Lover Awakened (Black Dagger Brotherhood #3)(7)

Zsadist leaned forward and uncoiled to his full height, his face becoming illuminated by the spotlight. The whore’s expression froze solid as she took a step back.

At that moment Phury came out of a door to the left, his spectacular mane of hair reflecting the shifting lights. Right behind him was a hard-ass male vampire with a mohawk: the Reverend.

As the two came up to the table, the owner of the club smiled tightly. Eyes the color of amethysts missed nothing about the prostitute’s hesitation. “Evening, gentlemen. You going somewhere, Lisa?”

Lisa’s bravado came back with a vengeance. “Wherever he wants, boss.”

“Right answer.”

Enough with the yakkies, Z thought. “Outside. Now.”

He pushed open the fire door and followed her into the alley behind the club. The December wind blew through the loose jacket he’d put on to cover his weapons, but he didn’t care about the cold, and neither did Lisa. Even though the icy gusts teased her cropped hair and she was close to naked, she faced him without shivering, chin up.

Now that she’d committed herself, she was ready for him. A real professional.

“We do it here,” he said, stepping into the shadows. He took two one-hundred-dollar bills from his pocket and held them out. Her fingers crushed them before she disappeared the cash into her leather skirt.

“How do you want it?” she asked, sidling up to him, reaching for his shoulders.

He spun her around to the brick wall, face-first. “I do the touching. Not you.”

Her body tensed and her fear tingled in his nose, a sulfurous sting. But her voice was strong. “Watch it, *. I come back with bruises and he’ll hunt you down like an animal.”

“Don’t worry. You’re going to walk away from this just fine.”

But she was still scared. And he was blessedly numb to the emotion.

Usually fright in a female was the only thing that could turn him on, the only way the it in his pants would get hard. Lately, though, the trigger wasn’t working, which was just fine with him. He despised the response of that thing behind his zipper, and because most females were scared shitless of him, the it got aroused a hell of a lot more often than he wanted. Not at all would have been better. Shit, he was probably the only male on the planet who wanted to be impotent.

“Tilt your head to the side,” he said. “Ear to your shoulder.”

Slowly she complied, exposing her neck to him. This was why he’d chosen her. Short hair meant he wouldn’t have to touch anything to clear his way. He hated having to put his hands on them anywhere.

As he stared at her throat, his thirst rose and his fangs elongated. God, he was dry enough to drain her.

“What are you going to do?” she snapped. “Bite me?”

“Yeah.”

He struck quickly and held her in place as she thrashed. To make it easier on her, he calmed her with his mind, relaxing her, giving her a kind of high she was no doubt very familiar with. While she settled down, he swallowed as much as he could without gagging, tasting the coke and alcohol in her blood as well as the antibiotics she was on.

When he was finished, he licked the puncture marks so the healing process would get its groove on and she wouldn’t bleed out. Then he popped her collar to hide the bite, cleaned himself from her memory, and sent her back into the club.

Alone again, he sagged against the bricks. Human blood was so weak, it barely got him what he needed, but he wasn’t about to drink from females of his own species. Not again. Ever.

He looked up at the sky. The clouds that had brought the flurries earlier were gone, and between the buildings he could see a slice of the clear pincushion of stars. The constellations told him he had only two hours left to be out.

When he had the strength, he closed his eyes and dematerialized to the only place he wanted to be.

Thank God there was still enough time to go there. To be there.





Chapter Three


John Matthew moaned and rolled over in his bed onto his back.

The woman followed his lead, her naked breasts pressing down on his broad, bare chest. With an erotic smile, she reached down between his legs and found his heavy ache. He kicked his head back and moaned as she stood his erection up and sat down on it. While he gripped her knees, she fell into a good, slow ride.

Oh, yeah…

With one hand she played with herself; with the other she tantalized him, sweeping her palm over her breasts and up to her neck, taking her long, platinum blond hair with her as she went. Her hand moved higher to her face, and then her arm was over her head, a graceful arc of flesh and bone. She arched back and her breasts pushed out, the hard tips dis-tended, rosy. Her skin was so pale it looked like fresh snow.

“Warrior,” she said, grinding. “Can you handle this?”

Handle it? Damn straight, he could. And just so they were clear on who was handling what, he grabbed her thighs and thrust his hips up until she cried out.

When he retreated, she smiled down at him, working against him faster and faster. She was slick and she was tight, and his erection was in heaven.

“Warrior, can you handle this?” Her voice was deeper now from the exertion.

“Hell, yeah,” he growled. Man, the second he came, he was going to flip her over and pound into her all over again.

“Can you handle this?” She pumped even harder, milking him. With her arm still over her head, she was riding him like a bull, bucking against him.