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A Total-E-Bound Publication
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Shocked ISBN #978-0-85715-838-3 ©Copyright Amy Valenti 2011 Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright December 2011 Edited by Rebecca Hill Total-E-Bound Publishing This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Total-E-Bound Publishing. Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Total-E-Bound Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution. The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork. Published in 2011 by Total-E-Bound Publishing, Think Tank, Ruston Way, Lincoln, LN6 7FL, United Kingdom.
Warning: This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has a heat rating of Total-e-sizzling and a sexometer of 2. This story contains 49 pages, additionally there is also a free excerpt at the end of the book containing 8 pages.
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SHOCKED Amy Valenti
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One wants to drain her. The other just wants her... Nick is a psivore—he feeds from the life forces of humans, and he’s not the only one of his kind. He’s been tracking a vicious killer for months, and he’s pretty sure where his enemy will strike next. Lissa has the strongest life force in the area, but she doesn’t even know it. When Nick tracks her to a club, hoping the killer will show up to drain her energy, it’s lust at first sight. Can he protect her from the violent intentions of the psivore he seeks, and will Lissa accept him for who—and what—he is?
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Dedication For Bunny, Hanne, Lisa, Ulrika, Jo, Vic, Robin, Lisa2 and Mandy. November 2011 was fantastic thanks to you guys!
Trademarks Acknowledgement The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction: Alice in Wonderland: Disney Red Bull: Red Bull GmbH Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Mutant Enemy Productions
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Chapter One
Lissa Ford often wondered when she’d find her very own rabbit hole to fall down. All her life, she’d been so curious that she could give her cat, a sarcastic-looking tabby named Sherlock, a run for his money. As a child, she’d wandered through the woods, poking sticks into bushes to see what would scurry out, and had even investigated a few holes in the ground once she’d seen the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland. She’d been captivated by the idea that a different world could exist somewhere, if she could only find it. She never had. As she’d grown older, her focus had shifted to more conventional, educational avenues of exploration, and here she was, nearly thirty years later, a fully qualified clinical biologist with plenty of research to do. Her focus was now on the wonders of undiscovered science rather than Wonderland itself. She loved her work and the way the results of her research often surprised her. Not that it stopped her from reading fantastical tales about mythical creatures and supernatural predators in the night. After all, ‘scientist’ didn’t have to mean ‘sceptic’. Lissa ran her fingers over the spines of her book collection with a small smile. Unicorns…well, they were out. She was far from virginal by this point in her life. Werewolves…Lissa knew enough about human anatomy to know that it was not flexible enough to contort like that. Vampires…now that would be an interesting one. Not that she actively believed in such things, but if enough genetic anomalies were grouped together… “Lissa, the cab’s here!” Annie had come over to use her straighteners before their big night out, and she was on taxi lookout duty. Lissa took one last glance in the mirror, checking her hair and makeup before joining her friend at the apartment door and running downstairs to the waiting taxi. Tonight there would be no work, no fairytales—just lots of dancing, plenty of Red Bull and maybe even a cute guy or two.
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Chapter Two
He’d been tracking a specific thread of energy for three blocks. The hunger was a persistent tingle in his brain that occasionally spasmed into a full-blown electric shock, and the energy source that had caught his attention would be more than enough to satisfy his craving. Nick Callaghan had finally caught a break. If it was enough to get his attention, then it’d be a beacon to the sick fuck he’d been tracking for months, too. All he had to do was locate this energy source, and it was a pretty good bet he’d cross paths with Steven Taylor. There was compatible energy all around him, of course. Humans were everywhere, especially on a Saturday night downtown. Though Nick had never been human, he looked like one, and that was an advantage he was thankful for in everyday life. His perception of human sources was like a radio channel in his mind, faded almost to mute most of the time. When he tuned in to it, the sources crackled in his sixth-sense perception, somewhere between static-like sound and the tingle of pins and needles. Invisible trails threaded through the night, lingering in the wake of their nearby sources before fading altogether. The particular energy trail he was following was more promising than any of the other humans that surrounded him—a woman in her early thirties, brimming with a liveliness that was uncharacteristic for someone her age. There were easier, more convenient targets in the area, but Nick had been tracking Taylor for months. He knew the bastard. As far as Taylor was concerned, the more energy the meal could offer the better. Never mind that leaving a human alive allowed you to share their energy for days afterwards. That wasn’t the way Taylor’s mind worked. “All or nothin’, Nicky!” he’d taunted, before letting Yvonne’s lifeless body fall to the ground. Nick hadn’t stopped tracking the motherfucker since that night. It was starting to wear thin, particularly because he hardly dared to drop his guard enough to feed. www.total-e-bound.com
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Another buzzing shock vibrated through his brain and, with an irritated sigh, he veered into the coffee shop on the next corner. Caffeine was a poor substitute for the energy he needed, and he couldn’t subsist on it for long, but at least it would banish the brain shocks for another hour or two. If he went in too hungry, he could be incapacitated during the showdown. While he waited for the strong, bitter black coffee, he mentally gauged the distance between him and the woman who had caught his attention. She was relatively close, and not getting any farther away; he was in no danger of losing her. From the way his sense of her shifted, she was probably dancing in one of the clubs down the street. She was in no distress, which meant that, for now, she was safe. He could just feed from the homeless man in the alley behind the coffee shop, but once he’d started, he’d be preoccupied. If Taylor made his move, he might not be able to pull away fast enough to go to her aid. Better to grab a coffee and stay on the move. Nick sipped from the large paper cup as he continued down the street, his steps unhurried. By the time he reached the club, he’d finished the still-scorching coffee and tossed the empty cup into the trash. The club’s name was Pounce, and he acknowledged the irony with a quick grin. A lot of the humans within were drifting on drug-highs, but not the one he was trying to find. Instead of the slightly unhinged crackle of narcotic-induced mania, her signature was pulsing with life and joy and enthusiasm. God, he was hungry. Hopefully, Taylor felt the same way. Sending a quick wave of electrical disorientation through the staff members who manned the doors, Nick stepped into the darkness without paying the entry charge. Down some steps and through a short corridor, he emerged into the main room, which was vast, obscenely noisy and filled with humans gyrating, chattering, drinking. His stomach growled, but he ignored the multitude of healthy, mostly alcohol-tainted energy sources around him and zeroed in on the one he’d been following. It took him a while to locate her—he stuck to the edges of the chaotic dance floor, and she, unsurprisingly, seemed to be in the middle of it. After a few minutes, she began to head in his direction, and he scanned the crowd, waiting for her to emerge. Then, breathless and overheated and smiling widely, she did. www.total-e-bound.com
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At first, he thought he was mistaken—she looked younger than her energy signature told him she was—but she was talking to the woman beside her so animatedly, barely pausing for breath, that it could only be her. As she walked by him her aura brushed his—a warm, silken, tingling sensation. Even as his hunger grew, another impulse stirred within him. This close, he could feel her pulse pounding through her aura, and his own instinctively matched its rhythm. Unlike the vampires of human folklore, his heart beat like a human’s. He wasn’t dead, although he would be once his heart stilled and his brain function ceased. He was as mortal as any human—his appetites differed, but that was one of the few traits that separated their two species. As if sensing his interest, she frowned and looked about her, her dark hair swinging around her face. Nick averted his gaze until her scrutiny passed him by, occupying himself with another pressing thought—where the hell was Taylor? He had to be close by. Had to be. Because, if Nick was wrong, another innocent would die while he babysat a human who was perfectly safe. Shaking his head, he tried to ignore the ever-sharpening shocks of hunger. If only he could sense his own kind the way he could his prey. Taylor was an energy dead zone, though. There was one benefit to that—Taylor wouldn’t be able to sense Nick, either. Having said that, he’d be able to recognise Nick pretty well. He’d have to keep his distance from the woman, give Taylor a chance to strike. He glanced around him, noticing a door behind a velvet rope in one corner. His senses told him there were no humans in the room beyond, which made it a likely place for Taylor to lure her. Assuming she was willing to be lured. He looked back towards his prey, startled to find her leaning against the wall only two feet away, her face turned away from him. Her friend was walking towards the restroom, leaving her alone and vulnerable. At this distance, he could reach out and touch her. That would be a bad move, here in public—most humans were quiet and docile during the feed, but there had been instances where their reactions might have brought him unwanted attention. She had a tattoo of a lizard’s silhouette inked into her neck. Though he didn’t need contact with the area in order to drain her, he was curious all the same. His fascination www.total-e-bound.com
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wandered to the sinfully short skirt she was wearing, the elaborate ties that anchored her shirt in place and the thin leather choker around her throat. Abruptly, she sidestepped to allow another club patron to stand with his group of friends, and the back of her hand brushed Nick’s forearm before he could anticipate and avoid the touch. His hunger flared and the feed began before he could stop it—his aura fused with hers and the tingling connection began to siphon energy from her. She sensed it—though she didn’t know what she was sensing—and whirled to stare at him with wide eyes. The eye contact only strengthened the drain, and she gasped for breath, swaying on her feet. If he didn’t stop, her disorientation would eventually culminate in a faint. Get away from her, Nick. Get away or he’ll see you, and he’ll go somewhere else to feed. Don’t let your appetite and your dick get in the way of vengeance. With an effort, Nick halted the feed, taking a step back and riding out the pain of the electric hunger that pulsed through his brain. She swayed on her feet, putting one hand out to the wall to support herself. When she spoke, her voice was muted beneath the club’s soundtrack, but he read her lips easily. “What are you?” Her breathing was fast and light, and her darkly made-up eyes captivated him. He needed so much more than to tap her energy reserves, so much fucking more. Every instinct screamed at him to pin her against the wall, feel her hot breath against his skin, slam into her time and again until she gasped and shuddered and clung to him with a cry of release. And then—only then—would he allow himself to climax, and to feed until she could give him no more. Instead of answering her question, he walked away. With any luck, Taylor hadn’t found her yet, hadn’t seen him with her. Ducking into the crowd, he wove through the mass of lesser energy sources, taking an elaborate route to the door behind the velvet rope, where he knew he’d gain the respite he needed to collect himself. He sensed her somewhere behind him, in pursuit, but his head buzzed a protest at the too-soon-interrupted meal, and it was hard to keep track of her through the electric tremors in his brain. Once he’d reached the door to the combined storeroom and office, he was fairly sure he’d shaken her. www.total-e-bound.com
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That was until her aura collided with his again, burning a shower of phantom sparks into his skin. She pushed through the door after him, shutting it behind her and fixing him with a stare that was both analytical and fascinated. “What did you do to me?”
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Chapter Three
Lissa’s head was buzzing with something that was definitely not a caffeine high, and she gazed at the scowling, hungry-eyed man—very attractive man, she couldn’t help but think—with rapidly growing curiosity. “What did you do to me?” He took a step away, as though holding himself back from something. She didn’t even know what had happened out there—one second she’d been stepping aside to let someone get by, and the next her hand had brushed this guy’s arm and she’d seen sparks. Felt sparks. And that made no sense, because it wasn’t until she’d turned and looked at him that she’d even realised he was attractive. “Get out of here,” he ordered in a low growl, reminding her almost of a cornered animal—trapped and ready to defend himself if necessary. “I’m Lissa,” she introduced herself, not bothering to hold out her hand for him to shake—he wouldn’t take it if she did. He hesitated, then nodded acknowledgment. “Nick. And you need to leave. Now.” “Not until you tell me how you just gave me the electric shock of my life.” She stepped closer and his jaw tightened. Another step, and she halted with a gasp—the air between them seemed to crackle with an energy she couldn’t explain. Her skin prickled with phantom pins and needles and she swayed forward as if there was a magnetic force connecting them. She’d wanted him the moment she saw him—now she’d never wanted anything more in her life. All her common sense had flown from her brain, and she was acting on an instinct she was sure had nothing to do with selfpreservation. “Stay back.” His voice was sharp and commanding. Lissa obeyed without thinking. “What’s happening?” “I can’t hold it back for much longer, and the closer you are, the sooner I’ll break.” The force field between them was invisible, but it coated her skin, and his voice was a soft vibration through the molecules that separated them. With a light shiver, she whispered, “What happens if you break?” “Are you really willing to find out?” www.total-e-bound.com
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She stayed where she was, not testing him by moving forward but not retreating, either. “Is it dangerous?” He stepped back another pace and turned away from her, picking up one of the many disorganised files strewn on the desk as if to distract himself. “Not if I can help it.” The whole situation was so insane, and it wasn’t an entirely reassuring answer. Okay, so she’d always believed in the paranormal to a certain degree, but she had no idea exactly what kind of paranormal she was dealing with. Do you really wanna tangle with this guy? The thing that confused and thrilled her most was that the answer was still ‘yes’. Half of her longing was curiosity, because what he’d done to her out there shouldn’t be possible. The other half was based purely on her racing pulse, the slight catch to her breath, the warm flush of her skin… Tangle with him? That was the PG-13 version of what she wanted to do. Before she could organise the chaotic tumult of her thoughts, a tremor ran through Nick’s body, slight, but visible. Could be a trick, Lissa thought, but her intuition discarded that thought. “Say I volunteered to give you what you needed. What would you take from me? Blood?” “Energy.” His voice was so low that she had to strain to hear it. “Some, not all. Most people feel sleepy afterwards, like they could use a coffee or a nap.” He gritted his teeth against whatever was happening to him, and Lissa frowned. “If it’s as safe as you’re saying it is, go ahead.” Nick’s incredulous glance only lasted a second. Abruptly, he flinched and closed his eyes, as though he was in pain. “You’re volunteering?” Lissa moved through the prickling force field before her brain could justify or protest against her judgement. When she got close enough, she held her hand out towards him. “Take it.” He shouldered past her, walking to the opposite side of the room. “I can’t.” Confused by his attitude, Lissa sat on the edge of the desk and watched him. “Look, you’re obviously in pain. If I can help…” He laughed bitterly. “You’re helping already. You just don’t know it yet.” Okay, that sounds ominous.
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She wondered if she should just leave him to it. Maybe she was imagining things— someone had spiked her drink, or she was dehydrated from dancing, or something. Yeah. I’m hallucinating, and he’s just some gorgeous crazy guy with a migraine, escaped from the local loony bin, and I should just go back to my friends and forget this ever happened. Still, her feet didn’t want to move. Knowing herself as she did, Lissa was pretty sure it was those striking blue eyes that had her rooted to the spot. That, or those tight black jeans— Enough! She’d got into the habit of sternly talking herself through these moments of weakness, and she walked towards the door, suppressing a shiver as those phantom pins and needles began to dance over her skin again. If it was a hallucination, it was a pretty specific one, but she could worry about the details later. Just as she reached out for the door handle, he spoke, quietly but with an intensity that made her pause. “Stay. You’ll be safer in here.” She fought her instincts and won, turning the door handle and pulling the door open a crack. Before she could work out how to say goodbye to this mysterious man, something hit the outside of the door with tremendous force, slamming the solid wooden slab into her and knocking her to the floor a good three feet away. She was a little disorientated, but the fall hadn’t done her any major damage—she hadn’t had time to tense up in anticipation of a blow. She was shocked, though. Shocked, and pissed off. “What the fuck…?” Dazed, she registered someone laughing, then the slam of the door behind whoever had come in. “Nice of you to wait here in such a private spot for me. It’s not usually this easy, I’ll admit.” “It’s easy for a reason.” Before Lissa had even processed the fact that a tall, blond guy was closing in on her, Nick had charged at him, knocking the newcomer off his feet. They landed hard on the frayed carpeting, but the new guy twisted and kicked out at Nick before he’d even orientated himself, and Lissa scrabbled backwards from the ferocity of the battle, trying to get clear. The blond guy didn’t seem as weakened as Nick. He managed to get to his knees and land a sound blow to Nick’s jaw, putting all his weight behind it. Lissa cried out in sympathy, then regretted it as the guy turned towards her, grinning. “Aw, Nicholas, you shouldn’t have. I could have lured her off on my own, you know.” www.total-e-bound.com
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Nick struggled to sit up. “What, with your winning personality, Taylor?” “You know it.” The guy—Taylor—didn’t seem perturbed by the barb. In fact he almost seemed amused, which didn’t fit with the easy way he could dole out violence. This, Lissa sensed, was a man who was truly unhinged. I have to get away from him. The closer he got, the more intense the pins and needles sensation she’d noticed earlier became. It wasn’t just Nick. Whatever his deal was, this Taylor had it going on, too. Given the choice between them, Lissa would take Nick any time. “What’s going on?” she asked, her voice emerging stronger than she felt. Keep him talking. Survive. Survive? For the first time she comprehended the danger she was in, and a shudder rippled over her skin. Taylor was stronger and heavier than she was. She didn’t have a chance. “What’s going on, sweetheart, is that Nicky’s annoyed that I ate his favourite snack. What was her name? Ah, I dunno. She was really something, though. Kept me going for about a week.” Nick rose to his feet, swaying a little, but livid. “Her name was Yvonne, you sick fuck.” Taylor made as if to turn to face him, but Lissa scrambled to keep his attention, trying to give Nick a better chance to overpower him. “You eat people? Like a cannibal?” Distracted, Taylor grinned. “Oh, now you’re assuming we’re human, like you. That’s a common misconception. But we’re better than humans, in every way possible, sweet thing. I could show you before I kill you, if you like.” Just the thought sent a wave of nausea through her. “No, thank you. I don’t date psychopaths.” He took a step closer and she cringed back, remembering how emphatic Nick had been that she kept her distance from him. What would happen if Taylor touched her? She didn’t want to find out. “Too bad. I don’t usually fuck my food, but for you I’d make an exception.” Nick struck faster than Lissa would have thought possible. Taylor grunted and stumbled, and they both crashed against the desk, Nick coming out on top. Taylor’s head hit the desk with a sickening crack, and Lissa lurched to her feet, torn between the urge to help Nick and the equally strong urge to flee. www.total-e-bound.com
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Are you crazy? They’re not even human! Run! He’s protecting you, another part of her protested stubbornly. Help him! She took a step back and Nick snapped his head around to look at her, pinning Taylor with all his weight. “Don’t touch us!” “What can I do?” she cried. Nick was too focused on the struggling Taylor to reply, and Lissa watched, horrified, as he suddenly weakened again. Taking advantage of his opponent’s disadvantage, Taylor shoved him away and strode towards Lissa, a maniacal sheen to his eyes. The prickling sensation she’d felt with Nick was a hundred thousand stabbing needles with Taylor, and, as she gasped, the sensation seemed to tear apart her throat and lungs. There was nothing benign about Taylor—nothing decent—and definitely nothing she could reason with, even if she could have found her voice. From the corner, she grabbed a pole used for opening high windows and swung it at his head, knocking him back, desperation lending her a strength and accuracy she wouldn’t usually have been able to summon. She managed only a couple of blows before he recovered and ducked under her next swing, getting inside her reach with frightening agility. He grabbed her and she screamed, the explosion of breath seeming to rend her throat. With Nick, she’d felt like something was being gently pulled from her. Taylor wasn’t gentle. His grip was bruising…and she was so dizzy…and her bones ached and her heart stuttered and— “No.” The incapacitating agony faded, leaving her gasping, a little shaky but still gloriously alive. She blinked spots from her eyes in time to see Nick throw Taylor bodily across the room, then grab something off the desk and hit him over the head with it. Taylor rolled away from Nick, crawled a couple of feet, then got back to his feet with a wordless, inhuman snarl. Nick kicked out at him, sending him onto one knee for a brief instant, then following up with a strong uppercut to the jaw that would have knocked any human unconscious. It laid Taylor out, and Nick drove a foot into his ribs, determination and hatred warring with the pain in his expression. It didn’t take long for Lissa’s saviour to weaken again, though. He put a hand to his head with a low groan, trembling, and Taylor took advantage of his disorientation to stagger upright and limp towards the door. “This isn’t over yet, Nicky.” www.total-e-bound.com
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Nick was too weak to prevent him from leaving, and Lissa decided there was no way she was going after the man who had just tried to kill her. Instead, she tried getting to her own feet, finding herself a little weary, but none the worse for wear. “Are you hurt?” He tried a smile, leaning heavily against the wall, but ended up grimacing. “Not hurt.” She frowned, concerned. “Then what? Can I help?” “You’ve been through enough tonight. You should get back to your friends.” Lissa stared at him. “You’re kidding, right?” “No. Get out of here, before…” “You’re hungry,” she deduced softly, her mind beginning to function more like its usual analytical self. “Am I right?” Nick scowled at her, defensive. “I don’t kill when I feed. Not like…” His disgusted glance at the door was enough to complete the sentiment. Lissa took a deep breath, then stepped forward. “Then take what you need from me. You saved my life, and you said before that I’d just be tired, right?” Nick shook his head, but another wave of pain appeared to hit him and he didn’t get any further than that. Her empathy overcoming her misgivings, Lissa closed the distance between them without another word, brushing her fingertips against his arm. “Here.” He closed his fingers around her wrist in an almost bruising grip, pulling her closer before she had time to regret her decision. The same sensation that she’d experienced out in the club tingled through her, far less destructive than Taylor’s excruciating attack, and she swayed on her feet with a light gasp. His warm hands steadied her, one on her shoulder, the other on her waist. Disorientated, she gazed up into his intense blue eyes, her vision thinly veiled by flashing lights, the way it had been the last time she’d fainted. His face was just inches from hers, and the impression of edgy hunger she’d been getting from him was slowly ebbing away. Her ears were ringing, her vision was tunnelling, and all of a sudden she was cursing herself for putting her trust in this being, this…this ‘not vampire’ she barely knew. She tugged at the draining bond between them, trying to wrench herself from his arms, but she was too weak, too feeble…too human to resist him, and he didn’t stop. Idiot! Just because he saved your life, that doesn’t make him harmless! What the hell are you thinking?! But he feels so good… www.total-e-bound.com
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Half terrified, half elated, she clung to the only thing she could—Nick. Her parted lips pressed against his neck, and she appreciated the irony with a kind of hazy humour. He smelt like storms and coffee and something more earthy…and, God, this was so fucked up. He might be killing her right now, but all she could think about was the insistent pulse of desire between her thighs, the need to wrap her legs around his waist and— He shifted her weight in his arms, pulling her more securely against him, and her breath caught as his hard cock pressed against her. Her body responded before her brain did, her hips instinctively tilting to create a slight but delicious friction against his erection. Nick sighed against her skin, his arms tightening around her, crushing her against him. After a second, the tingling, pulling drain slowed, then ceased. Lissa’s knees gave way and he eased her to the floor as she blinked the spots from her eyes. “What—? I—” Feeling oddly bereft, Lissa rubbed her aching temple and gave up on trying to voice the question. For a few seconds, she just rested her head on Nick’s shoulder, gathering her strength and organising her whirling thoughts. He stroked her hair with the familiarity of a lover and she couldn’t help but relax, soothed by the repetitive touch. For a few minutes, she allowed her emotional rollercoaster of fear, confusion and desire to slow, soothing her into something resembling comfort. Which is just weird, considering the circumstances… Even so, she didn’t pull away, relishing the strange intimacy of his fingers sliding up and down her arm. Out of the corner of her eye, she could still see the tell-tale bulge in his jeans, and she forced herself to look away, chastising herself. She’d just seen him almost kill someone. Even if it had been in her defence, that didn’t mean she should be thinking about climbing into his lap, or letting him bend her over the desk, or begging him to lie her down and put his tongue to work against her clit— Drawing away from him as soon as she felt alert enough, she looked across at the man sitting beside her. Now that the danger had passed and he’d fed, he’d lost the air of defensive frustration he’d had before, and she got the feeling he was the quiet, observant type…with an edge. He regarded her with mild concern tinged with amusement, and her own mind threw out a similar response, covering up her vague sense of shame at allowing him so far past her defences. “You know, I don’t usually do that on the first date.”
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His lips twitched with the urge to smile—at least her vampire had a sense of humour. “Then why did you?” “I’m a clinical biologist.” She stuck with the fifty per cent of the truth that wouldn’t lead to her ripping his clothes off. “I like to investigate stuff I don’t understand.” “Learn anything?” Apart from the size of your cock? She slammed down on the thought as though it was a troublesome mosquito, but not before he’d noticed the slight upward twitch of her eyebrow and returned it. The slight buzzing at the back of her mind intensified a little, and she rubbed her forehead to cover her conflicted emotions. “Ask me again when I feel better.” She was growing more clear-headed by the second, but, as he’d warned her earlier, she felt as though she could sleep for a while. Since that wasn’t an option right then, she began to get to her feet, accepting his help with another slight quiver of lust. “Right now, I want to get away from here in case he comes back.” “He can track you.” A wave of cold disbelief snapped her mind to attention. “What?” “I won’t let him get you, Lissa.” She sat on the edge of the desk, a little dizzy, and shuddered as the recollection of Taylor’s violent insanity resurfaced. “Will he try again?” Nick placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and she looked up into his striking face with its grimly set features. “He doesn’t have a chance, now I’ve fed.” “Are you gonna kill him?” Nick nodded, and, instead of the horror and disgust she should be feeling, Lissa felt only relief. He would keep her safe, which was what she needed at that moment. Her brain would be incapable of ethical debate until she’d had a cup of coffee and breathed in some fresh air. “Can we go somewhere else? Please?” “Sure. Coffee place down the street okay?” It was as if he’d read her mind. With a hand on the small of her back, he guided her towards the door, watching her carefully, as if she might collapse. While she waded into her group of friends to say her goodbyes, he waited by the door, seeming tense and alert, as if Taylor might try again in a public place. www.total-e-bound.com
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Annie would usually be able to tell there was something wrong, but she’d had a few cocktails and wasn’t at her most observant. She gave Lissa a knowing look and glanced past her to where Nick was waiting. “Ooh, nice catch. Now take him home and have fun—that’s an order!” With a grin that was almost genuine, Lissa embraced her friend and headed back towards Nick, glad he hadn’t been close enough to hear. Once they were out in the open air, Lissa felt a little more of her energy returning. “Do you drink? Not blood. I mean…other stuff. Water? Coffee?” He shrugged. “Only when I can’t get what I just took from you.” She couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped her. “Well, people are always saying I have more caffeine in my veins than blood…” “That’d explain it,” he said, as if to himself. “Explain what?” When he made no attempt to elaborate, she punched his shoulder lightly to get his attention. “Explain what?” “Let’s get you some coffee so you don’t fall asleep, and then we can talk.”
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Chapter Four
They watched each other, settled into armchairs in one corner of the open-all-hours coffee shop near the club. Lissa sipped from the coffee he’d bought her and, through the invisible energy thread that now connected them, Nick sensed her strength returning. “So, tell me!” she demanded. “What do you wanna know?” Despite losing Taylor, Nick’s mood was better now that he’d fed—her energy warmed and calmed him, and he was more inclined towards openness. “Everything.” He just waited, and she relented with a sigh. “Okay, first question—what the hell was that all about? Why did he come after me, and why were you there to stop him?” She was tense—anyone in her position would have been. Even discounting her brush with death that night, her decision to offer him energy without knowing what she was getting into, or who she was getting into it with, had been impulsive and dangerous. She had just been lucky he wasn’t the type to take more than he should—but then she’d met that type first-hand tonight. Not exactly a stellar introduction to our species. “Taylor is…psychotic. When he feeds, he kills, and he always picks the biggest, brightest source of energy in the area.” Lissa half smiled, half winced. “Should I take that as a compliment?” “It makes you interesting to our kind, for obvious reasons, but it’s not something you should obsess over. Taylor is a rare case. Most of us have the common sense not to go around killing people.” She nodded slowly, processing that. “And you were there because…?” “You caught my attention from over on Fourth.” Sensing her surprise, he allowed himself a small smile. He’d been surprised, too. “Most humans have an energy signature I can detect from a distance. Around three, four times the length of this place.” She looked around, and he found himself admiring her neck tattoo once more. Once she’d gauged the distance, she asked, “Most?” www.total-e-bound.com
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“Some I can’t sense until I’m almost within sight of them. Others…” She filled in his unspoken blank. “Are like me.” “Not many,” Nick said. “I knew that if Taylor was still in the area, he’d find you. So I tracked you.” “Tracked me. Like he can track me?” She glanced around nervously, scanning the almost empty seating area before staring out at the darkened street. Nick tried to reassure her. “He’ll wait until he thinks you’re alone. You’re safe for now.” She didn’t look as though she bought it. “Why were you looking for him?” “He killed a friend of mine. She was my regular source at the time—the one I went to when I needed to feed. She had a lot of energy, like you, and he took it all—because he could.” Voicing the memory brought back the image of Yvonne’s body, devoid of energy, tossed aside like leftovers. Nick bore it, letting the sorrow add to his determination to find Taylor and avenge her death. “I’m sorry,” Lissa said quietly. Nick shrugged off her concern, though inwardly he appreciated it. “It happened last year. I’ve been tracking him for a while.” “What do we do now?” she asked. He hadn’t even thought that far ahead. His focus had been on getting Lissa’s strength up. “I stay with you until he tries again. Or until he moves on—until they find a body that matches his MO.” She watched him for a moment, as if weighing up what she should ask next. “So…most of your species don’t kill when they feed? Why not?” “We don’t need to. Some of the unbalanced ones get a taste for it, but the rest of us know that the humans we feed from will give us energy for longer if they live.” She blinked, trying to figure out his logic. Anticipating the question, he continued, “We’re connected now. Can you feel me in the back of your mind?” “I think so,” she said slowly, her focus turning inwards, trying to pinpoint it. Nick reached out and laid a hand on her arm, and her eyes widened as they both felt the faint, static-like buzz of their connection increase. “Is this forever?” www.total-e-bound.com
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Only if that’s what you want. He dismissed the thought immediately. It was bad enough that he’d brought danger to her. “No. Just until your body processes the life force that I fed from and replaces it with new energy. Until then, it sustains me, which is why we don’t kill when we feed.” “How long?” “For you? Rough guess, about a week. Usually a few days less.” She nodded, absently rubbing the spot on her arm where he’d touched her. “You took enough from me to last you that long?” Nick couldn’t help but flash back to the long, delicious moments in which he’d fed from her—her breath against his neck, her panicked attempt to flee as her instincts had screamed that her life was in danger, the inevitable surrender… Her helplessness had been almost as intoxicating as the feed itself, and the way she’d responded to the lust he’d been unable to hide… “Hey!” Lissa waved a hand in front of his face, commanding his attention. “Is it that hard?” Her phrasing didn’t help him to focus his thoughts, but he dragged his attention back to the question at hand. “Yeah. I’ll be set for a while. Thanks.” “It was the least I could do,” she said quietly, her gaze unwavering. He couldn’t help but think that her gratitude was misplaced—he’d had his own selfish reasons for intervening, after all, and they weren’t out of the woods yet. Not that he was sorry their paths had crossed, now he’d got to know her a little. Lissa took a second to process the information he’d given her so far, taking another long swallow of her drink. Cradling it between her hands, she pressed, “Why didn’t you feed from me before he got there? I mean, you obviously needed it, and you started to do it out in the main club area, so why not take more?” “And have him catch me with my defences down? Couldn’t take the chance he’d just kill me while I was distracted. Why, would you be happier if I’d just taken what I wanted?” She’d turned shy, afterwards, in the back office at the club. Now that she’d regained some confidence, she was acting a little differently, pausing for just a second to acknowledge his double entendre with a grin.
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“I dunno, I just thought it might have been easier on you with a little energy to spare,” she said, shrugging. “Next question. You called us ‘humans’. What are you? Is ‘vampire’ the right word? Were you human once?” “No.” He knew it wasn’t the answer she was expecting—her pop-culture impression of what he was had given her preconceptions. “I was never human. We’re psivores—you’d call us psionic vampires, I guess. We’re not dead, but our appetites are…different.” She leant forward in her chair, her eyes wide. He hadn’t had anybody this focused on him since… Don’t go there. “You feed on energy.” She waved a hand in the air, shaking her head. “There’s nothing in conventional biology that can explain that. It just doesn’t work that way. Can I run some tests on you? Not for official research—just personal curiosity.” He laughed. She really was a scientist. If she hadn’t been so curious about him, she probably would have run off while he and Taylor had fought, and by now she’d probably be dead. “Maybe some time.” She was in full flow now, throwing questions at him without pausing for breath. “Are there similarities between you and our vampire myths? Crosses…garlic…sunlight…?” “No, no and no.” “But you hunt at night?” The words were soft, almost a seduction. “I’m a night owl.” Lissa’s eyes sparkled, and he sensed her light-heartedness through their shared connection. It wasn’t that she was no longer concerned that her life was in danger—she was just choosing to set it aside for the moment. “Can you turn into an animal?” “No.” “Cross running water?” “I’d be fucked if I couldn’t. I drove into town from the other side of the river.” “Allergic to holy water?” “Are you gonna keep throwing these clichés at me?” “Instant healing? Eternal life?” Nick stopped responding, and she gave in with a sigh. “Okay, okay. So the usual vampire things are out. The only thing that makes you different from humans is— No, wait.” www.total-e-bound.com
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She fumbled for something in her shoulder bag, got up from her seat and moved around to the back of his chair. “I gotta check this for myself.” Holding a compact mirror at arm’s length, she leaned over his shoulder, angling the reflective surface toward them. He caught a glimpse of her face next to his—he was the ‘vampire’, but her paler skin and dark eyes made her more geared toward the stereotype than he was. She sighed, her breath lightly tickling his cheek, and he tilted his head to look at her, amused. “You said you were a scientist. They’re usually trying to disprove this kind of thing, not prove it.” “I believe there’s more to life than what we’ve already scientifically learned,” she said, still studying their faces in the mirror. “After all, we used to think the Earth was flat.” She hesitated for a moment before pulling back out of kissing range, flicking the compact shut and returning his gaze. Nick felt a pang of loss as she returned to her seat, but he smothered it. After another sip of her drink, Lissa asked, “Are you sticking around for long enough to need a regular source?” He couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at that. “You’d want to do that on a regular basis? After what happened to Yvonne?” After a second’s pause, she shrugged. “Well, you said yourself that psycho vampires are rare. I know what you are, and I have hyperactivity to spare. Why hunt for a new source of energy every time when you can take mine?” The urge to agree was stronger than he would’ve liked to admit. Her energy flowed through his system like warm caramel, quelling the shocks that had assailed his brain for hours, and he felt almost content. Despite that, he forced himself to question her. “You’ve only known me an hour, and you were almost killed during that time. Why would you offer something this big?” Lissa’s mouth twisted in an ironic smile. “Because I’m impulsive and a little reckless, and because you saved my life, and because you’re still guarding me now. Why would you do that if you planned to hurt me later?” The honesty was refreshing, and he found himself returning her smile. “Sleep on it, and then we’ll discuss it.”
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“I’m not sleepy.” Through the connection between them, Nick sensed the truth of that— the coffee she’d just downed had re-energised her. “I don’t think it’s a good idea that you go back to the club. My hotel is nearby, but it might still be too public for Taylor to strike. Are you okay with me coming home with you? Staking out your apartment?” “Sure. Let’s go,” she said, her quietly husky voice tempting him. He sensed anticipation in her words, as if taking him home was exactly what she wanted to do.
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Chapter Five
During the drive to her apartment, Lissa shot sneaky glances at her new acquaintance, feeling more able to check him out while his attention was focused on the road. He had a few years on her, and his hair was just beginning to grey at the temples, but his face was so strikingly sensual, his eyes so blue, that she couldn’t help but be captivated. After Taylor was dead, she’d let herself be traumatised by her ordeal earlier that night. For now, she was focusing on the positives. Her knight in shining armour—well, knight in no armour whatsoever—had saved her life. He was mysterious and sexy, protective and determined. And after all she’d been through already, she deserved a little life-affirming sex, right? She let her imagination take over, wondering how it would feel to kiss him. Would he feed from her? Would he be gentle, the way he’d been when he’d held her, waiting for her to recover from the drain? Or would he be forceful, like when he’d grabbed her wrist to begin to take her energy? Would he carry her to her bedroom, or would he push her up against the wall, slip his fingers under her skirt, and—? “You okay?” Lissa startled a little as he interrupted her thoughts. “Yeah,” she said, her voice as even as she could make it. “It’s just…a lot to take in, I guess.” “Took Yvonne a while, too.” His words were spoken with no emotion. “Was she your girlfriend?” she asked softly. Better to get the awkward question out of the way as soon as possible. Nick shook his head with a bittersweet smile. “She had a girlfriend of her own. And when she died, Victoria blamed me.” “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.” Way to turn the mood even darker, Lissa. “Don’t worry about it.” When she made no response but to gnaw on her bottom lip, he glanced over. “Really.” Nodding, she pointed out her street. “It’s left up here.” www.total-e-bound.com
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When he pulled the car to a stop outside her apartment block, Lissa took a deep breath. “Do you need to stay down here, or do you wanna come up? I promise not to interrogate you too severely…” He hesitated, and she sensed in him the same odd reluctance that she’d noticed before, when he’d tried not to feed from her. “You really do trust people too much.” “What can you do to me in my apartment that you haven’t already had the opportunity to do?” she asked reasonably, then inwardly cringed at the way the words sounded. She had a few ideas, and they seemed so damn attractive right then… “I don’t think you need me to answer that question,” Nick said, his voice almost inaudible, but masculine in a way that made her heart skip. To give herself time to recover her poise, she got out of the car. “At least walk me to the door. You know, in case he’s lying in wait for me.” Amused, he joined her on the pavement, and together they walked up the path to the building’s front door. “There, was that so hard?” she teased. “You can come inside, too, if you want to…” “Are you sure you want to keep me this close?” Intrigued by his reluctant demeanour, she laid a hand on his arm and the connection between them flared. He returned her gaze and she sensed the conflict within him. “Why are you still holding back?” It took only a second for his resistance to crumble, and when his hand cupped her face her eyes fell closed as she leaned in to his touch. She felt his breath against her lips as he murmured, “Because even though I don’t kill my sources, I’m not human. I’m predator, you’re prey, and, when you fought to get away from me, I enjoyed that you were powerless against me, no matter how much you struggled.” Despite herself, Lissa felt a quiver of lust slip down her spine. “I don’t care,” she whispered, turning her face in to his hand and gently kissing his wrist. “You didn’t kill me earlier tonight. I don’t think you ever would. And I really, really want you to fuck me.” Nick took a deep breath—in, then slowly out. Her heart raced and she nuzzled his jawline—not kissing, not yet, but close, so close. His soft exhalation against her ear gave her goose bumps, and he leaned in to the brush of her cheekbone against his, mimicking her slow, affectionate movements.
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The tip of his nose brushed the side of hers, and she turned her head, her lips grazing his cheek. He kissed hers in return—once, twice, travelling across her skin in infinitesimal steps towards his destination. Her breath trembled, and she tensed with the anticipation, desperate for him to get there. She turned her head a fraction with each kiss, speeding him along, then pressed her lips against his, lightly and sweetly, flicking the tip of her tongue out to run it across his lower lip. When he responded, drawing her body tightly against his and deepening the kiss, she wound her arms around his neck and gave him everything—heated enthusiasm, seductive technique and playful teasing, all at once. Delicious tingles flowed over her skin. Was it her imagination, or was he literally electrifying her senses? His hand slipped to the back of her head and he took control from her, kissing with a confident sensuality that turned her on beyond measure. She felt the beginnings of his erection pressing against her again, and the pleasurable tingling increased, seeming to concentrate right between her thighs, exactly where she longed to feel him. When his lips wandered down her throat to nip at the fluttering pulse-point beneath her lizard tattoo, she whispered, “Come inside.” While the elevator rose to the second floor, Nick pressed her back against the mirrored wall. “You know what I wanted when I first saw you?” he asked, lightly stroking his thumb over her breast. Lissa sighed, leaning into his hand, then undoing a couple of his shirt buttons and pressing her lips against his toned chest. “Tell me,” she murmured against his skin. Nick slid his hand downwards, pushing his fingers against her pussy, rubbing her through her skirt. “I wanted to pin you against the wall and fuck you, right there in the club, in front of everyone. To tap your energy reserves while you were still shaking with your orgasm, and to feed while I took whatever else I wanted from you.” As he spoke, he pulled energy—just a little—from her body to his, right through her sensitive clit. Lissa cried out, lost in the images his words had painted in her mind and the incredible feeling he was evoking. The elevator arrived at her floor and he pulled away, leaving her frustrated. She almost ran to her apartment door, fumbling with the keys as he kissed the back of her neck.
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As soon as she closed the door behind them, Nick pressed her up against it, his lips demanding against hers. She slid her fingers under the hem of his shirt, exploring the warm flesh of his back, and he groaned against her mouth, grinding his erection against her. She wrapped a leg around his waist, tilting her hips to meet his and sighing appreciatively. He explored her body with his fingers, ghosting them up the soft skin of her side and around to cup her breast again. When he stroked his thumb across her nipple, harder this time, she grabbed his hand, twisting out of his grip only for long enough to pull him over to the living room couch. He drew her down onto the sofa cushions and she climbed astride him, grinding down against his cock, claiming his mouth with hers again in a desperate kiss. He gripped her hips, then slid his hands up her sides, pulling her shirt with them. Lissa unbuttoned his with eager fingers, pushing the garment off his shoulders and letting her fingertips linger against the warm skin beneath. He unsnapped her bra and discarded it, his lips immediately homing in on one of her taut nipples, his teeth nipping for a brief moment of total ecstasy. With a breathy moan, she thrust her hips against his, teasing them both. In response, he pulled her head down to his again, dominating her mouth with his tongue as he moved his hands between their bodies, unfastening his belt, the button at his waistband, his zipper. She slid off his lap to kneel before him and pulled off the remainder of his clothing, kissing her way up his thighs before taking his hard cock into her mouth. She dedicated herself to the task mischievously, her approach playful rather than determined. For long minutes, he bore the enticing torment she inflicted upon him, until he tugged her back into his lap with a soft curse against her lips, preventing her from taking him all the way over the edge. “Oh, you don’t wanna come?” she asked innocently. He stroked his palms over her ass, grinding his cock against her lower abdomen. “Not until you do.” The only thing that prevented him from penetrating her was the red lace thong she wore underneath her skirt, and the anticipation was almost too much for Lissa. Almost, but not quite. She reached a hand down to stroke him, unrelenting, and he groaned into her neck with frustration. “Fuck!”
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The curse drove her wild, and she decided that taking off her skirt and panties would be way too much effort. Pushing aside the material, she positioned him at her entrance, relishing the feel of her pulse pounding through her pussy, loving the control she had over him. Trying to thrust up into her, he growled her name—a warning, a plea—and it was the hottest thing she’d ever heard. Anticipating his move, she leaned away from his hips with a teasing grin. “Holding out on me?” he said, slipping his fingers down to rub lazy circles against her clit, drawing just a little energy through it. Gasping, she jolted into his touch, the movement pushing him a little way inside her. He tensed, obviously fighting the urge to grab her hips and pull her completely onto him, and she held herself still with an effort, almost wishing he’d just do it. She moved slightly, letting him in a little further, then nearly all the way out again, closing her eyes as the motion sent a thrill through a spot that had been crying out for him since he’d fed from her at the club. “Look at me, Lissa.” Hazily, she did, drinking in the intensity of his gaze. And slowly, so slowly, she sank down onto him, taking him in inch by inch, pausing for agonising seconds, testing their selfcontrol until at last he filled her completely. He gave her a brief, hard kiss, telling her without words how much he needed more, but she rose up again just as slowly, her inner muscles tight around his cock, enjoying the frustrated longing on his face as she almost let him slip free of her. He closed his hands over her hips, guiding her back down hard, and she moaned at the rough jolt of arousal that shot through her. She couldn’t hold off anymore, and arched against him, setting a faster pace. He pulled her down hard every time she rose up, lending her movements a forceful edge, and she almost sobbed with frustration, still too far from the orgasm she craved. “Like that?” “Mmm…” Eloquence had gone out of the window about ten minutes ago. He slipped his hands down to her pussy and a slow grin crossed his features. “How about this?” With his thumb, he set up a confident, measured rhythm against her clit, and her groan of encouragement was lost in the heat of his kiss. She trembled, digging her fingers into his www.total-e-bound.com
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shoulders as the smouldering need within her intensified to searing proportions. Her breath coming in shallow gasps, she squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself over the edge, taking him fast and hard now. He pulled energy from her in short, hard bursts in time with her movements, and she cried out with each one. His mental tugs combined with the physical sensation of his cock driving into her to form an irresistible pleasure, and the orgasm hit her hard, knocking her into mindless rapture. She couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, couldn’t speak—all she could do was feel, and, with every pulse of her climax, electricity fizzed through her body. She fell forward as she rode it out, her forehead pressed against Nick’s as she struggled to remember how to breathe. Dimly, she registered him pulling her hard against him as he thrust up a final time, digging his fingers into her flesh as he found his own release. Overheated and aching with residual pleasure, Lissa clung to him as they both fought for breath in the afterglow. For a while, they didn’t speak—he trailed his fingers up and down her back in a calming rhythm, and she nuzzled his neck, laying tiny kisses against his skin. When they finally moved, it was only to stumble the few feet into the bedroom and curl up beneath the bedcovers. “Still wanna hold back from me?” Lissa asked eventually, tilting back her head to look at him. “Nope.” His smile was affection, amusement and admiration tangled into one expression, and her heart jumped at the warmth in it. “Still wanna be my source?” Taking mental stock of her energy levels, Lissa found that she was only marginally more tired than she would have been if she hadn’t let him drain her. “Do I need to do anything?” Nick shook his head, pressing his lips to her forehead. “Eye contact strengthens the connection, but, other than that, all I need to do is touch you. No rituals, no lifetime paranormal contract…” “Then it’s a deal.” She snuggled closer, closing her eyes and listening to the steady beat of his heart, welcoming the lull towards sleep. It’s kinda disappointing that none of the vampire myths are real. Not that I’m complaining that he’s not dead, but… After a few seconds, another thought occurred to her. “Nick?” she murmured sleepily into his shoulder. www.total-e-bound.com
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“Yeah?” “Could you have come into my apartment if I hadn’t invited you? Can Taylor?” “You forgetting that conversation we had where we’re not vampires?” “Maybe you’re not a vampire. But you’re my vampire.” He laughed softly, tightening his arms around her. “Go to sleep, Lissa. I’ll keep watch.” Though her body was tired, her mind was still racing. She’d found her rabbit hole, and she was still falling, even after everything that had already happened. “I can’t. What if he creeps in while I’m asleep? What if you fall asleep, too?” “I don’t need to sleep yet.” Nick gently tapped into the connection between them, pulling energy from her, and her consciousness began to swim. “Trust me.” She was asleep before she could remember how to answer him.
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Chapter Six
As soon as Lissa’s breathing became deep and even, Nick eased himself from her embrace, smiling a little. Things had gone further than he’d intended with her, but he had no regrets. After dressing quickly, he wandered through the roomy apartment, examining her book and movie collections, trying to get a better sense of this extraordinary human. There were plenty of supernatural books and movies, he noted with a slight smile, although she owned a fair amount of scientific reading material as well. Nick was fascinated with her—maybe more than he should have been. There was just something unique about her, and it wasn’t the high concentration of energy coursing through her body. Just as he’d made up his mind to go back to the bedroom, he heard a scream out on the street—male, startled, and with a ring of genuine terror that set Nick on edge. He listened for other sounds, but heard nothing. Casting his senses out onto the street, he caught a struggling, fading presence—teenage and weakening fast. It had to be Taylor’s doing. Torn, Nick glanced towards the bedroom, where Lissa was still slumbering peacefully. He should stay and guard her, but if Taylor had guessed he was with her and decided to take out an easier target instead… The boy was erratically weaving closer. He must have struggled free and no doubt Taylor was in hot pursuit. If Nick didn’t act soon, the boy could end up dead. With a final, conflicted look back at Lissa’s room, he headed for the door, ensuring the door locked itself behind him and taking the stairs to the ground floor three at a time. When he crashed out onto the street, the first thing he saw was the energy source he’d located, stumbling in his general direction—dirty and dishevelled, and no older than fourteen. He looked confused and fearful, but he’d survive. “Hey! You all right?” As Nick drew nearer, the human boy flopped down onto the sidewalk and rested his head on his knees. “Someone jumped me. Dunno if he was after my wallet or what. He www.total-e-bound.com
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musta had chloroform or something, ‘cause I feel real dizzy now, but I managed to get away…” Nick crouched beside him, scanning the area for signs of movement. “Did you see what he looked like?” “Big, blond guy. Fuckin’ aggressive, man. I need to lie down for a minute…” Nick stood up again, looking around him and reaching out with his senses for any other distressed human sources in the area. Finding nothing, he beckoned to the old lady standing on her porch across the street, calling, “Can you take care of him? I wanna see if I can find who attacked him.” The woman nodded emphatically. “Come on over, Ashley. I’ll get you a drink and call your parents. Are they home?” Nick ensured the guy got safely over to his neighbour’s place, then paced a few feet farther down the street, wondering if Taylor was still in the area. Just as he was about to give up, Lissa’s energy source flickered in the back of his mind, and a cold, primal dread filled him. No… He sprinted back towards Lissa’s apartment block, throwing himself at the front door and finding it ajar. Cursing, he tore up the stairs, trying to tune out Lissa’s distress as she comprehended what was happening to her. Her apartment door was broken, and he charged in and through to the bedroom. “Lissa!” Taylor had a firm grip on her and she was half-unconscious in his arms, her lower half still covered by the bedcovers, her torso bare and exposed. The psychotic psivore was more interested in killing her than objectifying her, though—a fact Nick was grateful for in some ways. “Get the fuck away from her,” he growled, afraid to close the distance between them in case Taylor simply snapped her neck out of spite. “You sure didn’t waste any time, did you?” Taylor gestured down incredulously at Lissa’s state of undress. “I will never understand you, Nicky. All this energy just ripe for the draining, and you just take a teeny bit and then fuck her instead?” “You’ve taken more from her than I have already. You don’t need any more. Leave her alone.” www.total-e-bound.com
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Images of Yvonne resurfaced to haunt him—her dead, drained body hanging limp in Taylor’s arms. Although his connection to Lissa was only a moment compared to his friendship with Yvonne, he felt a surge of fear at the idea of losing her. Not again. Not again. “Sure, I don’t need any more. But that’s not the point. Haven’t you ever taken so much from a source that there’s no way you could feed any more? It’s an incredible feeling. And this one is so strong…” Lissa moaned in Taylor’s grip. Taylor was still draining her—slowly, so that he didn’t lose his awareness of Nick’s movements, but enough that, if Nick didn’t act soon, he’d take it all. He could already feel his bond with Lissa dissolving as her energy was consumed, and if things continued this way, the debilitating brain shocks would return. If that happened, he and Lissa were both as good as dead. Taylor wouldn’t let him walk away from this one. If what the bastard was saying was true, he wouldn’t want to kill Lissa in any other way. He wanted to drain her dry. Hoping like hell he was right, Nick lunged for Taylor’s throat.
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Chapter Seven
Lissa woke not to the warmth and comfort of Nick’s embrace, but to stabbing pins and needles all over her body and the cruel grip of Taylor’s hand around her throat. She gasped and choked, struggling for all she was worth, but he was pulling energy from her in dizzying surges of agony, and her ability to fight him decreased with every passing second. Nick, where are you? She might have passed out then—she wasn’t sure. The next thing she knew, the draining feeling had slowed, and through the ringing in her ears she dimly heard Nick’s voice as well as Taylor’s. She groaned, wishing her head would clear enough that she could think straight, but it was futile. She hung in Taylor’s arms, afraid and in pain, and disturbingly calm about the fact that she was going to die. Then, with a jarring suddenness, she was on the floor beside her bed, shivering and confused, trying to gather her scattered thoughts together. Behind her, something hit the wall. Taylor. “Nick,” she whispered, crawling a safe distance from the fight and collapsing gratefully against the comforting solidity of the wall. “You okay?” He ducked Taylor’s punch and dealt one of his own, seeming stronger than he had been at the club. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.” It wasn’t strictly true, but she’d nurse her wounds after Taylor was dealt with. For now, she had to come up with some way to help Nick. Taylor somehow managed to pitch her lover onto the bed, and Lissa clawed herself to her feet as he began to advance on her again. Recovering quickly, Nick grabbed him by the ankle and yanked, and Lissa stumbled out of the bedroom and through to the tiny kitchen, searching for weapons. She grabbed a knife from the block on the counter, almost slicing her palm open as her equilibrium slipped. She hung on to the counter with grim determination, willing strength back into her trembling muscles, hyperaware of her own nudity and vulnerability. www.total-e-bound.com
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A grunt from the bedroom—was it Taylor or Nick? Who had the upper hand? Could she protect herself if it came down to it? Get a grip, Lissa. The heroines in your books don’t sit idly by and let the men save them—at least not in the good books. Save yourself! The stern talking-to might not have had anything to do with her slight recovery, but it hadn’t hurt. Holding the carving knife handle in both hands, she crept back towards the bedroom just as Nick sent Taylor sprawling out into the hallway. His head hit the wall with a smack that sent a shudder through her, but he didn’t stay down for long. Rather than charge at Nick again, he took a step towards Lissa, and she read the desperate intent to flee in his eyes. “Oh, sweetheart, you do not wanna get in my way, trust me. Just let me past, and you’ll never see me again.” She didn’t trust him for a second, though she knew the sensible thing to do—the sane thing—would be to let him pass. Instead, she stood her ground, the knife held like a miniature sword in her grip. “No.” He advanced on her, testing her nerve, and she slashed the carving knife through the air, almost connecting with his flesh. He dodged out of her way, snarling frustration. “Little bitch! Let me past, or I swear I’ll cut you down with that knife of yours.” “Fuck you.” Her initial success boosted her confidence, if not her strength. Taylor kept casting nervous glances over his shoulder, conscious of Nick’s presence somewhere in the bedroom. Nick…where are you? Pushing her worries about his safety to the back of her mind, she took advantage of Taylor’s distraction, lunging forward and slashing a bloody line down his bare arm when he next took his eyes from her. “You whore!” Pain and rage combining to contort his face, Taylor made a grab for her, stepping inside her reach and slamming her up against the wall. Lissa lost her grip on the knife and screamed, kicking and thrashing with all her strength. Taylor’s blood was smeared across her naked breasts and the horror of the moment lent her an extra spike of adrenaline. Just as the fog of his aggressive feeding patterns descended again, she managed to knee him in the groin, shocking the breath from him and causing his grip to loosen.
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No longer concerned with preventing his escape, Lissa stumbled into the bedroom, scouting out Nick. He was struggling upright, as if he’d been stunned on the floor for a few moments, and there was a gash on his forehead that was bleeding freely. “Lissa, oh, my God—“ “It’s not my blood,” she reassured him, sinking down on the bed. Nodding and briefly touching her shoulder, Nick turned his attention to Taylor, who was trying to get to his feet. With fury on his face, he stalked towards the fallen psivore and grabbed him by the neck. Wasting no time, he twisted it sharply, and Lissa felt bile rise in her throat as something snapped. Taylor jerked and became still, and some of the pressure in the air eased. Lissa sat where she was, afraid to move in case he revived himself like some kind of horror movie villain. “Is he dead?” Nick got slowly to his feet, rolling his shoulders as if testing them for injury. “It was him or us.” “I know.” Of that, she was absolutely sure. Before either of them could say anything else, Taylor’s body began to crackle and spark, as if it was caught in an electrical current. Lissa watched, fearful and disbelieving, as the sputtering sparks rapidly consumed the body, leaving only ashes in their wake. That was a little different from how it happened in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she thought, her mind giving up on trying to process the reality and reverting to pop-culture as a safeguard. “Umm…did that just happen, or did I go insane from the trauma of the attack?” “It happened.” He returned to her side, grabbing the blanket from the foot of her bed and wrapping it around her. “You okay?” Resting her head on his chest, she took stock of her injuries. “I’ll have a few bruises, maybe, but I’m okay. Just tired. But Nick—what the hell? Bodies don’t react like that. It’s biologically impossible.” “They do if they’ve taken ten times the energy they needed from a source.” He smiled at her obvious curiosity and confusion. “Don’t think too much about it. There are a few things humans just don’t have a handle on yet.” She scowled and he laughed at her indignation. “Let’s talk about the science later. Are you dizzy? Weak?”
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Lissa nodded, and Nick became concerned again. “He took a lot of energy from you. I’m sorry—he hurt a kid to draw me out onto the street, and somehow he got past me.” Lissa shook her head, dismissing the apology. “It’s over with now. Thank you.” “And thank you for stopping him from escaping. If he’d got away, he wouldn’t have come back.” “Are you hurt?” she asked, drawing back to look at him with concern. Nick shrugged, trying a smile. “Apart from the head bump? Bruises, like you. Are you sure none of it’s your blood?” At his reference to her bloodied body, she shuddered. “Pretty sure. Ugh. I need a shower.” Nick helped her to her feet, and together they skirted Taylor’s ashes and went into the bathroom. While Nick departed to check the apartment door was as secure as he could make it, Lissa turned on the water and tried not to examine her bloodied skin too closely. Nick returned just as she’d stepped under the warm spray and, despite what she’d just been through, she watched him undress with a small, appreciative smile. He really was something to look at—not overly muscled, but defined enough to count. And, yeah, she admitted to herself as he kicked aside his pants and turned to face her, he was very well endowed. The water had rinsed Taylor’s blood from her body by the time Nick stepped into the cubicle with her. She drew him close and he tilted up her chin, studying her for signs of discomfort or distress. Lissa had no doubt that later everything would sink in, but for now she was tired, in denial and wanted to forget about the whole thing. She kissed him and he tightened his arms around her, his lips lingering reassuringly against hers. A spark of desire ignited within her, but her head pounded and she was too weary to chase it. “Remind me to thank you for protecting me again when I have a little more energy?” Nick grinned, reaching for the shampoo. “Count on it.” While she relaxed under the warm flow of water, Nick washed her hair, then the rest of her. He brushed his fingers lightly over her skin, finding each of her emerging bruises in turn, his expression troubled. She let him turn her so he could examine the slight grazes on her back, and a shiver rippled down her spine as he trailed soft kisses over the injured area.
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Lissa found enough composure to formulate words, though they emerged so softly she wasn’t sure he would hear her over the water. “I don’t care about that. It’s over. It’ll heal.” He tensed slightly, and she could tell he wasn’t totally convinced. Looking over her shoulder, she reassured him. “Really.” With a slight nod, he pulled her close, nuzzling her neck. She stayed still for a moment, then picked up the shampoo and began to return the favour, washing his hair while being careful to skirt the gash on his head. “Do you think this’ll need stitches?” “No. Cuts on the head bleed a lot, but I’ve had worse than this with no stitches, trust me.” She explored his body—first searching for injuries, then just for the pleasure of it. The head wound was the only thing she was worried about, but Nick assured her again that it was fine, and she accepted his words, making a mental note to check him again the next day. Once she’d finished with the soap, Nick’s hands began to wander a little, and Lissa sighed as he cupped her breasts. “You know, as good as that feels, I’ll fall over if you try anything else…” “Then I won’t try anything else,” he murmured, running his thumbs lightly over her wet nipples and punctuating the touch with a few sparks of energy. With a half-moan of surrender, Lissa rested her forehead against his chest and let him tease her until her pussy was wet with more than just the water from the shower. “I changed my mind…” Nick laughed and shook his head, dropping his hands to his sides. “Don’t want you to fall over.” She gave him a look he was probably more accustomed to seeing from hungry kittens. “After all the trauma I’ve been through tonight, you’re not gonna fuck me all better?” He kissed her, then pushed open the shower door with a last look up and down her body. “Oh, I am. But I’d be irresponsible if I didn’t let you lie down first.” Lissa shut off the water in record time and followed him out of the steamy cubicle into the slight chill of the bathroom. Nick wrapped a towel around them both, drawing her wet body against his and kissing her again. She felt a wave of fatigue hit her and sighed, resting her head on his chest. “Are you doing that?” “What?” “Making me feel so tired. I want you, but I feel so weak all of a sudden…” www.total-e-bound.com
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“It’s not me. C’mon.” Nick helped her back to the bed, where she used the towel as a pillow, preventing her hair from soaking the sheets. He lay down beside her, supporting himself on one elbow, feeling a little of her weariness through their shared bond. Lissa reached out for him, sensing his hesitation. She saw his Adam’s apple shift under the skin of his throat as he swallowed, his arousal apparent but his worry for her health obviously taking priority. “Lissa, you were almost killed tonight. Twice. You should rest.” “You don’t want me to rest,” she teased, lightly stroking his erect cock. He sighed, his eyes falling closed. “True. But I think you should anyway.” Lissa grabbed his hand, guiding it between her legs, and his breath caught as his fingers ran through the slick heat there. “Still think so?” “You’re starting to convince me.” He began to rub her pussy, slowly, and Lissa gave a soft moan, feeling some of her sleepiness evaporate. “But I’m on the record as having tried to be a gentleman.” “The most gentlemanly thing you could do for me right now is put an end to the torment of my sexual frustration…” “Good logic. But you need to lie still.” Nick began to kiss his way across her stomach, dipping his tongue into her navel for a second before he trailed his lips lower. Lissa held her breath as he took a meandering path towards his goal, and when his tongue parted her labia to seek out her clit, she murmured wordless encouragement, spreading her legs wider to allow him access. “Mmm…right there!” God, he was amazing—his movements were unhurried and confident, and he seemed completely focused on the task of getting her off. “Fuck, yes!” He slipped his fingers, already wet with her arousal, easily inside her, and she bucked her hips up, forcing him further inside. “Don’t stop—never stop—oh, God…” By the time she came around his fingers, swept away by waves of decadent satisfaction, she’d forgotten all about her earlier dizzy spell. She cried out time and again, surging against his fingers, lost in the moment. When he withdrew from her she lifted her head from the pillow, then regretted it as her dizziness returned. “Damn it,” she mumbled. “I wanna fuck you, but I think I just wiped myself out.” “Thought so.” Appearing unsurprised, he tucked the covers around her. “Don’t worry about it. You need to rest now.” www.total-e-bound.com
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She bit her lip, feeling guilty. “I’m sorry…I really did plan to get you off.” Grinning, he shook his head. “Make it up to me tomorrow.” She fell asleep almost immediately, and this time there was no residual fear of attack at the back of her mind. Exhausted, she shed the after-effects of the draining and the sex in a dream-free slumber.
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Chapter Eight
Nick had been up for a couple of hours when Lissa woke. She wandered through to the living room wearing a short bathrobe and nothing else, and he couldn’t help but check her out, though it wasn’t just her appearance that attracted him. “Aw, damn. Here you are standing in rays of sunlight, and you don’t even sparkle.” She’d lost him. “Sparkle?” “Don’t ask.” She grinned, gathering her long hair into a ponytail. It had dried into haphazard waves after their sexual exploits the night before, but she didn’t appear to care too much this early in the morning—yet another thing to admire about her. Speaking of admiring her, the locksmith would likely be appearing any minute, and Nick was fairly sure Lissa wouldn’t want him getting an eyeful of her bare, shapely legs. Or maybe, if he was more honest, he didn’t want anyone else getting an eyeful. “There’s a locksmith on his way to repair the door,” he said, kissing her forehead as soon as she came near enough. “If I were you, I’d put some pants on.” “You saw through my ‘I’m not wearing panties’ line before I even got the chance to use it,” she complained, though her huge smile belied her petulant tone. How could he do anything but check if she was telling the truth? He slipped a hand beneath her robe and encountered soft cotton and lace, and she pulled out of his grip and headed back towards the bedroom before he could decide to change the situation. Of course, he followed her—he couldn’t help himself—and he had her pinned to the bedroom wall before she could decide on more suitable attire to wear in front of a locksmith. “Hmm. Haven’t fucked you here yet.” Lissa kissed him, her lips still slightly curved with her smile. “Maybe the locksmith will fix the lock for free if we give him a show.” “If the locksmith is female, I’ll consider that. Considering his name is Barry, though…” Lissa sighed melodramatically. “Why can’t you be randomly bisexual like all the other vampires?” “Just haven’t met the right guy yet,” Nick said, deadpan. www.total-e-bound.com
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She giggled and stripped off her robe, revealing a black bra and panties that offset her various tattoos beautifully. Her injuries still made him wince, although they were fairly superficial compared to what could have happened, and he turned her carefully, running his fingers over a hand-sized bruise on her upper arm that had developed overnight. “He did this?” Correctly guessing he didn’t mean the locksmith, Lissa nodded, casting a quick glance across at the patch of carpet where Taylor’s ashes had lain the night before. The first thing Nick had done when he’d woken up that morning was sweep them up, throwing Taylor’s remains in the trash like the garbage he was. “It sure as hell wasn’t you,” she said, putting a hand on his shoulder to reassure him. Another apology rose in Nick’s throat, but she seemed to see it coming and shook her head. “Don’t apologise for that piece of shit. It wasn’t your fault. He’d have come after me whether you were around or not, right? Since I’m so juicy and delicious.” The words were a little sardonic, but they weren’t aimed at him. “And if you hadn’t been with me, he’d have just killed me straight off and then moved on.” He knew she was right, but the sight of the injuries he’d been unable to prevent brought back the helplessness he’d felt the night before. Sighing, he nodded, but before either of them could discuss the matter further the intercom buzzed, signalling the arrival of the locksmith. Lissa looked down sheepishly at her state of undress, and Nick couldn’t help but be amused. “I’ll deal with Barry.” The locksmith was indeed male, and not the kind of male Nick could ever see himself developing a sexual inclination toward. He made small talk with the guy, telling him the damage to the door had been caused by a break-in, but that he’d managed to chase off the culprit and nothing had been stolen. When the locksmith had been paid and sent on his way, Nick engaged the brand new lock and made for the bedroom, where Lissa had shrugged back into her robe, applied a little makeup and tamed her hair into sleek chestnut waves—more natural than the straightened look she’d had at the club and, in Nick’s opinion, more alluring. She glanced around as he came in, setting down her brush. “How much do I owe you?” He shook his head, pulling her to her feet. “You don’t.” She opened her mouth to protest, but he gave her a brief kiss, silencing her. “You don’t. Okay?” www.total-e-bound.com
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For a second she seemed as though she’d resist, but then she nodded. “Okay. And thank you. I probably should have taken care of that before we went to sleep last night, huh?” Nick shrugged. “I wedged it shut. No harm done.” Lissa backed slowly towards the bed. “I didn’t see much point in getting dressed, what with the way you were looking at me earlier.” Her voice was coy, but her eyes were wicked. He went to her without hesitation.
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Chapter Nine
There was only one thing better than Nick’s eyes on her—his hands on her. Lissa watched him approach with a sense of anticipation that hadn’t been dulled by last night’s activities. It had been a while since she’d been with a guy—her last boyfriend had left months ago, and she’d been relieved to see him go. Nick, though… Even without his ability to electrify her skin, he was a catch. Protective, considerate and mind-blowing in the sack. Not that she knew him all that well yet, but there was something about a shared emergency that tended to bring out people’s true colours. She trusted him. Maybe she was fucking up, but she’d trust him until he gave her cause to do otherwise. He dropped his gaze to her lips, and she closed her eyes against the unbearable tension of the moment, hyperaware of everything, yet drifting at the same time. “Kiss me.” Nick didn’t need to be told twice, and Lissa flicked her tongue teasingly against his, then nibbled his lower lip. His kisses grew more urgent, and he pushed her robe off her shoulders, his gaze heating her skin as she drew back to let it drop to the floor. He undid her bra and let it fall, replacing the cups with his hands, squeezing lightly, then teasing her nipples. It didn’t take long for him to push her panties down over her hips, leaving her naked before him. He was wearing way too much clothing, and she began to remedy that, pulling off his shirt and wincing anew at the sight of his wounds, which were as bad as hers. Standing on tiptoe, she kissed her way across the gash on his forehead, which seemed a little less horrific by the light of day. He trailed equally soft kisses down her neck, past the slight bruise around her throat to turn his tongue to her nipples again. “Want you…” She unbuttoned his jeans in a hurry, and he shed them almost as fast, then pushed her down onto the bed. Lissa pulled him after her and set about making up for her sleepiness the night before, using every trick she knew to give him head, easing off whenever it seemed as though he was getting too close and enjoying his frustrated anticipation. www.total-e-bound.com
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When her determination outlasted his patience, he dragged her up his body and kissed her desperately, his fingers sending sparks down her abdomen and straight to her clit. She gasped against his lips, each tiny shock increasing her desire until she was moaning, writhing and begging for him to take her. Nick needed no further encouragement, rolling her onto her back and driving inside her. His supernatural touches already had her on the edge, and it only took a few deep thrusts to electrify everything but pure, hedonistic pleasure from her mind. He didn’t pause to let her recover from the first orgasm, his fingers busy against her responsive clit, sending more tingles through her nervous system, replacing all the terror and pain of Taylor’s attack with shock after shock of ecstasy. Lissa had never felt anything like it—it was almost one continuous orgasm, pulsing and surging through her more strongly than anything she’d ever experienced. By the time it had faded enough for her to think straight, Nick had already withdrawn from her and pulled her into a breathless embrace. She didn’t remember him reaching his own climax, but from his body language and state of profound relaxation, there was no doubt in her mind that he had. “Wow. Got any other amazing sexual tricks I don’t know about?” He laughed, kissing her forehead. “Maybe one or two. Why? That not good enough for you?” Lissa could hardly move, but this time it wasn’t as a result of the frightening aftereffects of being drained too far. This was a different kind of weakness entirely, and none of it was bad. “That was more than good enough. No human guy is ever gonna be able to touch that.” “I’d better stick around for a while, then,” he said. Lissa smiled dreamily. “That’d be nice. I still have to run a few tests on you, after all.” “Yeah?” he asked, his voice amused. “Like what?” “Blood tests and EKGs and EEGs and DNA sequencing—” “Okay, forget I asked for now.” She grinned at him. “And then I’ll have to do a few tests while we’re in bed…” Nick raised an eyebrow. “Those sound a little more interesting. Wanna tell me more?” “Well, I’m gonna have to figure out how you do what you do, so I’ll need you to talk me through it first.” www.total-e-bound.com
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“What do you want to know?” Propping a pillow behind him, he sat up and waited for her questions, a smile playing at the corners of his lips. Lissa considered. “Okay, first, how do you make my skin go all tingly?” “Like this?” He ran his fingers over the curve of her breast, and she sighed as the pleasurable tingle rose through her skin, her eyes fluttering shut for a few seconds. “Yeah, that…” “It’s the energy I took from you reacting with the energy that’s still inside you.” It made a weird kind of sense, but Lissa wasn’t sure how she’d be able to prove it, scientifically. “What if you hadn’t fed from me?” “Then I couldn’t do it.” Nick continued the tingling touch, which was right at the bottom end of the scale of intensity she knew he was capable of. “So what’s a step up from that?” she asked. “I’m not sure that question’s entirely scientific,” he said, tracing circles around her nipple with his fingertip. The sensation seemed a little less diffuse, more concentrated and intense, and Lissa arched her back, enjoying the touch. “Do you care?” “Hell, no…”
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Dominance and Deception Amy Valenti Released 19th September 2011
Excerpt Chapter One Outed
Pierce “What do we have, Layton?” Draining my coffee cup and throwing it into the trash, I looked over at the rookie cop, who was frowning at something on his computer screen. “Surveillance camera footage from outside the club—the smoking area.” Layton beckoned us over to his desk, and Beaumont and Santoro rose from their chairs to join us in front of the screen. “There’s our victim, Samuel Leigh,” Beaumont pointed out, gesturing to a figure leaning against the wall, smoking a cigarette. “There’s a seriously hot chick,” Santoro added, tilting his head to the side as if that would enable him to get a three hundred and sixty degree view. Wait. I know that face… I scowled at the screen, recognition clicking into place in my mind. “And there’s Santoro’s hot chick picking Sam Leigh’s pocket.” Layton glanced over at me. “We can get Faye to clean up the image, get a possible ID?” “I already know her ID.” That got the team’s attention, and they remained silent, waiting for more. I gave them the bare minimum. “Laura Morgan.” In my peripheral vision, I was dimly aware of someone stopping dead in their tracks, then changing course to approach. Glancing over, I recognised Faye Tate, one of our forensic www.total-e-bound.com
specialists. She was the most efficient and the most beautiful, though I’d never breached the precinct’s protocol in order to ask her out. I was gonna have my hands full enough with the woman who’d shown up in my case’s security footage. “You know her, boss?” Layton asked. “Uh-huh…” I stared at the image of the tall brunette, remembering times past and wondering exactly what else she’d been hiding from me back then. “Let me guess,” Santoro said. “Gotta be an ex-girlfriend.” “Yup.” They were gonna find out anyway. Might as well get the revelation over with so they can focus on the case, rather than my romantic connection to Laura. “Layton, pull me up her phone number—I don’t have it on me.” As Layton obediently began to tap information into his computer, an interruption came from an unexpected quarter. “Cancel that order, Layton. I have her on speed-dial.” Now Faye had my attention. She leaned against Santoro’s desk, toying with her cell phone and avoiding my gaze, and my mind came up with an idea I hoped like hell wasn’t true. Santoro beat me to the question. “How do you have Pierce’s ex’s number, Faye?” She shrugged. “If you have the security tape of the dance floor, you’ll see.” Layton switched to another tape, which showed the bar area and part of the dance floor. I transferred my suspicious glare from Faye to the screen and, in silence, we all watched Laura enter the picture, tucking something into her purse before grabbing the arm of a familiar, red-headed figure. Faye. While her image on-screen turned with a smile and hugged Laura, Faye stepped away from the team, hitting speed-dial and raising the phone to her ear. Quietly, she spoke to Laura, her voice a murmur I couldn’t quite make out. “Ahh.” Empathetic as always, Erica Beaumont was the first to catch on, and she shot a sidelong glance at me, which I chose to ignore. Before my eyes, Laura and Faye headed onto the dance floor, beginning to move together in a dance that began as flirtatious, then became teasing, then overtly sensual. www.total-e-bound.com
I hardly needed to look over at Santoro and Layton to know they were both acting as though Christmas had come early. If it wasn’t for the fact I knew both of the women involved, I’d probably have found the wonderstruck expressions on my male cops’ faces amusing. The whole team knew Faye was bisexual—when we’d all gone for drinks on Santoro’s birthday last year, she’d brought a female date. I didn’t get how Santoro and Layton could react exactly the same way today as they had then, but I had bigger things to worry about. Faye ended the call just as the tape showed her pulling Laura into an almost possessive kiss. With an impatient growl, I rounded on her. “Stairwell, Faye. Now.” She hesitated, then nodded. Without waiting for her to move, I took off at a stride, trying to quell the conflicting emotions demanding my attention without identifying any of them. Behind me, Faye plucked the remote from Santoro’s hand and gave it to Beaumont with a pleading smile. “Do me a favour? Analyse the footage, but don’t let them—” “Over analyse? Don’t worry, Faye.” I glanced back to watch Beaumont give her a knowing nod. Before anyone could begin to bombard her with questions, Faye took a deep breath and walked towards me. We waited in silence for the stairwell door to close behind us, then I stepped forward, invading her personal space to scowl down at her. “You know she was my ex when you started dating?” “We met the night you two split up,” Faye said, scuffing one boot against the concrete floor. “Laura was crying into her drink, and I asked her what was wrong. She told me she’d split up with someone, and I offered her a sympathetic ear, but it was nearly an hour before I figured out it was you, Zach, I swear.” Exasperated, I verbally pushed her. “But you started a relationship with her anyway.” “Why not?” Her voice was slightly rebellious. “You didn’t want her anymore. And don’t tell me you’ve never hit on a girl who’s on the rebound, just because she’s too pretty to be hurting alone?” I had, and she probably knew it, but it wasn’t what I wanted to talk about—there were way more pressing issues at hand. “What did she tell you, Faye?” www.total-e-bound.com
She couldn’t stop herself smiling through her irritation. “Nothing bad that I hadn’t already figured out about you. I learned some interesting new things, though…” My gut twisted, and I prayed I was wrong. If she knows… I had no idea what I’d do then. “And you didn’t think to stop her out of courtesy to me?” My confrontational tone just pissed her off. “Zach! She didn’t use your name until she’d started to repeat herself—how was I supposed to know she meant you?” She had a good point, which irritated me even more. Forcing myself to calm down, I waited a few seconds before asking the vital question. “She tell you where we met?” The air seemed to thicken with tension, and Faye’s eyes widened with sudden understanding. Even before she gave a brief nod, I saw it coming, and I cursed under my breath, backing off to give us both space while I processed the situation. “So you know.” This was the one thing I’d planned never to reveal to her. My feelings for Faye were so complex that most days I couldn’t make sense of them, but I’d always known I wanted her. I’d kept it hidden for a long time, partly because she was a close friend and co-worker, but mostly because of the way I wanted her. Countless times I’d imagined her kneeling at my feet, waiting for me to subvert her to my will. Now she knew I had those tendencies inside me, it would be harder to resist the urge to act on them. Things had just got a hundred times more complicated than I’d ever wanted. I couldn’t look her in the eye…until her slightly amused response shocked me into it. “That you’re a Dominant? Zach, I’ve known that since the first day I met you. What I can’t figure out is how I’ve never seen you around at Rack and Ruin in all the time I’ve been going there.” As she named the bi-monthly fetish night at Club Alterna, I could only stare at her slightly lifted brows and the smile that played about her lips. Right then, I was so far out of my comfort zone I had no idea how to react. “You go there regularly?” Faye shrugged casually. “On and off. Sometimes I’ll be there every time for a few months, then I stop for a while. It was my first night there in nearly three months when I ran into Laura.”
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“You met her there? Faye, are you topping my ex-submissive?” The question fell from my lips before I could stop it, the slow smoulder of jealousy at the back of my mind roaring into an inferno. “I didn’t play with her that first night—she was way too over-emotional!” Faye said defensively. “Not the point, Faye.” “Then what is the point?” she demanded, frustrated. “I mean, how can you act so crazy when Laura says it was only casual between the two of you?” I didn’t know how to answer her. The fact she was topping Laura made me a little jealous, but Faye was right—we had only been seeing each other casually, and it didn’t affect me as much as the other side of the coin did. Telling her my jealousy was double-edged would only complicate matters, but the thought whispered through my mind nevertheless. You should have been mine. It was ridiculous—I had no way of knowing if she was as sexually submissive as I sometimes imagined she was, and it wasn’t my place to ask, but the confirmation that she was on the local BDSM scene was enough to make me possessive. Sometimes I had trouble remembering I could only control her as part of our working relationship, and even then, only to a point. Instead of answering her question, I asked, “Did you manage to call her in?” “Yeah. We were meeting for lunch anyway, at the bistro down the street. I just moved the time forward a little. We should go if we’re gonna make it.” Is it serious between you? I couldn’t ask—as much as I hated to admit it, I didn’t want to hear the answer. Instead, I nodded curtly. “The rest of the team don’t need to know this, understand? I used to date Laura, and you’re dating her now. That’s all the background they need.” “Got it,” Faye said with an ironic mini-salute. The opening was just too tempting to pass up. “No ‘Sir’, Faye?” Grinning, she started down the stairs. “I don’t submit easily.”
Faye
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During the short walk to the bistro, Pierce got around to asking the question that mattered. “Did you know Laura was a pickpocket?” I shook my head, thinking back over the past couple of months. “She never acted suspiciously around me…even when she had Leigh’s wallet in her purse. She lifts his wallet, and now he’s dead? It could be a coincidence…” “No such thing.” I’d been pretty sure he was gonna say that. “You go on ahead and meet with her. I’ll wait a couple of minutes, then join you.” “You think she’ll run if she gets spooked?” I kinda doubted it, but I was the scientist, not the cop. “She can try,” he said, almost to himself. I watched him thoughtfully. There was a tension in him I’d rarely seen before—it was as if he was carefully holding back what he really wanted to say. I wanted him to question me about the things I’d revealed to him that day. I wanted him to ask if I submitted as well as topped, and how often that happened. I wanted him to tell me about his involvement in the local scene, about his kinks and desires, about what he looked for in a submissive. Okay, I probably didn’t fit the bill, but I could dream, at least… But instead he was shutting me out. He hadn’t acted this reserved around me since the first month I’d worked at the precinct. I didn’t know what he was afraid of, and until this was over and done with, it wasn’t a good time to ask. So I focussed on the plan instead, lengthening my stride to put distance between us. Within a minute, the bistro came into view, and a familiar figure was waiting by the door. The dark-haired, curvaceous woman smiled as I approached, stepping forward to hug me. “Ready for peach pie and ice cream?” Returning Laura’s embrace, I forced myself to act normally, though the thought of food turned my stomach. “Definitely.” While Laura headed for the door, I glanced back down the street, relieved to see Pierce approaching slowly. He nodded encouragement and I shot him a brief, anxious smile before following my submissive inside. I took a seat across a small table from Laura, who was watching me with concern. “Are you okay? You look a little worried.” “That’s one way of putting it, I guess. Work’s a little confusing right now.” www.total-e-bound.com
One of the things I really liked about Laura was that she didn’t act overly submissive unless we were in a scene. She was mostly talkative and laid-back, though her wit occasionally had bite. Picking up her menu, she rolled her eyes. “Let me guess. Zach’s running you into the ground again.” Frowning a little at her obvious disdain, I shook my head. “Actually, no. I haven’t even started the forensics yet.” “But you have time for an early lunch? Must be an interesting case.” Laura’s expression was curious. “Yeah… I can’t tell you much, but a businessman turned up dead, and it wasn’t pretty.” I didn’t mention the vicious beating the guy had received before he died—it wasn’t the kind of detail I was authorised to repeat during an open investigation. Especially not this open investigation. “Maybe you’d know him, Laura?” Pierce’s voice made me jump—I’d known he was coming, but I hadn’t even heard him approach. “Name’s Samuel Leigh.” Laura’s eyes widened, then her expression became guarded as she looked from him to me, and back again. “What is this?” “Need to talk to you about his death. Let’s go over to the precinct, where it’s a little more private.” Pierce’s eyes were hard as he watched his ex, and that was more intriguing than I liked to admit. Something was going on in his head, but I couldn’t fathom exactly what. Yet. “I’ve never even heard of him. You can’t force me to go anywhere.” Pierce held his badge out towards her, his face impassive. “I can legally detain you for questioning.” “On what grounds?” she snapped. “I know my rights.” Wow, she’s defensive. I’d never seen her like this. “Laura…” She sighed, speaking for our ears only. “Faye, don’t Mistress me outside the bedroom. That’s not what we negotiated.” Taken aback, I stared at her. That had been the furthest thing from my mind, and, if she didn’t know that, we had a serious problem. Before I could speak, Pierce intervened. “On the grounds that we have surveillance footage of you stealing his wallet the night before his death.” www.total-e-bound.com
She was beaten, and she knew it. With a sigh, Laura glared at me and got to her feet. “This better not take long. I have a meeting at two.” While she gathered her jacket and purse, Pierce touched my shoulder, leaning in close to murmur, “Careful. She’s playing you.” Before I could process that, he followed Laura outside. A million questions flitting through my mind, I brought up the rear, shooting an apologetic look at the confused waitress hovering nearby. Exactly who was the girl I’d been seeing for the past few weeks? And what side of her had Pierce seen that I hadn’t?
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About the Author Amy Valenti is a tarnished tease, and her mind has lived in the gutter since the day she realised what sex was. She hails from England, which she doesn’t find quite as exotic and sexy as the average US citizen seems to, but if people want to compliment her on her accent, that’s all fine with her! Her muses are many, fickle and very demanding. She has a degree in creative writing and currently works as a proofreader/copy editor. In her free time, she reads, writes and plays videogames. On the rare occasions she doesn’t have a laptop on her knee, she loves to curl up with friends and pets—and chocolate—for TV show and movie marathons. Email:
[email protected] Amy loves to hear from readers. You can find her contact information, website and author biography at http://www.total-e-bound.com.
Also by Amy Valenti Always the Quiet Ones Dominance and Deception Battle of Thrills
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