For a moment her lips trembled, before she thinned them into a straight line and lifted her chin. “Fuck you.”
Relieved she hadn’t given into tears, which would have annoyed the hell out of him, Drago said, “Before we leave, I’ll need to see what we’ve got to work with here—if I’m to get you into the catalog in time.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You’re going to list me in a catalog?”
“You’ll be sold at auction. The auctioneer will want advance notice of your attributes to stir interest and attract the highest bidders.”
“You’re going to sell me in an auction?” Her voice rose. “I’m not an animal.”
“It’s the custom here.”
Her face as black as an angry storm cloud, she rose from her chair. “No. Forget it. I’m not going anywhere with you. I won’t cooperate.”
“Sweetheart, you’ll cooperate. If you don’t, men will assume you’re playacting and that submission is your game. Do you want some S&M freak to purchase you?”
“I’ll tell them I was abducted and have no wish to be sold.”
He laughed. “They won’t believe you. No woman on Arturia would pass up an opportunity to catch the Hazar’s eye.”
She didn’t answer, but her scowl deepened. Reddened cheeks and the stubborn set of her chin said she wasn’t going to make his life easy.
Drago straightened. “Let’s get started. Take off your clothes.”
She folded her arms over her chest.
“You can take them off yourself, or I’ll assume you prefer I do it.”
“Oh yeah? You and what army?”
“Oh, I’ll get them off, but they’ll be in shreds. And tomorrow, you’ll spend the day on the back of a llamyx buck naked.”
Drago waited while the woman’s thoughts paraded across her face. Stubborn resistance, followed by a desperate desire for escape. And finally resignation. Her shoulders slumped. She reached for the neck of her cloak, unfastened it, and let it slide down her body to the ground.
His gaze flickered over her lithe form, defined by the sleek, black reclamation suit that conformed to her curves. His attention was arrested by her chest. Her breasts were enormous, and while he stared the tips jutted against the fabric. His mouth grew dry, and his loins stirred and tightened.
Her expression set in stony rebellion, the woman lifted a hand to the fastener at the top of the suit, and opened it, peeling it down her body until she stood nude before him.
Drago couldn’t drag his attention from her breasts, noting the unusual peach color of the areolas that framed rosy-brown tips.
His breath grew ragged, and he realized the woman should fear his intentions. His erection pressed uncomfortably against the placket of his breeches. Although accustomed to the company of nude beauties, this one stirred him more than the others. Not willing to acknowledge his interest might be for more than a quick ride, he reluctantly forced his gaze to descend past her slightly rounded belly to the triangle of blonde hair. This was a woman a man could spend a lifetime exploring. A twinge of regret was all he allowed himself to feel. Ruthlessly pushing away that emotion, he forced himself to remember she was merely a commodity.
Reaching into his pocket, he removed the small transmitter, placed the earpiece in his left ear and pointed the microphone toward his mouth. “What’s your name?”
“Calandra. Calandra Jones,” she spat the words at him.
“Gentlemen,” he said into the microphone, “Calandra is a natural blonde.”
And if you’re hungry for more, there’s plenty of sexy suspense awaiting in the Night Fall series!
Sm{B}itten
Love Bites!
Emmy Harris knows she’s not perfect. She has a little extra padding and isn’t the brightest bulb, but you’d think she was a sexy rock star the way everyone at a certain night club treats her from the moment she walks through the door. In fact, the two sexiest men there can’t seem to keep their hands off her, until one of them sweeps her away to his private domain. A girl like her isn’t going to waste a chance like that! So he’s a little rough and likes to take a nibble or two while he pleasures her. For a girl who didn’t know she’d never experienced a full-blown orgasm before, Dylan’s eccentricities are delicious!
Dylan O’Hara only wants a night of passion to slake his lusts, but finds Emmy is a full-bodied, red-blooded siren whose innocence and humor draw this Master vampire like a moth to a red-hot flame. When Emmy attracts the attention of a serial-killing vampire, Dylan vows to protect her, but he fears he’ll lose Emmy once she discovers he’s not human.
Truly, Madly…Deadly
Just this once…
On the trail of a serial killer, vampire Quentin Albermarle is mistaken for the killer by a police special task force. Once the smoke clears, Quentin finds himself in a delicious position—atop one of the unit’s crack officers, Darcy Henry. In need of Quentin’s access to the vampire sub-culture, the task force leadership invites Quentin to join the crime unit as a special advisor, much to the chagrin of the men in the unit, and especially, of Darcy.
Caught between opposing forces, vampire and hunter…
A no-nonsense cop with no time for romance, Darcy suddenly finds herself embroiled in a steamy love triangle between her mortal partner, Joe, and the handsome vampire. Going from abstinence to wantonness, she is unable to resist the two men’s relentless seduction or her own sensual curiosity about a vampire’s special “kiss”.
A hunger like no other…
When the real killer threatens the life of someone close to her, Darcy makes a choice that forever binds the three of them together.
Knight in Transition
A member of an elite police unit sworn to hunt vampires, Joe Garcia’s life is turned upside down when he’s transformed into one. On a quest for a cure, Joe’s search brings him to New Orleans in a last-ditch effort to recover his humanity.
Professor Lily Carlson, a renowned expert in vampire lore, has a condition of her own. Her sexual libido has been in hyper-drive for months. Her only defense is to hide behind her glasses and tweed suits and stay as far away from men as possible. However, she’s thrilled to discover vampires really do exist when Joe shows up on her balcony.
Although Joe deflects her attempts to make him a case study and confirm a few vampire statistics, he is drawn by her powerful allure. When werewolves join the chase and track her through New Orleans, Joe’s cop instincts tell him there’s a mystery to solve. Intent on protecting her, he must seek help from the last vampire on Earth he wants to ask.
While his hopes for deliverance from his fate dwindle, Lily’s life is forever altered by an unexpected inheritance.
Wolf in Plain Sight
To Super-cop Max Weir, the only good vampire is a dead one. Since his special police unit integrated with vampires, he’s had to suppress his natural hatred to work side by side with the undead to hunt down and terminate the deadliest killers. Now the unit’s hot on the trail of a new menace in town, a pack of werewolves prowling for vampires who don’t care whether humans get in their way.
When a stakeout goes awry, Max enters a bar looking for a fight or woman to help him blow off a little steam. What he finds is a winsome siren whose sexual appetites match his own.
Vampire Pia D’Amato is on a secret mission to take out Max—either by seduction or turning him. He’s become a liability to the Masters’ Council setting up jurisdiction in southern Florida, and she’s not leaving until she’s done the job. But Max is more man than she bargained for with a deadly secret of his own.
Knight Edition
Sidney Coffey, Seattle’s “News at Nine” girl, uncovers the scoop of a lifetime and her ticket into serious journalism. The only problem is—without proof—no one’s going to believe the victims of recent gang killings are in fact “undead” and vampires!
With her gut telling her there’s an even bigger story lurking beneath the surface, she decides to beard a reclusive vampire master in his den for an inte
rview. But meeting the master only complicates things. For a woman with a voracious sexual appetite, the tall, dark and gloomy vamp proves an irresistible challenge.
When a reporter trespasses on his estate, Navarro is at first amused then annoyed that the little baggage is close to putting together the pieces of a dangerous plot involving an old enemy and a group of murdered geneticists. To keep her safe, Navarro issues an invitation he won’t let her refuse.
Night Fall on Dark Mountain
After the death of one of the members of the super-secret police unit aligned with the Vampire Council in southern Florida, werewolf Max Weir becomes the chief suspect. Sure a greater villain has used a were-clan’s hatred of vamps to strike against the unit, Max travels to the mountains of North Carolina to seek the truth and hopefully renew the centuries-old truce between the weres and vampires.
Alec Weir has a problem on his hands. The new sheriff on Dark Mountain must walk a fine line between upholding were-clan laws and saving his vamp-loving brother from certain death. Alec must find the traitor in the clan responsible for the attack on the vampires or watch his brother die. If that wasn’t enough, his chosen mate, Stasia McGwyre, seems to still hold a candle for Max.
Frannie and the Private Dick
Bent on catching her cheating fiancé in the act, Frannie Valentine got sidetracked by a little thing like dying. When she awakens, Frannie learns her pampered life will never be the same, so she turns to the man responsible for her undeadness and demands he take on the responsibility of giving her a little job training—in the PI biz.
Niall Keegan never intended to make himself a mate, but Frannie’s string of minor disasters, which ended with her dying in his arms, took the decision right out of his hands. While the mating part isn’t bad, making the disaster-prone Frannie a PI may just be the death of him.
Silent is the Knight
In the aftermath of a terrible hurricane, Noelle Moyaux questions her gift of sight until a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger sets her on a path to save his soul.
Magnus Thornton is a millennium-old vampire who has found evidence of an old foe’s evil at work in the demolished city of New Orleans. Weary of the fight, he decides to greet the coming dawn after a night reveling in his favorite indulgences—a bottle of wine and a willing woman.
What starts as a night of sensual delights ends in a revelation of mutual discovery when Noelle quickly creeps into his heart. The ancient vampire, so jaded from life he never speaks, must now persuade her to flee the city before it’s too late.
Excerpt from Night Fall on Dark Mountain…
The wolf rushed through the open door, into the darkened room beyond, his claws clattering on the tiled floor.
Woman! Mate! He had to find her.
Following wolf scent and the musty odor of blood, he sped through the room and up the curved staircase toward the light beckoning at the top.
Heedless of any danger, the wolf charged upward, stretching his limbs to leap several steps at a time in his desperation to find her—the slim, dark-haired one.
At the top of the stairs, the wolf came to a halt, hackles rising on his shoulders and back at the smell of blood—wolf blood. Bodies stretched on the floor before him, blood soaking the carpet beneath his paws. But what gave the animal pause were the looming, growling figures that faced him, standing above the corpses.
Enemy! Danger breathed in their combined rage.
The wolf started forward, first left then right, retreat being impossible because the dark-haired woman was nearby and sobbing. The sounds of her harsh cries brought up a howl that echoed in the narrow hallway.
The wolf heard the sounds the men made, harsh and loud, echoing in the hallway, but didn’t comprehend, only recognized the hatred tightening the voice of the nearest man-like creature.
Another sob drew his attention, just as the nearest foe leapt, wrapping powerful arms around the wolf’s throat—so tight he couldn’t breathe. He wriggled and jerked, gnashing teeth, but the man held fast to the wolf while another drew a shining rope over his muzzle.
Another spate of harsh sounds and a moment later, a jolt knocked the breath from his body and brought the wolf to his haunches, leaving him quivering in the aftermath. Still, he fought to stand.
Another jolt, this time searing in its ferocity left the wolf powerless, his tongue lolling from between his jaws. Blackness encroached, and in the moment before he surrendered, the wolf knew himself trapped.
*
Max Weir awoke slowly, every muscle in his body aching. He rolled from his back onto his knees and rested his forehead on the floor for a moment to recover from the change of equilibrium, shocked his whole body trembled from the effort.
Something had kicked the shit out of him.
When he lifted his head to see, he felt a sharp tug and the bite of metal around his neck.
Instinct kicked in, and he roared, tucking in his head to lunge against the chain. When he failed to budge it, he reached deep inside for the strength to transform.
“Turn, and we’ll kill you where you sit.” The voice, soft and deadly, and with slight European inflections, was one he didn’t recognize. But Max did recognize the steel beneath the words and resisted the primal urge to let loose his inner beast on his captors.
Still woozy and struggling to regain his full intellect, Max shook his head experimentally and realized it wasn’t one leash, but two, pulling in opposite directions to keep him lowered to the floor.
Again, Max raised his head, slowly this time, and blinked against the bright light, bringing focus to his eyes. He was in the living room of the compound, in the very center. Someone had cleared away the furniture. He knelt on the beige carpet, still naked after his latest chase.
A sideways glance revealed Dylan and Joe held the ends of his chains wrapped around their fists, their expressions set and lethal. His gut twisted, betrayal tasting bitter after all he’d done to keep his spot on the Special Unit following the revelation of his true, were nature.
Max’s lips curled, baring his teeth. Show the bastards the feral beast.
“I’ve no patience for posturing.”
Again, that damnable voice. Max slowly lifted his head to stare at the vamp who could only be Navarro, the Master from the Northwest Council.
He sat in a chair facing Max. His dark sloe eyes narrowed as he stared.
“Why am I chained?” Max asked, not surprised to find his voice hoarse, his throat raw. He recalled a struggle and choking.
“The more appropriate question would be why are you still living?” Navarro asked, no hint of his thoughts in his even tone.
Unable to glance around, Max sniffed to determine if others watched, but found no more nearby scents. Only the odor of death, overlaid with the musk of several wolves. Somewhere distant in the house. “They got inside the compound?”
“Don’t give me a ration of shit, were,” Joe shouted, jerking on his chain.
“You knew they were close?” Dylan asked from the end of his chain, his voice soft, but menacing.
Max gritted his teeth, fighting for breath as the metal constricted around his throat. “I caught their scent and followed them—outside the gate.”
“Why didn’t you radio to the others and sound the alert?” Joe jerked the chain again.
“Bastard!” Max spat. “Comms were out.”
“What did you do with the guards?” Joe asked, with another tug.
Max gasped. If he ever got free, he’d tear his buddy a new asshole. “Not a fucking thing… Didn’t encounter any.”
“How convenient,” Joe sneered. “And you didn’t question that fact?”
“I sent Pia…to round up the guards. Slipped out the gate…wanted to keep their trail.”
Joe wound the chain rope over and over his fist, coming closer. He leaned down, close enough so Max could see the golden discs of his eyes and his vampire fangs. “And did you find them, ole buddy?”
“I think so.”
&n
bsp; The chain held by Dylan tightened.
Max cursed. “I transformed. I remember impressions…of wolves. Several surrounding me…after I’d chased them a while.”
“You were surrounded by wolves?” Joe asked, his voice low and deadly. “Must have been a family reunion. You don’t have a scratch on you.”
“I…don’t…know why…they wouldn’t fight me,” Max panted, trying to draw in air past the constricting metal. “I smell blood.”
Joe slammed his side. “Nice try, fucking wolf. Tell me you don’t know Darcy’s dead!”
Max felt light-headed, ready to pass out, but turned to stare. “What the fuck?” His throat closed so tight, the words were forced.
“She’s dead, were!” Joe shouted, his face red, tears filling his eyes. “And I’m gonna fucking kill you myself!”
“You think I—” The look on Joe’s face said he didn’t care if Max had been the one to hurt Darcy or not. He wanted blood.
“Pia?” Max whispered. “Pia’s…all right?” He struggled to get to his feet.
“Stay on your knees and clasp your hands behind your back.” This came from Navarro, who’d watched the whole inquiry in silence. “Loosen the chain a little, Joe. I don’t want him dead…yet.”
Max glared at his rescuer, but complied with his orders, and when the chain relented, he dragged air into his burning lungs.
A radio squawked. “Dylan!” Emmy’s voice broke over the air.
Dylan unclipped a radio from his belt with his free hand. “What’s up, Em? Did you reach the limo?”
“Yeah.” Emmy paused to clear her throat. “But tell Navarro the driver and Sidney are both out cold. And Dylan, Dr. Deats and his colleagues are gone.”
“Mother-fuckin’ bastards,” Joe swore.
Dylan aimed a deadly glare at Max and spoke into the radio. “Hot-foot it back here—”
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