A Hunter's Choice [The Hunters 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  “You’re in my head!” She tried to cover her ears with her hands. “Get out! Get out now!”

  “Iubită mea, please. Please let me explain.”

  He took another step toward her but she shook the fingers of one hand at him.

  “No closer.”

  He groaned, this was going so badly. Surely, the others had an easier time when they met their One.

  “Julie I have to explain things to you but I don’t want to yell them across the fire. Please can we meet in the middle?”

  * * * *

  She looked at him warily. She was just so confused. The man was gorgeous, tall. Around the six foot eight she had thought, and muscular. Those amazing green eyes seemed to see into her soul. Despite her fear, she felt very attracted to him, in fact her attraction to him was almost overwhelming her. She was having difficulty thinking sensibly of anything other than him.

  Crazy, really, he looked about thirty and she was forty-two. He held his hands out to her again. For a moment, she wondered what those hands would feel like running across her body, then she shook her head, remembering what had happened. She was wondering why the hell she was thinking about sex!

  “How do I know you won’t bite me again?” she asked warily.

  “I promise I won’t bite unless you want me to.”

  In that instant, Julie imagined his mouth on her breasts and she felt herself get hot thinking about him. She heard a snicker. Looking over, she saw Tomas was smothering a grin.

  Oh no, did he just know what she was thinking? She had to think of something else. Something that didn’t involve him biting. Damn, that is no good, now she was thinking about him biting her lips.

  He gave a guffaw.

  She tried to glare at him, tried to get her thoughts back on track. Damn, he was looking at her and she could see desire on his face, his lips partly open. Wow, imagine those lips! Bet they would taste amazing. Imagine them licking her body, she closed her eyes and thought about them running across the top of her legs and settling against her mound.

  He gave a slow, sensual laugh.

  Shit!

  “Get out of my head!”

  “I’m so sorry but your thoughts, they…I would…damn, they are pretty exciting.”

  The more Julie tried to think about something else, the more she thought about sex. In the end, she threw her hands up in disgust and moved closer toward him.

  “You make one move to bite me and I’ll…I’ll scream! Then I’ll hit you with this.” She shook the large flashlight at him.

  Hiding a grin, he agreed.

  “So tell me, you bit me, you had fangy teeth.” She sounded angry still. “What the fuck is going on?”

  He sighed. “This is going to take a while to explain.”

  “Guess what? I don’t plan on running through the forest in the dark.”

  “Good, I don’t feel like chasing you through the trees tonight, maybe another time.”

  For some reason that started her thinking of sex again. She gave a soft groan and shook her head resignedly.

  “Just tell me.”

  “How about you sit down?” He gestured to a rock that was close to the fire. “I’ll sit here.” He pointed to the ground nearby. “That way you can hit me with the torch if you feel the need.”

  He dropped onto the ground near the rock, Julie just glared down at him. He was just about to start explaining when both of them went still. Julie looked at him, fear in her eyes. She stepped toward Tomas.

  He held a finger to his mouth and quietly stood.

  Julie felt clammy. She felt like thousands of spiders were crawling all over her. She tried to brush them off. Suddenly she had the urge to walk off into the trees. She started to move but Tomas pushed her down onto her knees.

  “Ignore it. Listen to my voice and no other.”

  Tomas then walked away from the fire, toward the trees. Julie could “hear” him talking to her in her head but she could also hear someone calling to her, telling her she must come.

  “Julie, listen to me. Stay there beside the fire, please.”

  Suddenly a man appeared. He looked at Julie and then at Tomas. He beckoned to Julie. She stood, then went to move toward him. He looked at her, telling her that she loved him and wanted him. He was so handsome, so loving. He would protect her from Tomas.

  Tomas moved fast, in a heartbeat he was between her and the man.

  “No Tomas, go away!” She tried to push by him. She whined, “Let me pass.”

  Julie tried again to move past him to reach her man. Tomas leapt, he had a knife in his hand and Julie screamed.

  The man looked away from her, instead he had his eyes on Tomas.

  It was as if she had been blind and could now see. Instead of the handsome man, a gross skeleton-looking creature was standing near her. The stench from him was overwhelming and Julie fell to her knees retching. It looked even worse than something from a horror movie.

  Tomas lunged with his knife and caught the creature in its side. Tomas turned quickly and punched it in the face while driving his knife deep into its chest. The creature went down on its knees and Tomas slashed across its throat.

  He stepped back and raised one hand.

  All at once, there was lightning. He pointed his arm at the foul thing and a bolt of lightning hit it, disintegrating it into dust.

  Quickly, Tomas was at her side, holding her hair as she vomited. When she stopped, he lifted her in his arms and carried her to the tent, laying her on the sleeping bag.

  “What…What was that thing?” she stammered. “What did you do?”

  Julie started crying. It was if all her nightmares were coming to life.

  “It’s called a strigoi, or what you would call a vampire.”

  “Vampire? Vampire!” She shook her head in fear and sat up. “There are no such things as vampires.”

  Tomas crawled up alongside her and held her in his arms. It was testimony of her fear of the monster she had just seen that she allowed him to hold her and actually clung to him while she sobbed. His arms felt safe. Even though she knew he had bitten her, he didn’t scare her like the creature outside had.

  “Hush, Julie, I’m sorry, but there are vampires walking in this world. I told you I’m a Hunter, it is the strigoi that I hunt.”

  “I don’t understand.” She sounded lost, so forlorn. Her world had been turned upside-down in an instant.

  “Let me start from the beginning, but first I have to make sure there are no more around.”

  Julie looked even more frightened at his words.

  “More?”

  “You’ll be safe here, I promise. I’ll not be far away.”

  She tried to stop him from leaving, gripping his arms tight.

  “No! Don’t leave me!”

  “I promise I’ll only be a few minutes.”

  She tried to grab onto his leg to hold him back. He held her away from him and looked into her face.

  “Just a few minutes. I promise I’ll be back in just a few minutes.”

  Julie could read the truth in his eyes.

  “A few m-minutes?” She stuttered.

  “Yes. Stay in here.”

  He leaned forward, then kissed her lightly before she had a chance to protest and crawled out.

  “Tomas?”

  “I’m here. Just relax. I won’t be long.”

  Julie was still shaking but she ran her fingers across her lips where Tomas had kissed them.

  * * * *

  Tomas flew around the campsite, widening his circle until he was confident there were no other strigoi in the area.

  As he flew, he spoke with Michael.

  “Three strigoi within a hundred or so kilometres, something weird is going on, Michael.”

  “Be careful, especially with the woman. She’ll be like a beacon if there are any more around.”

  “Julie, her name is Julie! And I’ll be careful. See you tomorrow night.”

  He flew back to the campsite, changing j
ust outside of the clearing, then walked in. He crawled into the tent and was almost smothered as a sobbing Julie threw herself into his arms, still crying.

  “It’s all right, there are no more around, Julie.”

  Tomas took advantage of the fact she was more scared of the strigoi than him, and caressed her hair, holding her tight in his arms as they knelt, his mouth against her ear as he whispered to her. She clung to him. He felt her trembling and tried to settle them both in a more comfortable position. He kept his arms around her, kept murmuring, kept letting his breath caress her ear and neck. He felt himself grow hard with the closeness of her body. She smelt delicious.

  He knew it was wrong, but Tomas could not help himself. He began to feather kisses across her ear, down her neck, onto her cheek. Julie didn’t pull away, so he pressed his advantage and kissed the side of her mouth. She turned her head toward him and he kissed her lips.

  * * * *

  Julie was so relieved when Tomas returned. She had been terrified another of those…those monsters would come. She knew she was crazy, but when he crawled into the tent, she threw herself into his arms. He felt safe, he felt strong, and somehow she instinctively knew he would always protect her.

  Knowing she was shaking with fear, his nearness slowly calmed her. She could hear him speaking softly in her ear, and his breath was doing funny things to her stomach. He began to kiss lightly the side of her neck and she felt a flutter between her legs as his mouth reached her face, the side of her mouth.

  Turning her head toward him, he captured her lips. Julie could pull away but she wanted this as much as he obviously did. Julie closed her eyes, opened her mouth slightly, and it seemed it was all the invitation he needed.

  He slid his tongue across her teeth and her heart raced. Her arms reached around his neck instinctively and held him to her mouth. The kiss seemed endless, and she opened her eyes to see those gorgeous pools of green looking at her. It startled her, they seemed filled with love as they tore into her soul.

  What was she doing? This man had bitten her.

  “No!”

  She pulled away, a hand to her lips, running it back and forth as if to feel the imprint his lips had left.

  “Julie, please. I know this seems wrong but there’s so much I have to explain. Have to tell you.”

  “What are you?” she whispered, “You bit me, you fought that…that thing. What do you want from me?” She was sure she looked as confused as she felt. “Now you seduce me?”

  She shook her head and tried to get as far away from him as possible in the confines of the small tent.

  “What have you done to me?”

  Maybe he was inside her head, telling her to make love to him. No, she would feel him if he were. Julie felt ashamed as she realised she wanted him, she didn’t care what he was. She just wanted to feel his hands on her, feel his mouth. She was feeling obsessed with him.

  More tears began to drip from her eyes. This was so wrong.

  “No! Never wrong, Julie.”

  She looked up at him. “You’re doing it again. You’re in my head.”

  “I’m sorry, Julie, but your thoughts are very loud, I can’t help myself.”

  Julie looked at him in surprise. Her thoughts were loud to him? Well not any longer. She slammed down every barrier she could.

  He won’t be able to “hear” this!

  She began to think about what had happened, what he was. She thought he was some crazy person, maybe a different sort of monster. But no, he felt different, not evil like that thing. The dichotomy of the two was not lost on her.

  What was that thing?

  What is he?

  Nevertheless, whatever he was, he was gorgeous! Look at those strong hands, those lips. That kiss. Wow! Imagine what he could with those lips. His head between her legs while he licked her clit. His mouth on her breasts. His kisses all over her body. Their strange cramped positions trying to make love in the tent.

  Julie realised she wasn’t concentrating on blocking. Damn, I need to think about nothing, just blocking him.

  She glanced over at him thinking, ha, take that. No more rifling in my head, buddy!

  Then she looked carefully at Tomas, he had a look of sex on his face. Julie let out a gasp. He was looking at her with such desire, his mouth was parted and he was panting.

  “Fuck! You ‘heard’ all that, didn’t you?”

  “I’m especially intrigued by the position with the rucksack under your delightful bottom.”

  Julie groaned, and she felt her face redden.

  Tomas crawled over and pulled her into his arms again. She finally offered no resistance. Let’s face it, what was the use, he knew how much she wanted him.

  “Iubită, I want you just as much,” he whispered against her cheek. “I only read the things that are in the forefront of your mind.”

  “This is ridiculous,” Julie murmured into his chest, “First you wanted to eat me, now you want to make love to me.”

  She felt him laugh. “I don’t think I should answer that.”

  When Julie realised what she had said and how he had taken it, she blushed.

  “And I’m much older than you. How old are you? Twenty-five, thirty? I’m forty-two.”

  He gave a loud bellow as if this was the funniest thing he had ever heard. “Let’s not worry about how old I am. Let’s just say I’m old enough. You’re a very desirable woman, more than that, you are mine. You are my woman.”

  She pushed away again, “Whoa, hold on there! What’s this ‘mine’?”

  “I have to explain that to you as well.” His voice lowered huskily, “Now it’s a perfectly nice night. We can sit here and I can tell you all you want to know or…”

  Julie glanced up at his face. He was looking at her and had a very sexy grin. He pulled her back into his arms.

  “Or we can spend it making love."

  Chapter Four

  Julie just stared at him. She seemed surprised by what he had said. He knew she was considering his offer to talk but her body was telling her the second choice was the better option. He just hoped she would listen to her body.

  “I can’t believe I’m even considering this! I mean, here I was enjoying the solitude, then you stumble into my life and turn my entire world inside-out.”

  She shook her head but didn’t move from his arms.

  “This is crazy. Are you sure you haven’t put some spell on me to make me do what you want?”

  He laughed and said, “You have bewitched me, not the other way around.”

  She was silent and Tomas decided to press the issue. He lifted her face to him and lowered his lips to hers. She resisted a moment then melted into him.

  She clung to him as their kiss deepened, their tongues twisting together. Tomas ran his hand up her arm, brushing across her breast, and he felt her moan against his mouth. The images in her mind were turning him on. She had actually dropped all her barriers unknowingly and he could read all her thoughts.

  Foremost, she was worried that she was about to make love to a stranger, that he was so young. He had to smile at that.

  That she wouldn’t satisfy him. More laughing in his mind with that one.

  She was frightened that he was a monster and she wondered what she was getting herself into.

  However, utmost was the fact that she was so drawn to him. In fact, she felt powerless to resist him. She was terrified that what she was feeling was love for him and she couldn’t understand why, what was happening.

  Tomas pulled out of her head. He wanted to let her keep her secrets until she was ready to tell him herself. Instead, he concentrated on the wonderful feeling kissing her generated.

  He moved a hand under her shirt. Moving his hand forward, he cupped one beautiful full breast, her nipple already hardening. He rolled it between his finger and thumb.

  She was mewling softly in her throat, her tongue wrestling with his. He broke off their kiss, began kissing her neck, travelling lower until he could lif
t her shirt and take her sweet nipple into his mouth. He felt her hand on the back of his head, guiding him, holding him in place against her breast.

  He had the urge to sink his fangs into the soft creamy flesh so, before he lost control, he pushed her back against the sleeping bag, unzipped her jeans, pulling them down over her legs and throwing them behind him.

  He licked across her stomach, then her navel, before licking across her mound through her panties. Using one hand, he moved her panties aside to run his finger through her wetness. Looking up, he saw she was watching him with bright blue-grey eyes, her mouth slightly open. He slid his fingers into her panties and pulled them down. Her eyes widened as he bent his head to fulfil her imaginings.

  * * * *

  Julie couldn’t believe she was allowing this man, this stranger, to make love to her. However, if she were honest with herself, she’d wanted nothing else since the moment she’d discovered him. His kisses had set her on fire and now he was about to lick between her legs. She took a deep breath and held it as his head lowered.

  Holding in a moan, she felt his tongue run the length of her slit to settle on her clit. He sucked and nibbled on that hard point and Julie grabbed the sleeping bag with both hands, trying hard to hold back her climax.

  It was a losing battle.

  His tongue and teeth were doing wonderful things. Suddenly, she felt him push a finger into her hot, wet channel. It was enough to send her orgasm crashing through her body. She tried hard not to call his name aloud with little success.

  He continued to lick her, lapping all her juices as she continued to climax. When she finally stopped, she felt him moving up her body, suckling on each nipple before kissing her. She could taste her own sweetness on his lips as he pushed his tongue into her mouth.

  One hand was still between her legs. It was making circles in her hair, occasionally pulling it gently. It was driving her crazy, she wanted him to push it into her or do something with it. She must have groaned or else he dipped into her mind, because he suddenly thrust it into her.

  Julie wanted to see him fully naked. This morning she had left his undies on when she had cut his jeans off but now she wanted to see all of him revealed.