Vampire: A Dark Protectors/Rebels Novella by Rebecca Zanetti (love letters to the dead .txt) 📕

a chance I wouldn’t want to break free. What’s the danger to you, Raine?”

“You could kill me,” he said simply.

She sucked in a breath. “Excuse me?”

“If you refused your blood, I’d die. While I might control your body, you’d control my very life.”

“I’d never do that,” she protested. “Hypothetically to all of this, though.”

His smile was tender. “I know. However, if you were captured and kept from me, I’d die. Mating me puts an even bigger bounty on your head than would running from the Kurjans, because we have enemies you can’t imagine.”

Something in his tone alerted her. “You’ve seen it happen.”

“Yes. More than once. It ended up being torture for both mates, and both eventually died. A horrible death. Our enemies are worse than the Kurjans, and the second I mate you, they’re your enemies as well. Your life would be confined to being next to me no matter what, and while you think that’s easy, you’re far more independent than you realize.”

She already knew that. So she’d be giving up this life for one of danger…but it was her choice. “It isn’t fair for you to make that choice for me.”

He shook his head. “I can keep you safe from the Kurjans and get you a new identity. I can’t risk a prolonged and tortuous death for you.”

She needed more wine. “Would you risk it for you?”

One of his dark eyebrows rose. “In a heartbeat.”

“Then it’s my decision, right?” What in the hell was she saying? This was crazy. The entire world had turned upside down in one day. How was it even possible?

“No. It’s mine.”

There he went again. She leaned toward him. “Do you have fangs?”

“Yes.” He let them drop, and they were sharply deadly.

Wow. She watched as he retracted them. “That’s incredible. If we mated, would I get fangs?”

He shook his head. “No.”

She sat back, her mind reeling. “Wait a minute. Is Tabi an immortal?” The woman had never seemed quite human, actually.

Raine stood. “Tabi is a demoness, and Noah Siosal is a vampire-demon hybrid. Noah mated Abby, and Tabi mated Evan and saved his life. He’s an anomaly that we can’t expose as well. It was thought that enhanced human males had died out.”

Mariana stood, her brain nicely mellow from the wine. “I need to think about all of this and get some sleep.”

“In the morning, we’re getting you out of here,” Raine said, no give on his sharp face.

Mariana walked right at him and stopped an inch away. “Maybe. Unless I decide to mate you.” She’d felt right with him from the beginning, and that had to mean something. So she lifted up on her tiptoes and kissed him.

Hard.

Chapter 14

Raine tossed and turned in the guest bed as the rain gentled outside, barely tapping against the window. He made plans for the next day and tried to decide the safest place for Mariana to relocate. The brand on his palm burned hotter than ever with her just in the next room. He’d told her everything, and she’d needed to sleep.

That was fine, but in the morning, she’d do as he said. While his time was limited, he’d find her safety before he left.

The door to the bedroom opened and outlined her sweet body.

He sat up and let the blankets fall to his waist. So much for protecting her. He hadn’t even heard she was up, such was his preoccupation with her safety. “Mariana?” He listened to the world around them and could find no threats.

She audibly swallowed and walked on bare feet to the side of the bed. She wore a short nightie that appeared white in the soft light coming from the kitchen. Her nipples were hard beneath the silk. “Yes.”

His heart started thundering. “What are you doing here?” He clenched the bedcovers to keep from reaching for her.

“I’m done thinking.” She lifted the covers off him and then set a knee on the mattress before sliding her leg over to straddle his nude body. “You said you loved me.”

“I do.” His voice sounded desperate and his vocal cords ripped.

She placed her soft hands on his chest while her heated core was right on his aching cock. Only the very thin silky layer of her panties kept them apart. “I never believed in love at first sight until you. That first night you walked into the anger management group, I knew my life had changed. But I figured it was just me.”

The marking on his palm cut deep, and he bit his lip to keep from growling. Her scent surrounded him, filling his head. His heart thumped hard, already seeking hers to find the familiar rhythm. “It wasn’t just you.”

“I trust you.” She leaned over and kissed his neck.

He couldn’t breathe. “You shouldn’t.”

Her lips wandered up to his jawline. “Why not?” she breathed.

He reached for her hair, tangled his fingers, and pulled her head back. The noise she made was not one of protest, and she pressed harder down on him. “I explained the danger you’d be in. Every day. Forever.” He couldn’t think with her soft body so close.

“You explained very well.” She couldn’t move her head, but she curled her fingernails into his pecs. “I’m in danger now. Staying human keeps me in danger, too. The danger I choose is with you.”

Oh, God. It was more than he could’ve ever hoped. Once he’d told her the truth, he’d figured she’d do the smart and safe thing and stay away from him. “I can make you safe for your life.”

“I want more than my life.” Since he still held her head, she wiggled her soft butt against his thighs.

Fire lanced to his balls. He couldn’t keep the groan quiet this time. The female was going to kill him. “Stop playing. We need to talk.”

“Who’s playing?” She ground down on him, and he was lost.

He clenched her hip and rolled them over, settling between her thighs and keeping his grip on her hair. He lifted up on one elbow so