“She is…”
When nothing came back at him, he shook his head and tossed the gown on the bed. Muttering under his breath, he went for the door again. “This is going nowhere. Unfortunately, the same is true for her.”
SEVENTEEN
As dawn grew near, Xhex wrapped up her first night back in her old boots. The pace of the hours had been good, the Ping-Pong nature of dealing with a fuckload of people in an enclosed space with alcohol in the mix making the time pass fast enough. It was also good to be Alex Hess, head of security, once again—her own female, even if the name she used among the humans was fake.
And it was frickin’ fantastic not having the Brotherhood breathing down her back.
What was not so hot was the fact that everything felt flat, like life had been bulldozed in preparation for the paving trucks to come.
She’d never heard of females doing the bonding thing. But as usual, that didn’t mean she wasn’t an outlier. And bottom line, without John by her side, everything seemed to be just a big, resounding
A quick check of her watch told her there was one hour left of true darkness. Man, she wished she’d come in on her bike so she could can the headlight and roll through the shadows at ridiculous speeds. The Ducati was locked up tight in her garage, however.
She wondered if there was a rule against
Probably not… As long as she was sidesaddle, dressed in armor plating, and had a helmet made of reinforced, skid-resistant Kevlar, they’d probably let her go a few circles around the fountain in front of the house.
Leaving her office, she locked the thing up with her mind so she didn’t have to worry about keys—
“Hey, Trez,” she said as her boss emerged from the ladies’ locker room. “I was just coming to look for you.”
The Shadow was tucking his crisp white shirt into his black slacks, and looking a little more relaxed than usual. A second later, one of the working girls came out from behind the door with a glow on her like she’d been hand-polished.
Which was probably not far from the truth.
At least her clueless expression told Xhex that Trez was keeping things on the DL. But still… you shouldn’t feed where you worked. Complications could arise.
“I’ll see you tomorrow night,” the woman said with a loopy smile. “I’m late. Meeting friends.”
After the girl went out the back, Xhex looked at Trez. “You should use other sources.”
“It’s convenient and I’m careful.”
“Not safe. Besides, you could scramble her mind.”
“I never use the same one twice.” Trez put an arm around her. “But enough about me. You off?”
“Yeah.”
Together, they ambled down to the door the woman had used. God… it was old times all over again, as if nothing had happened since the last time they’d closed up together. And yet Lash had happened. John had happened. The mating had—
“I’m not going to insult you by offering to escort you home,” Trez murmured.
“So you like your legs right where they are, huh.”
“Yup. They fill out my pants just fine.” He did open the door for her, the cold air rushing in like it was trying to get away from itself. “What do you want me to tell him if he hits me up.”
“That I’m fine.”
“Good thing lying isn’t a problem for me.” When she went to argue, the Shadow just rolled his eyes. “Don’t waste your breath or my time. Go home and get some sleep. Maybe things will be better tomorrow.”
By manner of reply, she gave him a quick hug, and stepped into the darkness.
Instead of dematerializing north, she wandered along Trade Street. Everyone was in closing mode: the clubs were spitting out their last few patrons—who looked about as attractive as masticated gum; the tat shop was clicking off its neon sign; the Tex-Mex restaurant had already battened down its hatches.
Shit grew seedier as she kept going, everything getting gloomier and grungier until she arrived at the blocks- long stretch of abandoned buildings. With the downturn in the economy, businesses were drying up like roadkill, and lessees were fewer and farther between—
Xhex stopped. Sniffed the air. Looked to the left.
The unmistakable scent of male vampire wafted over from a deserted walk-up.
BBFO, or Before Brotherhood Freak-out, she would have pursued it—gone in, checked to see if any of them needed help, found out what the Brothers were doing.
Now she just kept going, walking onward with her head held high. They didn’t want her help—no, that probably wasn’t accurate. They’d seemed fine with her until John had had issues. It was more like they no longer felt comfortable with her—
Up ahead about two blocks, a massive figure stepped out into her path.
She halted. Took a deep breath. Felt a prickling in her eyes.
On the breeze drifting down to her, John’s unmistakable bonding scent was a dark spice that wiped out the stink of the city and the wretched sting of her unhappiness.
She started walking toward him. Fast. Faster…
Now she was running.
He met her halfway, falling into a jog as soon as he saw her pick up the pace, and they slammed into each other.
Hard to know whose mouth found whose, or whose arms were cinched tighter, or who was the desperate one.
But then, in this they were equals.
Breaking the kiss, she groaned, “My cabin.”
The second after he nodded, she was out of there and so was he… and they re-formed outside her place.
No waiting to go inside.
He fucked her standing up, against her door, in the cold.
It was all so fast and frantic, her ripping her leathers down until she got one leg free, him breaking the buttons on his fly. Then she was spread wide and locked on his hips and he was buried to the base in her core.
He pounded into her so hard that her head banged on the door like she was trying to break into her own house. And then he bit her on the side of the neck—but not to feed, to hold her in place. He felt so much bigger inside of her, stretching her to the point where he strained her capacity. She needed that. At this moment, on this night, she needed him raw and unchained and a little painful.
Hell, yeah, she did—and that was exactly what she got.
When he came, his hips locked against hers, his erection kicking up a storm deep within her, spurring her own orgasm.
And then they were in the cabin. On the floor. Her legs cranked apart, his mouth on her sex.
With his hands clamped on her thighs, and his still-erect cock sticking out of his open fly, he went down on her with a furious tongue, lashing at her, penetrating her, taking what he’d just had.
The pleasure was unbearable, a kind of agony that had her throwing back her head and contorting on the floor, her palms squeaking on the linoleum as she struggled unsuccessfully to keep herself from riding backward—
The orgasm plowed through her so violently that as she shouted his name, bright lights flickered across her vision. And he didn’t relent in the slightest. As the onslaught continued, she was pretty sure that at some point he bit her on the inner leg, at that juncture where the thick vein went down to feed the lower half of her. But there
