STORY EXCERPT

“Please.” The heap moaned and moved until the man was on hands and knees. The broad back of a large, muscular man spread out in front of her under a dark coat painted in last week’s trash. His movements were slow and awkward, almost jerky. Willie wondered if he was drunk or high. That would explain the uncoordinated movements. She didn’t smell any strong alcohol rolling off the man, though, so perhaps it was a medical concern. The scent of vampire was stronger, and she scanned the rooftops trying to catch a glimpse of the bloodsucker. She hoped that the owner of the scent wasn’t too close to this location. She really didn’t want to be forced into a fight tonight.

“Okay, bud. Just let’s move nice and slow.” Willie approached him with the blade held against her right leg as she offered her left hand to him. She was surprised by the power in the man’s grip when he grasped her arm and pulled himself up to his feet. She grabbed his arm when he wavered, tilting precariously. She looked him over quickly while helping him stay on his feet. Tall, handsome in an old-fashioned chiseled way, and vampire. Well, shit, there went her night.

As quickly as she could, Willie ripped her hand away from the man and sank into a fighting stance. She backed away a few steps and waited, poised on the balls of her feet. She breathed in the night and let her vampire out to play. She rolled her head on her shoulders, loosening up her muscles. Canines extended from her top and bottom jaws, filling her mouth and gums with extra inches of teeth. She yawned wide like a lion to seat her teeth and lips around the additional lengths. She was surprised that her mountain lioness woke from her normal slumber to take notice of the man in front of her. The lioness stretched in her mind and swung her nose up to catch a whiff of his scent. Well, hell, this was definitely something she didn’t need tonight. A slight growl rumbled from her chest as the powers inherent to vampires and shifters coursed through her system. A slight rush of adrenaline heightened her senses and made her morbidly giddy with the prospect of a battle.

She watched the vamp try to steady himself. He’d stumbled awkwardly after she jerked her hand from his. He bent forward and groaned as his head hung and his arms shook while propped against his legs. He wavered slightly on his feet but didn’t fall. Willie waited for him to give up the charade of being ill and attack her, but after a few moments of no movement, she started to question his behavior. Could a vampire be sick?

“Look, I know what you are, and you probably know what I am. Let’s just get this over with.” Willie wanted to get the fight on, but she wouldn’t attack until he made the first move. Robert had taught her to always take a defensive attitude with vampires. Sometimes giving her opponent an extra few seconds to study her made them second-guess an attack. With this vamp, she hoped that she wouldn’t have to fight him. She could decapitate him in this position, though, all bent over and not watching her. Damn my morals.

“There’s something wrong with me,” he groaned. He slowly shook his head back and forth, still not looking up. His short, spiky black hair moved stiffly on his head. “My head’s all fuzzy. I can’t think.”

She watched him for another moment and then decided that she wasn’t going to stand and watch him any longer. Waiting for him to spring at her was a dumb move. If there really was something wrong with this vamp, then it was her lucky night. She could walk away without getting sweaty or bloody. She stood from her stance and cautiously took a step away from him, watching for any flicker of movement. When nothing happened, she took another step away, backing toward the street. She willed her fangs back into her gums and rubbed absently at her teeth as they receded. She turned when she reached the sidewalk and took one last look at the man, still hunched over in the alley, before heading off at a fast pace. She made it three steps before she sensed movement behind her. Shit.

“Please, I won’t hurt you. I just need help getting home. I don’t know what I’m doing in this alley,” he whispered. His voice was gravelly and deep, pulling a shudder from her. The vamp had made it to the sidewalk and was standing shakily ten feet behind her.

“Look, I don’t know what game you’re playing, but if you’re going to attack me, let’s just get it over with, shall we?” Willie stepped a few more feet back from the mouth of the alley. She still carried her blade and was willing to bleed the idiot if necessary.

“I don’t want to fight you. I need your help, please.” He stumbled forward a pace and sank to his knees with a pained moan. “My name is Nickola, Nick. I swear an oath to you right now that I won’t harm you. I just need to get home.”

Willie studied Nick with every sense she could. He couldn’t be drunk because alcohol didn’t affect vamps. He couldn’t be high either because the drugs that affected humans just didn’t have the same hold on vamps. He could be suffering from starvation. She knew from experience that not feeding caused weakness and disorientation. He wasn’t acting disoriented or like he was hallucinating, though. He was weak and perhaps injured. She tilted her head and sniffed again. She couldn’t smell any blood, of any kind, on him, though.

ADULT EXCERPT

Willie covered her face and turned to hide the change. Shit. She didn’t even know she was close enough to shifting that her eyes had changed. Her cougar was actually quiet, waiting to finish the claiming. A firm hand wrapped around her arm, turning her. She glanced up into Nick’s eyes and relaxed. He wasn’t disgusted. He was grinning at her.

“Please don’t hide from me. You’re beautiful like this.” He pulled her into his chest, and she went willingly. She loved the solid feel of his arms around her. He bent down and captured her lips, slowly delving into her mouth for a soul-scorching kiss. One of his hands slid down her back and cupped her ass, pulling her closer to his body. She loved the feel of his hard cock against her belly. She ached to have him inside her.

He moved them back toward the bed and pressed her down onto it without breaking the kiss. When her head hit the mattress, he released her mouth and kissed down her neck. He groaned as he lifted off her enough to get his hands on the hem of her shirt. “I’m not going to stop this time, Willie. I’m going to be inside you, moving and coming. I so need to feel you around me.”

His hands pushed her shirt up off her arms. Deft fingers unhooked her bra and slid the straps off her arms, adding it the pile of clothing on the floor. He slid his palms down her sides and pushed her pants and panties down her hips. His eyes almost burned her with the intensity of his gaze as he watched his hands move over her body. She felt naked in both body and soul under his gaze. She’d never experienced someone looking at her with reverence. It brought a blush to her skin, flushing her a light pink. His eyes traveled back to her face and caught her gaze and held it as he slowly stripped off his own clothes, dropping them onto the floor.

She reached for him, resenting the space between them. She needed to feel his skin against hers almost more than she needed oxygen. She slid her hands around his waist and pulled their bodies together. With a few steps backward, she found the edge of the bed. She pulled him with her as she dropped back onto the mattress. A quick flip had him under her. She grinned at the look of surprise on his face.

“I’m too impatient for foreplay.” She bent forward and kissed him with every ounce of her need. She could taste her own blood still on his tongue, and it made her almost lose her grip on her cougar. She needed to finish the mating, needed his seed hot and sticky inside her body. A growl bubbled up from her chest, and she nipped him on the chin. “I hope you didn’t want slow and sweet because I just can’t handle that this time.”

Before he could answer her, she shifted her lower body and captured the tip of his cock within her folds. She watched his eyes open with surprise as she slid smoothly down his shaft. A gasp of wonder whispered over her lips as she took him to the hilt within her body. He fit her perfectly, stroking those hidden places that only a cock could reach. She savored the feel of him stretching her before she started moving. The rhythm she used would bring them both to the edge too fast, but she needed the release so badly. Nick’s hands clasped her hips and helped her move on his shaft.

“I need something. I need to bite you again,” she moaned. She moved on his cock faster, pushing down on him with each slide. She needed him further inside, buried deeply in her body and soul.

“Take what you want from me. I’m yours.”