Scarlet Heat Read online

  So what was I going to do?

  “Uh…” I stepped back from him carefully and Victor let me go. There was a worried look in his eyes, as though he wanted to help me but didn’t know how.

  “Um…” He cleared his throat. “If…if you want to be alone, you could go to the bathroom. If you want to, you know, take a bath.”

  I took a deep breath. “We both know that won’t help. No amount of…of baths is going to help me with this, is it?”

  Reluctantly, he shook his head. “Afraid not.”

  “I know what I need,” I said, making myself look at him as I talked. “But I can’t…Victor, I just can’t go there. Not yet. Maybe not ever. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” he said quickly. I’m the one who’s sorry. This isn’t unusual in weres, you know—the minute a couple gets blood-bonded, the female goes into, uh…”

  “She goes into heat,” I said quietly, finishing the words he didn’t want to say.

  “Yeah,” he said gruffly. “Exactly. It helps cement their bond, brings them closer together and makes the commitment permanent. I just…” He shrugged helplessly. “I never thought it could happen to a vamp.”

  “Well, it is,” I said softly. “Now, what am I going to do about it?”

  He appeared unhappy. “I don’t know.”

  “What about just…just ignoring it?” The desire was growing even as I talked, my pulse raced and my pussy felt tender and swollen with need. My nipples were tight and I felt achy and unfulfilled all over. How could I possibly ignore this? I’ll try though, I thought grimly. If there’s no other way, I’ll damn well try.

  But Victor was shaking his head. “I’m sorry, Taylor, but that’s pretty damn dangerous. At least in weres. An unchecked heat…it’s not good. Leads to fever, delirium…some females have been known to do things they can’t remember later. Things they, uh…” He cleared his throat. “Really, really regret. And that’s if they live to do those things after trying to put it off for so long.”

  “So it’s fuck or die?” I demanded, suddenly feeling cornered.

  Victor winced. “Baby, please…”

  “I’m sorry.” I crossed my arms over my chest then jerked them away with a little hiss of pain. My nipples were incredibly sensitive now, as though my body was demanding I do something to help cure the raging fire building within me.

  “Don’t be sorry,” he said. “It’s scary, I know. Some of the younger girls in the pack…wait a minute.” He snapped his fingers.

  “What?” I gazed at him eagerly. “What is it?”

  “I’m such a damn idiot—don’t know why I didn’t think of it earlier. It’s just been so long since I’ve had a pack.” He took a breath. “Sometimes a female who’s too young to be bred goes into heat early. Usually she already has an intended mate, they’re just not together yet, not bonded.”

  “So what does she do?” I asked, feeling a faint tendril of hope.

  “She doesn’t get bred. But she still needs…” Victor appeared uncomfortable.

  “Go on…” I made a motion with my hand. “Finish.”

  He sighed. “Well, she still needs help from her mate—her intended mate, that is. His scent…his touch…sometimes just the compounds in his uh, body fluids can help.”

  “Fluids?” I said, seizing on it at once. “Do you think it would help if I fed on you?”

  Victor looked uncomfortable again. “That’s, uh, not exactly what I meant but we could try it.”

  “Come on!” I took him by the hand and led him back to the bedroom. We settled back on the bed together as though we’d done it a thousand times and he turned his head, offering his neck.

  “Go on, baby,” he murmured. “Drink.”

  I lay beside him and nuzzled close, my fangs aching to bite. It was true I was incredibly thirsty after my epic breakdown the night before but even as I sank my teeth into his exposed jugular, I had a feeling that I needed something else—something more.

  Sure enough, though his delicious blood satisfied my thirst, my body was still hungry when I was done. I licked his throat to seal the wound and pressed myself against him, my entire being begging for more.

  Drinking from him had made my problem worse—not better.

  I was throbbing with need, so swollen and hot between my thighs I couldn’t bear to close my legs. I pulled away from Victor with an effort and moaned as my tight nipples brushed his side, sending shivers of desire through me.

  “Taylor?” He looked at me, his nostrils flaring as he scented my need. “Are you okay? Because you smell…”

  “What?” I whispered, barely able to talk at all, I needed him so badly. “How do I smell?”

  “Hot,” he admitted, his voice dipping down to the wolf’s growl. He shifted uncomfortably on the bed and I saw the telltale bulge in the denim of his jeans. “I’m sorry, baby, but you smell fucking hot.”

  “I am,” I admitted softly. “I don’t think that helped. I think…I think it made it worse. Victor…what are we going to do?”

  He sighed. “Like I said, sometimes you can hold it off. Satisfy it some other way.”

  “With fluids,” I said. “Only, you weren’t talking about blood, were you?”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “What then?” I said, already knowing the answer.

  He frowned and glanced down at the bulge in his jeans. “Well, there’s the obvious thing but that’s not happening—not tonight.”

  I felt a strange mixture of relief and frustration. “Then what…”

  “Saliva. Licking.” He stared at me directly. “Sometimes that works.”

  “You mean you want to…to…” I shook my head. “No. No, I don’t…I can’t go there.”

  Victor closed his eyes briefly, as though he was thinking hard. Then he opened them and gazed at me.

  “You don’t have to.”

  “Then how…?”

  “Just get undressed. Or, well, put on one of my t-shirts and nothing else—like you wore the other night. And I’ll show you.”

  My heart was beating so hard it seemed to be shaking my entire body, but I nodded and slid off the bed.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  I changed in the closet, grabbing another one of his t-shirts from the basket. I could have taken a clean one from the stack on one of the shelves but I didn’t want to. Victor had worn the one I chose and his scent clung to it. Just as it had the night before, his warm, masculine aroma comforted me.

  I thought of how the witch, Gwendolyn, had said weres and vamps stink to each other as I slid out of my skirt and blouse and underwear and pulled the pale blue t-shirt down over my naked body. How could that possibly be true? I had never smelled anything or anyone that attracted me more than Victor’s scent. It made me feel safe and hot at the same time—a strange mixture but one I was willing to go with because I trusted him.

  I walked out into the bedroom to see that Victor had taken off his shirt and was leaning back against the carved oak headboard of the bed. He sucked in a breath when I came into view, his eyes moving slowly over my body.

  I felt myself flush all over but not entirely with embarrassment. I knew he could see the tight little points of my nipples, pressing against the thin material of his shirt. And now that I had my skirt and panties off, he could no doubt smell how hot and wet my pussy was.

  But I didn’t care. Or rather, I did care but only because I was glad he wanted me. I took a moment to savor that sensation—when was the last time I had been glad a man wanted me in his bed?

  It was so far back I honestly couldn’t remember.

  “C’mere, baby.” Victor’s voice was low and rough as he beckoned to me to join him. “It’s okay, I won’t hurt you.”

  “I know,” I said, feeling a rush of gratitude that it was true. I went to the bed and climbed on it, settling myself across from him on my knees. “Now what?”

  “Come a little closer.” He patted the spot right beside him and stayed where he was, let