by Cynthia Eden
Her hands were on his chest. Smoothing over the muscles and sending a spike of fire to his cock. “You.” She licked her lips. “Fast. Hard. Deep.”
She was going to bring him to his knees.
Her fingers traced over his nipples. “Make me forget,” she whispered the order. “Make me forget everything.”
Forget that he was a vampire? The stark thought ran through his mind, but he didn’t step away from her. Nothing would have made him leave her. His gaze dropped to her breasts. No bra. Round. Firm. Tight little nipples. His mouth watered, and he just had to get a taste.
His arms wrapped around her. He lifted her, lowering his head and lashing his tongue over her left nipple. Nipping lightly with his teeth.
Her moan filled his ears. Even better than I remembered. Soft flesh. Wild woman.
After one more hungry swipe of his tongue, Sully managed to lift his head. His teeth were burning. The bloodlust rising with his need.
“Get on the bed.” His command was guttural.
She wanted fast and hard—oh, but he’d give it to her.
One delicate eyebrow rose, but she didn’t move toward the bed. Instead, she looped her fingers in the waist of her shorts—faded, loose shorts that skimmed the tops of her silken thighs—and with a little push, she sent the material dropping to the floor.
Her feet were bare. She lifted one foot, then the other as she stepped out of the shorts. Clad now only in a pair of black bikini panties, she stared at him with hunger gleaming in her eyes.
The bed was five feet away. But if she didn’t move soon, he’d take her where they stood. “Sadie…” A warning.
One she ignored.
Her hands were on his chest. Soft fingertips smoothing over him. Her scent flooded his nostrils and pushed him to the edge of his control.
Her head lowered. Her breath fanned over his skin, and her mouth closed over his right nipple.
Oh, fuck.
He shuddered and tried to ignore the bloodlust that burned ever hotter within him. He knew his eyes would be turning and darkening into the black of a hunting vamp.
For prey or for passion…that was when a vampire’s eyes changed. It had been the first lesson he’d learned.
Her fingers were on his belt. Unhooking the buckle and then easing open the snap of his jeans. Sully had never been the underwear type—not living and not undead. So when Sadie pushed open his jeans, his cock sprang out, ready and standing up. The thick head strained toward her.
She took him eagerly. Her hands wrapped around him and squeezed tight and—
He grabbed her. Lifted her high and kissed her lips when they parted in surprise. Sully drank from her mouth. Fed. And let the hunger rage.
A red haze seemed to cover his eyes. It had been far too long since he’d taken his Sadie. Dreams weren’t enough. Memories were too weak. He needed his woman, and he needed her now.
They fell onto the bed together. Mouths locked, tongues taking. With one hand, he pinned her wrists to the bed and locked them over her head. His right hand snaked down her body. Pushed between her thrashing legs and stroked the wet silk of her panties.
She moaned and arched toward him. He ripped the silk away from her flesh. Drove two fingers into her sex and felt the tight, strong clasp of her inner muscles around him. Can’t wait.
He freed her hands. Caught the head of his arousal and guided his cock toward her creamy warmth. His mouth tore from hers. Sully gazed at her—at the wild tangle of hair, the glowing eyes, the red lips.
Fucking beautiful.
He thrust deep into her, as deep as he could go, and felt the lash of pleasure resonate through him. Tight. Wet. Hot. Perfect.
Her legs locked around him and she met him thrust for thrust. Harder. Wilder.
“More!” The demand was from her and echoed by him.
The bed squeaked beneath them. Slid an inch, two, and rammed into the wall.
He worshipped her breasts, bending low over her, licking, kissing, sensually biting.
Her fingers fisted in his hair. “Sully!”
His head rose. Her breath was ragged, so was his. His hips drove down, again and again. Her sex clenched around him with a telltale ripple of her sweet muscles.
Her climax was close, bearing down on her.
Faster, faster, he thrust into her. She smiled, then she moaned, and the tips of her claws dug into his hips.
She’d mark him.
He’d mark her.
Her body stiffened. Her face flushed with pleasure. He felt the contractions along his aroused length, the silken caresses as Sadie came beneath him. Her head tilted back and her lips parted on a hard sigh.
Her throat—tempting, vulnerable—was bared to him.
His mouth was on her neck before he even thought. Lips caressing. Tongue stroking.
Release neared for him. The promise of a fiery pleasure. A pleasure to end the cold that had haunted his days and nights for so very long.
His teeth raked over her pulse. He’d tasted her before. The wild honey of her blood.
Sully wanted to taste her again. Just a quick bite, a soft sip—
Sadie rolled him, pushing with her arms and hips so they moved in a tangle of limbs.
Blinking, he looked up. She rose above him, a goddess with eyes of gold. His cock was lodged fully inside her snug depths, and her thighs were on either side of his hips.
And her throat so far away from his mouth. Too far.
“No blood,” she whispered the words as her hips lifted, fell. Lifted. “No…bite. L-like before. Just like—”
His hands clamped around her hips and he surged into her once more. His climax rocked through him as he seemed to explode inside of her. And she was with him. Tensing, squeezing, and calling his name as her second release shuddered through her.
His teeth snapped together. He closed his eyes as the ecstasy poured through his body.
Sex with Sadie…fucking amazing. He emptied into her. Satisfaction weighted his limbs.
She was still the best lover he’d ever had.
And the one who could hurt him the most.
She hated what he was, he knew it. But she needed him, just as he’d always needed her.
Her body curled around his, and she stretched rather like a contented cat. The rumble in her throat could have been a purr. Why didn’t I see it before? Why? Maybe if he’d seen, maybe if she’d trusted him enough to tell him her secrets, their lives would have been different.
“This doesn’t change anything,” Sadie murmured the words even as she wrapped her arms around him.
He pressed a kiss to her head. “I know.” But he would find a way to change things between them. One way or the other, he wasn’t going to lose her again.
He planned to keep Sadie with him, forever.
***
It was the cry that woke her. A rough, choking snarl.
The cry of a leopard. Sadie’s eyes flashed open. A weight was over her chest. Strong, familiar. Sully.
A roar echoed.
The leopard! He was close—too close.
“Sonofabitch.” From Sully. He jumped from the bed. Jerked on his jeans. “Bastard followed us.”
Us…no, he’d followed her. Sadie leapt up. She pulled on her shirt. Yanked up her shorts. “Sully, stay here. Let me handle—”
He spun toward her. His eyes were dark, angry pools. “Do not finish that sentence.”
She swallowed as she noticed his sharp canines. Not a man anymore. No matter how much she’d like to pretend otherwise.
They ran to the balcony together. Jumped to the ground below. A short drop, barely fifteen feet. Her knees didn’t buckle. Neither did his. Her heart raced as adrenaline pumped through her.
The male shifter’s scent was strong there. Her eyes narrowed and she saw the deep claw marks cutting into the side of her house.
She glanced toward the darkened trees alongside her home. He’d been there. Close enough to watch.
The light of dawn trickled across the sky. T
he growing light was fighting shadows, and, she knew, weakening Sully. Vampires could walk in the sunlight. Stoker had gotten that part right in his book, but they didn’t like to be out during the day. They were weaker during the hours of the sun, almost…human. Vulnerable.
Maybe that was exactly the way the leopard wanted Sully.
Her throat dried. Go after the weak. It was the way of her kind. She stepped in front of Sully. He might be a vampire, but he was still Sully. The leopard wasn’t going to get him.
Not without one hell of a fight.
Chapter Seven
They hadn’t found the leopard. He’d clawed up her house. Left his stench all over the place, but the shifter had gotten away. For two days, Sadie had tried to track the killer. No luck.
But at least she hadn’t found any more of the freak’s sick kills in the city. Those poor women. Clawed. Bitten. Their bodies hanging from the trees...
“How long are you going to keep pretending?”
Sadie’s gaze stayed locked on the darkness just beyond the window in her small FBI office. She didn’t jump or gasp when she heard Sully’s voice. She’d known he was behind her. She’d been alerted by his scent. The faintest whisper of his steps.
She swallowed. “Any sign of the leopard?” Sully had gone out with a team earlier that night to scout the swamps in the southwest.
“Hell, no, the bastard’s good at hiding.”
True.
“You didn’t answer me, Sadie love.” A rustle of fabric. He was coming closer.
Her shoulders straightened. He hadn’t been back to her home, to her bed, since they’d discovered they had an unwanted guest watching them. It was good that he hadn’t come back to her. Sleeping with him had been a serious mistake.
A mistake that had felt way too good.
“Look at me.” A gruff order.
Drawing in a deep breath, she took a moment before she turned to face him. She had to be careful with Sully. He’d always seen so much.
He closed his hands over her shoulders. “Are you done trying to freeze me out?”
Her eyebrows rose. “Is that what I’ve been doing?”
His lips tightened. “Don’t play with me, Sadie. When I had you in bed, you were growling my name.”
And he’d been tenderly whispering hers.
“Now you tense up every time I get within five feet of you.”
True. Why did Sully have to be so sexy? That tousled hair. Those deep, look-into-me eyes. He made her want to forget everything else but him.
She couldn’t do that. Not again. Because being with him was too much of a temptation. “I have a case to work, Sullivan. I don’t have time to screw around—”
“A ghrá , you’ve always had time to screw around with me.” Sensual memories filled his gaze.
A surge of desire rocked through her. Ah, damn. “It was a mistake, okay? A weak-as-hell moment for me. Seeing you, after I’d thought…” Why was she even trying to explain? She didn’t really understand herself. “I was weak.” Better. Her voice was stronger. “But we’ve got a case to work and we should keep things…professional.”
Silence. His nostrils flared. Then…“Bullshit.”
She blinked.
“You think I don’t know how you feel about me?” The hands on her shoulders tightened. Pulled her closer toward him. “I can smell the fear on you.”
Her hands rose and lodged against his chest. “I’m not afraid of you.” She wasn’t afraid of anything. She was a shifter. One of the strongest paranormals out there. The baddest of the bad. A creature who could transform and kill and—
“Bullshit,” he called again. “I know about your Jasmine. All about her and the night you learned to fear vampires.”
Her entire body went stone hard. Owen—that jerk. He should know to keep his mouth shut about her business. Her face was burning and she knew her cheeks had to be flushing dark red. “You don’t know—”
“Little Jasmine…killed by a vampire.”
Her claws dug into his chest as she remembered…
Long hair matted with red. A wound that wouldn’t close.
Screams—desperate pleas.
And Jasmine, her lips moving as she tried to talk. But her throat had been ripped open.
She was dying. The light in her eyes fading, fading.
His laughter. Mocking. Close. “You’re next.”
Sully shook her hard, sending her head snapping back. “Sadie!”
The past vanished. No, no the past was right in front of her. She could see the fangs glinting at her behind his lips.
Vampire.
“Sadie.” Her name was softer now, almost a caress. “It’s all right. A ghrá, I understand.”
She shook her head. “You don’t know—”
His lips twisted. “I took your blood. You have to know what that means.”
Her brow furrowed. He’d only taken a few sips at the bar. Hardly enough to—
“We’re linked, Sadie.”
Oh, no. The blood link. Hell.
Her brother would freak out when he learned about this. Absolutely lose his shit. She was about to lose hers. “No, that’s not possible. You didn’t take enough—”
His hands smoothed down her arms. His fingertips brushed ever so briefly around the curve of her breasts. “I feel you. Your anger. The fear inside. The pain. I can feel it all.”
She wanted to close her eyes and block him out, but she knew there was no escape.
If Sullivan was telling her the truth and a blood link connected them, there would never be any escape for her. He’d be able to track her anywhere. Anytime. The blood link was one of the most powerful tools a vampire possessed. By drinking, the vampire became linked with prey. Sometimes the link became so strong that it was rumored the vampires could eavesdrop on thoughts and even completely control humans.
Now she was one of the linked?
Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse. Sadie broke free of his hold. They were sharing this office—thanks, Owen, I owe you for that, too—so she couldn’t tell Sully to get lost.
But she> could get the hell out of Dodge. Her hands were fisted as she headed for the door.
“Sadie.”
She didn’t look back.
“I know what you see when you look at me.”
Her steps slowed.
“I didn’t want this.”
He’d said the words before, but, this time, she believed him, and she glanced over her shoulder. “What did you want?”
A sad smile twisted his lips. “You.”
And she’d wanted him so much. The hunger and need were always there. She’d given in to her feelings when he’d come to her home, and she knew, if she didn’t stay on her guard, that she would again.
She’d survived losing him once. It had hurt like a bitch, but she’d made it. No way was she going through that hell again. There was no future for her with Sully.
“I think you wanted any woman,” she forced herself to say. “You certainly were close with the redhead.”
“Survival. Nothing more. You know I need blood to live. I wasn’t planning on fucking her. Should have made that clear to you from the beginning. If you want the full truth of the matter, you were the first woman I fucked since becoming a vampire.”
Her chest ached. “You’re lying.” Bloodlust twisted with physical lust until the two were almost inseparable.
“No.”
His lies hurt. “I know how vampires work. I’m supposed to believe you were able to keep control and not have sex with—”
“You were the one I wanted. It’s always been you.”
Tears wanted to fill her eyes. No, they didn’t want to—they did. She blinked them away as she stormed for the door.
“Run, love.” His words followed her. “But I’ll have you again.”
***
The great Sadie Townsend was running scared.
Sully probably should have been amused by that fact. There was finally somethi
ng that could scare her after all.
But he wasn’t amused. He was pissed off. Because he scared her.
She had no fucking right to fear him. Sadie should know better. He wasn’t some psycho who would start slaughtering the innocent. He had fangs. He drank blood. So what? Everybody had flaws.
Sully prowled through the city streets, vaguely hearing the flow of music and the laughter echoing around him. After Sadie’s glorious exit—he’d gotten a fine view of her hips swaying—he’d decided to hunt. Solo.
It was night. He was at full power. And he was more than in the mood for a fight.
Or a fuck. But since Sadie wasn’t particularly acting like she was in the mood, he’d settle for knocking the shit out of some deserving prick. Because Sully certainly wasn’t fucking anyone else. He’d been dead serious when he told her that he hadn’t taken another lover since turning. She hadn’t believed him. He knew bloodlust and physical desire twisted and turned together, but when he thought of fucking…
It’s Sadie. I want her. She’d burned her way into his very soul. And, dammit, yes, she’d been the reason that he’d come back. He hadn’t told her that, though. But…
I wanted to see her. He’d come to her town because he’d needed to catch a glimpse of her again. He’d needed to drink first, though, so he’d stopped at the vamp bar. He hadn’t wanted to go to Sadie while he’d been hungry because he’d been afraid his control would be weak.
He’d thought if he drank first, he could go to her. He could…dammit, he didn’t know. Try to be normal. Pretend to be human. Have a chance with her again?
But all of his plans had been shot to hell. And, maybe…maybe there wasn’t a need for normal.
Two women and a swaying man hurried out of Sully’s way when he stalked toward another club’s entrance. He cast a glance up at the sign over the club. Fire. What the hell kind of name was that? The last joint he’d searched had been Taboo. Screwy names. He’d keep hunting, though because—
The scent of blood teased his nostrils. Sully stilled. The women whispered, and he felt their gazes sweep over him.
His canines pressed against his lips.
The scent’s too strong. There was no feeding room in this part of town. He shouldn’t be smelling this much blood here. The scent seemed to weigh down the very air around him.