Chapter Seven
Sophie came to consciousness with something warm and wet pressed against the underside of her left breast. As her eyelids fluttered she felt it slide upward, tracing along the outer ring of her areola and drawing a low moan from her lips. What’s going on? She didn’t know and at the moment, she didn’t care. She only cared about the deliciously pleasurable sensation that was centered in her breast.
The warm wet something— a tongue. Feels like a tongue— continued its journey over her nipple, making her gasp as the hard little nub tightened. She moaned again and the tongue repeated its action, seeming to take its time, laving her nipple gently, sending sparks of pleasure through her entire body and building a slow, hot fire between her legs.
Who…why…? For some reason the pleasurable sensations made her bottom lip throb. Sophie licked it tentatively and found it was incredibly sensitive to touch, as it never had been before. Why am I so sensitive there? Slowly the answer began to form in her brain. Got hurt…someone bit me. Who? A picture appeared in her mind’s eye. The image of a tall, broad shouldered man with spiky blond hair and ice blue eyes like a husky’s. Sylvan…he bit my lip during the Luck Kiss. And then we were in the tube together and he smelled so good…
Come to think of it, that delicious sharp, spicy scent was filling her senses now. It smelled so delicious Sophie wanted to wrap it around her like a blanket. It made her feel safe and warm but at the same time it made her nipples ache and her pussy wet. How could one smell do so many things? Mating scent… The words drifted through her brain but Sophie pushed them away. The very idea was ridiculous—why would Sylvan give off his mating scent for her when he didn’t even like her? He—
The warm wet tongue bathing her nipple broke her train of thought completely, shattering everything into shards of pleasure. God, no one had ever touched her like this before. No one had ever been this tender, this gentle. After what had happened to her in the past, Sophie had never dreamed she’d want any man to touch her again. But this man… Wait a minute, who is this man? The man who’s licking me? Her eyes were shut tight but for some reason she knew whoever was laving her breast and nipples so gently was male. Could it be…Sylvan? But why would he…?
“Sophia?” murmured a low voice in her ear.
Her eyes flew open and she looked up to see a dark shape bending over her. He seemed huge in the surrounding blackness, a mountain of muscle and she was cradled in his lap. Cradled in his lap half naked! Her hands went immediately to her bare breasts, trying to cover herself from the man.
“Don’t.” He caught her hands and held them gently but firmly, keeping her exposed. “You’re not quite healed yet,” he said in a deep, familiar voice. As he spoke, starlight glinted off a double set of white, curving teeth that looked razor sharp in his upper jaw. Fangs! His fangs! It was Sylvan’s lap she was on, his tongue she had felt licking her so gently. His voice echoed in her brain, the words he’d spoken to the Scourge commander, I’ll fucking rip your throat out with my teeth!
All the pleasure she’d been feeling suddenly turned to horror and she tried to scramble off his lap.
“Sophia, don’t—” He held her but she fought like a wild cat, scratching and kicking until he let her go.
Sophie rolled off his lap and onto hard, stony ground. Sharp pebbles shredded her palms and cut her knees through the ragged remains of her bridesmaid’s dress, but she didn’t care. She only knew she had to get away from him—away from those horror-movie fangs that looked so utterly lethal.
“Be careful!” His voice was sharp. “You’ll go over the edge!”
“The edge?” Sophie risked a glance behind her and saw that she was crouching on a rocky ledge which ended abruptly, diving down into a black chasm just inches away. For a moment her fear of heights warred with her fear of his fangs. Then her weight shifted and her foot slipped. Pebbles clattered down into the blackness and she felt herself falling…
“Come here. ” A strong hand grabbed her wrist and she was yanked from the crumbling cliff and back into Sylvan’s lap. “Hold still!” he commanded in a low, rough voice, very different from his earlier gentle tone. “You’re disoriented. You don’t know what you’re doing.”
“Well I know what you’re doing!” Sophie struggled against him, beating at his broad chest uselessly.
“What are you talking about? I’m trying to save you.”
“By stripping me naked and licking me while I was unconscious?” She gave him an incredulous look. “Yeah, right. Now let me go!”
“Not until you listen.” Sylvan held her tightly, refusing to let go. At last, when she stopped struggling, he spoke again in a slightly softer tone. “You were wounded in the crash. I had to do something to stop the bleeding.”
“And you picked licking?” She tugged at her tattered dress and glared up at him, completely furious now. “I mean, you’re a doctor for God’s sake. What ever happened to a tourniquet or a compress? Or anything else that doesn’t involve your mouth on my…my bare…” She trailed off, feeling her cheeks get hot.
“My saliva has healing agents in it,” he said, sounding completely reasonable. “Also coagulants to stop blood flow.”
Sophie wasn’t buying it. “It wasn’t just licking ,” she said accusingly. “Your fangs were out and you were going to bite me—admit it!”
It was hard to read his face in the darkness but she thought he looked pained. “Yes,” he admitted heavily. “I was prepared to bite you if I had to.”
“If you had to? Why the hell would you have to bite me?”
“I thought your wounds might be too deep or deadly to heal any other way,” he said in a low voice. “I know you fear and dislike my fangs and for that I am sorry. But they secrete a chemical we of the Blood Kindred call essence —that’s the closest I can come to a translation in your language, anyway.”
The word rang a bell. “Wait a minute, essence? Didn’t you say it was a good thing I didn’t get any of that in my system earlier, when you examined my lip?”
“Biting isn’t something we do lightly.” He hesitated. “The act of biting, the gift of blood and essence…these things are usually reserved exclusively for a Blood Kindred’s mate. But in this case I thought it might be necessary, because the compounds in essence can heal almost any hurt or disease.”
“So you were going to bite me to heal me?” Sophie frowned, still not buying it. “Why should I believe you? How do I know you don’t just like the taste of my blood like some kind of perverted vampire?”
“Vampire?” He frowned. “Are you referring to the fictional characters your people write stories about? The ones who rip out their victim’s throats in order to drink their blood?”
Sophie crossed her arms over her breasts. “Uh, when you say it like that it sounds really bad. But, yeah, I guess so.”
“I am not a ‘vampire,’” he said dryly. “And the purpose of a Blood Kindred’s bite is not to wound or drink anyone dry.”
“So what is the purpose then? Besides healing?” She still wasn’t sure she believed that .
“A Blood Kindred bites to heal if his mate is injured or to arouse her sexually if she is well,” he said matter-of-factly.
Sophia coughed and shifted in his arms. “Uh… really . And you think that turns a woman on? Being bitten?”
His eyes flashed in the darkness. “Clearly you find the idea disgusting.”
“Not so much disgusting as frightening.” She couldn’t help the shiver that went through her at the thought. “I…uh…biting and blood and anything like that…I don’t like it. I don’t like the idea of it being that…that painful.”
Sylvan frowned. “Who said anything about it being painful?”
“How could it not be?” Sophie objected. “I mean you’ve got the poor girl pinned down and you’re biting her while you…while you…” She shook her head, feeling her face get hot. “Never mind. Can you please just let me up?” Being so close to him while they talked about this kind of thing was making her nervous.
“It isn’t like that,” Sylvan said quietly, making no move to release her.
“How do you know? You’ve never, uh, bonded with anyone.”
“And I never will.” Sylvan’s deep voice was soft. “But no Kindred would ever hurt his bride or do anything she found objectionable.”
“Well I find this— all this…” She made a motion with her hand to encompass the entire situation they found themselves in. “ Completely objectionable. I mean I wake up topless and find you, uh, licking me and then you tell me it’s all for my own good. And if you bite me, that will be for my own good too. So I’m just supposed to say ‘Oh thanks, Sylvan. Keep up the good work.’ Is that it?”
“Think about it, Sophia.” His voice was a soft growl. “Was I touching you between your legs or stroking your soft little sex? Was I sucking your nipples to arouse you and make you want me? No, I was only licking one breast—your wounded breast—to heal you.”
“I…I…” She couldn’t think what to say.
Sylvan’s eyes were suddenly hard. “Don’t you think if I had intended to rape and despoil you, I could have done it by now? If I was the kind of male to do something like that you would have woken up to find my cock buried to the hilt in your pussy. Not my tongue on your breast,” he said roughly.
His words started echoes inside her. Echoes of memories best left forgotten. Sophie sucked in a breath. “I think you’d better let me go right now, ” she whispered in a trembling voice.
He must have heard the fear in her tone because Sylvan loosened his grip on her with obvious reluctance and let her slide from his arms.
Sophie scooted back, careful to keep away from the edge of the cliff, and tried to pull the tattered remains of her dress back in place. A gust of wind whipped her hair across her face and for the first time she realized how cold it was outside the shelter of his arms. Crossing her arms over her chest, she shivered.
“Here.” Unbuttoning his pale blue uniform shirt, he shrugged it off and held it out to her. His broad chest gleamed pale in the starlight.
Sophie frowned stubbornly. “I don’t want it.”
“Well, you’ll take it anyway.” Leaning forward he draped the heavy, satin-like material around her shoulders. It was still warm from his skin and she could smell his scent on it—that sharp, spicy fragrance that seemed to go straight to her head.
“You’ll be cold,” Sophie objected, clutching the shirt around her despite her words.
He laughed grimly. “At this temperature? I don’t think so. This would be a warm summer day where I come from.”
A warm summer day? Seriously? It had to be in the low sixties, if not the mid fifties. To a Florida girl like Sophie, it was freezing. What kind of place was Tranq Prime, anyway? She hoped she never got a chance to find out.
“Come on.” Sylvan rose abruptly.
Spooked by his sudden move, Sophie cringed back and away from him. “Come where? Where are we going?”
“The Scourge are still hunting you. We have to get away—as far from the crash site as we can.” His voice dropped suddenly. “I won’t hurt you, Sophia. Please don’t look at me like that.”
“Like…like what?” she whispered, still crouching on the ground.
“Like I’m some evil monster come to devour and defile you.” There was pain in his deep voice, an agony that seemed to pierce her heart for some reason. Although why she should feel sorry for him she didn’t know.
“I’m sorry,” she said defensively. “It’s just…you’re so big. And your fangs… ”
He sighed heavily. “Neither of which I can do anything about. Come. We have a long way to go before we can safely rest.” Turning, he led the way, not waiting to see if she would follow.
* * * * *
Sylvan heard her stumbling along behind him as they made their way down the side of the mountain and every instinct he possessed shouted that he needed to go back and help her. Needed to hold her in his arms and carry her to safety. But he forced himself to go on. She doesn’t want me, doesn’t want my help or my touch.
It was true and he knew it. The rejection he could handle. But the fear in her eyes…
Sylvan clenched his jaw. Goddess, that she could ever think I would hurt her. The very idea was like a fist in his gut. He would rather be hurt himself, would rather be wounded a thousand times over than allow her to get a single scratch.
Should have left her alone. Shouldn’t have healed her. That was what scared her the most, waking up and seeing me bending over her with my fangs out.
But he had been so worried. And besides, it was impossible for him to see her hurt and not want to heal her. He had told her once, the second time they met, that as a doctor he had no emotional attachment to his patients. But it was different with her—so very different. And those few moments before she’d woken up completely, before she’d started fearing him, had been beyond compare.
He closed his eyes briefly, his cock and fangs throbbing as he remembered the way she’d moaned and arched her back, responding to his touch. It was almost as though she was offering herself, opening herself in the way a female would when she was willing to be bonded. Truly his intent hadn’t been sexual, but he couldn’t help becoming aroused by her reaction. The way her nipple had tightened under his tongue as he healed her and the warm secret scent of her sex getting wet and ready for him was enough to make him ache with desire.
And then she saw me and realized who it was that was touching her, giving her pleasure, he thought sadly. After that all she wanted was to get away from me. From my fangs. She wouldn’t even let me finish healing her.
Even now he could smell her blood on the wind. She must have scraped her hands and knees when she was scrambling to get away from him. He wanted in the worst way to examine them—to take away her pain. But he knew he would only add to it and increase her fear and panic if he tried. Sophia, I’m so sorry…Your pain is my pain. Your wounds, mine to heal. I give you the blood of my body, the heart from my chest. The—
Sylvan stopped himself. Why had the words from the Blood Kindred bonding ceremony come to his mind? Words he was destined never to speak?
Stupid, he told himself angrily, kicking a large rock out of the way. Stupid to let yourself have any kind of feelings for her. Even if your vow wasn’t in the way she’d never want you. Never stop fearing you long enough to let you in. Just forget about her—be cold as a Tranq should be.
But he couldn’t. Sophia’s soft little hands had warmed his cold heart, even if she hadn’t meant to. And it seemed there was no freezing it again.
* * * * *
Sophia tried to keep up but it was hard to see in the darkness and her feet hurt. Her shoes were long gone—not that the low kitten heels would have been much good for hiking in the mountains but still, anything would have been better than nothing. The only thing that saved her was the fact that she had been walking barefoot outside on the hot Florida concrete since she was a little girl. Without that experience to toughen the soles of her feet, they would have been cut to ribbons within a matter of minutes.
But it wasn’t just her feet that worried her—she was wondering where in the world they were. Because it sure as hell wasn’t Florida. Where are we and how are we ever going to get home? Does Sylvan know where he’s going, or are we just trying to get away from the shuttle?
They were scrambling down the side of a mountain, that much was clear she thought, eyeing Sylvan’s muscular bare back as she went. The same mountain he had crashed them into, she was pretty sure. She still wasn’t sure why the big warrior had had to aim for a mountain in the first place, but at least they’d survived it.
Now that she had a moment to think about it, she remembered the crash in horrible detail. The way the craggy rock face had gotten bigger and bigger in the viewscreen and the moment of impact when she felt something hard and sharp pierce her flesh, slicing across her breast like a line of fire. Then she’d been drowning in some kind of blue gel. It had dissipated but she could still feel the sticky remains of it on her skin…
Once she started thinking about the crash she couldn’t stop—the details kept playing over and over again in her head like a horror movie. Just stop it, stop thinking about it. You survived, didn’t you? So what are you getting so upset about?
But no matter how sternly she talked to herself, she kept seeing the side of the mountain rushing toward her again and again. Kept feeling the horrible impact and the sensation of suffocating in thick blue gel over and over. The endless loop got stuck in her head and made her feel shaky.
Too much had happened in the past twenty-four hours. Too much trauma and drama and pain and fear crammed into too little time. The stress of it was like a ticking time-bomb in her chest, ready to explode. But somehow she had to contain it. The last thing she wanted was to have a meltdown in front of Sylvan. Strong, I have to be stro—
A loose rock shifted treacherously under her bare foot and she felt a sharp pain in her ankle. With a low cry, she fell to one side, hitting the side of her head.
Sylvan was beside her at once. “Don’t try to get up,” he ordered when she scrambled to rise. “Lie still for a minute and let me see how badly you’re hurt.”
“I’m not hurt,” Sophie objected, though her ankle was throbbing and something warm and wet was trickling down the side of her cheek.
He frowned. “Don’t lie—to me or to yourself, Sophia. That was a bad fall.” Lifting her chin, he stared intently into her face. “Look up and open your eyes wide, I need to see your pupils and there isn’t much light.”
Sophia stared up into the night sky, trying not to tremble under his touch. She could feel the tears welling up inside her until she felt like a cup that was about to overflow. The sharp stinging in her head and the dull throb in her ankle were the last straw. The physical pain in her body combined with her emotional turmoil, pushing her over the edge. Though she didn’t want to in the worst way, Sophie began to cry.
“Sophia?” Sylvan’s voice was a harsh whisper in the darkness. “Please don’t cry. I know you don’t want me touching you, but I have to make sure you’re all right.”
The pain in his voice made things worse somehow. “I…I’m sorry,” she gasped, trying to slow her tears and failing. “I just…I can’t…it’s too much.”
“It won’t take much longer.” He was feeling her ankle now. Sophia hissed and jerked away from his gently probing fingers. “Sorry,” he muttered. “I don’t think it’s broken but you have a bad sprain. It’s already swelling—you’re not going to be able to walk on it.”
Fresh tears came to her eyes and she armed them away angrily. Why did she have to be so weak? “That’s it then. You’ll have to go on without me.” She tried to sound brave, but her voice betrayed her by trembling.
“Go on without you?” Sylvan looked at her incredulously. “What kind of male do you think I am?”
“I’ll be fine,” she insisted, knowing it wasn’t true. “You can go for help and come back for me.”
“Do you really think I’d leave you here alone, helpless in the dark with the Scourge hunting you?” His voice had dropped to a low growl. “Never.”
“Sylvan!” she protested but he was already gathering her up into his arms. “Sylvan, put me down. Be reasonable,” she pleaded. “I know you’re a big strong guy but I’m not exactly tiny. You can’t carry me all the way down the side of the mountain.”
“Watch me.” He was already walking, holding her cradled in his arms as though she was a baby. He looked down at her briefly. “I’m sorry, Sophia. I know you dislike being close to me, but it can’t be helped. You’ll have to endure my touch until we find someplace safe to rest.”
“It’s not that,” she protested weakly. “Not that I don’t like, uh, touching you. I just…don’t want you biting me. That’s all.”
She had been hoping to make him feel better but if anything, the pain on his chiseled features intensified.
“Rest,” he said after a moment. “We may have a long way to go. You need to conserve your strength.”
What about your strength? she wanted to say, but the closed look on his face said the subject wasn’t up for further discussion. There was literally nothing else she could do but relax and let him carry her.
At least the hated tears had dried up. But the crying spell had left her feeling horribly depleted and achingly tired. Though she tried to stay awake, she felt her head drooping against the broad plane of his chest. The first few times she jerked up, but the third time it happened Sylvan spoke again.
“It’s all right, Sophia,” he murmured, looking down at her. “Let yourself relax. Sleep if you can—I don’t mind.”
“I shouldn’t,” she said drowsily. But she couldn’t help it—her head drifted down again. How could something as hard and muscular as his chest make such a comfortable pillow? “Shouldn’t…not when you’re doing all the work. Carrying me.”
“It is my very great privilege and pleasure to carry you, Talana.” His deep voice rumbled through her, making her safe and reassured. And his scent—the same scent she’d noticed earlier when he had held her on the ship, now seemed incredibly soothing.
Sophia yawned. “What’s… talana?” she asked, her eyelids drooping.
“A nickname in my native tongue. An endearment.”
“And what…” She yawned again. “What does it mean?”
Before he could answer, sleep claimed her and everything faded to black.