Jeanne Louise got into the backseat behind Livy. She left the door open for him, and slid along the seat, her mind racing over what she would have to do as she watched Paul approach. His steps slowed as he neared the car, some reluctance showing, but he straightened his shoulders and continued.
“The door,” she murmured when he slid onto the seat next to her, one foot still outside on the ground.
Nodding grimly, Paul pulled his foot in and eased the door closed, and then tilted his head, offering his throat. Jeanne Louise rolled her eyes and immediately climbed to straddle his lap.
Paul jerked in surprise and grasped her arms. “What—?”
“Relax,” she whispered, mindful of Livy asleep in the front seat. “I only know of one way to make it not hurt without controlling your mind.”
“How’s that?” he asked uncertainly.
By infusing him with pleasure. If he was experiencing the shared pleasure life mates enjoyed, he would be less likely to suffer the pain of her fangs sinking into his flesh. Jeanne Louise didn’t tell him that, though. She simply leaned forward and kissed him.
After an initial stiffening, Paul relaxed under her caressing mouth and began to kiss her back. The moment he did the passion from earlier exploded between them. Jeanne Louise sighed her relief into his mouth and slipped her arms around his shoulders, her body instinctively pressing closer as her mouth opened to him. Paul accepted the invitation at once, his tongue thrusting out to caress hers even as his hands came up. One moved to her back, urging her closer still, while the other caught in her hair and tilted her head to a more comfortable angle.
Jeanne Louise moaned as his tongue lashed hers, and then gasped as the hand at her back slipped around to find her breast through her muddy blouse. His hand kneaded the tender flesh and then began to tug at her blouse, trying to draw it down to reveal her bra. Jeanne Louise helped, quickly undoing her buttons and then groaning as he jerked the cup of her bra aside so that he could touch the nipple unhindered.
When he broke their kiss to run his lips and tongue across her cheek to her ear, Jeanne Louise murmured eagerly and turned her head, offering it to him, then she tilted her head back, offering him her own throat as his mouth trailed down that. Paul didn’t stop there. He found the hollow of her collarbone and sent shivers shimmying through her by nibbling there, then licked his way down her breast to her nipple.
Jeanne Louise rose up slightly on his lap as his mouth closed over the hardened nub, her hands clutching at the hair behind each of his ears to urge him on. Hunger was rushing through her, a blend of his passion and need, hers and her need for blood. Jeanne Louise was briefly torn by the conflicting desires, but when she tilted her head back on a moan and felt her fangs slide out to prick her tongue, she raised her head abruptly to peer down at him.
Paul’s heart was beating in time to her own, his own need causing a hardness beneath her legs that was pushing against her with every shift of their bodies. Jeanne Louise ground herself down on the hardness, bringing a groan from his mouth that reverberated around her breast and then he tore his mouth from the nub he’d been lavishing and raised his face.
The hand in her hair tugged her down as Paul sought her mouth again, but Jeanne Louise turned her head at the last moment and went for his throat. Her fangs sank into the soft flesh even as she again ground her pelvis against his hardness and Paul cried out, a sound muffled by her hand over his mouth. It was a cry of ecstasy not pain, but she couldn’t risk Livy waking at this point, and Jeanne Louise kept his mouth covered as she fed, her pleasure in the act following the same connection as the shared pleasure and suffusing him.
Paul bucked beneath her, his hands catching her hips to hold her in place as he ground himself against her in frantic need. She ground right back, the passion and pleasure in feeding comingling and overwhelming them both. Jeanne Louise was so caught up in the moment that she might have overfed and harmed him had someone not pounded on the window next to them.
“For Christ’s sake, get a room. This is a family park,” someone barked, their voice muffled by the window.
Jeanne Louise raised her head on a furious snarl and turned to glare at whoever had interrupted her meal, but the person, an elderly man, had already continued on, shaking his head and muttering about perverts and the youth today.
She scowled after him, then glanced to Paul to see the dazed look on his face. Then Jeanne Louise twisted in his lap to peer over the front seat to Livy. Fortunately, the man’s rude interruption hadn’t woken the child.
Sighing, Jeanne Louise turned back to Paul and frowned at how pale he was. She’d taken too much blood. It wasn’t a dangerous amount. Still, it was more than she should have and he’d need time to recover. Realizing her fangs were still out, she retracted them, then eased off Paul’s lap and glanced out the window. It was dark enough she could barely see Boomer where he remained tethered to the picnic table. She felt better though. Her headache was a dull ache again rather than a hammering, and many of her cramps and aches were gone. Her stomach was also just roiling now rather than taking an acid bath. She would need more blood to be back to full throttle, but Paul couldn’t spare it.
The thought made her glance to him. He was slumped on the backseat, his head back and eyes closed. Jeanne Louise suspected he’d fainted. Leaving him for now, she slid out of the car and started back to the picnic table to collect Boomer. She was just coming around the car when she noticed a man untying Boomer’s leash from the table. Jeanne Louise put on immortal speed and rushed forward, making the man jump when she suddenly appeared at his side.
“Oh.” He blinked with confusion and glanced around. “Is he yours? I was just checking on him.”
Jeanne Louise’s eyes narrowed. He was lying. He’d planned to take Boomer. He was one of those bastards who stole animals from backyards and playgrounds and sold them for animal experimentation. He’d been driving by with a van full of pets he’d stolen, but the sight of Boomer, seemingly unattended, had seemed too good to be true and he’d stopped to collect one more.
Taking control of the man, she made him hand over Boomer’s leash, then had him lead the way to his van. It was only ten feet away. He’d just pulled over to the side of the road when he’d seen Boomer, Jeanne Louise read from his mind. She had him open the back doors of the van and found herself peering over two rows of cages inside. There were eight of them altogether, four lining each side of the back of the van, and each holding at least two animals apiece, some cats and some dogs.
Mouth tightening, Jeanne Louise made him pull out his cell phone and place an anonymous call to the police that a man with a van full of stolen goods was parked by the park. She then had to glance to the sign at the entrance to the park to be able to make him report which park.
After making him put his phone away, Jeanne Louise caught him by the front of the shirt and jerked him down so she could sink her teeth into his jugular. He groaned as her fangs slid into his skin, but this groan wasn’t one of pleasure. She didn’t bother masking the pain for him, though he wouldn’t remember suffering it. She was still masking his memory.
This time Jeanne Louise deliberately took enough blood to put the man into a faint. She then turned with him and released his shirt so that he fell into the back of his van between the rows of cages. His feet were hanging out between the open doors, but she didn’t bother about that and simply walked back to the car, leading Boomer.
When Jeanne Louise opened the back door of the car, Boomer hopped in and curled up next to Paul. She then eased the door closed and got in the driver’s seat. She was feeling pretty good now. She would drive the rest of the way to Ipperwash and let Paul sleep and recover.
When Jeanne Louise pulled out of the parking lot a moment later, a police car was pulling up behind the van of stolen pets. The sight made her smile with satisfaction. There would be a lot of happy people getting their beloved pets back tonight. It totally negated any guilt she might have felt for biting the creep.
Seven
“I’m thirsty, Jeanie.”
“I bought some snacks when I checked us in, sweetie. I’ll give you a drink as soon as I get you and Boomer into our motel room. Okay?”