Adam Read online

  I’ve killed my family.

  * * * *

  William and Robert—the two mate-bonded men—collapsed together on the hard floor. They looked at each other then at the men around them.

  “We’ve been fooled.”

  Robert sensed Sophie’s pain. He saw her gripping her stomach and his gut tightened. Closing down the emotional barrier between them, Robert knew he had to get to his mate.

  William stumbled as Katie went down. His mate had been struck by what could be a killing blow. Both men prayed for Adam and Poppy to hurry.

  One more day could see them dead.

  They all made it back to the Valentines’ manor. Nothing could have ever prepared them for the destruction they found.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Are you sure about this?” Adam asked. He kissed her again before she could respond. After the chaos they’d just been through, Poppy was ready for anything. She’d transported them back to the motel determined to have one night together.

  “I want you.”

  “You’ve got me, always.” He hand cupped her face and tilted her head back. She stared into his green eyes and felt like she’d melted. “You’re so beautiful.” He ran his thumb over the scar on her face and rather than be disgusted by the touch Poppy smiled and welcomed the love coming from him.

  “Shouldn’t we get to your family?” she asked, interrupting his kisses.

  “They can wait. I want you. Only you.” Their kiss deepened and she enjoyed the loss of control, panting and wanting more. Common sense played no part in their time together. His touch burnt a path where his fingers caressed.

  The buttons on her dress were dealt with quickly and efficiently while she pulled his shirt above his head. Their thirst for each other had them falling all over the place like two horny teenagers afraid Mom and Dad would catch them.

  “I’ve never felt like this,” Adam said. He inhaled her scent and kissed her neck, moving her bra straps down with each kiss.

  “Never felt like what?”

  “My blood is boiling and I imagine if my heart was still beating, it would be pounding in my chest. I’m nervous. I want to make it good for you.”

  She kissed him. “I’m with you and everything is better when I’m with you.”

  Their kisses were fiery as they rid themselves of the last of their clothing. Poppy panted when her bra was torn from her body, exposing her breasts to his view. He expertly flicked the tip of one nipple with his tongue.

  The bud tightened and she pushed her chest up, wanting more. Wetness poured from her pussy as Adam pressed a leg between her thighs. She rode his leg, loving the firm feel of him against her mound.

  “I’m not going to last if you keep riding me like that,” he said.

  “I can’t help it. I feel on fire.”

  “My little necromancer fuelled on lust and desire?”

  “I’m burning alive here, Adam.”

  “I love the way you say my name. Say it again,” he asked.

  “Adam… Adam… Adam…” She said his name over and over loving the way it felt rolling off her lips.

  “I love you.”

  “And I love you too, Adam.”

  Adam moved his hand down and fondled her breasts, making her gasp and arch closer to his touch. Every part of her was ultra-sensitive and alert. She couldn’t believe what she was about to do. Her body was aching with need that only Adam would be able to satisfy.

  “I’m going to make love to you the first time, and then I’m going to fuck you.” He kissed her lips, plunging his tongue in deep. “I want to do everything with you. I’m going to show and teach you about pleasure, Poppy.” She watched as he moved down the bed until he rested between her legs.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, trying to close her legs. Adam forced them open.

  “I’m going to taste your sweet pussy.”

  “You can’t do that, Adam,” she said. No man had ever licked her pussy. Was it even legal? Shit, she felt all over the place.

  “Watch me.” He responded to her nerves with a wickedly sinful smile on his face. His tongue pressed along her slit, making her collapse on the bed. Sensation unlike anything she’d ever felt shot through her body. Her clit was swollen and she wanted Adam to touch her where she ached for him the most. Poppy craved the feel of his cock inside her.

  “Oh my God,” she said, panting. Poppy closed her eyes, giving herself over to the pleasure of his mouth. She felt rather than watched as his tongue circled her aching clit before slipping down and teasing the entrance of her body.

  “I’m not going to penetrate you with my tongue. I want to take you properly the first time,” he said. “I need this to be special for you when I take your virginity.” He moved his tongue back up, flicking her clit with soft and gentle strokes. The oversensitive bud responded. She had no control over her response. Poppy pushed up to meet his mouth, thrusting her pussy onto his face. Never had she felt so desired or loved in all her life. And she’d lived a very long life. She had a lot to catch up on.

  The peak heightened and he zeroed in on her clit, devoting all of his attention to her one source of pleasure.

  Her body coiled as the heat built. Her eyes remained closed as she bit her lips to stop herself from screaming out. Poppy tightened her fingers into the sheets beneath her. She gathered and pushed until the tightening in her abdomen released. Her screams erupted and echoed off the four walls of the motel room. Adam held her down as her body thrashed out her release.

  She cried out for him to stop. The release was too painful and pleasurable. She didn’t know whether she wanted it to stop or to carry on.

  He came over her, kissed her lips then he impaled himself inside her virgin hole. His possession was so sudden that Poppy didn’t have time to panic or tense up. The pain was minimal as the pleasure was so intense. She couldn’t think of any words to voice how her body was feeling.

  “I, Adam Valentine, take Poppy as my bond mate for all eternity and let nothing part us. By blood, by love and by all things pure, I cement her to me for life.”

  She gasped as he said the words. “I can’t be your true bond mate.”

  “Bond mates don’t have to swap blood all the time. I choose you. I want you forever and for always.”

  Tears spilled from her eyes and he kissed them away. She gave herself to Adam completely, knowing their life together wouldn’t always be easy but accepting her love for him. She would never live without him. He was her world.

  Adam, true to his word, made love to her. She found her pleasure and he brought her to a climax time and again until together they lay sated and happy in the bliss they’d just shared. They’d found each other and, in turn, they’d each found their soul mate.

  Their love was not conventional. The love between a vampire and a necromancer would certainly be going down in the history books.

  “What do you think our children will be like?” he asked.

  “You want to have children with me?” Their fingers were locked together. His cock was inside her pussy as they lay on the bed. After he’d taken her virginity, he’d cleansed her body, cared for her and allowed the soreness to ease before he’d taken her again.

  “Of course I do. No official bond may have taken place but I think we should have a more human connection. They don’t hear what each other think and some of them stay together for life.” He stroked a finger down her back.

  “You mean a marriage?”

  “Yes. Mrs Poppy Valentine. What do you think?”

  “I’ve never had a last name before,” she said, liking the sound of his behind her name.

  “I’d be honoured to give you my name. And I’d expect you in a white wedding dress as well.” He leaned over and kissed her neck.

  Goose bumps erupted all over her skin.

  “I’m sorry you can’t drink my blood,” she said with regret. Being connected to him would have been an amazing experience.

  “I love you, Poppy. Blood, bonding—
it doesn’t matter to me.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Do I look like a guy who’d lie about something like this?”

  Poppy shook her head.

  “So, let’s talk about kids.”

  She giggled. “Well, I think it would be good justice if the girls could tell the boys what to do.”

  “Ah, so you want the girls to be necromancers and the boys vampires?”

  “Why not? It would teach you guys a lesson for always picking on women.”

  Adam tickled her and they began a little lovers’ fight on the bed. Their giggles turned into moans of pleasure the moment Adam got his hands on her more delicate body parts.

  “Son, there’s not time for that,” a voice rang through the bedroom.

  Poppy squealed and covered her body while Adam pushed her behind him and looked out at the room.

  “What the fuck?”

  Robert Valentine Senior stood on the other side of the room, facing the window like he had at the house.

  “Yes, son. Death, destruction and terror are all around and you still find time to toss a woman onto a bed and screw her.” The older man cursed.

  “You may be dead but I swear to God, don’t you dare talk about her like that,” Adam said.

  Poppy was touched by his protection.

  “What are you doing here, sir?” she asked.

  “I’m forced to watch all of my mistakes. All of my fears come to fruition. Being dead is a curse I never thought possible. I hope, my son, you’ll never face this kind of passing.”

  Robert turned to the couple in the room.

  “The wolves have attacked the manor.”

  Poppy knelt on the bed, covering her body with the sheet. Adam moved naked in front of his father.

  “What?”

  “Your brothers and Don were lured out by a false claim, again I might add. The wolves attacked in number.”

  Adam returned to the bedside, reached down and handed Poppy her clothes.

  “Get dressed. We’ve got to go.” He gave her a smile, but Poppy knew he was hurting inside. While they’d been intimate together, his family had been fighting off the attack.

  “This is not your fault, son.” His father spoke, reaching out to put a hand on Adam’s arm.

  Poppy came off the bed and gazed at the connection. “This isn’t possible.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The dead soul is in our world. Adam, your father shouldn’t be able to touch you here. We’re not in my world.”

  Robert smiled with a tear in his eye.

  “I fear the world is changing and I can’t stop it. Tell your mother I love her. Keep an eye on my family,” he asked her. His gaze turned to her and Poppy saw the grey was disappearing.

  “This cannot be,” she said. Dead souls from her realm were supposed to stay there. Robert was becoming part of the real world. She’d read the signs and had never thought it was possible. She nodded, baffled and scared by the sudden turn of events.

  “Hurry, I fear my word is too late.”

  * * * *

  Limbo

  Tara watched in the mirror as the dead soul of Adam’s father touched him.

  “No, it can’t be,” she said on a whisper. But there in plain sight on the Earth realm, Robert, the dead one, was touching his son.

  She pulled away from her looking mirror and paced her quarters.

  Dead souls were becoming able to make contact? It wasn’t allowed. That door was closed millions of years ago. They’d had to in order to keep everything under control. The balance of nature had insisted on it.

  “You’re panicking,” Limbo said, from his perch at her door.

  “Go away. I’m thinking.”

  “Does this have anything to do with that dead soul touching thing?”

  Tara paused in her pacing and glanced at Limbo. “What did you do?” she asked.

  “Me?” He pointed at his chest. “Me, I waited for thousands of years guarding this godforsaken wasteland. I mean, look at it. People die with unfinished business and we wait until they’re finished and then move on. Either they go up by your lovely hand or down by mine.”

  Tara stepped back from him as he moved farther into her room. Limbo had never spoken about his role in this place. From the way he was talking, she knew he had something to do with this.

  “What did you do?” she asked again.

  “I got tired of waiting. You see, there are a select few people who lived in the world where everyone lived amongst all the others. No different planes or realms. If you were bad, you were punished accordingly.”

  “Those days were terrifying, Limbo. There was a reason why they changed the rules and forced structure and balance to the world.”

  “Those days were the best of my life. I could have anything I wanted. Be anything, want anything.” He approached and flicked her hair off her neck. “Even a pretty little angel like you.”

  She shrank away from him.

  “Those days were a plague.” Tara recalled them—the wars and the feral beasts. The vampires running around them now were mere puppies compared to those that had when the realms were not divided as now.

  “So the two big guys decided to bring about rules. The werewolf’s biggest power is the three-day cycle of the moon. The vampire’s strength comes with the night. You can see the transition is already happening. A Valentine will unlock the gate and send this world into chaos and you know who it is.”

  He circled her like a hungry wolf. Tara knew of what he spoke. She’d seen it and knew what would happen.

  “And you’re encouraging the gates to crumble and the world to plunge into chaos?”

  “That’s what I liked about you. I thought you’d be on board. I remember how bloodthirsty you were. You loved a good battle. When they told me you’d be coming to serve as my other half, imagine my surprise to learn you’d be helping the other side of my plan.”

  “What you’re planning is preposterous.”

  “No, baby—not planning. I’m waiting and it’s only a matter of time.”

  Tears ran down her cheeks and she felt him move her hair over one shoulder so it lay down her breast.

  “I can’t have anyone ruining my plan. I’m sorry, angel. Your help stops here,” Limbo whispered against her ear.

  Tara let out a screech of pain. The glass in her room shattered as Limbo tore her wings from her body. The blood and pain were unbearable.

  “Bye, my love.” He kissed her cheek and threw her down, opening up the gate.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Adam and Poppy stormed through the Valentines’ manor, or at least what remained of it. William lay with Katie in his arms. Her usual pale face was covered with black soot. A large red pool of blood leaked out of her chest.

  “I’m so sorry, man,” Adam grunted, holding back tears.

  “She’s not dead. They promised she’d only die if I did. She’ll be back shortly.” William rubbed her cheek and continued to rock with her. Adam took hold of Poppy’s hand, moving farther into the mess.

  Dawn sat on a chair, a gasp and cry coming from her every few seconds. She pulled splinters of wood out of her left arm.

  “Are you all right?” Poppy asked.

  Dawn nodded but didn’t look up.

  “Where’s Robert?”

  “He’s with Sophie. The baby… They charged so fast and Katie took the brunt of it but we couldn’t do anything. Sophie was flung over the stairwell. The doctor said she’s lucky to be alive, but the baby didn’t make it.”

  Adam gulped past the lump in his throat. Poppy held his hand and together they walked through the house to where the rest of his family sat. Sophie lay on a bed with a hand over her stomach. The doctor was looking over her. Robert held her hand and together they were crying.

  His mother, Don and Jason sat in morbid silence outside.

  Mary was sobbing her heart out.

  “What happened?” Adam asked.

  No one answered as the doctor ca
me out followed by Robert.

  “How is she?” Adam saw the pain and fear in Robert and his hand tightened on Poppy.

  “The doctor will need to stop by for regular visits. She wasn’t too far gone so the damage shouldn’t be so great.” Robert shut the door. “We’ll move out in a few hours. I want her to get some rest while she can.”

  “I don’t understand. What has happened?”

  “The wolves—they somehow found our house and knew where we’d be. A full-scale attack, not one or two, but the whole pack came. Only the women were inside.”

  “Where was everyone else?” Adam asked.

  “We had a bogus contact. Another fake call took all the men out of the house, leaving Katie to defend all of them. Even on this scale Katie handled herself well.”

  “I take it the dead bodies are the mongrels?”

  Robert nodded.

  “They took her… They took her…”

  Adam turned to his mother. Tears streamed from her eyes.

  “Who did they take?”

  Silence met his answer. Adam looked into all of their eyes and got the answer straight away.

  “Rose.”

  * * * *

  A few hours later, in a safe house outside Beyer West, the Valentines were in the sitting room. William held Katie, who’d come around and immediately run to Sophie. Dawn had helped to pack a few items. Jason had followed everyone around, helping out where he could. Don had helped escort Mary, who was having fits of hysterics. Robert had carried Sophie all the way. The Valentines—hurt and broken on their own turf by a mongrel werewolf pretending to be an alpha.

  Adam held Poppy at his side, not prepared to let her go.

  “What are you thinking?” she asked.

  “A year ago if you’d told me that my father would be dead, myself and two brothers mated and my sister kidnapped by a mongrel werewolf, I’d have laughed at the craziness of it.”

  Poppy nodded.

  “I want to take it all away, you know? The pain.”

  “We can’t, though. All of these powers between us, yet it seems, for every lie we uncover, the wolves tear us apart,” Poppy said.

  “We’ll need to tell them the truth. I fear we might be too late.” Adam tightened his hold around Poppy.