Free Darkness Comes by A.C. Warneke Page B

up in her eyes and she wanted to cry out but she couldn’t even do that. She tried to ignore the pleasure that his touch created but it was nearly impossible; it was invading all of her senses.
    His fingers trailed down her throat, over the curve of her breast, over the bumps of her rib cage, resting on her stomach. Heat welled beneath his palm and she would have agreed to anything he said, until he said, “A child.”
    Her breath caught in her throat and she struggled to sit up, to push him off, to stand. She couldn’t do it and she screamed inside her head. She couldn’t even move to save her beloved son; what kind of mother was she? Weak, so weak, she glared at him, “You cannot have Toby.”
    “No,” he shook his head and his eyes glimmered briefly. As his eyes caressed her face, he stroked his finger over her collar bone and murmured, “Not Toby; a child – my child. Only you can give me a child.”
    “I don’t understand.” She struggled to say more but whatever it was he was doing to her felt incredible. Her brain wanted to cede all thought and just go with sensation.
    “You are a Foecundusque … a Breeder,” he told her, his fingers moving over her skin, relaxing her even as she struggled against the hidden bonds holding her still. “I have spent many years searching for someone like you; you have no idea how pleased I am to have found you.”
    “You can’t be sure.”
    His teeth flashed in a half smile. “I can smell it in you; when I drank your blood I could taste it. There is no doubt that you are a Breeder.’
    “But….”
    Ignoring her protests, he lightly pressed his hand down on her stomach. “I will plant my seed in your belly and be gifted with a child.”
    Why didn’t she know that Aradians could reproduce? They were vamps, sort of; they shouldn’t be able to reproduce. But her father’s words came back to her, about the Aradians consorting with her father’s people; about his father’s dictate to never have children. It had only been a day since he told her and yet his words had seemed like a dream, fading to distant memory.
    Realization slammed itself into her head; her father’s warnings, the Aradian’s words, and she finally understood. If she didn’t exist, if her father didn’t exist, there would never be any more Aradians. She was nothing more than a means to creating more of his kind, more… vampires. “No.”
    “I think you will change your mind,” he said softly, seductively. He reached out and ran his fingers over her lips, making them tingle. Her tongue darted out and she tasted his spicy darkness and sensual heat; heady and potent. No! She had to resist him. She couldn’t allow him to create more monsters, even if he didn’t feel like a monster. Even if he was warm and his heart beat next to her ear as he cradled her head against his chest. Even if she wanted him like she had never wanted another man, had wanted him for almost a decade….
    She jerked her head away from him and tried to glare but the impact was ruined when she ran her tongue over her lips, over the spot where he touched them. She could still taste him. “It’s only because you marked me; it’s the only way you can make me want you.”
    He wrapped his hand around her slender throat and she felt the heat emanating from his touch. Surprised, she put her hand over his, feeling the strength of his long fingers, the power. Lifting her eyes, she looked at the chiseled line of his jaw, his sculpted mouth, the firm, sensuous lips; the etched cheek bones of a pagan god; his straight, patrician nose. She closed her eyes, afraid of looking any further. Unable to resist, she looked anyway, memorizing every line of his devastating face. Her body was melting under the heat of his touch and desire burned low in her belly. Despite everything, she wanted him.
    His nostrils flared slightly and his cheeks flushed in arousal; she could feel the thickening of his cock. Heated musk swirled around her as his body