Tall, Dark and Paranormal: 10 Thrilling Tales of Sexy Alpha Bad Boys

by Opal Carew

  She hurried back to her bedroom, intending to get her sword and defend Zachary if she needed to. But by the time she reached her room, she realized how futile the effort would be. Zachary was very capable of defending himself, almost as good as Michael and her uncle in putting down rogue vampires.

  Her blood pulsed in her ears while she considered that her manager had let the vampire in though. Now Adonis could enter Rachael’s apartment anytime he wished, just appearing at will.

  After closing her bedroom door, she grabbed a nightgown from her drawer. When Adonis had vanished, she thought he had reappeared in the living room ready to battle her cousin. But he hadn’t confronted Zachary at all. Much relieved, she assumed then, Adonis had left for good. Had he been hiding in her living room all this time? And where was he now? Still silently observing her cousin?

  She switched on the light in the long walk-in closet and peered at her clothes hanging on either side. No one inside either in full view or hiding amongst her clothes. Her heart pounded erratically. She exited the bedroom and walked into her bathroom down the hall. When she clicked the door shut behind her, she took a deep breath. As far as she knew, vampires had to reappear before they could hear or see anything. They couldn’t invisibly lurk.

  She reached into the shower and turned the water on. Within seconds, she pulled off her heels, then stripped out of the evening gown and panties. After stepping into the shower, she purred to the pulse of hot, silky water streaming down her back, trying to pretend none of tonight had happened, that her uncle hadn’t made this her official coming out to match her up with a prospective hunter, that a vampire hadn’t approached her—more than approached her—kissed her senseless, and that she still didn’t know who’d killed her parents. Ignorance was bliss, she mused.

  But ignoring any of the events of tonight was like pretending she wasn’t going to be guillotined the next morning at daybreak. The events had been set into motion and life again would never be the same.

  Until Zachary yelled out, his voice filled with pain. Her heart tripping, she bolted out of the shower and grabbed a bath towel. All she could think of was Adonis had attacked him.

  With the towel wrapped around her, she dashed out of the bathroom and ran down the hall, dripping water on the carpet.

  Sucking his thumb, Zachary raised his brows to see her. “If Gregory had observed you like that, you wouldn’t have been wearing that towel much longer.”

  She scowled at her cousin. “I thought you were hurt.” Although she was relieved to see no sign of the vampire menace.

  “I am.” Zachary showed the bloody cut on his thumb and pointed to the couch pulled halfway out to make a bed. “That metal’s jagged right there.”

  “Oh, sorry. I always pull the bed out from the other side.”

  “I knew you should’ve made it for me.” He smiled at the sight of her fluffy green towel. “So you came to rescue me. How exactly were you going to save me?”

  Without answering him, she turned and stalked back to the shower. No doubt the water had turned cold by now. But she was thankful Zachary hadn’t questioned her as to who or what she thought she was saving him from in her totally panicked state. And doubly thankful that the trouble hadn’t been in the form of one sexy vampire, who should never have gained access to her apartment in the first place, targeting her cousin.

  When she entered the bathroom, the steam-covered mirror caught her attention—Rachael was written across the steam and droplets of water trickled from the letters like blood dripping from a wound. Her heart raced and she yanked the shower curtain aside. The water continued to pulse out of the spout. But no Adonis.

  She shoved her hand underneath the spray. Still hot, to her relief. Although, the knowledge the vampire chose to play with her stirred her unease.

  After closing and locking the bathroom door, she dropped her towel and walked into the shower, grinding her teeth in anxiety. If Adonis thought his actions would desensitize her toward him, he was dead wrong. His actions only furthered her feeling of distrust. Tomorrow, she’d seek out her cousin, Michael, a renegade hunter, and currently estranged from his father, her Uncle Tobias.

  Maybe Michael could give her some ideas on how to take out Piaras on her own. She wasn’t about to trust a vampire. And Michael was well thought of among the hunters, having killed more than sixty bloodsuckers that year alone, despite going against his father’s wishes. The problem was both were too headstrong to get along.

  But the bigger problem was getting Michael to agree to help her. And avoiding one hot stalker of a vampire in the meantime.

  ***

  Later that night after Zachary had watched a couple of long-winded westerns and finally fallen asleep on the couch made into a bed, Adonis stood next to Rachael’s mattress while she slept. He’d never been so attracted to a woman in his whole life. Why now a huntress? Now that he wasn’t a hunter any longer. He ought to have bitten her and claimed her. And then Piaras would have terminated his life for it because he wanted her so badly. No other vampire would be foolish enough to take her.

  Clenching his teeth, Adonis attempted to contain the bloodlust rising in his system. Already his canines itched to extend and graze her soft, fragrant skin, and then dig deep, penetrating her with his fervent longing. And much more. The semi-transparent gown she wore drove him to distraction.

  If he did take her, then what? Attempt to make her his? Forever? A vampire and a huntress couldn’t share a life together, not unless he turned her. But no self-respecting huntress could accept him for what he was.

  He touched her hair, silky and golden, lying in curls over the blue floral comforter tucked under her arms. In the dark, he could see her as if the room were filled with lamplight. He brushed her hair aside and studied her neck. Creamy smooth skin begged him to press his lips to it.

  He ran his finger down the vampire’s mark on her shoulder—a long white jagged streak of raised skin. He frowned. If she’d been too young when the vampire had come into contact with her in the past, he might have marked her and returned for her later. Was it Piaras who’d cut her? And if so, what made her appeal to him so much?

  Rachael stirred.

  Adonis whipped around and paced back and forth across the carpeted floor. Piaras had given him a job to do. Bring the huntress to him.

  Piaras must have been the one to scar her then.

  She muttered something under her breath. Adonis returned to her side and listened, but couldn’t make out what she said. His gaze shifted to the lacy edged nightgown she wore, the faint rosy color of her nipples barely visible underneath the pale pink silky fabric. Her breasts rose slightly with each breath she took.

  He cursed. She had to kill Piaras. It was the only way Adonis and his family could be free. But she’d never live to see another day after she did the deed. Not once the vampires who lived with him found out... if she was able to kill Piaras at all. He took a ragged breath. Why did she have to be so damned appealing?

  And why did Piaras want her so badly? In part, Piaras and his blood relations were testing Adonis’s loyalty to the family. Yet Adonis knew it was more than that. Rachael represented something Piaras desired. Adonis was determined to find out what it was before he handed her over to him. Well, not exactly handed her over to him. Brought her to him, so she could kill him.

  He began to pace again. Never before had he been faced with such a dilemma. Choices were always easily made. Kill or be killed.

  This was different.

  Piaras wouldn’t give it another thought, just flick his wrist and send Adonis’s family to their deaths. Afterward, he’d get someone else to convince Rachael to come to him. Piaras insisted she come to him willingly. Those were the terms. But no huntress in her right mind would agree to such a deadly proposition. Piaras assured Adonis she would, given the right encouragement.

  Her desire to kill him because he had murdered her parents was supposed to have been the incentive. But Adonis’s craving to have the huntress for his
very own plagued him.

  He knew she wasn’t interested in the hunters in the local area. Any of them. Instead, she wanted more of him. He could sense it in the way she had acted so curiously about him... not terrified like the other huntresses would have been. And when he held her tightly in her bedroom, she never once screamed. She enjoyed his touching her as much as he treasured feeling her close to him. Her heart beat way out of control as his fingers had traced her skin. Her violet fragrance, the sweet taste of her soft skin... he groaned.

  The box springs squeaked. He turned. She licked her lips and immediately he wanted to tangle his tongue with hers.

  Despite not wanting to leave her, he had to get some sleep. But, he wouldn’t depart without a kiss. He leaned over and touched his lips to hers.

  She squirmed slightly. He pressed harder. Kissing a woman who wouldn’t notice his ministrations didn’t appeal. She moaned. He pulled away and studied her expression. Her lips curved up slightly. She was enjoying his attentions.

  When she parted her lips, he covered her mouth with his own. She purred against his mouth and lightly touched her tongue to his. He smothered her with his kiss in response, her simple touch triggering him to do more. His body burned with an ache that sought relief. He yearned to touch every inch of her, to bury himself in her, to claim her for his own.

  To make himself whole again.

  “Rachael,” he whispered into her ear, his cravings getting the better of his judgment. He traced her lips with his thumb.

  “Hmm,” she hummed sleepily.

  His testosterone raged out of control, and he fought the urge to join her in bed. But when she moaned again and shifted her body slightly, he knew the enjoyment had to end.

  Her eyes popped wide open, her jaw dropped, but before she could cry out, he vanished, cursing himself all the way home.

  Chapter 4

  Still cursing himself soundly, Adonis renewed his pacing, this time at his antique shop, the sky still dark. His sister cleared her throat, her look a mixture of concern and annoyance.

  He paused. “What, Danai?”

  He couldn’t help that his voice sounded raw with agitation. The only place he wished to be was with the temptress named Rachael, exploring every part of her body with every part of his own. After he’d vanished, had she screamed out in a panic when she discovered him there? If she’d cried out and told her cousin what had happened, he would spirit her away to a secure hunter’s home.

  Adonis was torn between feeling as though he’d made the second gravest mistake of his thirty years, and knowing that his wanting her was not something he had any control over. Piaras might have desired her for his own dark reasons, but Adonis craved her with a power that couldn’t be quenched. What was it that drew him to her? She was a siren of the sea who would lure him to his death... because lusting after her would earn him Piaras’s wrath that wouldn’t be satisfied until Adonis was dead.

  His sister tucked her dark hair behind her ears and turned her attention from him as if she had just dismissed him from her concerns. But he knew better.

  With a lemon-polish soaked cloth, she wiped the oak countertop around the cash register. “The wooden floors have just been stripped and revarnished. If you keep pacing, we’ll have to replace them. You’re wearing grooves in them like the eighteen-wheelers do the asphalt on the freeway.” She tried to sound unconcerned, but he heard the wariness in her voice.

  He grunted.

  “You said you’ve made headway with the woman, so what are you worried about?” The challenge to reveal the truth. Danai suspected something was the matter.

  “The woman’s name is Rachael.” He peered out the window into the dark, unwilling to tell his sister what had gone wrong.

  “Then what is the problem?” Danai’s voice was edged with ice. “She’ll kill Piaras and set our family free.”

  “If she can manage. He’ll know that’s what she’ll intend to do.” He threw his hands up in exasperation. “Why would he want me to tell her that he’d murdered her parents? Why want a huntress? And why this particular one?”

  “We’ve already discussed this.” His sister sat down on a stool at the counter. “She’s unmarried, but of a marriageable age. He’s intrigued that her uncle hasn’t married her off yet. And he believes your telling her that he killed her parents will make her willing to meet with him, even though she would wish to exact her revenge, not get cozy with him. Willing is the key. I’d say it had to do something with his sick pride.”

  Danai tapped her long polished black fingernails on the counter. “Most wed at eighteen. So why the big delay with her? That’s what I don’t understand. Maybe the notion she’d be an unmarried huntress at her age... what twenty-six? Perhaps that’s why Piaras wants her so badly. He’s not interested in younger women. But if he conquered a local huntress at her age, wouldn’t it be another slap in the hunters’ faces, just another way of his showing them how powerful he is? Right?”

  “No. He turned you. You’re unmarried still and twenty-six, but he doesn’t want you like that. Although you might be right about the local angle. You’re not from here and no one would even know that he’d taken you.” Adonis shook his head. “But I’m sure there’s more to it. None of his blood family will say though, but I can see the looks in their eyes when they share thoughts between each other. Thoughts they keep hidden from me. Something always remains unsaid when I’m around. There’s some reason he’s so desperate to get her. And she’s been marked by a vampire, too. Was it his mark? Or an enemy of his? Unless it’s because of the fact she’s the head of the League of Hunter’s niece. What better way to strike a blow at the League?”

  Adonis reached out to the windowpane, the glass hard and cold to the touch. He wanted to return to her, to feel her breasts in his greedy grasp and kiss her until she begged for more. He rested his forehead against the glass.

  “What in the world is the matter, Adonis? You’re doing just what Piaras ordered you to. He’s keeping his promise. Now you must keep yours.”

  “Yes.” A promise to the devil himself.

  The chair squeaked and his sister’s light footsteps approached him. Her hand touched his shoulder, sending a chill through his system. She couldn’t learn how the huntress had enchanted him.

  “Tell me what’s bothering you. We never keep secrets from one another, but something’s eating you. You haven’t been yourself since you returned from seeing her at the ball.”

  “I’m not certain I can ensure she sees Piaras. She may not have the grit to go through with it. A huntress in the midst of all his bloodsuckers is a formidable concern.”

  Danai withdrew her hand from Adonis’s shoulder. “You said you’d made progress with her.”

  Yeah, he’d made progress... in seducing her. Human females couldn’t resist him when he was a hunter. But he’d never worked his charms on a huntress before—never having found one he’d ever thought to settle down with. She was more delightful than any woman he’d ever had his eager hands on. And he thought it had to do with her rebellious nature.

  She’d succumbed to his attentions, but not due to his powers of persuasion through mind control. He had no ability to control her in that manner and yet, when her cousin arrived, she’d wanted to protect him, Adonis, from the threat. How could a huntress want that? Her actions turned everything around for him. She wasn’t just a huntress, but a flesh and blood woman intent on destroying his resolve.

  Was that part of the test of loyalty Piaras had in store for him? Bring the huntress to him, still unclaimed? Adonis was certain he still hadn’t totally convinced her to go with him to see Piaras. But seeing her alone again was bound to get him into a deeper quagmire.

  “Tell me your thoughts, my brother.” Danai reached for his hand, but he pulled away.

  “I’m sorry.” As much as he’d needed to be there for his sister after she’d been changed, her mood despondent at times, her will to live fragile except for her drive to free their family, he’d worked
tirelessly to lift her spirits, to reassure her that they’d save them. But now his own emotional state was embroiled in a new desperate need. “I require some sleep before the sun comes up. Wake me in a little while if you rise before I do.”

  Her dark brown eyes studied him, the look of worry making him feel like less of a brother who’d always taken care of his sisters and mother while his father led the League in Central Florida and more like a heel.

  He couldn’t explain to her why he was so cross. Best not to say anything more on the subject.

  Danai nodded, but the crease in her forehead indicated she knew something was terribly wrong. “Sleep well.”

  “Don’t stay up too late.” He gave her a backward glance to emphasis his words. She bowed her head slightly, and he crossed the shop to the door leading to the house out back. His step grew as weary as he felt. Never had he faced such a horrendous decision in his life. And sleep wouldn’t take care of the fatigue weighing him down.

  Yet he knew if the hunters chose to take her into seclusion, he’d still have to see her again... touch her, breathe in her heavenly scent, taste her sweet skin, and convince her to help him with his plan.

  His fangs begged to extend.

  ***

  When it grew light, Rachael studied the dark circles under her eyes in the bathroom mirror. She grimaced. How could she sleep when the vampire continued to molest her? She could still feel the way his rough thumb had caressed her lips and taste his wine sweetened tongue on hers. Thinking it was only a dream, she’d enjoyed his attentions, but then realizing it wasn’t...

  Of course she’d been frightened, startled, and damn it, more than a little intrigued.