by Ashlee Sinn
Viktor’s sensual touch excited me to the point that I just wanted to feel all of him inside of me. My neck burned with desire, on both sides where I now had my two bites. Had Viktor marked me too? The thought drifted in and out of my mind while Viktor began to tease my clit. I cried out with each one of his sensual movements, wanting it to last as long as possible.
“You are beautiful,” he whispered. “What a delightful sight.”
At first I thought his words were odd, but then I tilted my head up to see the mesmerized look on his face. He was taking in every inch of my naked body in front of him like a fine piece of art. I felt vulnerable, yet sexy. Exposed, yet powerful.
Viktor wanted me, and that turned me on even more.
As though sensing my need, Viktor plunged his tongue in between my folds. Immense pleasure shot through me, making me wonder if I’d even be able to hold off my orgasm. I tried, but as his tongue began to vibrate faster than humanly possible, I could only sit back and enjoy the ride.
His hands dug into my thighs, his face firmly pressing against my sex. His eyes still met mine, blinking in and out from blue to black as he tried to control himself. A part of me wanted him to let loose, but the other part of me, the part enjoying all of his attention and focus, wanted to be selfish and take what was mine.
His tongue focused on my clit and in a matter of seconds, the heat pooled between my legs faster than I could stop it. The orgasm rushed to the surface, releasing so much of that built up pressure and forcing me to scream. Actually scream like I never had before. With each flick of his tongue, another round of tingling shot through my body. I convulsed and squeezed and cried out for several minutes, enjoying multiple orgasms until I finally felt satiated.
Viktor pushed back away from me and stood. He offered his hand, a grin plastered on his face. I couldn’t help but return the smile as I let him help me stand. In silence, I finished cleaning myself off, allowing Viktor to wash my hair and soap my back.
He still hadn’t removed his clothes, a thought that seemed odd yet I couldn’t quite seem to care enough to ask the reasoning behind it. So I enjoyed the hot shower, the healed and satiated body, and the irresistible vampire standing beside me.
Yet when I woke in the morning, I couldn’t remember how I’d gotten in a bed. Nor did I know where I was. The king mattress was one of those memory foam ones and the bed frame was simple and conservative—dark wood and a modest headboard. Windows that reached the vaulted and very high ceilings let in the light behind a thin layer of curtains. The room was open, almost like a studio-loft style, yet I was the only one in it.
And I was wearing a man’s dress shirt.
The doorbell chimed. Okay, at least I thought it was the doorbell. Then a sudden banging somewhere from the other side of the apartment, or condo, echoed through the lofty space. Footsteps sounded from the hallway, followed by a muffled response to the person banging on the door.
In an instant, I tried to put everything together. My attack last night. Sebastian’s hold over me. Viktor. Oh my god, what had I done with Viktor? I touched my neck once again, only this time with both hands on both sides. But there was no mark where Viktor had bitten me. And there were still two tiny bite marks from Sebastian.
Then I remembered the shower.
I pushed the covers aside and found that I had no pants on. But I was wearing my panties. How? I thought he’d torn them off…
Footsteps pounded up the stairs that I assumed came from the front door. Loud, anxious steps with a purpose. “Sophia?”
Silas was here. I opened my mouth to call for him but he found me first. And he saw me laying in Viktor’s bed with just a man’s shirt on.
The expression on his face changed from worry to hatred in just a few seconds. I saw his muscles tense. His jaw clench. And in that moment, I knew I’d ruined whatever kind of relationship we’d had.
“Silas,” I whispered, “What are you doing here?”
Viktor chose that moment to walk into the room from…somewhere downstairs. He was on the far side, buttoning up his shirt and rolling up the sleeves. He looked up at me and at Silas but didn’t say a word.
“What are you doing here?” Silas snapped.
“We were attacked—” Viktor started.
“I wasn’t fucking talking to you!” Silas interrupted. The look he gave the vampire worried me. I’d never seen him this wound up. “Tell me! Now!”
I stood, the shirt barely covering the tops of my thighs, but I tried to act confident. “Like Viktor said, we were attacked and I got hurt—”
“Are you okay?” Silas interrupted again, although he made no attempt to come any closer.
“I…I think so.”
“And why are you in his bed?” Silas’ voice shook with that last question.
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly.
Viktor stepped closer, lifting a tie off the footboard and fastening it around his neck. “She needed to rest,” he said without looking at us.
“To rest?” Silas growled. His stern eyes focused on me again. “Did you fuck him?”
“Silas!” I shouted, not amused at all with his tone. “No!”
He studied me closely and I know he saw the guilt on face. I tried to hide it. I really did. But I wasn’t a great liar when it came to personal relationships. “What happened between the two of you, Sophia?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but Viktor interrupted me this time. “Sophia was having trouble with her mark. She’d lost a lot of blood and I had no choice but to help heal her.”
Silas stepped forward, determined to kill the vampire in front of him. I rushed ahead and placed a hand on his chest to stop him. “Silas, please. Hear him out.” Not only did I want to avoid another fight, but I also wanted to listen to Viktor explain last night.
“Continue,” Silas demanded. His muscles pulsed with tension and I had no doubt that he was ready to tear Viktor’s limbs off.
“You know what the effects of her mark are,” Viktor continued as he adjusted his tie. “You’ve benefited from them.”
Silas tried to jump forward but I held him back.
“Viktor, please,” I begged.
Viktor looked at me and must have seen something that told him I needed to hear it straight. He sighed. “Last night, after I shared my blood with her, she needed a…release.” Silas growled but Viktor didn’t stop. “So I gave her a vision to help ease her…pain.”
A vision? What? “I…I don’t understand.”
Viktor’s blue gaze traveled over mine and back to Silas several times. Then he shrugged and let it all out. “The shower? Didn’t happen. I knew what you needed but I also knew that I wouldn’t go there with you unless I had your permission.” Again, he flicked his eyes toward Silas. “And you weren’t thinking clearly.”
This time I was the one that approached Viktor. “Are you telling me that you hypnotized me to think that we had sex?” I practically yelled it, not caring that Silas was here.
“You had sex with him?” Silas shouted.
“No, there was no sex,” Viktor confirmed calmly. “Oral or otherwise,” he said just to me.
“I’m going to rip your fucking head off,” Silas said, jumping forward again. I grabbed his arm.
Viktor stepped back but didn’t cower. “There is nothing to be upset about, hunter.” His eyes found mine and a sense of…regret passed over them. “She is still yours.”
My brain rushed to catch up. Had the entire bathroom encounter been a dream? How dare Viktor take over my memories and my actions. Vampires weren’t supposed to have that much power. Enhanced charm and charisma, yes, but not the ability to create memories. And ones that felt as real as last night.
“Why are you here, hunter?” Viktor asked after several seconds of silence.
“What?” Silas said, just as lost in his thoughts as I’d been.
“Why are you banging on my door so early in the morning and how did you find out where I lived?”
As t
hough breaking free of a trance, Silas shook his head. “The Order told me where I could find you.”
“And why would they do that?” Viktor’s tone had changed and even I sensed that what Silas was about to say next would not be pleasant.
“Because Sebastian took Ezra last night and we need your help to find him.”
“Ezra’s gone? What do you mean?” I asked the questions but they were just words. Nothing would process in my brain.
“Sebastian kidnapped him last night and wants a ransom for his return.” Silas ran a hand through is tousled hair and exchanged a knowing look with Viktor.
I watched their interaction, annoyed that I wasn’t following yet. “What? What ransom does he want?”
Viktor hung his head at the same time Silas reached for my hand. “He wants you, Sophia. Sebastian wants you.”
the vampire huntress
Part THREE: TAKEN
Sophia Glen is the bait.
Ezra has been taken by the vampire who marked Sophia as his own. And the only way to get her mentor back is to give herself over to Sebastian. Forever.
But the rest of her friends believe there must be a better way, especially Viktor and Silas. As the manhunt intensifies, Sophia finds her relationship with Viktor growing stronger. Partners in every sense, Sophia is comforted by the fact that she doesn’t have to be alone. Yet she struggles with the possibility of losing Silas, despite knowing that her life as a hunter is over.
When Viktor gathers a group of shifters and demons to fight by their side, Sophia’s hopefulness increases. Perhaps she can get Ezra back without sacrificing herself. But they’ve all been tricked and the consequences are devastating. The power has shifted out of their control.
And Sophia will never be the same again.
Chapter 1
The room blackened to a tunnel where only Viktor and Silas claimed my vision. With ringing ears, I tried to process Silas’ words. Sebastian wanted me. He wanted my life in exchange for Ezra’s—my boss, my mentor, and my friend. I stared at the two men in front of me, unable to form any kind of cohesive thought.
“I need to make a call,” Viktor finally said in the silence.
Silas watched, no, glared at the vampire as he left my side. The muscles in his jaw clenched when he ground his teeth back and forth. The fog in my vision began to clear and I reached forward to touch Silas’ arm, thinking he would welcome the comfort. But instead, he jerked his body away and turned his angry gaze on me.
“Don’t touch me,” he growled.
“Silas?” I hated the way my voice trembled and the gnawing pain growing in my stomach.
He stared at me, eyes narrowed and forehead cinched. “How could you do this?”
Confusion took hold. “Do what, Silas?”
“Be here! With him!” He shouted loud enough that I was sure Viktor could hear. Letting out a sigh in frustration, Silas rubbed his hands over his face several times before continuing. “You’re a hunter. Not a vampire whore.”
His words cut deep—slicing old wounds and clawing into the pit of guilt swirling inside. “Silas…please…” I reached toward him again only to be greeted with another recoil.
“Don’t,” he warned.
My legs shook and I felt the flush crawl up my neck. The embarrassed part of me seeped back into my bones while the anger rushed to the surface. “You have no right to talk to me like that, Silas. I almost died and Viktor saved my life. Viktor. Not you!”
He flinched. Visibly reacting to the harsh truth. Silas could hate me for the fake sex I’d had with Viktor, but at the end of the day, he hadn’t been by my side to do anything different.
Silas slowly turned, his eyes glued to the floor. I wanted to comfort him again, to tell him that I didn’t mean to snap at him. It wasn’t his fault I’d been attacked. It was Sebastian’s fault, and his actions were impacting all of us. “It’s never going to go back to the way it was before, is it?”
“What do you mean?”
“You. And me.” He shook his head and jammed his hands into his pockets. “This fucking bite will never go away, will it?”
The sharp jolt of truth twisted under my skin. Silas was right. I would never be the same again. Either Sebastian would claim me or Viktor would be forced to turn me. And neither decision would allow me to live a normal human life again.
With a whisper, I answered, “No.”
Biting his lips, Silas took a step closer to me. Sadness clouded his features, pulling on his face and weighing down his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it just as Viktor’s footsteps echoed in the hallway.
“We need to go,” the vampire said, either unaware or unconcerned with the extreme amount of tension weighing between us.
I studied Silas a few seconds longer waiting for him to speak again. But I knew, in that moment, that the relationship we had would be irrevocably changed. And it saddened me. I hadn’t asked for Sebastian to stake his claim on me. Nor had I asked to be the pawn in this game of chess we’d be forced to play. My body sunk into the floor, paralyzed by the realization that every part of my life would be different now.
“We need to go now,” Viktor said again, a bit more force behind the words.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
Viktor pulled his attention from the pacing Silas back to me. “I know some people who can help us.”
Silas’ shoe squeaked on the ground when he snapped his head around. “People? Or other vampires?” He didn’t say that last part in a kind way.
Viktor ground his lips together and lifted his chin. “People.”
Suddenly aware of the immense amount of testosterone building in the air around me, my bite tingled with anticipation. Of what, I didn’t know. But the pheromones certainly didn’t help subdue the overwhelming urge to be dominated that I had right now.
Viktor coughed and his nostrils flared. “Let’s go.” He turned faster than humanly possible and a second later I heard him open the door at the bottom of the stairs.
Silas made a small noise of disgust and started to walk past me. He reached the top of the steps and then yelled down to Viktor. “She can’t leave without wearing any clothes.”
I was wearing clothes…a shirt. A moment later a gust of wind blew back my hair and a second after that, Viktor stood in front of me with two options. In one hand, he held my dress that had seen better days. In the other, he lifted a pair of black yoga pants. I raised a brow in question when I saw those.
“They aren’t mine,” he said, and I swear his cheeks reddened in embarrassment. Silas glared at me when he caught my smirk.
“I’ll take the pants,” I said as I grabbed them. “That dress is bad luck.” I thought back to the reason I’d even had it on in the first place. It was because Viktor had taken me to confront Sebastian at his club, telling me that I was nothing more than eye candy.
He couldn’t have been more wrong.
And then we’d been attacked. Twice. I was definitely done with that dress.
I walked away from the two men so that I could have a moment of privacy before we jumped into the next bit of drama. Whether I liked it or not, it looked like Viktor was going to be by my side a little longer—or until I gave myself over to Sebastian.
And should I do that? Should I give myself up to save Ezra? Of course I should. My life as a vampire hunter was most likely over because of the mark. But Ezra was our leader and he certainly had many more years to give to the cause. Plus, I’d lost Silas. I’d lose my friends too once they realized I couldn’t control myself around vampires. It would risk their lives if I stayed around them.
The choice was clear.
As I finished getting dressed, I tried to think of the best possible way to handle this situation. If I told the rest of the hunters that I’d turn myself over, they’d only argue. Viktor probably wouldn’t leave my side long enough to let me sneak away. And Silas would…well, I wasn’t sure what Silas would do anymore.
“You ready?” Vikto
r’s voice cut into my thoughts like a slap to the face.
I looked at his tight jaw and pursed lips and wondered if he really cared about Ezra at all or if he was worried about Sebastian getting his hands on me. Or maybe he was just itching for a fight.
I nodded and followed him down the stairs and out the front door. Viktor walked toward a black SUV that hadn’t been there the night before. It was then that I realized someone was missing. “Where’s Silas?” I asked, looking up and down the street for him.
“He left while you were changing.” Viktor held open the passenger door and waved me in. “He’ll meet us there.”
I couldn’t ignore the sinking pit of sadness lurking in my gut. I really had lost Silas. I knew it. Deep down, the realization that our relationship was over clawed at my already raw emotions. Stepping into the SUV, I did all that I could to hold back the tears.
Once Viktor pulled away from the curb, I finally had enough control to speak. “Where are we going?”
“To the library.”
A part of me thought about how the hunters would need to find some new meeting places after this ordeal was over. Too many strangers knew about the locations now. But the rest of the ride I sat silently in the leather seat, accepting my fate and figuring out a way to tell everyone what I had chosen.
I followed Viktor through the college campus and down the library stairs into the darkened basement. He pushed through the glass doors leading to the room where I’d first met him. Had that only been a few days ago?
Viktor left my side, immediately walking to the far end of the table to speak to Broch. That was when I noticed how crowded the room was. I saw my friends, Nadya, Graham, and Silas standing on one side. But against the other wall stood three men and three women who didn’t belong in our meeting.