Embrace the Passion (The Blood Rose 4)

She moved in front and led them forty yards away to the nearest tree line. “Drop him in the snow. It’s still fresh here, just a thin crust.”

The shifters threw him so that he sank about a foot. The freezing snow had the effect of finally getting through to Seth and he sat up slowly, his brows pulled together in a tight frown.

He glanced around as though uncertain where he was or what had put him there. He struggled to catch his breath. His lungs worked like bellows, but he remained sitting in the snow, recovering.

Even with his clothes torn, his face bruised, his lips bleeding, to Lorelei he looked hot as hell.

She stood over him. “You done, Mastyr?” But she smiled.

He looked around, then growled at the shifters, since many of them had started chuckling, a sound full of male appreciation for Seth’s predicament.

When he growled again, she lifted her hand, glancing over her shoulders. “Leave us.”

She felt the remaining shifters melt away and she was certain she heard a few more chuckles. Shifting followed and more wolves now darted into the forest heading back to their respective gorges.

Seth, on the other hand, looked up at her, his green eyes still half-lost in madness, a state she decided very quickly that she wanted him to stay in.

“That Jude sure has a lot of muscle. He’s one big man.”

Seth did exactly what she wanted him to do. He roared and levitated at the exact same time, then lunged for her. Catching her by the arms and without asking her permission, he took her straight up into the air. Only this time instead of heading south toward his Shauck Gorge home, he flew north.

Just where the hell was he taking her so close to dawn?

Chapter Eight

With Lorelei held tight in his arms, Seth flew toward his fortified, treetop dwelling, but the whole time, a red angry hue colored his vision. The air grew colder, yet didn’t serve to diminish his rage that he’d found his woman ready to service Mastyr Jude with both her body and her blood. He needed to get Lorelei beneath him as quickly as possible, and he definitely required a hit of her powerful blood.

His destination wasn’t far, about twelve miles, so that within a few minutes, he saw the timberline of Redheart Peak. A strong instinct had driven him north, instead of south to his Shauck Gorge home. He needed to be with Lorelei here, in a small but very complex treehouse that a clever troll had built for him about two hundred years ago.

Three fir trees, the inner branches trimmed close, anchored the two-story structure, that overlooked at least a dozen ridges below. At this distance, when he adjusted his vision, he’d be able to watch the shifters while they ran drills during the daylight hours.

A few seconds later, he landed on the deck that traveled in a complete circle around the house.

His heart had become a loud drum pounding in his chest as he carried Lorelei inside. He could smell the abundance of her blood and that she needed him to take from her.

Turning her in his arms, he kissed her fiercely. When her lips parted, he drove his tongue deep into her mouth which brought desire rushing forward once more, hardening him all over again. He’d done some healing while he flew so a lot of the damage Jude had inflicted was now gone, but he wasn’t sure it would have mattered. He needed Lorelei and he needed her now.

Her body arched and she moaned, then her voice tore through his mind. Seth, take me now before I break into a thousand pieces. I need you.

Still holding her tight, he levitated up and over the railing between floors so that he dropped easily down to his bedroom below.

“I want you to feed first,” she said, pulling out of his arms. “My heart is laboring with each beat.”

“I know. I can tell. And we both need this.” Though he no longer suffered with excruciating stomach cramps, he felt light-headed, desperate for her blood.

Her familiar smile appeared as she moved to the side of the bed. “Come here and sit down. I have an idea.” She patted the comforter.

He loved the shifter-like glint in her eye and though he wasn’t completely certain what she had in mind, he planted his ass exactly where she told him to.

She moved in between his legs and shoved her hair away from the side of her neck. He reacted with a full-body shiver, took hold of her arms, and drew her against him. Though he sat, his height still made the position perfect as she angled her head and exposed her pale throat. He licked a line over the vein and felt her shudder as well. Her delicate white ruff appeared and his desire for her rose another notch.

He buried his nose in her fur, kissing along the line of the ruff. He could feel her pulse speed up as the sweet apple blossom scent of her sex rose all around him.

Maybe because of the recent encounter with Jude, but suddenly his mating frequency shot to life.

She gripped his shoulders and cried out. “Sweet Goddess! Seth, what is that?”

“My mating frequency. I need you now. Clothes. Off.” His voice carried weight and resonance.