by Cynthia Eden
Losing him again was not an option.
Oh, shit.
Realization had her eyes widening.
She still loved the Irish bastard.
“We need…to get out of here,” he said.
A nod. That was all she could manage at the moment.
“Your blood—it’s damn strong, but I’m goin’ to crash soon. To heal, I’ll have to sleep.”
Another nod. Her blood would give him the strength to get past the other officers and to make it back to her place. Then she’d keep him safe while he slept.
His fingers caught her chin. “When I wake, I’ll have you.” A dark promise.
She smiled. “No, Sully, when you wake…” She paused just long enough to have his brows lowering before she concluded, “I’ll have you.”
***
Vampires dreamed. Some folks thought they didn’t, but, then again, some folks also thought his kind didn’t have souls. Vamps had souls. Some were just blacker than the night they loved so much. Evil was a choice, not a punishment for his kind.
Free will. Everyone—even monsters had it.
Just as creatures like him, well, they had dreams.
But sometimes, those dreams weren’t fantasies. They were memories. The vampire’s. His prey. Shared visions given by the blood.
When Sully slept, the visions came to him. He saw a girl, smiling, with long, black hair around her shoulders. She was laughing and pointing.
Beside her, he saw his Sadie. Younger. With eyes not so hard and with a curving mouth.
Innocence.
Youth.
A beautiful dream. Happy.
At first.
The lush woods around the girls grew darker. Laughter reached his ears. Cold. Insidious. And he wanted to wake up. But he couldn’t. The sleep was too deep.
The vampire attacked the dark-haired girl. Jasmine.
“Change, Sadie, change! Help me!” Jasmine begged.
The snap of bones. The rolling cry of the leopard.
The vampire had a tight lock on little Jasmine. Blood dripped down her neck and her cries grew weaker.
Sadie attacked. Biting. Clawing. Fighting as fiercely as she could. But her leopard wasn’t fully grown. The leopard aged as the girl did. Still young. Still weak.
The vampire dropped Jasmine onto the ground. Her eyes were wide open and terrified.
The vampire was going after Sadie. “You’ll taste so good.”
Another roar filled the forest. Shook the earth.
Not from Sadie. From another. Coming closer.
The vampire glanced over his shoulder.
Too late.
Blood covered the ground.
And Jasmine—her eyes closed.
Chapter Ten
Sully’s body stiffened against her. Sadie frowned and kept stroking his chest. He’d been out for hours and hours. The sun was setting.
His night was coming.
The wounds on his body had healed. Not even a scratch marred his body.
She leaned over him. Her gaze lingered on the shadows cast by his lashes. He was almost beautiful in sleep. Far too attractive. No man should be so sexy.
Her hand lifted. Traced the curve of his lips.
He woke instantly. His eyelids flew open and his hand snapped around her wrist in a steely grip. “Who was the other leopard?” A hard, rumbling demand.
Sadie blinked. “What?” Was he talking about the perp who’d attacked him? Unfortunately, the team still hadn’t tracked him, but she knew they would. It was only a matter of time, especially once she joined the hunt.
“In the woods that day…” Sully added roughly. “Who was he?”
Chill bumps rose on her arms.
“Who killed the vampire? Who killed the fucker who attacked you and Jasmine?”
Her gaze held his as her breath rushed out. “The link’s that strong, huh?” The blood link was one of the few real mysteries still in existence. Just how strong, how deep, it went really depended on the vampire and his victim.
She swallowed. “My brother Jacob.” Thank God he’d decided to come looking for her and Jasmine. If he hadn’t, she would have died that night, too. Because their attacker…“He’d been watching us. For days.” Hiding his scent—the tricky bastard. “Waiting for that one moment when we were vulnerable.” They’d been having so much fun. Running. Laughing. Enjoying the wild woods.
His lips thinned. “How can…” He stopped, jaw clenching.
“Sully?”
His gaze was stark and his brogue thick as he asked, “How can you let me touch you, knowin’ what he did?”
“Because you aren’t him.” Sully had fought fiercely to save the human woman in that building. He wouldn’t attack innocents. Not his style. Never had been. Never would be.
She was an idiot for ever thinking otherwise.
“Let go of my hand,” she told him quietly.
The body beneath hers—delicious male power—tautened even more.
But he let her go.
“I shouldn’t have—” He shook his head. “That first night, I-I needed the blood, but I should never have taken—”
She snorted. Probably not her sexiest moment. “Please, vampire. If I’d truly wanted to get free of your hold in that place, it would have been too easy to do.” The stark truth was that she’d wanted to be in his arms again. Her fingers brushed down his cheek. “I’m touching you,” she told him clearly, “because I want to.”
Sully’s nostrils flared.
“Because I have to.” Softer.
She kissed him. An open-mouthed, I’m-starving-for-you kiss. Lips. Tongues. Heat. Sadie felt the surprise ripple through him.
Crazy vamp. Didn’t he remember what she’d told him?
It was her turn to have him.
She nipped his lower lip. Vampires weren’t the only ones who liked to bite. Sully should have remembered that about her.
She smiled at him, then caught the bottom of her T-shirt and jerked it over her head. It hit the floor after she threw it, but Sadie didn’t care.
No bra. She’d stripped down to just her shirt and panties after she’d gotten him in bed. And she’d stripped him completely.
His eyes were on her breasts. The blue began to darken.
She caught his hands. Brought them to cup her breasts. Enjoyed the strong weight of his hands over her. He knew just how to stroke her nipples. Just how to play and torment.
But then, so did she.
Sadie’s fingers trailed down his chest. Over the nubs of his nipples. Sully was so sensitive. Always had been. And when she put her tongue on him—
Leaning forward, her tongue swiped over his left nipple.
Sully hissed out a breath and nearly came off the bed.
“Ah, not the way we play tonight.” She pushed him back, deliberately injecting extra strength into the move. “Tonight, it’s my game.” And she intended to enjoy herself fully.
Rising onto her knees, she shoved the sheets out of her way. Sully was aroused. The hard length of his cock rose toward her, long and thick.
The cat inside her purred. Time to get wild. Her lover had healed. No need to go easy on him.
Her nails scored the flesh of his stomach. Not deep enough to cut the skin, certainly not enough to hurt. Just enough to have him sucking in a sharp breath and to have his blue eyes turning completely black. Fear didn’t shoot through her at the sight of his dark eyes and his sharpening fangs.
This was Sully.
“No pretending this time?” Sully grated the words.
Her fingers wrapped around his aroused cock. Stroked. Squeezed. She knew what he meant with his question, and part of her felt a flash of shame. No pretending he wasn’t a vampire. No turning away from his bite and trying to act as if he was still human. “No pretending,” she agreed, her voice a whisper. The present was all that mattered.
Not the past—there was no way to go back.
And not the future—because, really, what future could t
hey have? She’d age and slip away one day, while he stayed forever young. No past. No future. But they could sure enjoy the present.
Her fingers tightened around him.
Then she lowered her head.
“Sadie!”
Her lips feathered over his aroused length. Soft as silk, but so hard and strong. Her tongue snaked out, licked the head of his dick, and then she took him in her mouth.
“Fuck! Sadie!”
She knew what he liked, oh, yes, she knew. Licking. Sucking. Swirling her tongue over his thick cock.
His hands clamped over her hips. She felt him rip away her panties. Then he touched her. Slid his long fingers between her thighs and pressed against her sex.
Pushed against her sensitive core, found her wet and ready.
He knew what she liked, too. He’d levered his upper body up to touch her better. One finger drove inside of her.
Yes.
She looked up at him. Gazed into his dark eyes.
A second finger thrust into her.
Her sex tightened.
Not wild enough, not yet.
Sadie gave him one long, last lick, from root to tip. She kissed away the moisture on the head of his cock. Wanted more.
“In…side.” A rough demand from Sully. “Put me…”
His fingers felt fantastic in her sex, but she wanted his cock in her—just as badly as he wanted to be there.
Sully’s thumb stroked her clit, making her even hotter, even wetter for him.
His fingers withdrew, thrust, withdrew—
Sadie moaned, then moved, fast. She pinned his hands to the mattress. Shifted her hips so that his dick brushed against her open core. Her breath panted out. She would never get enough of Sully.
Sadie arched her hips, then drove down onto him, taking that wonderful, long length deep inside.
They both gasped.
So full. Her sex felt stretched. So tight.
Her knees dug into the mattress as she flexed. “Ready?” she whispered.
His hungry growl was her answer.
Sadie started moving. Rising, falling. Faster and faster. Her breath left her in hard pants, her heart hammered in her chest, and sweat slickened her skin. And she kept riding him. His thighs were like steel beneath her. His cock her perfect fantasy.
Again, again, again.
His lips were parted. His long and sharp canines gleamed.
His gaze was on her throat.
Sadie rose, fell. She tightened her grip on his wrists. Release bore down on her. Just a few seconds away—
Her cry filled the room. Her sex clenched around him as ripples of pleasure rolled through her body. But she didn’t stop moving. Rising, falling. No, she didn’t stop—
Because Sadie was just getting started.
***
She was so fucking beautiful. Sully stared up at Sadie, at her gorgeous eyes and red lips, and his cock swelled even more within her slick depths.
Oh, damn. Her climax was milking him. Squeezing him so tightly in her warm, wet sex.
But he didn’t want to come yet. Not yet.
She let go of his hands. Smiled at him—the smile that always made his mouth go dry and his cock twitch.
“I want a bite,” she said, her voice husky. Pure temptation.
He almost came. His heels dug into her sheets. He wasn’t going to last much longer. She was so hot and snug around him.
Sadie bent over him, and her nipples pressed into his chest. Beautiful nipples. He loved her breasts. Loved having them in his mouth. Sucking them until her face flushed and the scent of her arousal filled his nostrils.
His hands caught her hips as he urged her closer. His fingers locked on the round curves of her arse. Beautiful arse. Now he’d like to bite—
Her lips brushed the curve of his neck. She kissed him, mouth open. Then his Sadie bit him, and Sully’s control vanished with a roar.
He came, exploding deep within her body. The release was savage. So strong his whole body shook and so good—oh, fuck, so good.
Sadie.
She kept riding him as he came. Kept lifting her hips and sliding her sex over him. The release wiped him out. Hollowed him. Made him crave more.
He shuddered and wanted her blood.
Wanted his turn to bite.
How did I walk away from this? From her? The questions flashed through his mind. How the hell had he been strong enough to leave her before?
She raised her head. Licked her plump lips and—he kissed her. And started thrusting again. Her sex was swollen and still so wonderfully wet. He moved slowly at first as his cock began to grow within her.
Then the thrusts became stronger. The kiss harder.
She pulled her mouth from his. Pushed up on her knees. Sadie looked down, and he followed her gaze. The head of his cock was inside of her. The hottest, freaking most sensual sight on earth.
She took all of him inside.
Sully pressed his lips together. A bite, just one—
She was too far away from him. Fully on her knees. He pushed up and managed to shove even deeper into her. The pleasure on her face made him crazy.
Bloodlust rose, so hot and powerful that he started to turn away from her.
“No!”
Her nails—no, too sharp for mere nails—dug into his shoulders. His gaze flew back to her face. He watched, stunned, as she angled her throat toward him. “Your turn.”
His arms clamped around her. Sully’s right hand pulled back her hair as his left stroked her throat.
And his cock was still deep in her core.
Her knees were on either side of his hips. They stared at each other. Black eyes to gold. Her sex rippled around him. A silken glide that had him groaning. Her pulse raced, he could hear the drumming and could feel the soft whoosh of her blood.
He would take it, as he took her.
Sully pierced her throat. Tasted the wild flavor of her blood.
Her inner muscles clamped greedily around him. Squeezing. Tightening.
He drank.
They climaxed. An explosion of sensation that rocked between them both. Waves of fiery pleasure that consumed everything. Sully could feel Sadie, inside, out, her mind, spirit…
All of her.
In that one, blinding instant, when the world disappeared in a veil of red, she was completely his. And he was hers.
His teeth withdrew.
Sully pressed a kiss to her throat.
His. Now they were both marked. Beyond flesh.
How the hell did I let her go before? The question rose again, and he knew that there would be no escape for Sadie this time.
Beyond flesh.
Chapter Eleven
Staying in bed and having pillow talk wasn’t really an option for them.
Sex with Sully had been necessary, as vital as breathing for Sadie. She’d had to feel him within her. She’d needed that reassurance. Needed to make absolutely certain that Sully was all right—alive, or, at least still undead.
But they had a killer to catch. As much as she would have liked to stay in the bed with him all night, a job waited. Sadie’s life wasn’t an easy one. Not a lot of downtime for a leopard shifter who spent her nights tracking killers.
There was a dangerous predator on the streets. She had to hunt, no, they had to hunt. So less than an hour later, she and Sully were scouring the streets of Miami. Her nostrils twitched as she fought to catch the scent of the other leopard. But she didn’t detect the deep, musky odor. Just caught the smell of cigarettes, car exhaust, whiskey, and too-expensive perfume.
“Anything?” Sully asked.
Sadie shook her head. “Not yet.” But she’d find him. Her gut told her that the leopard hadn’t turned tail and fled the city. Not his style.
He’d needed to heal, just as Sully had, and when his strength was back—could already be back—he’d hunt again. She wasn’t in the mood to find any more savaged human women. Women whose bodies had been tossed into trees and left for thei
r blood to drip onto the ground.
In the wild, leopards often stashed their prey in trees to keep other predators, like lions, from taking their precious food. The better to savor the meal. But this was Miami, not the wild, and the leopard was leaving his kills in the trees for one reason…to make the humans afraid. To leave them a message.
There’s something in the dark you need to fear.
Yet despite his taunting warning, the streets were packed this night.
More prey, just waiting.
“They don’t believe what they see,” Sadie murmured as Sully came to a stop behind her. “They won’t know what’s coming for them until it’s too late.” A human would be no match for a full-grown, male leopard shifter. The leopards were so strong.
“We’re going to find him.” Sully sounded certain. “The bastard can’t hide forever.”
But he could kill again, before they found him. He could—
The phone on her hip vibrated. Sadie had the phone at her ear in two seconds time. “Owen?” She knew he’d be the only one to contact her now.
“Brently and Moore Street.” The special agent’s voice was thick with excitement. “Abandoned house. Got a phone tip—some guy swears he saw a jungle cat crawling into the house.”
No, it couldn’t be this easy…could it?
“He wants animal control,” Owen continued, “but he’s getting us.”
Sadie turned her head so that her gaze could meet Sully’s. “On our way.” The FBI team wouldn’t go in without her. Owen understood what he was facing. She ended the call. Raised her brows. “Our hunt just got a whole a lot easier.” Maybe. The leopard should have been too skilled at camouflage to be seen, but perhaps he’d been so badly hurt that he couldn’t properly cover himself.
Perhaps.
“Keep your guard up,” she warned him.
Leopards loved to lure their prey in close—close enough to kill.
***
“Lance says the leopard’s smell is all over the house.” Owen stood behind an unmarked police car. His gaze raked over the small house across the street. Boarded windows. Slumping roof. Overgrown yard.
Sadie’s nostrils flared. “He’s right.” Her hands clenched into fists. The scent of the leopard was everywhere. So heavy. Too heavy?