A Bitten Curse: A Darkness Bites Paranormal Romance Novel

by Nicole Marie

  “What would you like, babe?” the bartender asked me. He looked me up and down and winked, and I smiled back at him prettily.

  I then instantly remembered I had no money on me. “Sorry,” I said back to him as I turned back towards the crowd of dancing bodies and leaned my back against the bar. I had to go without drinking, I suppose, which should make the whole night a little bliss less. But a girl had to do what a girl had to do.

  As I scouted the bar for good-looking men, the link in my mind flared alive again. I swore to myself, and rubbed my eyes in exhaustion. I could hear Erik growing in my mind, and anger welled up inside me. I could tell he was pissed, but there was nothing he could do about it now. I was here, and there was no way he could stop me.

  I supposed that perhaps he could show up and put a stop to the whole thing, and I figured there must be some sort of vampire-shifter truce going on. Some sort of weird line in the proverbial sand like there was in the Twilight movies. I laughed to myself at that thought, but figured it wasn’t probably too far from the truth.

  A minute had gone by when a good-looking, young blond guy walked up to me and asked to buy me a drink. I graciously accepted and turned towards the bar. The bartender turned back towards me and winked again and asked me this time what I wanted. “I’ll have a whiskey and lemon, please.”

  The clubber next to me nudged me and smiled. “Whiskey? That’s hard-core.”

  I smiled back at him and accept the drink from the bartender. The guy was drinking some sort of fruity-looking drink, and I couldn’t help but chuckle. I looked him over, taking a quick sip of the whiskey. It burnt as it went down but it felt good in my mind. When the guy continued to stare at me, I took another few quick sips and let the effect of the whiskey take over.

  “So are you from around here?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “No, from out of town. Chicago, actually. You?”

  He chuckled at me and shook his head. “Oh, so you’re not one of the local shifters?”

  I raised my eyebrow at him and wondered what would happen next. “No, purely human. Sorry. You?”

  He shook his head and turned and walked away without saying another word. I sighed as I watched him go. “Well, nice meeting you,” I called out sarcastically to the back of his head. He disappeared into the crowd, and I turned back towards the bar.

  It might be harder to pick up a shifter after all. The raging emotion in my head subsided, and I knew that my failure to meet a shifter pleased the vampire, wherever he was. I sighed and downed the rest of my drink and stared forward. I was alone at the bar as I so often was. “Another one?” the bartender asked as he came back to me. “This one’s on the house.”

  I smiled at him and nodded. “Yes, thank you. It’s going to be that kind of a night, I think.”

  6

  After three more delicious whiskeys, I figured I might as well pack it in for the night. I wasn’t getting anywhere with any of the men and I really wasn’t feeling like picking anybody up anymore.

  I was exhausted and it was really a wonder how the hell I was going to get home. It was late, and that trains and buses probably had already stopped. Realistically, I’d have to sleep in the train station and see what I could do about it in the morning. I slammed back my last whiskey, thanked the bartender with a smile rather than a tip, and turned to leave the bar.

  Just as I began to walk through the crowd, I bumped into a tall, hard body. I stumbled back, flustered, and apologized profusely. I looked up then into the eyes of an extremely handsome man. His hair was long and dark and disheveled, and his eyes were a deep forest green colour that were absolutely hypnotizing. He smiled down at me with a lopsided grin and shrugged, “It’s nothing. Where you going?”

  I nearly swooned looking up at him and I could feel myself blush profusely. Raising my hand up against my cheek, I felt the heat radiating off my face. I hoped it was dark enough that he didn’t notice, but by the maniacal grin on his face, I knew that he could see everything. I looked him over, taking in his wide shoulders, tall physique, and piercing eyes, I figured he must be a shifter. By the oval eyes of his I figured he must be some sort of a cat, and I stepped back to get a better look at him.

  He looked beyond amused at my response to him as he crossed his arms and waited for me to answer. I then looked up awkwardly into his eyes and waited, unsure what he was expecting me to say. I then remembered his question and blushed even more violently. “Oh, sorry. I was just leaving.”

  He grinned down at me and then frowned an adorable forced frowned. “So soon? The night is young and there’s many drinks to be had. Why not stay a while and hang out?” He winked at me and I knew instantly that my plans had changed.

  I smiled back at him and nodded. “I guess I could stay for one more, if you’re buying.” I winked at him. Maybe if I was sly about it, he would buy me another drink. I hoped that he didn’t figure out how desperate I was and that I was just being flirty.

  He extended his arm for me to take it and I was confused at his gentlemanly offer. I took his arm and couldn’t help but smile as he led me back towards the bar.

  “Back for another one so soon?” the good-looking bartender asked me. I smirked at him and nodded and he immediately began to pour me another whiskey with lemon.

  “You’re a whiskey girl?” the shifter asked. “I like that in a woman. Usually means you’re pretty hard-core.”

  I laughed out loud and accepted my drink thankfully from the bartender. I then turned and took a sip and looked up into those green eyes of his. “I don’t know about that. But I have been told that I could be a bit of a freak sometimes.” I winked at him again, trying to give him a solid hint.

  He grinned back at me and ordered his own drink. I then cursed myself silently at what I just said. A freak? Seriously? Well maybe I really did have too many whiskeys and should probably slow down before I embarrass myself too much.

  As he turned back to me, I leaned against the bar with effort to look sexy but slipped back and nearly fell on my back. His lightning fast reflexes responded instantly as he reached his free arm around me and caught me. I looked up at him and laughed awkwardly as he pulled me up to standing. “Thank you.”

  “Gotta be more careful there…” he said, trailing off.

  “Charlie,” I said as I scratched the back of my neck. He extended his hand out to me and I shook it, his warm hand grasped around mine strongly as he pulled me closer towards him.

  “So what are you hoping to get out of the night at a shifter bar, Charlie?” he asked mischievously to me.

  I did my best to pretend to act cool, but I knew I was failing miserably. That’s what whiskey did to a woman; inexplicably confident, but unfailingly awkward. “Oh you know, just here to see the sights.” I winked. I then felt the heat rise in my cheeks again as I cursed myself for saying something else so stupid.

  He didn’t seem to care as he smiled down at me with that brilliant lopsided grin of his. “Well, I hope you like what you see.”

  I looked up at him and grinned as I sipped my whiskey. I nodded slowly as we looked into each other’s eyes. I could feel the muscles in my body clenching as my need for a man’s touch grew inside of me. The angry voice in my head seemed to have subsided, but I could tell he were still there. The overwhelming sense of being in a room full of shifters seemed to have doled the chatter a little bit, but I knew the effect he was having on me. The feeling I felt in my stomach probably rivaled what Erik was feeling, but I bet his sensations were ten fold. I pushed the thought from my mind and focused on the task at hand.

  “Do you want to get out of here?” I asked quickly, desperate for a distraction.

  The shifter chuckled and took a step closer. I breathed in his scent, a mix of musky leather, a hint of vanilla, and that sharp smell of animal. It was intoxicating, and it was taking every ounce of effort in my being not to rip off that shirt of his and see what lay beneath.

  “You don’t even know my name,” he said, smilingly.r />
  “Oh,” I responded dumbly. He was right, I didn’t even ask him his name and I was already suggesting we hook up. Figure that must not be a totally new concept here in a club like this, and he didn’t seem to be put off by it. “Well, what’s your name?”

  The man laughed again as his smile grew. “Pete,” he said. “Pete the panther.” He winked at me again.

  I rolled my eyes dramatically and then smiled up at him. “Really? Pete the panther. Are you serious?”

  He then narrowed his eyes at me and looked seriously down at me. “Very serious. Now, Charlie. You ready to get out of here?”

  His eyes smoldered as my need knees nearly went weak. I nodded desperately up at him and placed my empty glass on the bar counter. I strung my arm through his, and he led me to the other side of the bar towards a large black door on the far side of the dance area.

  I glanced back towards the staircase that I knew led out of the bar, and I turned back up to him as he opened the dark door. “Are we getting out of here?” I asked.

  He looked down at me mischievously and then pushed open the door. He motioned his arm through as he raised an eyebrow at me. “We are, in a way. Are you ready for an escape?”

  I narrowed my eyes at him and wondered what he was up to. At that point, I didn’t even care. I would’ve taken him in the middle of the dance floor if I had to. I was so desperate for contact, and so turned on from the whiskey that as long as his hands were on me, I didn’t care where the fuck we were.

  “I’m ready to go wherever you want to take me, Pete the panther,” I said slyly as I stepped through the threshold and into the dark room.

  He followed closely behind me and closed the door, then he put both hands on my shoulders. An extreme heat exuded from the palms of his hands and coursed through my shoulders, loosening up the tension I felt before. As he massaged his strong hands into the muscles behind my shoulder blades, I nearly collapsed on the floor from the pleasure. He then turned me around to face him and looked me in the eyes as I looked back up at his. He really did look like a panther, those eyes of his were so animalistic and raw, I knew exactly what he wanted. I wanted it, too, so I stepped forward and pressed my body against his in the dark room.

  I stood up on my tippy toes to get closer to his lips, and he brushed a strand of my hair away from my face. I moaned into his hand as I tilted my lips up, ready for him. He then reached an arm out to the side and flicked on the light switch, revealing an empty room full of chairs with a series of doorways leading out.

  I looked around curiously, wondering what the hell he was up to. I frowned at his hesitance, curious what he had planned.

  “Where exactly are we?” I asked.

  “Don’t worry, babe. You’ll like this.” He wrapped his arm around my shoulders tightly and pulled me in close as he led me to one of the far doors and knocked. We waited for a moment, and then the door creaked open. A beautiful woman with long black hair and piercing deep blue eyes stood on the other side of the doorway looking out at us. She inspected me and then looked up at Pete. A beautiful smile spread across her lips, revealing incredibly gorgeous white teeth, and two adorable dimples on either side of her mouth. “Oh, Pete, what you have here?”

  Pete grinned and motioned for me to walk through the door. I looked up at him curiously and then looked at the woman in front of me. She was absolutely stunning, and I was intrigued at what Pete had in mind for us.

  I’ve never really been attracted to women, but I was so desperate for skin to skin contact that I would take just about anybody right now. I looked her up and down and my mouth began to water. She was wearing a really short tight, black dress that cut any shorter would’ve revealed a little too much. It was low-cut in the front, revealing round cleavage and pale skin, and the back was cut all the way down low, revealing the thin line of her spine all the way to her lower back. She turned and her hair swished in the air, sending the scent of warm vanilla and hazelnut in my direction. She sauntered into the room to the other side where there was a large couch and a fireplace, and laid down along the length of the couch and looked up at us expectantly.

  There was a man stoking the fire who turned his attention towards us as Pete stepped into the room and closed the door. The man had shaggy blond hair and deep brown eyes, and his skin was a light golden brown that wrapped tightly around his chiseled frame.

  He was on his knees and leaned casually up against the wall and crossed his arm. He looked up at me with a big adorable grin. “Hey,” he said in a cute Scottish accent. “What’s your name, doll?” I stood there staring at the two others in the room, beyond excited at the possibilities that lay before me. Heat was building up inside me and I could barely speak. “My name’s Charlie,” I said.

  Pete dimmed the lights and walked to the other side of the room and sat next to the woman on the arm of the sofa and watched me. “Well, Charlie, you ready for a good night?”

  I bit my lip as I looked between all three shifters before me. I’d never done anything like this before, but I desperately knew that this was exactly what I needed. The link between myself and Erik flared in my mind, but I pushed it back is hard as I could. I could hear him screaming ‘no’, the anguish building up inside of me like tight knots pulling on every muscle in my body. I shut my eyes and willed him to be quiet, and finally after a long moment the screaming subsided.

  I opened my eyes and saw three beautiful sets of animalistic piercing gazes looking back at me. My heart began to pound in my chest, and I tasted blood where I bit my lip. I was so desperate for this, I didn’t even know where to begin. I reached down and pulled my black sweater off over my head and threw it towards the man in the fire. The girl on the couch looked intrigued and push herself up to a sitting position.

  When I still didn’t move, she pushed herself up off the couch and stalked towards me. I watched as she approached, and she stepped right up close to me and pressed her hips up against mine. She then latched her finger around the front of my bra, pulling me forward, and drove her tongue deep into my mouth.

  7

  The woman pulled me towards the couch and I let her lead me. I closed my eyes as she pulled me forward, moaning under the sensation of her lips pressed against mine.

  We reached the couch and she sat down and pulled me on top of her, and I straddled her legs with mine. Pete walked up around behind me and began playing with my hair behind my shoulders. He ran his hands along my neck and down my arms, sending goosebumps over my skin and a shiver up my spine. He clawed his nails down my back and unclasp my bra, and then tore it off and threw it to the other side of the room.

  The woman that I straddled pulled away from our kiss to look down at my bare chest, and ran her small soft hands over my stomach and cupped my breasts in her hands. She then squeezed and dug her nails into my flesh and pulled me forward, plunging her tongue down my throat again. I moaned at the sensation of her body up against mine as Pete began to massage my back with his warm, strong hands.

  I don’t know what I expected from the night, but this certainly wasn’t in it. The excitement of being with three other people thrilled me, and my body felt all sorts of urges that I hadn’t felt before.

  The blonde man that sat by the fire pushed himself up he came to join us on the couch, and he pressed himself up against the woman and began sucking on her ear. She moaned into my mouth and I moaned back as we pulled their bodies together in a fierce embrace.

  Pete stepped towards me and pressed his chest up against my back as he began kissing down the back of my neck. I could feel my hair stand on end and goosebumps appear on my skin as he made his way slowly down my spine. He wrapped his hands around my stomach and pulled himself up against me, his growing erection pressing up against my rear. I moaned louder as I could feel him harden behind me.

  The woman pulled her hands away from my breasts and ran them through my hair, squeezing and tugging my hair as she kissed me. “That feels good,” I whispered into her mouth.

  “Ja
smine,” she said back. “My name’s Jasmine.”

  “Jasmine,” I moaned back to her. She purred in response and I wondered what kind of animal she was. By the way she moved, I imagined she was also some sort of cat. She turned towards the blonde man and he pulled her face in towards his, and began a fierce embrace.

  Pete ran his right arm up the front of my chest and ran his finger around my lips. I bit his finger and sucked his sweet warm flash. He moaned behind me and began biting my neck. I grew rigid and froze. He pulled back immediately. “What’s wrong?” he asked me quickly. The others stopped momentarily to look at me. My heart quickened but I did my best to remain calm. I turned back towards him and smiled. “Just stay away from that side of my neck if you don’t mind,” I said as I smiled.

  Pete ran his hands around my neck and noticed the two bite marks and recoiled his hand immediately. “Are you?”

  I shook my head violently and forced a laugh. “No, just an accident, but it’s still sort of bugs me, you know?”

  The tension that I didn’t realize was in the room subsided, and everyone relaxed. Pete moved the other side of my neck and bit my ear, “No problem, baby. Whatever makes you feel good.”

  The blonde man pulled Jasmine on top of him, which was a bit awkward as I was still straddling her, but I manoeuvred to the other side of the couch as Pete joined me.

  Pete took both my hands in his and pulled me on top of him so I was now straddling him instead as Jasmine and the other two went at each other beside us.

  I bit my lip as I looked into Pete’s eyes and I immediately pulled the shirt off of his strong, rugged body. I looked down at his muscled chest and ran my hands down his golden skin. He was hot to the touch and I craved every inch of his body. The sound in my mind had come drawn to a numbed silence, and a revered in that moment. I took a few seconds to soak in the vision of the half naked man in front of me, and I pulled him forward for a kiss. His lips were soft, yet firm and felt incredible against my own. His tongue explored my mouth and mine in his, and we tasted each other’s lips in sweet unison. He pulled me closer and I gyrated my hips against his own, rubbing against the bulge that was growing harder by the minute inside his pants.