Deadly Liaisons (12 page)

“Daemon’s guards warned me you were out here, and I came to escort you back.” Atreides’s jaw tightened. “The SCU sent hunters in search of you. You have to tel them you’re safe.”

Oh hel , that’s al she needed—the SCU dictating to Daemon. That would real y go over wel . “Let me go, and that wil be the end of their concern.”

“I’ll be glad to release you when the killer of the police officers is dead ,”
Daemon communicated to her. The brown wolf melted into mist, then transformed into his human form—his very naked human form. She couldn’t help but look at the whole of Daemon, every gorgeous muscle taut. He looked ready to pounce…on her.

A heated flush spread through her. What was there about him that made her dissolve under his heated scrutiny? She’d only had a couple of hunter lovers to compare him to—and they were conceited to the max. Interested only in one thing—she learned after the fact—having sex with a wil ing huntress.
Bastards
. Quick, like a swordfight with a vampire, in and out and finished.

Daemon relieved her of her sword and handed it to Atreides. “Next time, make sure she is
totally
disarmed.” He seized her wrist.

“Let go of—” Darkness swal owed her next word, and in the next instant, she stood in Daemon’s cavernous bedroom with him.

“Daemon, what should I do about the SCU? Lichorus has threatened to tell them you’re holding Tezra hostage. If they take
you into custody, our people will revolt
,
”
Atreides said from downstairs.

Lichorus? Who the hel was that? Refocused on the immediate concern, Tezra didn’t want to escalate tensions between the SCU and Daemon and his people when he was only trying to keep her safe.

“I’l talk to them, convince them I’m al right.” Her gaze drifted to his body—hard and control ed—yet she figured if she touched him anywhere, he’d lose the restraint he seemed to have. So why was the thought so appealing?

His touch tender, Daemon ran his hand down her arm. “Al I want is to keep you from being the vampire’s next victim.”

His words and actions thawed the ice wal surrounding her heart, yet she stil craved freedom. Being imprisoned by him was too much like when she was in the teen home under guard.

“I have to research the crimes.” She had to remain focused on her mission, not give in to the sexual craving he’d aroused.

She didn’t like being under Daemon’s thumb, but the alternative? The SCU would lock her away so she couldn’t go against their rules any longer. She took another look at Daemon’s physique, which brought a lift to his lips. She made the decision, right or wrong. She’d stay with him. At least she thought Daemon would let her continue her work, albeit under his control. The SCU?

They’d stop her.

“You wil let me conduct my research, right?” Her words were spoken as a promise rather than a question.

His dark eyes hinted at amusement.

She took his subtle response as a yes. “I’l tel them I’m secure in your protective custody. They won’t like it and wil insist you hand me over for safekeeping.”

“I’l keep you safe.” His eyes entranced her, and he drew close. A shiver of need rippled through her. He gripped her shoulders, and the touch of his strong hands triggered the desire to experience the shared intimacy of lovers, to feel the burning passion grow between them.

She blinked away tears and studied the flecks of gold in his dark chocolate eyes. His thumbs rubbed her shoulders, warming her to the marrow. But then he turned away from her and pul ed a phone from a drawer. Wordlessly, he handed her the receiver and lifted a brow.

Hoping this wasn’t a mistake, she dialed the administrative head of the SCU. “Julie, it’s me, Tezra.”

“Where have you been? Half the hunters in the state are searching for you. Senior Council Member Ingrid is furious you were trying to solve the police murders.”

Tezra could envision Julie twisting her shoulder length hair around her fingers like she did when her nerves were on edge.

“I’m safe. Have them cal off the search.”

“A vampiress reported that you’d been taken against your wil by a vampire named Daemon. Senior Member Ingrid says he’s one of the most powerful in this country. How can we know you’re there voluntarily?” Julie nearly whispered the question as if she was concerned the vampire would be listening in on the conversation.

Which he was.

“I have to go, but no, he’s not holding me hostage.”

“The senior staff wil want you here to tel them yourself,” Julie said.

Tezra knew then Julie believed she was being held hostage.

“Listen, he and his people are keeping me safe. And he’s helping me catch the murderer of the police investigators. I’ve got to go, real y. Tel them I’m fine. I’l get in touch with you when we have some answers.”

“The SCU won’t like it.” Julie’s voice sounded low and irritated.

“The kil er’s after me. It can’t be helped. I’l be safe—”

Julie cleared her throat. “The senior staff wil send hunters to check your story.”

“We’l be in and out investigating. So we won’t always be at Daemon’s place.”

Julie snorted. “Al my best, sweetie, and be careful. Even with the vampires watching your back, one of them is the kil er.”

“I’l keep in touch.” Tezra hung up the phone and handed it to Daemon.

He set it on the dresser, then ran his hand over her arm, his eyes smoky with desire. “What now?”

She tilted her chin up. “I want to look at the tissue samples.” No way was she going to tel him she wanted red-hot sex with him.

His brows rose. Wel , hel , he asked! Or had he realized from her expression what she’d been thinking? Her skin heated with mortifaction.

Daemon wrapped his arms around Tezra’s waist. Her traitorous body responded to his touch as if she were the lock and he the key, and with one twist they fit together in perfect synchronization.

She hadn’t been with a hunter in so long and it was always strip-and-do-it. No foreplay. No building up to the big crescendo.

Just strictly get the business out of the way. Sure, the guys seemed perfectly satisfied, but she’d felt…
used
, afterwards, though she’d thought she feel something more. Loved, wanted. Wasn’t to be.

“Are you sure al you want to do is look at tissue samples? Nothing else?” He pul ed her hair away from her neck and held her firmly. His tongue swept down her throat.

She closed her eyes and shivered.

Of course she was interested. Damned interested. But how could she justify sexual relations with a vampire? Not any vampire, though. The prince of al the American clans.
Daemon.
The only man she’d ever felt so drawn to.

A part of her desired to be wanted, to be cherished, protected and respected for who she was, despite what she’d done to her family.

Daemon reached up and ran his hands over her breasts, massaging, lifting, weighing them, stealing her thoughts.

More than ever, she wanted the intimacy Daemon offered her.

He pressed her mouth with a kiss, hard and unwavering, demanding and possessive. She shouldn’t have loved it. She should have resented his rapaciousness—how he plundered her like no man had ever done, would never risk doing without her consent. Instead, Daemon lured her in. He wove a silken web of charm securely around her like a warm cloak on a bitter cold day.

She battled the burning urgency that consumed her and refused to give in to her baser longings. Yet her fingers itched to comb his unbound hair, and she yearned to press against his firm, naked body.

His velvet tongue, tasting of the richest wine, probed hers and intoxicated her. He slid his hands down her arms and caressed.

The cashmere sweater slipped against her sensitive skin as she—a telepath who could not be hypnotized by a vampire—fel under his charm. A split second of panic made her feel vulnerable to his vampiric magnetism. Then she realized he couldn’t control her in that way, nor she him.

Leaning into his kiss, she gave in to the lust. She wouldn’t al ow herself to cal it anything other than a raging desire to satisfy primitive needs. She wouldn’t fight the growing attraction any longer. Her fingers gripped his back and held on as she teetered precariously at the edge of a jagged cliff.

His mouth shifted down her jaw, and she closed her eyes, knowing the bloodlust cal ed to him, compel ing him to feed. Her pulse pounded in her ears, and the sound must be an aphrodisiac to him.

Worse, she tilted her chin up and offered herself to him, encouraging him to take her while she raked her fingers through his sable hair, fanning the satiny strands over his broad shoulders.

Daemon’s tongue traced her throat, sending exquisite shivers down her skin. His hands shifted to her breasts, his fingertips caressing her swol en nipples. She moaned as his touch destroyed any last resolve to keep him away.

Without warning, he suddenly separated from her, muttering under his breath in some ancient language, and she guessed by his angry tone it was a curse.

His jaw ticked, his smoky gaze refocused on her, the heat in his eyes stil simmering. He communicated his thoughts to his brother, “
Tell Lichorus all is well with the SCU. I’m sure this will make her feel much better
.”

Lichorus again.

Before she could question who the troublemaking vampire was, Daemon took her face in his hands and leaned over to kiss her.

His heavy erection pressed against her bel y. Her own panties were damp in anticipation. Jeez, what was she thinking? She wanted to help her sister, destroy Krustalus, ensure the SCU didn’t turn Portland inside out looking for her, and so what does she do? Offers her throat and everything else to a vampire.

His powerful fingers chased away the tension in her shoulders. What she wouldn’t give for a man’s touch like that every evening after a day of investigations.

He kissed her mouth, stealing her breath. Control ed, he pressured her to respond. Shaking loose her reservations, she kissed him back. Her tongue tangled with his. Her body molded with his hard form. Wanting al of him, she craved the intimacy only lovers captured.

He slipped her sweater over her head, then plied her mouth with his heated kisses. Her fingers explored the fluid way his biceps moved, strong and resilient. He growled and reached behind her for the fastener on her bra.

“In front,” she said against his mouth.

With a snap, he unfastened the bra and tossed it away. Afterwards, he moved so fast, before she knew it she was naked in his arms, then on the bed.

His arousal pressed into her waist, his dark eyes nearly black. His jaw tightened, and she assumed his canines itched to extend, but he fought revealing them.

She looked away from his entrancing gaze, knowing his hypnotic qualities could compel most humans to his wil . “W-wil you make love to me?” She ran her fingers over his chest, touched his nipples with feather-light sweeps of her fingertips, forcing him to growl. “Wil you?”

“Why?”

His erection pressed against her, and she wanted to feel him deep inside her. Why? She knew he wanted her. She knew he’d had lots of lovers before, had to have, as ancient as he was. So why not have an experienced lover like him? No commitment.

No one would ever know.

But more than that, she desired to learn why her grandmother had fal en for a vampire. If the one she’d loved was anything like Daemon…Tezra was beginning to understand the compel ing attraction. She wanted to know why blood bonds offered their blood so readily—drawn to the vampire’s power. She craved feeling real pleasure like hunter lovers had denied her.

Or was she the one who was incapable of having great sex? Something psychological that impeded her happiness? She had to know.

She got up the nerve and said, “I’ve never…” She meant to say, “…had a lover who was al that great,” but Daemon smiled, the look as self-satisfied as ever, as if he knew.

She shoved at him to get him off her. “Forget it. Let me up.”

“You’l permit me to feed?”

“You won’t turn me.” Even though she wanted him to. Whatever it took to rescue her sister. Once he made love to her, would he change his mind? She was wil ing to risk anything.

“I told you I wouldn’t. I’l make love to you, feed and…nothing more.” The glint in his eye suggested amusement, intrigue and something else. Conceit, most likely. Arrogance, that after he made love to her, she wouldn’t want anyone else.

He kissed her more slowly now, not in such a rush. As if he believed he’d won her over already, or maybe he realized he had one shot to prove to her she’d want no other.

She folded her arms beneath her head.

He stopped and looked at her, a smile tugging at his lips. Ooh, he could be so exasperatingly superior.

“What?” she said, her tongue laced with poison.

“You would enjoy the experience more if you participated.”

“What you mean is
you
would enjoy it more. I don’t want to get you so stirred up that you forget you’re only making love to me this one time.”

“I won’t forget. Participate, or not. I’l enjoy watching you take pleasure anyway.”

He gave her a devilish smirk as if he didn’t think one time would be enough, then touched his lips to hers while his hands moved from her shoulders to her breasts.

She took in a deep breath of him, memorizing his scrumptious spicy scent, the feel of his hands caressing her breasts, the way he moved against her, hotter than a summer drought.

His eyes clouded over when she combed her fingers through the silky strands of hair, and his fingers stil ed on the tips of her breasts. Breathless, he waited, and she realized then how much her touch affected him.
Power.
Having control over the ancient one incited her to touch him more. She ran her hands over his back, the muscles tightening, tensing.

His body had stil ed, but now he rubbed his erection against her waist. His mouth moved lower, trailing kisses along her throat, down her breastbone, then fastened to her breast and suckled, long and hard. Bliss stroked her nerves, pleasuring her like never before.

“Do it,” she whispered, her voice lost with the feelings he elicited from her, her nipple puckering into a hardened nub, the other waiting in hopeful expectancy.