Daric's Mate (5 page)

Reject her. Do it. Reject her right fucking now, before you aren’t able to do it.

Daric watched his mate as she consumed one of the chocolate desserts from her own restaurant, nearly groaning as her tongue snaked out of her mouth to catch a drop of chocolate that had landed on her luscious lips instead of inside her mouth. Christ! He could think of a lot of things he could do with that mouth, places he was obsessed with having her tongue lick over, all of them located on his overheated, eager body.

Reject. Now.

He watched her eyes close with enjoyment, a look of pleasure on her face that made him envious, wishing it had been he who had put such a look on her beautiful face.

It’s been hours. Refuse her and get it over with.

Jerking his eyes away from her, he stared at the wall behind her, trying not to let his gaze stray back to Hannah, who was sitting in front of the fireplace, her face flushed and pink from the warmth of the mammoth fire he had started several hours ago.

He’d rescued his food order from her truck with a mental command, heating it to the appropriate temperature, trying to stuff food in his face in an effort to stop himself from nibbling on
her.
They had been talking for hours, and Daric believed she was finally convinced of the truth. He hadn’t held back, knowing time was short, and that she needed to know all of the facts.

Not if you’re going to reject her, asshole. Just do it.

He shook his head, his gaze straying back to her face.

Mine.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know that he needed to reject her, or even that he didn’t want a mate. Hannah deserved better. He had felt her emotions, relived her life experiences. Hell, he was an asshole, a prince who hadn’t really had any significant communication with a female in over a thousand years. He was a cantankerous, irritable, ancient bastard who didn’t know a thing about tenderness or the gentle nature of a female. What in the hell would he even do with a woman of Hannah’s kind nature?

Keep her. Brand her as mine. Keep her safe forever.

Daric’s cock pulsated at the thought of taking Hannah as his, making her moan with pleasure as he took her. Both of them were experiencing the mating compulsion, the need to join as one, his need, his desire, feeding hers. The response of her body was merely a small reaction in comparison to his raging desire, his need so strong that it was all he could do to stop himself from touching her. He had seated himself away from her, on the other side of fireplace, the massive pile of food between them. Not that the paltry distance would stop him from falling on her like a wild animal that needed its mate, but it did give him an instant to think about it. The problem was, his need would only get stronger. As a royal, he was given time to court a woman before the full mating force hit him. A week. Maybe a little more, maybe slightly less. Much depended on how connected he became to Hannah.

Fuck! If this is the prelude, I sure as hell don’t want the full experience. It sucks!

“So how does this rejection happen?” Hannah questioned in a hesitant voice, as she stared down at the glass of wine that she held cradled between her delicate hands.

Daric felt a tiny crack form in the heavy ice that encased his heart. Hannah looked so vulnerable, her hair a curtain now hiding her face as she continued to stare at her wine, swirling it around aimlessly. Goddamnit! He wanted to be the one to protect her, to make sure she was never hurt again. Her grief and loneliness beat at him, demanding he comfort her and make sure she was never alone again.

Don’t fool yourself. She also soothes your soul, fills the empty places inside of you. You covet her. You want her.

“I speak the ancient words and it will be so.” Rejection was pretty straightforward.

She looked up at him, her forest-green eyes piercing him. “Will I remember this after it’s over?”

Daric clenched his jaw, the thought of Hannah going about her normal life, not remembering who she belonged to, wasn’t sitting well with him. “No. Our ties will be broken and you won’t be attracted to me, won’t remember even meeting me.”
Fuck. That thought nearly killed him.

“If I meet you in the future, I’ll still find you attractive,” she mused, her brow wrinkling in thought.

“You’ll feel differently,” he answered her gruffly, irritated by that fact and not wanting to think about meeting her in the future. Right now, he could sense her longing, her desire. Although it drove him insane, made him want nothing more than to pleasure her until she was crying out his name in ecstasy, he knew she would feel differently after their ties were broken. And, dammit, it rankled.

“I was attracted to your voice when you called in your order. Something about you made me hot and bothered, even on the phone. Is that why? Because of the mate thing?” She tilted her head to one side, giving him a questioning look.

“No. Not then. I hadn’t acknowledged you as my mate.”

She shrugged. “Guess it was just your sexy voice that set my panties on fire.”

Daric took a healthy sip of his wine, nearly choking on it, as her comment registered. Over the last few hours of discussion between the two of them, Daric had quickly learned that Hannah wasn’t coy, saying whatever she was thinking. He didn’t respond, knowing if he thought about the sexy lingerie he’d paid the penalty to see, he’d have her pinned to the floor and out of those barely-there panties in seconds.

Thankfully she continued on another subject. “If we’re mates, why can’t I read your mind, see your thoughts?”

“I’m royal. It doesn’t happen naturally. I have to allow you access.” Thank God she wasn’t going to be his mate or he would
have
to allow her access, and his mind wasn’t exactly filled with rainbows and sunshine.
More like violent storms and eternal darkness.

“You said you were the last surviving royalty. Wouldn’t that make you King? And who’s the King of the other vampires?” she asked, her voice inquisitive, curious.

“The general population of vampires is regulated by a council of elders. Only the healers have a royal family.” He sighed before continuing, “Vampire healers are powerful, requiring someone more powerful than they are to keep them in check at times. There are those who would suffer the pain of backlash or penalty to do things that shouldn’t be done by a healer.”

“What if the royals are tempted to evil?”

It was an intelligent question, but it still irritated him, “There has been a Carvillius ruling for thousands of years. We are not tempted to evil.” He paused before he admitted, “We are ruled by ancient magic. There are some things that even royalty is not allowed to do. That’s why my father died. He was King. Should still be King. He died trying to save my brother, Nolan, who was dying of mating conflict. He drained all of his power into Nolan’s dying body in his grief and madness, an act that is not allowed without penalty of death.”

“Why?” she asked in a hushed voice.

“To keep the rulers in check. Transfer of power or magic is not allowed. I suppose because a ruler could steal power if he were capable, or give away power to another being in exchange for something he desired, making him less capable of ruling. It upsets the balance.”

“I don’t understand why your brother didn’t just reject his mate like you’re going to do,” Hannah said pensively, her finger tracing the patterns on her wine glass.

“He wanted her. He wasn’t capable. But she didn’t want him. It left him in mating conflict, one of the few things that can kill a royal vampire healer.” Even now, Daric didn’t understand why Nolan had wanted Maya, a whiny and more than a little insane human female. She had been beautiful, but there had been no character beneath the beauty.

“I’m sorry. You lost your brother and your father at the same time. That must have been awful for you.” Her eyes shining with tears, Hannah scooted around the food and crawled next to him, taking his hand in hers. “I lost my father, and the pain of that loss still eats me alive. I don’t know how you could bear it.”

Daric’s heart ached, feeling her loss more acutely than before. “I shouldn’t have spoken of it. It reminded you of your loss. You shouldn’t feel guilty, Hannah. It wasn’t your fault.”

She nodded her head. “Logically, I know that. But it’s difficult not having regrets.”

Ah, yes. Daric knew all about regrets. “I understand. I still wish I could have stopped my father from killing himself, from making his subjects suffer by changing the law of our people before he drained himself of power. My people have suffered for the last thousand years for something that he did in a moment of madness.”

Hannah squeezed his hand as she replied, “He was King. Was it even possible for you to stop him?”

“I don’t know. But I could have tried. I wasn’t there. I should have been there. I was studying the books of the ancients, trying to figure out if there was any way to save Nolan.” He hadn’t found anything, and his father and brother had died without him being present. “I went as soon as I heard Nolan’s cry of distress in my mind, but it was too late.” Daric had been greeted by a pile of ashes that had once been his father and brother, able to read the preceding events from their remains. They were images that he had never been able to forget, his father’s outrage as his son slipped away, his father’s mad act of changing the Book of the Vampire Healer so it was virtually impossible for any healer to find his mate, hoping it might reverse Nolan’s death. Then, realizing that his desperate attempt had failed, draining his life energy and magic into Nolan. Nolan had already been gone, so it was an act of suicide, although his father’s mind had been so twisted, he probably didn’t think of it that way.

“If your father was capable of changing the mating rules, I’m sure you couldn’t have stopped him, Daric.” Hannah crawled into Daric’s lap and rested her head against his chest, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I know he was grieving, but I don’t think I like him. He left you alone. I understand it was a horrible loss for him, and I don’t blame him for mourning, but he had another son to think about.”

If anything or anyone had ever felt as good as the warm, comforting woman in his arms, Daric didn’t remember it. He tightened his arms around her, sighing against her hair, losing himself in her softness. “Nolan was his whole world.”

Hannah tightened her arms around his neck. “What about you?”

Her tone was defensive, protective and indignant. Daric would have laughed at the thought that
she
was rising to
his
defense if it hadn’t touched him so deeply, made his heart ache with tenderness for the small, human female who reacted like a tigress. “I was a second-born prince. Nolan was the heir, the future King.”

“You were his son, dammit. It shouldn’t matter when you were born.” She pulled back to look at him. “Were you and Nolan close?”

He looked at his woman, so fierce, so angry on his behalf, and he felt the ice crack a little more. “Yes. I still miss him to this day. He was patient and kind. We were so different, but we were very close. He would have made a fine King.”

She laid her head back on his shoulder as she murmured, “You still haven’t explained the King thing.”

Unable to stop himself, Daric stroked her silky hair. “It isn’t complicated. I didn’t want the title. I can watch over my people without the title of King.”

“Yes. Obviously you can. You’ve watched over your people for a thousand years without it.” She shook her head against his chest. “Yikes. That sounds odd. Exactly how old are you?”

“I was only two hundred years old when my father died,” he muttered in amusement.

“Only? So you’re twelve hundred years old? Can a vampire that old even get it up anymore?” She laughed against his chest. “Do you still have your own teeth or do you need…like…denture fangs?”

Daric smiled against her hair, knowing he should be insulted by Hannah’s questioning of his manhood, but unable to do anything other than let her laughter surround him, filling him with a peace he hadn’t felt in…well…ever. He growled playfully and pulled her ass into his groin. “I’d have no problem satisfying my mate.”
And then some!
His cock was straining against his jeans, swelling impossibly large as Hannah’s delicious ass wiggled against it.

Mine!

“Hmmm…I guess I’ll have to take your word on that one since you’re refusing me,” she murmured in a sleepy voice.

At that moment, Daric wanted nothing more than to teleport them to his bedroom and show her all of the ways he could pleasure her, sate her until her body was limp and begging for mercy. His need for her was already becoming almost impossible to deny, growing stronger with every touch, every word, every bit of her sweetness that he lapped up like a starving man.

I need to speak the words. Release both of us. This is fucking torture.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to form the words to refuse Hannah, set her free, but they stuck in his throat, clogging him into silence, choking him like dry grains of sand in a sandstorm.

She’s my mate. Mine. I’m not giving her up. Never. I want her. I need her.

Cursing himself for being a selfish bastard, he kept trying, but the words wouldn’t come.

Fuck!

Hannah stirred in his arms and then settled back in with a feminine sigh, after finding a comfortable spot on his chest.