Anguished Lover
Caveat Emptor, Book 4
by Zenobia Renquist
Changeling Press
eBook ISBN: 978-1-60521-674-4
To save their love, Sicily may have to sacrifice her life.
Sicily has volunteered to put herself on the front lines in the vampires’ fight against the mages. Lamon has no choice but to go with her to keep her safe. When the worst happens, Sicily has to find out just what she’s willing to sacrifice to save the lives of her lover and her friends.
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Chapter One
Sicily ran her hand over the tall end table situated next to her front door. She had picked out the three-legged, faux cherry wood piece because it matched her living room set. It had been in her house for the last five years, and yet she felt as though she were touching it for the very first time.
Everything around her felt familiar. At the same time, it all seemed like it didn’t belong to her. It was a disconcerting feeling she could only attribute to having been away from home for nearly three months. It felt more like an entire lifetime since so much had happened.
It had all started with Sicily’s best friend, Ryver, who had decided to purchase a vampire for home security. The man ended up breaking his bonds of servitude and whisking Ryver away to vampire territory. Meanwhile, those left behind, namely Sicily, thought Ryver had been killed like so many other owners of vampires who had gone rogue.
Fear of Ryver being dead was put to rest when Ryver contacted Sicily asking for help freeing Theron, Ryver’s vampire lover, from his magical restraints. That put Sicily in the path of mages who wanted Theron dead and had decided to use Sicily to do it. They put her under a puppet spell that Sicily had yet to break.
A small smile curved Sicily’s lips, and she glanced over her shoulder at Lamon, Theron’s second-in-command and her lover. Lamon was over six feet of bronze Thai goodness with straight black hair that fell to the middle of his well-defined back. He normally looked stern and imposing, but she had seen that chiseled visage crumble into one of passion.
She and Lamon had spent two glorious weeks trapped in a cabin with only each other as company. A wonderful two weeks filled with explosive sex the likes of which Sicily had never felt before, and she’d had her fair share of lovers.
“Stop it,” Lamon whispered against her neck as he circled his arms around her waist and pulled her back against his strong chest.
She said in a low, coy voice, “I’m not doing anything.”
He drew his nose up the curve of her neck and then licked her pulse point. “You are thinking naughty thoughts. Your body is radiating the smell of your lust around the house and distracting us from our task.”
Sicily peeked around Lamon at the five other people who had come home with her. Vampires from Theron’s own personal army. Each of the men ranked amongst the strongest magic users of Theron’s people, with Lamon as the most powerful of them all. They had to be. Theron had charged them with the task of capturing the mages who had used Sicily as an unwilling pawn in the plot to destroy Theron in his home.
The five men concentrated on separate points around the house. They were doing something magical that Sicily didn’t understand, but which amounted to a capture spell meant to trap the mages when they sensed Sicily’s return to her home and came to investigate.
None of the men paid the least bit of attention to Sicily. She shifted her hips side to side, rubbing against the bulge that was pressed against her ass. “The only person I’m distracting is you.”
“I’m the only one that matters.” Lamon cupped her breasts and rolled his fingers, massaging her D-cups through her shirt.
A tingling ache started in her pussy. “We just got here, and you’re already acting like this.” She scolded him lightly because she wanted him as much as he wanted her. The dampness of her panties was proof.
“Which way?”
She pointed to the door at the end of the hallway. Her bedroom.
Lamon lifted her against his chest and carried her there in the time it took her to blink. He kicked the door closed before walking her to the bed.
She asked as he laid her down, “What about the others?”
“Ignore them.” Lamon knelt over her.
“They’ll hear us.”
“I don’t care. In few moments, neither will you.” He made a gesture, and their clothing disappeared. Lamon looked over her body with a hungry gaze.
Sicily smiled up at him as she drew her fingers over one nipple. She asked in a breathy voice, “Not sure where to start?” She shifted so her thigh rubbed against Lamon’s hard shaft. “It’s always best to start slow with a big meal so you can enjoy it fully until the last bite.”
At a size eighteen, Sicily was a big meal, though she liked to think of herself as comfortable. She’d stopped fighting with her body back in college when a stint as a plus-sized model had left her with a better appreciation for her ample curves.
From the way Lamon buried one hand in her spiral-curled, shoulder-length black hair and held her as he lowered his mouth to hers, she knew he enjoyed her curves as well. She opened her mouth and ran her tongue over Lamon’s as it invaded her mouth.
She keened in the back of her throat when Lamon trailed his free hand between her legs. His touch was light as he caressed the insides of her thighs. She didn’t want him teasing her, though. She reached between their bodies and grasped his hard dick, which twitched in her hands. Smiling against Lamon’s lips at his grunt of satisfaction, Sicily moved her hand up and down his length in a firm grip.
Lamon pulled away from the kiss and said, “This is not slow.”
“Since when do you do what’s best for you?”
“You’re right.” He moved his hand to her pussy and ran the pad of one finger over and over her clit as the other fingers massaged her lower lips. He returned his mouth to hers as he moved his fingers faster.
He had her squirming and panting against his mouth in a matter of moments. Sicily tried to concentrate on her hand and giving Lamon as much pleasure as he was giving her, but thinking was taking a far second to feeling. She lost the battle between mind and body when Lamon moved his lips to one of her nipples.
He squeezed her breast with his free hand and nipped at her nipple. She felt his fangs graze over her skin as he alternated between sucking her nipple and then lapping at it with his tongue. She arched her back off of the bed when he flicked the tip of his tongue over her nipple.
Even though she tried to hold it back, Sicily orgasmed with a high-pitched keen of pleasure. Lamon continued teasing her clit and switched his mouth to her other nipple. Sicily rolled her hips against his hand while she curved one leg over his hip.
Lamon moved the hand at her breasts down her side so he could scoop her leg onto his arm. He leaned down as he eased her leg to his shoulder and then straightened once more. With one of her legs beneath him and the other draped over his shoulder, Lamon spread her pussy lips and thrust his dick forward.
Sicily cooed at the intrusion. She had her hips moving, sliding her body up and down Lamon’s length, before he had fully entered her.
Lamon chuckled. “Eager, aren’t you?”
She nodded as she bit her lip. She had to hold back a scream of pleasure when Lamon resumed rubbing her clit, causing her to move her hips even faster. Panting, moaning, and crying out at the ecstasy of having Lamon moving his hard dick to the depths of her pussy soon made it hard for Sicily to breathe.
As though sensing this, Lamon slowed his movements and shifted his hands to her breasts, where he teased her nipples with his thumbs. Sicily ran her hands up and then down Lamon’s arms until she cupped his hands to her breasts.
He grinned down at her, showing his fangs, as he thrust his dick forward as far as it would go. Lamon ground his hips against hers, pushing deeper.
Sicily threw back her head and yelled, “Oh, yes! There! Right there!” He was hitting that spot that had her whole body singing. She pushed her hips upward even as she tried to pull away. She wanted the little bit more that would send her into the explosive orgasm she knew was coming, but she also wanted the sensation to last longer.
Lamon hunched forward. He pulled one of his hands free so he could cup her ass as he lowered his mouth to the inside of her thigh. He licked her before sinking his fangs into her.
The scream of pleasure that left Sicily’s mouth had to have been heard by the whole neighborhood. She didn’t care. Nothing mattered except Lamon.
He jerked his hips as he followed her climax with one of his own. He grunted several times, jamming his hips forward and sucking her thigh hard.
Sicily gave a little whimper of exhaustion even as her body still hummed with pleasure. Lamon eased from her body with a contented sigh. He lowered her leg back to the bed and laid a kiss on her lips before sprawling beside her with one arm behind his head.
Sicily cuddled against Lamon’s side. She lazily trailed her fingers up and down the hard planes of his stomach. The man was beautifully built. He would be like that for the rest of his life. Vampires never changed.
How they looked in their final moments as a human was how they would look for the rest of their vampiric lives. There was no need for Lamon to exercise to keep his lean, muscled body tight. His long, straight black hair would forever be the same length. Even if he cut it, his hair would grow back in only a few seconds.
She was happy for that. If the mages took the bait, there would be a battle. Lamon might be hurt. That he would heal without scars as a reminder only made her feel mildly better.
He tilted her chin up so she met his black-eyed gaze. “What are you thinking, Sicily? Are you worried about this plan?”
She smiled up at him, hiding her unease. “Why should I be worried? I’m with you.”
He laid a soft kiss on her lips. “I wouldn’t have let you do this alone.”
“Duh. I knew that already. You wouldn’t want one of those lovely vampires out there trying to help me disrupt the puppet spell.”
Lamon growled as he tightened his arm around her waist. “Not funny.”
“But you’re so cute when you’re all jealous and possessive.” She laid a kiss on his chest.
The puppet spell was a curse the mages had put on Sicily so they could work magic through her and attack Theron. Their attack had failed, but the spell was still in place. Lamon had initiated a sexual relationship with Sicily to disrupt the magic of the puppet spell. Only sexual energy was strong enough to do it.
From that, a love relationship had developed between Sicily and Lamon. She cherished it because she had never felt for anyone the way she did Lamon.
She whispered, “I wouldn’t. You know I wouldn’t.”
“I know.”
She brought his wrist to her lips and kissed his pulse. She heard his breath hitch and smiled. “I could bite you for a change. I hear vampires like that.”
Lamon pulled away. “Not there.”
She caught his wrist again as she sat up. “Yes, here. Exactly here.” She tightened her grip when he would have pulled away. He could have gotten away from her easily, but he didn’t try. She asked, “Why, Lamon? The puppet spell wouldn’t be a worry if you would simply give me your blood.”
“My blood is yours. You can take it.” He sat up and pulled his hand free of her once more. He bared his wrist at her and pointed at a large black vein running up his arm. “You want this, not my blood. This isn’t blood. It’s poison.”
She stared at the large black vein. If she bit him, if she drank that black blood, she could be a vampire. That was how vampires were made, drinking from the black vein of a vampire. Not all vampire blood was black. It was red, just like a human’s. But in that one spot, the left wrist, was the key to vampirism.
Lamon curled his arm to his chest, hiding the black vein from her view. “No, Sicily. I won’t kill you.”
She met his gaze. “You don’t know if that’ll happen. I could change.”
“You could die. It’s a fifty-fifty chance I won’t take.”
And that was the real issue. Not every human that drank the black blood of a vampire became a vampire. Most people simply died, horribly and painfully, as the vampire’s black blood — poison, as Lamon had called it — ripped through their bodies.
Sicily scooted closer to Lamon and laid a hand on his chest. She said in a pleading voice, “I feel pain from your bite. Maybe that’s what that means. Maybe I’m one of the few who will change.”
“You’re guessing.” Lamon jerked away and left the bed. He stalked across the room, headed for the window. He stared out of it for several breaths before saying in a harsh voice, “I’m not gambling with your life.”
“What do you call all of this, then?” She held out her arms, indicating the house and the plan that had brought them back to it. “You’re gambling with my life right now, hoping the mages will jump at the chance of getting me back.”
Lamon roared as he faced her, “You volunteered for this.” He searched her gaze. His anger dulled, and he said in a normal voice, “I didn’t want you to do this. You plowed forward anyway.”
He referred to the reason Sicily, Lamon, and the others had returned to Sicily’s house. Theron had decided to go on the offensive. The mages’ guild and elder vampire council kept the war between humans and vampires going, kept it fresh. Theron planned to take out the guild and the council all at once in hopes of ushering in a time of peace.
The first step in the plan to bring down the mages’ guild was capturing some mage lords. The best candidates were the mage lords who had cast the puppet spell on Sicily. The only way to get them was to use Sicily as bait.
She said, “You’re not leaving me any other choice. Theron wants the mages. I’m the key to getting them.”
“Theron wants. Theron wants. I don’t give a damn what he wants when it puts my lover in danger.”
She left the bed then and went to him. He turned away but that didn’t stop her from hugging him and laying her cheek against his back. “You’ll keep me safe.”
“You don’t know that.” He gripped her hands where they rested on his stomach.
“Yes, I do. You’re a mage killer. They cower at the thought of facing you. That’s why they aren’t here now. They know we’re here. They have to. They’re just trying to figure out how to approach without being killed in the process.”
“I’ll kill anyone who lays a hand on you.”
“I know.” She laid a kiss between his shoulder blades. “Come back to bed. We need to rest while we can.”
Lamon grinned at her over his shoulder. “Rest? Is that what you think will happen if we go back to bed together?”
She released him and backed up a few steps. “Now, now, Lamon. Once was enough. The puppet spell is sufficiently disrupted. We need to sleep. You need your strength for the fight to come.”
Lamon faced her and started forward. “Did I never tell you, Sicily? Fucking you gives me strength. Tremendous strength. I could take on the mage king himself after satisfying you.”
“Let’s not wish up bigger problems than we need. I’ll settle for you taking out a few mage lords.”
He caught her in his arms and buried his face against her neck. After licking her skin a few times, he said, “Then give me what I need, Sicily.”
“Always,” she purred as she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.
She wouldn’t be getting much sleep that night, not that she minded.
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New Release: 09 September 2011
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