Free The Sanction by Reeyce Smythe Wilder Page B

in a
heavy heap upon her chest. Her heart thundered. It echoed in the
deepest part of his mind.
    She attempted to push him away. Graeme
met her wide, moist eyes and scowled. “If I bite you again, I will
not be satisfied until you are drained. I will see you dead before
this bond strengthen.”
    He paused and considered her well
indeed. “I am your mate. You cannot help but want me.”
    That he could say the words aloud
forced her to recoil. Her eyes glinted in fury, and hurt. “I do not
want you, but what I want from you is something else
entirely.”
    He thundered laughter. He should have
expected her to use his own words like a sharpened sword. “Liar.”
Her gasp was buried beneath a series of violent kisses. She did not
want to feed, did she? She did not want to strengthen the
bond?
    He would see about that.
     
     

Chapter Seven
    Day turned to night, then day again.
Each morning Graeme would open his eyes to find her snuggled onto
of his chest. He would take in the scent of her, of their mating in
the stagnant air of the room, and relish how perfectly her body
felt molded upon his. Now that she was in full health, her form
proved almost voluptuous. Heavy breasts were crushed against his
chest, and he absently ran his hand down the length of her arm to
skim the swell of her hip. She was all woman - soft and full of
curves. And she was his.
    He scowled fiercely and gently pushed
her onto the mattress. In the faint streams of sunlight, her body
flushed a delightful shade of pink. For a long time he did nothing
but look at her. It had been two weeks. Two weeks of making tender
love to her; two weeks of holding her until she fell asleep in his
embrace…two weeks of trying to convince himself that she meant
nothing to him. Graeme cursed himself for a fool. This was not what
he had expected when he put his plan into action almost a month
ago. He was supposed to return her used and ashamed. The vampires
were supposed to have her with them as a living reminder that the
females they so protected served no better use than that of
whores.
    He stood and dressed in agitation. This
was a complication he had not anticipated. Feeling any tenderness
toward her did not mean that this so-called bond she had spoken
about existed. To believe so was to believe that his jealousy
stemmed from the possibility that maybe, he had fallen in love with
her.
    He snickered. To love a vampire – now
there was a thought! There was nothing lovable about her. Her
tongue was as sharp as his blade, she defied him whenever feminine
fancies took to her head, and she made it perfectly clear time and
time again that having him for a mate was like copulating with
one’s food. He smiled as he recalled the amused look in her eyes
when she had teasingly announced such. It had been everything but
hilarious then. A sense of humor she had. And a tender respect he
had not initially observed. She argued with him non-stop about the
ransom he demanded, and he had indulged her with patience simply
because he enjoyed her.
    Hesitating, he paused at the door and
took another glance back. She called him her mate so very often
now, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She spoke
about her brother and their outings to the river, where she was
more times than not disobedient when she was warned about getting
hurt while wading through the deep waters. He knew more about her
than he wanted to, and although the Were within him wanted to
reject her for simply being vampire, the man had already claimed
her.
    Making a hasty exit, he all but stomped
his way down the narrow hall. The new moon was a daunting two days
away. He had already issued orders to the scouts to keep an eye out
for trespassers. Since the perimeter of the stronghold had been
cleared a month earlier, the vampires had kept their distance.
Graeme was not fool enough to believe that their decision not to
embark onto his territory meant that they were in any way
subservient. He anticipated a reckoning.