Blood Shadows

by Lindsay J. Pryor

  But if she asked him to stop, he’d have to. For fear of alienating her, he’d have no choice.

  If it still was a choice for him.

  Her defences were low, because she didn’t even flinch as he reached down to unfasten his jeans.

  Sex. Sex with Kane Malloy. Right there, right then.

  Why the hell wasn’t she scared?

  He lowered his head to her chest, licked over the upward mound of her breast to her earlobe. As he pushed aside the crotch of her knickers, the tip of his erection quickly and accurately finding her sex, she caught her breath. He pushed in just an inch, and Caitlin tensed and froze.

  It was insane.

  She was on the brink of giving herself to him unless she pulled back now – unless she pulled back from the bad, dangerous and compulsively sexy vampire who pushed into her a little more.

  It hurt despite her arousal, the entrance to her body stretching to accommodate him. But he was shockingly controlled, shockingly steady. He was showing her things. He was showing her just how in control he was. A further taunt. Proof of power.

  She closed her eyes, her body already screaming out for him. The pressure at her sex begged for release, his hard body holding such promise.

  But even just his pushing only an inch or so inside her already felt too much. Like a mist lifting, she knew it wasn’t just stupid to consent – it was dangerous.

  She was giving herself to him. More than just physically.

  ‘Enough,’ she gasped, as the room’s darkness intensified around her.

  She looked back into his navy eyes, could feel her lower lip trembling uncontrollably.

  But instead of glowering down at her, the last thing she saw was his eyes glinting in amusement before he bit into her again.

  Kane eased off her, yanked up his shorts and jeans and sat on the edge of the coffee table. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, before licking any final traces of her off his lips.

  She’d been trying to play him, but, hell, she’d been convincing. Lying there, offering herself to him. He knew exactly what she’d been trying to achieve. The fact she thought he’d fall for it was just a little too insulting. He’d had no choice but to knock her out with another feed before he ended up doing her some serious damage and because of it she’d left him aching painfully with frustration.

  She lay unconscious amongst the cushions. He could tell by the rhythm of her breathing, her lack of swallowing, that she wasn’t faking. He reached forward and pushed her hair back to assess his bite marks. Marks that should, by rights, make her his. But Caitlin wasn’t for keeping. Caitlin was just a means to an end.

  And he’d almost had her. Instead she’d pulled back at the crucial moment, closing down, just like she had in the bathroom. She was too guarded – her emotional barriers too far up to relax enough to accept him yet, even in the subdued state the feed would have got her into. But it was only a yet. She had wavered. It may have only been for a moment, but the temptation had been there.

  He should have felt triumph. He’d got her close enough to the brink to make her question herself. For a girl like her, that would mean something. Caitlin was used to ruling with her head, especially when it came to sex. But so was he. Only this time pulling away had been harder than it had been on the bed. This time it had taken a hell of a lot more self-control on his part. And that unsettled him.

  She’d tasted so good and felt so good, her every response dangerously evocative. There was a rawness to those responses. An innocence. An inherent sensuality that was hard to find. He thought of her eyes fixed on his, watchful and wary, her pupils fiercely dilated. Those beautiful soft lips, parted slightly and swollen with arousal. The flush to her delicate, pale skin. The beautiful, soft skin of her shoulders and collarbone still exposed. The tempting upward mounds of her breasts contained behind the lacy cream fabric. Her dress bunched around those lithe, warm thighs.

  It would have been so easy to spread those thighs and thrust into her as he fed, built her to her climax, to his, and had the sweet, sweet taste of a dual feed. He could have enthralled her. Exhausted her. Taken everything.

  And it had taken every reserve of willpower not to. As he’d heard her snatch back a breath, felt the tension in her body as he pushed just a little way inside her, he’d had to calm himself.

  Even at the thought of it his erection twitched.

  He headed over to the kitchen to grab himself another drink.

  He shouldn’t have allowed himself to get that worked up. He was going to have to be the master of restraint. But right then, with every part of him aching to consume and dominate her, he wasn’t quite as confident he could do it. He had tasted the potential and he wanted more. Much more. More than his plan accounted for. That had been about more than vengeance, more than the response of the vampire in him – it had been about the male in him. He wanted to break her, overcome that tenacity and that resilience. It was a dangerously compelling pull and one he couldn’t afford to feel.

  He slammed the fridge door and flicked the lid off his beer. He leaned back against the counter as he took a mouthful.

  He needed to get a grip. Forget his primal instincts. He only had two and a half days left and there was clearly still a lot of work to do as far as Caitlin was concerned. Her resistance ran deeper than just being a shadow reader. But even if her mind was in control, her body clearly wasn’t. And that was the weakness he needed to focus on. Caitlin wanted him sexually, of that he now had no doubt. And her responses told him she liked his self-assurance, she was aroused by his insistence and she enjoyed him taking the lead. She might not have known it yet or, more likely, wasn’t willing to accept it, but she liked him in charge of the one area where she wasn’t confident enough to take that control. Her turn-on was his – a perfect match.

  Maybe upping the ante was what they both needed. Maybe he was playing too gentle.

  He knocked back another mouthful and strolled across to his coat. He took out his keys, unlocked the door and headed over to his car. He took her case folders out of the trunk and the book and packets from the glove compartment. He locked the door behind him, placing the keys back in his coat, and stood at the kitchen counter. He unfolded the cloth. One little book to hold a soul as beautiful and powerful as a shadow reader’s. He folded the cloth back up, carried the book and the packets over to the wardrobe and tucked them in behind some sweaters on the top shelf. He picked up the folders from the counter and stepped back over to the sofas.

  Caitlin hadn’t stirred.

  He should have revelled in her defencelessness. But he didn’t. He should have at least been pleased with the progress, but as she lay there asleep, he wasn’t sure he was. Beneath the defiance and the belligerence, beneath the sanctimony and dogmatism, she was just a girl. A lonely, isolated and frightened girl who was even more vulnerable than she realised. But she was also brave and refused to be intimidated. She wanted redemption for her parents and she wasn’t going to be taken down without a fight. Because Caitlin was a fighter and he liked that more than anything else about her.

  It was a trait working to his advantage. She’d hold on until the bitter end because she believed he was her only hope. And that was exactly what he needed. He had her right where he wanted her.

  Caitlin would be his within the next twenty-four hours. He’d make sure of it. Because sex, to her misfortune, had always been his favourite game.

  And she’d just opened the floodgates.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  It took her a moment to remember where she was. The sofa was warm and comfortable beneath her chest, the TV a distant hum. She could have easily been at home, having fallen asleep in front of a movie again, but as Caitlin opened her eyes, reality hit her hard and fast.

  Kane was sat on the sofa opposite, surrounded in paperwork, a pile of A4 sheets in his hand.

  He was wide awake and could very well have been the whole time she’d been out. Even if he had slept, it was too late now. Her heart plummeted
at the opportunity missed, a sinking feeling coupled with anxiety again. She lay there watching him for a moment, his eyes narrowed intensely on the content of the papers.

  The moment lingered in her mind, the moment he had almost pushed himself into her. The moment she had nearly given in and let him go all the way. Something stirred low in her abdomen again.

  She should have been gone. Long gone.

  Looking more closely at the array of cardboard folders sprawled over the coffee table, she recognised them as hers: her personal reports on him. Every dark little detail. All her scribbles. Embarrassment and discomfort surged through her. She sat up slowly, trying to counteract the sense of imbalance provoked by her light-headedness. She pulled the sleeves back up over her shoulders and refastened her dress. She grabbed a cushion and pulled it against her chest as she curled her legs under her. ‘Have I been out long?’

  He glanced up at her before turning his attention back to the report. ‘Just a couple of hours.’ He frowned and exhaled tersely at what he read. ‘Do you guys just make this stuff up as you go along, or what?’ His eyes narrowed in concentration as he continued to read. A smile followed a frown. There was a slight widening of his eyes, and then a shake of his head. ‘I never did that,’ he said, chucking the report aside. He flicked through the next. ‘Or that.’ He looked across at her. ‘All these sordid claims and you still came after me?’

  ‘I had no choice, did I?’

  He threw the reports on the table and reached for his beer. Leaning back in the sofa, he stretched his legs out on the table. ‘It’s a shame there wasn’t a report on how it takes more than a few minutes of feeding to knock me out, isn’t it? It would have saved you a lot of effort earlier. Still,’ he said, lifting the bottle to his lips, ‘I’m not complaining.’

  She narrowed her eyes at his goading, unease squeezing her chest that he’d worked it out. ‘I got a name, so neither am I.’

  He almost smiled. ‘You coming after me was about far more than just getting that name and unearthing a few hidden vampire secrets. There’s a third strain in all of this. A very convenient third strain.’ There was a glimmer of an arrogant taunt in his eyes. ‘You would have pursued me regardless.’

  ‘And what makes you say that?’

  He reached for the report beside him and read, ‘Kane has a deadly appeal, undoubtedly from being such an accomplished lover. Despite his disturbing and somewhat sexually sadistic inclinations, he has a fatal charm. The females who have engaged in sexual acts with him proclaim loyalty in spite of his subsequent characteristic disregard for them. His good looks alongside an intelligent and astute mind no doubt add to the fascination.’

  She frowned. ‘Would you like me to frame it for you?’

  ‘Your words, sweetheart.’

  ‘My objective words, yes.’

  ‘As objective as that pulse rate when I pinned you to the wall? Those curt little breaths? That fluttering heart? Rumour has it you’ve always had a thing for me.’

  He could have at least given her time to wake up properly and come to her senses. ‘Is that why you’re arrogant enough to think you can get my soul? Because you think I fancy you?’

  ‘I didn’t for sure. But I do now.’

  Caitlin exhaled curtly. ‘You’re unbelievable.’

  ‘Say yes next time I’ve got you on your back and you’ll find out just how unbelievable.’

  Even knowing him as she did, his blatant audacity took her aback. ‘You’re shameless.’

  ‘You’re curious.’

  ‘Taken from the bite, I can assure you you’re not my type.’

  ‘Taken from the way you flinched when I got inside you, you haven’t had enough experience to know your type.’

  She felt irritation simmer. ‘I’ve had all the experience I need.’

  ‘I’ll show you otherwise.’

  ‘Do you really think I’m going to give my soul up to you that easily?’

  ‘When you were teetering on the brink of consenting to me after only one night? Let me think about that.’

  ‘I was toying with you.’

  ‘Be careful what you confess to, Caitlin. Next time it might convince me not to be such a gentleman.’

  ‘You make such sweet threats.’

  ‘They’re not threats. Unless you think you’re at risk of feeling something more.’

  How she managed to hold his gaze as she told such a blatant lie, she had no idea. ‘I can assure you, I’m not at risk of feeling anything.’

  ‘So let me fuck you.’

  The shock of his directness made her stomach flip. She should have felt appalled at his crudeness, but the rawness of the statement coupled with the intensity in his eyes caused heat to rush between her legs. ‘I don’t want to sleep with you.’

  ‘I wouldn’t hurt you, Caitlin – whatever is intimated in those reports.’

  ‘And what else have they got wrong, Kane? You’re just an innocent being set up by Xavier Carter, right? Because he craves your power so much?’

  ‘I’m no innocent. Nor would I claim to be. But I’m not the egotistical, self-seeking, barbaric and sadistic bastard those reports suggest either.’

  ‘And it must be a real effort to convince me of that – to hold back on your true nature. Has the frustration set in yet? Did you think I’d give in to you earlier? I warned you – you help me or you don’t stand a chance of getting what you need. In three days, it’s going to be here. You don’t want to help me kill it, fine. But if you haven’t got my soul by then, you won’t have any choice, will you?’

  His eyes narrowed. ‘Is that what you’re counting on?’

  ‘You’re going to have to kill it one way or another.’

  His gaze didn’t waver. ‘Your defiance is such a turn-on. It’s a good thing I don’t believe your soul to be as inaccessible as you claim, or I’d be tempted to use you up right now and find myself another shadow reader. Maybe I should give Isla a go.’

  Her heart skipped a beat, and his smirk told her he’d sensed it.

  ‘What? You don’t think you’re expendable? Who’s the arrogant one now, Caitlin?’

  Arrogant enough to think she’d worked him out. Arrogant enough to think taking her was all about the lycans. He’d never actually confirmed it. Even she had to acknowledge it still made no sense why he’d need to extract her soul.

  Maybe he had only picked her because he thought she had a thing for him. Maybe their confrontation in the club had been part of confirming what he’d already suspected. Maybe those responses she’d fought to conceal had saved her life.

  Maybe it was nothing to do with the lycans or Arana at all.

  She needed air. She needed to get away from him. She couldn’t think straight with him looking at her. She pushed the cushion from her lap and marched over to the bathroom. She closed the door firmly behind her and hurried up onto the bath. There was only a small gap in the window but it still let in a small amount of late-afternoon light and an all-important breeze. She clutched the windowsill and let the air fill her lungs, despite knowing the toxicity renowned in Blackthorn. It still helped clear her head.

  He was just upping the ante – making her doubt herself. Her resistance during the bite had worried him. He was cornering her. He was bound to be feeling the pressure of time. But if he were telling the truth about not needing her specifically, there was no telling how much more of that depleting time he would allow her.

  She looked down at her hands to see they were trembling again. One lingering look from those intense navy eyes, one sentence of sexual intent, and she was a pathetic wreck again.

  Damn it, she couldn’t let this happen. She needed to be stronger. She needed to work out what the hell was going on if she stood any chance of winning this. Another night would soon be passing. Another night wasted when she could be out there with the name he had given her.

  She needed to sleep with him.

  Her own train of thought startled her.

  It was out of the questio
n.

  But it could break the spell, like letting the venom out of the bite. Sleeping with Kane could release everything she had pent up for too long. It could also buy her time while quashing everything she was feeling for him and give her a fighting chance.

  She could see what he was like firsthand, if she dared put herself in that situation. Like Rob had said – he wouldn’t be gentle, he wouldn’t be kind, he wouldn’t be patient. And maybe that was what she needed – maybe that wasn’t a bad thing.

  On the flip side, she could risk feeling more for him. Already he had proved himself to be far more capable of gentleness than she had imagined. Intuitive. Perceptive. Attentive. She thought of how easily she nearly let him continue, so lost in the moment. She could end up giving him exactly what he’d brought her there for. Because, as much as she despised admitting it, it could never be just sex. It could never be just sex with a vampire who made her shiver meeting his gaze, who sent waves of arousal through her with one touch, who was already suppressing a lifetime of inhibitions and convictions of celibacy.

  She used the toilet, washed her hands and sank onto the bath steps.

  She rested her head in her hands. Max and Rob had been right. She was stupid to think she could take Kane on. Her training, her expertise, even her bucket-loads of knowledge on him meant nothing when she stared into his eyes. Only Xavier had believed she could do it. If he had at all. Feelings of doubt crept over her at recollections of the sincerity of Kane’s claims out in the garage.

  Kane had been right to suspect Xavier had sent her in. He’d been right to suspect he’d come down from his ivory tower. Xavier, who was clearly intent on catching Kane in the act, who had sent her in undercover knowing anything could happen to her. Anything to give him the hard evidence he needed to bring Kane in.

  Because Kane had never been caught in the act. Witnesses had never come forward. And so much of what Kane had said about his own kind made sense. It was easy to assume it was fear that kept witnesses away. But there was still so much about the inner workings of third species they didn’t know. And there was even less they knew and understood about the masters of the species.