by Aja James
Simca casually flicked the vampire male’s naked body from head to toe with her keen, golden-green eyes.
So ugly, these bipedal creatures.
Hairless in places they should have hair, and hairy in places that didn’t make sense. Why didn’t their creators spread their fur more proportionately over their body instead of clustering it on their heads, under their arms and between their legs? What was the point of that?
Surely, this was why humanoids wore clothing—to cover their ugly naked flesh and ridiculous patches of hair. That, and to protect their fragile hides from the elements.
Simca had seen a naked mole-rat once in East Africa, when she’d traveled there on one of her many journeys across almost two millennia with her warrior. It was the ugliest thing she’d ever seen, all pink and wrinkled and alien looking. Humanoids weren’t a whole lot more pleasing to the eye in Simca’s view.
But her warrior was different. He was slightly less ugly than most.
She appreciated his prowess in battle, the power and strength coiled in his long, lean limbs. There was not an ounce of softness in him, his muscles and sinews sharply defined under the thin layer of his skin. Veins raised visibly on his rock hard biceps, his steely forearms, meandering like tree roots over the backs of his large, long-fingered hands.
She liked his hands. They gave her the most heavenly pleasures when he stroked them through her fur and smoothed them over her face.
She’d seen him kill with them countless times. They were as effective at subduing prey as her claws.
But they were always gentle with her. He knew just where to touch and tickle her to make her purr like a helpless kitten.
Simca licked her chops with a hint of greediness.
She was a carnivore. She was a predator. The sight of veins and succulent flesh always fired up her animal instincts, her bloodthirst and hunger.
She’d had seven pounds of raw, bloody ribeye steaks for a light supper, but the sight of her warrior made her hungry again.
It was strange, because she’d never wanted to take a bite out of any of the other humanoids she’d come across, other than to eliminate targets. But she’d always been tempted to sink her teeth into Maximus, naked mole-rat notwithstanding.
So caught up in her bemusement, Simca didn’t notice when Maximus threw his towel viciously across the room, the dampness from his hair adding weight to the material to increase its velocity as it landed with a smack on her face.
She yowled in surprise and swatted the towel off with a massive paw, then looked peevishly at her warrior and narrowed her eyes.
Not cool, vampire.
“Sorry,” Maximus bit out reflexively. “I wasn’t aiming at you.”
Hands on hips, he continued to fume, his massive chest heaving with pent-up frustration, his mind obviously churning through who knew what.
Humanoids were so complicated, Simca thought.
Their gigantic brains came up with all sorts of things—they built things, cooked things, invented things, wrote things. They plotted and schemed and struggled for supremacy.
She didn’t understand most of it. She didn’t want to. In her opinion, they made life more difficult with their complications and intrigues.
Now she, on the other hand, liked to keep things simple:
Eat. Sleep. Pee. Shit. Hunt. Run. Play. Rut.
That’s all it took to be happy. What more could anyone ask for?
Well, with the exception of that last bit.
She hadn’t had a good rutting since Dark Goddess knew how long ago. It wasn’t as if her Kind ran around the streets of New York City in droves.
That didn’t stop her from having her feline cycles, however. Which was extremely strange, because panthers were induced ovulators. If there wasn’t a viable male in the vicinity, she shouldn’t be able to go into heat.
Unfortunately for Simca, she was regularly in heat, as if a viable feline male was always in her vicinity.
Well, where the hell was he?!
When the desperate need to scratch her itch was particularly bad, she’d escape the Cove, the base of the New England vampire hive, to race to the Bronx zoo.
But the caged beasts there held no appeal for her. They were tamed, pitiful creatures. Lazy, fat and dull. The males, even the larger cats like the tigers and lions, cowered in her presence.
For she was a real predator. She was danger and death incarnate.
No rutting then.
If she’d allowed any of those weakling males to mount her, she’d probably end up killing them with a bite to the throat or a vicious swipe of her paw for their fumbling attempts.
She focused her attention back on the one and only male she cared about.
Maximus.
Whatever was bothering him was radiating from his heated skin in waves of anger and frustration. Exhaustion too. He was using his brain too much. He needed to relax and focus on the more tangible things in life. The physical things.
The simple things.
Simca attempted to distract him from his black mood by rolling playfully onto her back, upside down on his bed so that her head dangled off the foot of the massive platform as she blinked at him with her adoring golden-green eyes.
Don’t be mad, my warrior, she silently communicated. Come play with me instead. I could use a good scrubbing on my belly.
She wiggled back and forth to make her point.
Reluctantly, a corner of Maximus’s mouth quirked, and he strode over to do her bidding, sitting beside her on the bed and stroking his fingers into the wiry softness of her fur.
She luxuriated in his touch and purred loudly for a good long while before attempting to catch his hand and arm with her paws in a mock skirmish.
He chuckled softly and wrestled with her, man and beast in perfect harmony.
At last he lay flat on his back with his hands stacked behind his head, the tension and stress that had overloaded him earlier chased away by her playfulness, as she’d intended.
Simca lay mostly on his torso, as she was wont to do, her paws on his chest, her tail flicking and curling happily to and fro.
There were many aspects, besides his muscles and veins and hands, that she appreciated about her warrior.
She loved his body heat.
A vampire’s body heat was higher than that of humans, which was in turn slightly higher than that of Pure Ones. A feline predator’s body heat was still a bit higher than that of vampires.
But Maximus’ big body radiated enough heat to rival a seven hundred pound Siberian tiger. It took less than ten seconds for his skin to dry the droplets of water from his recent shower.
When she lay on top of him like this, she felt like she was lying on desert dunes baked by a blazing sun, blanketed by smooth, soft skin stretched taut over the rolling hills and valleys of his body.
She closed her eyes and purred to her heart’s content. If felt soooo good. She wanted to take a nap.
The other thing she loved about him was his scent.
Humanoids were generally too odiferous for her taste, what with the artificial scents they wore to disguise their natural foul odors. She didn’t know what was worse, the acrid smells of their perfumes, deodorants, shampoos and gels, or the stench of their sweat and musk.
Maximus was different.
He never wore scents to disguise his own. He used an almost scentless bar of soap when he washed. When he was clean, as he was now, he smelled like sunshine and desert heat and male.
Truthfully, he smelled like her next meal.
She even liked his smell when he exerted himself. His natural musk grew stronger then, darker, more potent. Then, he was the thrilling darkness of the jungle, dangerous and wild.
Gloriously male.
He made her want to mark him.
He was hers.
Bipedal or not, she owned him, and she took every opportunity to remind him as well as others. Whenever females of his species came around, she always made sure they knew to whom he bel
onged.
She dipped her head down to bathe his face and neck with her sandpaper tongue, nuzzling his face and jaw and throat with the scent glands on her cheeks and head.
There. With her scent mingling with his, he smelled even more delicious.
She licked her chops again and purred more loudly with both hunger and affection.
He rubbed his wonderful hands up and down her back and head and sides, making her practically pant with pleasure.
“What am I going to do with you, love?” he murmured as he scratched her behind each ear and under her chin.
She rubbed her nose and jaw against his face and neck and purred so loudly the whole bed seemed to vibrate.
Hope you never have to find out, she silently replied and bathed him with a long swipe of her tongue from his chin to his brow.
He sighed and closed his eyes, falling asleep within seconds.
Simca remained awake stretched out on top of the warrior’s body, her long, thick tail curling at the tip and undulating back and forth as she mulled over the complicated knot of thoughts in her head.
Animals felt only basic emotions. They felt attachment, like the sort between a mother and her cub; a feline and her mate, for the brief periods that they hunted and slept together to satisfy her urges. But they didn’t feel the emotions humanoids felt.
Simca, however, was not purely animal. She was an eternal familiar.
She was something other.
She lived mostly with her partner in his world, in cities and skyscrapers these days rather than the deserts of her African homeland in the wild. They’d been together since a time beyond the reach of her memories. Verily, she didn’t have memories of when she hadn’t known Maximus.
She was mostly animal, but she was also more.
She loved her male.
Perhaps it was not the love humanoids felt for each other, but it was love nonetheless, and it was every bit as intense and all-consuming.
She wouldn’t be able to describe how she felt, even though she understood the language her warrior spoke by now. Because what she felt was beyond description.
She just knew that she wanted to be with her warrior forever. If she were ever to lose him, she’d lose herself as well.
She was possessive of her male.
She hated with a vengeance the rare occasions that he left the Cove without her for a late night rendezvous, and returned to his room, to their bed with another female’s scent all over his body. The stench of rutting.
It made Simca want to follow that scent to its owner and tear out the bitch’s throat. It made her want to tear into Maximus too, just to show him who his rightful owner was.
Even as she was bewildered by these tumultuous emotions, she never questioned them. She simply followed her instincts.
Her instincts told her that she needed to be even closer to her warrior. She needed to find a way to bind him to her forever.
Before he found a Mate.
Simca couldn’t bear it if he tied himself to another female for eternity.
If any female were to share his life, that female was going to be her.
*** *** *** ***
Other Books in the Pure/ Dark Ones series:
Book 1, Pure Healing
Book 2, Dark Longing
Book 3, Dark Desires
Book 4, Dark Pleasures
Book 5, Pure Rapture
Book 6, Dark Redemption
Book 6.5, Pure Awakening
Book 8, Dark Obsession
Dear reader:
Thank you for reading Pure Ecstasy. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
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Give me a shout! And happy reading!
Aja James
Glossary of Characters
Jade Cicada: Former Queen of the New England vampire hive. Known Gift(s): Ability to draw others’ life force through touch and sexual intercourse.
Alend Ramses: The reigning Dark King of the New England vampire hive, formerly one of the Chosen. Gift(s): unknown. Weapon of choice: scimitar.
The Chosen: The Dark King’s personal guards and advisors.
Maximus Justus Copernicus: The Commander. Leader of the Chosen. Known Gift(s): anticipating opponents’ moves two or three steps in advance, the ability to see through the eyes of his familiar. Weapon of choice: varies, but often fights with familiar Simca.
Simca: Maximus’ familiar. A black panther that is an extension of Maxiums, who can see through her eyes wherever she goes, and feel what she feels.
Ryu Takamura: The Assassin. Executes special, often covert missions for the Queen. Known Gift(s): to be seen. Weapon of choice: Ninja blade or ninjaken.
Devlin Sinclair: The Hunter. Hunts down and eliminates vampire rogues. Ensure security of the New England hive’s borders. Known Gift(s): photographic memory. Weapon of choice: varies, but usually a saber or gun.
Anastasia Zima: The Phoenix. Jade’s head of security, ensures safety of the Queen and assists Maximus with affairs of state. Known Gift(s): telekinesis. Weapon of choice: varies, as a lover and expert in all manner of weapons. Soft spot for daggers.
Enlil Naram-Anu/ Eli Scott: Formerly the Blooded Mate of Anunit Salamu and leader of the shadow warriors in Ancient Akkad. Known Gift(s): the ability to turn into air or wind.
Ava Monroe Takamura: Ryu’s human wife and mate. Brilliant geneticist who developed and took a serum that makes her uniquely super-human, with the Pure Ones’ ability to heal, the source of their eternal youth and apparent immortality.
Kane (pronounced Kah-Nay) Takamura: Ryu and Ava’s son.
Grace Darling: Devlin’s Blooded Mate. Cyber genius who used to work unwittingly for Medusa’s empire.
Sophia Victoria St. James: Queen of the Pure Ones. Known Gift(s): the ability to see Pure souls and the true intentions of all beings.
The Circlet: The Pure Queen’s royal advisors. Part of the Dozen or Royal Zodiac.
Seth Tremaine: The Consul. Handles the Pure Ones’ diplomatic affairs. Talented negotiator. Known Gift(s): the ability to project a spiritual version of his physical self anytime, anywhere.
Ayelet Baltazar: The Guardian. Main responsibility is to guide and educate the Pure Queen, caretaker and mother figure. Known Gift(s): the ability to feel and experience what others feel using a physical artifact of the individual; deep empathy.
Eveline Marceau: The Seer: Records and interprets Pure Ones’ potential future in the Zodiac Prophesies. Known Gift(s): spells.
Rain: The Healer: Ensures the health and vitality of Pure Ones, especially members of the Royal Zodiac. Known Gift(s): ability to absorb pain and poison from severe wounds using the needles of her hair, called zhen.
The Elite: The Pure Queen’s personal guards. Part of the Dozen or Royal Zodiac.
Valerius Marcus Ambrosius: The Protector. Hunt down rogue vampires who hurt humans. De facto Leader of the Elite given that the previous leader was killed. Known Gift(s): fast healing, beyond even the typical Pure Ones’ ability to heal. Weapon of choice: Chained scythe.
Tristan du Lac: The Champion. Historically, he is the first warrior to be dispatched against enemies in one-on-one combat. In modern times, he helps train human Chevaliers. Known Gift(s): none. Weapon of choice: Excalibur or long sword.
Aella: The Strategist. Plan all manner of defense and attack vs. enemies and
threats. Known Gift(s): speed. Weapon of choice: three chakrams, which can link together and stiffen into a longer-range hand-to-hand weapon or be thrown individually.
Cloud Drako: The Valiant. Train Pure Ones and humans in combat. Known Gift(s): ability to exert strong compulsion on anyone who stares into his eyes. Weapon of choice: long spear.
Inanna: The ex-Angel of Death or Angel of the New England vampire hive under Jade Cicada, used to be member of the Chosen. After discovering her Pure Soul as the daughter of a Pure and Dark One and having her Awakening, she is known as the Light Bringer. Human alias: Nana Chastain. Now member of the Elite. Known Gift(s): the ability to see through any material and zoom in and out like a telescope or microscope. Weapon of choice: chained whip.
Gabriel D’Angelo: Inanna’s Blooded Mate. Used to be known as Alad Da-an-nim, born a Pure One, died and reincarnated as a human. Turned into a vampire by Inanna but retains his Pure Soul. Gift(s): unknown, but is a skilled martial artist as a human and was one of the fiercest Pure warriors in ancient Akkad.
Benjamin Larkin D’Angelo: Inanna and Gabriel’s adopted son. Known Gift(s): the ability to see people’s true selves.
Tal Telal: The General who led the Pure Ones to victory in the Great War. Inanna’s father. Known Gift(s): used to have the ability to see possible futures, unknown now.
Ishtar Anshar: Once a Dark Princess when the vampires ruled the earth. Tal’s Destined Mate, Eternal and Blooded. Inanna’s mother. Human alias: Estelle Martin or “Mama Bear,” owns all-things and pastry shop called Dark Dreams. Known Gift(s): the ability to transform into a giant snow leopard.