RIGHT AFTER SUNDOWN, Dante opened the front door to see Kenzie rushing to him. Phoenix was coming up the walkway at a slower pace behind the human. She looked beautiful as the setting sun hit her red-and-black hair, making the crimson color glow. He loved her new clothes and how she was no longer hiding her body.
“Here are her car keys,” Kenzie said, holding them out for Dante.
“Hello to you, too.”
Kenzie chuckled. “We don’t have a lot of time. You’ll see…or smell…or whatever it is you do.”
Dante scratched his head. “Yeah, I don’t know if vampires are affected the same way as shifters.”
Kenzie snorted. “Yeeaahhh…the humans we passed today sure looked affected.”
What humans?
He must have shown how he felt on his face because Kenzie added, “Don’t worry; nobody hit on her. The permanent scowl on her face pretty much threatened every male within ten feet. She didn’t even notice.”
“Good to know.”
“So, listen, I don’t know how this works exactly, but she’s been hot and antsy almost all day. On the way here, she started making noises. Not sure what that means. I don’t know the stages, but I wanted to let you know.”
“Thanks,” Dante said just as Phoenix reached the door.
She pushed Kenzie out of her way and pressed her body right up against his. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rubbed herself against him. “Take me upstairs, Dante.”
He could sense her pheromones, and to say his body was already ready to go was an understatement. Maybe vampires were affected after all. It was a good thing he had warned the other sentinels that they might want to leave for the night and move to another floor for a few days—far away from Dante’s room.
He looked over Phoenix’s shoulder to the human, who raised her brow.
“Well, I’ll just be off then. Good luck.”
Phoenix jumped up on Dante, and he had to catch her bottom as she wrapped her legs around his waist. Her keys dug into his hand from her weight.
“You drove her here. Do you need a ride?” Dante managed to ask even though all he wanted to do was hurry to his bedroom.
Kenzie looked behind her. “Nope, Sawyer’s here.”
Phoenix started sucking on Dante’s neck, not concerned at all that they were in the open where anyone could see them or that Kenzie was standing right there.
“Bye,” Kenzie said as she shut the door behind her.
Dante was already halfway to the stairs.
He raced to his room while Phoenix kept kissing him everywhere she could reach. He slammed his door shut and set her on the ground as he tossed her keys on his nightstand.
She started stripping off her clothes the second her feet hit the floor. Even her bra came off, and without her clothes, Dante could smell her arousal even more. Once her clothes were gone, she moved onto his shirt because it seemed he wasn’t fast enough for her.
He’d never seen her act this sexually forward.
“Are you always like this when you’re in your heat?”
“I don’t know. I’m usually drugged up and out of it.”
“What?”
“Yeah, unmated shifters take medicine, so we don’t have to suffer through the effects.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
She had already removed his shirt, and he helped her with his pants.
Once they were both naked, she grabbed his cock. “Fuck me, Dante.”
He picked her up again, like he’d carried her upstairs. “Who could refuse that command?” he said to her as he lifted her and slid her down on his dick. “Fuck me,” he said upon feeling how hot and wet she was.
“I’m trying,” she said, rotating her hips on him.
Dante stepped toward his bed and laid her down. At that moment, her hormones flared. He’d thought they were strong before, but it was nothing compared to now.
She cried out, and it wasn’t in pleasure.
He straightened and looked down at her. “What’s wrong?”
“Oh my God, it burns.”
“What does?” he asked, his voice practically shaking. He was starting to worry.
She put her hand above her pelvic bone. “Here,” she said as she moaned in pain.
“Shit,” he said as he started to pull out.
She clutched his back, digging her nails in. “No, you don’t understand. I need you to come inside me. It’s the only way it’ll lessen.”
It didn’t seem right. Having sex with her while she was in pain.
She met his eyes. “I’m serious, Dante. I appreciate your concern. But I need you to fuck me right now. That’s the only way you can help me. Otherwise, it’ll only get worse. Listen to your body.”
His head was tormented, but he took her advice. Normally, seeing a female, especially Phoenix, in pain would be enough to deflate him, but he was still hard as a rock. His body knew what she needed.
Dante began to cautiously move inside her.
She moaned again, but this time, it was partially from desire. “More.”
He thrust harder inside her, studying her face as he moved. He continued and felt himself getting close. But, while she gave the impression she was enjoying herself, she wasn’t close to an orgasm. Dante had really learned her body the last few weeks. He knew when she was ready to climax and when she wasn’t.
He adjusted himself, so he could use his hand to help her along, but she held him close.
“No,” she told him.
“No?”
She shook her head and thrust her hips up. “I just need you to come.”
He hated to disappoint her.
As if she knew how he was feeling, she pulled his head down and kissed him. When she released him, she said, “Please, trust me.”
He put his forehead on hers, needing to see her face as he did what she’d asked. He increased his pace and pumped into her. He concentrated on how amazing she felt rather than his worry for her. He loved her pussy, and that was the final thought he had before he came, emptying his seed inside her.
His release seemed to trigger hers, and Phoenix came and came until she made him come again. The whole thing lasted several minutes, and it amazed Dante.
After his second orgasm, her body seemed to calm a little.
He withdrew from her and lay down next to her. “Wow. You’re right.”
She turned on her side and snuggled into him. “About what?”
“Everything.”
She chuckled. “Just Mother Nature trying to ensure the next generation gets made.”
He slid an arm underneath her neck and pulled her onto his chest. “About that? You do realize, if we make a baby, it’ll only be half-shifter. The other half will be vampire.”
He felt her smile against his chest where she turned her head and kissed him. “I know. And I’m okay with that. I want your baby, Dante.” She yawned. “I need to sleep. You should, too. We have a lot of this ahead of us.”
“Yeah,” he said, agreeing with her.
But his mind was still reeling on her-wanting-his-baby statement. He’d thought she just wanted a baby. He hadn’t realized that she wanted his baby.
He kissed her forehead to tell her that he wanted the same thing when her heavy breathing told him she was out.
Dante smiled and slowly drew his body from next to hers. They were lying sideways on his king-size bed, and if she was going to sleep, he wanted her to be more comfortable. He pulled his comforter and sheets down and picked her up and moved her. She was so out of it that she didn’t even notice.
Dante got into bed beside her and pulled her close once again. He had already gotten a full day’s sleep, but he didn’t want to leave her side. He didn’t know when she would need him again. He pulled out a book to read while he waited.
It turned out to be sooner than he’d thought.
Over the next ten hours, she needed him—repeatedly. He hadn’t known that he could get it up and have sex so many times in a row, but each time her heat flared, his body would respond. He had been worried that, since he wasn’t a shifter, it wouldn’t affect him the same, but thankfully, it did. He did not want to disappoint Phoenix.
When they weren’t having sex, Dante had managed to keep them fed, hydrated, and rested. Thankfully, he didn’t need blood anytime soon, and he had kept his fangs away from Phoenix. He figured Phoenix would probably need all the blood she had in her body to conceive.
Dante had fallen asleep after their last sex session but now woke again with a hard-on and Phoenix’s body heat beside him. She groaned in her sleep, and he knew she needed him again.
He brushed his lips across hers as she opened her eyes.
She smiled up at him and spread her legs.
Dante settled between them and pushed inside her. She was so swollen now from all their lovemaking that he was afraid he would hurt her, but she cried out in pleasure. He couldn’t believe they would be doing this for several days.
Dante rolled so that Phoenix was on top. “Ride me, Red.”
Phoenix smiled coyly at him and sat up on his hips. She moved her body without any hesitation. One thing he could say about her heat was that all her reservations seemed to be pushed aside.
But, even with that, she surprised him when she grabbed his hands and placed them on her breasts. Her beautiful, full breasts that he’d only seen one other time in a completely nonsexual way.
She threw her head back, holding her palms over the backs of his hands as he caressed her breasts, and rode him. She had a stunning look of pure bliss on her face, and Dante felt like a king because he was the one who’d put it there.
Suddenly, she lifted her head and looked down at him. “I want your blood,” she said seriously.
Dante tilted his head and exposed his neck. “Whatever you need, it’s yours.” He would give her practically anything.
He thought she would use her claws to cut him and drink his blood from that wound, but she leaned over, opened her mouth, and bit him. It was a combination of pleasure and pain as she sank her teeth into his shoulder. It wasn’t the best way to get a lot of blood at once, but she didn’t seem to care as she sucked on him while she burrowed her teeth in further. He was going to have one hell of a mark, but he didn’t care.
He came with a roar and poured himself inside her. Once again, his climax initiated hers, and she bucked her hips as she orgasmed. She released his neck as she shook over him. Like many times before, her body continued to contract around him until he came again.
She collapsed on him and buried her nose in his neck over the bite that she had given him. Dante rubbed her back as she settled on his body. He was still inside her but didn’t bother to pull out.
“What time is it?” she asked after a few minutes.
Dante looked over at the clock. “Almost six thirty in the morning. Why?”
“I need to check in,” she murmured into his neck, her voice sleepy again.
“I think Vaughn probably took care of that.”
She didn’t answer.
“Phoenix?”
A soft snore slipped past her lips. She’d already fallen asleep.