Wicked Love

aisle. The instant our hands touched, I realized my mistake. He’d been shielding. With just a touch of a hand, he was inside me. Like a tidal wave, he poured through me. He was everywhere—filling me up, breaking me down, inside my head, and infiltrating my deepest parts. He was day, night, light, dark, the thoughts in my head, and the air in my lungs; he was all-consuming. I could hear his heart beating, could feel the blood pumping through his veins. His desires were mine, and my fears became his. We were two people, yet one being. I didn’t know where he ended, and I began, and I needed it to stop. I needed to let go, but I didn’t know how. Infused with panic, my lips parted on a silent scream. I was forgetting something. What was it? Tymon’s face popped into my head, and suddenly, I remembered. Teeth gritted, I dug deep for my shields. Up they went, and it was unlike anything I’d been able to produce before. It was an impenetrable steel wall, not just in my head, but my entire body. The connection between us was instantly severed, and a blinding pain burned through me, the loss so excruciating that it felt as if my insides were being ripped from my body.

I must have passed out because when I came to, we were parked outside SVO headquarters. Carl was no longer in the car, and a frazzled-looking Tobias was hovering over me. Dark eyes fringed with coal-black eyelashes stared down at me with concern.

“What happened?” I croaked.

“I’m not sure.”

He was lying. I hit him with an angry glare. “Look, Toby, I’m pretty sure your master would be most unhappy to learn that you mind-raped me, so I’ll ask you one more time, “What the hell just happened?”

He sighed as if I was a giant pain in his ass. “You wanted a connection. I dropped my shields. I’m sorry, I didn’t expect that to happen.”

I thought about it for a second and decided to believe him. Glancing around, I asked, “What happened to Carl?”

“I sent him away.”

We stared at each other, his obsidian eyes burning through me, and I had the urge to sink my fingers in his thick hair and taste those dangerously dark lips.

Are you okay to move?” he asked. Thankfully, one of us was still holding onto a thread of self-control.

“Yeah, I’m good,” I lied.

We exited the car and I followed after him on shaky legs. A silver-haired man greeted us at the door. I placed him in his mid-fifties to early sixties. I lowered my shields just enough to get a feel for him. Tiny little ants skittered up my spine. Yep, he’s a vampire, and from the feel of it, an old one. Not as old as Lenora, but close.

The man’s eyes locked on Tobias. If I didn’t know better, I could swear they were talking to each other. Vampires couldn’t mind speak, could they? I made a mental note to ask Tymon about it later.

“Please show Miss Duvail to the office,” Tobias ordered. Without so much as a glance in my direction, he turned and walked out of the room. My stupid heart twinged as I watched him walk away. I blamed it on vampire voodoo because there was no way in hell I had feelings for the man.

“This way, Miss Duvail. Can I offer you some coffee or tea?” the elderly vampire asked.

“Uh, no, I’m fine, thanks.” I followed him down a long hallway and into a large, very lush office. One end held a library with built-in, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, a fireplace, and a sitting area. On the other sat a massive wooden desk with two comfortable-looking armchairs resting in front of it. It was inviting—the kind of office that made you want to come in and stay for a while.

He told me to have a seat, then started to leave.

“Wait, I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name.”

“Oh, how rude of me. I’m Tobias Fearson.”

I stared after him in shock. If he was Tobias, then who was the man in the car? I had a sneaking suspicion I knew exactly who it was. Groaning at my stupidity, I lowered my head to my hands, and let out a whispered, “Shit.” Tymon was going to kill me.

5

I thought about leaving, but before I’d fully committed to the idea, the door opened, and in he walked. Correction, in he stalked. The t-shirt and jeans had been replaced with a collared shirt and dress pants. He looked good. I hated myself for thinking it.

“Guess who I just met?” The words came out as more of an accusation than a statement, but I was mad. His betrayal stung. Okay, so betrayal might be a bit harsh, but at the moment, I couldn’t think of a better word to describe it.

He stared back at me with those dark, bedroom eyes, and I wanted to poke them from his sexy, vampire head. “I never said I was Tobias.”

“Yeah? That’s funny because out of the five-hundred times I called you by his name, I don’t recall you correcting me. Tell me something, Mr. Wylde, what happened in the car?”

He rounded the desk, and I tried not to stare at his ass as he took a seat. “Please, call me Zack. What happened in the car was an unfortunate accident. I promise it won’t happen again.”

You’re damn right it won’t happen again. “Why am I here?”

“Do you always ask so many questions?”

“I’m a cop. It comes with the job,” I answered flatly. I should have been shaking in my boots. The guy wasn’t only a master vampire; he was Lord over all the vampires in the South. He was an apex predator times ten. So why wasn’t I pissing myself? Probably because I was too busy riding the anger-high from earlier.

“Exactly, you’re a cop, and it’s those detective skills that I need right now. Two weeks ago, Tamara went out with some friends. When she