Tourmaline Truth (10 page)

"If I hadn't pushed to claim you. If I'd just explained to you about Nobles before I... They wouldn't have taken you if you hadn't been claimed!"

"Yes, love. They would have. They would have taken me and left you alone. You would have turned one hundred in 2006. If you hadn't claimed me, I'd have never seen you again, nor you me."

"But they wouldn't have hurt you!"

"Shh. It's over now. All the 'what ifs' in the world aren't going to change what happened."

Barret's compassion for her was melting the ice in her chest. It didn't feel as heavy as it had when the adrenaline from the rescue had first worn off. He would have preferred death, than to see her suffer. Was that love? Sharon guessed some would call it craziness. But maybe love was crazy. It made no sense. Followed no logic. But completed your world and soul.

She kissed his shoulder. Lightly at first. He moaned and loosened his hold on her, his hands began to travel over her back. Tracing her spine and ribs. She moved up to his jaw where she tasted the salt of his tears before she made her way over to his mouth. She nibbled at the corner, still unsure of how this was going to go. He moved a hand to cup her cheek in his palm.

"I love you, Sharon. I promise I'll do anything to see you're never hurt again."

"I know, Barret. And I love you too. I was infatuated with you from the moment you kissed me, but over the years my feelings grew. The memory of your face and your touch was what got me through it all. I'd retreat into myself and remember those few precious hours we spent together."

Her body was wicked hot. Her fertile hormones were heating her along with Barret's caresses. Barret took her mouth in a searing kiss that made her toes curl. She clenched her tummy muscles and felt his erection twitch against her skin. With her gaze locked with his, she slid up his body. Once his erection was free from beneath her, she moved back down. His hard length slid up between her thighs. He felt so good. So much of their skin was touching, she could feel him everywhere. But she needed more. She wanted more good memories and for Barret to wash away all the filth with his love.

Rolling slightly to the side, she used her hand to guide him to her entrance. She was slick and ready for him as she pressed herself against him.

"Oh love, that feels so good.
You
feel so good. Take control, Sharon, take the reins this time and make love to me. I'm all yours. I'll always be only yours."

His sweet words brought more tears to her eyes, but these were happy ones. Removing her hand, she rolled on top of him so she straddled his hips. He slid in deep and felt amazing.

"Oh, Barret. You feel—hmmm—perfect inside me."

She began to ride him, all the while watching him, the fine sheen of sweat that quickly appeared all over his body. Sitting up like she was, her hands rested on his tight abdomen. She could feel his muscles flex as he gently thrust up to meet her strokes. She looked up to stare at his beautiful face, contorted with pleasure. His gaze was fixed on her breasts that swayed with her movements. He licked his lips, and she groaned as her muscles tightened around him. She cupped a breast and held it up for him.

"Take it, I know you want to."

In a flash, he sat forward and took her nipple into his mouth. His tongue laved the tip as she wrapped her legs around his waist. His hands moved to cup her hips and he moved her back and forth on his erection. With her fingers tangled in his hair, she threw her head back on a loud groan. Having him buried in her core while her breast was inside his mouth felt so damn good. She'd missed him so much, missed this deep connection. He released her flesh and scraped the tip of a fang up to her throat. Oh man, she wanted to feel his bite.

"Please, take me. Drink from me, love."

She didn't need to ask twice. He kissed her vein then she felt the slide of his fangs into her skin. The second he broke the surface she came. Hard. She screamed out his name as he emptied his seed deep inside her. The moment went on forever, bliss poured through her. Cleansing her, freeing her. He licked his bite mark then rolled so she was beneath him. She was still floating back to her body when he began kissing his way down her body.

"I'm only just beginning, love. Got a lot of time to make up for."

As he licked up the vein on her inner thigh, she had a realization that she'd had no flashbacks. She'd made love to her beautiful Vampire and not retreated to her safe place. When her Barret was with her, filling her with his words and actions of love, there was simply no room for anything else. No space for the bad memories to filter in and rip her away from him.

Sharon arched her back as Barret bit into her thigh, and the pulls on her vein were like tugging an imaginary string to her core. He slid a thick finger into her as she began to climax for him again. As she screamed out his name, she'd never been so happy. Maybe, just maybe, she wasn't broken after all.

Chapter Six

Barret woke in a cold sweat with breath panting out of his lungs. He'd dreamed he was back in that cell with that bastard Toki outside the bars telling him all about what he'd done to Sharon. His heart still pounded as he looked up at the white ceiling and began to take deep breaths. He was free. It was over.

He rolled to his side to look around the room, needing more confirmation he was not in that cell. Instantly, his gaze zoned in on his precious Bride. Still fast asleep, lying beside him—right where she belonged. She'd kicked off the sheets as she'd slept and now lay sprawled out on her back. He released his breath in a long, drawn out sigh. Damn, she was beautiful. His thoughts immediately went in a happier direction as he gently pushed her hair away from her face. He grinned as pride swelled within him. There on her neck was his bite mark, where everyone would see it. He glanced down her body and his dick twitched as he saw his other bite mark on her inner thigh. For some reason, her blood tasted sweeter from that vein. He'd already decided that was going to always be his favorite drinking point.

He thought it strange Sharon's fertile hormones hadn't woken either one of them during the day. He'd heard neither Vampire nor Bride got much sleep on the twenty-ninth, that it took all night to ease the raging hormones. Then again, neither one of them had been able to relax and sleep deeply for a bloody long time. He guessed their fatigue and their bodies need to recoup after their entrapment overrode their reproductive instincts.

Barret wondered if the stress of it all could prevent a woman from ovulating. Wouldn't that have been nice? If none of the Brides could get pregnant to Nobles due to stress switching off their biological clocks. Obviously, that wasn't the case—at least not every time—or the Nobles wouldn't continue to breed the brides they stole.

Sharron began to stir. He guessed she'd sensed his gaze on her or perhaps he'd jostled her before he woke. Her head tossed from side to side a few times before her brow creased into a frown. Barret held his breath for a moment. What was going on? A nightmare? Flashback? She began to whimper and thrash around. He leaned over her, planning to gently hold her shoulders while he woke her. He didn't want her to knock herself on the bedposts or side cupboard. As his hands touched her clammy skin, her eyes opened wide but remained glassy and unseeing. Lost in her nightmare she lashed out at him. Fists thumping his chest, and her legs kicking at his shins.

"Get off me, you bastard! I'm not yours! I'll never be yours!"

She began to sob as she continued to thrash against him. Barret pinned her body to the bed, using a thigh to hold down her failing legs before she did him an injury. He gripped her wrists in one hand and held it against the mattress above her head.

"Sharon, wake up. It's just a dream. You're safe, here with me. With Barret. You're safe."

With his free hand, he cupped her cheek as she cried out and her eyes cleared. Her lids slid closed as her whole body shuddered. Tears leaked down her face and tore at his heart. They were a pair, both waking up in remembered horror. When the tension left her limbs, he released his hold on her and scooped her up in his arms. He sat cross-legged on the mattress with her cradled against his chest.

"It's okay, Sharon. I've got you. I always will."

As her shivers eased, she moved in his lap, nuzzling into his chest. Barret was still feeling rattled from both his nightmare and hers, so he welcomed her apparent need to be as close as possible. Sharon rearranged herself, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his hips. She was doing her best to mold her warm body against his cool one. He entwined his arms around her back and held her tightly against him as she crossed her ankles behind his back. With one hand loosely in her hair and the other cupping her soft bottom, he finally began to relax.

"It was horrible, Barret. I was back there, that first time... When will this hell stop? I'm free, but not."

Barret's heart ached for her. How could he fix this?

"I guess it will just take some time for your mind to fully accept that you're truly free." He paused a moment as an idea occurred to him. "I doubt you're the only Bride to be feeling this way. Perhaps Darcy might know of a therapist that can help you all adjust."

"What about you? How did you sleep?"

He didn't want to admit his weakness in having a nightmare but knew Sharon needed him to be honest.

"I woke only minutes before you, from my own nightmare."

"Maybe it's not just the Brides that need help."

Yeah, he was pretty sure they were all going to need some serious therapy.

~ * ~

Sharon wasn't focusing on her breakfast but instead on Barret. He ate slowly, scrutinizing everything he put on his fork like he hadn't ever eaten it before. She mentally shook her head. He hadn't seen food in twenty-seven years. Of course he wasn't simply going to wolf down the massive breakfast that had been delivered a few minutes ago.

He hadn't eaten much at all when he pushed his plate away, declaring himself full. Sharon guessed his stomach was so unaccustomed to food it would take a while before he would have his normal appetite back. Whatever that was for a Vampire. Good thing Vampires didn't have to eat food to live. She took in his face and bare chest—he'd only put on a pair of loose-fitting track pants when they'd risen from bed this evening. Barret looked just as he had all those years ago. Well, aside from the long hair. He'd fed from her twice last night plus the full bag of her blood before the rescue, so he was definitely at his full strength.

"So, you're totally recovered now? I mean, you've had enough blood?"

His heated stare bore into her, focusing on her neck. She raised her hand to run a fingertip over his bite mark and he growled.

"I have completely regenerated physically...but I will never have enough of your blood, love."

"Um, how often will you need to feed from me? I can’t remember if you mentioned it before. We didn't really get to discuss much before everything went to hell all those years ago."

His gentle smile made her insides melt like the butter had on her pancakes earlier. His eyes darkened with emotion.

"No, we didn't have nearly enough time before the Nobles interfered, did we? And to answer your question, at least every third day."

Sharon's cheeks heated with shame. "I'm sorry I left that morning. I should have woken you and let you explain. I should have trusted you." She paused to sigh and rub the bridge of her nose. "I was so desperate to get Darcy back that I wasn't thinking about anything else. And I knew so little about Vampires—I had no idea about Nobles before a shop owner saw them after me and explained a little about them that morning."

A gasp escaped her as she was lifted from her chair. With her gaze turned down, she hadn't seen Barret approach her. He moved to the lounge area and sat on an overstuffed deep-red suede couch. She happily curled up in his lap as he began to stroke her hair.

"I too am sorry, love. I should have explained things to you before I claimed you. I knew you didn't have much knowledge of Vampires, but my need for you grew too great to resist. And I stupidly thought you wouldn't work out which door was the outside one. Well, at least not before you made enough noise to wake me up."

"It did take me a while to find the damn door. Your place was wonderful, by the way. I loved every room, how you'd decorated it. Wonder what happened to it."

"Madison has hopefully stayed in the house. She was only in her twenties when we were taken so she'd be in her forties or fifties now I guess. Hopefully she met someone, has a family filling the upstairs rooms. I know she'd never enter my lair. No one but me has the codes. We should go there soon, see if she is there. If she's sold the house, it will be harder I guess. I'll need to go to the bank too, see if my accounts are still open. Madison had access to withdraw money but couldn't close or rename the accounts. I suppose this will be a test of how trustworthy she really is."

Sharon nervously traced circles on Barret's bare chest. "Um, I've been thinking…"

Oh hell, she had no idea how to talk about this with Barret. How on earth did you discuss children you'd birthed to your captor with your lover?

"You can tell me anything, love. What's on your mind?"

"My sons. I have five. I want to find them. The twins are only three-years-old. If we can find them, we could save them from becoming Nobles. The next eldest is twelve, we might be able to still save him. I think the eldest two at twenty-four and sixteen might be too entrenched in the Noble way of life. But considering how Karl took the news of what happened to the Brides...maybe if they hear the truth, they can be saved too?"

She held her breath as she waited for him to respond. He'd gone very still as she'd spoken.

"Of course, we will attempt to save them all."

His voice was hoarse, like he was forcing the words out.

"You don't sound too happy about it. Will you be okay raising children you didn't father?"

With a finger beneath her jaw, he tilted her face up so her gaze locked with his.

"As I told you twenty-seven years ago, I will accept any child you birthed as my own. I'm struggling with the reminder of how those sons were conceived. It's still raw and fresh in my mind and heart, love. Give me time to process it all. But I promise you, no matter how deep my hatred for Nobles and Toki in particular, I will never take it out on your sons. It was not their fault."