Chapter Twenty
Startling awake, Najha couldn’t believe she’d fallen asleep. How long they’d been here, she had no idea.
Red stood up and stretched, he gave a head nod to the others and they followed him away, leaving her with a now moving Lucien.
He reached up and grabbed her pulling her face down to his. “Hi,” he whispered.
“Hello.” She smiled shyly. Not sure how far he was going to take the kiss, but she needed something more. The touch of his mouth on hers sent a shockwave throughout her entire body. She had a burning desire, aching need, for him. His lips were as challenging to her as they were rewarding. Najha enjoyed the love he gave her through his touch.
“It is dark outside. We need to leave as soon as possible. I don’t want to stay here in case we run into that thing that captured Myra,” Lucien spoke softly.
“I need you.” Najha touched his face.
“Come, we will go to a safe place before we meet up with our people.”
“Do you think my mother is okay?” Najha stood and prepared them to leave the cave.
“She is just fine. I already checked with Thorn and told him we’d be coming along soon. Are you prepared to trust me?” Lucien smiled gently.
“Yes.”
“Well, then we’re going to fly together.” Lucien had already stood, and he took her in his arms as they walked out into the darkness from the cave. No one appeared to be in the area. “Come this way.” He lifted her into his arms and they seemed to float above the ground.
Suddenly, with speed as fast as lightning, they traveled a ways away from the danger to a small cabin that appeared beneath them.
Lucien lowered them to the ground easily enough then from under a mat he pulled out a key to the cabin. “See, I have everything. This is my parents old getaway before they—” Lucien stopped talking.
“No worries, I understand.” Najha followed him inside and looked around the beautifully kept cabin was cozy and welcoming.
Lucien waved his arm and the fireplace instantly lit and started to warm the place. He led her to the bedroom and gently eased her down upon the bed he provided for them. His hand cupped her neck, he kissed her jawline, neck, behind her ears, his mouth moving down to her shoulders. Then he pushed aside her t-shirt, seeming to change his mind lifting it over her head exposing her lace bra. He unbuttoned the bra, his fingers icy, but his palm felt fiery hot. When his mouth moved over her skin, his tongue tantalized the buds which had swollen to their fullest. His hand seared a path down her abdomen and onto her thigh.
Najha kept her knees drawn together, her shyness still a part of her nerves. She tried protecting her body from his. The reason she had no idea. They’d grown close over the past few days. She was pregnant with his child. Somehow, she had to relax around him and stop worrying.
“I’m sorry about the way I took you the first time in that bathroom.”
“It was my fault as well for not controlling my emotions and allowing it,” Najha whispered. She’d totally forgotten what a hussy she’d been that night. Her being a virgin didn’t occur to her until he’d taken that from her and she’d found the traces of blood that night.
When he took her hands, encouraging them to explore his body, she felt the hard lines of his chest, arms, and back. It drew her attention away from what he was doing to her. His lips traced a sensuous path to ecstasy. His hands pulled her leather and jeans drawing them down her legs and pulling them off right along with her boots—in one quick move, she lay bare to his eyes.
She wanted all of him and didn’t really have the strength to stop him, nor did she want to. He quickly removed her clothes and left only her black booty shorts on, Najha shied away from him.
He kissed her abdomen, then thighs as he whispered, “Easy there, love, it’s okay. I’ll go slow. You can stop me anytime you need to.”
She nodded. “I’m sorry, Lucien. I’ve never been with a man before you, and this is so romantic. I want it to be perfect.”
“Good, neither have I been with a man before, and I want to make this perfect for you and me,” he teased.
The humor in the statement struck her as funny, and it seemed to relax her. She playfully slapped his chest. Lying on her back with Lucien’s body lying between her legs she could see his face over her tummy. She raised her body up on her elbows, peeking down at him. “I need to please you too, my love.”
Kissing each part of her now naked form, he nodded, then moved up to her and kissed her lips, as she opened to him. Using his tongue, he tasted, licked, and enjoyed her skin as he made his way back down to her most private area. He looked up and whispered, “I want to taste you.”
She nodded, giving him permission. He used his fingernail to cut her underwear off. His head dipped between her legs. His tongue licking and sucking caused a fire to burn hot in the area of her body no other man had touched, her pussy. This place was reserved just for her forever mate, Lucien.
Something inside her climbed to a height, she thought she’d been unprepared to go. “Oh, my God! Lucien, what are you doing to me?” she moaned, grabbing his hair, pulling him to her body. The pleasure became so intense, Najha thought she was going to ignite and blow up. He continued taking her clit into his mouth and suckling it. He then shoved two fingers into her and she exploded into a million pieces. The fireworks went higher than she ever thought possible and a euphoria filled her as nothing ever had before.
Relaxing slightly, she let him nibble and kiss her thighs, hip, tummy working his way up to her breasts, he squeezed the left globe as he moved up further, until he looked her in the eyes and whispered, “I love you.”
She wanted to please him as he’d done for her. She sat up, pushing him over onto his back. “It’s my turn. You lie on your back and enjoy.”
Grinning and without a word, he did as she said.
Najha moved down to take his hard shaft in her hand and stared. Trying to decide what would feel the best for him, she wondered if she should do as she did before when they were in the woods next to town. He had tasted so good too. “Lead me, Lucien.”
Between clenched teeth, he instructed her, “Take me in your mouth, love.”
She did as he instructed, learning quickly she found out what pleased him by the tone of his moans. She used her mouth to move up and down, swallow, hum, and tighten her mouth around his hard cock.
When he moaned louder, he grabbed her hair and gently pulled. “Come here,” he ordered.
She released him from her mouth, slowly moving her body up, kissing his body as he had hers. His maleness grew harder, longer, and firmer. The satin steel of him pleased her greatly. “You like?” she asked.
“Yeah, what do you think? My body wants you and I need to be inside you, now,” he growled out the command.
She obeyed by nodding. Will it hurt again?”
“The first time only, my love. I promise, this time, I will give you only pleasure.” Lucien lifted her, setting her down upon his shaft. Her body allowed him to enter her easily with the wetness she provided. Gently, he pushed into her, letting her adjust and control the speed in which he penetrated. She couldn’t wait any longer because suddenly, she wanted it all. She sat down, forcing him all the way into her body. Her pussy stretched for only a moment then it welcomed him with ease. The pleasure then built swiftly.
Lucien sat up, wrapping her legs around his waist. His hips bucking, moving himself in and out, the friction and pleasure building as the fire built within her reaching a peak like none other. Her body arched back as an orgasm rippled through her.
Lucien continued until he, too, came. With a loud groan, his lips ground to hers telling Najha he was as pleased with the outcome. Afterwards, he tucked her into his body lying on their sides, she felt him lift the blanket and cover their bareness.
After several minutes of quiet, Red, Athena, and the rest of the pack entered and laid back down around them.
Najha smiled and patted Red who laid his head down on her leg. “How did they find us?”
“I showed Red the way through our minds. He is a smart and experienced wolf. You did a great job in raising them. We must sleep a bit then we have a lot of figuring out what to do.”
The six wolves, her family, protected them while they rested enough to gain their strength for the grueling night to come. They needed to hunt and find the monster who’d stalked and kidnapped her mother.
The joy of being together with her mate had her smiling before she, too, succumbed to sleep as Lucien had done behind her.
*****
A few hours later, Lucien woke Najha up. “Najha, come on, love. We need to move.” Lucien smacked her ass in good fun. He didn’t want to go outside and face what the rest of the night would bring for them. With nighttime fully arriving, he woke her with kisses. The wolves all moved away to leave the cabin. He kissed her thoroughly then fucked her fiercely with even more passion than before and after that, he carried her to a spring just outside the cabin near the river. He then again allowed his hands to roam over her wet form telling her she was his as he used his lips and fingers to bring her to climax.
Now dressed, he held Najha’s hand as they flew back to the area where all the people waited for them. The lycan and vampires all looked well rested when they arrived. “What if everyone knows?” Najha’s face turned slightly red. He thought she was adorable. How could she be so worried about what everyone else knew?
“Come on let’s do this?”
“But, I feel different, somehow.” She balked and didn’t want to move.
He chuckled. “That is the mating bond. We’re as one, and nobody is going to take that away from me. I’m their leader, what are they going to say?”
“But the laws?” Najha held back something. Lucien knew what he was going to do and it had been a hard decision, but he wasn’t about to lose her over the laws.
They were first greeted by Najha’s wolves, then Opie and Lena, and her father last.
Thorn walked over to them.
Lucien couldn’t be any happier. He’d wanted to wait to claim Najha because he had enough respect for Thorn to ask his permission for her hand in marriage. The mate ceremony of the vampire and lycan was different but similar. He needed to go to their council and change the rules first. Only after all that, would Lucien ask Najha if he could mate claim her. They would need to know if she would change or would the mixing of their blood create something they weren’t prepared for. Neither he or Najha wanted to take that risk of harming the other. So far, taking her blood hadn’t caused anything other than strength in him. But these questions could wait until they finished what they needed to do to end this evil.
Thorn nodded, he straddled his Harley and started preparing his people to ride.
Myra and Cade were nowhere to be seen. He worried Najha would have her mind on her mom more than the battle ahead of them. He looked over at her.
Najha had grabbed the mane of her horse, threw herself upon her back, and sat back into the leather saddle.
He again stood mesmerized by the beauty and strength of his mate. Her bearing proud, her eyes bright and clear. He allowed himself a moment to admire her. Then he mounted Opie and prepared himself for the ride ahead. They were going to the other side of the ridge. The trackers had returned and told them they thought there was a Bolnav hanging around there.
Najha looked over at him and smiled. “What?” She chuckled.
“You know you think too loud,” Lucien teased her. He’d caught glimpses of their lovemaking in her head.
“What?” She frowned.
“Opie and Lena can hear your thoughts, and they aren’t PG,” he teased. “Come on, woman, let’s go.” Lucien waited for her to acknowledge.
Her face turned a bit pink then she lifted her finger to hold up.
He led Opie to her side. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I’m good. I need to talk to my dad, quick.”
He nodded and led the way over to the lycan leader.
When they walked the horses up to the large black motorcycle and Thorn, Najha spoke, “Daddy, how’s my mom?”
“Layla and Taraji helped her relieve some of the pain of the silver that had embedded into her skin.”
She held her hand over her mouth. “I shouldn’t have left her.”
“Yes, but your mate needed you. You both seem happier tonight. I want you to get your head into this fight or go home,” Thorn ordered as he gazed up at them.
Lucien wasn’t sure he liked the man’s tone.
Before he said anything, Najha spoke, “Dad, I always have my ‘head in the game’ as you say it. I’m not playing here. Is she going to be okay?”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?” Najha was blunt and to the point with her father.
Again, the very nature, Lucien liked about her.
“Cade took her back to Shades Run. She’ll be fine, but her recovery will be long.”
“Okay, let’s do this.” Najha kicked Lena in the side and sent her horse galloping.
Lucien grinned. “Well, she has spoken.”
“Apparently.” Thorn shrugged and started the bike. He circled his hand over his head, and the other fifty or more cycles started up. The lycan would ride the steel beasts, whereas the vampires would stay on their horses.
Lucien gave Opie his head and let him run. The stallion lunged forward while his hooves ate away the distance as he caught up to Najha and Lena easily enough. Words weren’t necessary for them. They settled in, and the horses’ hooves barely touched the forest floor as they flew toward their destination. The trackers leading Najha while alongside them were her wolves.
They headed toward a town called The Bend. They’d spotted a number of these creatures heading toward humans and a large number of people. If they didn’t reach them in time, who knew what could happen. But all Lucien knew was they all had one goal—to end the danger to Myra and the others by ending their miserable existence.
They ate the miles away. Lucien couldn’t believe the power and stamina of his mate to stay astride the mare.
*****
Najha enjoyed riding beside her mate on a powerful warhorse. Lena was amazing. She loved the animal already. Her wolves easily kept up. Lucien rode by her side. If they weren’t riding into a certain dangerous situation, she would say she was happier than she’d ever felt before.
They raced toward the others to meet Thorn and the lycan near The Bend. If those monsters reached civilization before they caught them, their secret would be out, and the lycan and vampires would be once again hunted.
When they finally caught up to Thorn and the others, Lucien dismounted. He turned to Opie. ‘Thank you, my old friend. Ride home like the wind and be safe.’ He slapped him on the hindquarters.
Then the stallion lunged and nipped Lena on the neck.
Najha stepped aside for her mare to chase after the stallion. She smiled and joined Lucien, and they walked over to Thorn.
Eric stepped out of the truck with the large fifth wheel trailer.
“My friend, thank you,” Lucien greeted him.
Their motorcycles were unloaded. They would ride now as the MC. They were going into a town and must maintain their cover as being a normal human motorcycle club. When the van full of guns pulled in, he knew their cover story was here, and everything would work out. “We go in as the two MCs, we’ll gather together with the MC from The Bend. I already made the call, and Frankie is expecting us. Nobody will be the wiser.”
Najha stepped forward. “Lucien?”
“You ride with me.” He held up a black leather jacket he’d had Eric bring. This was better than the one he’d dressed her in before while using his magic. On the back was the MC logo and at the bottom was his last name, DAZARASKI. She’d been marked as his Ol Lady. This time, she seemed much happier than when it said property. “Do you like?”
“Oh yeah, Lucien, how?” Najha took the one she’d been wearing off and tried on the new one. She turned and smiled. “It’s beautiful. I don’t feel like a chunk of property now.”
“You’ve proven yourself, mate. You’ve kept up with me and the others as any warrior would. I’ll be happy if you’ll agree to join me?”
“What are you asking?” she questioned.
Her frown and raised brow told him she’d misunderstood him. “I won’t ask you to marry me until we are out of this danger, then I will. But until then, I want you to agree to ride with me as my mate.”
She walked forward and kissed his cheek then whispered, “Just what I wanted. I, too, want to wait until we know everything and take care of what’s out there threatening our people.”
Thorn came over to them. “They’re held up in a house in town. They’re covering as an MC as well. The Sons of Martyr. I have ordered mayhem against the lot of them. We go in and destroy.”
“Do you know if they are a mix breed?”
Thorn nodded. “It’s what the trackers have described to me. So, I would say yes, I believe that’s what they are. We’ll know more once we find them.”
Lucien nodded once, then motioned for his men to mount up.
Thorn moved away to confer with his men.
Vlad pulled up next to him on his trike. The man hated riding but this time he smiled, his full beard peppered gray and his hulking figure fit the image of an older member of an MC. “Lucien, we ready to do this?” he asked.
Lucien nodded.
Vlad grinned and spoke to Najha who was standing next to him waiting for his signal to get on behind him, “Najha, I’m proud to call you friend. You’ve made me eat my words. You’re a warrior through and through. Stay safe today riding with our leader. Kick ass and cause mayhem.” Vlad bowed his head holding his hand out to her.
The highest honor to a woman with an MC and vampire was to be recognized by one of the elder members. Vlad welcoming her in his own rough way pleased Lucien. He looked over at Najha who was wiping her eyes.
She smiled and blew Vlad a kiss. “Love you too, Vlad. Ride hard, stay strong, and don’t fucking get yourself killed.”
Vlad wiped the moistness from his eyes and said to her, “Girl, you have the balls of steel that clank when you walk. Take good care of our man. You are worthy of him.” He waved to her and started his trike, which had pipes louder than some of the motorcycles.
*****
Najha, at first, thought she’d overstepped her boundaries but when Vlad had said what he did, she knew she’d treated him like he wanted. It made everything all right again. The nerves she’d suffered when she first woke next to Lucien were completely gone, and she looked forward to fighting right next to her mate.
Thorn walked over to them. “Lucien, Najha, I need to speak to you for a moment before we all head out?”
Lucien spoke first, “Sure, what’s up.”
“Have you taken blood from Najha yet?” Thorn seemed uncomfortable speaking to Lucien about her.
Najha didn’t want that at all between these two men. They were more like brothers, and she needed them to stay the same.
“Yes, no difference, other than I feel stronger. My wolf is faster as well.”
“That’s what I suspected. You won’t change much else. The lycan is only able to shift to a wolf, unlike a vampire. There’s always a chance Najha will need to stay inside during the day if she takes your blood and is converted to something other than lycan. I believe, myself,” Thorn touched his heart with his fist, “there’s a real possibility if she stays away from that nasty habit of yours, she’ll stay a true blood.” Thorn scowled then turned to her. “Najha, you haven’t taken blood from him, have you?”
She shook her head. “No, only if I’m bleeding to death would I do something like that. Remember, Jayden? I do believe if Lucien had to save me that is what he’d do?” She turned to her mate.
Lucien reached out and gripped her hand behind him. They were still sitting on his bike. “I don’t think she’ll change at all even if I give her blood. If she does, we’ll deal with it at the time. There’s nothing wrong here, Thorn. If we had a problem being mated, I would have told you. There’s one thing, though. Since I’ve taken her blood, I can stay out longer in the morning sun. But yesterday, after we found Myra, the damn thing still burned me, but I was able to function a little longer and stayed strong enough to get Myra to you.” Lucien had been badly burned. Najha had helped him heal faster.
“That should help you eventually become stronger as a vampire. The crippling effect you get from the sun is possibly fading some?” her father asked.
Lucien grinned. “It is, but not quite yet. Maybe in time.”
“There’s one more thing,” Thorn continued. “My father said until we figure out what and why the laws were made, you two cannot be together. But I’ve decided if you stay together, then you must leave until we figure this out.”
“I’ve already decided that. I will find someone to take over my leadership then Najha, and I will disappear. Even you will not know where we go until this can be figured out.”
“I agree. You’ve broken the law by mating with a lycan, and I won’t risk my daughter, nor best friend, nor the child that grows between you two.
“We need to do further research into the whys but not until this mess is cleaned up and we’re able to do the proper research. Dante has agreed to help me when the time comes,” Thorn said.
Najha was proud to call Lucien her mate. She knew it would be a lonely existence for Lucien and herself, but she’d stay with her mate before risking losing him to the laws of their people.
She sighed and moved her thoughts to what they would face right now. “What do you think is really in town?”
“I think it was a Bolnav who had Myra kidnapped to take her blood to convert what he thought would be a destroying monster and stronger than any of us. We need to be smarter than it is. I also heard from the trackers that he has many newly converted who also took blood from a lycan. Myra said there was a lycan there, he was the one who took her and we know him.” Thorn looked upset. “Demetri…he was part of our clan when we first came to this area and he disappeared a few years back. He also turned another rogue recently who they killed during the conversion. She doesn’t know who the Bolnav was but heard the others talking outside the cave she’d been held in until they moved her.”
“What do you mean, moved her?” Lucien asked.
“She was closer to Shades Run, they only moved her a few days ago when they knew we had gathered and we’re going to hunt them. Red had shown himself to Myra. She knew it was a matter of time before we’d come to rescue her. She prayed we’d be in time to save her.”
Najha was relieved for Red knowing exactly where her mother had been and where she’d been moved to as well. She looked around and found Red waiting next to the tree line. She held up her hand to signal for him to stay. The wolves couldn’t go into town. She hoped he would stay or head home with Lena and Opie. Rony waited for them near her house.
“Right before I was taken inside that prisoner’s mind by the Bolnav, I saw a young woman. Do you remember the vampire mistress who disappeared over two hundred years ago?” Lucien asked Thorn.
Thorn nodded. “Tatiana, right?”
Najha had heard the story of the young vampire princess who had fought as strong as a vampire warrior could. Her horse was a pure white Lipizzaner stallion. The only female in history to ride a male horse. She’d been beautiful and serene but tough as any of the other warriors. She’d fought hard that day and had, apparently, followed a turned Bolnav into the mountain at devil’s ridge, never to be seen again. Her horse to this day hadn’t given up hope of finding his mistress. “Whatever happened to her stallion?” Najha asked quietly.
“He grieved for a while but never lost hope of finding her. Tatiana had told him to go home and stay safe. He had faith in his mistress that she knew what she was fighting. When she never returned, he decided to roam the United States and search for her on his own. There have been sightings of him within groups of wild horses, which means one thing.” Lucien held up his finger. “Tatiana is alive somewhere.”
“Oh, hell no!” Thorn exclaimed. “There’s no way. I figured she’d turned and walked to the sun.”
Najha couldn’t believe it. The possibility of finding the princess alive was beyond even her imagination.
Thorn looked thoughtful. “Well, I remember a rogue we were fighting, Andre Petrolov. Right before we executed him, he had said she was his mate. That killing her had changed him to a rogue and mixing their blood had made him stronger. Do you remember that monster?”
Najha gazed at both men.
Lucien shook his head.
Thorn grinned. “He must have bred or bitten others. That makes sense as to how these monsters exist today.” Then he frowned. “I thought we ended his life. Why would there be others out there when we ended what we thought was the last of the mixed breeds?”
“Well, instead of sitting here jawing over the what if’s, lets ride,” Lucien commanded.
Thorn lifted a brow at him and looked over at Najha. “Looks like you’ve got a mate that’s bossier than your dad.” He winked, then turned walking back to Jayden and his bike.
Najha bit her lip to keep from smiling as she heard Lucien chuckling. Her attention moved to the women of the group. Taraji, Cordelia, Layla, and Jayden were doing so well with the long rides and even rougher places to sleep. They were tough as nails, and she felt proud of all the women. She had training as a warrior, so it hadn’t been as hard on her.
Lucien raised his arm and signaled for the bikes to be started. The engines all turned over, and the noise of too many motorcycles to even begin to count, rumbled like thunder. His fully dressed bike ran perfectly. He motioned at her.
Najha grabbed his shoulder and swung her leg over the back of his bike. She held him around his waist and loved having him between her legs. She grinned at the phrase… Between my legs…