In blood they will find destiny and the eternal bond of passion…
Hot Vampire Seduction
By Lisa Renee Jones
Smashwords Edition
Copyright Lisa Renee Jones
Book 2: The Vampire Wardens
Erotic—hot, includes ménage
Also in the series:
Book 1
: Hot Vampire Kiss – out now!
Book 3
: Hot Vampire Touch – COMING VERY SOON!
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to
other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy
for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use
only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the
hard work of this author. To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text, please contact the author at
All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author’s imagination.
www.lisareneejones.com
.
Cover by Croco Designs.
Romantic Times – Jones scorches the pages!
Booklist--Jones’ suspense truly sizzles with an energy similar to FBI tales with a paranormal twist by
Julie Garwood or Suzanne Brockmann.
Praise for Hot Vampire Kiss:
Wendy - My Book Addiction and More
HOT VAMPIRE KISS is book 1 on Lisa Renee Jones' new series, the Vampire Wardens. Fans of
paranormal or vampires will adore this great new voice in the genre.
Kelly - Books - N - Kisses
If you are looking for a really good, fast, hot short read. I would encourage you to go grab a copy of Hot
Vampire Kiss by Lisa Renee Jones.
Lady Raven Romance Novel Junkies
I was so excited that we got to meet Aiden and Troy, they are just a bundle of vampire hotness.
Larena, Red Roses for Authors
Praise for Hot Vampire seduction:
On Legend of Michael:
“Lisa Renee Jones has created a fascinating, exciting, and wonderfully romantic read in The Legend of
Michael. Michael is to die for!”
—Pamela Palmer, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of RAPTURE UNTAMED, a
Feral Warriors novel
“A thrill ride of non-stop action, intricate suspense and scorching love scenes!”
—Stephanie Tyler, New York Times bestselling author of HOLD ON TIGHT
“Sexy, edgy, pulse-pounding adventure. The Legend of Michael will keep you reading all night!”
—Susan Grant, New York Times bestselling author of THE LAST WARRIOR
“Grabs hold of you from page one and never lets go. Packed with action, suspense and sizzling sexuality,
The Legend of Michael is a book not to be missed!”
—Rhyannon Byrd, National bestselling author of TOUCH OF SEDUCTION
“Hot enough to singe your fingers.”
—Cynthia Eden, National bestselling author of DEADLY FEAR
“Edgy, dark and creative. A raw new world filled with action, danger and plenty of sizzle.”
—Eve Silver, National bestselling author of SINS OF THE FLESH
“Utterly absorbing, deliciously edgy, and instantly addictive. If you haven’t added Jones to your must-
read list, you need to.”
—Donna Grant, Bestselling author of DANGEROUS HIGHLANDER
“A breathlessly-paced ride through twisting secrets, fractured loyalties, and deadly espionage.”
—Sylvia Day, National bestselling author of THE STRANGER I MARRIED
This is the second book in a hot, erotic vampire series, but stands alone as its own story. Reading out of
order will not hurt the enjoyment of the story.
Table of Contents
Explicit - hot! Ménage included – you have been warned.
The Wardens series begins with the three Brooks brothers, Evan (34), Aiden (32) and Taylor (28). They
were early settlers of the town of Braunfels, Texas. When the town was haunted by a series of brutal
animal attacks, that left a half-dozen townsmen murdered, the Brooks brothers took things into their own
hands. Armed and ready for action, they set out into the wilderness, determined to find this animal and
kill it. What they found was a female vampire who decided the brothers were scrumptious morsels, worth
keeping around for a lifetime. She attacked the brothers and turned them to vampires.
No sooner did she turn them, though, than another vampire appeared and killed her. This vampire
declared himself a “Warden” of the Vampire Council. Wardens uphold the rules of the Vampire race and
report to the Council. Killing a human is punishable by death and their ‘Maker’ had broken that rule. The
brothers were then taken to the Council, where they were taught how to survive without killing, how to
mingle with humans as if one of them, and when to move on from a location so that they would not be
suspected as vampires. Most importantly, they learned who their enemies were and how to defeat them.
In the end, the brothers were granted a financial dowry that had belonged to their Maker and given the
choice of freedom, under Council rule, or an alternative—to become Wardens.
Now, the brothers travel together as Wardens, tracking outlaw vampires, killing them and protecting
innocent humans. It is their eternal duty.
And now – I hope you enjoy – book 2 in the series, which stands alone – reading out of order will not be
confusing. Onward to HOT VAMPIRE SEDUCTION!
Chapter One
Awareness rushed over Aiden Brooks a moment before he found himself the focus of the petite package
of a gorgeous female’s glower that he recognized from her pictures. This was Kelly Riggs, the thirty-two
year old, Austin, Texas Medical Examiner, whose office he stood in without invitation, or introduction.
“What exactly do you think you’re doing?” she demanded, swiping at a strand of long, raven hair that fell
from the clip holding it haphazardly on top of her head.
“Waiting on you, of course,” he replied nonchalantly, as if he had every right to be standing behind her
desk, reading the file he’d been studying upon her arrival.
“While reading my private documents?” she challenged, rounding the desk to snatch the file, before
fixing her rich honey colored eyes on him, little flecks of orange fire simmering in their depths. “I need to
see identification or I’m calling security.”
He barely contained a smile that he was certain would get him hit, and that very certainty, intrigued him.
She intrigued him. Most humans, males included, instinctively kept a distance from him, wary of his long
dark hair and the unnatural shade of his pitch black eyes. He didn’t wear the colored lenses many of his
kind chose to wear to blend in with the rest of the population and not because he had some sick desire to
scare humans. Because he wanted his enemies to know who and what he was, even before they sensed
that he too, was a predator. But this woman didn’t sense that in him, or perhaps, she simply didn’t care.
Not only was the office small, the space limited, but he towered over what he estimated to be her five feet
four inches by a good foot and still she challenged him.
“Names Aiden Brooks,” he said, intentionally ignoring her request for identification. “I’m investigating
the recent deaths of six University of Texas students. I understand they were all female and all had the
same drug in their systems. But your notes also indicate an extreme anemic condition. I don’t see a
reference to the wounds that caused that to happen.”
She made a frustrated sound. “You press people really are bold, aren’t you?”
Ah. That explained her reaction. It wasn’t everyday a city had themselves a serial killer on the loose. The
press had to be piranhas chasing the story. “I’m not with the press.”
“Then show me some ID so I know who I’m talking to and why.”
“I’m on the same team you are,” he assured her. “I’m chasing the bad guys and I’m especially good at
catching monsters. And you definitely have a monster on your hands.” The blood thirsty kind of monster
that her human law keepers didn’t have a chance of surviving, let alone, catching.
“ID,” she repeated, her demeanor all business.
Stubborn woman. Stubborn, sexy woman. He liked those things in a female. Too bad he didn’t have time
to act on just how much. He closed the small distance between them. “Of course,” he said quietly,
inhaling the sweet rose scent of her skin, his eyes capturing hers. She blinked up at him, her gaze steady,
as defiant as ever, yet her pulse quickened at his nearness. That sweet scent thickened in his nostrils and
told him that she wasn’t so unaffected by him, any more than he was by her. In fact, he didn’t remember
the last time a female had affected him like this one, certainly not with such an instant jolt of…well, he
wasn’t sure what. There was something about her, something that made him wish they had met when he
didn’t have an agenda, or his duty, to attend.
Regretfully, he sent her a mental compulsion, knowing she’d hate him if she ever found out, but also
knowing there were lives on the line and time was of the essence. “I’m going to need your help, Kelly.
I’m going to need you to tell me everything you know about these murders. I’ve shown you proper
identification as an FBI agent, rather than a private hire. You’re confident that you need to give me this
information willingly.”
She blinked once, twice, then, “Yes. Yes, of course.”
He let go of her mind, watching her shoulders relax, the tension of seeing him as an intruder fading from
her delicate heart shaped face. She wet her lips, her pretty pink tongue, stroking them. Fire shot through
him, his precious control that had kept him alive a hundred and thirty-two years now, sliding into the
darkness of desire for a woman he barely knew. His cock thickened, his mind going places it had no
business going. Aiden silently cursed, turning away from her and quickly putting the desk between them.
What the fuck was wrong with him? He didn’t get distracted by the taste of sin and satisfaction, certainly
not the taste of blood – even that of a gorgeous woman. He was a Warden, the law of his kind that tracked
down and killed those who turned humans into prey.
“You were right,” she said softly.
He turned to face her, “Right about what?”
“They were all drugged and they were all anemic. Actually it was more than anemic. Their bodies had
50% lower blood ratios than is normal and that’s not even the weirdest part. There were no open wounds
and I don’t see how anyone loses that much blood without an open wound. It makes no logical sense that
a drug would cause such a thing.”
Aiden was sure this was a case of Vampire attacks, but Vampires that were infected with bloodlust didn’t
bother to seal the wounds. They just ripped the person’s neck out and moved on to the next victim.
Normally, that was. A vampire, or a group of vampires, who not only had bloodlust, but had somehow
organized would be dangerous. That didn’t seem possible. Something didn’t add up. “What can you tell
me about the drug?”
“There were only trace amounts of a substance in the women’s systems,” she said. “But it’s not anything
I’ve ever seen before.” She hesitated, like she was uncomfortable with what she had to say.
He narrowed his gaze. “Tell me.”
She leaned an elbow on the table, her lab coat gaping open to show a slim cut black dress accenting
delicate feminine curves. “You’ll think I’m crazy.”
“There isn’t much I think is crazy,” he assured her, resting his own elbow on the high lab table, and
turning to face her. “Try me.”
“It’s not just that this substance is nothing I’ve ever seen before. It’s not anything even remotely familiar,
not documented as something known to man. Almost... alien in nature.” She shook her head and laughed
nervously. “Maybe my lab equipment is acting up. Or maybe the trace amounts of the substance I’ve got
to work with might be the issue. Please tell me you and your people have a lead on what this drug is and
where to get it. More importantly, you have a plan to get it off the streets. The women were all at the
same part of the downtown party scene when they died. Lock down the bars. Just shut them down until
this is over. Clearly people aren’t smart enough to stay away by themselves.”
“That won’t do anything but create more panic.”
“We all need to be panicked,” she argued, rounding the desk, as if she felt the need to be closer, to make
her case more urgent. “We have a serial killer on the loose. Something has to be done.”
He studied her a moment, thinking of the research he’d done on her, of her reputation of dogmatically
taking on cases until they were solved. She’d gone so far as to dive into what would be police work,
risking any danger to herself for her personal involvement. He didn’t want her outside of this lab, in the
sights of a hungry monster who’d make this her last investigation.
He grabbed one of her business cards and a pen, then scribbled his number on it, and took her hand in his.
It was small and soft, but he knew that while her body might be feminine and delicate, her spirit was not.
“Call me before you act on any lead you might discover,” he said softly, sending her a mental
compulsion. “I’ll make sure it gets followed up on, for you.”
“Yes,” she said, blinking up at him, those gorgeous hazel eyes melting into his. “Yes, okay.”
He released her mind and she blinked again, her gaze lowering to their joined hands, then lifting to his.
Electricity sparked between them, wicked hot, and unexpected when really, it shouldn’t have been. His
attraction to this woman was red hot, instant and unwelcomed.
Aiden let go of her hand and took a step backwards, feeling the burn of the past in his undeniable
connection he shared with this woman. A connection that reached far beyond his body humming with
desire to strip her naked and have his way with her. No, the desire was a product of chemistry, of interest,
of that intrigue he’d felt with her
He wasn’t a hard learner. He wasn’t a man to relive mistakes, repeating bad history. That’s exactly why
he never, ever, allowed himself a personal connection to a human. He’d done it once thirty years before
and Darla had ended up dead, just like his parents and younger sister. It was enough to watch out for his
Warden brothers and now his eldest brother’s newly turned wife, Marissa, who’d all but died after a
werewolf attack.
“I’ll get this monster, Kelly,” he vowed. “You have my word.” He didn’t wait for a reply. He turned and
headed for the doorway, putting as much distance between himself and the temptation of Kelly as he
could find.
Chapter Two
Two days after meeting Aiden Brooks, Kelly sat at her desk, her files open, her hand on the card he’d
scribbled his name and number on. Again. She kept radiating to that card and she didn’t know why. She
wasn’t one to get distracted by a man – well – not since college when she’d almost flunked a semester of
school over the hot older boy in her biology class, and then found him in bed with her “best” friend.
Distraction and slipping grades had come next, followed by the wrath of her parents. The joy of being an
only child was that you got all the love of your parents, but in turn, all the wrath as well.
A decade later, Kelly sometimes wondered if that experience had scarred her for life, because she sure
hadn’t found a man to distract her beyond a few dates when work always became more important. Until
now, until Mr. Tall, Dark, and Dangerously Sexy had walked into her lab, and left her in a warm puddle
of lust, she’d yet to shake.
She picked up the card, trying to figure out why this man, verses others, affected her so. Why she had him
on her mind when she was at work at eight o’clock at night. Maybe, because he’d seemed as passionate
about catching this ‘monster’ as he’d called the killer, as she was. Her mind, however, gladly supplied the
image of a hard body and a strong face, as if that explained it all. It didn’t. It was his eyes, she thought -
those mysterious black eyes, so unlike any she’d ever seen. When he’d looked at her, she’d felt something
stark and raw in him. Something dark and dangerous, but not frightening. He was too beautiful to be
frightening, despite his massive size. She almost laughed at herself for such a silly thought. Wasn’t Jack
the Ripper suppose to have been a gorgeous man? Or maybe that was Jeffrey Dahmer.
A sound in the lab, just outside her office, snapped her attention to the doorway. Her body tensing, nerves
pricking with unease. The timing was really crummy, considering her serial killer thoughts, no doubt, and
she told herself to calm down, but no such luck when her mind was racing with possibilities, all more
monster ridden than not. She’d locked up hours ago, so there was no one but Jed, the aging, but effective,
security guard who could be here and she’d known him for years. He’d call her, or knock, before
entering.
“Hello?” she shouted, her hand sliding to her cell phone a moment before she realized she’d not only
dialed Aiden’s number, but somehow had it memorized. She knew that was odd, but she didn’t care. Not
right now. She was about to hit ‘send’ and call him when the newest member of the Austin Homicide
division, Detective Derek Wright, appeared in her doorway.
“You really should lock up when you work late,” he said, leaning a broad shoulder on the frame and
looking like Mr. American with his neatly trimmed blond hair and blue eyes, rather than someone she
should fear. So why did the hot looking crime fighter make her uneasy and not just right now, but every
single one of the half dozen times she’d met the man?
“I did lock up,” she said. “So I’m guessing you flashed your badge at poor Jed and intimidated him into
letting you walk right in without calling me first.”
“Jed was asleep,” he told her. “Not what I call protection, especially not when you’re doing valuable
research on a serial killer.” His voice lowered. “You fit the profile of the victims far too well to be this
exposed. Not only are you a young, beautiful female, but you’re directly in the path of the killer.”
A shiver of warning sizzled a path down her spine, the compliment sliding past her, while the threat of
danger did not. “I’m ten years older than the victims.”
“But you don’t look your age and you’re every bit as pretty as they were. Even more so, you are just as
much in his path as they were, if not more so. You are the woman trying to put him behind bars.”
Her hand went to her cell phone again, instinct telling her to call Adian – a stranger – when there was a
detective standing in front of her. It made no sense.
“Which is why I called and arranged to have a patrolman placed at the facility until this is over, starting
tomorrow.”
Surprise rushed through her. “Oh. Well. Yes. Thank you.” She let go of her cell phone. She felt silly for
her paranoia. “This case is making me a little crazy I think. Extra security will be comforting.”
“It’s making us all a little crazy. But we might have a break.” He pushed off the doorframe and sauntered
to her visitor’s chair, perching on the arm. “I came by to grab the toxicology reports on the recent victim
for the FBI lab. They want to analyze it first thing in the morning.”
“They called me,” she said. “I’m faxing the paperwork tomorrow.”
“I’ll take them myself,” he said. “One of their people is meeting me tonight to discuss a lead. He wants
me to bring the results.”
“What kind of lead?”
“A highly sought after drug called “Blood Red” because it apparently looks like blood. It has an
aphrodisiac quality that supposedly makes ecstasy feel like Kool-aid.”
“You think it’s the drug the victims have been positive for,” she said, reading the unspoken between the
lines.
“We don’t know,” he said, “but we’ve linked all six of the victims to one of three clubs.” He laughed
without humor. “And get this. The names are from those teen Vampire movies – Twilight, Eclipse, and
Breaking Dawn.”
“You’re kidding me,” she said incredulously, her stomach rolling. The lost blood, the vampire
connection. There was something very sick going on.
“No I’m not,” he said. “Someone thinks their funny and they’re not. Anyway, we’re on it. We’re working
on getting to a dealer and getting a sample.”
“The victims were all found at different locations when they died,” she said, not getting the connection.
“And I would have remembered those club names if I’d seen them.”
“They weren’t at any of these clubs the night they died, but they were there sometime in the months
before their deaths.”
She pushed to her feet, her adrenaline pumping. “Then I need a sample of that drug. These victims were
all blood deficient in a way that’s well, impossible. If this is the substance the victims were positive for, I
need to figure out how it drained them of their blood, before it’s more widely used.”
“Your job stops with the reports,” he said. “The Austin PD and the FBI will take it from there. We just
need to get the FBI lab anything and everything that might help speed up the investigation.”
He was right, so why did this feel so wrong? “I don’t have the reports. There’s a chain-of-custody and
signatures that have to be obtained. They’re in process and out of my reach. You’ll have to wait until
morning.”
He studied her a moment. “You have to have copies in your files. Screw the chain-of-command. Lives are
on the line. Six women are dead.”
“I know that,” she snapped, seeing their faces flash through her mind’s eye. “I can’t sleep for fear of there
being a seventh.”
“Believe me, I know what it’s like to lay in the bed and think of those six women. I remember every
single detail of their deaths. We have an undercover female detective working the club we’ve identified as
the hot spot. And since we both know the FBI lab is far more equipped to deal with the unknown than you
are, we need them to look at the most recent reports and figure out exactly what we’re dealing with. We
can’t afford to lose a minute once we get a sample. We don’t want a seventh victim.”
She considered him as he had her. She hated losing control, not getting that sample herself, but what was
most important was solving this mystery before anyone else got hurt. A few hours could mean another
life. She hesitated and then grabbed the file on her desk, pulling out a carbon copy of the master testing
she’d done. “You didn’t get this from me.”
He reached for the paperwork over the top of her desk. “Your secret is safe with me, Kelly.” His eyes
held hers and a shiver raced up and down her spine, for a reason, she couldn’t explain, before he offered,
“Why don’t I walk you to your car? You need to get out of here.”
She shook her head. “No. I have work to do. I’ll have Jed walk me out.”
He arched a brow. “Jed isn’t protection.” He grabbed his cell phone and made a call, then hung up.
“There will be an officer on sight in ten minutes. Make sure you call the security post when you leave.”
“Okay,” she said. “Thank you.” She watched him leave, wondering why she felt uncomfortable rather
than appreciative. She sat down at her desk and picked up Aiden’s card. He’d wanted her to call him if
she had a lead she was following up on. She had a lead, or rather leads, the name of the bars. She was
supposed to call him so he could follow up. Her hand went to her phone, to the numbers she’d dialed a
few minutes before, the compulsion to call Aiden was powerful. But why? She didn’t know Aiden. She
didn’t know if she could trust him. She sat the phone down, her hand shaking with the effort. Good gosh,
what was wrong with her? What was it about Aiden that had her so attached to him?
***
An hour later, dressed in a slim black skirt that hit mid thigh, and a siren red silk sleeveless blouse, with a
deep V cut tank, Kelly pulled her Ford Fusion to a stop at a parking meter a block from Austin’s
downtown party scene that included the 5
th
street Warehouse District and the 6
th
street party District.
She’d realized that Derek had been right back at her lab. She did, indeed, fit the killer’s victim profile,
outside of her age of course, and Kelly knew she could dress younger, play the part of a college kid. She
was going to those clubs and she was going to get a sample of Blood Red before someone else died.
She picked up her phone from the seat beside her and sighed. She didn’t know why she was doing it, but
she punched the button she’d programmed with Aiden’s number. It was as if she couldn’t help herself. He
wanted her to call, so she was. Still, listening to the rings, her heart pounded in anticipatory dread. She
didn’t even know what she was going to say if he answered. He didn’t. His voice mail picked up. This is
Aiden. Leave a message.
Her heart jumped to her throat, but somehow she managed to find a voice. “Aiden, ah, ‘hi’. This is Kelly
from – well, this is Kelly. I found out about several bars where there’s a drug called Blood Red being
sold. Anyway, since you’re not available I’ll follow up on the lead myself. So well, thanks. Bye.” She
started to hang up and hesitated, again feeling compelled, or maybe just afraid enough, to say more. “I’m
at the bar called ’Twilight’ on 5
th
street.” She hung up, shoved the phone into her mini purse, then slid it
over her neck and shoulder. Not giving herself time to chicken out, she shoved open her car door, got out,
and fed coins to the meter. As intimidating as the idea was, Kelly was going to Twilight, and if it didn’t
deliver her a drug dealer, she’d try Eclipse and Breaking Dawn.
She started walking.
Chapter Three
“I want a name,” Aiden growled through extended fangs, shoving a lowlife vampire that was a hair away
from bloodlust, if not already there, against the wall of a downtown Austin alley. The vamp was a kid,
barely twenty-five years converted, drinking as much blood daily as he needed to survive an entire month.
Hungering for the rush, the added speed and strength of an elder, and too stupid to see what was wrong
with what he’d become - no longer human or vampire, but monster. “Who killed those women?”
“Even if I knew,” the kid snarled. “I wouldn’t tell a scumbag Warden.”
“Was it you?” Aiden demanded, pulling a copper blade and pressing it to the vamp’s throat.
“I’m not stupid enough to kill my food.”
Suddenly someone grabbed Aiden from behind, fangs biting down on his shoulder. Aiden cursed and
flung the second vamp he’d not been aware of, but in the process he let go of his grip on the one he’d
been holding. The punk rocker vamp went for a knife. At the same moment, Aiden flung his blade into
the kid’s chest, a direct hit to his heart. The vamp dissolved instantly into dust, a side effect of the
bloodlust mixed with the poison of copper.
Aiden whirled around to face his second attacker just in time to watch his younger brother, Troy, deliver
the same death by dust to the other vamp.
Troy’s light blue eyes lifted to Aiden’s, glinting with the odd blue crystal they’d reflected for ten years
now, since Troy’s long black hair had also turned blonde. Since a werewolf had attacked him, he had not
been the same. A wolf created by a virus that turned a human into a killer wolf, that as a vampire, Troy
should have been immune to and unexplainably was not.
“So much for conversation,” Aiden said, shoving his knife under a leather coat that worked for hunting,
but pretty much sucked on a hot Texas night. “Clearly, our plan to find out what the local bloodsucking
population knew about the recent murders isn’t going as planned.”
“I wasn’t in the mood to talk anyway,” Troy said, pushing to his feet and inserting his blade inside a strap
under his leather pants at his ankle. “And how about a ‘thank you’ for showing up when I did? I just
saved your ass.”
“You were supposed to be here an hour ago,” Aiden reminded him. “What the hell happened?”
“I was hunting,” he said tightly. “That’s what we do. We’re Wardens. We hunt.”
“We aren’t hunting werewolves,” Aiden reminded him. He knew good and damn well that Troy was not
only pissed off about being sent here, and being pulled off the hunt for Andres – a wolf with unique
abilities, that Troy hoped to also held answers he sought. He was also the wolf that had all but killed their
older brother, Evan’s, new wife.
“What if I told you that Andres is here, in Austin?”
“I’d say you’re so eager to find the bastard that you’re seeing him where he isn’t.”
“It’s his blood,” Troy said. “That’s what creates the drug these women are taking, or rather being forced
to take. Andres’s blood mixed with a vampire’s. It’s an aphrodisiac, by loosely defined terms. It causes
pain in the absence of pleasure. Word is that the vamps are paying big money for this cocktail and then
holding orgies. And when the pain and pleasure causes a few of the women to stroke out, the vamps
figure – what the hell? – and they drain them dry.”
“Holy shit,” Aiden said, scrubbing his jaw. “How sure are you about this?””
“As sure as the three vamps I was interrogating knew I’d kill them.”
Aiden’s cell phone buzzed on his belt and he looked down to see he had a voice mail. The instant he saw
the local number, he grabbed it and punched his voice mail button. He listened to the soft, nervous voice
of Kelly and then cursed.
“We’re headed a block over to fifth street,” he told Troy. “To a place called “Twilight”.”
***
“Buy you another one?”
The question was a shout, the only way to be heard over the thrumming beat of the Twilight club music.
Kelly looked up from the cocktail on her small corner table, wanting to say no, but knowing she had to
say yes.
“Thank you,” she beamed, batting her lashes flirtatiously and not missing the way the men scoped out her
cleavage. God, she was too old for this.
One of the men ordered her a drink. The other moved around to her side of the table. She turned to face
him. “I’m Alex,” he said.
“Kelly,” she told him.
He slid her drink closer to her. “Drink up. Another is on the way.”
She grabbed the glass and sipped it, seeing no way out of it. “Thank you,” she said, smiling over the rim
of the glass and then downing it. She had to look like a desperate lonely female if she was going to attract
the right people and get her drug sample.
He leaned on the table, somehow closer to her now. So close. Too close. The other man came up behind
her, his body pressed to hers, his hand on her waist. She wanted to shove him away, but she didn’t dare.
This wasn’t about her discomfort. It was about saving lives. The man behind her slid her empty glass
away and replaced it with a new one, then leaned in near her ear, his breath warm on her neck. “Enjoy.”
A shiver of unease, much like what she’d felt inside the lab with Derek, rushed down her spine. The first
man – Alex – leaned an elbow on the table, close as well. She was sandwiched between them and
wondering why she had thought this was a good idea.
“What brings a pretty girl like you to a bar by herself?”
“Boyfriend fucked my best friend,” she said flatly, not sure where the words came from, because she
didn’t speak like that. Yet she had now. The words, the piece of her past, had come to her easily – too
easily, helped along, no doubt, by alcohol. “She’s my dorm mate. I don’t want to stay there tonight.”
He arched a brow. The man behind her slid his hands to her waist. “Drink that drink. It’ll make you
forget.”
She could already feel the buzz of downing the other drink. She studied Alex, cast him a pleading look.
“Sometimes a drink isn’t enough.” She grabbed his hand, desperate to avoid letting herself slip into a
deeper haze of the booze she knew she couldn’t handle. “Let’s dance.”
He wrapped his arm around her and spun her so that her back was against the wall, pressing up close to
her. “Kiss me first,” he said.
“Get the fuck off of her,” came a familiar male voice that Kelly couldn’t quite place.
Alex turned sharply but he didn’t say anything. He stepped to the left, away from her and Kelly was
shocked to see Detective Wright standing in front of her. Slowly his lips curved into a sardonic smile,
before he grabbed her and pulled her against him, sliding his hand in her hair. “I knew you’d come.”
She blinked. “What?”
He lowered his mouth just above hers. “I got you your sample from your two boyfriends. Their dealers,
you know? I told them my girlfriend wanted to ride me long and hard tonight so you better convince them
I meant it.” He tugged her mouth to his and kissed her. It was all she could do not to push him away, not
to bite his tongue when it slid into her mouth. And when his hand slid over her breast, she barely
contained a scream of fury. Somehow though, she reminded herself that he had a sample of the drug she
sought, he’d gotten what she needed to help save lives. She’d endure, she’d survive. Suddenly he released
her mouth and grabbed her hand. “Come with me.”
He all but dragged her until they were alone and in a hallway behind the bathrooms. He shoved her
against the wall. “Enough with the role playing!” she objected.
His hand slid roughly into her hair and then he buried his face in her neck. A sudden piercing sensation
shocked her breath from her. As quickly as the sensation started, he was gone, jerked away from her. She
flattened against the wall, her heart pounding so hard she thought it would explode from her chest. She
blinked Aiden into focus at the same moment he shoved Detective Wright at another tall, blond male and
growled, “Get him the fuck out of here and make him talk.”
Her fingers went to her neck, instantly wet. What had he done to her?
The sorry bastard had bitten her. Though without the sharing of blood she was in no long term danger, but
Aiden was furious that she’d been hurt. He stepped closer to her. The scent of her blood, sweet and
feminine, called to the vampire in him. The scent of her fear, her panic, called to the man. He positioned
his body against hers, his thighs framing hers so that he blocked her from the sight of anyone who might
enter the deserted hallway behind them.
His hands caressed her cheeks, bringing her gaze to his. “You’re going to be okay, Sweetheart. You have
my word.”
“I’m bleeding. He…I don’t know what he did to me.”
“Let me look,” he urged softly, knowing what he would find, knowing there would be bite marks he
should never have allowed to happen. He’d resisted playing with her mind, her memories. In turn, he’d
almost gotten her killed. He’d given her a weak, too vague, compulsion to call him before acting on a
lead.
She nodded, trust overflowing from those gorgeous hazel eyes. The significance of her trust in him,
someone she barely knew, given to him after an attack by someone she had known, didn’t escape him.
Given to him when he didn’t deserve it, when he shouldn’t want it, anymore than he should want the
attachment he was forming for her. But he did, damn it to hell, he did in a bad way.
Aiden brushed the silky strands of her hair away from her neck, an image of that hair draped over his bare
chest impossible to avoid. He wanted her. He’d wanted her from the instant he’d seen her. He tilted her
head slightly to one side, dipped his head to the blood seeping down her neck. There was nothing as erotic
to a vampire as blood. Hot fire bled through his veins. His tongue slid over the wound, the small droplets
of blood teasing his taste buds and his senses with the sweet ruby wine flavor.
“Oh,” she gasped. “What are you — I…”
His hand settled on her waist, his lips moving from the sealed wound to her ear. “Kissing it to make it
better,” he whispered, electricity charging the air around them. His cheek slid across hers, his lips
lingering just above hers, every nerve in his body aware of her in ways he didn’t remember ever being
aware of a woman. Voices sounded just around the corner, approaching quickly, jerking him back to his
senses. He cursed under his breath at the distraction and grabbed her hand. “Let’s get out of here.” He
didn’t wait for her answer. He’d almost gotten her killed once tonight, he wasn’t doing it again.
She tugged against him. “Wait. No. Aiden, please, I need to get that sample. I need-”
His senses tingled with warning and in one swift movement he drew his knife, whirled around to face the
incoming attack, and slammed the blade into the chest of a vampire. The body dropped and it didn’t
explode into ash. This vampire was free of bloodlust and that was bad, very bad. This drug ring that was
going on was well plotted, and well organized.
He turned to find Kelly wide eyed. “You just…you…”
The backdoor burst open and Troy shouted behind him. “Incoming trouble! Move, move, move!”
Anything that got Tory, Mr. Bad Ass himself, this riled up was big and Aiden knew it. He sent Kelly a
mental compulsion and put her to sleep. He had her in his arms, stepping over the dead vampire, before
her lashes fully closed. He exited the club to find Troy’s truck parked at the doorway. Troy was driving
the instant Aiden shut himself and Kelly in the back.
Aiden sunk against the seat, cradling Kelly in his arms when he knew he should set her down. He didn’t.
“Talk to me,” Aiden ordered to Troy.
“Six against one. I wasted four of them. Two got away. The detective was one of the two and he’s no
good guy. He’s a part of this. I heard the orders he was barking at those bloodsuckers.”
Aiden cursed, for all kinds of reasons, but the most important was lying in his arms. Kelly was in the line
of fire. “He could have been undercover.”
“He was trying to kill me,” Troy said. “If that’s undercover, it’s too damn deep undercover to suit me.
Mark my word, I saw enough to know that vamp is as high up in the mess as it goes – and that’s a direct
path to Andres.”
Aiden went colder inside than he’d been anytime in the last hundred and thirty-two years. He knew his
brother and Troy was too certain to be wrong. Kelly was a target of a vampire that was somehow wrapped
up in the murder of six girls. And that vampire, was deeply entrenched in her world, which ensured she
would stay on his radar. There was no wiping her memories and sending her back to her life, without
putting her in harm’s way. Kelly was now in for a wild, bumpy ride and he had a feeling she was going to
take him for one too.
Chapter Five
“He’s coming for her all right,” Troy said, as Aiden settled Kelly on the black leather sofa they’d rented
at the same time as the downtown Victorian style house, they now stood inside. “You’re one hundred
percent right about that. Either she’s too close to figuring out the secret behind his little blood cocktail, or
he’s simply got his sights set on her.”
Aiden’s gaze lingered on Kelly a moment, drinking in the pale perfect skin, her pretty heart shaped face,
before he glanced up at his brother. “Then we kill him now, tonight, before I ever wake her up.”
Troy plopped down in a leather chair. “Hey man, I’m always down with killing a few bloodsuckers gone
bad, but this dude has been playing mafia and getting away with it. He’s working as a human detective,
employing an army of vampires, and he’s now working a drug scheme with a werewolf. We can’t kill
him, until he leads us to his minions, and to Andres, or Andres will just move on, and replace him with
someone else.”
Aiden’s teeth ground together. “You let him go intentionally.”
“Hell yeah I did,” Troy agreed. “We have to get Andres.”
“We don’t put innocents in the line of fire.”
“Every ‘innocent’ that crossed Andres’s path gets their throat ripped out.” He sat up, his elbows on his
knees. “What’s up with you Aiden? You know the big picture.”
“Since when, is revenge against the werewolf population the big picture?”
“This isn’t about fucking revenge,” Troy spat between his teeth. “This is about saving lives, many lives,
not one woman’s.” Troy narrowed his gaze, glancing at Kelly and then Aiden. ”Don’t do it brother. Don’t
go and get attached to a woman. You and me, we aren’t Evan. We don’t get the happily-ever-after. For
us, it always, always ends badly.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
“Then act like it,” Troy said. “Wake her up and let’s talk to her. She’s the only link we have to Detective
Wright and he’s the link to Andres.”
He was right again. Personal feelings got in the way of duty, they got people killed. Aiden pressed his
hand to Kelly’s head, finding the memory of the man he’d killed in the bar, and wiping it. He didn’t need
her morals, or her fear, getting in the way of keeping her safe. He’d learned his lesson. He followed the
memory cleanse with a command to wake up. The instant she blinked, he stood up and walked to the
opposite side of the coffee table, putting distance between himself and her, for good measure.
***
Kelly came awake suddenly, disoriented, and cold. There was a ceiling fan above her and for several
seconds she watched it rotate, trying to get her bearings. Slowly, a memory of Detective Wright dragging
her to a hallway came to her, then biting her – no – that was crazy. He couldn’t have bitten her. Her
fingers went to her neck, but there was nothing there. A flash of Aiden pressed close to her, his mouth on
her neck…She jerked to a sitting position, her gaze traveling wildly around what seemed like a living
room.
“Aiden,” she said, realizing that he stood directly across from her, dressed in leather that hugged every
one of his many muscles. Another man, with long blonde hair, and equally as leather clad, sat in a chair to
her left. “Where am I? What happened?”
“You’re at a safe house,” Aiden said, his gaze sliding to the ample leg she was showing. She tugged at her
skirt, suddenly all too aware of her too short skirt riding high on her thighs, and her cleavage that was
riding way too low. “And you need that safe house,” he continued, “because you clearly went out looking
for trouble and you found it.” Anger rolled off of him. “You’re lucky you weren’t victim number seven.
Had we arrived seconds later, you might not be here right now.”
Defensiveness rose inside her and she tried to explain. “Detective Wright told me that-”
“Detective Wright is dirty,” the blonde man said.
Her attention shifted to him. “Are you FBI too, I assume?”
“I’m his brother, Troy,” he said, not exactly answering the question. “And I’m also the guy who the
detective, and a band of drug dealers, tried to kill while Aiden was inside that bar saving your pretty little
ass.”
“Pretty little ass?” she asked indignantly. “Did you really just say ‘pretty little ass’ to me?”
“If you’re willing to flaunt it to get a killers attention, then don’t expect me not to notice.”
“Enough Troy,” Aiden said sharply, drawing Kelly’s attention, only to hit her with a challenge, “What the
hell were you thinking making yourself a target?”
Her eyes flashed angrily at him. “Who the hell are you to ask me what the hell I was doing in the first
place?”
“The man who saved your life and I can’t change the fact that you put yourself in the line of fire, but
you’re there now, and there isn’t an easy way out.”
“I was trying to get a sample of the drug so I could save lives,” she said although she felt nerves fluttering
in her stomach. “Any consequence that comes from trying to save lives, I’ll live with. And for your
information, Detective Wright said he was undercover. I might not like the man, but I don’t know that
isn’t true. I won’t judge him without facts.”
“Not only was Detective Wright not working undercover tonight,” Aiden assured her. “He’s the leader of
what amounts to a date rape drug ring and he’s using a position inside law enforcement as a cover.”
The nerves of moments before turned to nausea, as a bad realization started to wash over her, she wasn’t
quite ready to voice. “How sure are you of this?”
“Absolute,” Aiden said.
She inhaled and let it out, staring at the hardwood floor, feeling a rare moment of panic.
Aiden’s voice softened. “What is it, Kelly?”
She swallowed against the sudden dryness in her throat, willing herself to use the same methodical
thinking that got her through her often gruesome job. “He’s the one who told me about the bar,” she said,
her gaze lifting to his. “He’s…Oh God Aiden. I think he knew I’d show up because, well, I tend to get
involved with my cases, and he knew how badly I wanted a sample of the drug.”
“I told you, Aiden,” Troy said. “She’s the perfect bait. She can give us Wright, and Wright can give us
Andres.”
She didn’t look at Troy. She watched Aiden’s unchanging face., trying not to think about the implications
of the word ‘bait’. “Who’s Andres?”
“Wright’s supplier,” Aiden said. “Without him, there is no drug.”
“There’s always another source,” she said.
“This is a unique situation,” he explained, sitting down on the arm of a leather chair that matched the one
his brother was sitting in, his gaze now closer to level with hers. “We have reasons to believe that this
particular cocktail has limited distribution and it doesn’t reach beyond Andres.”
“How can you know that?” she asked, still watching him closely. “When you came to my lab you acted
like you didn’t even know what the drug was.”
“New information from reliable sources,” Aiden said.
“What this drug is doesn’t matter at this point,” Troy added. “Destroying the supply, by way of the
supplier, is. And tonight you made yourself the bait that can bring him down.”
“Look. I want to help,” she said, looking between them. “I do. I went to the club tonight because I don’t
want anyone else to die, but I’m not sure I understand exactly how I’ve become the target. He called me
there tonight. He told me he was undercover. If I go back to work and pretend that I believe that, then
he’ll think I believe that.”
“Kelly,” Aiden said gently. “I don’t believe he meant to let you leave tonight.”
“You can’t know that,” she said, feeling a little desperate. Somehow putting herself in danger by choice,
and being there without option felt very different.
“No,” Aiden agreed, his eyes capturing hers, gentle and soothing. “But based on what I saw tonight, it’s
what I believe, and the only way to keep you safe, is to assume the worst.”
He was right. She knew he was right. “How?”
“We set a trap for him,” Troy said, “And we kill him before he ever gets to you.” There was none of the
gentleness of Aiden’s words in his brothers, just cold hearted business, and anger, she thought.
Kelly cut her gaze to Troy, curious at the tone. His face was strong and sculpted like Aiden’s, but his eyes
were different, missing the gentleness she’d read in Aiden’s. Troy’s were cold as ice, hard as steel, and
she read between the lines. “This is personal to you. Why?”
Shock slid across Troy’s face and he laughed without humor. “Nothing is personal to me, sweetheart. So
are you in or out? Make a decision.”
“I have a right to know what is motivating you when my life is on the line,” she pushed.
He stood up, towering over her, his blue eyes glinting with warning. “You’re life isn’t on the line because
we don’t have any intention of letting you die.”
“Even the best plans sometimes go wrong,” she said, “Especially, when personal agendas are involved.”
He stared at her for several terse moments and then glanced at his brother. “I’ll be outside when you’re
ready to leave.” He turned and strode away.
“I’m sorry,” she said to Aiden. “I just…I need to know what I’m dealing with.”
“You didn’t say anything I haven’t said to him myself. The amazing part is that you read his story without
knowing it. But one thing I can promise you is that Troy is damn good at his job. He’ll protect you with
his life.” His voice softened. “As will I.”
She believed him. She trusted him. She barely knew him but she wanted to. “Tell me what you need me
to do.”
Chapter Six
An hour after waking up in Aiden’s safe house, Kelly had, at his direction, gotten into a cab and had it
drop her at her car at the bar. Now, after a short drive just west of downtown to her quaint little Tarrytown
house, she could barely keep her hand from shaking as she unlocked her front door. She wondered at the
sanity of her agreement with this plan to act like she believed Detective Wright was undercover as he’d
claimed. Going back to her normal life and waiting for him, or some of his followers to attack her. Aiden
and his brother would be there when it happened and they were sure it would. The plan had seemed easy
enough, until she actually put it into action. Now, not so much.
She stepped inside the foyer of her house and flipped on the light, not sure what she wanted more – to
dart inside before someone grabbed her, or run back to her car. She inhaled and reminded herself she
trusted Aiden, she believed he could keep her safe. And she clearly, believed she was in danger, and in
need of his protection, or she wouldn’t be this freaked out.
The wind gusted, a storm passing by, and it unnerved her. Kelly darted inside and shoved the door shut,
leaning against the wooden surface. She then gasped when she realized that Aiden had been behind the
door, perched in the corner.
“Damn it,” she said, turning to face him, ready to hit him. “Don’t do that. You scared the crap out of me.”
He pulled her against him, until her thighs were aligned with his now jean clad legs, his leather discarded
back at the other house. “Easy sweetheart,” he murmured, his strong arms surrounding her. “I didn’t mean
to scare you.”
“You had to have known sneaking up on me would scare me.”
“I was trying to let you know the house is secure. And since I’m here and Troy is covering the exterior,
that isn’t going to change.”
“A text message telling me you were here before jumping out of the darkness at me, would have been
pretty effective.”
“I didn’t jump out at you.”
“No,” she said. “You hid and I jumped.”
“I’m sorry,” he said softly, his hand stroking down her hair, the apology rolling off his tongue with the
ease of a man without ego. “I really didn’t mean to scare you.”
She melted with both the touch and the words, never before having quite the reaction to a man that she
was to this one. Inside the warmth though was a memory far less appealing, a memory of Detective
Wright pressing her against the wall – of the piercing pain in her neck, she didn’t understand. Had he
bitten her?
“I’m sorry too,” she said, shaking off the odd thought. “It’s not every day a girl becomes the focus of a
killer. I’m not my usual calm self. I’m pretty on edge.”
“With good reason,” he assured her. “And stay that way. On edge means you’re alert, and alert will help
you stay alive.”
“Help me stay alive,” she repeated. “You really aren’t batting a good score here.” He opened his mouth to
apologize again, she was sure, and she flattened her palm on his hard – make that really hard – chest. “It’s
okay. Just tell me what comes next? What do I need to do?”
“Assume you’re being watched, and do what you would normally do. I’ve checked for monitoring
equipment and your place is clean but that doesn’t mean your routines haven’t been studied, especially
with Wright’s obvious interest in you. I’ll be here, but I’ll stay away from the windows, and Troy isn’t
going anywhere either.”
Her fingers curled around his light blue t-shirt. She didn’t want to let him get away. A sexy bodyguard
was really darn appealing right now. “What about when Troy sleeps?”
“Neither of us need much sleep. You’ve been by the door too long. You need to get moving - turn some
lights on and off, and get some normal activity going on.”
“Okay.” But she didn’t move. “You think Detective Wright will come for me tonight, don’t you?” He’d
said he didn’t think so earlier, but his actions said differently. “You think he wants to kill me because I
know too much about him.”
“I think exactly what I’ve already told you. I think he’ll be trying to find out if I was there to help you, or
hunt him. And he’ll worry we’re doing just what we are – using you to get to him, which is against
everything I believe in doing and if there was another answer, I’d take it. But no matter what I think he’ll
do, I’m going to treat every second like the moment before he comes for you.”
She stared at his chest, recognizing the certainty in his statement. The moment before he comes for you.
As in when he comes for her, not if he did.
His finger slid under her chin, lifting her gaze to his. “I won’t let anything happen to you. I meant it when
I said I’d die to save your life.”
“Don’t,” she said. “Don’t die to save me and don’t get hurt. I don’t want that. I couldn’t live with that. No
one needs to get hurt for me.”
His eyes poured into her, black as a starless night, as intense as a stormy night. “You leave this to me and
the only people who’ll be getting hurt will be the bad guys.” He turned her towards the living room, his
mouth lowering near her ear, breath warm on her neck. “I’ll be here if you need me.”
She inhaled and resisted the urge to sink back against him. She could do this. She wanted to save lives,
and that was a risk worth a little discomfort, and in the end, if everything worked out, that was all this
was.
Kelly forced her feet to move down the hardwood hall, past the cozy living room to her left where she
often read books, often favoring true crime stories in hopes of stimulating ideas to solve cases at work.
She thought that maybe it was time for a romance without the mystery, maybe a small town family one at
that, with the promise of a happy ending.
She turned down the hallway to her left and entered one of the two bedrooms, to the master, but not
before she flipped on the lights and checked it out. One look at her unmade Queen sized bed and she
grimaced. So much for thinking no one would see it but her. She should make it really quick. Maybe he
wouldn’t notice. It was illogical, she realized, but something to worry about other than being killed.
“It’s safe,” Aiden said from behind her. “You’re safe, Kelly.”
She swallowed hard and turned to find Aiden leaning on the doorframe. He was spectacular – so tall, so
big and broad, and that hair. Suddenly, she was all too aware of being alone with the hottest man she’d
ever met – just her, him, and her unmade bed.
Chapter Seven
Aiden watched Kelly disappear into the bathroom and shut the door. He tried not to look at the damnable
unmade bed that looked all too ready for the two of them to enjoy it. Naked. Oh yeah, he could imagine
them naked, her naked, in vivid detail, and apparently, so could his cock, which was pressing
uncomfortably against his zipper.
Aiden sat down in a high backed chair in the corner of the room, not nearly far enough from the bed to
suit him. He tried to focus on other matters, texting Troy to confirm they were still clear of trouble.
Thankfully, she had blinds and curtains, so he didn’t have to worry about outside prying eyes – not from
the bad guys, or his brother. He couldn’t win here. Troy hadn’t been pleased that Kelly had called him on
his personal involvement in this case, and putting Troy inside with her was more trouble than not. Putting
him inside with Kelly – more trouble than was safe.
The bathroom door opened and Kelly stood there, her face scrubbed free of makeup, wearing a red ‘I love
Paris’ t-shirt that reached to her knees, and thankfully, covered more of her than her bar outfit had. That
didn’t stop him from wondering what she had on underneath it, and he silently cursed himself, for even
going there.
“I have an entire pizza in the fridge, if you’re hungry? It was buy one get another for a penny and that was
just too good to pass up.”
He was hungry, alright - for her. “Pizza sounds good,” Aiden said, pushing to his feet, ready to get out of
this bedroom, away from the curse of temptation that was the bed. He’d more than eagerly join her in the
kitchen, where the small window over the sink wouldn’t be hard to avoid, and the bed would be. “Lead
the way.” And pizza sounded damn good. He’d take any kind of substance that might tame the craving he
had to taste Kelly’s blood again. He might be a vampire, and like all vampires, he had blood on his menu.
But his race had evolved, the days of sunlight intolerance and daily blood intake long gone. Blood had
become more a necessary monthly supplement.
Fifteen minutes later, they sat at her wooden kitchen table with girlie floral cushions on the back of the
chairs. Between them sat a large cheese only pizza, two diet Sprites - because diet Sprite was all she kept
in the house - and two plates.
“So do you love Paris?” he asked, sprinkling extra cheese on the two slices lying on his plate.
She swallowed a bite of pizza and looked down at her shirt. “I did until my parents retired there last year.
I miss them horribly.”
“Any siblings?” he asked.
Her expression darkened, and even so, he couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she was without even a
lick of makeup on. “I had a sister,” she said.
“Had?”
She set her pizza down. “I guess this is where I give you the same kind of full disclosure I wanted from
Troy. This case is more personal to me, than not. My sister died ten years ago. Her and several other
university students were all killed by a janitor working at the school. Five of them total, died before the
police figured out who the killer was. The truth is, I survive the memory of losing my sister by doing my
job and doing it well. I try to stay all business, and most of the time, I succeed, but I have to admit that
this case is just a little too similar to my sister’s to not feel an abnormally strong connection to it.”
For the first time in years, Aiden let himself see the memory of his parents, and his younger sister, lying
lifelessly on the ground in front of their home, murdered by a vampire. That same vampire would have
killed him and his brothers if not for Marcus saving them and turning them into Wardens. It wasn’t a
place he visited. Ever. He didn’t like how it felt. He didn’t like how vividly he could recall their lifeless
expressions after so many years.
“You were right about the hunt for Andres being personal to Troy and that’s his story to tell or not tell,”
he finally said. “But there was a woman, a betrayal, and a whole lot more there. It isn’t a pretty story.
He’s messed up over the whole thing and he believes wrongly that Andres will somehow give him
answers, and I don’t even know to what. He knows better than to get personally involved in a case, and he
can’t even see that he is. It’s dangerous Kelly, for him and for you. You can’t help anyone if you aren’t
here anymore.”
“I know,” she said. “I do. I’m a logical thinker, a facts person, but even so, sometimes, my past finds a
way inside my head.”
“I do know,” he said. “I know because Troy’s story, my story, starts long before Andres. When we were
much younger, Troy, myself, and our older brother Evan, came home to find our younger sister and our
parents dead.”
Her eyes went wide. “Oh my God, Aiden. How? Who? Why? Oh…I’m sorry. I don’t mean to pry. Forget
I asked. But was this before or after you got into law enforcement?”
“I wouldn’t have brought it up if I wasn’t going to tell you about it but there isn’t a lot to the story. And it
was before, and it was the reason we decided to take on the jobs that we do. They died in what was a
random, senseless act of violence.” Which wasn’t a lie. A vampire with bloodlust didn’t chose victims
any way but the easy way – whoever was in their path. “My point in this is that I’m going to get you out
of this alive, but stay that way. Stop playing detective, or become one so you have a partner to watch your
back.”
She studied him a long moment. “Thank you. I should have said that already. I’m glad you were at the bar
and I’m glad you’re here now.”
Their eyes locked and held, a charge crackling in the air, their attraction getting stronger, nearly
impossible for him to escape. And he wanted to. He wanted to escape because of the very conversation
they were having. His world was about pain and death, about hunting monsters he didn’t want her
anywhere near. He needed to get this conversation back to the basics, to talk that amounted to nothing, to
the basic shared hunger for food. Not the more primal hunger growing inside him for this woman.
He picked up his slice of pizza. “Tell me about Paris.”
She started talking, telling him stories, of poorly spoken French and lost luggage that made him forget the
idea was to put small talk between them. Instead, he was laughing at her stories, feeling more and more
connected to Kelly.
When they stood up to head back to the bedroom, he grabbed the empty pizza box and put it in the trash
inside her pantry, while she put the plates in the dishwasher. They turned toward each other at the same
moment, and he reached out and caught her to keep them from colliding. The touch was hot, electric,
consuming. He didn’t even consciously think about what came next. One minute they were staring at each
other and the next he was kissing her, or more like devouring her. He lifted her, removing the barrier of
his height, allowing himself to deepen the kiss, to taste her more fully. Her legs wrapped around his waist,
his hand finding her backside where the shirt had lifted, where a tiny strip of a thong did nothing to cover
her. He groaned with the realization, and he knew he should stop now, before he couldn’t think straight,
before this went too far. Her hand slid into his hair, caressing his neck, the gentle hunger he felt in her
arousing the animal that was his vampire. He could smell her arousal, almost taste the sweetness of her
blood again. His gums tingled, and he knew he was in trouble.
Aiden set her down on the counter, intending to pull away, to end this now, but somehow his lips traveled
the delicate curve of her neck, his hands the curves of her high, full breasts. His fingers found the stiff
peaks of her plump nipples against her thin shirt. She gasped at the intimate touch and then moaned as he
tugged the delicate peaks.
Hunger roared inside him and he kissed her again, desperate for an outlet to release the heat building
inside him, the need to taste her, the need to drink from her. Sex would satisfy him. He’d lived this. And
sex was only sex. It meant nothing. He knew this, he’d lived this so long, maybe too long. But in the far
reaches of his mind, he knew Kelly was different, that she was already more than sex. He rejected that
idea, and shoved her shirt up her body, then tugged it over her head, and tossed it aside.
Her hands went to the counter behind her, the position lifting her full breasts higher. He pressed her
thighs apart, his gaze ravishing the little spec of silk in the V of her body. He leaned into her, his hands
went to the counter beside her, their eyes connecting. “You’re beautiful,” he said, one of his hands
caressing a path up her stomach, over one of her breasts, teasing the stiff rosy bud of her nipple.
Her lashes fluttered, dark half moons, on pale, perfect skin. “Thank you,” she whispered.
He almost laughed at the polite prim words as she sat in nothing but a black thong on her kitchen counter,
and he might have teased her, if not for the urgency growing inside him. His gaze slid over her full red
lips, then raked over her lush breasts and puckered nipples, his hands following the same path. He dipped
his head, brushed his mouth over hers.
He reached down and slid his fingers over the wet silk between her thighs. “Tell me to stop,” he told her,
shoving aside the material and caressing the wet heat of her body. “Tell me to stop before we both forget
why this is a bad idea.” He pressed inside her, caressed her.
“I don’t normally just hop on a kitchen counter for a man I just met,” she said breathlessly. “And since I
really can’t think right now,” she paused, rocking against his hand, then moaning softly. “Why exactly is
this wrong again?”
He kissed her, fingers delving deeper insider her, moving with her. She grabbed a hold of him, buried her
face in his neck. She smelled like lilac, and female, and he knew she tasted even better, he knew how
erotic tasting her would be, how pleasurable it would be for her. And how much he didn’t want to bite her
and be forced to erase her memory, defy her trust. He was shaking when she stiffened and then began
spasming around his fingers, shaking because he wanted inside her, shaking because he wanted every bit
of her, in every way possible, like he hadn’t wanted in a lifetime it seemed.
She laughed nervously, as he slid his fingers out of her. “I think I should be embarrassed that I just, um,
had an orgasm in my kitchen.” She ran her fingers over his erection, tilting her chin up to shyly look at
him, “Even more so that you didn’t. I want to fix that.”
His cell phone vibrated with a text message loudly enough that her gaze went to his hip where it rested.
“Troy?” she asked urgently as he removed the phone and glanced down at the message. “Is everything
okay?”
“Yes,” Aiden said, but he knew it might not have been. He’d let down his guard, compromised her safety.
He scooped up her shirt from the floor and handed it to her. “He’s just checking in.” He hesitated, feeling
the temptation to carry her into the bedroom and forget everything and that made him angry. At himself,
and at her, for reasons he couldn’t quite identify. All he knew was he was headed for trouble, and he had
to put space between them. “Remember when you asked me why this was a bad idea?”
Her face paled. “Yes.”
“Troy was just checking in this time, but that might not have been the case. It could just have easily been
the bastard who gave you an orgasm and got you killed, and I can’t be that, Kelly. I can’t protect you
while I’m fucking you.”
Her jaw dropped, shock and hurt bleeding into her face. That made him want to pull her into his arms and
apologize, which was exactly why he wouldn’t, why he couldn’t. She was far safer with Aiden the
asshole, who wasn’t a distraction, who wasn’t going to make a stupid mistake like what he could have
tonight. She didn’t know it, but he did.
She struggled to get off the counter, hugging the shirt over her breasts. He reached out to help her.
“Don’t,” she ordered. “Don’t help me.” She jumped down and gave him her back, pulling the shirt over
her head. It was a cold shoulder he wouldn’t ever forget, no matter how much he deserved it.
No matter how much he didn’t want to deserve it.
She headed out of the kitchen without giving him another look, and he followed like the dog he felt like.
She climbed into the bed, turned out the light, and covered her head.
Aiden settled into the chair in the corner where he would sit and guard her, wishing he was in bed with
her.
Chapter Eight
Kelly blinked into the sunlit room, memories of the night before, of Aiden and her in the kitchen rushing
back over her. She squeezed her eyes shut again. What a fool she felt like when he’d declared he couldn’t
‘fuck her and keep her safe’. And that was last night. The morning after a stupid mistake was always
worse by a good hundred percent. She wondered if he was still in the chair in the corner, or if he’d gone
somewhere to sleep. She inhaled and decided just face him and be done with it. Dread would only make
matters worse.
She sat up, her gaze going to the chair, which was empty, then around the room, to find she was alone.
Her nostrils flared with the scent of coffee, followed by a moment of bliss, thinking of a cup of caffeine
she didn’t have to make herself. That was, until she realized said ‘cup’ would be in the kitchen, and she
really didn’t want to be in the kitchen where memories of last night lingered. She glanced at the clock,
appalled at the eleven o’clock hour. She never slept late. Never. There was too much to do to spend her
time in bed. Well, unless she was spending it with Aiden, and now that she knew he was a jerk, even that
wasn’t tempting. Only…she wasn’t so sure he was a jerk. He took his job seriously, he took protecting
her seriously. She didn’t fault him for that, but his delivery of his message of duty had left a lot to be
desired.
She threw off the sheet and pushed to her feet, deciding she needed that coffee far more than her pride,
considering she’d slept half her Saturday away. Good thing she’d anticipated a late night and cancelled
her new Saturday morning yoga habit that her, and one of the neighbors, had started several weeks back.
Kelly headed towards the kitchen, rounding the corner to find more than she’d bargained for. Aiden, and
Troy, sat at her table, with everything from her box of Captain Crunch, to her Saturday morning paper,
between them.
Both men looked up when she entered the room, and she immediately crossed her arms in front of her
chest, wishing for a robe. It wasn’t like there was anything Aiden hadn’t seen at this point, but Troy was a
whole other story.
“I thought you two were trying to be discreet,” she said, feeling Aiden’s eyes on her and refusing to look
at him. He’d changed clothes and shaved at some point, his light blue t-shirt now a black one. She
wondered how she slept through so much activity when she was supposed to be scared for her life. “I’m
not one to have a man stay over, let alone, two men.”
“I snuck in before sunrise,” Troy informed her. He’d changed the leather for denim himself, and it made
him a little less edgy and intimidating, but not much. “So we’re not worried about a daytime attack, I
assume? I should consider myself safe and without the need of bodyguards?”
“You should consider yourself safe because you have bodyguards,” Aiden replied.
Her gaze met his, and she wished she hadn’t. Her stomach somersaulted like she was some sort of shy
teenager, and he was the Captain of the Football team. It was ridiculous. Men didn’t make her feel like
this. But then, she didn’t spread her legs and pant, on top of her kitchen counter for most men either.
“And,” Troy added, holding up some sort of remote control looking devise, “because I have state-of-the-
art surveillance equipment set up, complete with silent alarms.” He set the gadget on the table. “Anyone
steps on a piece of grass too close to the house, we’ll know it.” He held up the cereal. “Breakfast?”
“I’ll settle for coffee and you two telling me what I’m supposed to do now.” She didn’t move. Somehow,
the idea of walking around in her t-shirt, felt very, very wrong now that Troy was here.
Aiden pushed to his feet and walked to the counter, grabbing a mug from her cabinet. “You do what you
normally do.” He filled the mug, and then removed her favorite creamer from the fridge. Suddenly, he
was in front of her, blocking her from Troy’s view and handing her the coffee. He opened the creamer
and started to pour. “Say when.”
“When,” she said after a long pour. “And there is nothing normal about any of this.”
“All that matters is the bad guys think it is. What would you being doing right now if we weren’t here?”
“Lunch with my neighbor after the Yoga she tortures me into going to,” she said, trying not to think about
sitting on that counter, her legs spread wide – with him, for him. “But I cancelled last night before going
to the bar.”
“What else?”
“The same things everyone does on the weekends – groceries, movies, work.”
“Work?”
“Yes work. I usually go to my office a few hours on Saturday afternoon.”
Aiden stepped back from Kelly to eye Troy. “Wright will know that,” he said to his brother.
“Damn straight he will,” Troy agreed.
“Right,” she said, nerves curling in her stomach. “Time to head to the office, where I can draw a bull’s-
eye on my chest.”
“The sooner this is over,” Aiden said, “the better.”
Her gaze met his when she’d really planned on avoiding a deep, penetrating stare. It was done now
though, and she searched his face, wondering if he was more anxious to be done with her, or done with
the bad guys.
***
Four hours later, Kelly stood in the lab of her office. Aiden and Troy had assured her they were a blink
away if she needed them. Since that had proven more than true the night before, Kelly believed them, but
she still felt antsy about the unlocked lab door. But the idea was to get attacked, not to stay safe as she
wanted to, no matter how much her previous night’s poor judgment said different.
Exactly why she’d buried herself in her work since arriving, occupying her mind by testing residue
samples of the substance the six dead women had all carried, looking for a reaction – something that
identified it or deleted it. Mostly, that kept her from thinking of the unlocked door. It didn’t, however,
prove effective in finding answers about the drug, she’d hoped for, or a reason why it would leave the
users both dead, and depleted of blood.
She sighed and walked to her office, thinking she’d go home if this were a different day. But home
included two big, hot, masculine men, one of which she had made a fool of herself with. She drew up
short to find Aiden sitting in the corner chair of her office, a laptop in his lap.
She blinked. “How did you get in here?” There were no windows, no entrances.
“You were thinking pretty deeply, leaning over that microscope.”
“How long ago?”
He glanced at the Texas Longhorn clock on her wall. “About four hours ago.”
Her eyes went wide. “You’ve been here the entire time?”
“Pretty much,” he said. The phone on her desk began to ring and he set his laptop on the credenza next to
him. “I’m placing odds on that being the Detective. It’s being recorded. Get him to say as much as you
can.”
She inhaled and walked toward the desk, snatching up the receiver and wondering how she was going to
speak with her heart lodged in her throat. “Hello,” she croaked.
“Kelly. Thank God. I hit some rough spots last night and I was afraid you didn’t make it out of the club
safely.” It was the Detective and her gaze went to Aiden’s, a small nod confirming what he’d suspected.
“I’m fine, Detective, though I’m not sure I can thank you for that. Was all of that really necessary?”
“Yeah,” he said. “And I can’t explain why now, but it was, and it kept you alive.” He hesitated. “Look.
I’ll explain when I can, but right now, I just needed to know you were safe. I’ll make last night up to you.
I’ll get you your sample of the killer’s cocktail. I just need a few days. I’ll be in touch.” The line went
dead.
Kelly stared at it and then shook her head. “He hung up.” She returned the receiver to the cradle. “He said
he wanted to make sure I was okay and that he was getting me a sample and that was it.”
“He’s making sure you don’t go into hiding,” he said. “Planning to watch you a few days and make sure
you aren’t being used as a setup.”
“Days,” she repeated flatly, staring at her desk so he wouldn’t see the moment of panic she felt. She liked
control, she needed control, and she had none right now.
“Kelly,” he started and she knew instinctively he was about to talk about the kitchen, about her on that
counter, acting like a wanton fool.
Her gaze rocketed to his. “I’m starving,” she said, walking to her drawer and grabbing her purse from
inside. “I’m going to the store and then home. You coming?” She cringed at the choice of words and then
somehow, without planning it, she blurted. “No. I forgot. That’s too dangerous.” She whirled on her heels
and rushed away. Her mother had always told her that her mouth would get her in trouble, and she’d been
pretty much right. However, at this point, she was already in trouble up to her neck. It couldn’t get much
worse.
Then again, maybe it could. She could end up dead.
Chapter Nine
Kelly had changed into her favorite pink sweats and a t-shirt when she’d arrived home thirty-minutes
before. Somehow it was seven o’ clock and she didn’t know how that had happened. Aiden had texted her
as she pulled up to the house, telling her it was clear. She pretty much gathered that he was avoiding her.
She hated that, but she knew she should be relieved. No more hot man breathing down her neck,
reminding her how much she enjoyed said hot man breathing down her neck. And other places.
She grimaced at that thought and snuggled down onto the couch to flip through the paid movies. No to
horror, no to stalkers and no to danger. Okay, so she needed to find a chick flick. Ah, no. Make that chick
flick minus the sex and the romance. A comedy it was. Ms. Congeniality with Sandra Bullock. That
worked. She purchased it, and the doorbell rang. Pizza had arrived. She liked pizza, she ordered it several
times a week, and she wasn’t changing that because Aiden had eaten pizza the night before. She didn’t
even know if he’d be around and he’d said do what she normally did. That meant pizza on Saturday night
and Thursday night and it was kind of embarrassing how structured and predictable she was.
She hesitated at the door, cash in hand. When she’d ordered she’d really assumed Aiden would be around
sometime soon. She inhaled, wondering if this cheese pizza would be the death of her. Sixty-seconds
later, the pizza boxes in hand, she was alive, and in her kitchen, collecting paper towels, a plate and a
fork, and a Diet Sprite. She headed to the living room, to find Aiden, and Troy, sitting in the leather chairs
that framed the couch. No doubt, they’d come through her patio door off the living room. She didn’t ask
how they’d gotten past the stick she kept shoved inside the door for safety, but she would later. If they
could get in, so could someone else, and that wasn’t a comforting thought.
“Smells good,” Troy said, rubbing his stomach. “Got enough for us?”
“You can have a slice,” she said.
“And me?” Aiden asked, rushing to her aid, taking the boxes from her.
“You can have two.”
“Why does he get two?” Troy asked, as Kelly sat down and opened her drink.
“He helped with the boxes.”
Troy snorted. “You mean you think he’s nicer than me.” He reached down beside his chair and set a six
pack on the table. “Beer?”
“No,” she said. “And the offer doesn’t change my answer. Aiden is nice.”
“And I’m not.” Troy snorted. “You’re right. Seems I can’t pull a damn thing over on you, now can I?”
She arched a brow at the subtle reference to her asking his personal agenda in this hell that had become
her life.
“He’s got a soft middle,” Aiden assured her. “You just have to cut through the bullshit to get to it.”
“Well then,” she said, reaching for the remote. “I have just the movie or you.” She punched the button to
show the movie she’d chosen on freeze frame. “Ms. Congeniality. So Troy, here’s the deal. If you vow to
watch the entire movie, you can have all the pizza you like.”
Aiden sighed. “Now you’ll never get rid of him.”
Troy opened the box. “I’d watch a knitting show if it had Sandra Bullock in it.”
Kelly was surprised at the little piece of personal information that somehow made Troy more likable. She
laughed and turned to catch Aiden staring at her, the look on his face sent a flutter through her stomach.
The connection of the contact, ripe with shared attraction, shared need. He wanted to talk to her, she
could see that, and to her surprise, she saw torment in the depths of his uniquely, strangely, beautiful too
black eyes. Torment that had been there in her office too, she realized, and she regretted not listening to
him then.
“Push play and let’s get the movie going,” Troy said, breaking through the silent connection between her
and Aiden.
Reluctantly, Kelly broke the contact with Aiden, and hit the remote. She reached for a slice of pizza and
settled it onto her plate, discreetly capturing a warning glare from Troy directed at Aiden. What the heck
was that about?
They ate and she never saw the look between brothers again, and she watched for it, but every time she
and Aiden looked at each other, she warmed inside and out. Halfway into the movie, she was so hyper-
sensitive to the man, that she headed to the kitchen for another cold drink. She snatched it out of the
fridge and would have returned to the living room, but she paused a second, when she heard the brother’s
soft murmurs.
“Damn it, Aiden, I’m protecting you from yourself, and her from you too. You know how this goes down
for us. People we care about always end up dead.”
“Enough Troy,” Aiden said sharply. “Enough I…” His voice trailed off. Damn. She was busted listening
in, and she knew it.
Kelly backed up and flattened herself against the refrigerator, her attention settling on the counter where
she had been naked and wanton for Aiden the night before. His words, his actions, came back to her and
the torment she’d seen in his face made sense. Troy was a wreck, destroyed by some tragedy that had
compounded a previous tragedy and he was unintentionally, but very definitely, pulling Aiden into the
depths of his Hell. She couldn’t let that happen, even if it meant she had to do something very out of her
nature and play the aggressor. She’d seduce Aiden Brooks. It was the least she could do to thank him for
protecting her.
Chapter Ten
Aiden felt like absolute crap for being so crass with Kelly the night before and he owed her an
explanation. He stalked towards the kitchen, ignoring Troy’s warnings to stay where he was at, to stay
away from Kelly. Like that was even possible. He sure wasn’t leaving her in Troy’s wildcard care. And a
wildcard was exactly what his brother had become.
Besides, Aiden didn’t need Troy, or anyone else for that matter, to tell him he was no good for Kelly, or
that he’d made a mess of this entire situation. Kelly was in her own home, clearly feeling uncomfortable
because of what he’d dared let happen between them and then because her hating him would make his life
easier, (he was or he’d been )a rude ass. And he still wanted her, and didn’t doubt she could see that
written all over him. He couldn’t turn off his attraction to her, no matter how much he told himself he
should, he had to, and that was new to him. In fact, the more time he spent around her, the more attractive
she became to him. He freaking thought everything about her, from the way she held her own with Troy,
to the dimple between her brows when she was in deep thought, was sexy.
He entered the kitchen and didn’t immediately see Kelly, but he sensed her, he could hear her heartbeat
thrumming wildly in her chest at his approach – with anticipation not fear. His blood thickened in
response, and he rounded the refrigerator, to have her suddenly in front of him, pushing him against the
doors. One minute her soft curves were pressed to his, the next her even softer lips touched his.
He inhaled, telling himself not to respond, and proving himself instantly weak where she was concerned.
His gums tingled, desire uncurling the animal within him – the vampire was an animal – a hungry animal
that wanted her beyond reason. He pulled her against him, one hand melding her closer, the other lacing
into her hair. His mouth slanting over hers, his tongue stroking hers, caressing, taking.
She moaned, her arms wrapping around him, her scent sweet with arousal. His teeth began to elongate,
and somehow, he grabbed a moment of logic, and pulled back. “Kelly,” he hissed. “Stop. I told you-”
“The only thing dangerous,” she hissed right back, “is you living life in the past. It slips away too quickly.
It’s here and it’s gone.”
Not for him. For him it, and the pain of loss, went on forever. “You don’t know my past.”
“I know that you aren’t. But you can’t live your life a certain way because of whatever happened to your
brother. I get that his story is his to tell, but you’re life is yours to live as well, and yours to mold. No
matter how tough you think you are, out fighting the bad guys and living on the road, you’re hiding. And
you’re living in fear. That’s no life Aiden. Is that what you really want?”
The truth of her words washed through him like a new morning sun did the darkness of a starless night,
like new blood bleeding strength and power into him. Emotions thundered inside him, emotions long
suppressed – one emotion he didn’t like, didn’t want, but had to own. Fear. Fear of loss. Fear, it had been
controlling him since Darla’s death. But he already felt fear for Kelly – fear for her safety, fear of not
knowing her, of not knowing what might have been, what could be. What might come of her, if he turned
his back on her—if he didn’t. And if that fear had to exist, if there was no escaping it, he wanted it to
exist with her in his arms, with her a part of his life. Even, he silently conceded, if it could be for only a
short time.
“Since you aren’t saying anything,” she said, “then maybe conversation isn’t what’s important.”
Suddenly, she was on her knees, hand sliding over his zipper. “Kelly,” he warned, trying not to moan
when she caressed the ridge of his erection. “My brother is in the other room. Troy—“
“Can’t save you from me,” she promised. She pressed her lips to his jeans, against his cock, her hands
caressing the hard ridges that proved just how aroused he’d been the instant she’d pressed her lush body
close to his. She popped the snap on his jeans. “And I want you to have the same fond memories of this
kitchen as I do.” She pulled down his zipper and he didn’t stop her. He knew he should, but he wasn’t
sure why. Her hand pressed past denim, past his boxers. His head fell back against the refrigerator, all
logic fading away at her soft touch, against his hard erection. She shoved down his boxers enough to free
him, his erection jutting forward, her hand wrapping the base. Her sweet little pink tongue snaked out,
licking the wet tip of his shaft, teasing him for a mere torturous, delicious instant, before her lips closed
around him, and she suckled. Desire rose inside him, and the man faded away. There was just the
vampire, the lust, the need – and the woman who created those feelings.
His hand went to her head, his eyes meeting hers as she drew him deeper, harder, her tongue swirling
around him. “Harder,” he ordered, unable to hold back now. He was that primal creature that lived and
breathed lust, desire, and blood. And he wanted hers. He wanted to taste her, to fuck her, to be inside her.
“Deeper.”
Her hand slid around his backside, pulling him against her, silently telling him that she not only approved
of his command, she wanted more of him. He pumped into her mouth, her hot, wet mouth driving him
absolutely fucking wild. “That’s perfect, baby,” he murmured, feeling the tightening of his balls, the build
of release. “Suck me just like that. Don’t stop.” He moaned, and not quietly, not giving a damn about
Troy at this point. His release exploded from him, rising up in a rush that had him shaking with the
intensity.
Kelly sucked on him, licked on him, slowly eased the rhythm of her mouth, her hand, until she was
licking the head of his cock, as if she didn’t want to miss one drop of his satisfaction. The prim and
proper doctor, was so not prim and proper right now, and he was already getting hard again. “Come
here,” he said, pulling her to her feet, bringing her hard against him.
Her hands went to his chest, keeping him from pulling her mouth to his. “Do you remember when you
said you couldn’t fuck me and protect me?”
“I remember and I regret it.”
“Prove it,” she ordered instantly, a woman in control, a woman unafraid of the primal animal in him, that
he knew she had to sense, to feel.
Aiden barely contained a smile that would have shown fang, “At your command.” He scooped her up and
headed for her bedroom, where he was most certainly going to fuck her all night long, one lick and
orgasm at a time.
Aiden entered her bedroom and kicked the door shut, flipping out the lights a moment later. No matter
how much he craved her blood, no matter how erotic and pleasurable his bite would be to both of them,
Aiden did not dare taste Kelly. The laws of the Vampire Council were clear. Humans were not to be left
with memories of their kind. To allow such a thing would risk a war between races, perhaps even lead to
mass casualties. He knew he had to lose Kelly, knew their worlds wouldn’t meld together. But he didn’t
want to wipe her memories and he didn’t want her to never know he’d been here. And truth be told, he
knew it was the man in him she was trying to save. He wasn’t sure she’d feel the same about the vampire,
and he didn’t want to find out.
He turned her to face the bed, determined to go slow, no matter how fast and hot he wanted to take things.
He willed the vampire he’d let take command in the kitchen into submission. Tonight, he’d be a man
making love to a woman, something he had not done in a very long time.
***
Troy leaned against the wall outside the kitchen and squeezed his eyes shut, as the bedroom door to
Kelly’s room slammed shut. Unbidden, an emotion he hid from, that he didn’t want to feel, bled into the
anger that kept him alive and fighting. Kelly had been right. He wasn’t like Aiden. Kelly, or either of his
brother’s for that matter, knew how true that was. The wolf attack had changed so much more than his
hair and eye colors. He wasn’t human and he wasn’t even fully vampire anymore. He was something else
altogether, something dangerous, something dark. Something that he had long realized would destroy
him, and everyone around him, if he let it. He’d been wrong to pull Aiden down with him, wrong in so
many ways, about so many things. Wrong to try and save Kelly from Aiden, when she was saving Aiden
from being destroyed by a brother who was barely a brother. A brother who was quickly becoming a
monster, if he wasn’t already there.
Chapter Eleven
Kelly wasn’t sure what she expected from Aiden, but it hadn’t been him undressing her from behind,
kissing her neck, her shoulder, her neck again. It wasn’t the gentle way he touched her body, the slow,
sensual way he explored and teased sensitive places she didn’t even know she possessed.
“Don’t move,” he ordered softly, near her ear, his breath a warm trickle on her neck. He stepped back
from her, and instinctively, she started to turn.
His hands came down on waist, a gentle, but insistent grip, while he laughed near her ear, a rumble of
masculine sexuality that tingled a path through her body. “What part of don’t move means turn around?”
She smiled into the darkness, wishing for the lights. “Why do you get to decide when I turn around?” She
could feel his hips against her back side, the bulge of his arousal pressing against her, teasing her as his
hands and mouth already had.
“Because,” he told her, nibbling at her neck, his teeth scraping deliciously on the sensitive flesh, making
her knees weak and her heart race, before he added, “I’m the one about to do all kinds of wicked,
wonderful things to you.”
“Oh,” she said, and the warmth of his breath might as well have been a touch. She felt it in the tightening
of her nipples, the wet heat between her thighs. “Well, if you put it that way.”
He laughed again and stepped away from her, and she could hear him undressing, and she oh so easily
could imagine what he looked like. But she didn’t want to imagine. She wanted to see that long, hard
body in all his naked glory. But the promise of that wicked pleasure he’d vowed gave her willpower to
wait. She’d see him and soon, even if it wasn’t soon enough.
“Ready for me?” he asked, standing behind her – she could tell - but not touching her. She started to turn
again.
He stopped her with his body, his shaft, hard and thick, pressing between her thighs. “I’m not done with
you like this.” His hands caressing a path down her arms, until his fingers tangled with hers. He dragged
her hands up her body, to her breasts, where he melded her palms. “How does that feel?”
“Like you’re teasing me and enjoying it way too much,” she said without hesitation. In some far corner of
her mind she realized the directness she favored outside the bedroom had made its way inside it with
Aiden. It was a first, and it was a good first. She knew he’d be gone soon, knew he wasn’t the stay around
kind of guy, which meant she needed to enjoy every second of this freedom she felt with him.
And when he was suddenly on his knees, his hands and his mouth, exploring her legs, her cheeks, her
hips, she was pretty sure that wasn’t going to be a difficult process. “Open for me, sweetheart,” he urged,
his teeth scraping her back side while his hands nudging her legs apart.
Her bravado and daring, wanton self, slid into a moment of vulnerability over his dominant position. She
had her back to him, her legs wide. It was terrifyingly erotic, and incredibly arousing. His fingers hooked
forward and found her clit flicking it, even as he worked the wet, slick heat gathering around it.
“I’m going to fall down,” she whispered, holding onto the footboard. “Aiden I-”
He moved and before she could figure out his intention, he had turned around so that he was sitting with
his back pressed against the footboard. Still standing, her knees were weak with anticipation. She faced
him now, her stomach erotically placed near his mouth. His mouth that she desperately wanted on her
skin, her body, and in the most intimate of ways. He wrapped his arm around her backside, lowering his
head, his breath warm on her clit, teasing her a moment before he gave her what she craved. Before that
mouth closed down on her, the wet, wicked heat of his tongue swirled around her swollen nub.
“Oh…ah…” She wasn’t sure what she was trying to say. “Aiden I…” His fingers slid inside her, his
tongue doing amazing, incredible things, and she was so already on edge, so ready to tumble into bliss.
Release came in a sudden intense rush that stole her breath, and then sent spasms through her core and
delicious chills through her body. Time stood still, pleasure enveloping her, until slowly she began to
slide downward, and the next thing she knew she was on top of Aiden, and he was holding her.
Their breaths mingled, their eyes locked, and even inside the darkness of the room, she felt that
connection to her soul. This man was like no other before him, and perhaps none after. They didn’t speak,
but they didn’t have to. That was part of what made him, them, so different.
He shifted her hips, and brought his thick arousal to the slick readiness of her body. She knew in some far
corner of her mind that birth control was smart – and she was a smart person. Logic faded though, sliding
into the feel of him pressing inside her, of their breaths mingling, as they seemed to become one. Slowly,
she inched down the length of him, his shaft stretching her deliciously, until she had all of him. Until he
was buried deeply inside her.
His hand stroked through her hair. “Dangerous,” he murmured against her mouth, a moment before his
teeth scraped her lip, and she felt the prick, the blood. He licked it off, then slanted his mouth over hers,
kissing with a wildness she’d not felt in him before now, a wildness she’d known existed. Wildness, she
realized in that moment, that she wanted to unleash. The sensual, slow heat of making love shifted into a
frenzy of touching, kissing – fucking. Yes, he was fucking her, and she was fucking him – riding him
hard, rocking against him, with a burning need she had to answer. She’d never in her life wanted love
making to become outright fucking but it had, and the shift from one to the other, was hotter than
anything she’d ever experienced. She wanted it to go on and on, but the pleasure – the pleasure was so
good, so intense. Too soon, she felt the rise of release – felt her body clench at his cock. He shook with
her, pumping hard and pressing her hips against his, and she knew she’d taken him with her. They
collapsed together, holding each other. It was perfect, absolutely perfect, peaceful – right. That was until a
loud, shrieking sound of male pain radiated from the outer edges of the house.
Aiden was on his feet in an instant, taking her with him. “Go the bathroom and lock the door.”
She could hear him moving, getting dressed, and she blinked trying to focus. “What is it?” she asked,
rushing toward the light.
He grabbed her arm. “No lights.” He tugged her towards the bathroom and shoved her inside. “Don’t
even think about coming out until I come back.”
“What’s wrong?”
He shut the door. “Lock it.”
Unnerved by the darkness, Kelly ignored one of Aiden’s orders. She flipped on the light but quickly
locked the door. “Aiden?”
No answer. He was gone. She drew in a breath, searched the room for clothes, and found an oversized
robe. She quickly shoved her arms in it and tied it. Aiden had no gun. She would have known. Oh God.
He had no weapon. Why was that? Didn’t FBI agents carry weapons? She didn’t let herself think about
the danger to herself, only that of Aiden and Troy, and she couldn’t let them die for her. That was when
she heard another sound, almost like a pained animal, but somehow, not. It was…oh god – it was Troy.
Troy was hurt. She had to help, she had medical training. Another howl of pain echoed through the walls.
A horrible, pained sound. She fumbled with the lock, yanked open the door, and started running toward
the sound.
Chapter Twelve
Aiden heard the shattering of glass, and the low growls that were coming from his brother, before he ever
rounded the living room wall. The sounds a wolf made, not the sounds of a vampire.
“Troy,” he shouted, bringing a room filled with broken décor and shredded furniture into view, with his
brother in the center of it all.
Troy whirled around to face Aiden, his eyes glowing a weird orange inside the blue, his fangs extended.
Aiden saw more a vampire with bloodlust than he did wolf in Troy. Why that offered any relief, he didn’t
know, but it did. Bloodlust wasn’t something a vampire recovered from. Bloodlust made them killers, like
the vampire who’d killed their family and everyone else in their village.
“Troy,” he said softly, taking a step forward. “Talk to me, brother. What’s happening?”
Troy threw his head back and howled like a wolf in pain, like a wolf captive in a vampire’s body. Aiden
charged toward him, determined to take Troy down, and confine him until this passed. Lord, he hoped it
did pass. But Troy was as fast as Aiden, and that howl didn’t slow him down. They collided and went
rolling onto the ground, after bouncing off what was left of Kelly’s couch.
Aiden was slammed onto his back with Troy on top of him.
“Aiden?!” Kelly screamed, the sound of her voice sending a blast of fear through him. Adrenaline surged
inside him and Aiden flipped with Troy, putting himself on top of his brother.
“Stop, damn it!” he shouted at Troy, trying to make contact, trying to calm him. He couldn’t influence a
vampire’s mind, but he shared a bond with his brother, and he was desperate to reach him. “Whatever this
is Troy, it’s not stronger than you are. Fight it, damn it. Fight it.”
Troy flung Aiden across the room with a force that shocked Aiden, a force that defied their equal vampire
age and strength. Aiden hit the wall with a jolt that rattled his bones. Kelly screamed again, and he turned
toward the sound but Troy was already in front of him, grabbing his shirt. Aiden grabbed hold of his
brother, as well, and managed to turn with him, slamming Troy against the wall.
This time Aiden found Troy’s eyes, trapped him in a stare. “Enough! Enough.”
Troy snarled like a wolf at him, those strange blue-orange eyes melding with Aiden’s, in a silent standoff.
Slowly, too slowly, he felt the tension in Troy ease ever-so-slightly. Troy began to ease down the wall.
Aiden followed him, squatting in front of his brother. “Whatever this is, we’ll beat it. We’ll call Marcus-”
“No,” Troy snarled, his hand twisting in Aiden’s shirt. “They’ll lock me up and throw away the key.”
“Marcus-”
“No.” He pushed to his feet and Aiden went with him.
“Okay. No Marcus. You have my word. Evan-”
“No, damn it,” Troy snarled. “Don’t pull him and his woman into this. I’m fine.”
“You aren’t fucking fine.”
“The worst is over,” Troy said, his voice raspy but more like his own.
“Holy shit, you say that like this has happened before.”
“I thought I’d learned to control it.”
Aiden cursed. “How many times before this one, Troy?”
“Four. Two…” He squeezed his eyes shut, hissing through extended fangs. “…two other close calls.”
Pain radiated through his features. “I fought them off. I thought…oh God - my head.” He shoved Aiden
away. “Have to go. I have to go and…”
“No. No you are not-”
“Run,” Troy growled. “I have…to run it off.”
“Yes,” Kelly said from the kitchen. “We need an ambulance. It’s some sort of reaction to a drug we
think-”
Aiden went completely still as realization hit him. Kelly was on the phone and this was not good news.
Aiden was in the kitchen in two seconds flat, grabbing the phone from her hand. “We don’t need an
ambulance. My friend didn’t know that my brother has seizures. He’s recovering fine and we aren’t
paying for an expensive ambulance ride he doesn’t need.” He answered a few questions and ended the
call.
Kelly’s eyes went wide and she started to back away. “Aiden, that wasn’t a seizure. That was…I don’t
know what that was but it wasn’t a seizure.”
He could wipe her memory. He could do it now, and the council would dictate he do so. But this was
Kelly and he couldn’t undo a memory scrub or the damage to her trust if she ever found out. “We need to
talk, Kelly.” And he needed to figure out what he was going to tell her.
A sound from the living room drew his attention and he cursed. Aiden ran toward the living room,
arriving to find the sliding door open. Troy was gone. Emotions roared inside him. He couldn’t lose Troy.
He couldn’t.
“Aiden?”
Seconds passed while he forced the storm raging in him back down, knowing control was the only way to
keep her safe. “I’ll pay for the damage,” he said, turning to her.
“I don’t care about the damage. I care that your brother is not only sick, but he might hurt someone.”
“He won’t,” Aiden said, knowing his brother, and hoping there was enough of Troy left to be true of that
knowledge. “He’d kill himself before he’d hurt an innocent.”
“What the heck is going on Aiden? What aren’t you telling me?”
He scrubbed his jaw and inhaled. “If I tell you, you’ll be in danger.”
“I’m already in danger.”
“You don’t understand. More danger. Much more.”
She curled her fingers by her side. “Make me understand. Damn it, Aiden, we just had unprotected sex,
and that realization is freaking me out more and more by the second. I need to know what I’m into here.
What you’re into.”
“I can’t have children and I’m, well, I’m not like you Kelly. You can’t catch anything but a little piece of
hell from me.”
She shook her head, her hands in the air. “What does that mean? Because if it was supposed to be
comforting, it’s not. I just saw Troy morph into something out a monster movie, and I have a substance in
my lab that’s the common denominator in six murders. If those two things are related, I need to know,
and I need to know now.”
“It wasn’t Troy. He didn’t kill those women.”
“I want to believe you. I want to believe you more than you can imagine, but you have to explain this to
me. You have to give me a logical answer for everything that’s going on here.”
He realized then that she wasn’t going to let this go, and she was too smart to accept any foolish excuse of
an explanation he might give her. He had to tell her the truth, and he’d have to scrub her memory later.
But the truth was all that could save them now.
“If I tell you,” he said, his chest tight with emotion, with the idea of telling her what he was. What he
would always be, “you’ll think I’m crazy.”
“Try me.”
He walked to the sliding glass door.
“Aiden! Don’t you dare walk away!”
He pulled the door shut and turned to her. “I’m not going anywhere.” He motioned to the shredded couch.
“Let’s sit down.”
She shook her head. “I’ll stand.”
“Very well,” he said, using his superior speed to close the distance between them in a mere instant.
She gasped at the unexpected action, but he was already touching her, already reaching inside her mind,
and playing back his history, letting her see who and what he was. Letting her see how it had happened.
Chapter Thirteen
Suddenly Kelly was in Aiden’s head, a different Aiden, a younger Aiden, though not in body. It was just a
sense she had of him, a feeling. She gasped as she brought his face into view, as her eyes followed his.
And then she knew. This was the man before the pain of a lifetime, and she was watching it happen,
watching the ache that filled him in present day be created in his past.
He stood over the bodies of three people she somehow knew they were his parents, his sister. Beside him
were two men, his brothers, but Troy was different—dark haired, and without the edge he possessed now,
without the darkness. There was just pain. His pain, and the other men, all three of them – she felt their
pain as well. But it was Aiden’s suffering, his anger, his fury, that carved her inside out.
“Why!” Aiden shouted at the heaven above, dropping to his knees to hold the pale, lifeless body of his
sister Anna. She was bloodless, drained dry by the monster that had killed hundreds in their village, that
he and his brothers had been hunting.
“Well hello, my little pretties.”
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a woman with long raven hair, and extended fangs, appeared, blood dripping
from her mouth. She wiped it. “I’m ready for desert and you three will be lovely.”
Aiden pushed to his feet, drawing a long blade from the tan animal skin pants he wore. “Come and get
me!”
“Come and get us,” Troy shouted, stepping to Aiden’s side, knife drawn.
“Run,” his older brother Evan shouted. “Run now!” He lunged to the front of Aiden and Troy, shouting,
“Come and get me witch!”
“No!” Aiden shouted, knowing his brother had just ensured his death, knowing one man against this
monster could not survive an attack. But it was too late. Evan fell at Aiden and Troy’s feet, his throat
ripped open.
Aiden charged at the monster, aware that Troy was by him, that Troy’s blade sliced at her as his did. She
moved too fast though, and was behind them in seconds. Pain sliced through his neck, his shoulder and
everything went blank. Time faded away into shadows, into screams for his family. Something coppery
touched his lips and a sudden hunger ravished him. Desperately he drank of the substance. Slowly, he
became aware of the impossible, of Evan leaning over him, of his mouth on his brother’s arm. He was
drinking…blood. Aiden scrambled away from the mirage, the trickery that must be that of the monster, to
see Evan standing well and strong, alive.
“Evan?”
“Yes,” his brother said. “It’s me.”
Wildly, his gaze searched the area in front of their family cabin, finding the dead bodies of his family and
a leather clad blonde man leaned over Troy, dripping blood into his mouth.
“The monster is dead.”
Troy came awake suddenly, shouting and scrambling backwards as well. The blonde man stood up,
moving to stand beside Evan. “What Evan means is that the vampire is dead. I killed it and I can teach
you how to hunt and kill others like it.”
Kelly came back to her own mind for a mere instant before an onslaught of images overtook her. The
brothers fighting together, side by side, driven to save lives, to kill monsters. And then…then there was
Aiden running towards Troy in a dark alley, desperate to get to his brother before the wolf did. The wolf.
Oh God, a werewolf. Suddenly she was standing over Aiden where he knelt on the ground, holding Troy,
feeding his brother his own blood. The pain, the anger, the fury, of the day he’d lost his parents and sister,
blasting into Aiden, and bleeding into her. Bleeding like Troy’s throat.
Kelly blinked the room into focus, gasping. She sat up, realizing that she was somehow on the ripped
couch, with Aiden beside her. She stared at him, searched his face, thinking of the pain in him when he’d
held his sister’s body, the fear when he’d known Evan would be killed.
“I…I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what I just saw. I mean…I do, but Aiden-”
“I’m sorry,” he said softly. His hand was on her legs, where they were draped across his lap, and though
he touched her, she could feel him withdrawing from her as he spoke. “Feeding memories to someone
isn’t an exact science. I didn’t mean for you to see Troy’s attack. It’s clearly front and center in my mind
right now after what happened to him tonight.”
“Memories,” she repeated. “You fed me your memories?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
“What…are you?”
“A Warden,” he said without emotion, without hesitation, but she could feel the waves of tension rolling
off of him. “The law of our kind.”
“Your kind,” she said, because she couldn’t bring herself to voice the word ‘vampire’.
“Yes,” he said. “My kind. Vampire, Kelly.” There it was. He’d said the impossible, said what her mind
rejected despite what she’d seen – no – what she’d felt, what she’d relived with Aiden.
He lifted her legs and tried to scoot away from her and get up.
“No,” she said, grabbing his bare arm. He was still gloriously shirtless, his jeans unbuttoned, and all the
confusion and fear over this night didn’t change how masculine and perfect she found him. That had to
mean something, had to be a part of her that still saw him, as Aiden, her lover, her protector.
“Kelly-”
“Don’t tell me to let you go.” She dropped her legs to the floor, so she could follow him if necessary. “I
just need to understand all of this, Aiden. How can you be what you say you are? How is that possible?”
He turned to her more fully, his eyes, too black and unnatural, she realized now, found hers. “The laws of
my race dictate that no human be left with a memory of our existence. I’ll tell you what you want to
know, because it’s the best way to protect you. But when this is over, I will erase your memories, Kelly.
To do otherwise, is punishable by death - yours and mine.”
She drew a sharp breath, but she wasn’t sure she could even process the implications of what he was
saying. Not until she understood more of what was happening, of what he was.
“Okay,” she said. “So you’ll erase my memories, just like you gave me yours. Agreed. So now you’ll
answer my questions?”
He hesitated and then gave a short nod.
“You eat real food. And today you were with me during the daytime, when there was sunlight.”
“I’m a vampire,” he said flatly. “Not a myth or a movie. I don’t burst into flames in sunlight and blood is
a necessity on a limited basis. It becomes a drug, a high, that is not so unlike human drugs. It turns the
abusers into the monsters I hunt down and kill.”
“And exactly how does one become a vampire?” she asked, because thinking of the science, the
questions, seeking answers, was all that was keeping her sane right now.
He studied her a long moment, then, “I’d spare you the details but considering your career choice, I’m
going to assume you can handle it. A human must be drained dry of their own blood and then fed that of a
vampire. Other than that – where did we come from? I don’t know. No one knows our true origins.”
She inhaled and let it out, still seeking answers, and mentally seeking the cold dark place in her mind that
allowed her to separate herself from the horrors of her work. “And the animal – the wolf – that attacked
Troy? Where does it, or they, come from?”
“A werewolf can be born, as most are, a race of their own, not so unlike humans. Or a wolf can be
created by a virus that infects a human. The virus creates a monster, a creature that lives to kill. That is
what Andres is. A wolf that was once human.”
Her chest went icy. “So you think this Andres killed those women?”
“There is no tidy death when a wolf attacks you, so no. I don’t think he killed them, but Troy has
informants that say Andres is the creator of the drug that’s indirectly responsible for the deaths. We
believe it’s a combination of his blood and that of a vampire. And Andres, like the wolf that attacked
Troy, is a new breed of wolf, not fully understood. We don’t know exactly what he is and we have no
blood samples available. Troy’s informant tells us that the result of the two blood types is an extreme
aphrodisiac, and by extreme, I mean without pleasure there is pain. Horrible, intolerable pain. The vamps
dose the human, and then Gangbang her.”
She could feel the blood drain from her face. “And they drain her dry and kill her during sex?”
“I’m not going to tell you that sex and blood are not one and the same for a vampire. It’s erotic and the
vampires would drink from the female. And no, I didn’t drink from you, and not because I didn’t want to.
That’s my point. Vampires have willpower unless we have bloodlust. A vampire with bloodlust would not
tidy up after themselves and the victims were not visibly injured. Troy’s source tells him some of the
women stroke out from the drug and the vamps go ahead and drain them.”
“I didn’t see any signs of stroke,” she said, still reeling from his reference to not drinking from her, to the
flashes of them naked and making love, to his mouth on her neck. To moments when his teeth had graved
the delicate skin. She shook off the memories, tried to focus on what was most important. The dead
women. The possibility of more dead women. “But I’ll look again. I’ll look more specifically.”
“It could simply be what you suggested,” he said. “A group of vampires misjudged how much blood they
took from one human and overindulged. Either way, the drug is dangerous and the source, Andres, has to
be destroyed.”
“Right,” she said, her throat closing, the calm place in her mind exploding with the horror of vampires
draining innocent women dry.
Aiden scrubbed his jaw and she sensed that he was about to put distance between them, sensed that he
thought she believed him to be a monster. She knew this because his memories, and his feelings, were
hers now. She owned a part of them. Suddenly, she was aware of what it had cost him to show her what
he had – to expose himself, to let her see his pain, feel his pain. Instinct was all she had, and that instinct
had told her from the moment she’d met him, that he was someone she could trust…maybe even someone
she could love.
She didn’t give herself time to think. Kelly grabbed him and pushed him back against the couch, climbing
on top of him, her hand settling on his chest. “I know you aren’t one of those monsters, Aiden. I can’t
pretend I’m not freaked out. Make that really freaked out. I just don’t know how else to put it. And yes,
I’m scared, but not of you.” She reached for his face and he shackled her wrist.
“I’m dangerous, Kelly,” he said. “The one time I let myself forget that, I made someone I cared about a
target for my enemies.”
Translation. That person had died. God, how much had this man endured? “A woman?”
“Yes.”
“Human?”
“Yes.”
“Did she know what you were?” “Not until she was already dying.”
Her chest tightened on those words. “Why didn’t you convert her to vampire?”
“It’s against our laws to convert a human without council approval,” he said. “But I would have, if I could
have. She was...” He shook his head and seemed to rethink his words, then started again. “I hesitated
when I saw the awareness in her eyes, the knowledge of what I was. And, the hatred. She hated me.”
“No,” Kelly said, rejecting that answer. “She couldn’t have hated you simply because you suddenly grew
fangs, Aiden. You have to be mistaken.”
“It wasn’t sudden to anyone but her,” he said. “I lied to her by hiding it from her. And I’m not mistaken.
A vampire attacked her and, well, I’m not sure what she thought in the end. Maybe she thought it was me
when she saw my fangs. I don’t really know anything except that I hesitated before I converted her and in
that short moment, I was attacked. By the time I killed the other vampire, it was too late. She was dead.”
“Oh God. Aiden-”
“I won’t let you become a target.”
“I’m already a target.”
“I plan to fix that. When I leave here, you’ll be safe.”
“And without my memories. I get that part loud and clear.” She leaned into him, wrapping her arms
around his neck. “When you bite me, will it hurt?”
“It doesn’t hurt.” His eyes darkened, turning into inky velvet, laden with desire. “But I have no intention
of biting you, Kelly.”
“I plan to fix that,” she assured him, repeating his own words.
“You have no idea what you’re asking.”
“I’m not asking.” She untied her robe and let if fall off of her shoulders, then full away from her body.
She was naked, offering herself to him.
He pulled her to him, his hand on the back of her head, a snarl on his lips. “You have no idea what you
are playing with, Kelly.” He pulled back, letting her see his fangs. “Look at me. This is what I am.”
She sucked in a breath at the sight of his elongated cuspids, at the darkening of his already too black eyes.
He turned away from her instantly, but not before she saw the torment flash across his handsome face.
He’d thought that Darla had looked at him with hatred, and she didn’t want him to see that in her, to
imagine that in her.
Her heart squeezed at the pain he’d felt in his life, at the pain he still felt. She pressed her hands to his
face, urging him to look at her. “You’re a vampire,” she said, wanting him to know she fully understood.
Her fingers traced his lip, his fangs. “I see you, Aiden, and I’m not afraid. I see you and there is no
monster here. There is just the man who woke something up inside me that no other has before.” She
leaned into him and pressed her lips to his, molding her nipples against the dark hair on his chest. “Now
it’s your turn. See me, Aiden, not someone from your past. Be with me.”
Another second passed, then another, and she worried he wasn’t going to respond. Then, suddenly he was
kissing her, his mouth devouring hers. Passion simmered before exploding into a wild, raging river of
desire. Minutes faded into the pleasure of his mouth, his touch, until finally, finally, they were both
naked, and he was buried inside her. She whimpered with the scrape of his fangs near her ear, erotic chills
racing down her spine and he hadn’t even bitten her yet. Her body clenched around his cock, an automatic
reaction, to what was more erotic than she imagined possible.
“No pain,” he whispered, pulling back to look at her, “Just intense pleasure.”
“Do it,” she pleaded, her body aching with some sort of blind anticipation. “Do it now.”
“You’re sure?”
“Absolutely.”
A moment later, his fangs sank into her neck and pleasure slammed into her like nothing she’d ever
experienced before. He was like nothing, or anyone, she had ever experienced before. She didn’t want it
to end, but it would. It would end and he would leave, taking her memories with him.
If she let him.
Chapter Fourteen
It was Saturday night and he and Kelly sat at her kitchen table reviewing internet news stories.
“Nothing,” Kelly said, shoving aside her computer. “We’ve been at this for hours, Aiden. Thankfully, the
drug seems to be off the streets or surely we’d have another victim, considering Troy was right. When we
discovered there was a mild indicator of stroke, I was sure we’d have more victims. But we haven’t, and I
don’t see any stories that resembled wolf or vampire attacks.” She smiled. “Oh my.”
He tried to smile at the joke, knowing she was trying to ease the strain he was feeling, but he couldn’t
manage. Not even for Kelly. Aiden scrubbed his jaw and leaned back in his chair. No one had seen or
heard from Troy for weeks and it was eating Aiden alive. Not even Evan or Marcus, and they were
looking. He’d had no choice but to contact them.
“At least there hasn’t been another murder,” Kelly said. “Not here and nothing similar anywhere else. Not
even a peep from Detective Wright beyond a few phone calls on the case.”
“I know. I know.” He shook his head, “Where the hell is he, Kelly?” He meant Troy, and he knew she
knew that. They’d spent every waking minute together, and he’d held nothing back. Why would he? He
was just going to have to erase her memories, erase himself from her life.
She pushed to her feet and walked to him, sliding into his lap, where he willingly invited her. “I love you,
Kelly,” he said, before he could stop himself. “I fucking love you and the idea of losing you, like I have
Troy, is eating me alive.”
She pressed her lips to his, then smiled against his mouth. “I fucking love you too and you aren’t going to
lose me.”
“Kelly,” he said, leaning back to look at her. “You know-”
“I know that you think you can erase yourself from my mind, and us from my memories, but we’re more
than that Aiden. You can’t erase us from my heart.” Her cell phone started to ring and she reached for it
and then stilled, her gaze lifting to his. “It’s Detective Wright.”
“It’s Saturday night,” he said, a chill racing down his spine. This was trouble. He felt it in his bones.
“I’m on call,” she said. “I have to answer.”
He nodded and she took the call. He could hear the conversation. “Another murder,” Wright said. “We
want you on scene to examine the body this time.”
“Where?” she asked, her gaze touching Aiden’s.
“Eclipse,” the detective said. “And hurry. It’s a madhouse here. Come to the backdoor.” He hung up.
Kelly was stiff, still holding the phone to her ear. Aiden took the phone from her. “It’s a trap, isn’t it?”
she asked.
“Yeah. It’s a trap.” He kissed her. “And I’m going to kill that bastard for even trying to set it.” He stood
her up. “Let me make some quick plans.” He grabbed his phone and dialed Evan and Marcus, and was
forced to leave a message for both of them. He dialed Troy and left yet another message. Damn, damn,
damn. This was going down and he was all that was going to be standing between Kelly and hell.
***
Kelly parked behind the bar and her cell phone rang. She knew it was Aiden. “Get the hell out of there
now,” he said.
“No,” she said. “We need to end this.”
“What?” he demanded. “No Kelly. We agreed that you’d leave if this wasn’t obviously a police operation.
There’s no police Kelly. No yellow tape and no fucking police.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “I can’t walk away if this is your chance to catch Andres.”
“Kelly-” She hung up and opened the door, shoving her phone in her purse. She stepped outside. The
night was dark, humid, starless. Lightening flickered in the sky, a storm passing, or coming, she didn’t
know. She didn’t care. She walked quickly towards the building, but not as quickly as her heart raced.
She wore jeans and flats that made her feel more ready to run. She was going to need to run. The thought
chilled her to the bone.
The instant that she arrived at the back door, it opened, and Detective Wright appeared, music blasting
behind him. The club wasn’t shut down, but then she’d known that when she drove up. He motioned her
inside.
She didn’t move. “Where is everyone?”
“Basement level. They’re worried about public panic. They’re keeping this as low key as one can after the
seventh murder in a short period of time.”
“Basement?” she asked. “Who has a basement in Texas?”
“Apparently this place. A basement and a dead body.”
She inhaled and let it out. How did one run away in a basement? They didn’t, she thought. They didn’t.
She was walking into a trap alright.
She walked forward, passing him, her arm brushing his. A wave of nausea overcame her. The man oozed
evil, be it real or imagined, but like the storm, it didn’t matter. It simply was what it was.
A stairwell up and a stairwell down were directly in front of her. “Going down,” he told her, stepping
behind her, his hands touching her waist. “Hustle. We don’t want to draw unwanted attention.”
She started down the stairs, and the idea of that man at her back, was almost too much. She was halfway
down when a tall man stopped at the bottom, his eyes glinting orange. A memory of Troy’s eyes during
his attack drew her up short. She turned to run and smashed into Wright. He smiled. Someone grabbed
her from behind. She fought and fought, but it wasn’t enough to save her from the warm, coppery taste of
the liquid one of the two men poured down her throat.
Chapter Fifteen
Aiden blasted through the backdoor of the bar, not giving a shit about anything but getting to Kelly. He’d
sworn to protect her. He would not fail her. He couldn’t fail her.
A vampire greeted Aiden just inside the entry with a snarl. Aiden returned the greeting with the cooper
blade in his hand. The vamp dropped like a rock, not expecting such an open attack. Another came at him,
and this time a scuffle followed, that was more like a game of peewee football. He was done with it and
down the stairs, grabbing Wright by the shirt, in seconds. He tossed him aside and watched someone
dragging her down the remainder of the stair.
“Aiden!” she screamed.
He didn’t stop charging forward. He was in front of her, sending her a mental command to sleep, to spare
her witness to what was to follow. He swung over her, and slammed his blade into her attacker, clear to
the bone. A howl of pain followed and he maneuvered Kelly behind him, kicking what turned out to be
Andres, down the remainder of the stairs. He took off and started running, knowing from experience that
Andres took a blade like an inconvenience he would quickly recover from.
With Kelly in his arms, he found the top of the stairs and kicked the door open, only to find Troy once
again waiting for him, the SUV pulled up, the back door open. Troy, however, was not inside the vehicle.
He had Detective Wright sprawled across the hood, a blade slashing through the air. Wright dropped to
the ground, his head rolling, no ash to follow, no bloodlust present. Just a whole lot of asshole.
Aiden was in the backseat in seconds, and Troy was behind the wheel, and had them moving, just as fast.
Kelly was asleep and shaking. Why was she shaking? “Where the hell have you been?” he demanded of
Troy.
“Right here,” he said. “I just didn’t want to hear you bitch – bitch.” He met Aiden’s gaze in the mirror.
“They drugged her, Aiden. You need to wake her up before she strokes from the pain, right here and
now.”
Aiden went cold inside. “You’re sure.”
“Wright told me right before I killed him.” His tone went grim. “Aiden.” He hesitated. “They gave her a
double dose.”
Aiden woke her up and she blinked up at him, the cloudiness of her visions telling him she didn’t really
see him. “Hurts,” she mouthed. “Hurts.”
He lifted her, pulling her mouth to his, unprepared for what he unleashed in front of Troy. One minute he
was kissing Kelly, the next she was on his lap, straddling him and tossing her shirt over her head, then her
bra.
He didn’t want to be aroused. She was drugged and she was out of her mind right now. But she leaned
into him, pressing her mouth to his and his cock thickened, pulsing against his zipper.
She pressed his hands to her breasts. “Touch me,” she whispered, against his mouth. “Please touch me.”
He pinched her nipples and she cried out, arching into his touch, grinding her hips against his crotch.
“More.”
Aiden wrapped his arm around her slender body, holding her steady, knowing how easily he could make
her come, knowing that was what she needed if he was going to get her inside the house.
He licked one of her nipples, swirling his tongue aroundit, and sinking his teeth into the sensitive flesh.
She cried out, her head falling backwards. He suckled the nipples, the sweet honey taste of her blood
flooding his mouth. He drew on the nipples then licked the wounds from his fangs before suckling the
second tight little peak, licking and teasing until he sunk his fangs into her.
The truck pulled into the driveway of the house he and Troy had rented together weeks before, where
he’d looked for Troy with no results.
Aiden suckled Kelly’s nipple, then released it, but before he could seal the wound, her mouth came down
on his. She kissed him hungrily, lapping at the blood on his lips. It was erotic, arousing. Powerful.
“We need to go inside,” Troy warned. “Before we get attention we don’t want.”
His brother’s voice jolted Aiden back to his senses. He tore his mouth from Kelly’s, drew her breasts to
his mouth and sealed her wound. But she was wild, touching him, kissing him, driving him crazy.
He shoved his hand in her hair, pulled her gaze to his. ”I know it hurts Sweetheart, but you have to
behave until I get you inside. Once we’re there, I’ll fuck you as long and hard as you want me to. You
have to be still and not draw attention to us until I get you there though. Can you do that for me?”
She blinked up at him, a moment of awareness touching her gaze. “Hurry,” she pleaded. “Please, hurry.”
Her pain was evident, and he sent her a mental command to sleep.
Aiden shifted her so she was across his lap again, so that he could carry her to the house. Troy covered
her with a windbreaker he’d had somewhere in the vehicle before Aiden slid out of the door and headed
to the porch.
A few seconds later, all three of them were inside the old historical white house. Kelly tossed around in
his arms, crying out in pain.
Aiden headed to his bedroom to the right, down a short hallway and set her down on the mattress. She
cried out again then screamed with pain. Her body jerked, her fingers curling into the blanket.
“Wake her up and undress,” Troy said quickly, about to climb onto the bed.
Possessiveness, and anger, roared inside Aiden and for an instant he actually wanted to rip his brother’s
throat out. He grabbed Troy by the shirt. “Touch her and you die.”
“This isn’t the fucking time for cock fights,” Troy growled. “She’s dying and don’t think I haven’t been
around. You won’t survive losing her.”
Kelly screamed and Aiden felt the pain in that scream all the way to his soul. He shoved Troy away from
him and Troy righted himself with just a little too much agility, climbing onto the bed and sitting against
the headboard. He pulled Kelly against him, her back to his chest, his hands covering her breasts,
tweaking her nipples.
Kelly moaned, this time with pleasure, the pain in her face relaxing. Realization came over him. This was
about pain and relief for her. About need. This wasn’t about him or Troy. This was about what would
save Kelly’s life. She wasn’t his to share or not share. She was his to save.
***
“Were going to take good care of you,” a male voice whispered near her ear, his fingers tugging and
twisting her nipples.
“Harder,” she pleaded. “Harder.” Fingers brushed her stomach, her thighs, the touch warm and
wonderful, yet painful. Why did the pleasure hurt? Why did the pain cause pleasure? Her skirt was tugged
down her hips. Someone was undressing her. Oh, thank you. Yes. Thank you. She wanted the clothes off.
She wanted to be fucked. “I need to come,” she panted. “I need to come now.”
“And you will,” the man promised, doing as she’d asked. She didn’t know who he was, she didn’t want
him here. She wanted Aiden. Yet the stranger was tugging and twisting her nipples and she was afraid
he’d stop, as surely as she wanted him to. Aiden was here and he trusted this man, and that meant
something to her. Aiden. She needed Aiden. “Aiden!” she cried out, lifting her head, trying to find him,
suddenly not sure where he was. He could make the pain go away.
“I’m here,” he said, kissing her stomach, his fingers sliding between her thighs, pressing inside her. “And
I’m not going anywhere. Lay back with Troy. Let me take care of you.”
Troy. She knew that name. She knew Troy. She slowly eased back against the no longer nameless man.
Aiden wanted her to, so she did. And he was kissing a delicious path downward. She didn’t want him to
stop.
“Hurry,” she cried out. “Hurry.” She wasn’t even sure what she wanted him to hurry and do. Only that it
was imperative that he did.
Warm heat slid between her legs – Aiden’s breath trickling along her core, a moment before his mouth
closed down on her clit, suckling her. She sank deeper into Troy’s arms, sensations blasting through her –
delicious, wonderful pleasure that eased the pain. Kelly moaned. ”Yes.” Her hands covered Troy’s,
melding them against her breasts, the rise of orgasm building inside her, taking her to the edge. One of
Aiden’s hands cupped her backside, as the other lifted one of her legs over his shoulder, before his fingers
slid back inside her, pumping into her. She exploded into release, spasms shaking her to the core. Finally,
finally relief.
But as sure as pleasure had come, the pain began again. “Oh God. It won’t stop. The pain won’t stop.”
He pulled her down beneath him, away from the other man, and only then did she realize he was naked,
his cock settling long and hard, between her thighs. “I’ll make it stop.” His long dark hair brushed her
face and in the midst of the pain, the burn, his beauty, his strength calmed her. Memories flooded her
mind – the Detective, the drug, the fear and pain.
“What if you can’t? I don’t want to die.”
“I can,” he promised, spreading her wider, sliding his cock against the sensitive folds of her body. “I
will.” He entered her, pressing inside her, stretching her. And in that moment, she believed he could, and
would, save her. She believed he would make the pain stop.
Chapter Sixteen
Kelly moaned at the welcome invasion of Aiden inside her. “Yes. Yes, Aiden. Deeper. Please, deeper.”
She felt no inhibition, no limits. The drug had made sure of that, the drug and the man she trusted to get
her through this. “Kiss me,” she ordered. “I need you to kiss me.”
Instantly, his mouth came down on hers, his tongue stroking hers, demanding and hot. Yes, so very hot.
She liked being hot. She wanted to be closer to him, to crawl under his skin. She didn’t want to know
where she stopped and where he started. She lost herself in the slide and grind of his cock.
“More,” she cried out. “More, Aiden.”
Aiden pushed to his hands, his powerful arms flexing, his face etched with passion. He pounded into her,
thrusting harder and harder, faster and faster. There was no pain. There was only Aiden. Aiden inside her.
Aiden on top of her. The pleasure. She wanted it, but it hurt. It hurt so much. She felt the rise of orgasm,
felt the pleasure of release, and braced for what came after it, the feeling of glass splintering through her
body.
She grabbed the sheet, held on as wave after wave of pleasure tumbled over her. Aiden kept pumping,
kept thrusting, and finally shaking with his own release.
The splinters started the instant he stopped moving. Her skin was acid, burning her from the outside in.
The glass was blades cutting her from the inside out. Wetness clung to her cheeks, and she thought she
might be sobbing, but her body was not her own. Her body was alien, a monster far worse than any
vampire.
Aiden buried his face in her neck, running his hand over her hair. “Talk to me, beautiful. Tell me what
you need.”
She dug her nails into something – maybe his back. She hoped it wasn’t his back. But she hurt. She hurt
beyond explanation. “Make it stop. Please. Make it stop.”
“I will,” he promised. “I will. It’s just going to take time.” He called over his shoulder. “Troy.”
“I’m here.”
Aiden shifted their bodies, rolling with her, so that they were facing each other, on their sides. His hand
stroked her hair, her cheek. Then suddenly, Troy was behind her, his hard body wrapping around her from
behind, his cock pressing against her back side.
“Aiden?” she asked, and then moaned as he kissed her in reply. He was still inside her, his shaft
thickening, expanding her. Troy’s fingers invaded her behind, stroking between her cheeks, pressing
between them with something wet and warm. Aiden’s hand caressed her breast, teased her nipples. His
teeth closed down around the swollen bud. Reality faded, and sizzling sensations took over her mind, her
body. There was no acid, no glass. There was just pleasure.
She gasped into Aiden’s mouth, as Troy pressed inside her, his cock entering her from behind. They were
both inside her now, both moving, both thrusting. Their hands traveled her body, all over her, and still,
she wanted more. She needed more. She needed them deeper and harder. She panted a plea, an order, a
scream.
She didn’t want them to stop, but she didn’t want to come. Please don’t let her come. The pain always
followed the pleasure. But she did, she came, she came hard, and fast, but there was no pain. They didn’t
let her feel the pain. They were both still inside her, still moving, still thrusting. Pumping, grinding. They
weren’t stopping, she realized, they weren’t going to stop fucking her until the pain went away. But, what
if the pain never went away? She must have said it out loud, because Aiden answered her.
“It will,” he promised, his teeth scarping her lip, his tongue soothing it. “The pain will go away but I
won’t.”
***
Hours had passed and Aiden held Kelly, tugging roughly at her nipples, while Troy settled between her
legs, his mouth clamping down on clit to suckle. He grabbed his phone and dialed Marcus, not sure what
the hell to do. Evan had called him a good dozen times and he’d taken one of calls. He’d told Evan to find
Marcus and hung up.
Even now, Kelly cried out at the loss of one of his hands on her body, further proof that she was no better
now than she had been when they’d first arrived at the house.
The phone rang and this time, to Aiden’s surprise, Marcus answered on the first ring. “Where the fuck are
you?” Aiden shouted into the phone.
Marcus materialized in the bedroom, his long blond hair sweeping his leather clad shoulders.
Aiden had no idea how Marcus materialized at will, and he didn’t care right now. “About damn time.
Where the fuck were you?”
“When have I ever not answered if I could?” Marcus asked sharply, his gaze taking in the scene before
him. He arched a brow. “And though I do appreciate the urgent invite to the obvious orgy, I gave them up
a few centuries back.”
“She was given the drug. Do something to help her.”
He faded away and reappeared with one knee on the bed.
“Aiden?” Kelly asked lifting her head to gape at Marcus.
“Call me Marcus sweetheart.” Marcus glanced at Aiden. “Shall I let Troy finish her or-”
Aiden growled. “Damn it Mar-”
Marcus touched her forehead and she instantly went limp. “Healing sleep for her body and mind,” he
said, standing up. “She’ll be fine when she wakes up, free of any emotional or physical distress.”
“Thank the good lord above,” Troy sighed, scrubbing his jaw and standing up. “I’m fucking exhausted.”
Aiden pulled the sheet over Kelly’s naked body. “You’re sure?” he asked Marcus. The man had some
freaky abilities, but this drug was pretty damn freaky itself.
“Positive,” he said. “I didn’t erase her memories. I didn’t know what information she might have that will
be helpful. It needs to be done though and quickly. When she wakes up, find out what we need to know,
then erase her memory and get her back to her life.”
It should be what Aiden wanted, it was what he was duty bound to do. Wardens protected the vampire
world from exposure, from the dangers of a race war. But it wasn’t simple with Kelly, and though some
of those reasons were personal, he focused on the one Marcus would care about.
“It’s not that simple,” Aiden said.
Marcus narrowed his eyes on Aiden. “There’s nothing complicated about the law. No human is left with
the memory of our vampire world. Those who do, inevitably end up dead.”
“Andres is still on the loose. He was there tonight. He’ll come for her. He knows she matters to me.”
Troy tugged his shirt over his head, his leather pants already back on. “Aiden’s right. She’s in too deep.
We can’t erase her memory, not if we want her to live. Besides, Aiden won’t tell you this but I will. He
loves her. He will be destroyed if he loses her which means you’ll end up losing a damn good Warden.”
Marcus studied Troy a long moment without reacting to his words. “You and I have business to attend so
don’t even think about leaving.” His gaze shifted to Aiden, his brow arching. “Are you petitioning for the
woman’s conversion? Because if you are, change her now. Leave the council no options. I’ll tell them I
approved it to save her life.”
“They could kill you for that,” Aiden said. “You have to know that.”
“Yes well, remember the council member that was feeding Andres information that almost go your
brother killed?” he asked, without waiting for an answer. “He was replaced with a certain female who is
rather fond of me. Besides, I owe you a debt of gratitude. Besides, I don’t die easily. In fact, I’m a good
thorn in many a side, and I love every second of it.”
“You owe me nothing,” he said, knowing Marcus referenced the secret he had long held of their Warden-
in-Charge, and had never revealed it to anyone, not even to his brothers. Aiden went still, icy inside,
unable to stand the idea of her hating him when she woke. “You saved Evan and his wife from sure death.
And I won’t change her without her permission.” Nor would he even allow himself hope that she might
welcome such a thing.
Marcus smiled. “You’re a good man, Aiden Brooks, too much so for your own good. You will protect
your new woman from my quarters inside the council headquarters. I will ensure her conversion is
approved, if she so chooses to take that path. Otherwise, you will wipe her memories, and return her to
her life.” He snapped his fingers and transported Aiden and Kelly to the inside of a plush bedroom and
the leather décor screamed of Marcus. And his heart screamed for the woman in his arms who’d seduced
him from the instant he’d set eyes on her.
***
Kelly blinked awake and jerked to a sitting position. “Aiden!”
“I’m here,” he said, quickly pulling her into his arms. “I’m here.” He stroked her hair. “You’re okay.
Everything is okay now.”
“Where is here?” she asked, looking around at the plush room. “What is this place?”
“The council headquarters,” he said. “This is the best place for you to recover safely. You’ve been asleep
almost a full twenty-four hours.”
“Because of the drug?” she asked. “That’s what happened, isn’t it? Wright gave me the drug.”
He nodded. “A high dose. You almost died.”
Memories rushed over her in a sudden, dizzying cluster. The parking lot, the stairs and the man with
orange eyes. The coppery taste of the drug and the sex. Lots and lots of sex. “Did we… did I? Did…” Her
chest tightened and she buried her face in his shoulder, fighting through the shadows in her mind. The
memories of being with Aiden and Troy came back to her.
“We saved your life, Kelly,” Aiden said, his hand stroking her back, soothing her with his touch, the
conviction of his words. “I had to save your life.”
He had to save her and he’d needed Troy. In her mind, she replayed the events, dug through the shadows
and found Aiden there protecting her, Aiden telling her he loved her over and over. Aiden desperately
trying to save her life, and Troy desperately trying to make sure his brother succeeded, that Kelly
survived. Troy who she’d all but written off as a monster, when Aiden had not. She understood Aiden’s
belief in Troy now, understood, and knew she had to help Aiden find answers for Troy.
“Let me help you save Troy,” she vowed, lifting her head to make sure he saw the promise in her eyes. “I
know you have to wipe my memories, but let me keep them, Aiden. No one has to know but us.”
His body tensed, his expression darkening. “I wanted to give you time to recover before we had this
conversation.”
Dread filled her, and she sat up, instantly on guard. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, realizing
then that she was wearing her Paris shirt from home. But Aiden was fully dressed in faded jeans and a
Texas Longhorn t-shirt, and the difference made her more insecure.
“This is where you tell me goodbye and erase my memories, right?”
“This is where I give you a choice.” He stood up, mimicking her position, crossing his arms in front of his
chest. They couldn’t have been more guarded if they held metal shields.
“What does that mean?” she asked, feeling desperate, her dread expanding, making her pulse race. “What
kind of choice?”
“I can wipe your memories or I convert you to vampire.”
“No I- “She frowned, certain she’d heard wrong. “I thought you couldn’t convert me? I thought it was
illegal.”
“It’s been given approval based on special circumstances,” he said. “Those circumstances being that
while Wright is now dead, Andres is still on the loose, and therefore, you could still be in danger. If you
choose to bypass conversion, we’ll offer you a safe haven here until Andes has been dealt with. Once he’s
out of the picture, we’ll take necessary steps to get you back to your life and your job, and wipe your
memories.”
She stared at him, searching his face, trying to understand why he was so withdrawn. More memories –
hers and his – flooded her mind with understanding. Memories of him losing his family, of the night he’d
told her about Darla. Of his claim that Darla had looked at him with hatred, that she thought he was a
monster and that was why he had hesitated to convert her. And then his certainty that she would see him
the way he believed Darla had as well – as a monster. But more than any memory, she remembered him
pulling her into his lap in her kitchen and telling her he ‘fucking’ loved her. He needed her to see past his
reserve, past his imaginary monster.
“I just have one question, Aiden.”
“Anything,” he said, his voice low and tight.
“If I convert,” she said. “Does that mean that I get to bite you too?”
His brows dipped. “What did you say?”
“You heard me. If I convert to vampire, do I get to bite you too? Because I should tell you right now that
I’m looking for an equal opportunity relationship. You bite me. I bite you.” Her voice softened. “I love
you. You love me. And right now, with you over there, and me over here, I’m wondering if you want me
to say no-“
He was there before she finished the words, kissing her, pulling her down onto the bed, beneath him, his
long, dark hair brushing her face. “Yes,” he said. “Yes is the answer I want from you. Yes, you will
convert. Yes, you want to convert. Yes, you will marry me. And yes, you can bite me as many damn
times as you want to. I love you, Kelly. More than I thought it possible to love a woman. But once this is
done, it’s done and I needed to know, I need to know that this is certain for you. I-”
She pressed her lips to his. “Absolutely,” It was the words she’d used when he’d first bitten her. “I love
you. Convert me. Do it now.” She turned her head, brushing her hair away. His lips caressed her cheek,
trailed over her jaw, to her ear. “I love you, Kelly,” he murmured softly, before she felt his teeth pierce
her skin. She moaned at the pleasure, seduced once again by the vampire, by the man, and absolutely
looking forward to proving her bite was just as hot as his.
Coming in November 2011
In bookstores and in e-book!
Sourcebooks Casablanca (November 2011)
ISBN-10: 1402251599
ISBN-13: 978-1402251597
The Hero: Sterling
He was created, molded, formed from life, love, and misery…
Lethally daring. Ruthlessly passionate. He invites death to his door. Welcomes it with each breath he
draws, each step he takes. And thus he is danger. A volatile storm that will sweep across the calm realms
of humanity and shake it to the depths of its core. And that storm is…Sterling.
Product Description
Award-winning, bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones is breaking out of series romance success into single
title with her fast-paced, paranormal romantic suspense series full of dark danger and sizzling hot passion.
Sterling Jeter, Renegade Super Soldier, is fearless, powerful, and wildly unpredictable. His life-
threatening mission is to save the beautiful, brilliant astrobiologist Rebecca Burns from ruthless villain
Adam Rain. But their immutable mutual attraction threatens to put them in the path of death... or worse...
EXCERPT:
His cheek brushed hers, whiskers erotically scraping against her skin, his breath warm against her ear as
he whispered, “If I instinctively know something so simple as how to order your dinner, think what else I
might know about you. What we might know about each other. How to tease each other… How to please
each other.”
There was an emptiness inside her that shuddered with hope, with a plea that he would drive it away, fill
it with something that wasn’t icy and cold.
He pulled back and looked at her, his eyes dark, passionate. Compelling. “No regrets, Becca,” he vowed,
and she knew he’d found those words in her head. Words she’d sworn to live by when she’d left that
German hospital without a cure. Words she’d spoken in her head in the lab earlier with him there.
She rolled them around inside her and let them take root, rewarded herself with a deep inhalation of
Sterling’s addictive, masculine scent. “No regrets,” she said softly.
A slow smile formed on his lips. “I love it when you agree with me,” he teased.
Becca laughed. “You’re crazy.”
“About you,” he said huskily.
She felt a little schoolgirl rush from that. In the past, she would have felt like the geeky bookworm with
the quarterback, uncomfortable and out of her league, but not with Sterling. Never before had a man taken
her from such dark emotions to laughter. A place she might just find real escape.
She pressed her hands to his face, her lips to his. Absorbing him. Breathing him in like a little piece of
life. They lingered that way, heat simmering between them. Expanding… drawing them in closer to one
another without ever moving.
His tongue flickered against her lips, pressed past her teeth as he slid it against hers for a long, sensual
taste. “Your kisses taste like honey,” he murmured. “What does the rest of you taste like?”
She shivered at the erotic comment—the promise he was going to find out. He kissed her again. Crazy-
wild, hot-kissed her, and she loved every second of it. Loved his tongue, his lips, and his hands sliding
through her hair, over her face.
Becca ran her fingers through his thick, blond hair. She loved his hair—a little wild like him. Hot like him
too. With each stroke of his tongue, each touch of his lips, she felt liberated.
Her palms traveled over his chest—warm, hard muscle, her reward. She was extremely, intensely
interested in those muscles, like the best science project in the world that had to be studied. She explored
his arms, his biceps, how they felt beneath her palms. Inching forward in her chair, she arched into him,
for research purposes, of course. To explore how he would feel pressed close to her. Her breasts ached for
his touch, her nipples tight and swollen, in need of his mouth. God. Had she really just had that brazen
thought? She was a good girl; she always had been.
His hands slid over her breasts, fingers teased the stiff peaks of her nipples. Her hands covered his,
silently telling him she wanted more, because she couldn’t ask or demand. Because she was still that
“good girl” at heart and couldn’t seem to let it go.
But she didn’t want to be a good girl. If anyone knew the meaning of “life is short,” she did. Becca ran
her lips over his jaw, hid her face in his neck, and nibbled as she said, “You know what I want?”
He slid his hands around her waist. “If you say Chinese food, I’m going to object.”
“I’ll give you a choice then,” she said, feeling braver with his jest. “Feed me, or take off your clothes.”
“I’m all for getting naked, if you are,” he quickly agreed.
“You first,” she bargained.
And while the idea of standing in front of him naked, him fully clothed, would make her feel vulnerable,
exposed, it apparently had none of those effects on him.
“Okay,” he said, unaffected by the idea as he pushed to his feet and started undressing. And only seconds
later, he stood there in all his naked glory, and she sat there, fully clothed.
Sterling uses humor and flippant remarks to mask those wounds so I thought I'd share a few fun
“STERLINGISMS” as I call them.
"We Renegades write our own rules. The good, bendable kind that let me kick your ass all over
the curb and then do it again just for fun.”
****
After being punched -- "Feels Good"
****
“You don’t know the meaning of ‘wait,’ do you?” Caleb asked.
Sterling grinned. “You wouldn’t love me if I did.”
****
“I’ll be taking that vial of ICE you got there in your pocket. Then you can mosey on along and
take the rest of your lifetime on vacation. You know, do whatever retired drug dealers do. Play
the casino tables. Watch SpongeBob for all I care. Just get the hell off my streets.”
****
“You’re the suit-wearing, talk-down-to-you, and then bust-your-wallet-in-the-balls, kind of
asshole. I’m the dirty-boxing, back-alley kind of asshole.”
***
Sterling’s lips twisted with a wry taunt. “The next two bullets won’t hit the ground. Think of all
those little bones in your feet blasted away by the steel force of a bullet.” He shook his head.
“Ouch. That hurts just thinking about it. Even on an ICE high, that’s gonna bite like a bitch.
After that, we’ll move upwards.” He pointed the gun at Mohawk’s knee. Then his thigh. Then
shoved the gun toward his crotch. “About midway up is where all the fun starts. If I blow it off,
will ICE grow it back? Wanna find out?”
***
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