"Not until I come, you horny bastard," Butch muttered in his servant's ear.
"Then get on with it already," Dix gasped. Butch gave a nasty laugh, reaching down to grasp his servant's testicles in a fist that constricted, made Dix curse.
Debra moaned at all the stimulation. The female servant was working her pussy with soft lips, clever flicks of her tongue. Her Mistress leaned over Debra, pinched her nipples, making her arch and gasp. God, she was going to go over again.
Yes. You are. Now.
And she did, responding to her Master's demand, gushing against another mouth while he watched with endless appreciation.
SS
By the time the evening was drawing to a close, she'd lost track of how many times she'd come, how many times she'd inspired others to do so. She'd been kept on the raft, where she experienced a wealth of heated mouths and exploring fingers. She was also taken back to the pummeling pleasures of the waterfall once or twice. With her attached to the inflatable, the vampires considered her part of the water toy offerings. One that inspired them to enjoy their own servants just as intensely, the stimulating result of her Master generously allowing them to touch, kiss, suckle and watch her build to a pinnacle to send her over, again and again.
Sex with the other servants or vampires was not part of the equation. Brian had drawn a line with Graham and held it. Yet though most of the vampires fucked their own servants during the course of the evening -- Butch took Dix at least three times -- Brian didn't avail himself of his own servant the same way. It didn't take long for her to notice and then recognize it as an intentional torment.
To make it worse, he stayed close to her throughout everything, touched her constantly. When she was screaming out her next waterfall climax, her fingers were digging into his forearms as he held her wrists, reinforcing the Velcro straps. He bent and captured her mouth, teasing her lips and tongue with his own. When Tia was trying out the waterproof dual-headed vibrator on her, he cupped her breasts, pinching her nipples with greater and greater force as the dildos were worked in and out of her anus and pussy. Reed and Aila freed her ankles for that and held her knees folded against her abdomen, making the sensations even more excruciating.
She needed him to claim her, fuck her hard and endlessly. She'd reached an advanced state of disorientation, a deprivation-induced subspace, where it was all she could think about. When he finally bid the others good night, she was in a daze of want and exhaustion. Her gaze clung to him as he tucked a short towel around his waist, his only nod to modesty before he gestured to her to follow him out of the pool area.
She stumbled over the threshold from the patio to the dining room. But when she did, he was there, arm around her waist. He swung her up into his arms, carrying her.
I'm sorry.
"I'll tell you when to be sorry, Debra. Until then, I don't want to hear another apology from you."
His voice was a sensual growl. Once he reached the guestroom, he closed the door and took her to the bed, laid her down on her back. He shed the towel from his hips, and her eyes latched onto his cock, more than ready to do as she desired.
Whose desires are important, Debra?
"Yours, Master," she whispered. But she might die if he didn't take her.
He put a knee on the bed between her legs, which had automatically spread for her Master. He saw it, his lips tightening, but he bent and kissed her navel, held his lips there. Despite her urgent pulse of need, the protracted moment penetrated her mind, roused other needs. Her heart rate slowed to a thud, her throat thickening. She didn't want him inside her merely to fulfill a primal need for fucking. It was to feel complete, every part of her locked with him, mind, body and soul. She touched the strands of hair across his brow with quivering fingers, and he lifted his head.
Bliss. He slid up her body, bracing his hands on either side of her shoulders as she looked up at him, continuing to thread her trembling fingers through his hair. Her body felt weak, pliable, even as what pounded inside her heart was as powerful as crashing waves.
"I love you," she said.
She'd thought it so often these past few years but hadn't said it, kept it tucked in her mind. His eyes glittered like starlight. She tried to smile but couldn't. He didn't smile either. Instead, he came down, put his body on hers. Pressed his elbows on either side of her shoulders, cradled her face in his hands and, with a shift of his hips, slowly pushed his cock inside of her.
Intense sensation rolled through her, somewhere between an aftershock and climax, all the pent up need and desire she'd felt these many hours. She clung to his waist, fingers digging into the rise of his buttocks, her hips lifting to take him deeper. Her legs locked over her forearms, wanting to hold him even tighter, keep him lodged within her forever. As his weight pushed her deeper into the mattress, she felt the pressure of the covers against her third mark, the crossed sword image. She was marked as his family. As his, period.
The sound that came from her throat was relief, need, want, love. It was the crowning victory of the night, the physical symbolism reflecting the emotional. At last he'd filled her, connected with her, joined with her in a way that felt like the link was permanent, not just when their flesh was joined. She wouldn't wake up and find this had all been a dream.
His declaration before the others had been what she'd needed. From that moment forward, she'd felt no trepidation serving the others, because he'd truly been with her. She could even have handled Graham.
You'll never need to handle someone like Graham. I won't permit anyone to abuse my servant. Ever.
His eyes glittered with that perilous edge that made her breath catch. As if she needed anything else to make her heart pound harder. Tonight she'd been the type of servant she'd hoped she could be for him. All she'd needed was...
Me to be the type of Master worth such service. You had to trust me, believe in me.
He pushed deeper into her and she let out a soft moan, making his expression warm with lust and love both. "But you're wrong," he said, holding her gaze. "You made the first step with Jia-Li, even before I confronted Graham. You're one of the bravest women I know." He slid his lips beneath her ear, along her throat. As his fangs pierced her there, she closed her eyes, shuddered. When he slid his arms beneath her, wrapping her up in his strength, she shifted her grip to band around his shoulders and waist, hold him.
Several more thrusts, their bodies rocking together. She could feel the response he'd controlled all night gathering. It had kept his cock a mouthwatering size that her pussy contracted around now, milking him, drawing him out. His buttocks and thigh muscles steeled to climactic rigidity, his breath rasping, eyes flashing hazel fire as his mouth became taut.
"Yes, please..." She whispered it, and her Master granted her wish.
He began to release, his seed jetting inside her. A cry tore from her throat. Remarkably, another intense orgasm gripped her, provoked by how his marking felt, inside and out. He let out a reverent curse, pushing up to thrust even harder into her, now holding nothing back. She tore furrows in his his back, her hips lifting, meeting him on every impact, her chin lifting to expose her throat, offering him everything.
Life, heart, soul, mind. Everything she was.
She wasn't sure if time didn't completely stop, because she didn't remember how it ended. Just eventually, slowly, she became aware of them in the bed again, instead of floating, spinning in some eternal either where it was just the two of them and endless pleasure. He let himself lay down on her, one arm around her back, the other bracing himself so his full weight wasn't on her. His breath rasped against her ear, his hair brushed her face. Their limbs were still twined together, their bodies still joined.
Inseparable.
Master and servant.
Chapter Nine
Two days later, they were home again. Brian wanted her to stay with him that first dawn, and she was happy to do so, woken at dusk by him kissing his way down her body, then coming back to join them, take them bo
th on a slide to a shuddering, quiet climax. Afterward, as he held her, stroking her hair, she could feel the weight of his thoughts, though his mind wasn't available to her as it had been that brief, unforgettable time at Butch's. Vampires didn't typically keep their minds open that way to their servants. She hadn't expected it to be more than a temporary, amazing gift. But that rational thought didn't prevent worry from creeping back into her mind.
Yes, some of the changes to their relationship had started to happen before they left for Texas, but sometimes when getting back into the same routine, things could return to same old, same old. It could have been just an interlude...
"At a certain point, you stop testing a theory and consider it proven." He spoke quietly against her hair. "I expect my behavior of the past few years deserves a fair amount of testing, but I can assure you the past week wasn't just an interlude, Debra."
She nodded against his chest. "Yes, my lord."
He sighed, rolled her over and pinned her, framing her face in his hands. "We're both scientific people. We analyze too much, downplay emotions and try to be rational about everything." His gaze held her. "You've gotten in the habit of beating down your emotions to make things bearable for you, easier for me. You decided that was the best course to take. It's not any more. I want the scientist, but I also want the woman who loves and feels. Don't hold that back from me."
She swallowed. "I know. But for so long, I thought loving you made me have unrealistic expectations of your feelings. It's hard to get past that."
"Just because your Master is a clueless idiot is no reason for you to cater to it." He allowed himself a serious smile, touched her face. "It's not unrealistic to expect my love in exchange for your exceptional loyalty, devotion and unconditional service. Help the scientist in me remember that I am man and Master. The man who loves you back."
As he settled beside her, began stroking her hair again, she considered that. Drew equations on his chest. "You asked me why I made the choice I did," she said slowly. "It was based on a faulty hypothesis."
His fingers stilled. "Oh?"
She smiled against his chest, though it was a painful one. This hadn't been an easy journey, for all that it was the most worthwhile one she'd taken in her life. "I thought, 'if I serve him well enough, then he will be everything I hope he is.'"
Every fluffy woman's magazine in the world would have jumped on that for the horrible mistake it was. A woman couldn't change a man's heart, his mind. Only he could do that. She was an intelligent woman, had known it. But she couldn't follow her thoughts. She'd followed her heart, because her feelings had been so irrefutable. A way she'd never felt before.
"You've always put a woman's intuition into your science, and I've never known it to fail. It didn't this time. Despite my best efforts."
Another painful smile. He found it with sensitive fingertips, traced her mouth, his knuckle giving her cheek a light brush before he rested the hand on her hip. She listened to his heart beat beneath her ear, thought some more. She wrote some more random equations on his chest before she spoke again. "So what were you thinking about?"
"Your grandfather," Brian answered, surprising her. "What you told him, about me not looking like a scientist."
He was silent a moment, as if pondering the wisdom of what he was about to say. Then he sighed, gave a self-deprecating laugh, an unusual sound that had her glancing up at his brooding face. "But I am, Debra," he said, meeting her gaze squarely. "While I'm hunched over my laptop, studying tissue samples or running data, I'm rubbing shoulders with vampires who are at the top of the food chain, who fight formidable opponents hand to hand and walk away victorious. Beyond the other reasons I've given you, it's made me wonder, more than once, if you regretted your choice to me. That was why I was jealous of Jacob."
Shock filled her. He seemed relieved to see it, which shocked her further. He pressed a kiss to her temple. Then he nudged her to her back again, putting himself between her willing thighs. As he seated himself between them, her eyes widened at the probe of his stiff cock. The recovery time was exceptional, even for him.
"I plan to be a great deal more demanding with my servant than I have been in the past. Another reason I expect her to get at least three hours of sleep a day." He gave her a stern look, then sobered. She stilled, her lips parting as he eased into her, inexorable in his demand, but being slow and gentle about it all the same. He'd used her hard the past couple of nights, enough she'd felt the effects of it during her work day. She loved it. From the satisfied gleam in his eye, she thought he did as well.
"I don't think of any female but you, Debra. Not since the day I met you."
She drew in a breath as he pushed into her, then withdrew until he stroked her opening with the head of his cock. Then he pushed in again, wresting a moan from her throat as he lodged deep and stilled. His hazel eyes were intent, vibrant.
"Though it doesn't come out sounding complimentary in any way, even that night, with Lady Carmela, was about you. In a terrible way I will never repeat."
At the twist in her heart, he stroked her temples, drawing her eyes back to him again. "I promise," he said.
She gave a quick nod, overwhelmed with feeling. The memory still hurt, but she knew now it would heal, everything they did together from here forward a balm that would turn a wound into a scar, a lesson that had brought them both to this moment. This indescribable moment.
His face reflected an intent Master's pleasure at her reaction. "I've never needed any woman for my pleasure but you, Debra. And when I wish to share my mind, my discoveries, I think of you."
He continued to thrust, forward and back. Her pulse was elevating and he saw it, dipping his head to suck on the artery. She felt the scrape of his fangs as she tilted back her head, asking for that penetration instinctively. His thumb slid along the pounding track.
"I can watch you stare into a microscope, your brow furrowing, the way you press your lips together when you're concentrating, and suddenly I want you under me like this. I want to see that same focus when I bring your climax upon you and make you lose control. It's a deep pleasure to me, watching you surrender yourself to me fully..."
He shoved in hard then, wresting a full throated cry from her. He tangled her hair around his fist, pulled on her scalp as she held his gaze.
"There is no other female I desire, Debra. Do you understand?"
"Yes. Yes, Master. Oh..."
The words branded themselves inside her as the climax overtook her. She held onto him, rode that wild tide safely in his arms, and tightened her grip as he joined her in the churning, pleasurable joy of coming in to shore together.
Usually when a scientist reached the conclusion she most wanted to hear, she did further testing to ensure she wasn't biasing the experiment with her own needs. But maybe when it came to the human heart, a different method made more sense. Where science was replaced with faith.
In the end, her hypothesis had been based not on science or if/then statements, but on the belief that when all the debris was cleared away, she'd find the man who loved her as much as she loved him.
Thank God, she'd been right.
Epilogue
Brian strode down the hallway, his head down as he considered the latest statistics from the Texas visit. He needed several more test subjects. Debra had collected a list of candidates, one of them in Iceland. He'd never been to Iceland, and wondered at the kind of vampire who would choose to settle in such cold. Of course, there was protracted darkness there...
Though there were ethical questions to resolve, what they needed was data on unstable made vampires. Which meant he needed several brought to the lab before they were executed, so he could get live tissue samples, interview them like he had Butch. He didn't relish such unpleasantness, but that was where a scientist's detachment was necessary. Their end would be humane and they would be in a contained, safe environment until that time. He could justify his need with that. It would still be damned uncomfortable, but the wh
ole point of all this was to cut down on the number of made vampires necessitating execution in the future.
Sensing something amiss, he stopped. Jacob stood just past him on the left side of the hall, watching him with an amused look. The servant had obviously moved out of his way rather than be plowed over. "Good thing it wasn't my Mistress again," he said. "She'd have strapped you down and used you as a carpet runner for a week to reinforce the lesson."
"I'm sure you would have gone out and stepped in dog shit just for the pleasure of tracking it across my body."
"My lord, I hadn't thought of it. But thank you for planting the suggestion." Jacob grinned, but then a more serious look came to his eye. "My lady has a friendship with Butch Dorn. He called and gave a detailed account of your visit last week."
"Yes, it was productive. I think the data will be useful."
"I expect it will."
From the spark in Jacob's blue eyes, Brian wondered what Butch had shared during that phone conversation. God knew he'd made some pretty bold assumptions that night which might or might not be supported by Lady Lyssa. As Graham had guessed, he'd bluffed. With great determination.
Brian braced himself, but Jacob merely nodded and resumed his course. After a thoughtful moment, Brian did the same. He'd almost reached the opposite end of the corridor before he heard the servant call to him again.
"My lord?"
Brian glanced back at him. Jacob cocked his head. "Going toe-to-toe with a vampire four times your age, you won't be called a nerd anymore. Except by Gideon."
"One day I will put his head through a wall," Brian retorted. "Right next to yours."
"My lady is far more likely to do that first." Jacob flashed a grin. "Give my regards to Debra. I saw her yesterday and she looked happier than I've ever seen her. No doubt because she's back here, where I can bring her cookies."