Belong To The Night

by Shelly Laurenston

  “I can’t shift.” Spoken quietly.

  His jaw clenched. “No, no, you can’t.”

  “But I’m alive.” Some might disagree with that. Screw them. Sadie forced her fingers to ease their death grip and she reached for him. “I’m alive and I’m with you.” She’d made the choice.

  She’d made it long before Michael Munroe had taken aim on her in that room.

  She’d decided last night when she spooned in bed with Liam, his arms around her. His scent had surrounded her, his whisper of a thaisce had filled her ears. She’d known that she never wanted to leave him. Didn’t matter what he was, didn’t matter what she was.

  Being with him—that was her choice. And she’d been fully aware of the consequences all along.

  “How long until you hate this? Me?”

  Crazy vampire. “Liam, my choice.” Being a vampire might not have been her lifelong dream, but she knew vamps weren’t the heartless killers she’d thought. Like humans, like shifters, some were evil.

  And some weren’t.

  The facts were simple to Sadie. She was still breathing. Liam was with her. As for that bastard Munroe…“Tell me you killed that murdering shifter.”

  Liam shook his head and her heart sank. No, no, he couldn’t still be out there. He couldn’t—

  “Kyle finished him off before I could.”

  Her shoulders relaxed.

  “Seems old Michael made a habit of torturing his brother. Kyle left home when he was sixteen and said he’d hoped to never run across his brother again, but then he caught his scent here one night.”

  He’d killed his brother. Talk about a hard choice.

  But one that had saved lives. Sadie knew Michael Munroe had developed a taste for the kill. She’d seen his eyes, she knew.

  “Michael took Su to send a message to Kyle, didn’t he?” she asked.

  He nodded. “Punishment for him, a lure for me.”

  But they didn’t have to worry about him any longer. One more killer off the streets.

  Pity there were always more out there.

  “Can I—can I hold you, Sadie love?”

  She blinked, her lips parting in surprise at the question. When had Liam ever asked? When had he needed to? “Yeah, yeah, you can—”

  He was on the bed before she’d finished speaking. His arms hard around her, his lips on hers. Kissing her with a feverish passion and a stark intensity.

  Her tongue met his. Her arms locked just as fiercely around him…and deep inside, she heard the purr of her leopard.

  Sadie froze. What? How?

  Liam stiffened against her. “Sadie, no.” The words rumbled against her lips. “Don’t turn away from me. Things can be the same between us. Give your new life a chance. Give me a chance to—”

  Her fingers pushed between them. “I am.” His eyes were black. Were hers? Hunger heated her blood, and her teeth had begun to ache.

  She wanted to taste him.

  To bite him.

  But she could have sworn she’d heard her leopard. Felt her.

  That was impossible. All the stories said the transformation killed the beast.

  And made room for the vampire.

  Her fingers caught the V of his shirt. Yanked and sent buttons flying. The white shirt hung loosely on him, now revealing the delicious lines of his muscled chest.

  Her mouth was dry.

  Need filled her. Desperate desire for his body and his blood.

  Sadie rose onto her knees. Her mouth pressed against his flesh. Tasted the sweetness of his skin. She tongued his nipple, and the small nub stiffened with the strokes of her tongue.

  His hands smoothed down her back, caught the curves of her bare ass and squeezed.

  She bit him. Pierced the flesh right above his nipple with her teeth and tasted the nectar of his blood.

  The leopard purred.

  The sound was so familiar to her, but it wasn’t a sound she heard with her ears. Only her heart.

  As she drank from him, feeling his blood energize her body and send her sensual hunger soaring to a new height, Sadie realized that the stories hadn’t been true, not completely anyway.

  “Ah, damn…that feels so…good…” Liam grated and his mouth moved to her throat. His teeth scraped over her flesh. “My turn, love…” and he took her. Mouth. Tongue. Teeth.

  Sadie moaned against him. Her nipples tightened and her sex clenched. Her tongue swiped over the small wound she’d made. No wonder vampires were all about blood and sex. It was a freaking great combination.

  Liam tumbled her back onto the bed, keeping his teeth on her. In her.

  Sadie shoved the sheets out of their way. She was naked and more than ready for him.

  The bulge of his arousal shoved against the front of his jeans. She unsnapped the button, eased down the zipper with a hiss—and had the hot, heavy length of his arousal filling her hands.

  She licked her lips and thought about having a taste.

  Liam’s head rose. His face was brutally hard. Etched into taut lines of need.

  “You almost died on me.”

  No, correction, she had died. That’s why she was a vampire now.

  “Don’t ever fuckin’ do that to me again.” Desperation, she knew it when she heard it.

  “I won’t.” Dying wasn’t on her agenda. Having mind-blowing sex, yeah, that was.

  The bad guy was dead. She’d survived. And Liam was exactly where she wanted him. Well, almost.

  He drove into her. A plunging, driving thrust that had her sucking in a sharp breath because he felt so good.

  She still didn’t like things easy, especially not her sex.

  Her hips lifted high, drove right back at him. She needed this—the rush of pleasure, the spike of need.

  Needed this. Needed him.

  Because death hadn’t held her—no, he had. Liam had fought for her and given her a chance to live again.

  To spend her days and nights with him.

  Her muscles tightened as she thundered toward her release. Her sex was so sensitive, every glide and drive of his cock had her twisting beneath him.

  His fingers caught her breasts. Fondled her nipples.

  His cock swelled within her, filling her so fully that she nearly screamed.

  He withdrew, thrust deep—

  And she did scream. Sadie climaxed on a driving wave of pleasure. Her sex clenched around him, squeezing that thick length tightly and she gasped as her body shivered with aftershocks of pulsing heat.

  Liam was with her. She felt the hot tide of his release within her. Saw the wild flare of pleasure in his eyes.

  Oh, yeah, he was with her. For every single moment.

  He kissed her. She tasted his hunger, his pleasure, his need.

  And knew that he tasted hers.

  A rumble trembled in her throat.

  Liam lifted his head. “Sadie?”

  Not a rumble, really, more of a purr.

  His lips curved into a smile. “I love you, Sadie James.”

  Her heartbeat had just begun to slow. The beat immediately kicked up.

  “Spend forever with me?” he asked, eyes flickering from black to blue.

  Beautiful blue eyes.

  “Try to stop me,” she whispered. “Because I sure as hell love you too, Liam Sullivan.” She’d loved him for years.

  Loved him.

  Mourned him.

  Missed him.

  Hell, no, he wasn’t about to get away from her again. She’d cheated death for her chance with him.

  Forever.

  She smiled and kissed him again.

  And the leopard was content.

  Forty-eight hours later, Sadie James stepped into the night with her vampire lover by her side. The stars shimmered so brightly that even the lights of the city couldn’t lessen their glow. Music beat in a steady drumbeat, coming from the clubs downtown. Voices, whispers, filled her ears, and the scents from the city had her nose flaring.

  Her senses were almost a
s advanced as before. Her strength was still ten times better than a human’s.

  Sure, the blood hunger would take a bit more adjusting, but all in all, Sadie thought she was doing damn well for an undead woman.

  Of course, when her brother found out about her new, um, life choice and lover choice, Jacob probably wouldn’t be thrilled.

  Serious understatement, she knew.

  But he was her brother, and unlike that twisted freak Michael Munroe, he’d be glad she wasn’t lying in a morgue somewhere. Fangs and blood hunger—he’d learn to deal with them. She knew her brother. He’d rage and then he’d hug her until she felt like he was squeezing her to death.

  Brothers. Sometimes they were great. Sometimes they were devils.

  Liam’s fingers closed around hers. She glanced at him, unable to stop the curve of her lips.

  Being this happy should be illegal. She was with Liam. The night was beautiful, and, deep inside, her leopard stretched.

  She couldn’t shift anymore, but her leopard hadn’t died. She was inside, safe, with a spirit ready to fight at a moment’s notice.

  Liam brought her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss against her palm. She felt the wet swipe of his tongue.

  And the surge of her pulse.

  That man could turn her on. But they had a job to do. As tempted as she was to go back inside and jump his sexy bones, Miller was waiting to brief them on another case. Always another case.

  “Ready to go?” Liam’s deep voice stroked over her.

  “Yeah.” No, but the sex would wait.

  After all, they had plenty of time.

  And, as vampires, plenty of stamina.

  “Another night, another city full of killers,” he murmured.

  Story of their afterlife.

  Her fingers tightened around his. “Let’s go hunting.” Her leopard wanted to play.

  She saw the white flash of his teeth as he grinned. Those teeth would be in her neck by morning and she’d love it. Love it.

  But for now, they had work to do. Miller waited.

  And so did the night.

  Such a beautiful night.

  Her partner was by her side—a man who would always have her back. He’d fight to the death and beyond for her, she knew it. No more hunting alone, ever.

  He’d have her back, and he’d be in her bed.

  A perfect team.

  The killers they tracked, the monsters gone bad, they wouldn’t know what hit them.

  Time for the games to begin.

  City of the Dead

  SHERRILL QUINN

  Prologue

  “You sure you don’t want me, cher?” The hot, wet glide of a tongue on her lower lip had Dori Falcon clenching her thighs together. Still, she couldn’t stem the tide of lust that crashed through her core.

  Detective Jake Boudreau leaned against her, pressing her more firmly against the wall next to her hotel room. This close to him she could feel the heat of his big body and smell his tantalizing scent—a spicy mixture of cologne, coffee, and male.

  She was sure she did want him. She was equally sure that the more she was around him, the harder it would be when things ended between them.

  Why did he have to be so sexy, so hard to resist? He was human and she was a witch. She really shouldn’t feel this attraction to him. It would only lead to heartache when he rejected her heritage.

  In her experience, he would reject her. That’s what men did to witches once they discovered their secret.

  All in all, it was better than being burned at the stake, she supposed.

  Boudreau was just so yummy. He tasted wonderful, like rich, dark mocha. Her favorite.

  As her body tightened with need, Dori squirmed. Damn, but he was one fine looking man.

  She had to pull herself together. She was in New Orleans to find her brother, not continue an affair that realistically had no hope of going anywhere. She’d been told her entire life to stay with her own kind, the Magicks. To bond with a human was to court sorrow.

  But Boudreau seemed different somehow. For one thing, his aura was bright with honesty and loyalty, and the ever-present humor. There was no hint of subterfuge or bigotry. In Dori’s experience, auras didn’t lie.

  The other thing, the really big other thing was that she had never felt like this about a man. Not once in her thirty-three years had she had such an overpowering need to join with a man. Oh, she’d been attracted to men, had been aroused to the point of madness, but it had all been completely physical.

  Never emotional.

  With Jake, her emotions were definitely involved. All of them, it seemed. Tenderness, lust, fear, sadness, happiness…you name it, she felt it.

  So, what now? Should she take a chance on him?

  Could she?

  What if she didn’t?

  With a broad palm curved around the base of her skull he tilted her head to the angle he wanted and slanted his mouth over hers. It was the kiss of a man staking his claim—a hungry, dominating kiss, one that spoke to his need and desire.

  He ate at her mouth like a starving man, each kiss blending into another until it seemed like one endless caress. Finally he gentled, as if he’d been able to take the edge off his need. His tongue slipped into her mouth in a silken stroke that curled her toes.

  A moan left her throat and was swallowed into his mouth. She pressed against him, feeling his thick cock pressing into her belly, his firm chest pushing against the hard tips of her breasts.

  It was too much.

  It wasn’t enough.

  She wanted him, but she was so afraid.

  At last he pulled away and rested his forehead on hers. “You taste like whiskey an’ honey, my favorite.”

  He tasted like coffee and spice. He tasted like…home.

  “I’ve missed you, cher.” His deep voice was as raspy as the sexy stubble on his jaw. “This long distance thing is hell.” He drew away and stared down at her with eyes dark with lust and something more. Something…

  Deeper.

  Dori had never thought of having anything other than a fling with him whenever she was in town. She couldn’t let herself think of anything more.

  She thought her heart would burst from her chest, it pounded so hard. She had to get away from this man before she made a mistake. In the mixed-up state she was in, sleeping with him tonight was out of the question. “I…I have to go, Jake. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  She ducked under his arm, avoiding the good night kiss she knew he meant to give her, and escaped into the safety of her hotel room. As much as her body wanted to, getting involved with this man on a level any deeper than the casual arrangement they had was a bad idea.

  Of course, one more date wouldn’t hurt, right? One more taste, that’s all she wanted.

  She pressed her cheek against the door, heard Boudreau’s heavy sigh and the tread of his boots as he walked down the hall toward the exit.

  Away from her.

  The next day her brother Art showed up, and she left New Orleans without saying good-bye.

  Chapter One

  Six months later

  Dori sighed and stared at Jake Boudreau’s implacable face. Dark brows were drawn down over eyes that held a look of concern sparked with a small amount of irritation.

  Not just because of the way she’d left things between them six months ago, but also because here she was again, trying to encourage him to help her find her wayward younger brother.

  Arthur Falcon had come to the Big Easy to meet a very dangerous and unpredictable witch named Alex Sabin. Art planned something that Dori had tried and tried to talk him out of. As much as she’d loved her father, trying to bring him back to life was not a good idea.

  In fact, it was a very bad idea.

  Now Art was missing. According to Sabin, her brother never showed up at their rendezvous point. At least, that’s what he’d said. But Sabin was enigmatic. Why he’d agreed to let Art use the Eye of Bastet in the ritual resurrection was still a myst
ery to her. The Eye was dangerous, coveted by all those who served the cause of evil and wished to see witches destroyed.

  Though if anyone could control the amulet’s power and protect them, it was Sabin. His power was scary, even to someone like her. He had stronger magick than any witch she knew, than any she’d ever known of. No one knew why.

  Others of her kind didn’t trust him. But she knew from his clear, clean aura that he was good and decent, even if there was a shadow in his aura that she’d never seen before.

  But now she couldn’t find Sabin, either. He’d gone to ground after informing her of her brother’s disappearance.

  Which left her with Boudreau. The one man she should stay away from. The one man she hadn’t been able to forget.

  If she told him why Art had come back to New Orleans he’d never believe her. The reason wasn’t important, anyway. She needed Boudreau’s help.

  “It’s different this time. He was supposed to meet someone at the old St. Louis Cemetery. He never showed. I think something terrible has happened to him.” Dori stared up at the handsome detective, trying to will him to do what she wanted. Damn, if only she could cast a spell, just a small one.

  Don’t do it, her conscience whispered.

  Unless it’s a love spell, her bad girl replied. Her clit thumped in response. Her nipples seemed happy with the idea, too, and tightened into little buds.

  Aargh!

  His scowl deepened. Dori matched him frown for frown, but, damn, it would be so much easier if he was butt-ugly. Even scowling he was beautiful.

  His looks were damned distracting. Not to mention damaging to her brand new panties. It had been months since she’d last seen him, and he still affected her like no other man. With his handsome face, sexy drawl, and bad boy attitude, he turned her into nothing more than a pair of boobs and a pussy waiting for the train to pull into port. Or was that ship?

  Aargh! Focus, Dori.

  “…an’ I understand your concern,” Boudreau was saying. “But with his history, cher, until he has been missin’ for twenty-four hours, there ain’ anythin’ we can do. You sure he’s not gonna just pop up like he usually does? You got a store to run back in Chicago, Dori. Why don’t you go home?”