Nathan's Mate Read online

  "I'm going to do a healing spell. If you can send me any healing energy, it might help." She crinkled her brow in concentration.

  Sasha. My mate's name is Sasha.

  While Regan chanted her healing spell and Liam closed his eyes to send healing energy, Nathan stared at the vulnerable woman on the bed with awe and confusion. Hundreds of years of waiting...and she was finally here. He had given up hope. He wasn't sure if he should rejoice or mourn. He didn't want a mate. Did he?

  Sasha started thrashing, her long lashes flickering. Nathan went to the opposite side of the bed and crawled over the empty space of the enormous bed. He held her hand and put a comforting hand on her forehead.

  She was healing, her injuries closing before his eyes to leave nothing but smooth skin. Nathan looked from her to her sister. Regan's face looked strained and contorted as she continued the healing spell. Liam's head was thrown back in concentration, his eyes closed. Nathan wasn't a healer but he could feel the combined energy swirling through the bedroom. It was all directed toward Sasha, making her thrash and moan as her body healed.

  Nathan stared fixedly at his mate, his displeasure at the whole situation evident. She was in pain and he didn't like it. He stroked her cheek and she quieted.

  Her eyes fluttered open, confusion and pain mingling in her panicked eyes.

  "Don't be afraid. You're being healed. You were injured. Stay still." Nathan tried to reassure her.

  Her gaze flew straight to his face and she started, her face frightened and alarmed. "You're him. I recognize your voice. The man from my dreams."

  Nathan realized he was still stroking her cheek and she was awake. He scrambled back on the bed, but he wasn't fast enough.

  His face grew feral and his body shook with reaction. The mating instinct had kicked in and it seized his entire being, infusing him with possessiveness and lust. His cock hardened like a diamond and heat rushed through every artery, vein and capillary in his body.

  "Mine!"

  With the healing completed, his fierce, loud growl brought every eye in the room to him with shock and alarm.

  Chapter 3

  Sasha couldn't do much more than stare at her dream lover that had suddenly come alive in much too graphic detail. Holy hell...the man was enormous and there was no veil or shadow this time. Nostrils flaring and eyes burning, the man pinned her with his black stare but said nothing more. He seemed to be struggling...with himself. His eyes raked over her body and face hotly.

  Sasha scrambled for cover, pulling back the sheet and blankets to cover herself from chin to toes. She flushed as she realized she had been as naked as the day she was born, exposed to every eye in the room. Had they seen her mark of the vampire?

  Liam was the only one brave enough to approach Nathan. He walked calmly around the bed and dragged his brother to his feet, yanking hard with both arms around his shoulders. Nathan was two hundred years older than Liam, but Liam had his own elevated degree of power as a healer and Nathan didn't really resist. He was too busy trying control his animal instincts.

  "You okay, Nathan?" Liam slapped him on the back as Nathan stood, stumbling a little as he gained his balance.

  Nathan held up his hand. "I'm fine. I'm six hundred years old for Christ's sake. I can control myself."

  Liam gave him a doubtful look as he returned to Sasha. He introduced himself and his brother as Regan looked on curiously.

  "What's wrong with him. He doesn't look so good." Regan probed quietly as she continued gaping at Nathan.

  "Let's go get some nourishment, Regan. The healing was draining. I'll explain everything." Liam nodded his head toward the door, indicating that they should leave Sasha and Nathan alone.

  "Are you sure it's safe." Regan didn't sound so sure that leaving them alone was a good idea.

  "They'll be quite safe, Regan. Come along and I'll explain. They have a few...issues to work out." Liam coughed to cover his laugh as he motioned Regan out the door.

  Regan moved behind him slowly, shooting her sister one last, perplexed look as she followed Liam.

  Sasha watched as the pair disappeared, her mind whirling. She remembered the monsters that attacked her and seeing a brief glimpse of the vampire that Liam had introduced as Nathan before she lost consciousness. She also remembered sending out a calling spell to Regan. She had obviously received it. She was here, and she must have healed her.

  "You saved my life," Sasha whispered, knowing that he must have destroyed the creatures attacking her.

  Nathan walked around the bed and sat on the floor beside the bed before replying, "I almost didn't make it fast enough." His eyes never left her face. Sasha could see the fear and concern in his expression.

  She lifted a hand to his cheek, unable to stop herself from comforting him. "You made it. I would have been dead had you not shown up. What were they?"

  "Fallen vampires."

  Sasha shuddered. She didn't know that vampires could fall and become such hideous creatures. "And you hunt them?"

  "Yes." Nathan answered simply. "They prey on the innocent."

  "And you don't?." She couldn't stop herself from asking the question. Weren't all vampires evil?

  A volatile look crossed his face as he answered roughly. "No. I do not. Vampires may survive on blood but we take from those who aren't so innocent and we don't kill to do it."

  She believed him. His insulted look was definitely not false. He looked like she had slapped him. Remorse stabbed at her sharply as she replied, "I'm sorry. I know very little about vampires."

  "Probably about as much as I know about the mage." His voice was rough and low. "Do you know that we are mates?"

  Sasha flinched. "I knew I was the mate of the vampire because I have the mark. I didn't know who he was. But I have dreams..." Her voice shook. "I never see a face...but I dream. I recognized your voice."

  "I dream the same dreams. But I could see you very clearly." Nathan willed his mark to appear and held his forearm out to her. "We are definitely mates. I can feel the mating instinct even now."

  Sasha stared at Nathan's mark, a twin to her own. She could feel the mating instinct too, and it wasn't comfortable. She wanted to pull Nathan into the bed and have him at least a million different ways. The only difficult part would be where to start.

  You cannot mate with a vampire...no matter how handsome and compelling he may be. You are mage.

  "Mage and vampires do not mate." Sasha said it as much to herself as to Nathan, trying to convince herself that she could never have this man that was turning her inside out.

  "Make no mistake, little one...we will mate. The process has begun and it will end with us being mated." His stare was intense and his voice rumbled. "I understand that you do not understand all there is to know about vampire mates. I will explain it to you."

  Sasha felt her temper rising. He may have saved her life, but no man was going to tell her what to do or what was going to happen with her life. She made her own destiny. She opened her mouth to tell him exactly that, but he had started explaining the nature of mates.

  Curiosity overruled her anger...and she listened as he explained exactly what being the mate of a vampire really meant.

  ******

  Sasha smiled as she woke one week later in an array of silken rose petals. She stretched in her bed, inhaling the fragrant smell that surrounded her. As she opened her eyes she ran hand a through more than an inch of soft, red petals piled high around her. She laughed as she tossed a handful in the air and watched them waft slowly back to the bed.

  His courting is bewitching me.

  When Nathan decided something...he was immovable. He had decided he was going to court her...and she had been spoiled rotten for the last week. All she had to do is wish or want for something and it appeared.

  This was the seventh day she had woken up in a bed of rose petals. Sasha knew from experience that once she exited the bed, the petals would disappear and her bedroom would be filled with several vases of roses on
every available surface of the room.

  Nathan's power was terrifying, but strangely enough, Sasha had never feared him. She got in his face often enough when he pissed her off, but he showed nothing but patience with her. His control was nearly as scary as his power.

  She hopped out of the bed, shaking off petals as she went, yawning as she glanced at the window. It was twilight. Although she had never been an early riser, her nights had gotten longer and she slept the day away.

  Coffee.

  She made her way sleepily toward the kitchen to put on the coffee pot only to find a large, steaming mug of latte waiting for her. Extra milk, extra sugar. Just the way she liked it.

  Exasperating man! He probably had not even woken from his day sleep yet and he was able to cater to her wants. Ah..the benefits of having a six hundred year old vampire mate.

  Sasha blew on the steaming mug and took a small sip of the much needed caffeine. Perfect. As usual. Sighing softly, she carried the mug back to the bedroom. The rose petals were gone and the vases were arranged around the room. How in the hell did he do that? Did he arrange it with magic before he slept or was he so powerful that he could do all this while he slept? She had asked him before and he had just shot her a deliciously wicked look.

  She sat on her bed and cradled her coffee, sipping at it leisurely as wondered what she should do this evening. She could go to the homeless shelter and help out as she had been doing the night she had met with the two fallen, but she had promised Nathan that she wouldn't go there without his escort.

  It was Saturday night. She and Regan never worked on the weekends. They had been working in her basement workshop all week with Nathan, his brothers and their mates as frequent visitors. She had even met Adare and Kristin, friends of the brothers. They were all so...likeable. Even Regan, shy and quiet as she was, laughed and joked along with the brothers and their mates, enjoying their company. They all teased each other mercilessly, but Sasha could also see the bond between them all.

  So different from the mage, Sasha thought. Mages were serious creatures that rarely laughed or showed their emotions to one another. Their main concern was the survival of the species and keeping the purity of their mage heritage.

  She shuddered, her coffee nearly spilling as she thought of her parent's reactions to her revelation that she was a vampire mate. They were disappointed in her and they showed it. She was treated as a dirty outcast by everyone except Regan, who treated her no differently than she always did. Her parents had told her in no uncertain terms that she was an aristocratic mage and she would be mated to another of her kind.

  Sasha had refused. She may not end up mated to Nathan, but she could not mate with another mage knowing that she was the keeper of Nathan's soul. She couldn't do it. She would end up an old maid before she mated with a mage simply for bloodlines.

  You will be mated with me, love.

  Nathan's voice floated through her mind like a caress, making her shiver in reaction. All she needed was to hear the sultry voice to make her heart race and her soul fill with yearning. Her body reacted, her panties dampening and her nipples hardening.

  "So sure of yourself, vampire?," she whispered as she smiled into her coffee mug.

  He was infuriating, arrogant and smug. He could also be kind, tender and thoughtful. It was almost an irresistible mix. She longed for him as she had never wanted another man.

  I have no doubt, Sasha. You belong to me.

  His voice was low and possessive. How it could anger her and arouse her at the same time was a mystery. "I belong to no man, vampire," she answered stubbornly.

  She heard his chuckle as he murmured back. We shall see, little one.

  Sasha's spine stiffened in indignation. Tall for a woman, she was hardly little. Just because Nathan was a giant of a man didn't make her small. "Don't call me that. I am not a child."

  "I am well aware of that, love. You are well developed in all of the right areas." His voice was husky and full of desire.

  Her panties flooded as she imagined him exploring all of those areas. Her lust for him was undeniable. Although he had done nothing more than kiss her forehead, she longed for him to take her to bed and claim her.

  The thought had no more than crossed her mind when Nathan appeared in front her, dressed only in a pair of body hugging jeans and a slight smile. Her breath caught as she took in his muscular, hard body in the flesh. He was gloriously handsome with his dark hair and eyes that were shooting her a look of intense lust.

  "Tell me you want it as much as I do, Sasha. I'm not sure how much longer I can fight it," he growled as he held out his hand to her.

  Chapter 4

  Sasha trembled as she set her empty coffee cup on her bedside table. Oh...she wanted it. She had wanted Nathan since he had appeared in her dreams. Now that she knew him in reality, her desire had intensified to an unbearable level. To let him take her was dangerous. To be without him was unendurable.

  She met his intense gaze, returning it with a look of longing and vulnerability that she knew he could see in her eyes.

  "Come with me, Sasha. I can feel your need and it claws at me." His hand stayed extended, palm up as he took a step closer.

  She wasn't the least bit afraid of him. She was afraid of her own reactions. He called to a part of her that she never knew existed and on a level that was painful in it's intensity.

  She reached out and placed her palm in his. Within moments he had scooped her into his arms and transported them to his bedroom.

  As he laid her in the middle of his bed, he murmured roughly, "I need to see you here in my bed. Mine. I've imagined it so many times in my mind."

  She was still in her little shortie pink nightshirt and little else. Her hair was braided and he sat beside her and started unraveling the braid. She sat up while he worked. His ragged breath was hot on her neck and her heart was pounding. "Nathan...I have to tell you something."

  He stroked her cheek as his hand loosened her hair, letting it fall in waves over her back. "What bothers you?"

  "I haven't...I've never...the mage don't have sex before they are mated." She choked out the embarrassing fact before she lost her nerve.

  "Sasha?" He tilted her face to his, those burning eyes bright with concern. "Are you trying to tell me that you are a virgin?"

  She nodded, unable to answer.

  "Mine. Completely mine." His voice was hoarse with emotion. "I'll try my best to be gentle, Sasha, although knowing I am the first and last man to possess you will likely drive me insane."

  "Don't be gentle, Nathan. I need you." She reached out boldly and stroked the large bulge through his jeans. She wanted him as he was...hard, possessive, demanding.

  He yanked her short nightie over her head, baring her breasts to him. His hands cupped them both, stroking over them, teasing the nipples with his thumbs. His intimate touch on her body made her squirm as his mouth crashed down on hers. His tongue demanded entrance as licked at her lips and swept into her mouth. She met him tongue to tongue, moaning into his mouth as his fingers continued his assault on her sensitive breasts.

  Her hands crept to his shoulders, relishing the burgeoning muscles and sifted into his silky, dark locks of hair. She could barely breath as his embrace sucked the air from her lungs. He pulled his lips from hers and trailed his hot tongue along her ear. She could hear him panting, trying to gain control. She shivered as he trailed his mouth along her neck and to her breasts. He replaced his hand with his mouth on her nipple as his fingers descended to her barely-there, pink thong.

  "Mine." His hand ripped away her panties as he uttered the word harshly against her breast.

  His fingers invaded her already dripping mound, toying with tender folds and sliding smoothly into her pussy.

  She clasped his head as he suckled and stroked her nipples with his rough tongue, abrading the flesh. "Oh, God. Nathan."

  His fingers caressed, seeking her bud of pleasure. They were bold as they stroked over her clit.

&
nbsp; "Yes. Please. More." She was begging as her fingernails stroked his back.

  "Can't touch me anymore, love. Not now. I can't take it." His voice was strangled.

  Sasha gasped as her arms flew over her head and were held there by his power. Invisible ties held her as surely as bindings. She jerked, but her hands were pinned above her head. She was helpless, his to command.

  His mouth trailed down her stomach and she squirmed, her body burning with need. She need him. Sasha could feel his need to dominate her as well as her own to be taken and possessed.

  She whimpered as his mouth moved north, licking closer to her wet core. She closed her legs in reaction, not sure she could endure the sensation. Moving between her legs, he spread them open wide, exposing her vulnerable pussy. Her legs were locked in position. She fought to close them instinctively, but they were held open as surely as her arms were pinned above her head.