Hunger Embraced (The Hunger Series) Read online

  “All right. Sleep now.”

  A hungry mewl drifted through my head, but I chose to ignore it.

  I drifted off with his scent in my nose, blood on my tongue, and shaft buried deep. In that moment, I was closer to him than I’d ever been to another person and I savored it.

  * * *

  When I woke up, he slept with one hand on my ass and the other tossed over his head. Light snores emitted from his mouth. I smiled as I scooted away and slipped out to the bathroom down the hall. I used a toothbrush and travel-size tube of toothpaste pilfered from the medicine cabinet. I couldn’t figure out if Daniel had a lot of guests or was just the most organized person on earth.

  After annihilating the death breath, I entered the shower and stood under the water until I was good and wrinkly.

  The kitchen was museum clean again. I made breakfast, amused by finding bread in an actual bread box.

  I gathered food and tea and carried them to the bedroom. He lay on his side, the sheet draped over his hip, leaving most of his taut ass exposed. I licked my lip, enjoying the view from the doorway.

  There was enough room for me to climb onto the edge of the bed with my knees and kneel behind him. I put one hand on his shoulder and the other on his hip, checking out the view provided by the strip of fabric across his groin. The line of blond hair from his bellybutton to the upper part of his groin and the first inch of his shaft were exposed.

  Hmm…maybe I should scrap the eggs and have something else for breakfast.

  I returned my gaze to his face and realized he was awake, watching me with a sleepy smile. “Morning, T.T.B. Want something to eat?”

  “Are you ever going to tell me what that means? Or am I left with nothing but my own conjecture?” He rolled over onto his back, and the sheet shifted down even more.

  I raised an eyebrow and stared at the intriguing tent forming. “I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject.”

  He caught me with one arm behind my back, and I toppled over onto his chest. “I really have no idea. No one has ever given me a nickname before.”

  “Really?” My thigh brushed his morning wood. “Not even Dan or Danny?”

  He shook his head and picked his head up off his pillow to give me a little kiss. It was sweet, the sort of thing I’d expect from a longtime lover. I smiled and kissed him back, licked his mouth in a slow swipe. I’m not the type of girl men keep around. This was a nice surprise.

  “How about you?” I shifted around until I lay cuddled up to his side with my head resting in the hollow of his neck and shoulder. He kissed the crown of my head. “Are you Miranda to everyone, or is there an inner circle or some such where familiarity lends itself to something softer?”

  “I had a nanny growing up. She called me Miri.” I threaded my fingers through his chest hair. “My friend Anna calls me M.”

  “Miri. It suits you.” He moved his head back until he could see my face and grinned.

  My legs turned to mush. I suppressed the idiotic urge to lean in, kiss him senseless, and pledge undying love. I really knew so little about him besides his white knight complex and ridiculous tendency to organization cubed. And that he was a great lay. I wasn’t even sure what type of vamp he was. I thought a Sucker, since he had bitten me and fed on my blood, but my father had had fangs too, and he was an Incubus.

  “Daniel, what kind of vampire are you?”

  “Blood drinker.” He blinked.

  I nodded and rolled over to retrieve the cups of tea from the floor. He sat up and smiled his thanks when he took one of the mugs. “Yesterday, you said something to me about a ‘fated couple.’ What did you mean by that?” I spoke the words to my beverage, suddenly afraid to meet his eyes. I had the stories my nanny had told me, but I wanted him to answer anyway.

  “Did your father not tell you anything about our race? About our myths and legends, our beliefs, the gods and goddesses, the structure of our courts?”

  I sighed and sipped. “I told you already, he only saw me once a year on my birthday, and the last time I saw him is the day…well, you know. So, no, he did not. And my nanny was human. She taught me everything I know about vampires, but it doesn’t extend much beyond the four main types and their feeding habits. Some things I’ve pieced together through trial and error. I attended public schools. I lived in a household of humans. I lived essentially as a normal kid.”

  I still didn’t understand why my father had done things the way he had. If he was trying to protect me from something, it hadn’t worked out so well. Sometimes I thought perhaps Phillipe was so old he had forgotten or never learned how to raise a child. All the humanity had been bled out of him so long ago he had no idea what to do with me. And my mother hadn’t been interested.

  “Your coven, your kind, can give and receive energy from sex. Biological offspring are called Chosen Children. It is a belief among our kind that if vampires please the gods they may be blessed with progeny. We cannot turn full-blood humans, unlike the movies. If we could, there would be many more vampires.” He said the bit about the gods with a slight smirk on his face, and it made me wonder if T.T.B. had a problem with religion in general or just the idea biology wasn’t responsible for creation, but a bunch of people hanging out in another realm were.

  “OK, that’s all very interesting. Hold this.” I passed my cup to him and scooted out of bed to get the food. “Here. Trade me.” I put one plate on his lap and took my tea back. “But I still don’t understand why that makes Mr. D.H.S.P. my king or my…whatever you called him.” I refused to say it out loud. Saying it would give it power and make it more real.

  “He is not. Not…”

  Daniel frowned, cocked his head as though listening for something. Had he heard the voice too? I gave him a “come on” gesture, and he cleared his throat.

  “Children are rare. Extremely rare. You were the first born to any coven in the last one hundred years.” He ate half a slice of bacon in one bite. “It is believed by some that Chosen Children are born to implement some great change, the catalyst of our world. They are protected, cherished, and treated with reverence.” The tip of his index finger dug into the soft underbelly of my chin, and I turned until we were face to face. “Do you give many people nicknames?”

  “No.” I crinkled my brown in confusion. All those frown lines I’d lost from feeding my Hunger had to be reappearing already.

  “I don’t like the idea of Adrian having one.” He released my chin.

  “Oh.” The eggs on my plate scooted from one side to the other, propelled by my fork. I didn’t know how to respond. “Uh, I’ll remember that.”

  The mattress shifted beneath me as he moved around. “Adrian was able to raise your Hunger. That would only happen with a mate. Our race has been in decline for a long time. Because you are a Chosen Childe of the Incubi, many think you are meant to bring us back to fertility.”

  My mouth hung open, food forgotten. First born in a hundred years? Bringing fertility, catalyst for change, a mate who was a prick, this was all too much. I really didn’t want Adrian for a mate. He was a dick. And how was I supposed to bring them back to fertility? I wasn’t sure I wanted to. They all seemed like parasites to me.

  “Next you’re going to tell me to pick the red pill or the white and call me Neo. This is ridiculous.” My eggs were getting cold, so I shoveled in a huge forkful and swallowed it before continuing. “So a really powerful vamp let the Hunger out of its box yesterday and made it sit up and beg. I think we’ve established I have no control whatsoever over the thing. If I’m so special and revered why have I been allowed to live alone for the past seven years with random vamps treating me like I’m nothing more than a rest stop on the turnpike?” I managed to control my temper, just barely, but I gripped my mug in a white-knuckled stranglehold.

  Daniel looked at me and shook his head before placing his tea on the bedside table. “I cannot speak for your father’s motivations or intentions. I think perhaps since the Hunger awoke in you it ha
s been seeking out your mate, so any vampire nearby who met some sort of metaphysical requirement was called to you so they could be tried. However, you have admitted that you do not feed. That alone may be your problem. If you fed, none would be called. But even that I cannot know for sure. There has not been one such as you in a very, very long time. Our histories from those years are largely lost.”

  “Great, so just what can you tell me? My father chose not to teach me anything useful, and now you come along and just add more questions. I know nothing about the politics involved in the running of a coven, but my ‘king’ told me I have to show up in three days where he wants to fulfill a contract he had with my father. But if my father is a king, aren’t I a princess or something? What if I don’t want to go to wherever it is with mystery man? Can I seek some kind of political asylum or am I a mail order bride because ‘it’s Fate’?”

  Daniel tried to take my hand, but I shirked away. I gulped my tea and scarfed both pieces of bacon. The look in his eyes when I’d rejected his touch made me feel like an ass. It wasn’t his fault. He’d only tried to help me, and maybe he did have feelings for me. I could try to ignore them, but I knew they were growing in me. Kindness without thought of something in return was something I had experienced very little of in my life.

  “When is the last time you contacted your coven?” He busied himself with eating.

  “I haven’t spoken to my father or mother since the night I left. Things didn’t end well.” Understatement. “I tried to call…yesterday, two days ago? But I couldn’t reach anyone at the mansion or at the house down the street where I grew up. It’s not my coven, by the way. I’m not a real vampire, I didn’t grow up there, and I certainly don’t feel any ties to anything there. I only tried to contact them after you wouldn’t leave my apartment and scared me with your pronouncements of ‘important things.’ Oh, and how is it we’re having a normal, well not normal, talking about sex demons and vampires isn’t normal, but why aren’t you just picking this stuff out of my head?”

  “I’m shielding against you. You are a guest in my home. It would be rude.” He reached out and snagged my hand before I could pull it away this time, placing a careful kiss on the back. I sighed like a besotted schoolgirl. He grinned, not letting go, and retrieved his tea with his free hand. “And I did promise last night not to do so anymore.”

  “Don’t fight fair do you?” If my voice shook, I’d never admit it. His eyes sparkled, his magic sending white streamers through his irises. They looked like fireworks in slow motion. When my stare shifted to his mouth he ran his tongue over his lower lip. Damn the man for reminding me of the way he kissed.

  I dropped my chin and peeked up at him from under my eyelashes. His chivalry and manners conflicted with the sexy, carnal being I knew simmered beneath the surface. He wasn’t real, no one was like this.

  “It grows wearying—trying to sort through all the surface thoughts a person has to get to the things I most want to know. Your face tells me so much, your expressions are so genuine, unguarded. I find I like watching them dance across your features.”

  My breath caught at the heat and need in his eyes. This was deeper, more than physical, and it almost choked me.

  “I have not been here for long, so I have yet to visit your father’s residence. I have been away for some time in another part of the country. I will contact his secretary to arrange a time to announce my presence. It will allow me to gather intelligence about the state of his kingdom and perhaps ascertain why no one has answered your calls.”

  “That reminds me. What are you doing with a house like this in his territory? Isn’t that unusual? And, you better hurry up because I’m pretty sure I’ve only got two days before I’m expected to report for duty with the other guy. Why do you have to announce your presence?”

  Daniel held his remaining piece of bacon out to me. “Eat this. You’re entirely too thin.”

  I cleared my throat and took a big bite. I didn’t think I was thin, but whatever. The gorgeous man wanted me to eat bacon, I’d eat bacon.

  “What?”

  “You are driving me to distraction.” His eyes began to glow and he looked away, focusing on the far wall.

  I swallowed. “Good to know.” The memory of his mouth on my throat and his blood-coated tongue caused my pussy to clench.

  T.T.B. surged over me. His plate clacked against mine, and he captured my face with both hands. He kissed me in a swell of possessive, anxious energy, grinding his teeth into my lips and shoving his hand under my shirt.

  When he broke away, we both panted. He rested his forehead against mine and met my eyes. “If you were mine, I would never use you the way Adrian did.”

  “I know.” I tucked his hand against my cheek and closed my eyes. Time to get back on track before things devolved into a sex extravaganza. He had information I needed.

  “It cannot happen again.” He took a steadying breath and licked my mouth. “Sex.”

  “Why?” A whine entered my voice, and I swallowed. “Why not? Adrian?”

  “No. There are…restrictions. Laws I must follow.” His fingers delved behind my ears and coaxed me in for a long sweet kiss, only retreating when I clutched at his back and plastered my body to his. “No, Miri. We cannot.”

  He used his superior strength to hold me at bay when I strained to reach him.

  I sucked in a deep breath to slow my heart. “It’s not fair, kissing a girl that way then telling her no more sex.” He swallowed and opened his mouth to speak, but I poked his chest to distract him. Nothing he said in that moment would be something I wanted to hear. “So, answer my questions. You tried to distract me with making out, but I asked you a question. What’s the deal with your apartment-condo thingie here and why do you have to announce yourself?”

  He stole another kiss and settled back down as though nothing had happened.

  “Phillipe and I are old acquaintances. Your father granted me permission to hold a residence in his kingdom many years ago. Even so, I have to announce myself because it is the proper protocol when intending on staying in a differing kingdom than the one you belong to for a time. If I were merely passing through in my travels, it would be the polite thing to do but not required. Kingdoms are won and held by power and control. It would be politically damaging for him to appear weak if I were here without letting him knowing my intentions and agreeing to some rules of conduct while I am in the area.”

  I finished my breakfast while he spoke and let the information rattle around my head. If what he said was true, that meant Adrian didn’t have my father’s consent to be in the area. Although there was that contract he mentioned… Maybe I could get lucky and Adrian was an interloper. I hoped so, because that may afford me some help from the coven. Otherwise, I ran the risk of being shanghaied.

  I hopped off the bed and wandered around looking for the cutoffs Daniel had peeled off me the night before. He watched me traverse the room, answering my questions about the courts and how they were structured. It was basically a monarchy ruled by the most powerful vamp in residence. Lower ranking vamps rarely challenged the ruler or their inner circle; they’d be hamburger in seconds.

  Each monarchy was its own little island with its own laws. The only hard and fast rule was when you were traveling: you either stopped in and asked for permission to stick around—which could be tricky because the monarch may decide to collect you—or you left a tribute gift and hurried on through. Even ambassadors weren’t completely safe.

  My anxiety built with each new snippet of information. My father and mother hadn’t answered my calls, and it made me think perhaps Phillipe had been overthrown. If someone else was in charge of the coven T.T.B. insisted I belonged to, I could be in really deep shit. Daniel had been here for a few days and hadn’t been accosted. That added to my suspicions that he was considered pretty powerful among other vampires or had huge balls. He didn’t seem crazy.

  I was really only concerned with keeping myself from being kept like
a circus freak and being able to kill vampires if I had to. I’d taken a basic self-defense course a few years ago, but I wasn’t stupid. The best way to stay out of trouble was to stay far away from it. Vampires are really, really strong. Particularly when they’ve been well fed. I didn’t stand a chance against one with nothing but a knee to the groin and strike to the face. They’d stand there and laugh if I even managed to land a blow.

  I finally found the cutoffs folded up with my bra sitting on top of them on an armchair in the corner. I whipped the T-shirt off to put on my bra but paused when I saw Daniel watching, enjoying the way his gaze roved over my body.

  Unfortunately, I had to get him to focus. “T.T.B., what do you know about fighting?”

  He shook his head, and his eyebrows climbed toward his hairline. Being only human strong, I needed an advantage in combat.

  His hand obscured his tattoo when he scrubbed his palm over his chest. “I can handle a sword, although they’ve fallen out of favor since the invention of guns. And I’m decent at hand to hand. There are other weapons of course, knives and such. But the older vampires are so fast it is difficult to hit them with a throwing weapon, and it just doesn’t seem sporting to use them against the younger ones.”

  I slid my bra straps over my arms and stretched to fasten the clasp in the back. “Sporting? You think fighting—maybe getting killed—is sporting? What? Have you been alive so long things have just gotten damned boring?” The underwire dug into the bottom of my boobs so I reached into the cup and adjusted the girls. Ah. So much better.

  When I gave him my attention again he leveled a look at me. I flinched. Perhaps he had. I cleared my throat and turned the conversation back to safer topics that wouldn’t leave him depressed and me wondering why I had to put my foot in my mouth so often. Daniel rolled off the bed and crossed the room to his dresser.

  “I’m sorry. I think sometimes I’ve forgotten how to have a normal conversation.” Crap, I sucked at apologizing.

  He shrugged in response. “Don’t worry about it.”