would account for the rarity of such a race, to the point of lack of evidence to support their existence in modern society. She supposed most who were attacked were ... eaten. Clara swallowed hard, ill at that possibility.
Still.... “Then I’m not the target. He’d want you, if what you say is true.” It seemed like sound reasoning, based on the information he’d provided and her own deductions. And if they were enemies, it was only natural to fight it out. They were men, after all, even if all the paranormal mumbo jumbo could be believed. Oozing testosterone and highly territorial.
The look on his face told her something entirely different. His brows drew down as he frowned at her. “You felt dizzy in the alley when he was near? Like you would faint?”
What did that have to do with anything? And how could he know? She swallowed past the lump in her throat. “Yes. Yes, there was this horrible buzzing--”
“You have two marks on your body, do you not?”
She nodded slowly. How could he know about that? A chill ran up her spine, forcing goose bumps to rise on her skin. Despite wanting to believe the contrary, she was beginning to doubt conventional reasoning.
“He has given you the first two marks of what is called the triad: the mind, body, and lastly, soul. Anyone with the knowledge can invoke the spirit in three hallowed areas of the body and bind it to their own ... for a time.... It can weaken or strengthen, depending on the match.
Danior has been preparing you for his new ... companion. Surely you’ve heard the old legends: on the third night of blood-letting, a human dies. And the next night, they are reborn a vampire.”
Clara raised a tentative hand to her neck, feeling the small wound, and the new one beside it. It couldn’t all be true ... this was just ... too much to believe. The memory loss, the fatigue--was it possible? She felt like she’d entered the twilight zone, and Inferno had been the gate into hell.
“I can’t remember what happened two days ago, not yesterday either....”
“He rolled your mind to make you forget. Easy enough to do once the mind mark has been invoked.”
“I feel ... tainted somehow. Dirty.” She shuddered, rubbing her arms rapidly for warmth. The thought of someone invading her mind and making her forget horrified her. She hated losing control.
Raoul stood and offered her his hand. “It’s late. I’ll show you to your room.”
She took his proffered hand and rose, but shook her head at his suggestion. “No, I’m not ready to sleep. I ... I need to get warm. To feel clean again.”
“The bathroom is up those stairs, to the right. You’ll find everything you need in there.”
A tense moment passed between them while he held her hand, and she thought he would kiss her rather than let her go, but finally he released her. Walking away from him, it took effort not to turn around, but her neck prickled and she knew he watched her go.
She was thankful he didn’t follow, but disappointed too. She needed time to think about what he said, about the implications, and yet she also craved comfort and security. The kind she could only have in a man’s arms ... in Raoul’s arms.
Finding the bathroom just as he described, she entered the cavernous space. A whirlpool, cast in black marble, encompassed one entire corner of the luxury bathroom. In another, a huge shower stood that could easily have accommodated half a dozen people. Shower heads dotted the glossy marble walls. Plush black towels hung within easy reach on silver bars just outside the glass doors of the shower.
Clara stripped off her clothing, dropping it in a pile on the floor. She was reluctant to wash the comforting smell of him off her skin, but needed to cleanse her body and spirit of the taint holding her mind. That man had enthralled her. She couldn’t deny it, no matter how much she wanted to. She didn’t understand how it was possible, but she did know Raoul had saved her.
Stepping into the shower, she closed the door behind her then turned on the water, running it until heated. It took her a few minutes to figure out exactly how to use the shower, but after several tries, she finally managed to turn on just the overhead faucet.
The water was almost too hot as it rained down on her, but the heat banished the chill that had settled in her marrow. She stood there several minutes, just soaking up the heat and wetting down her body.
Grabbing a nylon loofah, she squirted bodywash on it and began lathering her arms. There was a soft click, and cool air flooded the space as the steam was sucked out. She turned slightly and glanced over her shoulder, surprised to see the shower door open ... and Raoul standing inside it.
Chapter Four
Raoul closed the door as he stepped fully inside--too close for Clara’s mind to continue functioning as it should. The enormous space shrank around them, until he stood mere inches away from her. The water seemed cool compared with the heated look he ran in a lingering pass over her body with deliberate thoroughness.
Her skin tingled from his leisurely once over, as if his hands stroked her curves. Clara forgot to breathe. Her heart stalled a moment, and then its pace quickened to a raging tempo. Thought fled along with all the reasons why she shouldn’t get involved, shouldn’t give in. It didn’t occur to her to try and cover her nakedness. All she could do was stare at him.
Naked, his skin glistening from the escaping steam, he was more magnificent than she’d ever imagined. She’d always been able to admire a well honed body but had never really been aroused by looking at nudity. Raoul inspired instant lust.
The muscles of her sex clenched as a rush of liquid desire saturated her labia. An ache started low in her belly, an ache that could be cured only one way.
The nipple ring drew her eyes, and she was reminded immediately of what he’d said--and how it had made her feel. Hot. Hungry. Ravenous to taste him and tug his nipples with her teeth. She drew her eyes down his wide chest. A few scars curled around his ribs. His scars were a part of him, a savage badge of power. Her fingers prickled with the need to caress them, to touch every hard muscled inch of his body. She resisted, wanting--no, needing to see all of him.
A trail of dark hair traveled down his rippled stomach, guiding her to his cock. His erection was impossible to miss in the well trimmed thatch of hair surrounding it. His rigid member was thick, standing straight out from his body, and long enough she could easily wrap two fists end to end around it. Veins bulged along its length, his skin stretched impossibly tight. The cock head was swollen and large as a plum, it’s color a deep red that looked hot to the touch. And she wanted that heat deep inside. She grew thoroughly soaked gazing on him, imagining him ramming his cock into her.
Raoul moved toward her, and she tore her gaze from his erection looking up at his face. He smiled, as if he knew she approved. Silent, watching her with unmistakable heat in his amber eyes, he reached slowly for the loofah, treating her like a skittish doe, and took it from her lax hands. He dropped it to the bed of the shower.
Taking her hands, Raoul pressed her palms against the heated marble. She watched as he squirted soap into his hands, and then he moved behind her where she couldn’t see, out of the water. He slid against her, his body as wet now as her own, nestling his hard chest and stomach against her back until his cock pressed intimately into the crevice of her buttocks.
Clara bit her lip at his contact, craving more. She dug her fingers into the marble until her knuckles turned white with the effort not to turn around and jump him. Eager to know what he would do next, she held still, waiting with tensely.
He kissed the curve of her shoulder, and she tilted her head to allow him easier access. Nipping her with his teeth, he moved soap slickened hands up her braced arms to her breasts. Her nipples tightened unbearably as his palms skimmed over them, making her breasts feel heavy and swollen. She squirmed under his teasing touch, and he grunted low against her neck, cupping her breasts. Slippery with soap, he massaged them firmly, pinching her nipples hard between his fingers.
Clara moaned, pressing into his hands, desire uncoiling in her belly. She was more than ready for him, could feel her juices tickling her nether lips. “Please,” she whispered, begging as she rubbed her ass against his cock. His hard erection twitched against her sensitive cheeks.
“So soon, chere?” He sucked her earlobe into his mouth, flicking it with his tongue before kissing the hollow
