STORY EXCERPT

“Die, you son of a bitch.” Rick mercilessly drove the blade into the changeling’s throat with a heavy thrust, grunting as he used his boot to push the man away from him. The loud explosions sounded all around him, but he kept moving. The mercenaries had infiltrated the small town they had settled in for the night, and Rick was determined to show them that violence, despair, and death were going to be their only reward.

They finally had the upper hand in this war and Rick was not going to lose that edge.

Dorian was off to his right, his skills with a gun first-rate. It amazed Rick how much his mate had learned since the war between humans and nonhumans had begun. The man was an expert shot now, able to take down a target long-range.

“More mercenaries are moving in,” Benito warned.

“Let them,” Rick replied furiously. He grabbed his rocket launcher from the ground where he had dropped it and hoisted it up onto his shoulder. Focusing, he aimed at the approaching convoy and fired. Both Rick and Benito dropped to the concrete when gunshots sprayed over their heads, but the loud blast told Rick he had hit his mark.

It had been six months since Rick had gone on-air. He had announced to the world about the government’s plan. They wanted to unleash a virus that would not only make the entire world sterile, but it would take away the changelings’ ability to shift into their beasts. It would also give humans cancer.

At first, nothing had come from his broadcast, but slowly, over the past few months, Rick noticed a shift in the war. There were fewer soldiers out here fighting, more Rebellion groups forming, and they were finally winning.

But the number of Breed Hunters—groups of humans hell-bent on killing anything nonhuman—hadn’t declined. Figures. Cockroaches were hard as hell to kill.

Currently, Rick and his Rebellion group were fighting changeling mercenaries—his own fucking species who decided they liked money more than keeping their species alive. They were paid by private corporations to kill as many animals as they could.

But once Rick had made his on-air announcement, Dyson Pharmaceuticals, the leading company funding the mercenaries, backed out, withdrawing their funds as well. To say the mercenaries were pissed was an understatement. They seemed to be crawling out of the woodwork and coming after Rick with a hard-on.

“Running out of ammo,” Benito warned. “Tell me you got extra.”

“Nate!” Rick called over to his top enforcer, who was currently fighting two changeling mercenaries. Nate was a big man, huge even by changeling standards, and able to do some serious damage when pissed off. When the werewolf changeling glanced Rick’s way, he asked, “Got any extra ammo?”

Nate finished off the two he was fighting and then tossed Rick two clips. Rick caught them midair and handed them off to Benito.

He caught sight of his mate, Dorian, heading Rick’s way, a look of determination and panic in his Peruvian-brown eyes. Rick immediately scanned the area, his heightened changeling senses searching for the cause of Dorian’s alarmed expression.

They may be fighting mercenaries, but Rick knew Dorian wouldn’t let that worry him. It had been over a year since Dorian had been arrested for three murders he didn’t commit. In that period, the man had proven time and again he had a steel backbone.

“What is it?” he asked when Dorian drew close. Rick didn’t like to see anything but a smile on his mate’s face. Anything else was offending to his senses. Since mating Rick, Dorian hadn’t had a peaceful night’s rest. He could tell it was wearing on his mate. The dark circles under the man’s eyes were testimony to that. Dorian was quieter as well, despite the joviality he sometimes displayed.

He knew his mate. After over a year of living with their growing bond, he knew Dorian like the back of his hand. Something was changing in the man, and Rick wasn’t certain it was for the better.

“The mercenaries are running.”

Rick set the rocket launcher on the ground beside him and picked his rifle up, checking the clip. “That is a good thing.”

Dorian shook his head, his eyes flickering around the area. Rick hadn’t seen Dorian this nervous since they first starting running from the madness. Even as Dorian spoke, a strange sense of dread entered Rick’s mind. “Something has spooked them.”

Stilling, Rick glanced around as well. He was now on high alert, wondering what had scared the changeling mercenaries. “Do you know what frightened them, gatito?”

Dorian gave a quick jerk to his head. “No, but I saw them scenting the air before they took off.”

“Damn strange,” Benito said as he stood, glancing around the small town. “Maybe they smelled their money slipping from their fingers since the big corporations are backing out of funding them.”

Even with the dead bodies scattered all around him, Rick could scent another kind of death, a decaying smell that only came with the oldest of graveyards.

He’s coming.

ADULT EXCERPT

“Are you rubbing your scent all over me, marking me?” Salvador asked, this time humor floating around his words as his eyes gleamed with pleasure.

Omar hadn’t realized what he’d been doing. Now that he thought about it, he’d never rubbed all over another man before. It had always been a quick fuck and a good time—except when he was blackmailed by that detective—but he’d never rubbed all over anyone before.

“Maybe I am.” Omar glanced down at the tanned and gleaming chest. It was lean, strong, and damn near perfect. He loved the sculpted way Salvador was formed.

The man was utterly perfect.

His hands ran over the bare flesh, his nails scraping lightly, small red marks appearing along the way. “Maybe I am,” he repeated more slowly this time.

Glancing down Salvador’s body, just above where Omar was sitting, he saw the outline of Salvador’s erection. It was full, stretched wide, and left little to the imagination. Omar released the snap on Salvador’s pants, pulling the zipper down until he saw the moist head of Salvador’s cock peeking out.

The vampire’s tongue licked at Omar’s nipple, his lips nibbling sporadically. Omar gasped, his head arching back as that rough, rasping tongue stroked over Omar’s heated flesh. Oh, that was good. Real good. Hot, with a gentle abrasion that had Omar panting as Salvador moved slowly to the other nipple.

He glanced down at his mate, staring into the deep pools of black as he snaked his hand into Salvador’s jeans and massaged the heated flesh. It was hard, but felt like liquid silk under his fingers with the pre-cum leaking over Omar’s fingers.

Lifting his hand to his mouth, Omar sucked his fingers in, the taste rolling over his taste buds like nectar to a bee. He groaned, licking each finger clean before he pulled at the waistband of Salvador’s pants, chasing the material down Salvador’s body until he could toss the fabric aside.

Salvador lay there stunningly naked now, exposed to Omar’s appreciative eyes. Omar saw deep scars on Salvador’s thighs, but didn’t say a word. It made the man no less attractive in his eyes, although Omar wondered where he had gotten the scars from. He drank the man in as he pushed Salvador’s thighs apart. Salvador didn’t hesitate. He parted his legs, showing off the sexiest thing Omar had ever seen. A male’s body was such a sculpted piece of art to Omar, so perfect, so exotic. He found himself wanting to rub his scent over Salvador again.

The urge was strong, compelling him to lean forward until his stomach was touching Salvador’s erection. He rubbed his body over Salvador’s length, feeling the pre-cum trailing over his skin.

“Marking me again?” Salvador asked, his voice wrapped around Omar, touching him in the wickedest of places. Omar grinned as he pushed his body down the length of Salvador until his head was even with Salvador’s weeping cock.

“I don’t understand the compulsion.”

“It is the need to be close to your mate,” Salvador answered as his hands wandered down Omar’s sides, resting on his hips. He knew what Salvador was talking about. There was a pull that was almost maddening in his mind. Omar wanted to sink deep into the man’s soul and never come out.

It was a need so strong that Omar let it wash over him and carry him under.

He needed to taste Salvador.

Omar licked a path to Salvador’s cock. He nuzzled in the wiry curls before licking his way up the fully hard shaft and sucking at the engorged head to savor Salvador’s pre-cum. As he swallowed, Omar felt a large hand on his head and looked up to see Salvador gazing down at him. Not only were the man’s eyes filled with hunger, but to Omar’s amazement, they were filled with love as well.

Salvador loved him.

The strange scent in the air was wild, untamed, and pulled at Omar’s heart. He had gone from disliking vampires and hating humans to knowing in the depths of his soul that he loved Salvador and Freedman.

“You are a beautiful creature,” Salvador said as he brushed his knuckles over Omar’s cheeks. “Suck me, meu destino.”

Salvador’s fingers caressed Omar’s jaw, almost begging Omar to show Salvador just what he could do with his lips. Omar leaned forward, engulfing Salvador’s cock into his mouth. Salvador groaned out his pleasure as Omar swallowed the erection to the root. Using his tongue, Omar laved the tender depression beneath the swollen crown and then tongue-fucked the tiny slit, licking away the salty taste of Salvador’s desires.

“So perfect,” Salvador hissed as he pulled his finger free, placing his hand back onto the floor. Omar cupped the back of Salvador’s knees, pushing the man’s legs back as he worked his mouth over Salvador’s cock. His jeans became too tight, too confining, and Omar wanted to stop to pull them off, but wouldn’t let the cock slip free long enough to get the jeans free.

Salvador pushed his legs back, wrapping them around Omar’s shoulders, pulling him closer as his fingers dug deeper into the carpet. Omar’s chin brushed over Salvador’s sac and felt that it was drawn close to Salvador’s body. Reaching around his mate, Omar played at Salvador’s hole, pressing his fingers against the throbbing muscle, but not entering.

“Only for you,” Salvador whispered as his legs tightened around Omar’s shoulders in a death grip. “Only for you, little warrior.”

Omar reached his hand up, coating his fingers with his saliva before placing them back at Salvador’s entrance, pushing three fingers deep into Salvador’s tight body. Salvador shouted, and his hips bucked, pushing his cock to the back of Omar’s mouth as hot seed spilt down Omar’s throat. He drank it like a dying man, pulling every last drop from Salvador’s thick cock.

Omar let Salvador’s dick slide from between his lips as he leaned back, pushing his pants down his legs, and then kicked them off. “Lube?”