by Dannika Dark
We moved toward each other as if magnets were drawing us together. The intensity of his gaze was hard to decipher. His looks of anger and lust were often one and the same. When I reached him, my panties practically disintegrated. Christian pulled me to him by the back of my neck and kissed me hard. I moaned into his mouth, and he lifted me straight up and kept walking.
We were shadows dancing in the dark.
My back struck a solid surface, and Christian pressed against me as my feet touched the ground. He gripped my bare thighs beneath my modified skirt, and I melted against his touch.
I tunneled my fingers through his hair, his mouth still on mine. Christian was a phenomenal kisser. His tongue did things to me that fantasies were made of. He knew when to go hard and deep and when to draw back and leave me wanting more. Maybe it was centuries of practice, but I wasn’t complaining. I could kiss those talented lips of his forever.
And I was also certain that if he kept touching my legs and sweeping his tongue against mine, I might actually climax.
Christian ripped my panties on either side and let the material fall to the ground. When he wedged his hand between my legs, parting them, my breath hitched.
“Someone might see us,” I said through shallow breaths.
He pressed against me even harder, his fingers stroking me. “I need to be inside you, Precious. Let them watch.”
The hot look he gave sent a tremor of anticipation through me. Christian liked the idea of people seeing us. I craved his warmth, so I grabbed his firm ass and pulled him even closer.
“You like that?” I asked, noticing his fangs sliding into view.
“Aye,” he breathed, anchoring his hands on my thighs.
I squeezed again, and this time he groaned.
Christian nestled his mouth against my neck as I reached for the front of his trousers. The top button was easy enough to unlatch, but my brow furrowed when I didn’t feel a zipper.
“Buttons,” he rasped.
His breath heated my neck, my vein pulsing for him. I felt a gentle scrape against my skin as he restrained himself from taking what he wanted.
“Trousers like these were normally held up with suspenders,” he said matter-of-factly, stroking my vein with his tongue.
“Shut up, Poe. I don’t want a history lesson in men’s trousers.” I worked on the buttons, but there wasn’t enough give in the material and no way to do it without a few popping off. “I’m ripping your pants.”
His head fell back, eyes closed and breath heavy.
Car horns blared in the distance, and the sounds of the city overlapped until they became white noise.
We were in a scramble, buttons falling to the ground in a desperate struggle to get him inside me. When I freed his shaft, gripping the hot length of him and rolling my thumb across the blunt tip, he lifted my thigh and buried himself to the hilt.
Christian cursed under his breath.
I gripped his shoulders, taking every inch of him. He cupped my ass, our lips close but not kissing. Feeling his erratic breath against mine fueled the fire raging between us. Christian suddenly rammed hard and deep. When I cried out, his hands moved away and flattened against the wall.
“No,” I whispered, clinging to his neck. “Keep them on me.”
“I can’t,” he bit out.
“You will.”
“I’ll hurt you.”
I killed the debate when I sank my fangs into his neck. Christian bucked, and I held on as I sipped his dark, lustful lifeblood. It flowed down my throat like sweet desire, awakening an ancient heat inside my veins. I wanted him to unleash, and he’d never do that as long as he had to handle me like a porcelain doll. I only needed enough to match his strength.
I retracted my fangs and ran my tongue over the mark.
“You’re killing me,” he ground out.
“Now touch me. Don’t hold back—I want it all.”
Christian’s hands slid beneath my skirt, his fingers scoring my hips. I vaguely heard someone walking down the street, briefly stopping at the entrance to the alley. Maybe they couldn’t see us in the shadows.
Maybe they could.
The first time we’d had sex, it was passionate. This time we were fucking. And I didn’t care. I wanted unsentimental, lascivious pleasure. I wanted friction. I wanted that feverish heat and renegade pleasure.
Christian hoisted me off the ground and pinned me against the wall. “Jaysus,” he whispered. “You’re so fecking wet.”
I rode him. My boot heels anchored against the brick wall behind me, and my bent knees clamped against his hips like a nutcracker. I was chasing my release while riding the length of him. Christian’s blood lingered on my tongue, but he made no attempt to drink mine in return.
He looked up at me with ravenous hunger. It made my belly clench, and as I stared deeper into those obsidian eyes, my oncoming orgasm shimmered around me like tiny pulses of light.
“You’re gorgeous,” he whispered.
I threw my head back. Every muscle seized as pleasure ripped through my body like white lightning. I moaned, not caring who might hear. Christian buried himself inside me, drawing out my release as he kissed and sucked on my neck.
Breathless, I lifted his chin and planted my lips on his. The kiss went deep, our tongues intimately twining until he pinned me hard against the wall and slammed his hips into me, his tempo frenetic.
When I cried out, he covered my mouth with his hand. So I pricked his finger with my fang and tasted his oncoming orgasm.
Christian growled fiercely and suddenly pulled out. His head dropped on my shoulder as he came, his body trembling. There was a moment when my cheeks heated, and I wondered if I’d done something wrong that he would rather have finished on a brick wall than in me.
“Why did you do that?” I whispered.
When he stepped back, my feet touched the ground.
Christian tucked himself away and fumbled with the remaining buttons on his trousers, his cheeks flushed and lips swollen from my kisses. “You’re like a package of dynamite,” he said, still out of breath.
And Christian didn’t lose his breath. I’d seen him shadow walk miles and not so much as sweat. Maybe he had a way of controlling his body, but with me, he couldn’t.
Now there was an interesting thought.
I pulled down my skirt and buttoned my coat up, the loss of heat making the breeze unbearable. “It’s not like I can get pregnant,” I muttered.
“Aye. But you’re wearing that short little number, and your knickers are lying in a heap on the ground.”
Ah. In the heat of the moment, it hadn’t occurred to me how I didn’t have a way to clean myself up afterward. Not that I cared.
But he did.
I raked back my tousled hair. “Always the planner.”
He looked at me, his fangs still descended. Lust glimmered in his eyes, and he gave me a fervent look that said he’d be ready for another round if I kept riling him up with that sharp tongue of mine.
I shivered, suddenly wishing we had a warm bed to snuggle up and sleep in. “I’m not sure I’m ready to flash across town after that.”
He stepped close and encased me with his arms. I flattened my hands against his vest, thinking how handsome he looked in the historic little getup that I’d so gleefully mocked.
“Better?” he asked.
I tilted my head up, his whiskers tickling my lips. After a short journey, my mouth found his. Instead of going in for a kiss, I relished the feel of his soft lips touching mine. They brushed together, and that innocuous gesture was more sensual than I could have imagined. My heart did a quickstep, and a funny feeling came over me.
Especially when his arms held me tighter, and most especially when his eyes gently closed. We swayed for a moment in the darkness, and it occurred to me that his embrace was what beckoned me in the wee hours of the morning. Not for sex, but I craved that indefinable connection that transpired between us in quiet moments.
Without
warning, a dull pain struck my temple. A lost memory, reminding me that something was missing. Regret and bitterness filled me as I stepped away. Also fear. In the back of my mind, the absence of memories always left me in doubt. Without them, I didn’t know my own true intentions. Especially if I was the one who’d asked Houdini to remove everything that tied me to Christian. Those fucking gaps in time messed with my head in more ways than I thought possible. And worse, I couldn’t get them back. Christian said Houdini probably had a keyword or phrase to unlock everything, but only his voice and those words would lift the spell. I couldn’t remember the words, anyhow. With my luck, he hadn’t made the mind wipe reversible.
Christian cupped my face, his thumb stroking my cheek. “I know that look. Someday I hope to never see it again.”
I chortled when his other hand gripped my ass. “I bet you can’t stop touching me.”
He leaned in and whispered against my ear, “That’s a bet I’ll never take, Miss Black.”
I glanced toward the street. “We need to go. There are too many juicers out here, looking for an opportunity.”
He stepped back and studied the tear in his sleeve. “Stay close to me, you hear? If I have to slow down in a lit area, then you will as well. I won’t be able to catch up if a Mage takes off after you.”
“Since when did you turn into a chivalrous knight? I don’t need saving, Mr. Poe.”
A crooked smile touched his lips. “Who said anything about saving you? I just want to watch the action.”
“You say all the right things to make my heart go pitter-pat.” I gave him a quick kiss on the lips before lifting the collar of my coat. “Be right back after I pull my stunner out of that asshat.”
He waggled his brows and followed behind. “A girl after my own heart.”
Chapter 10
Christian and I navigated the streets of Cognito on foot and made it to Ruby’s Diner in no time flat. We snagged my favorite table in the back and split an entire pecan pie between the two of us. Betty was off duty, and the staff kept the place lit with candles on every table. It was kind of romantic. Humans were taking precautionary measures against becoming a victim of crime and just staying home. Most who had night jobs couldn’t work, so the usual crowd was thinner than normal. Hot coffee and pastries were ours for the taking.
Christian pinched a pecan from his plate and devoured it. “That’s gorgeous.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you eat this much food,” I said, pointing my fork at his empty plate.
He gave me a wolfish smile. “You know how to work up a man’s appetite.”
“Why don’t you ever eat?” I set down my fork. “And don’t give me that business about going to the toilet.”
He unbuttoned his sleeves and began rolling them up. “That’s part of it. When I worked as a guard, it was night and day. There wasn’t time for breaks. That’s another reason Vampires are best suited for that line of work. We don’t require food, sleep, or bathroom breaks, and we’re unfazed by the weather.”
“But you’re not a guard anymore.”
“Old habits die hard.”
“You can’t tell me you don’t enjoy food. You looked at that pie like you looked at me earlier in the alley. The only time I ever see you eat is when you’re either being polite or on the job and trying to blend in.”
Christian wiped a napkin over his mouth and beard before wadding it up and dropping it on his plate. “I don’t know that I’ve given it as much thought as you have.”
“Maybe you don’t experience hunger in the same way everyone else does, but your taste buds aren’t dead.”
He smoothed his beard while looking out the window. The candlelight brought out all the angles in his face. Features that might have intimidated some were genuinely handsome to me. His skin had warm undertones, complementing his brown hair and intensely black eyes. There were faded lines in his forehead from arching his brow, and though his nose looked as if he’d broken it once in his youth, it was unnaturally straight for a man who had been in as many fights as he had. If Christian were still human, he’d look like a train wreck of broken bones and scars.
“To a Vampire, food is a drug,” he began. “It has no real purpose… except to fill the emptiness. Or perhaps induce false feelings of joy.”
“False?”
“Haven’t you seen how women melt over a chocolate-covered strawberry? That’s not real joy.”
I chuckled. “Speak for yourself. Maybe you raise the bar too high on what qualifies. Just because joy doesn’t come from love or sex doesn’t diminish the effect. If food brings comfort, it’s not a false emotion.” My eyebrows knitted as I tried to decipher what Christian was implying. “Are you saying you don’t want to feel joy, even from the smallest of things?”
“You’re not a full Vampire, so you can’t possibly understand. You have to eat, or else in time, you’ll wither and become weak. That’s not the case for me. I can go an eternity without food. My body will never weaken, my muscles will never vanish, and my belly will never ache for it. It’s just a reminder of a life we once lived, of a person we once were. Food doesn’t fulfill us in the same way that it does you. The pecans are nutty, the sugar is sweet, but the feeling of satisfaction is never quite there.”
I gave it some measured thought before responding. “Lots of women have sex even though they can’t have orgasms.”
Christian nearly spit out his coffee before setting down the cup.
“Look, all I’m saying is that maybe food isn’t something you need to survive, and maybe you don’t get that full satisfaction like everyone else, but it still feels good, doesn’t it? There were plenty of times I hustled for food. Mostly, I went for meat and carbs—maybe vegetables if I was lucky enough to find a sensible eater. But if Betty hadn’t given me a slice of pie with ice cream every time I showed up here, I don’t know if I would have made it through those rough years. Eating to survive isn’t the same as indulging in a treat. That Angus burger made me feel like a human being again after I’d spent a week sleeping in an abandoned garbage bin to get out of the rain. Don’t underestimate the power that one small fraction of joy can give you, no matter where it comes from.”
Christian took another sip of his hot coffee and sighed. “You’re a peculiar woman.”
“And you’re a peculiar man.”
He smirked. “That’s a compliment, you know. Better than being a dry shite.”
“So all this time, your insults were compliments?”
One brow arched sexily as he finished his coffee. Nothing smelled better on a cold night than fresh coffee percolating in a diner.
My gaze drifted around the dark room. It looked like a different place with the lights out. Intimate. The red vinyl seats were muted, and my eyes weren’t drawn to the flashy pictures of classic cars on the walls. Only three other people were in here, though I couldn’t see around the corner toward the front. I had my back to the bathrooms, which gave me a view of the entire diner and parking lot.
I folded my arms on the table. “I can’t believe this many people are running the streets to cause trouble. I don’t mean looting but all the other stuff.”
“Nothing warms cold hands like a raging fire.”
“What do they hope to accomplish by burning down those shops? The owners will just rebuild.”
“Will they? Now that they know things aren’t as normal as they seem and their enemies are lurking around the corner, they might not feel as safe. Prejudice doesn’t die with immortals. Some of them are old enough to have fought in ancient wars with the man living up the street from them. Even the younger generations of Shifters hear tales from their fathers about how a Mage once shackled them and used them to pull their carriage. They’re not stories of generations past. Imagine looking into the eyes of a Mage who works just around the corner, knowing that he used your mother as his personal whore before Shifters were emancipated.”
“We have laws now. Times change.”
“Peo
ple don’t. Jaysus, look at humans. They’ve barely made strides among their own kind with people who don’t share the same skin color or religion. Breed—we’re over that. Every man is equal, but every Breed is not. We all have rank on the totem pole, and believe it or not, Vampires are near the bottom. No one trusts us, and they’ve been trying to exterminate our kind for thousands of years.”
“I thought it was Shifters. Why Vampires?”
“Because we’re deadly. We have the power to erase memories and manipulate behavior. We’re not easy to kill, and not even a Chitah can pick up our scent. Best you keep your fangs in your mouth until this blackout has ended.”
I pinched my bottom lip, deep in thought. A glimmer of a theory touched the edges of my mind before the side door opened, yanking me back into reality.
“Brrr. It’s nippy out there.” Claude bustled inside and sat next to Christian.
When Shepherd came in behind him, I scooted toward the window to make room.
“What the hell happened to you two?” I slid a stack of napkins across the table so Claude could wipe the blood off his face.
He dipped the napkins in Christian’s glass of water and cleaned his mouth and jaw.
“We had an altercation with a group of assholes,” Shepherd said nonchalantly as he lit up a smoke. “Nothing we couldn’t handle. You been here this whole time, eating pie?”
Christian’s black eyes snagged on mine before he split his attention between Shepherd and Claude. “Do you see my Honda anywhere in the parking lot?”
I tossed back my head and laughed. Couldn’t help it. Christian and that damn Honda.
He glared. “Your laugh is infectious… like gonorrhea.”
I lifted my coffee cup. “Can’t help it. That car has been a hex.”
“Maybe you’re the hex.”
“What’s with the getup?” Shepherd jerked his chin at Christian’s old-fashioned vest and button-up.
