Mine, Bitten

Chapter Seventeen

            "How is your touch warm?" she seemed to breathe the question hoarsely, immensely startled by the way her skin came alive beneath his gentle touch.

            She almost laughed at the thought of a vampire capable of being gentle. She had never heard of it and peered questionably at the vampire standing over her. Could he possibly have a shred of gentleness? She had personally witnessed his coldness and wondered thoughtfully if there was a kindness on the other side of it?

            "It is your blood that warms my skin." His dark head tilted, as he inclined his head, his eyes traveled her throat, falling precariously to her breasts. "My body is alive with you; your scent, that sweet, delicate combination of lilies and sunlight, that warmth that colors your skin, and every breath that carries from your lungs. It warms my soul."

            A distinguishable growl surfaced deep from within his throat and she pressed herself further into the wall. "It would be in your best interest to change." When she made no attempt to move, he quickly added, "Or I could oblige you and see to it myself." His mouth pulled into a teasing grin, "I will find it most enjoyable."

            His dark eyes had a way of unraveling her senses as they moved slowly over her, stirring feelings she hadn't felt, even with 'what's his face', as Ruby referred him.

            The heated glint that darkened his eyes suddenly flared a menacing feral. Lily froze as a swift and unexpected change overcame him. He went from a man to a dangerous and lethal predator, rushing the space that separated him and the door.

            He tore it open, breaking it clear from its hinges to reveal a hunched, eavesdropping shadow. With what sounded like a beastly snarl, her vampire wrenched the man across the threshold to topple simultaneously over the couch.

            Lily gasped as the man landed with a thumb and realizing immediately his identity rushed to his side.

            "Stop!" she cried, placing herself firmly in his hazardous path as he stalked towards his intended prey.

            "Move." He growled, his eyes taking on a fatal sharpness.

            Jackson moaned sorely behind her.

            "I won't let you hurt him." She nudged her chin upward but felt her bravado slipping as his face took on a sudden harshness.

            Her vampire stepped around her as if she were nothing but a mishap toddler and grabbed Jackson by the throat.

            Lily could feel her own body cringe at the severity of the grip wrapping around Jackson's throat. "Tell her why you're here." He hissed. "Tell her how you sniff at her door every night like the weasel you are."

            Lily froze and peered at Jackson with a disconcerting frown. "What he is talking about?"

            Jackson opened his mouth to respond but somehow the words that would have surfaced did not set well with her vampire. Jackson paled considerably beneath the pressure around his throat and meeting Lily's perplexed stare, "Your father hired me."

            She stiffened, "What?"

            He attempted to situate his body but the insufferable iron grip around his throat prevented even the slightest movement. "He wanted someone to keep tabs on you, to know where you were at all times."

            She felt physically ill.

            "He paid me to hire you on at the Grill."

            Peering at her doorway to her apartment, she asked a bit hesitantly, "How many times have you been at my door?"
            He fell silent, as if hesitating on the response, but somehow Lily already knew his answer. "Weekly."

            A menacing sound rumbled from her vampire's throat; his lips curled away from his teeth, revealing the same set of sharpened fangs that had earlier ripped into her skin.

            His broad set of shoulders stiffened and his dark head tilted in the air. Lily noticed a sudden keenness in his eyes, an awareness that made the hair at the nape of her neck stand on end.

            He shoved Jackson aside, tossing him as if he were a sac of potatoes.

            Lily had little time to comprehend what would soon unravel as she was swept over a broad, masculine shoulder and carried, kicking and pummeling, from her apartment.

            In her feeble attempts at bruising his back, she caught a glint of steel rushing the length of road that divided her apartment from the opposing side.

            Her vampire came to an abrupt halt there in the shifting darkness, and as the familiar statuesque frame of Ward, appeared from out of a luxury car, the unthinkable happened.

            Strong, masculine arms wrapped around her body, crushing her against his hard, muscled frame and just like vapor, they vanished.

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