He blinked, confused. “What? Gods, no. I—”
In a near-pitying tone, she said, “You don’t know what I am. Do you?”
“Whatever you are has me hypnotized.”
In her gaze, he saw what he himself was feeling: an overwhelming attraction she didn’t know how to process. Because if she were truly scared, she would’ve swam to the other side of the pond and gotten out, away from him. “What’s wrong? Are you an angel or something?” he joked.
“Far from it. I’m—”
“I don’t care.” He grasped her face and kissed her.
After a breathless moment, she parted her lips, and he deepened the kiss. Their tongues met and twined. She tasted divine. Sweet, warm, and…
Her scent struck him like a blow to the jaw. His eyes flashed open as he yanked back in stunned disbelief.
Shifter.
Chapter Three
How had he not known?
He couldn’t believe it, wouldn’t believe it.
Kimber brought her trembling hand to her lips. “The water,” she answered, reading the wild question in his face.
Of course. It had masked her, though a shiya’s scent wasn’t nearly as strong as a shief’s, anyway. One would only know by getting close, and shiyas rarely let a vampire anywhere near them. That, and Shain had assumed because she was on vampire property, that she was one of his kind. To find out she wasn’t—that she was a fucking shifter, of all beings—crushed him beyond reason.
And yet, his attraction to her was laughably impossible to ignore. Emotions rushed at him all at once.
Devastation.
Need.
Denial.
He took one step toward her.
Kimber took a step toward him.
Shain would never remember who touched who first. Their lips met hungrily, desperately. To his shock, she circled her arms around his neck and climbed on him, wrapping her strong thighs around his waist. She growled, opening her mouth and slinking her tongue inside, pressing her wet, hot body on his. He held her tight, his entire world spinning, dizzying him.
They should stop.
He should stop. He could be turned to ashes for this.
But the fire was too hot and widespread within him to contain, too aggressive in its power, blazing through his mental list of consequences.
Driven to slake his hunger, he pushed her to the tree. She unwrapped her legs, her romper gaping open, barely covering her breasts. He kissed and licked down her neck, his teeth sharp, eager for blood—almost painfully eager. He kissed down her chest, her hands raking the back of his head as she arched into his seeking mouth. He moved her clothing aside and took a hard nipple, sucking and tugging, gently at first, then rougher. She moaned as he made his way down her stomach.
It was madness. Pure, unprecedented madness to want her.
As he scored his tongue up her stomach, between her breasts, he heard her moan in serious arousal. Pressing his body against her so she could feel his cock, he worked his way to her earlobe, gently taking it between his teeth, before whispering, “We should fuck.”
Kimber froze, then pushed him off with such strength, he went soaring, landing on his back. Goddamn. He’d forgotten how strong a shiya could be. The wind briefly knocked out of him, Shain started to get up, but hesitated when she covered her face with her hands. She turned from him.
He shouldn’t pursue her. He’d gone too far.
And yet, he got to his feet, unable to keep his distance, resting his hands on her shoulders before turning her around. She let him, though she was strong enough to push him away. For some reason, she didn’t again.
Searching her eyes, he said, “Meet me tomorrow night.”
“What? You’re out of your mind, vampire.”
“And you were kissing me back, shifter.”
“Temporary insanity.”
“Oh, really? Kiss me again. And try to stop. I dare you.”
She tore her gaze from his. “Oh my God, your arrogance.”
Slowly, he loosened his grip on her shoulders but let his fingers trace down her arms, and heard a feminine growl of desire. He took several, deliberate steps back, hoping she wanted him as much as he wanted her, and would accept his challenge.
Kimber swallowed, gaze averted, at war, just as he was.
A whimper sounded from her throat. With her blue eyes now a fiery amber, she rushed to him, pulling him down for a hedonistic kiss. As their tongues twisted and his hands roamed her body, Shain was at once weak yet victorious, supplicant yet dominant. She kissed with ardor, but with a tenderness he’d never experienced before. The way she moved her mouth was pure magic, like she wanted to devour him, yet take her time doing so.
Next he knew, they were in the deep grass with her straddling him. Her strength amazed Shain; everywhere he touched, he felt toned muscle. How her hips moved had him imagining riding him slow until he came hard inside her. How would she sound when she climaxed? Would she cry out? Roar? Would she…howl? He had no idea, had never been with a shiya.
She finally broke for breath. Kimber slid her hands in his jacket to push it off, and Shain helped her. She pulled his shirt from its tuck, unbuttoned the first few, then tore it like paper. It excited him like a young man with his first sexual rendezvous. He maneuvered her romper off her shoulders and she pulled her arms out of the sleeves, one by one.
“By the gods, how I want you,” he whispered, stroking the pads of his thumbs on her nipples, sliding his palms down her waist to grip her hips, grinding his aching shaft along her sex.
Kimber moaned, eyes rolling as she lay back in the grass, moving her hips in sync with his with her arms outstretched. Beyond mesmerizing. He guided his hand from her throat down her stomach, as white fur shimmered in the same path, then disappeared. She arched even more, something like a purr coming from her throat.
He didn’t know touch could do that to a shiya.
Something inside Shain...altered. The raging lust settled to a smolder. The urge to plunge inside her and get off was not at the forefront as Shain held her waist, taking in the breathtaking view. She was unlike anything he’d ever held in his arms. Sweet, spirited, sensual Kimber.
He brought her back up and gently took a nipple in his mouth, sucking gently while she moaned. He made his way up, kissing just under her collarbone, under her jawline, and finally, her lips. When he pulled back to look into her eyes, Shain was struck by some poignant emotion, and the unmistakable sense he was doomed the moment he had found her.
She took in a shaky breath, then guided his head to the crook of her neck. Her throbbing pulse beat against his cheek and he marveled at how she was totally unafraid of him, and how he had no urge to sink teeth into her flesh. The hunger from earlier? Gone for now.
He closed his eyes and circled his arms around her body, humbled by her trust. Shain sighed, at peace for the first time in a long time.
They held each other for so long, it wasn’t until drunken laughter from afar startled them back to reality.
Kimber jerked and scrambled out of his embrace to stand. She slid her arms back into the romper, looking frightened.
Frankly, so was he.
His shirt in shreds, he secured the few buttons that were salvageable and hurriedly put on his jacket to hide the damage.
Shain longed to go with her, wherever she went, but knew that was unwise. “Meet me tomorrow,” he repeated. “I must see you again.”
“No. I can’t.”
“Or won’t.”
“They’re one and the same,” she said, with slight despair in her voice.
No way could this be their first and final encounter. “I’ll be at Montclair Park. Midnight. It’ll be vacant by nine. There’s a café facing the lake. It’ll be closed and I’ll wait there.”
She briefly closed her eyes, shaking her head. “Don’t waste your time. I won’t come.”
He gathered her into his arms. “Kimber, I beg you…” She had no idea what she’d awakened inside him.<
br />
“We can’t. Need I remind you shifters and vampires are immortal enemies?”
No reminder required. He still didn’t give a shit. “I don’t—”
A voice broke through the quiet. “Trevyn! You out here?”
She whipped her head toward the sound, then started to walk away. “Don’t follow me. Please.”
Heart thudding in desperation, he tried to reach for her, halted by the fear in her eyes. Real fear this time, of being caught with him. “Tell me where. Name the place.”
“No,” she whispered fiercely.
The voices and footsteps were getting closer. They were out of time.
“I’ll be at the park at midnight,” he repeated. “Every night, until you come to me. I’ll wait.”
The darkness enveloped everything except her bright eyes. “Then you’ll be waiting forever.”
With that, she ran away. Shain raked a hand through his hair, making a conscious effort to shorten his canines and tamper the yearning inside.
Someone called his name again. He didn’t recognize the voices, but he damned them to hell.
Feigning inebriation, he came out from the brush, striding toward them. From around the tree, he saw the two men. “Damn the gods, I passed out.”
“Trevyn, there you are! What the fuck,” said Eli, an acquaintance, who was taking a piss into the very same spot from where Shain had been spying on Kimber earlier. “Avery said you disappeared, sent us this way to find you. She’s expecting you to give the customary covenant speech before most of us disperse for northern climes, blah-blah.”
Damn Avery too.
The other man looked him up and down. “Did you fall into a hole?” he joked.
Shain shirked his disheveled appearance. “Something like that. That’s what Avery’s homemade liquor will do to a man.” He brushed imaginary dirt off his shoulders. “Let’s get back before she sends more minions.”
He strode past, his smile vanishing the second he was ahead of them.
Despite the shiya’s protests, her denial, despite the fact he was a vampire and she was a shifter, he had every intention to go to the park tomorrow night.
Every intention.
Chapter Four
So that’s what sin tastes like.
As Kimber snuck into the townhouse she shared with six other shiyas, she wished she could shift, go for a hard run and burn off the hyper rush humming in her veins. If she were home, she’d be free to do that. However, she was nowhere near home. Tavish, Wisconsin was far, far from Atlanta.
She tiptoed down to the basement, heading straight for the shower. It was creepy down there, but no time to waste; she had to wash off the vampire’s scent immediately. The shower had no curtain, only a basic showerhead with a drain in a corner, but there was no way she was taking the risk of using the one upstairs.
She cranked on the water and hastily undressed.
Naked, angered, ashamed, she grabbed the white soap.
Scrub, scrub, scrub.
With intent, she scored the soap over her arms and legs, neck and shoulders, her lips. She stood under the strong spray for a while, wondering what had possibly overtaken her sanity to let a vampire near her, let alone kiss and touch her.
Oh, God, but the way he kissed, the way he touched…
A shiver coursed over her body as Kimber tried to forget, but that would be a serious challenge when she’d never been chased like that before, had never—to her recollection—incited that much desire in a man. And she’d never thrown herself at one, either. The way she’d crawled on him, explored his body, rubbing herself on him in wanton need…another side of her had been awakened. A totally unknown side. She’d had her share of making out and fooling around, but none of those steamy casual encounters came close to the inferno of tonight.
She couldn’t recall ever wanting a man as much as she’d wanted Shain Trevyn. It wasn’t something one would forget. Though she was saving herself for her mate—a vow she’d made to more or less keep shiefs from trying to lure her to their beds for meaningless sex—there had been a moment of manic desperation to let the vampire do whatever he wanted.
You freak. How could you?
She’d been shocked at how the brush of his fingers down her skin had driven her into his arms for more.
Nya, her wolf, hadn’t roared in objection, either. Not a peep.
“Why didn’t you stop me?” she whispered, digging her fingernails in her skull, unable to comprehend how that was possible.
Another round of soap.
No one could know, or even catch a hint, that she’d been in the arms of a goddamn vampire. She’d be treated like a contagion or worse. Most likely worse.
The hot water ran out, the temperature pouring tepid then cold.
She didn’t care; better to suffer.
The whole reason Alpha Amos ordered her on this recruiting retreat/mission was because he didn’t know what else to do with her. At least fifty shifters near and far had sniffed to see if she was meant to be their mate. None were, as Kimber had known every time. And since she refused to mate and marry just any shief to please her pack, she was told that one day, if she didn’t choose, a mate would be chosen for her.
Transferring to another pack? Pointless. They all demanded the same thing. Unless a shiya was a widow, she had to take a mate. Only widows were granted the option not to.
Post shower, Kimber dried off and snuck to her room on the main floor, a.k.a. the den, grateful for once that she didn’t have one of those plush beds on the third floor. There were three bedrooms with two twin beds each for the other six, leaving her, odd number seven, a choice to either sleep on the sofa in the living room with no privacy, or on the stiff futon in the den with semi-privacy. Good thing she chose the latter. She could sneak out at night and explore, away from the shiyas, and savor every minute of freedom. For the past month, she’d been able to get away with it.
During the day, she went out with them looking to recruit any shiyas that were without a pack. At night, she ventured wherever her wolf or her instincts guided her.
Tonight, they’d led her to an upscale, partly rural neighborhood with each home sitting on sizable acres of land. She’d been drawn to a gorgeous old Southern home she’d only seen in movies, and even though the driveway was packed with cars. The thrill of bathing in the pond far from the house had been too enticing, she’d assumed everyone would remain indoors. The lakes back home were cold most of the year, so the temptation to skinny-dip had won over any hesitation.
Even though there’d obviously been a party going on, she’d expected no one would come down that far from the main house to catch her. Had she known it was a vampire property, she would’ve avoided it like the door to hell.
Attempting to get comfortable on the futon, she pulled the comforter over her and flopped onto her back.
Oh, but she’d been wrong. Someone would catch her, in more ways than one.
That voice. Those eyes. His smile.
With a moan, she turned on her side, squeezing her eyes shut.
The wolf has a name.
If only he’d known how funny the line had been at the time, facetiously calling himself a wolf, when he was blatantly flirting with one, unbeknownst to him.
Even without him saying so, she’d known right away when he came out from cover that he was a vampire. His clothes, countenance, and mannerisms screamed it.
As he’d stealthily moved closer, she’d caught the blend of delicious cologne, virile male, and that unmistakable vampire spice. It’d been obvious from the start he’d assumed she was a vampiress. At first, she was genuinely scared. But, once she realized he didn’t know what she was, she felt protected and in control, even though she was naked as the day she was born and swam mere yards from a potentially life-threatening encounter.
She’d enjoyed flirting with him. Flirting with danger.
How would their interaction had played out, had he known what she was from the start? Her pack’s isolation ha
d kept her from encountering more than a few of his kind in her thirty years, but she’d never actually had a conversation with one, let alone a flirtation. Would he still have wanted to kiss her? Or kill her? Though he didn’t seem like the killing type, a woman should never assume.
Though vampire-on-shiya assaults weren’t common, they happened, if vampires caught a shifter by herself. Another reason her kind stayed in packs.
The alpha’s wife once said, “The fact you’re beautiful is a blessing and a curse, Kimber. With any type of man. But especially a vamp. Your face will draw them in like moths to a flame, vain, shallow creatures that they are. If you ever get cornered by one, try to talk your way to safety, or else run. I suggest you run, as fast as you can.”
And Kimber had. Truly, she’d tried to run from him.
How were her lips still burning? She pressed them together, wishing it’d stop.
I have to see you again.
Meet me tomorrow.
I’ll be there at midnight…Every night until you come to me…I’ll wait…
His words repeated in her head until her wolf was too restless to go to sleep, her body too hot for the comforter, her need too great for any relief.
I can’t meet him. That’s skipping ten levels of insanity.
And yet, oh God, she wanted to. Even though it could be nothing more than a game for him. For all she knew, he was a sick, demented vamp who got off on seducing gullible shiyas and luring them for erotic trysts in public parks to suck them dead and dry.
Yet despite the risk, despite the insanity, she yearned to lose herself in him again.
There was a moment, right before they were interrupted, when they’d held each other, when he made her feel safe. And needed. A moment that had nothing to do with lust or desire, just two beings who’d found serenity in another’s arms.
For that moment alone, she was tempted to meet him. Very tempted. Most tempting offers were classified as such because they fulfilled desire. Desire typically meant one wanted something enough they were willing to act stupid. Stupid decisions led to consequences. Consequences weren’t worth satisfying a selfish act.
His Dark Embrace Page 3