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  Ivan disappeared into the hotel. She stared at the closed door for a long moment. Vampires? She shook her head.Surely, the man was nuts. Vampires weren’t real. Neither were demons or eldjötnar, whatever the hell they were.

  She pivoted on her heel and studied the village, searching for another resident to ask. There wasn’t anyone within sight. Afraid to be out alone, maybe? If there were blood-sucking undead walking around, people would stay inside. Then again, it might just be too damn cold to be outside.

  Her survey settled on the tavern. Music and laughter drifted out when somebody slipped inside. She nibbled her lip. Drunks would share their tales with her, especially if she supplied their booze.

  She slipped her backpack over her shoulders and made her way to the bar. Half-way across the uneven path, she froze. The sensation of someone watching her raised the hair on her arms. She swept her gaze over the area but didn’t see anything or anyone unusual. She shook off the odd occurrence and stepped forward, right into the open arms of the biggest man she’d ever seen.

  Bluish-gray eyes locked on to hers. They mesmerized her. She stared into them for a long moment before her need to soak in details forced her gaze from his. Dark, wavy hair framed a face she would have expected to grace the cover of a magazine. Not too long or short, it was the perfect length to run her fingers through. She slid her gaze to his jaw. The shadow of a beard darkened his lightly tanned skin.

  Her breath escaped in a shaky exhale. Gorgeous. The man awakened everything feminine in her. She dropped her attention to the full lips she wanted on hers. They curved into a smile, showing off straight white teeth. Her knees went weak. She fisted his sweatshirt and dragged in a deep breath to ground herself.

  His scent filled her lungs. Crisp and clear, it reminded her of autumn morning. She swayed with a sudden wave of dizziness. He firmed his grip on her hips. Grateful for his steadying hold, she leaned into him. He slipped a hand under her jacket and skimmed it up her spine. A moan that sounded too breathless and needy fell from her lips. She heard it, knew she was the one who made the wanton sound, but couldn’t understand why it had come out.

  There was a reason she shouldn’t be in a stranger’s arms or any guy’s arms for that matter. She couldn’t make her mind work to figure it out. Each pass of his fingertips along her back scattered her thoughts as soon as they came. She bit her cheek. The pain helped her focus.

  Time.

  The word skittered through her foggy brain. Of course. She didn’t have time. Damn if she could remember what was so important that she wouldn’t want to enjoy the sensations building within her. They felt familiar. It was what she’d always been missing in her lovers’ arms.

  What the hell?

  She tipped her head back to peer into his face, maybe trigger a memory. Had she met him before? Fucked him before? The blue-gray hue of his eyes reminded her of a stormy sky, unique and captivating. No, she’d remember that color.

  “Cat.”

  Her name, whispered in his low, gravelly voice aroused her instantly, pooling warmth low. He bent his head toward hers. She sensed his intent, but she couldn’t move away. Her body relaxed more.

  No, something’s not right. This isn’t like me.

  Guys didn’t turn her into a bundle of hormones. She opened her mouth to finally voice her concern. He closed the scant inch between them. His lips brushed hers and her thoughts scattered once more. Tingles spread, igniting her nerve endings. She shivered and he slammed their bodies together.

  A gasp escaped her. He slipped his tongue past her parted lips. With gentle strokes, he coaxed her into a hesitant kiss. She followed his lead, unable to resist his seduction. Dammit, she should. The reason hovered at the edge of her mind. It was something other than a lack of time. She couldn’t grasp it, not while he rolled his tongue with hers and moaned.

  Dear God, she loved that sound. There was something about making a man lose control that pushed her over the edge. It made her feel powerful. Sexy. Desirable.

  She sifted her fingers through his hair. The silky strands under her fingertips stirred her desires. She wanted to feel the locks teasing her chest, her belly, her inner thighs. She groaned and took over the kiss.

  He tugged at her bag. She wiggled. The backpack slipped free. It landed with a thump. Concern for her electronics rose. It faded on the hungry growl he shoved down her throat. Her feet left the ground. She wrapped her legs around his waist, grateful he held her. It made it easier to kiss him. Their teeth banged as the kiss grew wicked. His moans matched hers. She dug her fingers into his scalp and pulled him closer.

  Cat, my Cat. Want to love you.

  She froze at the words she heard in her head. Had she imagined them? He kept kissing her, working his tongue into her mouth and stroking hers. She must have. She shook off the thought and kissed him back.

  That’s right. Kiss me. Need you to warm me as no other female has. Need you to be my life.

  There was no mistaking the voice. He spoke to her telepathically. Not right, not right. She had to get away. She captured his tongue and bit at the same time as she shoved against his chest. She fell on her ass. He bent over her a second later. Glowing eyes locked on to her.

  She screamed.

  Chapter Two

  Curses zinged through Rune’s head. What was he doing? Kissing a human was one thing. Asking her to love him and be the fountain of his life was another. At that moment, with the female’s widened eyes locked to his, he knew it was the worst slip in judgment he’d ever made.

  He shifted his gaze from her blue-green eyes to her mouth and the blood on her lip. His blood.

  No! He reached for her.

  She screamed and scrambled back, licking her lips.

  Swallowing his blood.

  Screwing them both.

  Fuck, fuck, fuck.

  He’d cloaked them, but her shriek would soon draw other humans’ attention and negate the veil he’d cast over them. Unable to think of a better solution, he dropped to his knees and clamped a hand over her mouth.

  The warmth of her breath heated his cold skin. Hunger rose, not only for her blood but for her body. He’d been without the welcoming haven of a female’s sex for longer than he could remember. The hard dick in his pants ached to feel her soft muscles milking it. He shook off the thought and focused on the situation.

  She was still screaming. The sounds were only muffled against his palm.

  “Be calm, Cat. I’m sorry I startled you.”

  Her teal eyes widened more, but she stopped yelling. She dug her nails into his wrist and thrashed instead. The sight of her distress angered him. With the instinct to possess her riding him, fear was the last thing she should feel in his presence.

  He tugged her close, dropping her bottom on his bent thighs. She squirmed and pushed against him. Dammit, she was going to hurt herself. He curled his body around hers and held her flush to his chest. She froze.

  Thank God.

  Unable to resist the scent of heaven that had lured him to her in the first place, he buried his face into the fall of her raven hair. She smelled of something fruity and exotic. He couldn’t place the scent, but it compounded his craving. He wanted to devour her.

  Deep breaths filled his lungs with her signature fragrance. Dizziness gripped him. He tightened his hold on her to stop himself from swaying and unleashed his will to influence her. With the few drops of his blood in her body, he wasn’t sure it would actually work, but he had to try something.

  “Calm down. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  She hiccupped. The fingers scratching at his back stilled. He waited a moment for her to succumb completely to his order. Her tense body and rapid heartbeat didn’t lessen as they should have. More expletives whipped through him at the implications of her resistance. He took another breath to calm his racing pulse.

  “You’re going to bring the authorities here. They’ll harass me, maybe toss me in jail, all for kissing you. You don’t want that.”

  �
�Don’t I?”

  Shit. He dropped his forehead to her shoulder and reined in his power. It was pointless to expend the energy if she was resistant to it. “No, you don’t. You can’t blame me for losing control when faced with temptation. You’re beautiful, Cat.”

  She turned her head. He eased back and met her probing eyes. “How do you know my name?”

  I lurked in the shadows and listened to your conversation with the innkeeper. He dropped his gaze to her lips. “I’ve been assigned to assist you in the investigation of the…” He considered what to call the deaths. Murders? Careless feedings of the eldjötnar? The crime he and his brethren were supposed to ensure didn’t happen. “The tragedies that occurred here.”

  Her gaze narrowed on him. “Who are you? I wasn’t told of anyone helping me.”

  She’d been ordered here? A lone, defenseless female? Rune fought the desire to hunt the person down who had sent her and make them regret their dangerous assignment.

  He had learned many things about the modern world from the males he’d fed on since awakening, but the lack of concern for their females’ safety boggled his mind.

  “Must’ve gotten lost in the communication trail.”

  In an attempt to distract her, he settled her more firmly against the trapped length of his rigid dick. A shaky sigh escaped her lips. Thank God. He had to gain the female’s acceptance of his companionship. He couldn’t let her get away. The need to lock her to him stemmed not only from his desire of her body, but from the few drops of his blood she’d consumed.

  In times gone by, the sharing of a male’s blood marked a female as a chosen consort, a possible mate and feeding source. And the first step in the mating process. He shoved the thought deep. He had no plans to bind himself to the female, despite the words he’d spoken into her mind. They had been instinctual. Their race was essentially dead; only a few males remained.

  The drive to reproduce was natural. It didn’t mean he had to embrace it, but if the eldjötnar scented his blood on her, they’d infect her as they’d done to his last female, the one he had planned to breed with. He couldn’t allow that to happen. One failure was enough. His honor wouldn’t survive another.

  He grasped her hip and settled her over him so her cotton-covered cleft pressed along his cock. She didn’t shift away from the evidence of his arousal. Another breathy sound escaped. The small sign of her approval encouraged him. He slid his hand to her ass and massaged. She bit her lip.

  “I didn’t expect the woman I awaited to be so captivating.”

  She chuckled. The throaty sound tightened his balls. “Really? Have you been out in the cold too long? I’m far from captivating. I’m not even wearing matching shoes.”

  He’d noticed the details. They hadn’t meant anything to him. He skimmed his fingertips along the edge of her jaw. “And if you have to make a point of that, it confirms my suspicions about you.”

  She gripped his shoulders. “What are you talking about?”

  Her quickened heartbeat made him smile. He’d pegged her right. With her shiny black hair, intelligent eyes and a face that could’ve belonged to an angel, she no doubt had a slew of males vying for her body. She didn’t want to be bothered with their attention. The why didn’t matter. His touch had awakened her lusts. If he had to hold her close to protect her, he had no reason not to enjoy the benefits of her interest. Sex had been the only thing that had made having a consort bearable the last time too.

  “You hide behind layers of clothing, hoping males don’t notice how gorgeous you are.”

  She closed her eyes, blocking what he could have garnered from them. “Is that so?”

  He sifted his fingers through the locks of her hair and dislodged the tie holding it back. Strands of pure silk tickled his skin.

  With his palm cradling her head, he skimmed his nose over her temple and breathed in more of her exotic scent. “Yes. Is it because you don’t want the attention or…” A surge of jealousy he had no business feeling choked him. “Or because you are already bound to another?”

  “B-bound to another?”

  He heard the frown in her voice. “Forgive my language barrier, Cat. I meant to ask if you already had a male in your life.”

  “No, I d-don’t da-date. N-no time.” Her teeth chattered and a tremor shook her body.

  Her statement raised the question as to why. He filed it away to dissect later. Her shiver reminded him that she could not control her temperature. She was a mortal and fragile human. He’d have to take care with her body.

  He stood and swung her into his arms. She gasped but clutched him tighter.

  “What are you doing?”

  “You’re cold. I’m taking you to my home.”

  “What?” She shoved against him. Fire glinted in her eyes. “Put me down!”

  At the sight of her ire, he chuckled. She growled. The sound of her displeasure tightened his balls. He swallowed hard at the hint of her personality and his reaction to it. Passionate and strong, she was nothing like the last female who’d carried his favor.

  He shifted uncomfortably, trying and failing to give his dick more room in the restrictive clothing of the current era. The zipper dug into his shaft. He ignored it and focused on her face.

  “We have much to talk about, Cat.” And I want to unwrap you as the gift you are.

  Gods[S1] , he could almost taste her essence. It would be as sweet and rich as her scent. He ran the tip of his tongue along his upper lip. She followed the move with her lust-hazed gaze. He barely stopped his fangs from descending at the confirmation of her arousal. Not good. He needed to get himself under control. He focused on her nose. There. That’s safe. Her eyes couldn’t captivate him and he wouldn’t long for another taste of her lips.

  “If we’re going to be partners, we should get to know each other. Don’t you agree?”

  “Do you plan to rape or kill me?”

  He frowned but kept his focus on her pert nose. It was beautiful. “No, of course not.”

  She snorted and pushed against his chest. “If you can’t even look me in the eye, how am I supposed to believe you?”

  Intuitive too. He grinned and met her gaze. “I’m trying to keep my lust in check, Cat. I do want to bed you, but I would never force you. As for your safety, you are my responsibility now.”

  “Your responsibility? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means I’m obligated to protect you.” For the rest of your life. He kept the qualification to himself. He knew little of modern women, but he learned quickly. He also wasn’t stupid. The female he held was far from submissive. She wouldn’t blindly accept his presence in her life.

  Her brows turned down. “Who are you and how did you know I was coming here?”

  Another shiver ran through her. He willed his core temperature to rise. It wasted precious energy but her discomfort beat at him. He maneuvered her body to cradle her more firmly against his chest. She shifted closer, linking her arms around his neck. The move brought her neck dangerously close to his mouth. He closed his eyes and breathed through the needs riding him.

  “My name is Rune.”

  “Rune? As in the symbol?”

  Damn, even in her questioning drawl, his name sounded good in her voice. Whispered in his ear while he fucked her, it would be as close to heaven as he would ever get. “Yes. And yours is Cat, as in the feline?

  She chuckled. Her breath heated his cheek. “A comedian. Wonderful.”

  “I am many things, Cat. Give me the chance to show you my true nature.” Why he posed the question minutes after she’d been ready to flee his company, he didn’t know. Still, he waited for her response.

  “Answer my question and I’ll consider it.”

  She slid a hand to the back of his neck. The roughness of her glove bothered him. He wanted to feel her skin, soak in her warmth and discover the body she’d wrapped under the layers of material. From the little he could touch, she’d be thin, but the breasts cushioning his ch
est promised plenty of soft flesh to feed from.

  The tips of fangs pushed against his gums. He focused on the vein visible in her throat. Hunger rose. He fought it. For a child of the mist, one bite would seal both his fate and Cat’s. Unlike the cursed eldjötnar who could walk away from a female host, Rune wouldn’t be able to. Once he took her blood, he’d never be able to feed from another being, animal or human. He’d have to mate her or die. It was why they only fed on males or animals.

  At the moment, the consequences didn’t seem so horrible. That in itself was a reason to worry. Something wasn’t quite right about his attraction to Cat. Her beauty captivated him, but he’d been in the presence of countless gorgeous females, including his long-dead chosen consort. One look into Cat’s eyes, however, and he’d been enthralled, something he’d never felt with another woman. Nothing would’ve stopped him from approaching Cat. Nothing would make him walk away either.

  He squeezed his eyes shut. She was a complication he didn’t need. He knew it in his soul. Still, he bent and brushed his parted mouth over the slender length of her neck, right over her wildly beating pulse. He wouldn’t bite. He simply wanted to feel the thump of her life against his tongue and imagine what it’d be like. His eldest cousin had said it was the most wondrous experience of his life. After his mate had died, he’d been anxious for starvation to claim him so he could return to her side in the afterlife.

  Rune didn’t want that fate. There were too few males left. They had none to spare as breeders. He tightened his control over his raging instincts but couldn’t resist her call completely.

  I won’t bite. Just have to taste her.

  He touched the tip of his tongue to her skin. Her flavor flooded his senses. Sweet. Salty. Addicting.

  His stomach clenched hard. A groan escaped.

  She tipped his head back, dragging him away from temptation. Concerned eyes mapped his face. “Are you okay?”

  He nodded, the best he could do. She watched him too closely to risk opening his mouth to speak.