“Let go.” The second I dropped my hands from her hips she slammed down onto me, impaling herself to the core.

“Sod of a bitch.” When another wicked smile split the tricky bitch’s lips my c**k seemed to harden even more, if that was possible. Slowly she elevated herself until only the head remained inside her, and then she slammed down on me again. “Jesus, Sam.” She did it again, and then it seemed as though her restraint had snapped and control became nothing more than a distant memory. She rode me hard and fast, slamming down on me over and over. Nothing had ever felt better.

Needing to touch her, I squeezed her br**sts and tweaked and pinched her ni**les. It wasn’t enough; I needed her lips again. Fisting a hand into her hair I dragged her down and ravished her mouth as she continued to ride me so hard I thought my c**k would snap. So close to the edge now, I gripped her hips and began lifting to meet each of her downward thrusts. Seizing her gaze, I growled, “Come for me, baby. I want to hear you scream my name for me again.” I sank my teeth into her neck, groaning at the taste of her.

Her body tightened and jerked and her muscles spasmed around my c**k as she screamed my name. I slammed her down onto me one final time and then held her there as I exploded inside her, growling, “Mine”. With my body then totally replete, I sank into the mattress as she flopped down over me, flaccid against my chest. I curled my arms around her, panting and shuddering with the aftershocks. This here and now was the ultimate definition of sated.

After a couple of minutes of comfortable silence she spoke. “I’m working the front line with you and the squad whether you like it or not.”

Playing with her incredibly soft hair, I sighed. “Is it really that terrible that I want you safe?”

“If I asked you to cover a safer position, would you?”

Dammit the woman knew what cards to play.

“I wouldn’t ask you to because I know that hiding in the back isn’t who you are. And if you honestly think I’d leave our squad to cover the front without me then you’re an extremely dense individual.”

The protectiveness in her voice made me smile. I released a groan of surrender. “If you let anything happen to you I’ll strap you to this bed for a month.”

“Tell me how I lose in this situation.”

Laughing, I lifted her chin with my finger and mashed my lips with hers. “Come on then, let’s go gather up our squad. We need to inform them about the upcoming attack and go over the plan for tomorrow evening. Then we eat.”

Needless to say, none of the guys took it well. Each and every one of them wore the most determined look, however. And they were especially jovial about the news of them covering the front line. In the past both Sam and I had, separately of course, taken the guys through the rainforest many times so they were familiar enough with it by now but still we took them again. What they were not familiar with was she and I putting up a united front and I could see how awkward they felt, as if not knowing who to focus their attention on. God that made me feel like shit. I’d done that; I’d actually let my pride get in the way of the guys’ training.

Thinking about the way I’d acted, it was a wonder that Sam even entertained my existence, let alone slept with me. I refused to let myself hope that there must therefore be feelings involved on her part. I’d told Sam I cared about her, but she hadn’t said the same. Nor had she expressed the same protectiveness over me that she had over the squad. It hurt more than I cared to admit. But, then again, she’d said it was only me she wanted, right? She didn’t dispute that she was mine. Even if it was all physical for her it was enough for now. It had to be, because there was no goddamn way I could give her up.

Chapter Sixteen

(Sam)

God bless the excellence of vampire night vision. The forest floor was generally dark even in daylight due to the canopy overhead, so right now it was pitch black. The humidity was bad as well; if it wasn’t for the natural glamour that came with vampirism my hair would be frizzy and wild. Currently I was crouched beside the buttress roots of a canopy tree, letting my eyes scan through the scattered, interlaced hanging lianas and vines and climbers. I knew I’d hear anything before I saw it, but still I had all my senses on high alert.

The animal sounds that I usually loved about the rainforest were gone tonight. There was a tense hush; like each and every creature was holding its breath, waiting for the war to start. I knew that Alora – who hadn’t spent a single second away from Evan since that meeting in the conference room – had already whispered news of the upcoming attack to some of the animals so it would seem that word had got around fast.

Taking advantage of our intimate knowledge with this area, Jared and I had placed the squad members on different levels of the forest. It wasn’t the same for all rainforests, but here it could be broken up into five vertical layers. At the top you had the overstory which was the crowns of scattered trees; up there were David and Butch seen as they had better agility than the others. Next you had the canopy which was the ceiling of closely spaced trees; there Stuart and Denny were perched because they had the next best agility. Then there was the understory which was the layer of trees that were spaced further apart than those above; there we had Salem and Max as they were the best climbers. Then there was the shrub layer which was made of even more widely spaced trees, all of which were much shorter; covering that were Harvey and Reuben merely because Chico and Damien didn’t like trees – or, more specifically, they didn’t like the insects that crawled along them – so I had to put them on the forest floor. Jared was supervising the overstory, canopy and the understory. I was covering the shrub layer and forest floor, but both of us were keeping in contact using his telepathy.

It was comforting to know that he was just a, well, thought away. I knew that no matter what he was doing or what was happening if I called for him he’d come straight away. That was why I had no intention of calling for him if I needed help. Another person would weigh the situation wisely and if the situation was that I’d need to wait, I’d be left waiting. During an attack like this that was how it needed to be.

The idea that he’d come for me like that though gave me a warm feeling. Just as it had when he’d told me he saw me as his. Just as it had when he’d been inside me that last time before we fell asleep; every thrust had been leisurely, deliberate and sensual. He’d held my gaze with his the entire time, and nothing in my life had ever felt more intimate. It had scared me as much as it had electrified me.