“There’s a word for that, you know.” His free hand slid under my leg and pulled it across his lap.
“Oh?” My voice was breathy, my thoughts jumbled by the extra body contact.
Hellooo, inner cavewoman, welcome back. I draped my other leg across his lap and he curved an arm around my back.
“Dhampyre.” His fingers caressed my jaw and slid around my neck, sifting through the hair at my nape.
Shivers danced up my spine, but I tried to focus on his words. “Dhampyre,” I echoed, but my inner voice objected. No. We are more. “Don’t call me that. My inner vampire doesn’t like it.”
I curled my fingers around his wrist, checked his pulse. Wild and erratic. Like mine.
Alexander’s lips curled. “Oh yeah? What would she prefer?”
“Vampire princess,” I teased, though I spoke the truth. My dad is a prince. “So that would make you...”
He sobered, the shift so abrupt it startled me, and I would have crawled off his lap, but his hands anchored me in place. “Yours. I’m yours, Carina Tranquilli. By blood, I am forever bound to you.”
“Till my death do we part, you mean,” I joked.
“Not even then.”
My lips parted, but no words came. It was the most romantic thing anyone had ever said to me. I was elated. And terrified.
Fast. This is all happening soooo fast.
He buried his face in my neck, and my inner vampire purred. Mine. Always. I relaxed and enjoyed the trail of kisses down my neck. He lingered in the hollow of my shoulder, savoring my skin with tongue and teeth. My nails dug into his shoulders, scraping on the fabric of his jacket.
“Carina.” Alexander’s hot breath caressed my skin.
Shivers cascaded down my spine. My mouth was so dry I couldn’t speak. But I could do other things. I shifted on his lap, intent on straddling and kissing him senseless, but footsteps sounded behind us.
A security guard. He cleared his throat, eyeing a spot over my shoulder. “Excuse me, Miss Tranquilli. We’re closed.”
I disentangled myself from Alexander and we stood. “Okay, we’ll leave soon. I have my code for the back exit.” I tried for nonchalant, but my tomato face must’ve revealed the truth.
The guard left.
“So,” I began.
“So.” He grazed his knuckles down my hot cheek and my knees almost buckled.
“It’s not easy dating me.” I gave him a wry grin.
He cocked a brow.
“I mean there’s no privacy in my weird, messy world.” I’d meant it as a joke, but when the words left me, sadness struck, because it was so true. “People get hurt in my world. Because of me. Mark and Ren. Faith. My parents. You.” My eyes watered. Sure, Alexander declared himself my eternal love partner, but it didn’t negate the fact he’d been beaten up by Team Evil and tortured by my own surrogate mother.
My fault. All of it.
Alexander’s hands curled around my shoulders. “I do not accept your apology.”
My eyes widened.
“Because you’re not to blame. You hear me?”
I sniffed. “There’s no denying you’d be safer without me around.”
He cupped my face. Our eyes locked. “And lonely. And empty and,” his lips quirked. “Bored.”
I gave him a lopsided smile.
He kissed my forehead. “You’re wrong.” His breath was warm velvet against my skin. “We’re safer together. I repeat, forever bound to you.”
Forever bound. The words seeped into my cells, bones, heart, soul.
His lips claimed mine. The kiss started gentle, almost chaste for a brief second, until his lips parted. I seized the moment, my tongue darting into his mouth, seeking, tasting. Sake. Soy. A hint of copper. He groaned. Our tongues clashed, danced. His hands roamed everywhere at once. Mine, too. His teeth latched onto my earlobe and I went boneless. He took us down to the bench when my legs forgot how to stand.
We paused to catch our breath, staring at each other wearing matching, goofy I-like-you grins.
I spoke first. “We should get going soon, but do you want to talk?”
Alexander’s grin widened and he chuckled, though it was more of a sexy growl. It touched me right where it counted. I squeezed my thighs together and squirmed.
“Stop,” I breathed.
“Stop what?” His voice slid over my skin, velvet and silk. Goosebumps broke out in its wake.
I gripped his arm and squeezed. “That whole touch-me-with-your-voice thing.”
“You don’t like it?” he teased.
“You know I do, and no, I’m not blushing for you this time. Ha.”
“Damn.”
“Anyway,” I fake punched his arm. “Tell me some little things. About you.”
“Little things?”
“Yeah, like what you do for fun, favorite color, movies you like, music, toothpaste flavor? You know, little things.”
He gave me a considering look. “I agree we’ve a lot to learn about each other. Earlier tonight I thought we should talk. But now...”
His eyes roamed over my body and he rubbed his jaw. When his eyes met mine, they flickered between vampire black and smoky blue. Both sexy as hell and irresistible.
“You win.” I crawled onto his lap, wrapping my legs around his torso.
His eyes blackened, blazing with sexual hunger, while his hands gripped my hips, pushing me against his obvious erection. I gasped and clutched his shoulders. Electric need sizzled through me. I arched into him causing more delicious friction in my groin, putting his face in my chest where my nipples ached for his teeth and tongue. He pushed under my shirt, fingers tweaking my nipple through my bra. I bucked on his lap, grinding myself into his hardness. Close. Already so close to release.
I clutched his head as his mouth trailed up to nip at my neck and managed to say, “We should go to my place.” My nails raked his scalp, eliciting a satisfied growl from him.
“No time.” He latched onto my neck. His fangs weren’t out but the sensation still made me writhe on his lap, desperate for naked flesh. Privacy now.
“Go. My place,” I panted and reached between us, fingers searching, wanting, needing to grip him in my hand.
He released his hold on my neck to lave the tender spot with his wicked tongue. I moaned. My insides quivered and I almost came.
His naughty tongue swept down my neck. “Can’t.”
His fingers worked my nipple and his hips surged, hitting me just right through my jeans. I came. Didn’t matter we were putting on a great show for the museum’s security cameras. Didn’t matter Stella would come for us any minute now.
Only this mattered. This moment. This man.
He cupped me through my jeans, palm massaging my mound, making me ride him, wringing every last spasm out of me until I collapsed on him, spent.
His lips touched my ear. “I love it when you come for me.”
I almost exploded again from his words. I was still twitching when the lights went out.
~ * ~
Alexander growled and jumped to his feet, taking me with him.
“Don’t worry.” A mere second after I spoke, the after-hours lighting kicked in, a soft, mellow yellow. Alexander relaxed his death grip on my arms.
“Nice mood lighting.” He leaned in for a kiss. His fangs were out and the sight of them gleaming in the soft light sent a frisson down my spine. I wanted to trace them with my tongue, feel them graze along my skin to my neck, sink into my flesh...
My cell phone buzzed. We froze, lips close, breath mingling. My phone buzzed again. Alexander nipped my lower lip. Screw the phone. I pressed my body against his. Alexander chuckled and the sound slipped inside me, making me tremble with need. Another buzz from the pesky phone.
“Dammit.” I was in no mood for interruptions, but it might be Faith or Tony. Raging lust aside, I hadn’t forgotten they were missing in action.
I put some space between us and fished the phone out of my jacket pocket.
My stomach twitched at the worry in his voice. Things were bad when calm-and-collected Mark sounded upset. “Don’t bother. I’m with Alexander. And Stella, sort of.”
“We’re coming to get you.” Things were crazy bad when he repeated himself.
“Okay.”
I started to update Alexander, but he glared at the entryway, fangs bared, body tense.
“Alexander, what—?”
I didn’t get to finish. Power blew us off our feet. I collided with the painting of my father before crumpling to the floor. Black dots filled my vision.
Alexander crouched over me. “Stay here,” he growled and disappeared.
From across the room, animalistic roars blended with the tinkling of glass breaking. Several quick, muffled gunshots sounded, followed by a choked cry of rage and a thud. A jolt of fear ripped through me. Had security arrived and, oh God, had they shot Alexander?
Adrenaline pushed me onto all fours. When my vision cleared, I spotted two men in black tactical boots, BDU pants and jackets, combat caps pulled low over their faces, guns trained on Alexander, my man, an unmoving lump at their feet.
A strangled sound escaped me. Heads swiveled in my direction and my worry morphed into rage. Not security. Paolo and Greg. Bastards. Betrayed by the family bodyguards. My dislike for them aside, I didn’t want to believe they would side with Team Evil, but I couldn’t deny the evidence—my boyfriend-slash-husband unconscious and bleeding at their feet.
My inner vampire roared. Traitors! Punish!
A switch flipped inside me, the floodgate opening, the fire beast lunging out of her cave in my core. I climbed to my feet, body aching, head throbbing, grateful I could move at all after a supernatural cyclone hurled me into a wall. Thanks, vampire genes. My eyes shifted to black and power flowed through me, spilling out of my pores, bubbling over me and stretching, seeking targets. I stalked across the room.
Punish! Burn! “You are so dead.”
Both men watched my approach, but kept their guns trained on Alexander. I took that as a good sign he was still undead. Apparently they believed the one hundred percent vampire, even unconscious, trumped the fifty percent vampire headed their way.
Idiots.
Greg scowled. “What the fuck, witch? Why is she awake? I thought you were good.”
“I am,” a female voice replied behind me.
I turned too late. Ambushed. The witch blasted me off my feet—again, dammit—snuffing out my power in the process, like it was some wimpy, candle flame. I slid along the smooth, marble floor until a stone bench stopped me. White-hot pain seared my head and rib cage.
My attacker laughed. I glared. She was dressed like Paolo and Greg, and due to the non-designer clothes and combat cap obscuring her hair, it took me a second to recognize Adrian’s ex, Witch Barbie, Tiffany. She was weaker at my house, easily subdued, but now someone—or something—had clearly given her a power boost. Shit.
I sat up, clutching my side. Blood trickled down the side of my face and I swiped at it with the back of my free hand. Great, two head wounds now, and three bad guys to take out.
Tiffany’s gaze locked with mine. Words, an old language, maybe Latin, spilled out of her mouth, filling the air with electric energy.
Paolo and Greg crouched next to Alexander. Paolo held a gun to Alexander’s temple—though my man wasn’t moving at all—while Greg unzipped a long black duffel bag, stretching it out next to Alexander’s body. Oh. Not a duffel. A body bag as in dead-body-goes-in-here bag.
Oh, God. What if Alexander was really dead?
Terror pushed me to my feet. Must get to Alexander. If he was still undead-alive, maybe I could wake him up with a touch. Or a kiss. It worked before. I started across the room, fighting the pain, fighting to get to my man.
Greg glanced up. “Stop her, witch.”
“She’s not going anywhere.” Tiffany produced a black ball out of nowhere and flung it at me.
I tried to dodge it, but it tracked me, like a magical heat seeking missile and struck my chest. I braced for pain, but I was merely…wet? “You threw a water balloon at me?”
She smirked. I didn’t understand why until the acrid smell hit me. Not water. A potion, with a familiar scent of patchouli and lemon mixed with rotten egg. She’d tried to fell me with this potion at my house and failed. But this time, right on target.
The odor burned like acid in my nose. I gasped and the black magic slithered into my mouth, down my throat like a hot, thick snake, invading my lungs, my gut. I collapsed to the floor. Cramps tore at my gut and nausea threatened to make me throw up whatever remained of my sushi dinner. Not good.
Must stop her. Must break the barrier.
I tried to tear down the psychic barrier and failed. The potion cut me off from my power and my vampire family. And Stella. She waited outside, unaware we fought for our lives in here. Or had they ambushed her, too? Hurt her with this powerful, dark magic? And where was museum security? Bribed, injured, or dead? I curled into a tight fetal ball, though it worsened the pain in my rib cage. Blood dampened my face and oozed from my nose. How much more could I handle before my body, my half-human body declared enough?
A groan escaped me.
“You can take her now. She won’t get up again.” Tiffany’s tone was smug.
Paolo snorted. “Nice potion. For her, anyway. Didn’t do much to the vampire.”
“As I told you before, when you insisted I use it on him first, we crafted it for her body chemistry.”
We. I was right. Someone powerful helped her.
“Well, it did slow him enough so we could fill him full of holes,” Greg conceded, zipping up the body bag with Alexander inside.
Paolo strolled over and picked me up. “She’s feverish. And she reeks.” He carried me across the room like I weighed no more than a feather pillow.
“It’s temporary. She’ll live.”
“Good. She dies, we don’t get paid.”
Well, a bit of promising news. They needed me alive. I could use that to my advantage, if I could get my body under control. Come on, vampire half, help a girl out here. Bring on the feral super-strength.
“Ready.” Greg dragged Alexander’s bag to the exit.
Paolo stopped and dumped me on the floor. I squeaked in pain, spotted the empty body bag next to me and squeaked again, pulse racing. Oh, hell no, not in there.
“Shit.” Greg bent to pick up something from the floor.
Paolo joined him. The other man raised his hand. In it, my cell phone.
Paolo’s turn to curse. “Who was she talking to?”
“Mark.”
“Fuck.” Paolo grabbed the phone, threw it to the ground and crushed it to bits under his boot. “Let’s go.” He strode toward me.
If I was going to make a move, it had to be now. My boys knew I was in trouble. They were coming, so we needed to stay here. And fight.
Force of will and my inhuman genes got me to my feet. Paolo stopped a few feet away, gun drawn and aimed at my chest. “She’s standing.” Displeasure twisted his features.
“Well, duh.” I tried to sound strong and confident.
“What the fuck, witch?” That from Greg. He left Alexander’s bag by the gallery exit and joined Paolo. He hadn’t drawn his gun yet, though. Guess I didn’t appear problematic.
Good. Underestimate me and come closer.
“I don’t know,” Tiffany sounded less confident. She stalked toward me.
I crouched, ignoring the pain and agony in my body, searching deep inside for the strength to pull it off. I had one shot.
Paolo and Greg both relaxed, thinking I’d collapsed again, believing me helpless. Greg resumed his task of dragging Alexander from the room. Paolo watched Tiffany work and, lucky me, the stupid witch walked right up to me.
I jumped her, cutting short her scream with a death grip on her throat. She grabbed my wrists, but I held on tight and
rode her body to the ground. Her head struck the marble floor with a resounding crunch. I sat on her stomach, squeezing the life out of her neck as blood flowed from the back of her head and fanned out onto the floor. Her body went limp, eyes glazed. Relief flooded me. Horror, too, at what I’d done, but most of all, relief.
One down, two to go.
“Don’t move or I’ll blow your fucking head off,” Paolo yelled from behind me.
“You got this?” Greg called from the hallway.
“Yeah. Get him in the van and bring back a pouch for the witch.”
“Copy that.”
“Get up, bitch,” Paolo growled. “Nice and slow.”
I released Tiffany’s neck and held up my hands, fingers spread wide, trying to look harmless despite the fact I’d just killed someone. I stared at the blood pooling around her head and a spark flickered in my gut. My power, struggling to ignite. The potion suppressed it, but with the witch dead, the potion’s magic had lost some of its oomph. Suddenly, I knew what to do.
“Up. Now.” Paolo stepped closer.
I climbed off Tiffany’s body doing my best to act shaky and weak. Not too much of a stretch since I was still in physical distress.
Paolo moved up next to me, gun trained at my temple. “On your feet.”
“Okay.” I put my hands in the puddle of blood, pretending to push myself off the floor when in reality I bathed my hands in her blood. Once upon a time this would’ve made me puke or run away screaming, but not now. Desperate times.
“Oh.” I faux-swooned, covering my face, licking blood off my palm.
“Up.” Paolo nudged me with his foot.
“Can’t,” I moaned and put my other hand to my face, repeating the cleaning process.
The blood tasted fantastic despite the fact it came from a germy floor, from a dead body. From a person I killed. I gagged and almost stopped, but it was working. My power sparked to life, coursing through my body, breaking the magic’s hold on me, feeding me strength. Given my other injuries, I suspected this was a temporary reprieve so I needed to act fast. I moaned and swayed on my knees, feigning helplessness.
Paolo snorted, holstered his gun and hauled me to my feet. I drove my elbow into his gut. Ribs cracked. He released me with a grunt and I whirled, vampire-quick, kneeing him in the groin. He fell, howling. One last kick to his kneecap and I ran.
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