again.
Sherry had lost count of how many times she orgasmed and passed out through the night. Like a drowning swimmer, she'd come up for air, gasped as pleasure filled her body and mind, and then sank under the waves and passed out before surfacing once more to do it again . . . and again.