Ivan leaned in, and his lips touched hers, gently at first, as though asking her through kiss alone if this was all right, and then when her eyes slipped shut, and she opened her mouth to him in response, his kiss grew firmer. She slipped her arms around his neck and she pressed herself fully to him, crushing her breasts to the solid muscle of his chest. She was still wearing the black shirt of her police uniform and the unflattering trousers that went with it, but she didn’t even care.
He groaned into her mouth, and the hard line of his erection pressed against her stomach. He wanted her. Did he want to bite her, too? He was a vampire, so wasn’t that kind of thing natural to him? So many thoughts flooded through her head. Would she let him? How would it feel? Was his cock as cold as the rest of his body? How would he feel pushing inside her?
Her thoughts turned her on as much as his kiss, and she found herself grinding on him. His hands went to the buttons of her shirt, and she didn’t even try to stop him. He pulled them open, exposing the black lace of her bra. With a sudden burst of speed that appeared to only be a blur of colour around her, she suddenly found herself missing a shirt and the clasps of the back of her bra were open. The items of clothing were whisked away from her, exposing her naked breasts, and then his hands were on her unsightly uniform trousers pushing them down her hips. Now in only her knickers, she stood before him, with him still fully dressed.
“Jesus Christ. You’re fucking spectacular.”
Her breasts were large and heavy, her hips curved out enough to be considered more than just child-bearing. But she knew her waist was small, and she was proud of the long legs that gave her height.
He leaned in, his jaw skirting hers. “I’m going to eat you now,” he murmured in her ear.
“What?” Her heartrate skyrocketed. Was he going to bite her?
He gave a small chuckle. “Not like that.”
“Oh.”
He dropped to his knees in front of her and slowly rolled her underwear down her thighs. She stepped out of them, and he threw the slip of material to one side.
Ivan reached up and cupped her breasts with his hands, weighing them. He pinched her nipples, rolling them between fingers and thumbs, making her gasp. And his face nuzzled between her thighs, so she stepped her feet apart.
Oh, so this was what he meant when he said he was going to eat her.
His hands left her breasts and moved around to her rear to cup each cheek of her bottom. He pulled her to his face. His cool breath gusted against her mound, then he darted his tongue between her folds and licked her. She squirmed as the wetness of his saliva mixed with the cream from her pussy.
“Oh God.” She laced her hands in his soft, thick hair, and her thighs trembled as his tongue delved deeper.
The muscles of her belly were taut, pleasure pulsing up from her pussy, making her nipples tighten. Had she ever experienced pleasure like this? She thought she might lose her mind with it, and he’d only just touched her. She whimpered as his tongue curled around her clit and then flicked fast a couple of times, before sliding back down her slit. She was utterly at his mercy. He could have done anything he wanted to her. Her body was his to own.
One of his hands left her bottom and pushed between her thighs, his fingers joining his tongue. He slipped his finger into her slick channel and then added a second, stretching her around him. His skin was cold against her hot wetness, and the combination of temperatures took her arousal to another level.
She pressed her palms onto his naked shoulders, her fingernails digging ellipses into his skin. This was madness. Utter madness. She didn’t do things like this. And she was having sex with a vampire!
Her breathing grew faster, the air leaving her mouth in little cries of ‘oh!’ Her eyes slipped shut to concentrate on her building orgasm, so all her focus went to where his fingers and tongue were pushing inside her. The trembling from her thighs spread to her belly, her core winding tighter and tighter.
“Oh God, Ivan.”
She gave little gasps, and he thrust deeper and harder until she finally broke the dam, and her orgasm pulsed through her in waves. She shuddered with its force, her toes curling, her mouth slack with pleasure.
Ivan gave her a minute to allow the final pulses of her orgasm to wash through her, and then he got to his feet.
“Bedroom,” he growled, and whisked her up into his arms.
Before she could even process what had happened, she found herself on her bed, with the vampire standing at the end of it.
He shed his clothes quickly, revealing a perfect, well-muscled chest with a line of abs and broad shoulders. A spatter of dark hairs ran from his navel to join the thatch from which a large, erect cock stood proudly to attention. The rest of his chest was completely smooth. He was an incredibly beautiful man, and she could barely believe this was happening now. Never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined when she’d woken up that morning that events would bring her to this moment.
“I hope I have enough time to take every inch of you,” he told her as he stared down at her. “Every single part.”
She lifted her hand to reach for him, and he complied by crawling onto the bed, shadowing her with his body. She slipped her palm between them, smoothing across hard abs until her hand bumped with his erection. She curled her fingers around his length, and he groaned. He was cold. Ice cold and rock hard. How was he going to feel when he pushed inside her?
She thought of something. “What about protection? Shouldn’t we ...?”
“Vampires don’t get diseases, Charlie,” he said. “We don’t get women pregnant, either, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
They kissed again—hungry, urgent kisses. His tongue pushed into her mouth, battling with hers. Charlie didn’t release his cock but continued to masturbate him, marvelling at the silky soft skin surrounding the iron rod. He was big, too—big enough that she couldn’t get her fingers all the way around his girth, and she wasn’t a small woman.
She was already wet from her orgasm and she lifted her feet to hook them around his back. They both knew where this was going; there was no need for any more talk. With her hand still around his dick, she guided him into position then lifted her hips to meet him. The head of his cock slipped between her folds, and he moved to thrust inside her, but she pulled back. She didn’t want to rush this. Still holding him, she used his cockhead to rub between her folds and then up over her clit. Her previous orgasm had left her sensitised, and the touch sent sparks racing through her. She moved him down again, allowing his head to push inside her entrance before edging him back out.
“Ah, fuck, Charlie. Such a tease.”
But there was pleasure in his voice, and they both knew that with his strength he could break free from her in an instant.
She repeated the process, allowing him a little deeper inside her each time. Just when she thought they both might go mad with lust, she released him and pushed her hips forward. He met her thrust and drove deep, and they both gasped with pleasure against each other’s mouths. Ivan’s hands knotted deep in her hair, and he stared into her eyes as they met each other, thrust for thrust.
She felt him so deep, his coldness to her heat, stretching her wide. It was unlike any sex she’d ever had before. She wrapped her thighs around his back, and their movements grew faster. Ivan’s hips jack-knifed against hers, and she couldn’t keep up. She had to surrender to the need growing inside her.
“Oh, fuck, Charlie. You’re so fucking beautiful.”
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” she managed to gasp before she orgasmed hard. Her body trembled as pulses of pleasure took over her every thought and feeling, leaving her sweating and shaking in its wake.
Ivan swelled inside her, followed by a sudden rush of cold as he met her orgasm with one of his own, coming inside her and filling her deep.
Chapter 11
They stayed awake until the sun hadn’t quite broken across the horizon, and then Ivan had to sleep with the blackout curtains
drawn. The moment the sun rose, his eyes slipped shut, and he lay utterly motionless.
Charlie was exhausted as well, both mentally and physically. Her body ached but felt completely sated at the same time. Never in her life had she had that kind of sex. She’d read and heard it existed, but to actually come across it in real life was mind-blowing.
She glanced down at his sleeping face, the way his dark lashes lay on his cheeks, the slight part to his lips. He was like a Roman carving of a god, so still and perfect. How could this man be a monster? How could a mouth that could kiss so gently, creating shivers and goose bumps across her skin, be the same mouth that could cause those injuries on that man? With every passing moment she spent with him, she became more and more convinced he wasn’t the killer, no matter what he said. Maybe it was wishful thinking, especially after what they’d just done, but she’d always considered herself to have a good instinct for these kinds of things.
All she needed was for the proof to come back to say he was innocent, and at least then her thoughts and feelings for him wouldn’t feel so muddled.
Feelings? Did she have feelings?
She’d only just met the guy and she wasn’t one to believe in insta-love. Caring about another person took time and mutual affection and respect, not an intense situation and an amazing fuck. But he’d said she was his Bloodmate. That they were destined to be together. Again, that sounded like a fairy tale, and she felt like she must have lost her mind to be considering it for even a second, but she couldn’t help herself.
She’d been awake for over twenty-four hours now and she needed to get some sleep. Her eyes felt sore and scratchy, and her limbs had a weight to them that seemed to be drawing her down into the bed.
Sliding onto her side, she wriggled closer to Ivan, pressing her face on the cool skin of his shoulder. It had been a long time since she’d shared a bed with someone else, and she found she liked the feel of another body pressed up against hers. It wasn’t like sleeping with another human—she couldn’t warm her feet up on his legs, for example—but at least she didn’t need to worry about him snoring or fidgeting and keeping her awake.
Charlie’s heavy eyelids slipped shut, and as she snaked her arm around Ivan’s naked waist, she quickly fell into sleep.
Once more, she woke to the ringtone of her phone.
Charlie opened her eyes, disorientated, her mind taking her back to the previous day and trying to piece together events. Ivan had compelled Stephen to stay away from the case, so she didn’t know if it would be him again.
What time was it? Was she late for work? She thought it was still daylight outside, and when she glanced over at the vampire lying beside her, he looked exactly the same as when she’d gone to sleep. Could anything wake him when he was like this? She mentally tagged it as one of the questions she needed to ask him.
Reaching over beside her bed, she found her phone. It continued to ring, and she glanced at the number and frowned. It was Stephen.
When she answered, he didn’t even bother to say hello. “There’s been a body found on Dartmoor.”
Her mind blurred, and she felt as though she was experiencing a crack in time, as though she’d somehow slipped back to the previous day. Was this a result of Ivan compelling Stephen? Had he not remembered what had happened and so was repeating events?
“Yes, I know,” she replied, sitting up in bed and pulling the duvet around her to hide her naked breasts. “We’re looking into it.”
“No, there’s been another one.”
Her heart lurched. “What?”
“A second body has been found. Looks like it’s a recent death, too. The body was still warm when the ranger found it.”
“Where?”
“Near the same place as last time.”
“I’ll be right there.”
She glanced over at Ivan’s sleeping form. It was still daylight, and there was nothing she could do to wake him. He was literally sleeping like the dead. Also, she didn’t know a huge amount about vampires but she knew enough to understand that the sun might kill him. She didn’t want to take the risk of hurting him.
No, she’d go and do what needed to be done and then call him when the sun went down. He’d left his phone on the bedside table, so she picked it up and swiped the screen. It didn’t have a lock code, so she scrolled down the handful of contacts until she reached the one that said Ivan Sokolov’s number. Seemed even three-hundred-year-old vampires sometimes had trouble remembering their own phone numbers.
She copied it down into her phone and then on a whim programmed her own phone number into his.
Moving quickly, she used the bathroom to wash and then dressed in her uniform. Not worrying about making too much noise for fear of waking Ivan, she grabbed her stuff and let herself out of her flat.
A little over half an hour later, Charlie found herself standing over a second dead body. It didn’t take a team of forensic scientists to see the man had been killed in exactly the same way. His entire throat was missing, the ground beneath him soaked in blood.
“Jesus Christ. Another camper?”
Stephen was standing beside her. “Yes. For some reason, no one ever takes any notice of the warnings. Despite us saying a wild animal might be on the loose up here, everyone decides they’re either immune to sharp teeth or they think they’re being smart by coming up here and trying to track it.”
“You think that’s what this guy was doing?”
Stephen pointed to an item he’d already bagged for evidence. It was a large, expensive digital camera. “Looks like he came up here hoping to get some shots of it.”
“And did he?” she asked hopefully. “Maybe he caught something on film before he was killed.”
“I haven’t checked it yet. We need to dust it for prints first and then we’ll see what he got.”
She wasn’t going to admit it out loud, but though she hated that someone else had been killed, at least it meant Ivan wasn’t responsible. He’d been asleep beside her when the attack had happened.
Uncertainty threaded through her. Had he? She’d been sleeping, too. Was it possible that he’d risen and killed, and then returned to the bed, all without her knowing he’d gone?
But no, this man had been killed in the daylight, and the sun could kill Ivan. She wasn’t even sure it was possible for him to be awake when the sun was still up. He couldn’t be the one who was doing this, which meant something or someone else was. She was relieved The Directive would be arriving soon. They might be able to shed a little more light about what was going on here. She couldn’t help feeling she and Stephen were way out of their depth.
He frowned and rubbed his hand over his face. “I don’t know why, but I can’t remember getting home last night. I don’t think I finished my work, either. Any idea what happened?
She felt horrible lying to him but what else could she do? She wasn’t about to tell him a vampire she was sleeping with had compelled him. “No idea, sorry. You seemed fine when I got back to the station last night.”
His frown deepened, and he shook his head. “Must be getting old,” he said dismissively. “Oh, and while I remember, the lab called and said they had the results of the DNA test. What was that again? I swear my memory is playing up on me.”
She thought quickly. “I found a shirt that had bloodstains on it when I was asking around last night. It’s probably nothing, but I thought it might be worth checking out.”
He nodded. “Well, chase it up. You never know. It might actually give us a lead on this thing.”
“So you didn’t find anything yesterday, then?”
“Nope, not a thing. Though now I’m wondering if I’d have even remembered if I had. You know, with two deaths on our hands, the chief is going to want to bring in some heavier hands.”
She wasn’t about to tell him there were ‘heavier hands’ already on their way in the form of two ancient vampires and a werewolf.
“I’m going to call the lab, see what they’ve found out
.”
“No problem.”
Charlie used the moment to make a call.
She pulled her mobile phone out of her pocket and called the lab to get the results from Ivan’s shirt. Maybe the blood had come from an animal? Either way, it would be good to hear definite proof he wasn’t the killer. She wandered a little way down the road so the others couldn’t hear her conversation.
“Hi, this is Police Constable Charlene Ramsden. I’m calling to get results on a DNA match that I sent in last night.” She gave them the evidence ID code.
“Let me just check that for you,” the male said on the other end of the line.
Less than thirty seconds passed when the man returned. “Hello. Yes, I can confirm it was a match.”
All the blood drained from her face, and her legs went weak. “What? Say that again?”
“I said the blood found on the shirt is a match to the victim. I’d say whoever was wearing it is also likely to be the killer.”
Chapter 12
Ivan woke as the sun set.
He knew instantly that he was alone. The thumping of Charlie’s heartbeat had vanished from the flat, and only the lingering scent of her remained, the scent that was ingrained into the floor and walls and furnishings of her home.
Damn it. What had happened?
Fear spiked inside him. What if she’d been taken, like Lauren, Nikolai’s Bloodmate, had? He’d tear the entire earth apart to find her again if he had to. The thought of losing her now was more than he could bear. The taste of her remained on his tongue, and the memory of being inside that luscious body caused his cock to stiffen. He kicked himself for not having at least taken her phone number so he had a way to contact her.
His own phone buzzed, and for a moment he thought he’d managed to conjure her just by thinking of her, but then he checked his phone to see an unrecognised number.
He answered it.
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