Demons

Mike clapped his hand over his throat and stepped back. He wouldn't normally run from a vamp, but...he'd already had his ass handed to him tonight. "Stay away from me!" He yelled.

Laughter filled the room.

"No…" The voice was getting louder. "I noticed you... "I was there for the whole thing."

Mike turned around and met the vamp face to face. Tall and muscled, as pallid as the woman had been.

The vamp's fangs were also exposed.

"Didn't you say you were going to kill the female?"

It's like you've been dealt a bad hand. He should've realized the bitch wasn't alone when she walked in.

"No." He has a chance to be truthful in this situation. Perhaps that would be beneficial to his purpose. "I was planning to assassinate him."

The vampire closed in on them with more laughter. Mike didn't even get a chance to yell before he was suffocated.

"Is this...ah...your place?" Hailey walked around the room, pacing in front of the fireplace. "It's not quite what I was hoping for."

Jace shifted his attention away from her asshole. His body was still fueled by the rush from the shift. No, it's not just because of the time change. It's from her.

He'd gotten a taste for her now. She was aware of her own body's sensations. I recognized the sound of delight on her lips. He yearned for more.

"What did you expect?" His voice was rough. Always was. Like sandpaper when hers sounded like silk.

Hailey came to a halt in her pacing. From beneath lowered lashes, she flicked him a brief glance.

"A cage?" you might wonder. He threw it out.

Her tiny jaw clenched. "And I'm sure you never considered whether I slept in a coffin?"

He burst out laughing. "I know better, princess," says the narrator. She only needed to stay out of the sun because it made her weak and human-like. It didn't set her skin on fire. That was merely a Hollywood legend.

"And I, too, know better." Her voice was considerably weaker than it had been. She shifted her gaze to the hefty bookcases that lined his walls. "However, I did anticipate pin-up queens and at least one large-screen television."

They were all on the other side of the house, to be sure. Jace shrugged his shoulders.

Then he took off his t-shirt.

Her attention was drawn to his chest almost instantly. Her hand rose and touched the curve of her shoulder, the delicious region he'd tried less than an hour earlier. Soon, he'd be sampling a lot more of her.

The princess of the fucking vampires. He had requested her because he was well aware of the power she possessed in her blood. He'd be almost invincible if he got enough vampire blood in him.

That was the power he desired. If he was going to stop the demons, he'd need it. However, there was more.

He'd been looking for her. For a very long period, I had. The lady had no idea how long he'd been staring at her. "I remember the first time I saw you." He hadn't intended to say the words, but they came out of nowhere. How many times had his vampire princess visited him in his sleep?

Her pupils dilated. "Wh-what?" It had reappeared. That inconsequential stammer. He hadn't anticipated her hesitation. He'd assumed that the passage of time would have made her tougher. Maybe they hadn't.

Or maybe she was just putting on a show for him. Only time will tell.

"You haven't aged in ten years."

Her head was slightly cocked. Fresh meat, or at least that's what the rest of the pack would have referred to her as.

Jace just referred to her as— Mine.

"This is the first time we've met." Her voice had become less hesitant, but her fingers remained curled over the mark he'd made on her skin.

"No, but I've watched you." His role had been to keep an eye on the vampires before he took over the pack. To keep track of whatever they do and report back to his alpha. He'd seen a blond beauty with tears in her eyes gazing up at the sun. Her twenty-fifth birthday has arrived. It was the day she'd finally grown up.

The ex-alpha, Lathan, had demanded that the pureblood be removed. She was supposed to be a warning to the vampires. This town is under our control. It's time for you to be our henchwomen. Instead of injuring her, Jace had torn his alpha apart after seeing her gazing at the sun.

Wolves couldn't always tell who their mates were. They weren't meant to recognize them, at the very least.

Mine.

"Jace?" He enjoyed the way she pronounced his name, but he would have preferred to hear her scream it in delight rather than whisper it so softly. Later. "You didn't respond to my inquiry," she remarked, lifting her obstinate chin.

He should probably lay his cards out on the table. They only had each other in this devil's bargain. If he couldn't trust her, I might be the one to murder her one day.

"I used to be your guard dog a few years ago." He purposefully used a disparaging phrase. Between her brows, a thin furrow emerged.

"I kept an eye on you for seven months. All hours of the day and night." He'd even seen her drink her first batch of blood—and then watch her puke it up.

She hadn't wanted to be a monster, but fate had different plans for her and him. Hailey's bedroom eyes widened. "When?"

"Right before your change." His gaze swept over her. "Right before—"

"Right before you took over the pack," she finished and her hand dropped. Now he was the one surprised. "Did your research on me, did you?"

"Yes." Flat. "I know everything there is to know about you. The vampires you've beheaded—the lives you've taken."

Because it had been his job before. Watch. Hunt. Kill.

Until a vampiress sobbed bloody tears at sunset.

He hadn't exactly transformed into Mr. Nice Guy since that night. He hadn't actually killed her.

"You know that, and you're still eager to screw me."

Even as her hands clenched into fists at her sides, she maintained her chin up. "We don't have to—we don't have to fuck for the bonding to happen." You drank from me; all I need now is for you to drink from me." As he strode toward her, Jace shook his head slowly. "Do you think you can drink me and not want to have sex with me?" He was an expert in vampires.

The majority of them had ceased taking from live sources since the bloodlust tended to overtake them once they tasted blood—ah, fresh from the vein.

Her attention was fixed on him. "I have self-control."

Interesting. His nostrils were dilated. She was in command, but she was also agitated. From the thought of consuming his blood? Or is it just from him?

He was concerned that a vampire female would find him repulsive. They usually went to class.

For a beast who howled at the moon, no way. However, this beauty, his princess, was unlike any other. He'd known it for a long time. All he had to do now was bide his time and wait for her.

"You may have control," he conceded, "but we wolves aren't recognized for it."

No." Again, not pulling her punches.

As a result, he wouldn't either. "And it's been ten years since I've wanted to fuck you."

Her lips parted, and she revealed those tiny fangs to him. "You—what?"

What made her fangs so appealing to him? "It doesn't matter to me if drinking me increases your need for blood. I don't care if you're rough." When pleasure awaited, he didn't mind a few bruises and scratches. As his palm slid down her arm, he told her, "I can take anything you've got." Such supple, silky skin.

"Wolf, don't be too sure."

He was, however. "How come you're doing this?" His fingers stroked the side of her breast with purpose. Would you want a sample? "What's the point of throwing yourself to the wolves?"

"I'm going to save my people." Her lips pressed together. "Doesn't that suffice?"

No.

"I mean, that's why you're doing it, right?" she murmured, her eyelids sweeping down but she didn't back away. To preserve your pack, you're sacrificing yourself by mating with a bloodsucker."

He didn't say anything, but Jace started undressing her.

"What are you doing—?"

He was nearly amused by her rapid stutter. Would have done so if he hadn't been so desperate for her. He couldn't even take a breath without getting a whiff of her.

"It's time to wrap this up." They'd completed the public rite, and now it was time to form a relationship. He felt a surge of new energy surge through his body. He'd only drank from her once, but the shift was immediately noticeable. He'd be tremendously stronger and faster in no time. To defeat the demons, he'd have to transform something more. So would she.

But they'd have to fuck first.

Her hands grasped his and brought him to a halt.

He lowered his gaze to their bodies. She appeared to be breakable, but she wasn't. That's not even close. So why did he feel the need to be gentle with her in the first place?

"Don't be concerned," he assured her. "I'm not going to injure you."

Her lashes swooped up and she locked her eyes on him. Her gold eyes appeared to shine even brighter. "Oh, wolf..." says the narrator. She sighed, then smiled with her lips curved into a gut-punching grin. "It's you who has to be concerned about getting hurt."

Hailey's hands were on him, forcing him back, and he understood she was a formidable opponent. Inside, a wolf growled.

Her fangs were out, and Jace knew what his lady was going to say even as her lips parted

—

"It's my turn to bite." He said in a low growl that threatened all the things she had ever known to be real and true.

They were able to make it to the bedroom. Hailey got a quick mental image of heavy furniture, thick curtains, and then— silk bedding. Silk sheets in black.

The wolf had taken her by surprise once more.

As the cloud of yearning swelled within her, she stared at him. She lusted after his blood. She was in desperate need of it. And she yearned for him. It wasn't surprising that he piqued my interest. He was quite attractive. Jace had already stripped down to his underwear. Muscles rippled and flexed across his chest. His body was flawless. So powerful. So gloomy. So very aroused. His cock was big and thick as it stretched toward her, and there was no doubt that he wanted her.

To him, you're not just a bloodsucker.

She licked the edge of her fangs with her tongue. "I have a confession to make—"

His gaze darkened.

"I, um, don't have a lot of experience at this." Most vampires she knew actually didn't. He didn't move. But he did call, "Bullshit."

Her boots had to have been the source of the problem. They appeared to her to be a bit fuck-me. "Bloodlust and physical lust...they can get too mixed up." We, ah, don't drink from wells." They shouldn't have done it, but the rules were changing.

"I understand."

She had a sense of being pursued. Her knees slammed onto the bed. "So I don't drink and—" Fuck, she said under her breath when he suddenly interjected.

"You will with me."

Her head was thrown back as his hands delved into her hair. Then his lips pressed against hers in a kiss that took her breath away while also warming her blood. The wolf was a natural kisser. Oh, my god, he did it. Hailey's arms rose and wrapped around his linebacker shoulders as his tongue pressed into her mouth.