Chapter 10
“I knew you were keeping something from me,” Micah growled. “Now, what else are you hiding?”
Alicia glanced at the floor trying to hide the angry tears that threatened to betray her, “Nothing. At least nothing I plan on telling you… now or ever.”
“Alicia,” Micah growled.
Her eyes snapped up to meet his. “Don’t use that tone of voice with me, Micah Wilder. You’re not my daddy and even if you were, I’m eighteen and can run my own life from here. I don’t need a father figure!” she yelled, trying to get her point across.
“Oh, I think I know what you needed!” Micah yelled back reaching over and ripping her covers off her bed. “Who did you sleep with?”
“How do you know I slept with anybody?” Alicia was a little more than shocked over his reaction. He was acting like a jealous lover.
“I know because it takes HEAT three months to go away! Are you going to lie to me and say you’re magically different from every other female shifter?” his eyes narrowed on her neck. In two quick strides, he had her hair pushed to the side. “That’s all right, you don’t have to tell me because I already know,” he slid his thumb over the small scars. “You promised you wouldn’t have sex with Damon. Did he put you under his thrall like Michael threatened to do me downstairs?”
“No!” she wrapped her fingers around the crystal nestled between her breasts. “I have a charm that keeps me from being compelled. It wasn’t Damon,” she knocked her brother’s hand away. “I could never like Damon like that.” She glowered, “And yes, I had help getting rid of the HEAT, and my virginity if you must know.”
Micah sat down hard on the mattress still holding the edge of the cover in his fisted hand. “Was it Titus?” he couldn’t help the sadness that was now creeping into his voice.
“Why? So you can march downstairs and kill my lover? Even if it was him, I don’t think I’d tell you.” She sighed when he looked up at her with miserable eyes. Sitting on the mattress beside him she slipped her arm around his waist and gave him a real hug.
“Look, you’ve been my daddy, brother, teacher, friend, and even my childhood crush until now.” She hugged him a little tighter, burying her face in his neck so she wouldn’t have to look at him, “But there are some things you just can’t be.”
Micah wrapped his arms around her and laid his cheek against her silky blonde hair. She was right and they both knew it, “A werewolf huh?”
“Yeah,” Alicia smiled as she pictured one, then realizing her imaginary stud looked just like Damon, she changed his coloring, “A big, blonde haired and blue-eyed…”
“Are you sure it wasn’t Titus? Because that’s who you’re describing.” Micah pushed her far enough away so he could search her face.
“No,” Alicia said honestly, “and thank god, because Titus probably would have bit me instead of thanking me for a good time and not even asking my name.” She shrugged when Micah’s frown darkened. “I warned the guy that it wasn’t for keeps.”
Micah rubbed the spot right between his eyes with his palm, “No more details. Please, no more details. What am I going to do with you?” he shook his head and stood up, “Don’t answer that. At least you’re not a monster.” He glanced back down at her neck, “How did you get that mark? Because the way it healed looks awfully like a mating mark.”
Alicia clamped her hand over the mark feeling a slight panic coming on. “What do you mean mating mark? I wasn’t making love when I got this. I was hmm… being attacked.” She swallowed wondering if it wasn’t close enough to the truth.
“The one that bit you, is he dead?” Micah asked curiously. When Alicia nodded slowly he shrugged, “Then it doesn’t matter.”
Alicia shook her head and flipped her hair around to cover the mark, “They’re probably waiting for you downstairs. You had better go before they come to check and see if I’m still alive.” She gave him a small smile when he leaned forward and kissed her forehead.
“On one condition,” Micah tapped her under the chin as was his habit, “next time you find yourself in a place you shouldn’t be… how about calling your brother?”
Alicia’s smile widened then she laughed knowing everything was going to be all right, “Okay, I promise.”
Micah looked over at the vanity that had been in the corner of his vision the whole time, “I recognize it. Last time I saw her, she was sitting in this chair holding you… whispering to you about how much you would one day look like her.” He smiled sadly as he ran his fingers over Alicia’s brush and bottles of perfume that were arranged much like their mother had arranged hers. He had loved his mother… but he loved Alicia so much more.
He turned and opened the door then paused, “I do love you… I always have.” He closed the door softly behind him.
Alicia’s lips parted in wonder. She had never thought she looked like their mother because in the photographs, their mother looked like a princess… least she’d always thought so. She sat down in the vanity chair looking into the mirror wondering what her mother was thinking when she’d been sitting in front of it. Picking up the brush, she started brushing her hair, trying to picture her doing the same.
Damon had been leaning against the wall just outside her balcony door listening to everything she’d told her brother. He stared down at the lamp post at the end of the driveway until it shattered. Within seconds every street lamp within seeing distance quietly shattered sending shards of glass to rain down on the ground below.
So she was using a spell to keep her from being compelled by him… and she’d been touching the necklace when she’d said it. Let her keep the damn necklace. It just confirmed that he would have to claim her the hard way.
Pushing away from the wall he turned, standing inches from her glass door. It took a lot of control not to shatter it while he watched her calmly brush her glorious hair. She’d told Micah that she could never like him that way, that she’d chosen a werewolf… one that suspiciously looked like the man down stairs. Was that what she really wanted? Did she need someone who didn’t even care enough to even ask her name?
Alicia caught Damon’s reflection in the vanity mirror and their eyes locked… his almost glowing with amethyst fire. Had he been there the whole time? Listening to everything she’d said to Micah? She swallowed nervously when Damon came into the room and closed the door behind him. Her heart stopped then kicked hard against her chest as it started back up with a faster rhythm.
Setting the brush down, Alicia rose from the chair and turned around to face him. “What are you doing in my room, Damon?”
“Would you rather it be your big, blonde-haired, blue-eyed stud in your room?” Damon asked calmly as he stepped over and picked up the blanket Micah had ripped off her bed. Her brother dearest worried him at times.
“What would you have had me tell him, the truth?” Alicia’s tone was borderline sarcastic. She hated the feeling of the butterflies that had suddenly started fighting in her stomach.
“Maybe you did tell him the truth,” Damon tossed the blanket on the bed and stopped within inches of her. “Is it Titus you were thinking about while I was inside you?’
“Be nice, Damon, “Alicia threatened.
Damon reached out and grabbed her shoulder jerking her closer, “Nice? When have I ever cared about being nice?”
Alicia cringed away from him becoming aroused and frightened at the same time.
“Come on, you weren’t scared of me a couple hours ago.” Damon whispered darkly, “If it was wolf-boy you were thinking about… then I owe him a huge thank you.”
The sound of the smack reverberated throughout the bedroom and Damon released her but didn’t back up, letting her do it instead. “That never happened, remember?” Alicia growled as her breathing became more rapid.
“Oh I remember… every detail. Would you like me to remind you?” This time he grabbed her wrists before she could hit him and swept her feet out from under her. He straddled her legs as he lowered her to the bed.
The second his lips closed on hers Alicia started fighting. Not because she didn’t want Damon to kiss her, but because she knew she did want it and that’s what was scaring her to death. He was so much stronger than her, and she liked the way he dominated her. She tried raising her wrists off the mattress but he just pressed them deeper into the softness.
He wasn’t hurting her. The fingers locked around her wrists weren’t squeezing… just holding while she struggled. His tongue ran across her lips so seductively it made her gasp for air, which he quickly took advantage of and deepened the kiss. His hips rolled forward with the same rhythm of the kiss and she felt his hardness press against her thigh. She remembered the feel of him coming into her inch by thick inch.
She flinched, bowing her hips upward against the hardness of him, moaning shamefully because she couldn’t stop the sound from escaping.
Damon moved her hands until he could hold both of them securely in one of his. Sliding his free hand down her arm in a dangerously soft caress, he slid it across the flat planes of her stomach before dipping down to the hem of her dress. Coming back up under it, he slid his hand between her legs, gripping hard. He pressed his fingers against her core, feeling the moist heat through the cotton panties she was wearing.
Alicia felt like she was losing her mind as one of her feet found a foothold on the bedrail, giving her the leverage she needed to lift her hips off the mattress, spreading her legs as wide as his would allow. She was past fighting. She sucked his tongue into her mouth and rocked against his hand with a sultry moan.
Damon smiled into the kiss when he heard the distant movements downstairs. Pulling her up with him, he released her wrists but kept the seductive movements of his fingers going when she wrapped those arms and legs around him.
He purposely walked over and clicked her bedroom light off, locking her door before he turned and took them out of her room and into the night air of the balcony. With all the lights he’d busted with his anger, it was dark except for the light that slipped across the yard under them from the front porch. Grabbing her thighs, he lifted her off him and turned her around, pulling her back against him as he slid his hand between her legs from the front this time.
Alicia gripped the stone railing when Damon pushed her panties out of the way. She knew they were in front of his room… not hers, and since the stone railing was solid instead of barred, she knew anyone looking on would not see what he was doing. She leaned forward and sucked in the cold air when Damon pushed the back of her dress up and she felt the smooth head of that thickness slip between her lips.
Damon leaned over her and entered her in one long, drawn-out push. Putting his hands over hers on the railing, he wanted to make sure they stayed there when the door underneath them opened. He felt Alicia tense up and smelled her fear.
Licking at her earlobe he whispered, “Shhh, I have the darkness pulled around us. As long as you don’t make a sound, they will never see us.”
Alicia held her breath feeling Damon slide out and thrust back in harder this time. He flatted one of his hands on hers, gripping it and bringing it between her legs with his hand. Hearing voices under them, she tried to take shallow breaths when he forced her hand to feel him thrusting in and out of her then moved her now slick finger to her bundle of nerves just above where he was driving himself into her.
Damon placed two of her fingers over her sweet spot and moved it side to side in hard, fast strokes, wrapping his other arm around her waist when her knees almost buckled. When she tried to let go of the railing, he put her hand back where he had it and pushed her cheek so that she was looking out at the yard when her brother and Titus came into view still walking slow and talking.
“They could never make you feel as alive as you feel right now,” Damon whispered then closed his eyes in ecstasy when he felt her muscles sucking at him from the inside and the warmth of her come surround him. “This isn’t heat and I’m the only one that can make you feel it.”
Alicia felt herself coming and knew another one was building right behind it. She bit her bottom lip hard to ward off the scream trying to tear its way out of her, and tasted blood. It tasted good. She wished with everything in her that she was at Damon’s penthouse… not here.
Her eyes widened when Titus walked toward his jeep and her brother looked up at her balcony only a couple feet beside them. He took a step forward like he was going to come back in the house then shook his head and started toward his motorcycle. Once he was sitting on it with his helmet on he looked back up and Alicia couldn’t tell if he was looking at her this time.
Just as she tensed up, Damon increased his tempo to move their fingers across her little nub as he pushed as deep and as hard as he could get. He felt her muscles pulse around him and this time he joined her as he shot his hot seed deep within her to the pounding rhythm of both their heartbeats.
Alicia cried out as softy as she could just as Micah cranked his motorcycle. He revved the engine several times before pulling away. She felt Damon slide out of her and she felt the warm trickle of what they’d just done slide between her thighs. Damon let go of her hand but she didn’t turn around. She could still feel pulsations spiraling downward and she removed her hand to grip the railing with both.
Several minutes later she turned around finding Damon no longer there. Alicia walked into her own room and closed the door just as someone knocked. Her gaze jerked toward the door and she froze.
“Alicia, may I come in?” Michael asked softly. He’d been worried about her when she didn’t follower brother back downstairs. What really bothered him was the fact that Damon hadn’t returned either.
“Michael,” Alicia leaned against the still locked door, “Can it wait… please? I’m tired. We’ll talk in the morning, okay?”
Michael reached for the door knob but stopped a fraction from it. “You’re sure?” he asked hesitantly, not trusting the odd sound in her voice. He needed to go to Moon Dance where everyone had planned to meet and pair up to track Misery but he didn’t want to leave without checking on her.
“Yes,” Alicia whispered.
When she heard his footsteps retreat she slid down the door to sit in the floor. Damon was right… no one would ever make her feel the way he did and she knew why. She was in love with Damon and the mating mark was proof of their ill-fated connection. Her body had known it before she had. Damon was the reason she’d gone into heat.
She swiped at the tear that made its way down her cheek. This wasn’t fair. He was the one she’d promised to stay away from. She’d fought her attraction to Damon, but no matter what she’d done he was always there… always making her see him… want him to the point of making love within seeing distance of Micah. In many ways, Damon was the evil most of them thought Kane was before they got to know them. He was also very kind… though he tried to hide it and did a damn good job of it most of the time.
She needed a shower but she’d told Michael she was going to bed. If she came out of her room now he would hear her. The longer she sat there the more awake she became.
She hadn’t slept since leaving Damon's early this morning. And then she’d only had maybe three hours of sleep… if that. She should at least be tired by now, and mentally she was… but physically? She had enough adrenalin running through her to last days. Come to think of it… for the last week she had barely slept.
Her eyes widened and she stood up, licking her lip where she’d bit it. Why had she liked the flavor of her own blood? Had Damon turned her into one of his monsters already? Michael and Kane didn’t have mates. Was it because they were incapable of having a mate without turning them into monsters? Kane had bit someone and now the city was full of monsters. Kane had also had to kill the one he’d bit.
Alicia shivered as cold chills raced across her. “No,” she whispered desperately and turned to look out the glass door. She needed to get out of here and run free for a while. That’s what she’d always done when she was confused. Walking over to her dresser, she pulled out the hand-made bag with the elastic strap that Micah had given her for her sixteenth birth day. It was made with fake fur the same color as her real fur.
She quickly put a couple articles of dark clothing in it and her cell phone then stripped. Reaching up, she unfastened her necklace and slipped it into the inner pocket for safe keeping. Pulling the elastic band around her waist, she opened the balcony door and stepped from human to cougar form.
In one leap she was over the railing without even touching it and landing softly on the other side.
Michael knocked on Damon's bedroom door then opened it finding him lying on his bed with his eyes wide open. “Damon, we need your help tonight. Can we count on you?” he stepped back from the doorway when Damon moved faster then he’d expected.
“Sure, I need something to kill,” Damon said, meaning every word.
