His Dark Embrace

by Verika Sloane

  “Trevyn!” Hale exclaimed, slamming his hands on the counter. “You just claimed Rhyuu bloody Tanaka as an ally. What in gods’ name are you doing here? Why aren’t we in Québec or Macau or Manhattan?”

  Nick smiled. “Right? Since when do you run to the countryside? I’ve never in my two hundred years heard of a pürblood celebrating an alliance by running off to the woods.”

  Shain sighed. “I have an obscene amount of time to celebrate,” he pointed out. “If you’re not aware, I’m allowed to coast from now on.”

  His allies laughed.

  Kimber must be petrified. How he wished he could go to her. Assure her.

  Gods, they’d been about to make love. His allies’ timing couldn’t have been worse.

  Well, it could’ve been. They could’ve seen her.

  “Everything all right?” Markus asked, a little more sensitive to moods than others. “You seem…off.”

  Logan pointed at him. “He must be in shock.”

  “I just wanted to relax for a few days,” he told them.

  “Relax?” Nick exclaimed. “By the gods, man. No! You can relax next year.” He wrapped his arm around Shain’s shoulder and drew him out of the kitchen, and the others followed. “In the decades we’ve been allies, I’ve never known you to chill.”

  Gods, why was Nick going to the living room? Shain followed, and glanced at the door where he’d hidden Kimber, hoping she’d been able to sneak out and go upstairs.

  Hale laughed, coming with them. “Do you remember what you did when you and I became allies? You rented a Lambo for the weekend. Bought it. And after we were done with it, said it was a waste of money, and set it aflame.”

  Markus laughed as they filed in the living room. “That’s nothing. After the Depression was over, he bought a truckload of liquor, then drank none of it, taking the blood of at least twenty women, and bedding half of them before breakfast on Monday.”

  Nick had to add his own story. “Can’t top the orgy at Whitley’s New Year’s party…”

  They each took various seats in the room, with Shain sitting close to the closet door, inwardly flinching, and praying Kimber was upstairs, unable to hear.

  “Those occasions were a long time ago,” he drawled. “We all had our years of debauchery.”

  “Had is the past tense,” Hale joked. “I’ve yet to see you claim anything but a year of debauchery.”

  “Regardless, I’m not in the mood to indulge in such behavior right now.”

  His friends exchanged disturbed glances. The Shain they knew would’ve been neck deep in the spoils of his achievement by now. And he would’ve been. Once he got Kimber out of his system this weekend, he fully intended to turn his old self back on.

  If I can find the switch…

  “Something’s up,” Markus stated, leaning to set his elbows on his knees, studying Shain like a professor studied insects.

  You observant prick. “Funny you should say that. My cock was up. Then you bastards waltzed in. So, yes Markus, you catch on quick.”

  Nick grinned, swirling the ice in his glass. “Who is it? Or should I ask, who are they?”

  “Do you honestly expect me to answer?”

  Nick opened his arms. “You wound me! As if we’d ever say anything, Trevyn. I can’t imagine it’s anyone we’re acquainted with. Every elite woman you haven’t had already is in the north.”

  “Not everyone travels for the summer.”

  “You’re slumming it?” Nick exclaimed.

  A fire exploded in his stomach at the indirect insult to Kimber. “Far from it.”

  Unfortunately, that only multiplied everyone’s interest.

  “Who is it?” Hale insisted. “Have we met her?”

  Shain stood. “No, and before you ask, you never will.”

  Markus sighed. “He’s already above our station. Even the women are a level up now.”

  “Oh, did Tanaka introduce you to her?”

  The ‘someone’ was the reason Tanaka was his ally.

  Nick filled in for him. “Please, Markus. Once word got out, I wouldn’t be surprised if a bus showed up with women clamoring for Trevyn’s attention.”

  “Brilliant!” Hale exclaimed with sarcasm and a grin to match. “The ladies will throw themselves at him even more than before…which reminds me. You can have any available pürblood you want. Are you going to take a pürist anytime soon? You can bet your alliance Amara would say yes this time.”

  At the mention of his former flame, he sighed, reaching his limit. “Get out. Come on. Finish your drinks.”

  “Can’t we stay? I’m sure this place has plenty of rooms,” Nick complained.

  “Absolutely not.”

  Logan was the first to relent. “He’s right. We’ll reap the rewards of his new status soon enough, gentlemen. Besides, it’s hot, and I want to get back to Canada in time for bed.”

  They filed out. He watched them drive away.

  With a near pitiful countenance, he opened the closet door. To his disappointment, Kimber was there, and held out his hand to help her up.

  “I tried to get rid of them quickly.”

  She walked out, avoiding his gaze. “I know. I heard. I heard everything.”

  “Kimber—”

  “God, that was close.” She retied her robe, staring out the windows for a moment before walking to the foyer.

  Shain briefly closed his eyes and damned his friends again. “I’m sorry.”

  She stopped at the bottom of the stairs, her hand on the rail. “Why? It wasn’t your fault.”

  “Even so, I apologize for the fact you even had to experience a second of fear when the night had been so…so…”

  “Perfect,” she whispered.

  His heart ached. Yes. Perfect.

  “You know what’s strange?” she asked, almost as if asking herself the question. “At first, I was on edge. Then, after a minute or two, I wasn’t. Your friends sounded so...”

  “Vulgar? Immature? Selfish?”

  “Normal. I was going to say normal. My kind described vampires like you spoke in another language, like a tragic Shakespearean play or something. But they laugh and joke and tease like my brother shifters do with each other. The similarities were a surprise.”

  Oh gods, how he wished he could turn back time. He took a step toward her, but she began her ascent up the stairs.

  “I think I’ll head to bed,” she said.

  “What can I do to make it up to you?” To make it back into your arms? He was desperate to know, and it hurt how she retreated from him as if he’d caught a virus. Had it been because of what his friends said, about his past? He followed her cautiously. “Kimber, are you sure you’re okay?”

  “Just tired.”

  Well, she had been awake almost twenty hours. Still. He didn’t want to say goodnight; he wanted to hold her and capture that magic between them again.

  Tomorrow was their last night.

  He started to follow her to her room, but stopped at the top of the stairs, sensing she needed space. “I promise, no more surprise guests.”

  She stopped at her door and looked at him with a soft smile. “I know.”

  Please invite me in. He didn’t have the courage to voice his desperate thoughts, and eventually turned for his bedroom.

  “Shain.”

  He stopped and turned his chin, praying she’d somehow sensed his plea. “Yes?”

  “If only I was a vampiress, right?”

  The pang in his stomach confused him as he fully faced her. “No. There’s nothing about you I would change. Not for convenience, not for anything.”

  The look she gave him had him melting inside. And also wondering where the hell such a romantic declaration came from. He cared for her—more than he was willing to acknowledge—but very soon, she’d have to be nothing to him but a memory.

  And he was already resenting what that would feel like. “I’ll see you in the afternoon.”

  “Do you want to—?”


  “Get some rest. We’ll finish this tomorrow.”

  An inner voice mocked him with a sardonic “really?” in the back of his mind.

  He closed the door, resting a hand on it, a tinge of melancholy sneaking its way in. The same emotion that’d plagued him for months before he met her.

  No matter. It’d be gone once his new life began.

  For so long, he’d desired a night with Kimber in his bed. Although he’d planned to have more than one night this weekend, it was all he was going to be granted. One should be enough.

  One would have to be enough.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Was fog ever supposed to be red?

  It was everywhere.

  Kimber looked down, wearing a white silk nightgown, but unable to see the floor, the thick fog swirling around her.

  Where am I?

  Nowhere, it seemed. It was a space of nothingness.

  “Hello?” she called into the void.

  A male voice replied, deep and echoing, “Hello.”

  It’s so cold, Nya. “Should I be here?”

  A hand came around her hip. She was locked in place, frozen, as it began a caress up her torso. A familiarity about it kept her from screaming.

  “Mine,” the voice replied in a hush.

  An energy behind her aroused a hypnotic desire as the man’s pale hand slid over her breast, up her chest, and to her neck. She could feel nothing but someone’s breath on her nape. No body, no form to lean on.

  Fear kicked her pulse up.

  “Shain?”

  The hand shot up under her jaw to jerk her head back, squeezing, forcing her face to the side. Her frightened gasp echoed as if she were in a tunnel.

  “Wait,” she pleaded, clutching the arm to ease the grip.

  Teeth clamped on the left side of her neck. The horrified cry didn’t come from her body, but inside her mind. Whatever, whoever had her was so strong.

  “Please! I—”

  He only sank in harder. Her heart pumped wildly to keep up as he drank. And it hurt. God, it hurt. But this was a dream. It had to be.

  Wake up, wake up.

  “Stop! I don’t want to die…” Two desperate gasps of air was all she could manage. Blood poured from her neck down the valley of her breasts. So much blood.

  “No! I have done nothing wrong!”

  Kimber flailed awake, clutching at her burning neck, her sheets twisted around her legs. Her wild gaze shot around the room. She was alone.

  She removed her shaky hand from her neck. How could she still feel the sting, the blood, when there was no blood? Her hand was clean. Her head throbbed and whined, the scream of her wolf deafening in her mind.

  Nya was still caught in the nightmare.

  Kimber whipped the bedsheets off her naked body and hastily put on a robe, not bothering to tie it as she rushed to Shain’s door, banging on it. No answer.

  Squeezing her eyes shut at the massive migraine-like pain pulsing in her temples, she weaved her way down the hall to the staircase. Halfway down, she doubled over in pain, gasping for air while she kept one hand on the rail to stop her from launching down the steps.

  Her eyesight fuzzy, she rushed around to the hall, nearly colliding with Petra.

  The woman’s voice barely penetrated the cacophony in her head. “Miss! Are you okay?”

  “N-no. I need…out.” She fled past Petra to the kitchen back door.

  Petra came around her in time to open the door. “Shall I take the robe?” she asked before stepping behind Kimber and helping her take it off.

  Her last thought was Shain. “Mr. Trevyn…w-where is he?”

  “He left about thirty minutes ago. Something about a blood signature that couldn’t wait. He assumed you’d still be in bed at this hour.”

  Nya howled and cried so hard Kimber’s eyes filled in pity and terror for her wolf. She collapsed with all fours, trying to conjure the change so Nya would wake up.

  “I’ll be back once my wolf...is okay.”

  She and Nya didn’t share nightmares. Bad dreams were always hers and hers alone.

  “Of course. I’ll be here when you return.”

  Those were the last words she heard Petra speak before the change took over. The moment Kimber transformed, she was no longer in charge of her senses. Nya was.

  They ran from the house.

  Hours later, as promised, Petra was there holding out the robe once Kimber shifted back.

  “Thank you,” Kimber said, renewed and reconnected with her wolf, giving her the purest calm. “I’m sorry about earlier. I was in a lot of pain. My wolf…was having a nightmare and wouldn’t wake up.”

  “No apology necessary,” Petra said as Kimber slipped her arms in the robe. “I’ve seen my share of emergency shifts.”

  Not her first shifter-rodeo, in other words. “What time is it?”

  “Just after one o’clock.”

  Oh, good. Only two hours. She was afraid she’d been gone much longer.

  “Is Shain here?”

  Petra appeared regretful to say, “Not yet.”

  Good. She didn’t want him to wonder or worry why she took off to shift in the middle of their last day together. Then again, he didn’t seem to be in a rush to spend most of it with her. She imagined with his new alliance there were a lot of demands for his presence. And there he was, giving it exclusively to her.

  But no matter what, they still had tonight.

  There’d be other nights they’d meet up, she was sure, but tonight had no limitations. Tomorrow she’d be back at the townhouse with her pack sisters. Back to reality. Back to only being able to see him for a few hours at a time.

  As she shuffled inside and tied her robe, an idea came to mind. “Petra, I’d like to finally take you up on your offer for a few treatments.”

  Petra bowed her head. “I’d be honored.”

  First was a much-appreciated massage, followed by an exfoliation, and a long, hot, perfumed bath complete with rose petals and a mimosa. When Petra asked if she also wanted a manicure and pedicure, Kimber hesitated, feeling as though the woman had done enough already. Petra sensed it and reminded her she’d feel Shain would be more pleased if she accepted all her services, and not just two.

  Petra was just starting to paint Kimber’s nails when Kimber felt the need to ask, “May I ask you something that might make you uncomfortable?”

  Petra, her head bent over, didn’t give any indication the question caught her off-guard. “It probably won’t. Go ahead.”

  “You know what I am. What Shain is. Does it bother you we’re here together? Be honest. In fact, don’t bother answering unless you can be.”

  The woman continued painting without a pause. “Because you’re forbidden to be together, you’re asking if it bothers me personally? Or are you asking if it bothers me in general, because he’s a vampire and you’re a shifter?”

  “Either.”

  “I’m third generation underworld-aware. I have many opinions about every species there is, including my own, but I’m indifferent about who wants to spend time with whom.” She moved to the next finger. “Besides, humans don’t have any interest in the shifter-vampire conflict. We’re not supposed to choose a side.”

  “But do you believe it’s wrong, Petra? Simply based on what we are?”

  Gently, Petra set her hand down and sighed. “Yes.”

  A lump closed in Kimber’s throat. While surprising, she needed to hear that from someone who wasn’t a shifter or vampire.

  Petra started polishing the other hand. “I believe it’s wrong because falling for him, being with him, is only going to cause destruction for many, not just you two. You have a choice and you should choose your own kind. If you’re caught, a whole new war could erupt between your worlds. Would erupt. Without a doubt. Not to mention what could happen to you. You could be killed for loving him.”

  Kimber stared at the door. “This is just a fling.”

  For the first time, Petra paused. “Y
ou’re not in love? You don’t love him?” She raised her gaze to Kimber’s.

  It took Kimber a few seconds to process the look on the woman’s face. Was that confusion or disbelief? Either way, Kimber could never admit her true feelings out loud to anyone. Even a UA human. “No. I’m going home in September. After that, we’ll never see each other again.”

  Petra showed a bit of relief. “Oh. Very well. The way you two are together I thought…” She leaned in, holding her hand in an assuring grasp. “I envy you. I’ve heard vampires are the best lovers. They make you feel like no other. Like there is no other but you, even if they’ve had a dozen women the night before. But it’s all a game. It’s who they are. So, cherish it while it lasts, and be grateful, Kimber, when it ends.”

  A bittersweet piece of advice that she needed, to keep her head clear and her heart protected. She was just one of many women he would bed. Perhaps one shiya out of dozens of vampiresses, but a woman nonetheless. “Will you do me a favor and give him a note when he comes back? I want to be alone for a bit before I see him.”

  “Of course.”

  Petra’s words rang in Kimber’s head long after her spa day was done.

  What did the nightmare mean? Would Nya be okay? For the second time in a month, Kimber had been forced to shift. Once because Nya made her, and once because she made Nya. Being with Shain was affecting her in ways she didn’t know how to process.

  While she stood in her room in front of a window, letting the early evening breeze cool her down, there was a brief, light knock on her door. She turned to see a note slipped underneath.

  Don’t make me wait for long. Please. If I must, I will beg.

  She smiled, holding the note to her chest. They weren’t lovers yet, but they would be very soon.

  She started with the matching lace black bra and panty set she thought he’d like, a simple black dress she’d picked out, and left her hair down. Not as fancy as the previous two nights, but she didn’t feel ornaments like jewelry and a gown were needed for tonight. The less he had to take off, the better.

  As she made her way to the stairs, aromas of dinner met her nose.

  Prime rib. Her favorite. She was starving.