“I’m starting to think she smears honey on herself,” said Brad with a lopsided grin. “How else do you explain how much the bugs like her?”
“Mmm, smearing honey on her,” Vic murmured, looking far away in thought as he faced Kim.
“Dude, hang it up. In the year we’ve known her, she has never once looked at you like you stood a chance in the romance department. I’m pretty sure you got friend-zoned within week one.”
Vic flashed a wide smile. “Doesn’t mean I can’t daydream.”
“Horndog.”
“Asshole.”
Brad grinned. “Thanks.”
Vic kept staring in Kim’s direction. “I feel bad for her. She’s covered in bites. At least she listened to you about tucking her pants into her sock tops today. She looked like she had chicken pox yesterday, she was so bit up all over her legs from wearing shorts.”
“I’m sure your concern for her has a little something to do with her being a hot, black-haired beauty.”
Vic grinned. “Maybe. Maybe not.”
“Right.” Brad snorted. Vic had a type and Kim was it. Tall, leggy and brunette. “Go back to daydreaming about her covered in honey. Like that will ever happen.”
Vic shrugged. “Hey, if there was a stacked redhead down here with us, you’d be thinking the same things.”
“Damn straight,” added Brad with a grin. He had a type too. Hot redheads with big boobs were it. He didn’t care how bad it was to admit, he liked a certain type of woman and wasn’t ashamed of the fact. His cock twitched at the idea of a sexy little redheaded number making her way to their corner of the rainforest.
Damn.
It had been too long since he’d last had sex. When they got back stateside, he’d head to a bar, hook up with a hottie, didn’t matter the color of her hair, and he’d find release. Vic would need to do the same. They’d learned long ago to never push too long without sex. Controlling their animal sides became harder the more time they put between sexual escapades. And neither wanted to come to after a long shift to find out they accidentally ate someone who didn’t deserve it.
He grimaced at the idea.
Glancing around, Brad took a deep breath, drawing in the scents of what was near them. He tensed as new smells assaulted him. Their group wasn’t large and was filled mostly with other classmates from the university. The few guides they had were now familiar to his senses, and there was, of course, Professor Krauss, who had put together the trip to Brazil to start with. Whatever Brad had gotten a whiff of was not what he’d grown accustomed to on their trip. It was different and not in a good way. It set his wolf on edge, making it want to uncoil from a deep sleep within him. He had to tamp it down for fear of shifting for all to see.
“Everything okay?” asked Vic.
Brad stilled and took in another deep breath, the smell all but gone, and then glanced to his friend. “Yeah. Thought I caught the scent of something, but it was nothing. Guess the heat is getting to me more than I thought.”
He could have sworn he sensed a threat near them. It wasn’t like him to have false feelings of danger.
“Smelling the lions and polar bears?” Chuckling, Vic stepped closer to him.
Brad laughed. “And then some.”
The guide got the show on the road again. Their stops for rest and water were getting longer and longer as of late. Brad and Vic took the lead once more as they were the strongest men in the group and could slice through the thick vines with relative ease compared to the others. Plus, the added exercise went a long way into wearing their animals out.
Kim moved in close behind Vic and Brad knew his buddy was pleased. He also knew Vic wouldn’t really make a play for Kim. She’d managed to become something of a friend to them both, and that was rare. They didn’t let many people in for fear of their secret being discovered, but there was something about Kim that made them both feel slightly protective of her. Neither guy would dream of screwing that up, not when they had so few friends as it was.
Brad wasn’t sure how much time had passed before they came to a clearing and were able to stop cutting vines and branches. It felt as if the jungle was going to close up behind them, instantly regrowing everything they’d just cleared. He looked towards Vic and found him sipping from his canteen and then offering a drink to Kim, who declined. She was still swatting at insects landing on her.
Poor girl. She’d be eaten alive soon.
“Ten-minute break,” called the guide.
Vic approached. “Bet this stretches into thirty minutes of his tall tales.”
“For sure,” offered Brad as he sipped from his own canteen.
“Seems like we were only just here. Hard to believe it’s been a few years now, isn’t it?”
Brad stiffened at the thought of their active-duty time. There had been a certain thrill to it all—a level of excitement his current area of study lacked in a big way. “Do you miss it?”
Vic glanced away and nodded.
Brad tensed. “What do you think PSI will be like?”
Vic looked around as if worried someone would overhear. Brad wasn’t too concerned. It wasn’t like anyone with them would even know what PSI stood for. Paranormal Security and Intelligence was a government agency he’d only just learned existed. Humans certainly weren’t privy to its presence. Brad was still having a hard time wrapping his head around a clandestine organization consisting of all supernaturals being real, and he was a friggin’ shifter.
He and Vic had been approached two months before heading to South America by a recruiter for PSI named Vepkhia. Neither of them had been able to believe a supernatural military agency was real. They’d spent so long hiding in plain sight that they’d been blindsided by the truth of it all. Vepkhia had explained PSI in detail and talked them through everything they needed to know to be brought into the fold. They were excited.
There were many more men and women like them. They were not alone, and it turned out there was a whole policing force dedicated to nothing but the supernatural. It was still surreal. So was the fact that both Brad and Vic had agreed to sign on with PSI. Vepkhia had explained that they’d enter as scientists, able to function as operatives as well. It would be different from their past as SEALs. From what they’d been told they’d be policing supernaturals both locally and abroad. It would be nice to be around others like them and to not have to hide who and what they were.
A refreshing change of pace.
Plus, PSI had been sold to them as being something of a family. A group of men like them. It would be nice to really, truly belong to something and not just pretend. Vic was like a brother to him. They’d grown up together, forming a friendship early on, first out of necessity and then out of loyalty. They’d not been like other children in the foster-care system. And both seemed to have an inborn knowledge that they had to hide the changes they’d started experiencing around the same age they’d first met. A kid didn’t need to be brilliant to know that suddenly being able to change into an animal wasn’t something one should let others find out about.
Brad still wasn’t sure how he’d gotten so lucky as to cross paths with Vic back then, but he had. They’d stayed close, helped one another through the transitioning period and clawed their way out of poverty together. They’d graduated early and joined up with the military, hoping to find a place they’d fit in—where their alpha urges to protect and kill if need be would be useful, not a liability. They’d gone through boot camp and then later BUD/S training together. And now here they were, working on getting their degrees in a field no one would have ever guessed they’d have an interest in—pharmacognosy. He didn’t exactly look like the type of guy who wanted to study plants or other natural sources in order to create effective medicines, but he was. That was how they’d ended up in South America, yet again, but this time working under the direction of a brilliant but moody professor.
Professor Krauss had been relatively mild-mannered back at the University, but on this trip he’d been i
rritable and at times belligerent to Brad and Vic. Neither paid the short, fat man much mind when he started to rant or rave. They could both take him with ease, not that they’d have much of a reason to beat up an old guy. The man was brilliant in his various fields of study, so they overlooked some of his eccentric behavior.
“Break is over,” yelled the guide.
Vic groaned as the guide headed down a section of the jungle that he’d sworn earlier was going to be fairly clear. From the heavy amount of vines and overgrowth, the guide was either lost or didn’t understand the meaning of clear.
Either way, they’d be cutting their way through the brush once more. Brad stepped forward, ready to do what was needed. Vic moved up and stood beside him.
“If this guy is walking in circles, I’m gonna use this machete on him,” said Vic with a grin.
Brad shook his head. “Go check on Kim. I’m going to refill our canteens.”
With a nod Vic headed off in Kim’s direction, tossing his canteen back to Brad as he did. Catching it with one hand, Brad grinned and then pivoted, walking towards the stream he could hear running through the dense tree line. He made it a few paces before there was a sharp pinch in his upper left shoulder. At first he thought the mosquitoes had finally decided he would be good pickings. It wasn’t until three more sharp pinches happened on his back that he looked over his shoulder to find small red darts protruding out of his skin.
The few seconds it took to register what he was seeing and what was happening was all it took for whatever had been in the darts to work. Brad’s vision dimmed and his head swam. He swayed and was powerless to stop himself from falling forward into the black abyss of nothingness.
Chapter Two
Months later…
Alice Gladden leaned against the wall of the fraternity house chapter room, soaking in the sexual energy surrounding her. The party was in full swing and the place was busting at the seams with lust. It was just what she needed. She was starving, and not for food.
She’d spent most of the evening helping her best friend and college roommate, Mae Bertelot, get ready for a blind date. It had taken all of Alice to keep an even façade during it all, the need to feed gnawing at her from the inside out. Mae didn’t understand what it was like to have a burning hunger. A need so insatiable that nothing seemed to satisfy it. Mae tended to frown upon what it was Alice needed to feed from—sex or sexual energy. Her succubus side demanded as much. It was a case of do so or die. No two ways about it.
Alice was often less than forthcoming about her needs in order to avoid having to see the pity and shame on her best friend’s face. As far as Mae was concerned, Alice didn’t need actual, full sex to handle her hunger—she only required energy. That was a lie. She needed both. The party would help check each box. It would give her both energy and full sex.
The fraternity party was packed full of exactly what she required. Hormone-driven young adults in their sexual primes too preoccupied with the shot at getting laid to notice her soaking in their lust. Her hunger was so deep that she couldn’t have pretended to be casual about feeding it. The energy settled against her skin and seeped through her very pores, rejuvenating her—nourishing her. The euphoric feeling was so great that she had to concentrate to keep her mental wards up to avoid listening in on everyone’s thoughts around her. If she wasn’t careful, the thoughts would all bombard her and she’d end up as sick as she’d have been without bothering to feed.
It wouldn’t be the first time.
It had taken her years of practice to perfect the skill of blocking other people’s thoughts, but she’d managed. At least with humans. Supernaturals were something altogether different. It was harder for her to control that particular super power around them.
She laughed softly as she thought of super powers. Mae didn’t exactly love how Alice described what they could do. The ability to mock her circumstances was another coping skill Alice had acquired as a young girl. Even with adoptive parents who were supernaturals, she didn’t feel like she fit in. Her mother was part vampire and part Fae and her father was a full-blooded were-cat shifter. Alice was none of those things. At least she didn’t think she was. From what everyone could tell, she was mostly succubus. None of the doctors she’d been taken to while young were able to pinpoint all of what she was. They could only say for sure that she had succubus DNA in her make-up. Though, all of them agreed she was more than a mere succubus. Their inability to identify her genetic make up had been concerning to her adoptive parents and Alice. Basically, no one knew exactly what the hell she was.
Always comforting.
A hot mess, that is what I am, she thought with a sardonic smile. That was only half-true. Since meeting Mae, Alice had been making small strides to get her life in order. Baby steps, but steps all the same.
Music pumped through the air, the song choice one she didn’t much care for. Her music choices always surprised others as they were not ones anyone would expect a woman her age to have. She could listen to Marvin Gaye for hours and never tire. So much soul and passion. The rubbish coming from the speakers in the fraternity was a far cry from the legendary Mr. Gaye.
The lights were dim, save two disco lamps someone had plugged in at opposite corners of the large room. The strobe effect the lights created was nauseating. Not to mention the entire room was tacky beyond belief. College-aged men had been left in charge of the decorating. That much was evident by the copious amount of light-up beer signs, centerfolds pinned to the walls in place of artwork, and numerous unidentifiable stains in the carpeting. She noted the lack of any textbooks to be found when there was an overabundance of girlie magazines scattered about the varying crates and boxes that were acting as end tables. Yes, college guys had certainly been the designers of the room.
It was nothing Alice would have subjected herself to if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, she had to feed her succubus side and this was the best option. The alternative would leave her waking up with a man or men she didn’t know, possibly several campuses or states away.
It had happened before.
It would probably happen again.
Each time she woke to find herself in the arms of men she didn’t know, or remember being with, another piece of her soul died. Frustrated realization sank over her as the knowledge that this was her reality, her life, and it would be this way forever hit her hard.
She sighed, disliking her body’s needs. While others required food and water to live, she needed sex or at the very least sexual energy in addition to normal basics in order to survive. The sexual energy felt like static in the air, crackling, alive, zapping around the room like a live current. The energy built around her, gathering in close like a protective blanket, warming her body, soaking through her skin, rejuvenating her. The more energy around her, the faster she warmed and felt full. But Alice knew to push beyond what she wanted and to store as much as she could. She’d been working hard to try to train her body to go longer and longer between full feedings. She was up to nearly a week now, which was saying something.
There had been a time she could barely make it through an entire day. She winced, no longer wanting to remember those times in the past. She wanted to focus on the here and now. The party was slamming, and she was getting what she needed. In addition, Mae was on a blind date. It was high time the girl lived a little. So what if the date was set up by Mae’s mother. It was a red-blooded male, and Mae was in serious need of one of those. The girl had been spending way too much time in the art studio on campus sculpting her version of hotness. There was no denying the sculpture was sexy, but there was no replacing the real thing.
Alice’s succubus side, or inner harlot as she’d affectionately termed it some years ago, stirred more, purring deep within her like a well-fed cat. It would still make room for a hot and hard male. Her succubus was an unabashed whore and seemed damn proud of it all. If only Alice could hold her head as high as her succubus wanted her to.
She took
a long breath in and let additional energy seep in from the couples around her. They were too busy with one another to notice she was alone and quickly turning into a wallflower. That was fine by her. The guys weren’t really her type. She preferred her men to be alpha, rugged and commanding. None of the young men present looked like they’d know how to tame a woman in the bedroom if their lives depended on it. They looked more like they were excited to just be close to women.
They probably were.
She snickered.
The place was jam-packed with horny people, each jockeying for the attention of another. She’d never really thought of herself as studious, but now that she was a fifth-year senior at the university and close to getting her degree, she found she looked forward to learning something new every day. She wasn’t quite the bookworm her best friend Mae was, but Alice had started to develop something of a healthy respect for learning.
Though, she doubted that anyone spotting her at the party would think she was doing much more than having a good time. Actually, she was doing far more than that, but no one, other than Mae, knew the truth. Her succubus side wasn’t something she was proud of. In fact, there were times she was downright ashamed of it and herself, but there was no changing what she was. No giving up the need to absorb sexual energy on a regular basis and so far, no giving up the need to fully feed the beast. She’d kept that part from Mae, knowing her friend would frown upon Alice sleeping with so many men. Mae prided herself on having held tight to her virginity and not giving in to society norms. Alice was jealous of that, of Mae being able to save herself for the right man. Alice had never had that luxury.
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