by Nova Archer
“Okay,” he answered.
“Will you talk to me, so I don’t drift off?”
“About what?”
“I don’t know. How about the lab? Tell me how you became the chief.”
He smiled, realizing it was so like Eve to want to know about the lab, about work, rather than ask about something personal. In the short time he’d come to know her, he knew that she was very career driven, she lived the job.
Just as he did.
“I became chief because no one else wanted to,” he started. “I guess it came from necessity at first. We needed a lab, I had the money to fund it, then the mistress asked if I wanted a job.”
She chuckled at that. “Really? I think you’re making that up.”
“It’s the truth.” He smiled to himself.
She laughed. It was a deep sexy giggle that had his blood pumping. He knew she wasn’t trying to entice him, but that was exactly what was happening. He turned his head and looked up at the ceiling again, willing away the thoughts that invaded his mind.
“Tell me about the Baron. What’s up between you two?”
“Ah, yes, Laal Bask. Well, what can I say about him that would not include insults?” he remarked wanting to hear her laugh again. “He thinks I want his job. Which I don’t. I’m not a politician. I don’t think I would work with Mistress Ankara very well. She’s worse than he is. Ambitious as hell and manipulative. She’d sell her soul for a higher position in politics. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s schmoozing with your Captain Morales in hopes she can somehow gain some clout with human politicians.” He turned toward her again and his voice faded off.
She was sound asleep.
His lips twitched up as he watched her slumber. She looked so peaceful, like an angel. Reaching across the sofa, he captured a stray strand of her silky hair in his fingers. He loved the feel of it against his skin. So soft, so sleek. He brushed it from her brow. She stirred under his brief touch and he wondered how she would react if he touched her again, in lower more, intimate places.
Gritting his teeth, he snatched his hand back and let it fall at his side. He had better stop thinking of her in those terms. It was stupid and dangerous. Nothing good could come of it. Didn’t he already learn that lesson once long ago?
Closing his eyes, he tried to still his mind and relax. But it was impossible, not with Eve just a few feet away, her tantalizing scent clouding his mind and boiling his blood. His cock twitched at the thought of her soft and pliant, open to him.
In his mind, he saw her naked and writhing on the sofa, her legs spread wide inviting him to taste, to take. He wanted to. More than he wanted to take in his next breath, he wanted to devour her, to possess her completely. The thought of her long shapely legs wrapped around his waist as he thrust into her slick core, nearly drove him mad. He had to bite down on his tongue to stop himself from fulfilling his fantasies. The metallic tang of blood filled his mouth.
Opening his eyes, he stared down at his clenched hands. They itched to reach over and touch her flesh. To run his fingertips over her warm bare skin and brand her as his own. Gritting his teeth again, he stood up. He needed to get out of the room before he did something they’d both regret.
He couldn’t be held accountable for his thoughts, but he was for his actions. He had come too far with his training to throw it all away in a moment of weakness.
Although for Eve, for this woman, it might be worth it.
Reaching down, he had to touch her face one more time. Trailing a finger over her cheek, he rubbed it across her lips until they parted in an unconscious sigh. Oh, how he wished for that sound in his ear as he coaxed it from her with the press of fingers on her body, at her center. How wet would she be for him?
Cursing, he pulled his hand away, but couldn’t seem to move from his spot. He stared down at her. She was too much of a temptation. He couldn’t resist her any longer.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Take me. I’m yours.
Sighing, Eve opened her arms and enveloped Caine, pulling him tight to her body. His heat seared her even through her clothing. Or was it that she was burning from the inside out? Raging with desire, she couldn’t tell where one heated sensation started and where the other ended. Was it him, or her? Together they were a raging inferno.
Parting her lips, she invited him to kiss her. She wanted to experience the same intensity she had that night in the alley. And she didn’t want it to stop this time. There was nothing blocking them. No one interrupting, no one watching. It was just him and her, alone together. Even if for a few hours, they could finally let down their guards and revel in the powerful feelings that constantly swirled around them like a tornado.
He found her mouth, sliding his tongue over her lips and between them. Darting in and out playfully, he taunted and teased them both with his tongue and teeth and nipping at her bottom lip. She loved the feel of his lips on hers, and the way he growled low under his breath when he swept his tongue over hers and she reciprocated in kind.
She wondered what it would take to make him growl out loud, like an animal.
She could feel his restraint bubbling just under the surface of his desire. She knew he held back. That he pulled himself away from doing and taking what he truly wanted. And she wished he’d let go. She wanted to scream to him that she would not break, that she was strong enough to handle it.
But when she stared up into the bright beam of his eyes, and felt the muscles in his arms and legs quiver with barely controlled hunger, she couldn’t be too sure. Sometimes, he looked like a man just scarcely holding onto his humanity.
Her hands raced over him, searching for flesh. She needed to touch him, to feel the heat of his body beneath her palms. Her fingers played over the buttons of his dress shirt. One by one, she popped them open, unconcerned with whether they broke off or not. Finally, she was able to part the cotton and streak her hands over his chest. His skin was soft and smooth. But hard as granite underneath.
Playing the tips of her fingers over his nipples, she reveled in the way he gasped and groaned into her mouth. She swallowed them down while she continued to run her hands over his muscles and rake her nails over his skin.
With his hands in her hair, he tilted her head up and nibbled on her chin. She loved the way his fangs scraped her skin. Shivers of excitement rushed through her as she pondered the reasons why. It was like flirting with danger, dangling a string in front of a cat, standing on a ledge with a thirty-foot drop and no rope to speak of. She didn’t really want him to bite her, at least not consciously. But there was definitely a subconscious thrill to know that he could.
She had read that a vampire bite could be euphoric, sending the person into a state of rapturous pleasure beyond imagination. Was she brave enough to suggest it? Would he bow to her request?
Tingles of desire raced over her as his lips traveled lower, his tongue trailing circles over her throat. He gently bit at her, teasing. But when he glanced up into her eyes, she could see what he was asking, what he wanted, and he wasn’t playing.
Swallowing down the urge to gasp, Eve ran her hands up and down his body, her fingers finding the button of his trousers. As she undid it, Caine nipped at her neck again. His fangs raked over her skin.
This time she did gasp as waves of lush pleasure lapped at her sex. An ache, deep and intense, throbbed at her center. There was only one thing that could ease her torment. Only one thing she wanted, more than anything before. Caine. She wanted, needed him deep inside her. Then and only then could she ease the ache of her body, heart and soul.
Surrender was only seconds away. She was his completely.
When she glanced down at him, she saw that he was already naked, his cock full and arched toward her. When had she stripped him of his clothes? Looking down at herself, she noticed that she too was completely unclothed. Had she blacked out?
She could feel the sofa at her back as Caine pressed down on her. Her legs were spread and around him. She couldn�
�t remember doing that. In her fervor, did she lose sight of herself? Heat spread over her like a flash fire. Her breath was coming fast, too fast. She could barely take in air.
Caine’s fingers found their way down her belly, over the mound of her sex and into her slick folds. Arching her back, she moaned when he slid his fingers into her, testing her, teasing her sensitive nerves.
It was too fast. She wanted to slow down. Panic surged through her as he bit at her throat again. Did she really want this? She had no idea what would happen if he bit her. She hadn’t read anywhere how vampires turned their victims, or even if they could. Just on how blissful their bite could be.
Writhing underneath him, Eve tried to push him up, but he was too strong, too involved in what he was doing to respond to her nudges. With bile starting to rise in her throat, she tried again to push him up off her. Instead, he grabbed her arm and held her still, nuzzling harder at her throat.
“Caine,” she panted. “Please.”
He must have misinterpreted what she was asking for as he nibbled harder on her skin. The plea in her voice must have sounded like desire and not rising panic.
“Stop. I don’t want you to bite me.”
“Don’t be afraid, Eve. It will only hurt for a minute,” he breathed, his voice thick with arousal.
She shook her head, and shoved at him. “I don’t want it, Caine. Please don’t.”
But her words were cut off when he plunged into her simultaneously between her legs and at her throat.
A sensation she’d never experienced before exploded through her. A delicious mixture of pain and pleasure seared her flesh, and her mind. She suddenly went deaf and blind to everything around her. The only thing she could discern was a loud rushing sound like water surging over a fall.
It was her blood pumping through her body. And filling the mouth of her lover...
Gasping, Eve jerked out of her sleep. Her heart was racing like a jackhammer. She put a hand to her chest. It had all been a dream...
Sitting up, she glanced around her. Caine slept only a foot away from her on the sofa. She sighed, and dropped her head back onto the cushions. It had seemed so real. Pain still ticked at her throat like someone had snapped her with an elastic band. And a deep throb pulsed between her legs.
She brought her hand up to her neck and tried to rub away the sensation. It tingled over her skin, but it wasn’t all that unpleasant. None of it was. And that was what scared her the most.
Fear swirled around her, but despite it all, she still wanted Caine, and everything that came with him.
After taking a few deep breaths, her heart slowed. She closed her eyes again, and tried to relax. She still had a case to solve. Maybe if she concentrated strictly on that she could forget about the cascade of emotions swirling around inside. She wouldn’t do anyone any good if she was unfocused.
Being around Caine was becoming dangerous. She wanted him with a desperate heart, but knew it would do neither of them any good. They were too different. They had completely separate destinies. Their lives could never come together. She was foolish to think otherwise.
It was just too damn bad that being foolish could feel so damn good.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The high-pitched clamor of his beeper jolted Caine awake. Yawning, he sat up, dug into his pocket for it, looked at the number on the digital display and swore under his breath.
Another dead body.
Stretching out his arms, his hand brushed against warm smooth skin. It was then he realized that he was curled up next to Eve on the sofa in her hotel room.
The last thing he could remember was feeling out of control and restless. He had left the room, hadn’t he?
Glancing around, he spied an empty plastic blood bottle, small ones that a vampire could easily buy in a vending machine. He must’ve left the hotel room, wandered down the hall to the utility room and bought a bottle hoping it would soothe his caged beast.
As Eve still had her clothes on, he assumed it must’ve worked.
He had dreamed of her though. An intense vision of making love to her. Even now the tips of fingers tingled with the memory of her skin. How soft and pliant she had been under his body.
He hadn’t meant to enchant her, to project their love-making into her mind. It was something vampires did to seduce their potential mates or victims. The lock on his desire must be tentative at best if he was projecting without a conscious decision to do so.
Thankfully, she had stopped him before he could bite her. That would be something he couldn’t take back. It would be the first step in turning her. And that was the last thing he ever wanted to do.
Before he could move, her eyes fluttered open and she yawned. Realizing his close proximity, her cheeks flushed a bright pink.
Pushing to his feet, Caine smoothed down the wrinkles in his pants, and cleared his throat. “We have another DB.”
“How long were we asleep?”
Caine glanced at his watch. “About five hours.”
Eve rubbed her hands over her face, and then pushed to her feet, avoiding looking directly at him. “Well, at least we ate.”
Caine smiled as he surveyed the two room service carts. They had managed to eat most of what was on the trays. “That we did.”
Avoiding his gaze, Eve padded across the room and grabbed her purse. “Are we ready to roll?” She continued to the door and opened it.
He hesitated, feeling like he should say something anything to defuse the tension in the air. However, he couldn’t think of the right words. Everything that came to mind would be inappropriate and only cause more problems. Therefore, without anything further to say, Caine nodded and followed her out of the room.
By the time they reached Darkfall Avenue and Main Street, there was a small crowd gathering behind the yellow perimeter tape. Caine parked along the street behind a police cruiser. They jumped out of the vehicle, grabbed their kits, flashed badges to the officers standing at the yellow tape and wandered down the alley toward the area where Mahina and a few other officers waited.
“Nice day for a dead body.” Mahina smiled but there was no humor in the grin. Sunglasses shielded her eyes but Caine didn’t need to see her gaze to know that this body was a whole lot different from their usual DBs.
On the ground next to a large green BFI bin, Givon crouched next to the naked form.
Caine approached him cautiously, his eyes downcast on the cement looking for anything out of the ordinary. When he was next to Givon, he stopped, set his kit down and surveyed the situation.
“Lividity is fixed. Rigor has come and gone. Liver temp normal, and you got some bug activity.” Givon stood and jotted his notes in his book. “So, I’d say he’s been dead over twenty-four hours.”
“Thanks, Sil.”
The coroner nodded, and then said without humor. “Have fun.”
He brushed past Eve as she sidled up next to Caine, setting her own kit next to his. Caine heard her intake of air.
“Where’s his head?”
“That’s a good question,” he answered, glancing around the area near the body.
Crouching down next to the body, Eve started her evidence collection. “There’s a lot of transfer on this body.”
Mahina stood at the victim’s feet. “He was found in the dumpster.”
“Oh, great,” Eve commented, as she went into her kit and came away with a camera. Standing over the body, she started taking pictures.
Caine motioned toward the two officers standing over a derelict slumped on the ground, his hands cuffed behind his back. “Is he a suspect?”
“Officers found him chewing on the body. He claims he found it in the dumpster then dragged it out to chow down.”
“He doesn’t look strong enough to drag a dead body.”
“He’s a lycan. They found him in wolf form.”
“Ah,” Caine nodded. Lycans were extremely strong. Some stronger than the average vampire. Long ago, he had a tussle with one and bare
ly came out on top. Caine still had the scars on his back to prove it.
He glanced back down at the body then up at Mahina. “Monty’s on shift now. Why did I get the call?”
Mahina handed him a clear plastic evidence bag. He took it and sighed. Sealed inside was a Crimson Strain poster.
“I found it near the body, under the dumpster. I don’t believe in coincidences. Do you?”
“No, not particularly. Thanks for catching this.”
“That’s what I do. Catch things.”
“Do you think it’s one of the band members?” Eve asked as she scrapped under the body’s fingernails into a paper collection envelope.
“We won’t know until we get the corpse back to the lab and run fingerprints. Until then, we process this like every other body, with care and precision.”
“I’ll have a little chat with our suspect at the station,” Mahina said, nodding to where the filthy bum sat shivering.
“I don’t think he’s our killer, but he might’ve seen something.” Trying not to take in the rotting odors from the trash bin, Caine looked down at Eve while she processed the body, bagging every fiber and item still clinging to his skin. “We’re going to need his head.”
Glancing up at him, she quirked one brow. “Where do you think it is?”
Caine motioned toward the green trash bin.
Eve stood and put a hand on her cocked hip. “Who’s going in?”
Mahina smirked. “Better let the boss do it. It’s much too messy in there for-“
“I’ll go in,” Eve blurted out.
“No, it’s all right, Eve. I think it’s best I do it.”
She blinked at him several times, and he could see a twitch in her cheek. Waves of hostility rolled over him. It tasted like licorice on his lips. Interesting. He rather enjoyed the flavor.
“You don’t think I can handle going into a dumpster to do my job?”
“I didn’t say that,” he protested.
From beside him, Mahina smirked again. “I think you put your foot in it, Valorian.”