by Elisa Adams
She faced him, her hands on her hips and her blood pounding in her ears. “What the hell are you?”
She expected him to laugh it off, to tell her it was all a big joke. But he didn’t. He stood there staring at her, his green eyes dark and stormy, his lips set in a firm line. “You really don’t want me to answer that question.”
No, she didn’t. But her life depended on knowing exactly what kind of a person she put her trust in. “You aren’t getting off that easy this time. Tell me why you healed so quickly. What is it about you that let it happen?”
He backed away and propped his hip against the table in the corner of the small, square room. The position didn’t make him look any less threatening. He closed his eyes and rubbed his hand over his face.
“Sam, answer me. I think I have a right to know what I’m dealing with.”
“We’ve been up for most of the night and into the morning. Though it’s just about gone, I’m still in a bit of pain. I need sleep, more than you could ever understand. I suggest you stop persisting and let me get some rest. We’ll talk about it in a little while, when I’m feeling fully functional again.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “No.”
His eyes darkened even further and he took a step toward her. “I said drop it. This isn’t the time. I’ve lost blood, I need sleep, and I need food. If you push me on this, I can’t guarantee your safety. I suggest you leave it alone.”
Anger burst inside her. Anger at her situation, anger at Sam’s secrecy, anger at Paul for leaving this on her shoulders…she didn’t know which one spurred her on, but something inside wouldn’t let her give up until she had the answers she wanted. “No. Tell me what’s going on. My life is in the balance. Tell me what you are. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you weren’t even human.”
His eyes sparkled with a strange, wicked light. He took a step toward her, then another, until he had her backed into the wall next to the bathroom door. He slammed his hands onto the wall, one on either side of her head. He smiled, revealing a row of perfect white teeth.
And canines at least an inch long.
“That’s because I’m not.”
Her heart thudded to a stop in her chest and her mind shut down. Acting on the survival instinct that had kept her alive until that point, she ducked away from him and bolted out the door, running across the parking lot into the woods.
Chapter Four
Sam chased Faith through the thick trees, his blood pounding in his veins and his vision nearly going red. Twigs snapped under his feet. Branches slapped his face, scratching into his flesh. Still, he trailed her. Fought back a howl at the thrill of the chase. She thought she could get away, but she really had no idea what she was dealing with. No one knew the full scope of what he was, not even those close enough to be called family.
If she kept tormenting him, she would be the first to find out.
His fangs burned his gums, screaming out for a taste of her blood. He felt her fear, as well as her relief. She thought she’d lost him. She hadn’t. He lagged behind enough to let her think she could get away, but she wouldn’t. With a few quick steps, he would be on her. He needed that, needed her in ways she could never understand.
He closed in on his target. A growl tore out of his throat. Now. Get her now. Take her now. He lunged, grabbed her arm and hauled her back against him. “Where do you think you’re going?”
Her back rose and fell against his chest with each deep, heaving breath she took. “I… You… Your teeth.” She shook her head, whimpered. Struggled to break free of his grip. “You’re… There’s no such thing as a vampire.”
He scraped his teeth over her neck, delighting in her little shiver. Her fear clung to her like a thick cloak, but the air was rich with the scent of her arousal. Yet again, she amazed him. He smiled against her skin. She liked being chased, just as she’d liked being on her knees with him telling her what to do to please him. It shocked him. Excited him. The bond between them made it impossible for her to turn him away, even when her mind warned her to run. “Do I make you nervous, Faith?” he asked, his teeth still against her neck.
“Are you going to hurt me?”
Something inside him snapped at the anxious tone of her voice. She trembled everywhere. He closed his eyes, fought for control over the beast raging inside him, and won. The monster fled back to its cage. He couldn’t hurt her. Ever. He only wanted to keep her safe—and show her that no matter what he was, she’d always be safe with him. He turned her around and pinned her to the broad trunk of a tree. “What do you think?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do. I’ve answered that question before.”
Her gaze dropped to his chest, her breathing more ragged than before. “No, you won’t hurt me.”
“That’s right. I won’t. I just want to give you what you want. What you need.” What they both needed. She was confused. She had every right to be. But he had to make her understand that nothing between them had changed.
She blinked up at him, her eyes sparking fire. “What if I want you to leave me alone?”
He cupped her mound in his palm. Her heat and moisture seeped into his skin through the layers of her jeans and panties, tightening his gut and sending a wave of lust through him. He stroked his fingers along her cloth-covered slit. “You want it, don’t you? This turned you on.”
She said nothing, but her gaze confirmed his suspicions. A small whimper escaped her throat.
His cock twitched inside his jeans. “You liked me chasing you, didn’t you?”
“No.”
Liar. She enjoyed it as much as he had. Maybe more. Why did she have such trouble admitting to it? “Yes, you did. Tell me, Faith. Tell me that you liked it.”
Her eyes flashed fire again. “Okay. Fine. I liked it. Are you happy now?”
He pulled back a little, swallowed hard. He was in over his head. Out of his element. His body told him to push her further, heighten her arousal as well as his own. His mind warned him to back off, to keep from scaring her any more than he already had. No matter which instinct he followed, he was in trouble. He searched her gaze, looking for permission to go forward, to take it to the next level.
“You know I would never hurt you. You might not want to admit it, but you know deep down that’s true.”
She gave a small, nearly imperceptible nod of her head.
He leaned in, ran his fangs down the side of her throat. “Do you want me, Faith?”
“Yes.” Her hands came to his shoulders, her fingers dug into his skin. “I shouldn’t. But God help me, I do.”
“Good.” He smiled against her neck. He wanted her too, so bad his every nerve trembled with the desire. But for the moment, he had a more important desire to slake. He sank his fangs into her warm flesh.
A scream ripped from her throat, her fingers digging into his arm. He sucked her pierced flesh between his teeth, let her hot blood run over his tongue. So incredible. So perfect. He would never get enough. He drew long sips from her skin, pressed his cock against her mound, wishing he could dissolve the barrier of their clothing with just his mind. Her pained whimpers quickly faded to soft moans, her blood running faster as her heart rate sped. She rocked her hips against his, increasing the painful pleasure of his arousal. He suckled harder, needing more. Needing it all.
“Sam…” Her voice trailed off on a moan. “I’m going to come.”
He lifted his head long enough to look into her glazed eyes. “Yes. Good.”
“But I can’t…not like this.”
Oh, yes, you can. He brought his lips back to her neck as she bucked hard, her orgasm washing over her. She cried out, screamed with the force of it, her hands tangling in his hair and tightening to the point of pain. Her breaths rushed out in ragged pants, her body going soft against his.
He didn’t give her a chance to recover as he yanked his lips from her sweet skin. The need inside him had long ago surpassed the point of control, and if he
didn’t get inside her soon the result wouldn’t be pretty. His fingers went to work unzipping her jeans and sliding them down her legs. He gulped when he found her skin bare beneath. “No panties?”
“I didn’t have time. You told me to hurry and get dressed, so I skipped them.”
His cock tried to push its way past the barrier of his zipper. Every little thing she did turned him on, but this… “Sweetheart, you have no idea what that does to me. Get your shoes and pants off.”
She toed off her shoes and stepped out of her pants, tightening her grip on his shoulders as her legs shook. She blinked up at him with those big brown eyes and he melted all over again. “Sam, we’re out her in the middle of the woods, in the middle of the morning. I don’t want this here. I want to go back to the room.”
The second he got her back to the room, the moment would be broken and she’d want to talk. He had no interest in sharing his life story with her. Not yet. Not when his cock threatened to break free from his pants and his balls ached. The beast, though now contained, still raged inside him. Here, in the woods where the trees gave them ample cover, was the perfect place.
“No. No room.”
“Sam, don’t do this.”
Worry laced her tone, but the arousal shining in her eyes matched—if not exceeded—what raged inside him. He smiled, nudged her legs apart with his knee and brushed his thigh against her wet slit. “Why not?”
“There are too many reasons to name.” She shook her head. Tears glistened in her eyes, but didn’t fall. “This is a public place. In broad daylight. And you…I don’t even want to think about what you are. I can’t, because then I’ll go crazy.”
He knew just the way to help her forget. He would convince her of her safety with him, no matter what it took. “So don’t. Don’t think, Faith. Just feel.”
He spread her legs further, dipped his fingers into the drenched folds of her pussy. She gasped, tightened her grip on his shoulders. The bite of her nails digging into his flesh through the thin barrier of his shirt spurred his arousal further. He thrust two fingers inside her, testing her readiness. Her soft, slick flesh accepted him easily. He smiled. Her denials didn’t mean a hell of a lot when her body and her actions told a different story.
Her ragged moan made him pull his fingers away, bring them to the zipper of his jeans. But she beat him to it, fumbled with the zipper until she spread his pants open and pulled his cock from his boxers. She stroked her hand up his length, met his eyes. “If you stop, I might remember what a horribly bad idea this is and change my mind.”
“Point taken.”
He pushed her hand away, fitted himself between her legs, and thrust his cock deep into her waiting cunt. He held nothing back with his thrusts, taking her cues and going with them, letting her feel every brutal inch of his desire for her. “You like this, don’t you?”
She closed her eyes, her lips parting on a ragged sigh. Her body arched in time with his thrusts, her breasts heaving with each of her harsh intakes of breath. Yet she refused to face the truth of the matter. She didn’t want to like it, but she did. Why did she fight what was between them? Why did she fight the urges of her body, the desires of her mind?
Because what he was scared the hell out of her.
He shook his head, shook off the disappointment that thought rose in him, concentrated on the physical sensations instead. The warmth of her cunt closing around him, the way her body molded so well to his. The lingering taste of her blood on his lips, his tongue.
She would learn to trust him. To open up to him. He’d see to it. He might scare her now, but she’d get over it. She’d have to, for both their sakes.
“Faith, open your eyes. Look at me.”
She snapped her eyes open, and the passion he found burning there spurred his own desire for release. It burned low in his gut, ready to explode, and he had to fight it back. “Tell me, Faith. Do you like it when I fuck you like this?”
He changed the angle of his thrusts, only a little, but it was enough. A scream ripped from her throat—which he cut off with a harsh kiss. She broke her mouth away, panting, thrashed her head from side to side.
“Yes, I like it when you fuck me this way,” she answered, her voice hoarse. “I shouldn’t. But I do.”
Why not? What was it about her that wouldn’t let her give in to what she really wanted? He’d never met a woman like her—cultured and polished on the outside, but a complete wildcat in bed. But she didn’t want to follow her own desires. He intended to find out why. Later. Now he had other plans.
He ground his hips against her with every thrust. His efforts were soon rewarded when she came apart in his arms, her cunt clenching tight around him. Her nails dug into his skin, her eyes narrowed, glazed with passion. A passion that echoed inside him, pushing him closer and closer to release.
He kept her pinned against the tree, his hips pumping as he pounded his cock into her. Faster, harder, he needed it all. His climax rushed up on him, washed over him with the force of a tidal wave. It was all he could do to remain standing on legs that wanted to collapse and sink him to the ground. He stiffened, spurted his cum deep inside her in short bursts. His head spun, his nerves tingling with the power of it all. Somewhere between last night and today, his world had shifted. Changed more than he’d wanted it to. He scared her? Ha. She scared him more.
He rocked his hips a few more times before he pulled away as the cold, hard reality of the situation invaded. What had he been thinking? Anyone could sneak up on them out here, in such a public place. Anyone, including the demons trying to kill her. He’d just put her life in needless danger, all because he hadn’t been able to rein in the urge to fuck her. He stepped away from her, adjusted his cock back into his pants, raked a hand through his hair.
“Shit. We’ve got to get back to the room. Get dressed.”
“Sam?”
“We’ll talk in a little while. Now I want to get you out of the middle of the woods.”
She slipped back into her pants and shoes, trudged along next to him back to the room.
“Are you okay?” he asked her when he closed the door.
“Oh yeah, fine.” She laughed, a shaky, nervous sound. “Fine for a woman who just found out the man she’s been sleeping with is a vampire. How old are you, anyway?”
A very complicated question. One that, if he didn’t answer carefully, would reveal far too much. “Old. I stopped counting after a while.”
She shook her head. “How old were you when you became a…you know?”
If she was uncomfortable with the vampire part, how would she feel when she found out about the demon part? “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“Okay. You don’t want to answer. Fine. I’ll get it out of you sometime.” She paced the length of the room. “Why are you so worried? Can you really have that many big secrets to keep from me?”
He almost laughed at the notion. “You have no idea.”
Chapter Five
“You let her get away? How could you screw this up? I counted on you to take care of things.” Tomaz flung his hand out, his palm connecting with the face of the woman in front of him with a sickening slap. Her cry of pain barely took the edge off his anger. She’d failed him yet again. She would pay this time. He’d been too lenient in the past, and it showed in the way she’d slacked on recent jobs. No more. If it happened again, she wouldn’t live to see another day.
Her eyes sparked red with her anger and she started toward him, claw-like nails bared and sharp teeth exposed in a snarl. Blue fire shot from her fingertips, but with a flick of his wrist he knocked her to the ground. Did she really think she could do him damage? He laughed at the thought. Aiala was strong. But he was stronger. She knew it as well as he did. He allowed her to keep her pets and slaves only because it kept her out of his way. When he needed her though, like he did to get rid of Faith Richardson, he expected her to do as he said without question. To fail meant to be disciplined. His cock tightened at the thought of a
dministering her punishment.
He enjoyed the discipline as much as he enjoyed having her do the job right the first time. Maybe more.
Her eyes narrowed. She stood up from the ground, brushed her hands down her thighs. “I didn’t let her. She’s with Kincaid. He killed my best fighter, a slave who should have been able to accomplish the task with no problems at all.”
“Poor you.” He gave her a sarcastic smile. “It must be awful to lose something that meant so little to you in the first place.”
Kincaid. Well. Things had just gotten a lot more complicated. Too complicated. He turned away from the lesser demon and paced the length of the room. He should have realized that Paul’s insipid little wife would go running to Sam Kincaid the second she got wind that something was wrong. Obviously Aiala hadn’t sent anyone capable of taking care of the job. He stopped pacing and faced her, keeping his expression calm when he wanted to kill. “Where are they now, Kincaid and Faith?”
She shrugged, an exaggerated pout on her full lips. “I don’t know. They left.”
“You don’t know?” He was beginning to regret trusting any of this to her. Maybe her personal issues with Kincaid had clouded her judgment. “Were you there at all?”
“I thought…I assumed the slaves would take care of it.”
Anger shot through him. His fingers itched to slap her again. Could she not get anything right?
“You’ve been up against Kincaid before.” He gestured to the web of thin scars marring her once-stunning face, scars that covered much of her body as well. “You know what he’s capable of. You know how strong he is. Why would you even take the chance sending just one or two slaves? You should have sent an army.”
She cast her gaze to the ground. Her feet shuffled against the beige rug.
“You’re scared of him. He terrifies you, doesn’t he?” Tomaz laughed. “I thought you were stronger than that. I thought I could trust you to take care of this for me.”
She snapped her gaze back to his, her eyes narrowed. “Why don’t you take care of it yourself? Oh, that’s right. Because you’re a fucking wimp who can’t handle his own dirty work.”
