They hadn’t seen it coming. That had been her greatest advantage.
‘Ember, what you’re suggesting is a massive risk,’ Nate had said. ‘Lowering their guard will be tough enough, but then acting quickly enough and strongly enough to take each down in succession is extremely skilled.’
‘But not impossible. Don’t tell me you’ve never managed it.’
‘Aside from the fact I’m quicker and stronger than you by the very nature of what I am, I’ve had decades of practice. One slip-up, Ember, and you’re screwed. It’s not like in the movies. Knocking someone out isn’t easy. Let alone knocking someone out hard enough for long enough for what you’re proposing doing. And if you kill them in the process, just one of them, which is exactly what could happen if you don’t know what you’re doing, this is over. We’re both fucked. It’s an idea, it’s clever idea, but not a workable one.’
‘Then what else do you suggest, Nate? We need to get them alone to be able to do this. I need to get them alone. And the only place we can get them away from their guards is down there.’
‘And what if we’re wrong about the gateway? What if maybe it’s just third species who can’t pass through?’
‘You told me that Stirling said he never went down there. Why not? I’m willing to take the risk.’
He’d remained unconvinced, his gaze studying hers.
‘I’m not starting from scratch, Nate. I have had training in the past. I’m used to looking after myself. I have got myself out of numerous scrapes over the years, not least an hour before I saved your life. We need to come up with a strategy of what I’m going to do, and then you can teach it to me. You can teach me what you would do. I want to at least try. I need to try. I promise you, I can do this.’
She’d dealt with Jonah first – always take the biggest down first, that’s what Nate had taught her.
As soon as his attention was fully on his sister, Ember slammed the heel of her hand hard against his forehead, striking the flat of it with a powerful enough blow to guarantee to rock his brain, causing instant concussion – however short-lived.
Jonah instantly fell to his knees, Ember’s second blow – a side-kick to his forehead – sealing his unconsciousness.
As Antonia’s startled gaze snapped to her brother, Ember punched her hard in the nose, not unlike she had done to her attacker in the alley less than a week before.
Antonia’s confusion, her watering eyes, gave Ember time to get her arm around Antonia’s throat a moment later, Antonia too stunned to counteract Ember’s attack in time.
‘It’s all in your forearm,’ Nate had told her when he’d been practising with her. ‘That’s what you need to use to apply the right amount of pressure. You’re applying pressure to the external carotid artery, just below the neck where you can feel a pulse.’
‘I’ve spent five years self-studying human and vampire physiology for my entrance exams, Nate. I think I know where the carotid artery is.’
She’d felt him smile against her ear. ‘Lower them to the ground as you increase the pressure from your forearm,’ he’d said, demonstrating on her as he went. ‘The secret is breathing in as you do so and puffing out your chest to add to pressure. Don’t let go until you feel her weaken but, for fuck’s sake, don’t apply too much pressure so as to kill her. And do not hang around for a split-second once she’s lost consciousness. You are going to have a very short window – maybe only a handful of minutes – before she comes around again.’
And that was the most integral thing of all: executing the manoeuvres without killing them but having them unconscious, or at least disorientated, long enough to do what she needed to do next. Not getting back to them in time meant she was screwed. But accidently killing either of them meant she was screwed even more. It would be game over – for her and Nate too.
As such, he’d made her practise over and over again, giving her numerous scenarios. Preparation was everything, he had told her. Cutting down processing time and acting with immediacy was essential. And there was no way he was following through with her plan unless he was convinced.
Despite trying to sustain her concentration, on too many occasions her gaze had wandered from where his vest top clung to his flat stomach, up to his pecs, and across to his biceps. Biceps that had wrapped around her so firmly, yet so gently as he’d demonstrated, explained, talked her through each move, his voice having tauntingly caressed her ear.
And there were moments when she could have believed him capable of straying off task too – something about the way he’d held her, or spoken to her, or when he’d hesitated, or had lingered longer in a position than he’d needed to. But nothing had come of her suspicions, of her hopes. Instead he’d remained focused throughout.
‘I know what it’s taking for you to trust me to do this, Nate,’ she’d said, wiping the perspiration from the back of her neck as she’d caught her breath.
‘It works both ways, Ember. You’re having to trust me to come good for you just as much. Maybe even more so.’
‘Which I do,’ she’d said.
Because she did. Unequivocally, she trusted him. She trusted him in a way she didn’t think she’d ever be able to trust anyone – let alone one of his kind.
But that wasn’t how she saw him any more. She barely even paid heed to those lethal extra incisors that she had once so greatly feared could steal everything from her. Instead, she had more moments of gazing at them with fascination, her mind, at times, wandering into wondering what it would feel like to be bitten by him. Because, beyond those incisors, was Nate. Nate who, right then, was doing everything he could do to prepare her for success. Nate who had listened to her, had trusted her enough to listen.
For what she didn’t know would be the final time, she’d taken a last swoop to his leg, knocking him to ground in the manoeuvre he’d taught her should she fail to knock Jonah unconscious with her first blow. She’d placed her bare foot to his forehead a moment later, in a non-contact demonstration of showing him just how efficient she had become.
But instead of pulling away, she’d placed her foot to the left of his waist, promptly followed with her right foot on the other side of him. And she’d lowered herself to sit astride him.
He’d gazed up at her with those beautifully unique eyes that were now those of her friend and not her enemy. Eyes that spoke so strongly now of how he was trying to undo that night – empowering her to avenge what had happened.
Eyes that now spoke of so much more than that.
‘Have you never been tempted?’ she’d asked.
‘Tempted to what?’
‘To bite me.’
‘Many times.’
She’d held his gaze, her pulse racing, as he’d declared it without hesitation. ‘This might be our last time together, Nate.’
‘This will be our last time together, Ember. I’m taking you at your word. If we do this in time, you are going to cross that border.’
‘And then what?’
‘And then you start a new life,’ he’d said. ‘The life you should have had.’
‘And what if I’m not sure I want that life any more? If we succeed, if we destroy the Hordas clan, things can move forward in this district. Or at least start to.’
‘And that can happen without you. But this is your only chance and you’re going to take it. Absolution, Ember. That’s my payment for this. If you don’t cross that border, I’ve failed.’
‘I can come back.’ She’d broken a smile. ‘I know where you live.’
But her smile hadn’t been reciprocated. He’d reached up with both hands, and brushed her hair behind her ears, coiling it at the nape of her neck before holding it there with one hand, slid the back of his other hand down her cheek with a tenderness that had made her heart jolt, her stomach clench.
‘We can make it work, Nate,’ she’d said. ‘I know we can.’
‘You’re human, Ember. I’m a vampire. I’ve outlived you by decades already and will outlive you by decades more. And that means one day, one that will feel like a lifetime away to you but a mere breath to me, I will lose you. And I’ll be alone again. I’d rather face that now and have given you something in return than face it in the future knowing I took everything away. I can’t give you what you want. I can’t give you what you need. And I can’t give you what you deserve. And being inside these walls, constantly holding back, never truly being able to be who I am with you, I can’t do that to myself either. We would never be complete until what I am became something I could share with you – and I’m not going to give you the choice. Sometimes caring about someone is about walking away. It’s about letting go. It’s about moving on. We need to move on.’
Hand clutching her neck, he’d used his thumb to wipe the tear that had leaked down her cheek.
Using the strength in his abs, he had curled up, his hands not flinching from where he held her hair, her neck. His lips had hovered less than a couple of inches from her, their breath mingling – hers rapid and shallow, his calm, slow and deep – as he’d held her gaze.
Her heart had skipped a beat at his furrowed brow, at the intensity of his non-relinquishing gaze.
She didn’t have anything more to say – nothing she could put into words, anyway. Just that she hated that sense of walking away. That sense that, whatever it was between them, too much had been left unfinished. That being there, inside those four walls, was the only place she wanted to be.
Lowering her gaze, she’d raked her hands down his chest. Scrunched the fabric she’d fisted her hands.
She’d met his gaze again a few seconds later. ‘Let us be together just once more. Let me get as close to you as I can be just once.’
His gaze had lingered a moment longer. When his lips had finally met hers, she’d snatched back a breath, her stomach somersaulting at the gentleness amidst the firmness, the hand that had held her hair coiled releasing it to clutch the nape of her neck. He’d slid the other down her chest, his fingertips snagging the neckline of her vest top, dragging it down with the cup of her bra to expose her breast, her nipple stiffening in response.
His lips, his mouth, his tongue on their caressing journey down her neck had made her shudder, her still-clenched fists bunching his vest tighter.
And when his cool lips, his damp mouth, his firm tongue had swept across her clavicle before lowering to reach her breast, her lips had parted with pleasure.
She’d released his vest to clutch his neck as he tore open the front of hers. His touch a dichotomy of feral and controlled as he’d taken both her breasts in his hands simultaneously, squeezing firmly before licking and nipping, his tongue having rolled over each nipple in turn before sucking with a pressure that had had her gripping his hair.
His mouth had been on hers again minutes later, his eyes open, staring deep into hers as he’d snagged her bottom lip between his teeth, tugging it between his as he’d grasped the back of her neck again. He’d licked the underside of her upper teeth, the roof of her mouth, coiling his tongue around hers before lowering her to her back beneath him.
He’d removed her lower clothing seconds later with a swift ease that had made her abdomen clench, locking her in the haze that had already been fast consuming her.
He’d interlaced his fingers with hers, pressed his palms to hers, lowered her hands to either side of her shoulders.
His mouth’s journey down her cleavage, down to her belly button, had had her tensing in anticipation. But nothing had prepared her for when his mouth, his tongue, had eventually reached her sex.
Her groans had resonated around the room. She’d clenched her hands. She’d shuddered with ecstasy. His thumb on her clit had been torturous as he’d licked and teased before pushing his tongue deep inside her.
She’d bucked but he’d snagged her hips, pinning and holding her in position, her thighs kept apart by his shoulders, giving her no escape, pushing her even faster her towards her climax with a speed she’d never experienced. And as he’d taken her to the cusp, to the very edge of her free-fall, he’d withdrawn, her whole body shuddering at the agony of.
Snagging her hands again, interlacing their fingers again, pinning them either side of her, he’d met her gaze. He’d held her there for just that second longer, her sex throbbing, her thighs trembling, her breasts aching, her vision blurred to anything but him.
She’d held her breath as his rigidness met her sex. She’d gasped as he’d entered her just a little. And she’d groaned again, louder, sated, as she’d felt his solid girth penetrate her inch by inch, the sensation exacerbated by the painful sensitivity of her pending orgasm in a way she’d never known.
And, with a final push, he’d filled her completely.
His chest was hard, cool against hers as he’d lowered himself, buried her beneath him. Restrained, her thighs held apart by his, she’d felt encompassed in his power, in his strength, in his control in a way that didn’t panic her as it so easily could have, but which had only escalated her arousal. Pleasure that had escalated even more as his body had found rhythm with hers until the point she’d lost all sense of anything but him inside her, above her, all around her.
As her orgasm had consumed her body, as she’d felt him simultaneously come, she’d cried out in their haven, wrapped her arms tightly around him, held him against her, kept him inside her, right up to that bitter moment when she’d had no other option but to let him go.