Let go of all inhibitions as you take pleasure in a steamy liaison with a newly
roused volcano; an unpredictable, ready to burst, hot-blooded lover.
The days and nights had turned into a bleak and lonely void of meaninglessness until the first time
Nikolas Drake’s mate, Brianna Larkin, took his hand and trusted him to walk her safely out of a burning
building. From that moment on, each day should have become an exhilarating adventure he could not wait
to experience with her, but he could not embrace their union. It was too late for him. With age came
ultimate power. It had stained his soul with utter darkness. He would eventually crush and destroy her if
he allowed himself to get too close to her.
His sexual hunger had remained as deceptively silent and still as a dormant volcano for a long time,
but she had roused it and the pressure building up had become insurmountable. The excitement that
surged through him whenever he heard her sweet voice or felt her touch had become a vicious and cruel
form of suffering that he could not escape. His body was constantly on fire, burning up with a volatile
combination of love and lust pushing him to the brink of insanity.
He yanked his mind from hers and shoved her out of his and then, with a wave of his hand, he sent
her away. The remainder of her mortal life was a fleeting moment. He could continue on for that long.
The powers in the necklace would protect her and alert him of any danger. This is how it should have
been. He should have avoided all contact with her. There was no reason to be near her. He could easily
watch over from afar.
So there he stood, high on top of a cliff at the northwest border of his property in Astoria, Oregon,
staring down at the waves for hours so full of self-hatred for hurting her. He couldn’t imagine what she
thought when he sent her away from him. No matter the attempt he couldn’t make sense of all that had
brought him to this moment of his existence.
VOLATILE BREATH OF DARKNESS
By
Candice Stauffer
2014 Candice Stauffer
Copyright © 2014 by Candice Stauffer
http://www.candicestaufferparanormalromanceauthor.com/
Edited by: Kathy Riehl
Cover Artist: Kendra Egert
All rights reserved.
Names, characters, and events depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any
resemblance to actual events, places, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of
the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.
Published in the United States of America
Contents
Copyright
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Excerpt Hot-Blooded Breath of Darkness (unedited)
Excerpt Insatiable Breath of Darkness (unedited)
About Candice
Dedication
To my sometimes naughty and always awesome Sexy Minions! Thanks for all your love, friendship and
support! I love you guys!
~ONE~
Let go of all inhibitions as you take pleasure in a steamy liaison with a newly roused volcano; an
unpredictable, ready to burst, hot-blooded lover.
NIKOLAS LED BRIANNA across the parking lot as quickly as possible in hopes of getting her into the
car and driving away from the restaurant. It would be the death of him if she changed her mind again and
insisted that he take her back inside to dance with her once more. He used to believe whiskey brought out
the bad in him and made him dangerous. What a joke. He was a white robed, choir singing angel, sporting
a shiny halo, while under the influence of liquor compared to her. Bad had a whole new terrifying
definition to him. Nothing could ever come close to comparing to the bad that whiskey brought out in
her.
By the time he realized that she was drinking too much, it was too late for him to slow her down. He
made a few attempts push the toxins from her blood, but she kept distracting him and forcing him to stop.
She had gone from being a sweet and considerate woman, to lust crazed fiend so suddenly that he ended
up with whiplash.
Moving so fast that he nearly plowed her over, she went from holding his hand and walking at his
side to standing in front of him. “Do you still have my panties?”
The truth was that he was quite baffled over it. He had given it a good deal of thought. Still he had
not figured out how she got them off while they were dancing or without him noticing. Was he curious
enough to ask her right now? Hell no! Not right now. Later. Maybe. “Yes I do. They are in my pocket.”
“Are you happy right now?”
“Very happy.” The correct words to describe his mood would have been scared to death and
ruthlessly taunted and teased. He would rather go back to a previous night that he had. He was gravely
injured and surrounded by a hundred powerful warriors. They were determined to carve him up and leave
his dismembered remains hanging from trees to pretty up their camp. At least he had a hope of surviving
that night. What hope did he have to protect himself against her naughty, fooling around craziness?
“Are you sure? It’s so hard to determine if you’re in high spirits when you are not smiling.” She
reached up and lifted his lips. “That’s better. You have such a sexy smile, Nikolas. As a matter of fact,
you’re appealing all over. I cannot stop looking at you and thinking about naughty things. I want to touch
you, to taste you, to feel you surge deep into my body. I want you to cup, squeeze, massage…oh, no.
You’re doing it again.”
“What are you talking about?” The mischief in her sexy grin and wildness brewing in her eyes took
hold of him. He should’ve let it go, but his good sense plummeted into oblivion. Her natural ability to
fascinate him was so damn potent.
Sighing she looked down and pushed her breasts together. “You’re making my boobs super
sensitive. Just looking at you makes my entire body fantastically ticklish and tingling. We have been
smoldering for too long. It’s way past time for us to toss some accelerant on the fire. You need to stop
dragging your feet. I want to burn up in the wild and fantastic inferno of glorious ecstasy until we are
blown away by sensational simultaneous eruptions
. Don’t you?”
Left speechless by a sudden and derailing onslaught of raw physical desire, he watched her face as
he fought off the recklessly savage lust she had ignited in him. Then and there he imagined her body
gripping onto and convulsing around his pulsating cock as he erupted within her. Tensing from the top of
his head to the bottom of his feet, he hauled in a deep breath and held it. He longed to bury his aching
shaft in her sweet heat. He wanted to make love her until they reached a monumental culmination.
“Well anyways, this was the best night ever, wasn’t it?”
Clenching his jaw he bit back a curse or two by forcing himself to remember that she was not in her
right mind. Though she never fully agreed with, or understood the boundaries he had set for them to keep
her safe. She had never before behaved with such reckless disregard for his decision to keep their
relationship platonic. He managed what he hoped was the appearance of a smile as he looked down at her.
“It sure was the best.”
She tilted her head to the side. “Ever?”
“Ever.” Giving her a nudge, he tried to turn her around to get her moving again, but she obviously
felt that she had not yet tormented him enough. Snuggling her body up to him she got up on the tips of her
toes and locked her fingers behind his neck as she brushed her lips across edge of his jaw. “I cannot stand
the way my body aches for you night and day, Nikolas.”
Closing his eyes he tried to stop his body from reacting, but he failed just as he had many times
during the past few hours. So many that he had lost count. He considered dropping to his knees and
pleading for mercy. Once again she proved her absolute power to rip his control away from him. His heart
thundered as it pushed more blood straight to his groin. Of course the instant she felt his erection twitch
against her belly she pressed her body more firmly against his. She certainly possessed a great talent for
making his cock harder than he ever thought possible. “Do you mean it? Was this really the best night
ever for you?”
“It couldn’t have been better.” He could not wait to get the hell away from her and end the worst
night of his entire existence. He would never again allow her to drink any type of alcohol for any reason.
Not ever.
“I am thinking of a way to make this night even more wonderful.” She slowly and provocatively
wiggled her body against his engorged and throbbing cock. “I bet you can’t guess what I am imagining.
Do you want a hint?”
“Let’s get you home and we can talk about it.”
“Talk? I do not want to talk about us making love. Weren’t you listening to me? I am more in the
mood for getting some action right now.” Bursting into a fit of laughter she stumbled backward forcing
him to grab onto her to prevent from ending up on her butt. “You should have seen your face when I
reached under the table and squeezed you.”
Oh how wonderful. He was so glad that his tortured cock had been able provide her with so much
amusement. Not!
She tilted her head to the side and flashed that sweet, angelic, innocent smile that always meant she
was about to give him hell. “Does it ever bother you, Nikolas?”
“Ever? I don’t think you have ever reached under a table to squeeze me before.”
“You are so funny.” She laughed again. “You know that isn’t what I mean.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, though he knew doing so was a terrible idea. He never understood
why he asked loaded questions knowing he was just helping her take another shot at him.
“I don’t want to say it out loud.” He hesitated at the ‘I am a bad, naughty girl. Bend me over and
spank me’ smirk on her face. The riotous look in her eyes as she motioned for him to get closer terrified
him. He had seen it plenty of times during the past few hours. “Why do you look so scared?” she laughed.
“I only want you come a little closer, so I don’t have to ask out loud if it bothers you to walk around with
an instantly recognizable, extremely large, magnificent bulge straining against the front of your pants all
evening.” Visibly struggling to hold back a smile she bit down on her bottom lip. “Oh, oops. That wasn’t
very nice. I was supposed to whisper the question to you privately. I hope no one overheard me.”
“We need to get you home.”
“You think too much.” Frowning, her gaze narrowed. She had not shown any sign of anger yet. He
felt the change in her. “And it ruins everything. Any form of foreplay with you sucks. Bad. Real bad. All
of the kissing, nibbling, teasing, petting and hugging equal a gargantuan sexual disappointment. You are
right. We need to get me home.” She whirled around to walk to the car, but stopped and held her hands
out.
He wrapped his arm around her waist to steady her. “It’s okay. I have you.”
“What’s happening to me, Nikolas? My eyes. Everything just started spinning and went black and all
the sudden. That never happens when we are together. Did you do something?”
“It’s okay. You are able to see when we are together and you’re merged with me. You got upset with
me and pulled your mind from mine too quickly. Maintaining a mind connection can be difficult when
you’re intoxicated. It has never happened before, because you have never had so much to drink when we
were together.”
“Not just when we are together. I usually don’t drink alcohol, because I don’t like it. I really wish I
would have remembered that tonight.”
As soon as he felt a wave of nausea come over her he pushed it back. “I promise to remind you next
time.”
“Oh no.” She stopped walking and hunched over.
The sickness was attempting to grip onto her, but he was able to prevent it from turning violent. “It’s
going to be alright.”
She made an attempt to push him away from her. “I feel horrible all of the sudden.”
He knew the negative effect of consuming too much alcohol was hitting her hard because of her
sudden withdraw from his mind. It was only going to get worse until he got her home and forced the
toxins from her blood. “Let me pick you up.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea. I’m going to get sick.”
“Trust me. I can control it. As soon as we get home I can push it from your blood.”
She nodded. “Do you hate me now?”
“Not even a little.” He slowly scooped her up, carried her to the side of the building to avoid being
seen and shifted to his bedroom. “I’m going to lay you down on the bed.” Again moving slowly to avoid
jostling her he lowered her down.
“You have no idea how thankful I am for not being forced to travel in a car right now.”
“I bet.” He took her shoes off.
“Why did you bring me to your house?”
He stretched out next to her and pulled her up so that her head was resting on his chest. “I’m not
leaving you like this, plus my legs don’t hang off the end of this bed.”
“I can’t believe we’re in bed together and I don’t even want to think of ways to get you naked so I
can do all sorts of dirty, nasty things to your body.” She laughed softly. “I really was awful to you
tonight. I am so sorry.”
“You were outrageously naughty, but I forgive you.” He kissed the top of her head. “Close your eyes
and rest for a while. When y
ou wake up you will feel much better.”
“Except for the headache I’m not looking forward to it.”
“I promise you will not have any pain. Sleep now.” He added a compulsion to his words to force her
to sleep.
***
Brianna woke up to the heat of Nikolas body and the weight of his strong arm wrapped around her. She
knew it was a bad idea but, longing to get closer, she draped her leg over his waist and snuggled up to
him. It wasn’t the first time they had fallen asleep while cuddled up together, but she could not remember
getting into bed with him. It didn’t bother her, but it raised some questions. The last thing she recalled
was arguing with him in the car just before they arrived at the restaurant to celebrate Julie’s birthday.
What happened at the party? When did they leave? As she tried to sort it out she listened to the slow and
steady beating of his heart.
It didn’t take her long to bring to mind that their quarrel was his fault. He showed up early to pick
her up. Rather than announce his arrival by knocking on the door, he shifted into her bedroom. She just
happened to be standing in the middle of her room wearing a black lace bra and a matching pair of barely
there panties. She had hardly had enough time to merge with him to see before he swept her up in his
arms, whirled her around and pinned her back against the wall.
To minimize the frustration she would endure when he inevitably changed his mind, she tried to
resist the temptation to get carried away. She managed to hesitate for about two seconds before she
wrapped her legs around his body. By the time he had claimed her mouth with his her ability hold back
went up in smoke. Her entire body caught fire. He kissed her until she couldn’t catch her breath and then,
as hastily as he scooped her up, he took his mouth from hers, set her down and apologized. Permitting the
brutal strength of his passion to annihilate her resolve to not allow him to enthrall her with lust was a
terrible mistake.
His touch always ramped up the volatile tension between her legs. The abrasive texture of his
calloused palms on her body as his tongue made bold sweeping, swirling motions inside her mouth never
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