Paranormal After Dark: 20 Paranormal Tales of Demons, Shifters, Werewolves, Vampires, Fae, Witches, Magics, Ghosts and More

by Rebecca Hamilton

  “Kiss me again,” he demanded. His voice had gone hoarse with need, but his pride refused to let her see how much he wanted to kiss her again. Feel her mouth on his again. She was sweet and innocent, and something somewhere deep inside of him craved that innocence more than oxygen. He’d never been sweet, and he sure as fuck had never been innocent.

  Her teeth tugged on her full bottom lip as she went up on her toes again and kissed him. This time, she wasn’t playing around. Before he had time to remind himself to hold back, her arms had wound around his neck as she dove at his mouth.

  He growled low and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her into him, accepting that she knew what she was doing. If she wanted to stop them, she would. Instead, he concentrated on kissing her back and gave in to the urge to drive her mad with his mouth.

  Suddenly, he couldn’t get her close enough to him. He snaked an arm around her bottom and lifted her off her feet, bringing her even with his mouth as he devoured her.

  * * *

  LILY HAD NEVER felt like this. His need pulsed around her, and in some part of her brain, she should be afraid of him, of this. But she couldn’t get there. Even when he kissed her like a man starved, his hands were gentle as they skimmed her belly, his knuckles brushing the undersides of her breasts. Almost worshipping.

  And she wanted him. He felt safe. Her body ached, and the feeling was so foreign she held on with both hands, determined not to lose it.

  With her fingers trembling, she only managed to get a few of his buttons undone before she slipped her hands inside, a soft sound of pleasure escaping her at the feel of solid muscle bulging beneath her fingers. He was so strong, and she needed someone else’s strength. Just for a little while.

  His hands skimmed up to her breasts, then wrapped around her waist as he pushed off against the counter and started for her bedroom. His mouth was busy on hers, drugging her with need, and she smiled when he managed to get his shirt off for her without breaking the kiss.

  She pulled back slightly, the sight of the mate mark over his heart sending her own slamming into her chest. There was something primal about it. She didn’t know if it was because that mark was unique to him or if it was what it signified, a powerful dragon waiting on his mate, that intrigued her. But when she gently pressed her palm over it, his body shuddered.

  He didn’t bother with the bedroom door when he got them into her room. He laid her out on the bed, then trailed his mouth over her skin. All fear faded when her body reacted to him, arching into his mouth, desperate to feel more.

  He smiled, a rare thing since she’d met him. She let out a startled moan as his tongue scraped over her nipple through the fabric of her tank top. He did it again before he tugged the shirt down gently, closing his mouth over her breast.

  She nearly came unglued. Need like nothing she’d ever expected shot through her. She gripped his hair, sure her body couldn’t handle much more of the torture.

  But Dallas, damn him, wasn’t done yet. It was like he had her where he wanted her and he wasn’t giving her up until he was ready. And instead of scaring her, a feeling of safety, of being taken care of, washed over her.

  “You like that?” he murmured, his voice hoarse with lust as he skimmed his lips to her other breast and sucked gently while his hand slid over her hip.

  She barely managed to nod her head before another moan tore out of her. His hands slid over every inch of her bare skin, scorching her, his teeth pulling gently at her nipple.

  She’d never expected this kind of tenderness, not from Dallas. But there was no hurry in him, no demand, as if he was simply taking his time and enjoying her.

  Standing up, he skimmed his hands over her skin as he slid her tank top over her head before gently removing her tiny boy shorts and then shedding his jeans.

  She didn’t have time to panic before his hands were moving over her again. His fingers dragged up the inside of her thighs, always coming close but never quite touching her core, and his mouth went back to worshipping her breasts.

  She couldn’t get enough of touching him. Everywhere. He was so hard, two millennia of battle-honed and scarred muscle, and when her hands grasped his shoulders as his finger finally slid over her, she realized he was trembling.

  She leaned up and kissed him with all the passion he’d built inside of her, until they were both shaking with need.

  * * *

  DALLAS COULDN’T DECIDE if holding himself back from taking her was what hell felt like, or heaven. But for the first time in his life, he wasn’t going through the motions. He didn’t believe in love or any of that sappy crap, and sex was just that—sex.

  Until the urge to make Lily’s first time perfect had hit him, and he suddenly couldn’t get enough of her. Warning sirens were going off in his head, but he ignored them as he settled between her legs. Her perfect body trembled beneath him. He slid both his hands into her hair, forcing her to look at him.

  “Stay with me, babe,” he growled. He lowered his mouth to hers as he entered her slowly.

  For one terrifying second, her body seized up beneath him, but when her eyes found his, her tension eased.

  Her small hands gripped his shoulders as his mouth moved over her, his lips dragging down her throat to cover her breast. And when he started long, deep, slow thrusts, her body arched and moved with his until they were both screaming with the need for release.

  Finally, when he couldn’t handle it anymore, Lily shattered on a scream. Her orgasm triggered his, and they rode the final wave together.

  * * *

  LILY WAS POSITIVE her brain had melted. Her breath came out in ragged gasps, his massive shoulders trembling with aftershocks and the effort to hold himself up.

  His hand came up slowly as if to brush the damp hair out of her face, but then his eyes suddenly went flat, and he yanked his hand back. His jaw ticked before he rolled over and stared at the ceiling for a long moment. He growled and got to his feet. “This was a bad idea.”

  Lily tried to clear the haze and process what he was saying. Feeling naked in more ways than one, she pulled the sheet up to her chin and sat up, watching him prowl her bedroom. Funny, it had always seemed large and airy to her until Dallas stood in it. Then the space shrank.

  And she was reminded once again of how big and powerful he was. And how much he hated Hunters, and that he thought sleeping with her was a mistake. No way was this going to end well for her.

  She smiled at him and hoped he didn’t see the tears in her eyes that she couldn’t do anything about. “You’re right.” She nodded once to let him know she agreed with him, thankful that he couldn’t see how badly her chest hurt. She hadn’t been looking for love from him or even a relationship. Just casual sex to see what she’d been missing with someone who felt safe. “I’ll call Gabriel and let him know you can’t stay. He’ll send someone else over so you can go.”

  She started to crawl across the bed, needing to escape before the tears broke free, but the barely-leashed violence in his voice stopped her dead in her tracks. “Fuck. No. I’ll call him. The last thing I fucking need is all of your dragon and Hunter buddies showing up to gut me because I dared to touch their precious Lily.”

  Lily flinched at his rage. She wrapped the sheet tighter around herself and hoped he’d think her shaking was from the cold. “Don’t worry about it,” she murmured, doing her best to hold his gaze as she pasted a smile she didn’t feel on her face. She didn’t want him to feel guilty when it was all her fault. “It was just sex. It didn’t mean anything, so there’s no need to tell anyone.”

  She slid off the bed and hurried into the bathroom, the sheet wrapped around and pulled up to her neck. Okay, so she’d messed up. She could see that now. A man wasn’t going to turn down free sex, and she had literally thrown herself at him. Of course he would be angry. It was bad enough that he didn’t like her, but he didn’t trust her, either.

  It wasn’t like she didn’t know how huge sex was for dragons. It only took three
times with the same partner to mate the couple together for life, and like the idiot she was, she had left herself open and vulnerable to the most dangerous dragon in the world for Hunters.

  “Lily.”

  She winced at his harsh voice as he banged on the door with a heavy fist. She pasted on a fake smile again and cracked the door open as she held the sheet up to her chin, then lifted a brow. “You can go now, Dallas. It was just sex, right?”

  His eyes narrowed. “You keep saying that.”

  She warned herself not to get too close to him. She’d already proven she couldn’t be trusted within touching distance of him. “Because it’s true.”

  “Then why are you fucking crying?”

  “Because I’m a girl. We cry. Do you have to be so angry?” she asked, grateful for the temper flaring inside her. “You’re really big, Dallas, and I’m not, and it’s kind of intimidating when you go all dragon angry on me.”

  The muscle under his eye ticked once before his brow winged up. “You’re crying because I scared you?”

  She glared at him. “I thought you were leaving?”

  “No,” he drawled as he leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms over his chest.

  Iosa. Jesus. It figured that the one man she thought she could be safe with thought she was a mistake.

  “You’re the one who said I was leaving. I’m not going anywhere until I find out what’s going on between you and Adrian.”

  Chapter 7

  IT WAS AN excuse. Dallas knew it.

  And her breasts.

  He’d never been attracted to a specific body part on a woman before, they just needed the right parts in the right places, but he was pretty sure if there was such a thing as perfect breasts, Lily’s would be it.

  Ryuu, it was like they were made for him, and he was pretty sure that if it had taken him two thousand years to find hers, he’d never find a pair that came this close to perfection again.

  But it didn’t matter how perfect they were because Dallas was damn fucking certain they were to blame for the mess he was in at the moment. And her mouth. It should not be legal for a Hunter to kiss like that. Especially when he had this bat-fucking-shit-crazy need to right her world.

  Gwendolyn above. He’d slept with a goddamn Hunter. Not just any Hunter, but Adrian Cage’s sister. The sister protected by the Hunter and dragon worlds.

  Which didn’t make sense to him. Rumor had it Adrian had found her at a Los Angeles police station when she was a child and too terrified of everyone around her to let anyone close. Even Dallas, with his soul-deep hatred of Hunters, grew sick thinking about the abuse she’d suffered before Adrian adopted her. Her stepfather had been a sadistic bastard, using and abusing her in every way possible.

  What had never made sense to anyone was how the tiny, terrified little girl had taken one look at the scarred giant, Adrian Cage, and refused to talk to anyone else.

  And if you asked him, that moment when Adrian had decided to keep her had been the beginning of his downfall. As far as he was concerned, any emotion other than mild like and tolerance set you up for a blade in your back. No matter what, anything stronger made you vulnerable. Dallas had learned that lesson the hard way when his own father had tossed him at age five to the soldiers to begin gladiator training.

  Cage was the oldest known Hunter alive, but with a pregnant mate at home and a sister to worry about, he’d been distracted. Even one single heartbeat of distraction had been enough to take the strongest Hunter out.

  What pissed Dallas off even more was what Cage’s disappearance had done to the women who’d needed him. He’d left behind a dragon mate who would never be the same, a daughter who would never know him, and a sister who needed him so much she called him even after his death.

  Yeah. Love was the most fucked up, selfish thing you could do. And he wasn’t going to fucking fall for it.

  His chest constricted at the shininess in her eyes. Tears. He snorted. Of course.

  Tears didn’t bother him. They never had. “Stop crying.”

  She blinked before she gave him her best effort at a glare. “I’m not.” She sniffled, completely belying her words, then plastered on her fake smile. “Look, I appreciate you wanting to stick around, but there’s really no need. I’m just going to take a shower. I have to open the shop in an hour.”

  Dallas’s brain twitched at the mental image of Lily in the shower, soaking wet. This was a bad fucking idea. A really bad fucking idea. Sex was sex, and while Dallas had it as often as possible, he’d never had an emotional connection to any of the women. So the one-time-and-out rule never bothered him.

  But with Lily, the urge to stick around and do it again scared the shit out of him. Because he was damn fucking sure that if once wasn’t enough, twice wouldn’t be either, and the third time meant something he was not willing to give to a Hunter.

  Not that he felt any kind of connection to Lily. She was a means to an end, and as soon as he found out where Cage was, he would be out of here. Whether or not he’d kill her first was still up in the air.

  She took a hurried step back from him suddenly, the sheet clutched so tightly to her that her knuckles turned white. “Dallas? Why do you look like you’re about to kill something?”

  “Because I am.” He snarled and pointed at her. “We are not having sex again, got it? So stop putting thoughts of you naked in my head, bloody goddamn it!”

  She blinked at him, looking torn between confusion, worry, and pure pissed-off female. He had to admit, it was hot. “I’m sorry. I said you could go.”

  “And I told you I wasn’t leaving.”

  * * *

  GODS, HE WAS mean. And all over the place. Lily wasn’t even sure if he knew or understood what was going on in his own head. He looked ready to strangle her, and yet he was still standing there. When he’d touched her during sex, it had been with a heart-wrenching gentleness that had seemed as much for his benefit as hers.

  This wasn’t supposed to be happening to her. Her heart warned her to run or it was going to get broken. Her brain told her to run before she got dead. She’d always listened to those voices before.

  But that same instinct that had told her Adrian was her safe place all those years ago told her to grab Dallas, hug him tight, and never let him go. That instinct hadn’t led her wrong last time. She hadn’t cared how scarred and huge Adrian had been, or how mean he’d looked. He’d been like her. She’d sensed in him the same…otherness she had in herself that she’d been told over and over made her a freak. Like her ability to heal herself Once her stepfather had learned about that neat little trick, he’d delighted in breaking her over and over again. Adrian had been the biggest thing she’d ever seen, and his violent growl had quaked the floor beneath her. But the sight of him crouched in front of the desk she’d been hiding under, and the way he’d shut up every other voice in the station, she’d known she was safe.

  So that’s what she did now. Even aware that she was setting herself up for heart break, or something much, much worse, she ignored it all and followed that voice.

  His body went rigid when she walked into his chest and burrowed into it. She couldn’t wrap her arms around him without losing the sheet, but she didn’t think that mattered when that little voice deep in her soul said “mine.”

  This was going to end bad. But he kept roaring at her, and he was a dragon, and he’d looked so peaceful when she’d woken up last night to find his hand molded around her breast.

  She wasn’t sure anyone named the Destroyer had ever known peace.

  He tangled a hand in the hair at the back of her neck and tugged until he could see her eyes. He wanted her to look at him.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Hugging you. Hasn’t anyone ever hugged you?”

  His brow screwed up in thought before he scowled at her. “No.”

  Her heart broke for him. Stepping away, she turned the shower water on, then got under the spray, sheet and all.

  S
he tossed the sheet out once she was hidden behind the pink and white shower curtain.

  She took longer in the shower than normal, wanting to give Dallas time to get dressed and get out without having to go through another scene or conversation with her. So when the hot water died out and she started to shiver, she finally turned the water off and sucked in a huge breath before she peeked around the shower curtain.

  The breath expelled out of her lungs on a long sigh. Of course he was gone. It was what she’d told him to do.

  Grabbing a pink and white striped towel off a shelf, she wrapped it around her hair, then grabbed another one to drape around her body.

  Because his clothes were gone from the bedroom, she dropped her towel and headed for her closet right as the damn man walked in.

  His eyes went right to her breasts. He growled violently at her, turned, and walked out, slamming her door behind him.

  It only took her a few minutes to slip into a pretty white sundress with a lightweight yellow cardigan, but it took a lot longer to blow-dry her mass of hair. She kept her makeup fresh-faced and simple because she always felt a little bit like a clown if she tried anything too daring.

  She finally left the safety of her room, but came to an abrupt stop when she realized he’d been leaning against the wall right outside the whole time.

  She went for a smile because the sex had been all her idea, and there really was no reason for him to feel bad about it. They hadn’t mated, so it wasn’t like anything earth-shattering had happened.

  “I thought you’d be gone by now,” she murmured on her way toward the kitchen.

  “I’m not.”

  She snorted over her shoulder at him as she opened her stash drawer and pulled out a chocolate bar. She nibbled on a corner after she’d ripped the paper off. “I see that. Why?”