The Warrior Vampire(51)
To hell with his troth. To hell with Siobhan. His cock throbbed and his sac ached with unspent seed. He’d take Naya. Fuck her until this hollow sense of empty desperation was filled. He shoved his pants down around his ass and his stiff cock sprang free. He took the length in his fist and toppled over his mate, probing at the warmth between her thighs that welcomed him.
A warning growl came out of the darkness. It slithered up Ronan’s spine, triggering his protective instinct. In a flash of movement he snatched Naya up and tucked her behind him, his gaze locked on the set of golden eyes shining with menace not twenty feet away. A scream pierced the darkness, feline and angry. Behind him, Naya scrambled for her clothes and swore under her breath.
“Don’t hurt him, Joaquin.”
Her tone was much too pleading and the sound of it speared through Ronan’s chest. From the shadows a jaguar approached, his black fur as dark as the night sky. A long tail swished back and forth with serpentine grace and the animal bared his teeth, issuing a feral hiss. He crouched as though preparing to spring upon Ronan and he held his arms wide, welcoming the attack. He’d be damned if his mate saw him as the weaker opponent.
But instead of the cat pouncing, Naya jumped in front of Ronan. Her eyes were still wild, her skin bearing the luminescence of magic. She turned away to face his attacker. “I said, no.”
* * *
Naya tried to shake off the drunken haze that still clung to her mind. She’d known better than to linger where they might be found, and yet she’d given herself to Ronan where anyone could see, wasting precious time she could have used to hide him from the members of her pod. Common sense didn’t exist where he was concerned, and she found herself wanting to live only in the moment. Even now, with Joaquin’s deadly gaze fixed on them, all she could think about was how badly she wanted Ronan.
Get your shit together, Naya!
Joaquin wasn’t the only one ready for a fight. Behind her a warning growl erupted in Ronan’s chest, and she didn’t have to turn around to know that the vampire’s eyes were alight with silver and his fangs bared.
“Get out of the way, Naya.” Ronan’s voice was almost distorted with rage, every word stilted. They were all nothing more than highly evolved animals, and stepping in front of a territorial predator probably wasn’t the best idea. Still, she couldn’t simply hide behind him and do nothing!
Joaquin stalked in a wide arch around them, his tail swishing back and forth, head low to the ground. His silky black ears lay flat on his head as he raised his nose to the sky. Deep wrinkles cut into the fur as he sniffed, his nose no doubt burned with the tang of magic. He eyed Naya warily and she reached back to put a staying hand on Ronan’s arm. Agitation pulled her muscles taut, but she knew that it was Ronan’s emotions that she sensed and not her own.
The tether?
He was angry. It soured her stomach and left a bitter taste on her tongue. But this wasn’t his world. And starting a fight with Joaquin would only make matters worse. Ronan’s fingers tightened over hers, a brief, possessive squeeze before he let go. Uh-oh. The gesture felt a hell of a lot like an apology. “Whatever you’re about to do,” she warned, “don’t.”
A song, slow and rhythmic, pounded in her chest like a round of drums. The Bororo males might not have been able to manipulate or wield magic, but that didn’t mean that magic wasn’t an inherent part of them. The sound grew louder, for Naya’s ears alone as Joaquin shifted, leaving his animal form behind.
The shift was painless as far as she knew, like slipping out of the water. And was it wrong that for a moment Naya had wished that the transition would have left Joaquin at a disadvantage? If only to buy her and Ronan time to get the hell out of there.
“Naya.” Joaquin’s dark brows drew sharply over his nearly black eyes. The pain in his voice was visceral, cutting through her in a bloody swath that left her feeling much too raw. How long had he been hidden by shadows, watching? How much had he seen? Naya’s cheeks warmed with shame. Had he been witness to her unabashed passion as she screamed her pleasure while Ronan buried his face between her legs?
She didn’t know what to say. Where to start. Excuses were trite and Joaquin would scent any lie she tried to tell him. Likewise, one misspoken word would just as surely cut Ronan down. Honesty was the only policy in this situation. She’d deal with the consequences of her actions.
“I know I haven’t checked in, but—”
“Pensé que estabas muerto!” The words left his lips in a barely restrained shout. His lip curled into a disdainful sneer as his gaze raked her from head to toe. “And I find you naked in the sand, beneath that pinche pedazo de mierda!”