Book Blitz: Dark and Deadly: Eight Bad Boys of Paranormal Romance

 

 

Dark and Deadly: Eight Bad Boys of Paranormal Romance 

Authors: Alyssa Day, Bonnie Vanak, Caris Roane, Erin Kellison, Erin Quinn, Felicity E. Heaton, Jennifer Ashley, Laurie London 

 

Publication date: April 14th 2014
Genres: Adult, Paranormal Romance

Eight hot paranormal romances by New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors. Alpha-male bad boys will fulfill your darkest, most deadliest desires in these stories about shifters, werewolves, vampires, magic, special powers and other realms. But only if you dare…

Featuring the bad boy heroes of:

 BODYGUARD by Jennifer Ashley
ALEJANDRO’S SORCERESS by Alyssa Day
BEWITCH by Felicity Heaton
DARKNESS FALLS by Erin Kellison
ROGUE’S PASSION by Laurie London
THE FORBIDDEN LIFE OF ALEX MOORE by Erin Quinn
THE MATING HEAT by Bonnie Vanak
TRAPPED by Caris Roane

 

 

EXCERPT

BODYGUARD by Jennifer Ashley

The bear climbed to his feet, swung his great head around, and fixed red-raged eyes on Elizabeth.

He was the biggest living creature Elizabeth had ever seen. On all fours, the bear stood about six feet tall at the shoulder, which put his head well above Elizabeth’s. His breath huffed between immense and sharp teeth, his growls rumbling from his throat like thunder. His gaze still locked on hers, he took a step toward her on one massive paw.

Elizabeth brought her hand up, aimed the can of pepper spray at his face, and gave him a full dose.

The bear blinked, drew back, blinked again, sat down on his hind legs, and rocked his head all the way back. Then he sneezed.

The noise exploded into the room like a sonic boom, vibrating papers on the desk and rattling the Victorian prints on the walls in their prim and proper frames.

The bear rose on his hind legs again and kept rising, ten feet—twelve—fifteen, his bulk hunching to fit under the low ceiling. At the same time, his immense body started to shrink. The bear’s face contorted, muzzle shortening, as did, thank God, his teeth.

In about thirty seconds the bear was gone, and a man stood in its place. The man was just as massive as the bear—at least seven feet tall, with chocolate brown hair buzzed short, eyes as dark as the bear’s, an almost square face with a once-broken nose, and a chin and jaw dark with five o’clock shadow.

His arm bore a bloody gash where the bullet had whipped by it, but his body was muscle on top of muscle on top of muscle, not an ounce of fat that Elizabeth could see. And Elizabeth saw it all, because the man was stark naked. Except for the Collar, which had shrunk to fit his human neck, the bear-man wore not a stitch.

He wiped his streaming eyes. “Shit, woman,” he said in a voice that brought down a trickle of ceiling tile dust to whiten his hair. “That itches.”

 

 

EXCERPT

ALEJANDRO’S SORCERESS by Alyssa Day

 

Poe’s Avenue, Virginia, FBI Paranormal Operations Division HQ

Alejandro cocked the shotgun they hadn’t been able to force him to give up and followed his teammate into the burnt and jagged opening in the side of the building, hoping that—for once—there weren’t any trolls.

He hated trolls.

“Clear,” Mac, already moving through the narrow hallway, called back to him. It was Mac’s turn to go first. They kept score.

Lately he’d been keeping score on a lot of things. Like time. The year, two weeks, and five days since he’d seen the sunlight outside of the academy, for instance.

Not that he was counting.

Anyway, the year-long course at the FBI’s sister division, P Ops, had kept him plenty busy.

“Shotgun!  You coming or scratching your ass back there?”

“No, my friend, I was just thinking of asking your sister to scratch it for me,” Alejandro said. “She reaches all the itchy parts so well.”

“I will kick your ass if you get any of your itchy parts anywhere near my sister. Or she’d kick it for you. Jenny scares even me.”

The sound of Mac’s Glock firing three shots in rapid succession caused Alejandro to break into a run as he slapped his night-vision goggles in place.

“On my way,” he called, not bothering to try to be stealthy. “Save some for me.”

He caught the shifting glimmer of light in the corner of one eye and whirled around, aiming and firing in one smooth motion. Whatever it was, he missed. Too short to be a troll, so there was one mercy. If he were the type to have nightmares, he’d still be having them about the last one’s breath. Green, moss-covered teeth. What the hell was that about?  Toothpaste was cheap.

“Shotgun!  Could use a little help here!” Mac sounded just the slightest bit out of breath, which was unusual for the man who’d beat the all-time speed record for the FBI’s obstacle course at Quantico in an inter-agency competition. Alejandro had won a hundred bucks on that one.

He took off running, cocking the Remington as he moved. The vampire who jumped him five feet down the hall took a blast to the head. Alejandro vaulted over the vamp’s disintegrating body, not wanting the acidic slime of decomposing vamp on his new shoes.

A high-pitched scream warned him of the approach from overhead of a deadly Mngwa, but he had a silver throwing knife at hand. One lethal toss later, a couple hundred pounds of mutant killer cat lay on the floor, blood gurgling out of its throat.

He skidded to a stop at the end of the corridor, not willing to rush headlong into a blind turn, and Mac called out to him again, his deep voice rough and strained. “Alejandro, if you’re coming, now would be a really good time.”

Alejandro instantly switched from student-taking-his-final-exam mode to deadly-predator mode. They had a code between them, he and Mac. They were only Alejandro and Maxwell to each other in the event of a dire emergency. Whatever faced Mac around that corner was no training-ground obstacle. Somebody had set a trap, and Mac was caught in it.

Alejandro was going to kick somebody’s ass for this one.

 

EXCERPT

BEWITCH by Felicity Heaton

 

“One night.”

Those two words leaving Payne’s lips shocked Elissa. She didn’t feel as though she had won. It was offered grudgingly. Still, a single night of pleasure with Payne. It excited her but scared her too. She wasn’t sure where to begin or what he would expect from her, or whether she really could help him accept his incubus side so they could discover where the rest of his kind lived.

When she had suggested he submit to her, she had done so because she had figured that she needed to do something dramatic in order to push him over the edge and force him to give in to his needs. It had worked. Now what was she meant to do?

She had asked him to submit to her. She had never done anything like this before. She had never experienced being with a male as strong as Payne was. She’d had mortal males in her lifetime, but nothing that had lasted, and she had never been with a demonic breed of fae because certain aspects of them were forbidden. What was he going to say about that when she told him?

What if he was too powerful for her?

Her heart told her to give up this foolish venture before it ended in tears and disaster, but she couldn’t ignore her intense attraction to him or the need that shot through her whenever she looked at him.

Payne excited her. He was forbidden fruit and she was desperate for a taste. She knew that with him she would be pushing the boundaries and dancing with danger. It thrilled her and she couldn’t help wanting it. She ached to know a demon’s touch.

Payne’s touch.

Nerves skittered through her, causing her hands to shake and palms to sweat. They worsened when Payne slipped his arm around her waist, pulled her flush against his body, and teleported them back to her sister’s home. She swallowed and tried to stifle her trembling, but the way he frowned at her said that she couldn’t hide it from him. Fool. Of course she wouldn’t be able to hide her fear from a vampire. They thrived on sensing it in others.

She tipped her chin up, grabbed his hand and led him towards the bedroom.

Mother earth, what was she doing? She didn’t have the first clue about this sort of thing. She had never seduced a man, let alone played the role of dominant to their submissive.

They entered the bedroom and she stopped dead, her eyes on the blue satiny sheets covering the double bed. The silver stars stitched onto the material blurred. Her panic increased.

Payne rounded her, his eyes on her chest. Listening to her rushing heart?

“Do you need a moment?” There was a beautiful tilt to his lips, as though he found her nerves pleasing. Why? It struck her that it was because it gave away that this wasn’t the sort of thing she normally did with a man.

Elissa shook her head, trying to look casual, and then nodded. His smile widened and he reached up and grazed his thumb across her lower lip, sending a hot shiver through her. He let his hand fall from her face and went back into the main room of the house, closing the door. Very courteous. Giving her privacy to get her explosive nerves under control. She listened, hoping he hadn’t just used the opportunity to do a runner. She heard beakers clink together and the curtains close.

She drew a deep breath and exhaled. Gods, she wanted this, wanted him, but what the hell had she just signed up for? He would be expecting sexy. Could she do sexy? Could she be dominant with a man?

Dominant wasn’t in her nature.

She squirmed on the spot. Already desire was dampening her knickers. She glanced at her wardrobe. Sexy. She could be sexy for Payne. She wanted to be that way for him.

She pulled out her drawers and dressed in her most provocative black lace underwear. A simple bra and shorts. The mirror hanging on the back of the door mocked her. Not sexy enough. She could fix that. A little magic improved it, changing her dull underwear to a black satin bustier, thong and fishnet stockings, together with thigh-high black stiletto leather boots. Her heart pounded and desire heated her blood as she stared at her reflection. Very fuck me.

She completed her look by twisting her long chestnut hair into a messy knot at the back of her head and kept her black choker on. Anything to draw his attention to her neck. He might be easier to tease into submission if she was playing her best cards. He wanted to bite her. She had seen it in his eyes. She swallowed again. Gods, would he bite her if she let him? If she made him? The thought that he might obey such a command and sink long sharp fangs into her flesh had her thighs quivering.

The floorboards in the other room creaked. Payne was pacing again. Did he feel as nervous as she did? She felt as though she was about to make a terrible mistake but it was too late now to stop herself. She wanted him. Needed this. She nibbled her lower lip and approached the closed door. She opened it a crack and peeked through to the other room and Payne. He looked troubled, his handsome features set in a dark scowl. How did women make men submit?

Her eyes shifted to the silver rope on the desk.

Another shiver bolted through her, hot from the thought of using it on him.

Payne distracted her. He unbuttoned his shirt and removed it, revealing his bare torso as he walked towards her. A good sign, surely? He wanted to do this too.

He turned his back and she tracked his fae markings with her eyes. The line of symbols ran up the underside of his forearms, curved over the outside of his elbows and snaked over his biceps to his shoulders. From there, they ran across the backs of his shoulders and joined above his spine. They followed the line of it down and ended in a diamond above his bottom, between two very sensual dimples.

Elissa had never seen anything so sexy.

She ached to touch them or run her tongue over them. He didn’t like it when she touched them though. Would he be angry with her? Elissa frowned. She was approaching this all wrong. He had sworn to submit to her for one night. A submissive didn’t get to be angry or pick and choose what she did.

She eased the door open, waved her hand and the silver rope wound around his wrists and up his forearms, binding them together behind his back. He growled and snarled, his fae markings flashing red and black, and turned on the spot. The moment his eyes found her, he fell silent and still, his chest heaving and muscles straining. The symbols inked on his skin flared in new colours, shades of red and dark pink. Gods, he was delicious.

She wanted to touch him.

Elissa slowly approached him, enjoying the way his eyes were taking her in, drifting over her. His pupils dilated, swallowing some of the grey and the sparks of blue and gold. She stopped before him and traced her fingers over his markings, following them up his right biceps and over his shoulder. His breathing accelerated and he strained against the ropes.

“They’re enchanted.” She smiled up at him. His eyes bore into hers, dark and hungry. “You can’t break them.”

He tracked her as she moved behind him, the blue and gold in his eyes brightening. Elissa held his gaze and cautiously lowered her mouth to his shoulder. She pressed her lips to the marks there. He closed his eyes and inhaled, his nostrils flaring and the cords in his neck tightening.

Elissa remained behind him and encircled him in her arms, laying her hands against his granite hard chest. She murmured low in her throat, unable to contain the jolt of pleasure that ran through her. Payne groaned and strained against the ropes again, causing every muscle on his torso to tense and delight her. She skimmed her fingers over the taut ridges of his stomach and bravely continued past the erotic dip of his navel, into the soft dusting of sandy hair that led downwards.

Payne sucked his stomach in and tensed.

She trembled and slid her hand into his jeans.

 

 

EXCERPT

DARKNESS FALLS by Erin Kellison

 

Want? There was that word again, piercing through the conversation.

He wanted to put his hands low on her hips and feel her arch back into him. He could forget what haunted him with her. He knew he could.

“Are you making me feel like this?” she demanded. “Why do you make me feel like this?”

“Like what?” Did she feel it too, then? This atomic attraction, like molecular bonds straining to attach?

But her eyes just got wider, her glare accusatory.

“It’s your dream, Jordan,” he said. “I can find you within it, but I can’t make you feel anything.” Though there were some agents who had the knack. He was just a humble tracker.

“Well, you don’t have to stand so close.”

“Your dream,” he said again. “Push me away.”

He knew she could—it was well within her ability—and soon she’d be able to do so without thinking. Her dreams were her playground. It was only deeper into the waters of sleep, Darkside, that she’d have difficulty.

But she didn’t push him back.

Okay, still scared. Still disoriented. He needed her trust, so he’d give her the space she requested, and he would back off.

Except…his backward motion was met with stiff resistance. She wasn’t pushing him away; she was keeping him close. He could break her hold. However strong she was, he had considerably more experience. He could break the dream, but he didn’t.

A smile of deep satisfaction pulled at his mouth, an entirely foreign feeling to his face, to his soul. If he begged, would she let him stay here? He’d promise to keep the darkness at bay, because it would come. It always did.

“Michael?”

The false name was a reminder. There are rules. There are rules. There are rules.

She rose on tiptoe.

His hands found her hips, knew just the angle to his grip—she didn’t protest. He pulled her flush against him, and her back arched, just slightly, exactly as he’d hoped it would, her ass pressing—good God—into his groin.

Warmth coursed through his gut and spread out to his limbs and mind. It was part lust—no helping that—and part peace. It was a full-body sensation, burning out pain and loneliness, leaving only this feeling of want and connection.

She tilted her face back.

All her little adjustments meant yes, yes, and yes.

At the moment, hers was the only permission that mattered.

So he kissed her.

 

 

EXCERPT

ROGUE’S PASSION by Laurie London

Asher smiled, but it was a devilish smirk. He reached for a bar of soap, turned her around and began to lather her back and arms. “Do you know what happens when someone defies my orders?”

Olivia licked her lips and swallowed hard. “What?”

“They get punished.”

Images of Asher paddling her bare butt with a leather riding crop flashed in her head. Even though her sexual experiences had never gone in that direction before, she was more than a little intrigued. “Punished? What do you mean?”

“I’m not talking about a simple spanking,” he said as if reading her thoughts. She was glad he was behind her and couldn’t see her face. It had to be beet red right now. “Although that can be arranged. What you did was very serious. I told you specifically not to do something and you defied me. When I give orders, I expect that they’ll be followed.”

“Okay.” Her heart quickened. “Then what is a fitting punishment?”

“Hmmm.” His sudsy hands slipped along her belly and breasts, and she became acutely aware of the hard length of his shaft at her back. “I was thinking more along the lines of teaching you by example. That really is the best way to learn.”

She chewed on her lip, trying to control her growing excitement. “Which means…”

“Lean back,” he ordered. “I’m going to wash your hair.”

She did as she was told, laying her head back against his stomach. He adjusted his position so that her ears were just above the level of the water. Squirting some shampoo into the palm of his hand, he began to wash her hair. She closed her eyes, concentrating on his fingers massaging her scalp and sudsing each strand. A girl could get used to such pampering.

What sort of punishment was he dreaming up? If it involves more of this, then sign me up.

Soon he was helping her from the tub. When they were both wrapped in towels, he put his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him. The glint in his eyes was pure wickedness. Her breath caught in her throat.

“I’ve decided on your punishment, Olivia.”

“You have?”

He brushed a thumb over her lower lip, leaving a trail of sparks. “For the next week, you’re going to be staying here with me.”

Her gaze snapped up to his. “What? Here? With you?” He stared at her with that ruggedly handsome face, gauging her reaction. She had heard him correctly. “I can’t stay for that long.”

“I don’t see why not,” he said matter-of-factly. “The roads aren’t expected to reopen for days, your car is still trapped in the garage, and you don’t have a job anymore.”

Yes, all that was true. But still. She’d just met him. He couldn’t really be serious about her staying the week with him, could he? She needed to hide out for a while, wait until things calmed down…but with him? “What if I have other plans?”

“Cancel them.”

His arrogance should’ve pissed her off. Instead, she was secretly thrilled. “Why would I want to do that?” she asked, feigning indifference.

“Because I’d like to spend the next few days fucking you, Olivia, and I want you all to myself.”

 

 

EXCERPT

THE FORBIDDEN LIFE OF ALEX MOORE by Erin Quinn

Lilly smoothed the edges of the last bandage and stood.  Alex stood, too.  He should move away.  And now.  Because having her in touching distance seemed to be destroying all of his common sense.

“The longer I stay, the worse it will be,” he said, trying to infuse the words with the power to make him leave.

“Who are you trying to convince, Alex?  You or me?”

“You’ve got a smart mouth,” he said.  “You know that?”

“It’s a gift.”

A gift.  One he wanted.  She stared at him with those lavender-blue eyes and all he could think of was tasting that smart mouth.  One kiss, that would be enough, he told himself.

But she met him halfway as he leaned closer and he knew it was a lie.

Slowly, Alex kissed her.  He’d meant to be quick.  A small sample and then walk away.  But lips and breath and tongue combined to shut down his brain.  Her taste was like a drug that spread rapidly through his system.  Suddenly, not touching her everywhere seemed like the worst choice he could make.

He pulled back and stared into her eyes.  She looked startled and aroused, wary but very willing.  She listed forward, her face turned up, her hands warm on his bare chest and Alex couldn’t have denied what he wanted any more than he could turn back time.

In an instant, the decision was made.

Had been since he’d first held her in the woods.  Maybe everything he’d done since that moment had been a way to get to here.  With her.

His forehead touched hers, noses aligned as he stilled, letting her breath become his, giving it back with his own.  So intimate, the sharing.  Exotic, unexpected, addicting.  Thunder and lightning that struck at ancestral instincts that he didn’t know he possessed.  She pressed against him, his briefs a thin barrier to the hardness straining to be released.  Every part of him tuned in to her actions, reactions, the way they spurred his own.

What did it mean that he’d brought his hands to her face and found skin so soft he had to brush his lips over it?  Press his nose into its sweetness?  What did it say that he thought he could stand there and kiss her for hours and never grow tired of the way she felt, the way she tasted?

She seemed to be seeking something.  A touch?  A word?  He wanted to give it to her, whatever it was, and the thought pulled him back.  Her eyes glittered bright blue and diamond-like from between her thick lashes.  Her hair was messed up, her cheeks chilled, but she felt like a flame in his hands.  Fluid. Dangerous.

Make her choose you…

The thought felt ancient, a rumbling drum down a sacred mountain.  It urged him to coax, to crowd, to claim.

He tried to tell himself he didn’t want that.  But his body had ceased to listen to his brain.

He kissed her while her breath was shallow.  Her breasts lifted in welcome, her hands in his hair, on his throat.  His chest felt tight.  Locked up with sensation.  He’d forgotten how to breathe at all.

Where was his survival instinct?   Lost in the sexual haze that drove him?

Nothing made sense but the way she felt against his skin.  Her arms went around his neck and she arched closer.

No, this would be nothing like fornication.

He walked her to the bedroom, his lips on hers, holding her so close that his bare thigh brushed her damp heat with each step.  The mattress bumped the backs of her legs and Lilly pulled him down on top of her.

He made a sound deep in his throat that was both primal and vulnerable at once.  It exposed the churn of his unexpected emotions.  Lilly met his eyes and raised her arms so he could pull off her shirt.  She wrapped them back around his shoulders while he kissed his way to the white bra that held her soft breasts.  He unfastened it and cupped them in his hands while he took her mouth again in a kiss intent on stealing her will to resist.  He had only a short time here.  A day, maybe two, if he was lucky.  He’d dreaded this journey.  Now he didn’t want it to end.

“Alex,” she breathed against his mouth.

“Don’t say no,” he breathed back.  “Please, don’t say no.”

She laughed.  “I don’t think I know that word anymore.”

Relief made him dizzy, desire made him rush when he wanted to linger.  He tugged off her pants, hooking her flowered panties with his thumbs and drawing them over her silky legs.  In seconds, he was stripped as well.

For a moment, he could only stare at her.  She was naked and perfect in every way imaginable.  The winter light turned her skin to pearl and caressed the enticing curves and dips.  Her blonde hair spilled over the pillow.  She was pink in places that seduced him.  She shocked his senses and addled his brain until the only thing Alex knew for certain was that whatever he did next, he needed to make sure she’d want him to do it again.

 

EXCERPT

THE MATING HEAT by Bonnie Vanak

Fragrant pine and delicious warmth surrounded her. For the first time since Aiden had spirited her away that awful night, she felt happy.

The scent of pine and fresh rain grew stronger. Kara struggled to keep the peaceful feeling intact, knowing it would evaporate like morning mist.

“Wake up sweeting.”

The deep voice rubbed across her skin like the brush of dark velvet. Forcing her eyes open, she struggled to remember her surroundings.

Ryder perched on the bed’s edge, regarding her intently. He looked sexy and dangerous. A shaft of sunlight touched his tousled brown hair, streaking it with chestnut. Amusement danced in his blue eyes.

“The sleeping Lupine awakens for her first kiss. But alas, the first kiss already took place and the handsome prince was punished for his daring,” he murmured.

She went to rub her eyes, and realized her wrists were still handcuffed. “How long was I out?”

“Thirty minutes. I wanted to remove the handcuffs, but you looked too peaceful. I didn’t want to wake you.” His mouth quirked. “You look so lovely when you’re tied up. Very delicious and helpless. I’d like to eat you up.”

Intensely sexual, his body was hard and tempting. Made a woman want to hold him close as he devoured her mouth. She fisted her hands, fighting the instinctual Lupine urge to surrender to sensual need.

“You’re too thin,” he observed, boldly placing a hand on her belly. “I need to fatten you up before I devour you.”

Kara gave a bitter laugh. “Too thin? That’s a first. I’m large as an ocean liner.”

His gaze grew intent. “Lupine females were made to be lush and curvy. Your body is ripe for receiving mine, and for bearing young. There is nothing wrong with you that rest and a good hearty meal won’t cure.”

“Give me a steak and we’ll call it even. I'll skip dessert. Maybe I can have it later, at my brother’s house when you return me.”

His voice dropped to a dark whisper. “I’m not returning you, sweeting. But you can be dessert. I have a tube of edible oil I plan to use later, when I massage you all over. And then lick it all off.”

Her lower belly tightened as she imagined Ryder smoothing hot oil over her body, lingering and slow, a sensual caress as he rubbed and stroked…

Blinking away the erotic image, she shook her head. “You underestimate me.”

“And you underestimate my determination. I want you, Kara. You will be my mate.”

Her mouth went dry. “Is that a proposal? Hardly romantic.”

Ryder’s smile widened. “I can be very romantic. But you know I’ve always been direct when it comes to speaking my mind.”

Kara held up her wrists. “Still planning to keep me prisoner? Maybe you’ll toss me into one of Alastair’s old cells.”

“I closed that section of the basement. First act I did upon taking over.”

He came closer, so close he threatened to drown her in his rich scent. His big body was aggressive and filled with purpose. But the hand he placed on her scarred cheek was gentle.

Ryder ran a thumb across the ruined flesh of her cheek.  His touch felt sensual and drugging. She wondered what the smooth stroke of his tongue would feel like between her legs…

“We will be lovers,” he said softly. “You will become my mate, Kara. You cannot fight what is between us any more than I can. You know you were meant for me.”

Slow, seductive images, hands stroking over her shuddering, wet flesh, filled with erotic promise…

Stop it!

Kara spoke in a firm tone. “Take off the handcuffs.”

“We could leave them on. Just for fun.”

“Take them off.”

“Come now, Kara. Don’t you want to play with the wolf?”

 

 

EXCERPT

Trapped by Caris Roane

In this excerpt from Chapter 3 of TRAPPED, Alesia awakens to find her man in trouble.  He hasn’t fed recently and suffers the crippling, deadly effects of blood-starvation. She’s trapped with him in his home because of an enemy attack.

Alesia opened her eyes, uncertain what had awakened her. For a moment, she wasn’t even sure where she was.

She looked around and recognized Zephyr’s bedroom, but he was no longer in bed with her. Glancing at the open door of the bathroom, she was pretty sure he wasn’t in there either.

Exhaustion crowded her and her heart seemed to be laboring in her chest. She’d been feeling like this a lot in recent weeks, especially when Zephyr would show up last thing at night to take her home. A couple of times, she’d almost offered to feed him just because she felt certain she’d feel better if she opened a vein for him.

She sat up and rubbed her chest.

Then she heard his voice. “You can’t come? Are you sure?” A pause. “No, that’s okay. I’ll call someone else.” A heavy groan followed.

Her senses came alert and her drowsiness disappeared.

Zeph was in trouble. She could feel it now.

She slipped from bed, wearing a long t-shirt of his that hit her mid-thigh.

She hurried into the living room, took one look at his pallor, and made a quick decision. “Zeph, you need to feed, as in now.”

He looked up at her, his arms around his stomach, his body bent over in pain. His blue eyes had a wild, almost feverish appearance.

“Oh, dear sweet Goddess, why didn’t you reach for me? Damnit, you’re the most stubborn man.”

She dropped in front of him, and swept her hair away from her throat. “Take what you need.”

He probably couldn’t have stopped if he’d wanted to.

He fell on her, pushing her to the floor, his fangs at her throat, striking to just the right depth. Withdrawing his fangs, he sucked hard, too hard.

She beat at his shoulders. “Zeph, you’ll collapse the vein. Ease back.”

He pulled away and struggled through several deep breaths. He resumed, more gently this time, and her blood began to flow.

She patted his back. “Better. Much better. You’re okay. You’ll be okay. You’ll be fine.”

He was so close to death, the man who had saved her life just a few hours earlier.

She’d never fed a vampire before, but after about a minute, she began to experience an extraordinary euphoria, like nothing she’d ever known before. Her heart felt light and free. She realized she hadn’t truly felt normal in weeks.

Now that she did, she rubbed his shoulders but wanted more than just the feel of the flannel beneath her hands.

She caressed his bare neck, and slipped her fingers down his back, savoring his warm skin. Her hips arched against him and that’s when she felt that he was fully aroused, a very natural state for a vampire, lying on top of a woman and taking from her throat.

He groaned, and though he continued to nurse at her throat, he pathed. Don’t do that, Alesia. I won’t be able to control myself. Damn all the elf lords, but your blood has the flavor of berries steeped in wine. I’ve never tasted anything like this in my life. And the power that comes with each hit. I feel like I could do anything.

Maybe it was his voice in her head, or maybe her own latent desire for the man, but desire flooded her like a sudden tsunami. She pulled away from him and started tearing at his pajamas.