Charlie had no idea how she was going to explain this to her colleagues back at the station. She wasn’t stupid. She knew how bad this seemed and how hard it was going to be to explain. Vampires weren’t a common occurrence around these parts, and she certainly hadn’t been expecting to take one down to the station with her. One thing she hadn’t been betting on was that she’d be driving back with a vampire sitting next to her. She’d expected a few tall tales from people, mostly revolving around rumours of the Beast of Dartmoor, but she hadn’t expected to be bringing something paranormal back with her.

He might be a murderer, too, a little voice spoke in her head. What’s to stop him doing exactly the same to you?

But, for some reason, she hadn’t feared for her safety. The way he looked at her didn’t instil fear into her. Quite the opposite. It sent shivers racing through her body, condensing at her core, and she was thankful for the thick material of her uniform which hid the way her nipples crinkled when he stared at her in such a way. Maybe it was a vampire thing, and this was how he got people to relax in his company before he attacked them, but she didn’t think so. And it wasn’t only the way he looked at her either. When she’d touched the back of his hand, it was as though she’d been able to see right into the centre of him. She’d felt as though he’d allowed her to live his life, if only for a few seconds. She didn’t even know it was possible to do such a thing, and she felt as though she’d experienced the type of man he was from the inside out. No one had ever been so open with her before.

She’d been caught up in a whirlwind of madness but she couldn’t back out now. Not only did she want to do her job, she also had curiosity burning at her soul at the idea of being his Bloodmate. She’d never had a serious relationship with a guy—nothing more than a few dates or a one-night stand that never went anywhere. Though she’d always considered herself to be the most independent of women, having lived alone since the age of twenty-three after finally managing to shake off the last of her flatmates, something about the idea of someone who was destined to be with her forever appealed. Maybe that was the reason she’d never been able to find the right guy. It wasn’t as though she’d not been introduced to any, because she had, but none had sent her heart racing as this man did.

No, not a man. A vampire. She needed to remember that. She had no experience with his kind, and she needed to stop reading too much into things. This could all be a trick, and she’d be the one left looking stupid.

As she drove, the headlights illuminated the moorland ahead. These roads were narrow, with a single lane each way, which often reduced to just one lane for both directions. But there wasn’t much traffic at this time in the evening, and they barely passed another soul. She was aware of how isolated they were out here. If the vampire decided he didn’t want to come with her, he could easily break free and run. Why wasn’t he doing just that? Surely there was more to his motives to want to help her than wanting to be near her? But why turn himself in? Did he genuinely believe he might be dangerous and so was trying to protect others from himself? If that was true, it meant he didn’t trust himself, and it didn’t seem like a good thing for her to be sitting in a car with him, alone.

“You’re quiet.” His voice came from beside her, making her jump.

“Sorry. A lot on my mind.”

“You mean me?” Despite the gravity of the situation, she still detected a teasing, flirting manner to his voice.

She kept her tone firm. “I mean my job.”

“Of course.”

They fell back into silence again.

Charlie took her eyes off the road for a moment to glance over at him. He really did have beautiful eyes, and his profile was like something she’d seen in a men’s health magazine. She knew she shouldn’t let herself be drawn in by his looks. Wasn’t that exactly what vampires used to lure in their prey? A pretty face was always disarming, and combine that with a confident, charming personality, it was a struggle to think of the person as being a deadly killer.

An image of the dead man’s body, his throat torn out and blood everywhere, flashed in her mind. She tightened her fingers around the steering wheel, and she took a shaky breath. That was what she needed to focus on—not the attractive mouth of the man beside her or imagining how those strong-looking fingers would feel against her skin. She had to remember what he might be capable of.

Still, Charlie squirmed in her seat at thoughts of him touching her. It had been a while since she’d had a man in her life. Most men she met were intimidated by her—either by her height or by her job.

“Are you okay?” he asked her. “Your heart rate has increased.”

Shit. “You can hear that?”

“Yes. I can hear the prickle as the hairs on your arms stand to attention, too.”

She froze. She didn’t like that he could hear how her body reacted to him. It might give her away.

Give what away? That you find him attractive? That deep down you hope there might be an inkling of truth to this whole Bloodmates thing?

Either way, she didn’t like it.

“Well ... just ... stop listening,” she finished lamely. “Or I’ll have to get you some noise-cancelling headphones or something.”

He grinned at her, revealing white teeth. “They won’t work, I’m afraid. My hearing is too sensitive for even headphones to block out sound.”

“Perfect,” she muttered, staring at the road to concentrate on her driving. How the hell had she ended up getting into this situation?

The police four-by-four rolled over a cattle grid, and then the road widened as they left the moorland and headed onto the main road. The nearest police station was situated in a small town, and soon she was pulling into the car park out front. At this time in the evening, the most interesting things going on were people drunk or getting into fights after leaving the pub. They had the occasional domestic violence case to deal with, but otherwise things tended to be quiet around here.

At least, that was until a man was found dead, and she ended up with a vampire sitting in the car beside her.

Charlie spotted Stephen’s car parked outside. So, he was already here. It had been a long day with an early start, and he probably wanted to get home to his wife and kids. She wondered if he’d found anything, but he’d probably have let her know if he had. She realised she hadn’t called in about Ivan Sokolov either. It wasn’t exactly an easy call to make.

She drove into her space and glanced over at the vampire. She was about to get other people involved in this, and she didn’t know how they’d respond. Disbelief, at first, she imagined. But then fear? Dealing with a vampire wasn’t their normal territory, but it wasn’t as though this particular vampire was threatening at all, even if he did think himself capable of killing a man.

What if it wasn’t him? What if he was wrong and there was something else on the moors that had done that to both Richard Hutton and the animals before him? If there was one paranormal creature stalking the moorland, then why couldn’t there be two? Hadn’t she thought of something paranormal when she’d seen the sheep that time? And hadn’t she wondered how he’d been killed without any of his friends hearing a thing, or that he hadn’t had time to fight back? The killer being something paranormal would explain that.

Yeah, something like a vampire.

“You’re doing it again,” Ivan said, his hand resting on the car door handle.

“Doing what?”

“Getting lost inside your own head.”

She rubbed her hand over her eyes. “Yeah, sorry. I tend to think everything over a lot. Part of the job.”

“You can always say those thoughts out loud, you know. I might be able to help.”

“You don’t want to know what’s going on inside my head. Trust me on that.”

She pushed open the car door and climbed out. Nerves caused butterflies to churn her stomach, but, strangely, she discovered it wasn’t the vampire who made her nervous, but the reaction of her colleagues in the station. She wasn’t following protocol here but she wasn’t sure they even had protocol for this situation.

Charlie led the way, striding towards the entrance. She smiled and nodded at the officer behind the desk.

“Hey,” she was greeted. “Long day?”

“Definitely.”

The other woman’s gaze flicked over Charlie’s shoulder to Ivan. She didn’t want to explain who he was so just gestured with her head for him to follow her into the back.

Stephen was standing with his head bent over a desk. He must have sensed her enter as he lifted his head to look at her as she walked in.

“Evening,” he said. “I was starting to think you’d gone home already. Find anything useful?” He caught sight of Ivan and frowned. “And who is this?”

“This is—” she started, but Ivan stepped forward, directly into Stephen’s personal space. She expected her colleague to react, and for a moment worried Ivan would try to hurt the other man, and she would have no way of stopping him, but instead Ivan spoke.

“You need to go home. Forget you ever saw me. Wait for Charlie’s call in the morning.”

To her surprise, Stephen nodded. “Yes. I will. I’ll go home now.”

Her colleague picked up his belongings and then turned to Charlie. “I’ll wait for your call in the morning.”

“Wait? What?” Confusion swam through her mind.

Stephen pushed past them both and left them alone in the office.

She spun to Ivan. “What did you do to him?”

“Compelled him not to interfere with these proceedings.”

Something dawned on her. “That’s what you were trying to do with me outside the hotel, wasn’t it?”

He nodded. “Yes, but it didn’t work.”

“Why not?”

“Honestly, I have no idea. Perhaps it’s because you’re my Bloodmate.”

“It certainly appears to have worked on Stephen, but why wouldn’t you want him to help?”

“It’ll be easier, just the two of us, at least for the moment. We’re going to have to call The Directive in, too, and again, they’ll most likely want to take over, assuming this death is down to me. They’ll need to decide what needs to be done with me.” His teeth dug into his lower lip, and he glanced away.

For the first time, she realised he was actually worried about the proceedings. “What do you think they’ll do with you?”

“I’m not sure. If I’ve killed a man, I’ll have to be punished. And if they decide I’m still a danger, that punishment may be permanent.”

She widened her eyes at the implication. “Permanent?”

“Yes, though that is also dependent on you.”

“Me?”

“You’re my Bloodmate. Without you, the blackouts will return, and so will my thirst for blood. I won’t be able to control myself. Who knows how many others I might kill.”

“And with me?” Her heart thrummed in anticipation.

His eyes locked with hers, and she didn’t detect so much as a trace of humour on his face. “With you, I feel complete. Like my whole world has slotted into place, and I can finally live in peace. No more searching for fulfilment in empty, meaningless hookups.”

When she spoke again, her voice came out breathy. “That’s a lot of pressure to put on one person.”

He nodded. “I know. And that’s why I won’t demand anything of you. You’re my Bloodmate. I knew it the moment I caught scent of you in the carpark, and all of the pain from The Thirst flooded away. But you’re also human, and I understand if you don’t feel the same way. These things can take time.”

Her mind was reeling. How was she supposed to respond to any of this?

Instead of emotion, she fell back on what she was comfortable with—procedure. “Let’s find out if you are responsible. Where’s the bloodied shirt?”

He bent to his bag and unzipped it before pulling out a white shirt that had been bundled into a ball. She wasn’t squeamish in the slightest, but still the sight of the amount of blood shocked her.

“You said you woke up with all of this on you?”

He rubbed his hand across his mouth and nodded. “Yes, and no memory of how it got there.” He lifted a foot. “My shoes were filthy, too, as though I’d been running through mud.”

“Do you normally get this ... messy ... when you feed?”

His lips twisted, his dark eyebrows pulling together. “No, not at all. Vampires wouldn’t normally waste blood in this way. But if I was caught up in the grips of The Thirst, there’s no telling what I might have done.”

She nodded. “Well, the best thing we can do to find out for sure is to send this off to the lab. They’ll be able to compare the blood samples to the body. If they don’t match, we’ll know you’re not the killer.”

“If they don’t match, there’s probably someone else out there who I hurt. It doesn’t mean I’m innocent, only that I’m innocent of that particular death.”

He had a point.

“How long is it going to take to get the results back?” he asked.

“Normally, it would be at least twenty-four hours, but they know me in the lab and might be able to put a rush on it. Still going to be at least twelve hours though.”

Lines appeared across his smooth brow. “It’ll be daylight by then. I’ll need somewhere I can sleep undisturbed. I need to contact The Directive as well, and let them know what’s going on. They’re busy with the number of Thirst cases that have cropped up lately, and the number of Bloodmates, too, but they need to be alerted to what’s happening.”

She wondered who this mysterious Directive were. “Do you know how to contact them?”

“Yes, I have the number for the vampire who heads them up. It might not be him who comes. He may send in a different team if he’s busy. It depends on who is available.”

“And what do we do with you in the meantime? I can get a cell ready. They’re internal, so no windows?” Even she felt bad at the idea of putting him in a cell for the day.

But he shook his head. “The police station will be too busy during the day. People will ask too many questions. I won’t be able to defend myself if I’m asleep here and someone with a thing against vampires decides they don’t want me in their town.”

She frowned. “What are you suggesting?”

He locked his eyes on hers again. “I need you with me, remember, or The Thirst will take hold.”

“I have to stay with you? Like, all the time?”

He shook his head. “Short periods apart are fine, but any length of time will drive me crazy. Literally. And right now, I’d rather not play around with how long is too long. My progeny came down with The Thirst, too, and found his Bloodmate. They were forced to be apart, and it did take a couple of days before he started to lose it, but then he didn’t experience blackouts, either, so it may vary from vampire to vampire.”

She’d hooked on to one word. “Your progeny? You mean you have a son?”

A smile transformed his face. “Yes, though I doubt Nikolai sees himself as my son. I mean, he’s a fifty-year-old vampire, so it’s not as though he’s a child.”

The idea of him with a son somehow softened her towards him. “And how old are you?”

His smile widened. “Almost three hundred and fifty years old.”

“Holy shit.” The idea of him being that old was mindboggling. He looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties. The things he must have seen were incredible, just how much the world had changed over hundreds of years. She could barely comprehend it.

“How old were you as a human when you were turned?”

“Thirty-two. Believe it or not, that was a good age for a human to live, back in those days. Most would be lucky to reach a fortieth birthday, not like nowadays.” His gaze slipped away from hers, as though he was looking into the past. “Still, it was difficult leaving my human life behind. Some things are never easy to let go of.”

She wanted to delve further into his past, to find out what kind of man he’d been, and what kind of life he’d lived, but she knew there wasn’t time for that now. Whatever else might be happening, she had a job to do, and part of that job was finding out if Ivan Sokolov was the killer.