Moaning, she pressed closer, her arms sliding around his shoulders, her hands cradling his head as he drank from her. Somehow one of his legs was between both of hers and she gasped as it rubbed against her, and then she shifted, rubbing back and adding to her pleasure as he—was suddenly gone.
Blinking her eyes open, Sarita glanced around with dismay as a loud crash sounded and she saw Domitian slamming to the floor with Thorne on top of him. She gaped briefly as the two men began to roll on the floor, grappling to get their hands around each other’s throat, and then some of her good sense returned and she hurried around the pair to reach their heads. Bending, she grabbed each man by an ear and twisted.
“What the hell are you doing?” Sarita hissed when they both froze, their eyes shifting sideways to take her in.
“I did not start this,” Domitian pointed out stiffly. “I was just . . . er . . . and then he suddenly knocked me away from you.”
“Er?” she asked dryly.
“Is that what you call biting her?” Thorne growled and started to struggle with him again, but froze at once when Sarita gave his ear another twist.
“Dammit, woman, stop that,” he growled. “I am trying to protect you from this vampire.”
“He is not—”
“Hello?” Her grandmother called through the door, knocking. “I heard a ruckus coming from in here. Is everything okay?”
Sarita bit her lip, and then looked to Domitian and said, “Control his mind and make him tell her everything is fine.”
Domitian turned to Thorne and concentrated on his forehead.
“Hello?” her grandmother called again, more loudly.
“What’s going on, Maria?” Mrs. Dressler’s voice sounded from downstairs. “Is everything okay?”
“I don’t know, Elizabeth. No one is answering me.”
“I cannot read or control him,” Domitian whispered finally, sounding both surprised and worried.
Sarita’s eyebrows rose. “Another life mate?”
Domitian gave a start at the suggestion, but then shook his head. “He’s not wholly human. Perhaps that is why I cannot read him.”
“Hello?” Her grandmother started pounding on the door.
“It is all right, Maria,” Thorne said suddenly. “I was just moving my chest for Domitian and dropped it.”
“Oh, all right, Thorne dear,” her grandmother said, sounding relieved. “Well, don’t stay in there too long. Domitian needs his rest after swimming all night.”
“Of course,” he said grimly and then arched his eyebrows at Sarita.
“It’s okay, Elizabeth,” they heard her call now. “Thorne just dropped his chest.”
“Oh, good. Okay, well sleep well, old friend,” Mrs. Dressler called.
When Sarita heard her grandmother’s answer sounding farther from the door as she apparently left, she released both men. Backing up she watched warily as Thorne got off Domitian and stood up. He didn’t offer Domitian a hand to rise, she noticed, but crossed his arms and watched them both warily in return as Domitian got up as well.
“Let me see your neck,” Domitian murmured with concern, immediately moving toward her.
Thorne stiffened and took a step forward, but Domitian cast him a glare and growled, “I am concerned some damage might have been done when you tackled me. If there is tearing she could bleed to death.”
Thorne looked concerned at the comment, but didn’t try to interfere as Domitian examined her throat. He looked relieved when Domitian said, “It seems all right. I retracted my fangs quickly enough it would seem.”
Relieved herself, Sarita nodded, and lowered her head when he released her. She glanced to Thorne then and sighed when she saw his expression. He was going to need explanations.
“I will handle this,” Domitian said quietly, taking her arm and attempting to usher her to the door.
Sarita stuck her ground and shook her head. “I don’t trust you won’t fight.”
“We will not fight,” he assured her and then glanced to Thorne and said heavily, “Will we.”
“Not if she tells me she’s okay with you biting her,” Thorne growled.
“I wouldn’t say I’m okay with it,” Sarita admitted wryly, keeping her voice low. “But I came in here of my own free will and without being invited and told him to do it. The swim here obviously left him in need, and there is no bagged blood here like on the island where we were staying.”
Thorne shifted his gaze to Domitian. “So that’s why El Doctor wanted you? You’re a vampire. I didn’t think they truly existed.”
Frowning, she said, “He’s not—”
“Mi Corazon,” Domitian interrupted. “Please. Go to bed. Thorne and I will talk.”
Sarita hesitated, but then sighed and nodded. She was tired, and didn’t really want to go through the explanations of what Domitian was and so on. This time when Domitian tried to urge her to the door, she went without protest.
“I will see you when you wake up,” he murmured, and pressed a kiss to her forehead before opening the door.
Smiling crookedly, Sarita nodded and slipped out to tiptoe back to her own room, leaving Domitian to explain things to Thorne. She didn’t know if it was his taking some of her blood or not, but she was so exhausted that Sarita didn’t bother to strip off her borrowed clothes or even crawl under the sheet and duvet. She simply dropped onto the bed, asleep almost before her head hit the pillow.
The moment Domitian woke up, he knew he’d messed up. He’d only lain down for a minute, intending to wait half an hour or so to be sure Sarita was sleeping before slipping out to make his way through the jungle to the big house. His thinking had been that he’d rather take the risk of making the attempt in daylight than take Sarita with him and put her at risk. Fortunately, after he’d explained everything to Thorne, the man had agreed to help by making sure the cameras were out along the back of the house so he could slip into the woods that way. Trying to go the way he and Sarita had approached the house before dawn this morning would have left him visible to Dressler’s goon on the beach now that the sun had risen.
Unfortunately, the swim last night had left him exhausted and the little bit of blood he’d taken from Sarita before Thorne had knocked him away from her hadn’t been enough to make much of a dent in his appetite. He’d dozed off and the moment that had happened he’d been lost.
Sitting up, Domitian ran a hand through his hair and then rubbed the base of his neck. Shared dreams were common among life mates. While this was his first experience with the phenomenon, he’d heard about them. They never happened when the mates were together and had made love, but when they were near and hadn’t sated their needs, the dreams often kicked in.
He’d been told that both parties contributed to the dream whether consciously or unconsciously, and either party could change the dream’s setting and what was happening at the drop of a hat. He’d heard that the dreams were hot and all consuming, but differed in that there was no loss of consciousness after sex in the dreams, probably because they weren’t conscious to begin with. He’d also been told that, in a way, they could be better than actual life mate sex because the overwhelming need that made life mate sex so fast and frantic was lessened, and life mates could often do those things they never got the chance to do while conscious.
Domitian had found all that he’d heard to be true. He’d apparently joined Sarita in a dream she was already having when he’d fallen asleep. He’d found himself standing on the edge of an outdoor skating rink, watching her whirl and whiz around the ice, leaping and spinning. From the reports he’d received, he knew she’d taken skating for several years after moving to Canada and had watched with fascination, wondering if she could actually perform the moves in real life. It was something he’d have to ask her, he’d thought and then she’d spotted him and stopped to stare with surprise.
As he’d walked toward her, Domitian had consciously changed the setting. By the time he’d taken her into his arms, they were in a wooden lodge with a fire burning to keep them warm and a soft fur rug where he could lay her back and do all the things he never got the chance to do when in the grip of life mate urgency. Of course, Sarita had soon turned the tables on him and he’d found himself tied to a bed while she’d driven him wild with her beautiful mouth and hands, and then his chains were gone and he’d rolled her beneath him and made slow, passionate love to her. And so the day had passed, with him lost in dreams of being in Sarita’s arms.