Her responding, “Good,” was quiet, said more for herself than his benefit, but the smile that spread over his face couldn’t be contained as he slotted the key in the lock and pushed open the door.
“Oh, wow…” she gasped as she stepped inside and took in the large, open floorplan. From the outside, the structure gave the appearance of having two floors when in actuality, there was only the one, the walls soaring twenty-feet upward to a pitched roof with an abundance of skylights that framed the large half-moon hanging low in the sky as well as a wealth of stars.
“This is amazing,” she continued, and Travis felt a surge of pride. The floors were slate, the fireplace he moved toward to begin building a fire was made of natural stone, the furniture situated about the room was upholstered in pale gray, each piece chosen for comfort and optimal relaxation.
“Why keep the place in the city when you have this?” she asked, her fingers gliding across the dark gray granite countertops in the kitchen section.
“Even when I’m not officially on duty, I’m still working,” Travis replied as he lit the tinder. “It’s easier to keep my eyes and ears on Rodolfo that way, but here…” he trailed off.
Morgan easily picked up the thread. “Here you can be yourself. You can spread your wings.” She chuckled. “Literally in your case.”
She was not wrong, but before he could say more, she surprised him by adding, “Speaking of which. I have a proposition for you.”
Turning away from the fire, he straightened to his full height. “Oh?”
His Hunter actually looked nervous, which only ratcheted up his curiosity. What sort of proposition was she about to offer that caused a vampire of her strength, courage, and confidence to suddenly be looking unsure of herself?
Thrusting out a hand as if to ward off a premature denial or rejection, she began speaking, her words tumbling out in a rush. “I know that you’re focused on finding out what happened to your sister and bringing the guilty party to justice. I totally get that and am completely dedicated to helping you however I can. But have you given any thought to what you might do once that’s finished?”
Travis frowned. He hadn’t. Not even once had he allowed himself to imagine or wonder what he might do with himself once Sophia was at rest. Would he stay in New Orleans? Go back to Washington? Pack his bags and move someplace that held no memories whatsoever in an attempt to leave the past behind him?
“I haven’t thought about it,” he admitted.
“You’d make an excellent Hunter,” she surprised him by saying. “You’d be a real asset to the team. We all think so.”
Travis found himself practically rooted to the floor as he considered the possibility. The thought was appealing. More than appealing, actually. He may have only briefly met the other two members of Morgan’s Hunter team, but thanks to the stories she had told him, he already liked them. Not to mention he’d be chasing down vampires on a regular basis –thatreally sounded good. But best of all, he’d never have to say goodbye to this particular vampire. This Hunter who had, in the short time they’d known each other, made such an impression on him that the thought of never seeing her again caused a dull ache in his chest and made him want to roar in denial.
In a few strides, he was close enough to grab her around the waist and pull her into his arms. “Does your Hunter Society have any rules against fraternizing with other team members?”
Morgan’s smile was instant and sexy as hell as her fingers walked across the top of his shoulder. “It does not,” she purred before adding playfully, “Why do you ask?”
“Because I don’t think I can keep my hands off you,” he admitted with a growl before sealing his lips to hers in a searing kiss. Her mouth immediately opened to him, allowing him entry as he swept his tongue across hers. As had happened before, he found her taste intoxicating, addicting. She tasted like his. Morgan Rhys was a treasure he wanted to hoard away and at the same time, display her to the world with pride.
His hands swept possessively over the lithe musculature of her form and she moaned against his mouth, her own fingers digging satisfyingly into his back, her scent growing stronger with the lush bloom of arousal he wanted to taste. He could happily drown in this woman.
With a gasp, Morgan broke the kiss, her mouth skating across his jaw to his throat. He felt the scrape of long, lethally sharp fangs against his neck and shuddered with longing. He wanted her to pierce the skin, wanted to feel the sting of her bite in a claiming kiss.
“Do it,” he urged, gripping the back of her neck and pulling her closer. He needed to be inside of her in every way. In her heart. In her mind. His body filling hers with the hard length of his arousal, satisfying her carnal needs while his blood nourished her hunger.
His growl echoed through the cavernous space of his sanctuary as Morgan’s fangs pierced his flesh.
The first taste of his blood on her tongue was a revelation. Morgan had never experienced anything so divine. His blood was hot, like rich wine with a smoky undertone to which she could easily become addicted. It was also incredibly powerful. The likes of which she’d never before felt. She could feel her body humming with awareness, her sucking pulls on his throat becoming stronger with the need for more, her grip on the back of his neck tight with the desire to never let him go.
She was grinding against him without conscious thought, hadn’t even realized that he had picked her up at some point so that she could wrap her legs around his waist. The orgasm that followed, hit her like a bolt of lightning, shaking her to her core as her mouth finally released his throat on a shout of pleasure before she collapsed in a near-boneless heap against the strong breadth of his chest, grateful he was holding her aloft.
She was panting, her body sated yet also oddly still humming as the power of his blood coursed through her system. Reaching for his shirt, she yanked at it, needing to feel his skin against hers while Travis walked them to the back of his house and the king-sized bed that waited there.
Loathe to release him long enough so that they could shed their clothes, she pulled him down with her and they rolled across the bedding in each other’s arms, both of them working with a near desperate purpose to get the other naked.
When the last hindrance was finally shed, Morgan toppled Travis, pushing his shoulders to the mattress as she straddled him, breathless with desire and nearly desperate with need, she sank down with a shuddering gasp on the thick length of his erection. But her angel wasn’t in the mood to play nice. With a strength and speed she was unprepared for, he reversed their positions, one arm hooking under her knee and lifting to gain maximum penetration. His eyes, as they stared into hers, were heavy-lidded with desire but it did nothing to conceal the irises that had gone bright yellow, striated with black. A primal growl rumbled up his throat that was so sexy she nearly came right then and there as his body began thrusting hard, quick strokes that rapidly brought her to a fever pitch.
Mindless with pleasure, she was chanting his name, a benediction to his skill as her body tightened around him, moving ever closer to that precipice until, with a scream of satisfaction, she shattered in a burst of starlight, while outside, the wolves howled.
Chapter Seventeen
Once both their breathing had returned to normal and their minds had returned to some semblance of sanity, they had made love again, this time, slowly. And itwaslovemaking, Morgan realized. Each of them exploring the other with the intent to learn how best to please. There was no rush, no sense of mindless desperation propelling them forward. They savored each other through taste and touch, and later, held each other close as they drifted off to sleep to the lullaby of the bayou.
Morgan wasn’t sure what woke her. It was still dark, most likely the very early hours of the morning and while she hated to leave the warmth of Travis’s arms, she carefully extricated herself, intending to check her phone in case she’d missed a message from her team. Her mind was still slightly hazy from sleep, not to mention that logy feeling that typically followed a feeding – and man, what a feeding that had been. Angel's blood was potent.
