Laney watched Dante stomp out of the room with his pants still undone, jumping when the door slammed loudly behind him. The dog immediately ran over to it and stood there whining, not happy that he’d been left behind. Fraidy lifted his head, but didn’t bother getting up, content to let the dog do all the work.

She started to tremble uncontrollably, her teeth chattering so hard that it hurt her jaw. Scooting over on her butt until she was sitting on the edge of the bed, she attempted to stand on wobbly legs. Laney wasn’t quite sure what had just happened, but she wasn’t going to just sit there on the bed and wait for him to come back and finish what he’d started.

Bracing herself against the nightstand with one hand, she bent down and picked up her pack with the other and took it into the bathroom with her. She knew she wouldn’t get very far if she tried to leave right now. Even if the vampire wasn’t nearby, she was in no condition to escape. So she’d settle for the protein bar in her back, some water, and a fast, hot shower. Very fast. The last thing she wanted was for him to return and find her exactly how he’d wanted her.

Right. Shower first. Then food.

Laney knew she probably wasn’t in her right frame of mind. But she was so cold. All she could think about was getting warm again, and apparently, running water was soothing to her. So she locked the bathroom door and turned on the water as hot as she could stand it, then stripped off her shoes and jeans. Her hands shook so bad, she quickly gave up on the buttons of her shirt, pulling it up and off, much as the vampire had with his.

She shivered again at the memory of his bare torso, but not from the cold this time. Or even fear. The gruesome monster that had found her in the desert was long gone and had been replaced by a large, virile male. More powerful even than the male that had confronted her in nothing but a purple towel just a few hours before. His shoulders were large and broad, muscle rippled down his flat abs into a “V”, and there was not an ounce of extra flesh on him. She could even see the veins on his arms and groin.

Every time he fed, he filled out more. His skin color became richer and darker, his face less rugged and more handsome. No, “handsome” wasn’t a word she would use to describe him. Masculine, yes. Charismatic. Powerful. Enigmatic. Terrifying. Even sexy. But not handsome.

Yet, his eyes remained cold and distant.

Because he’s not human. He’s a monster. No matter what he looks like.

Laney took care of the needs of her bladder, and then stepped underneath the spray of hot water. She managed to wash her hair while on her feet, but ended up sitting in the tub while she washed the rest of her. Then she just sat there for a minute, letting the water rinse away the soap.

Her head fell forward, and her eyes slowly focused on the white, tiger-stripe marks covering her lower stomach. She touched them with her fingertips, tracing the lines as the emptiness threatened to consume her, only to be swiftly replaced by grief. Pushing away the memories, she struggled to her feet and turned off the water. The world shifted around her as she got out and dried herself off, but somehow she managed to keep herself upright and conscious, unlike the night before.

A noise in the other room had her picking up the pace as she dressed with jerky movements in the same clothes she’d had on before and dug around her pack for her brush. Wiping the moisture from the mirror with a shaky hand, she was startled at the reflection she saw there. In her blood-deprived state of mind, she appeared almost otherworldly with her dark hair and eyes, and pale skin. The green of her shirt made the shadows under her eyes more black than blue.

She brushed her teeth, packed up her stuff, and then paused with her hand on the doorknob. Pressing her ear against the door, she listened. If the vampire had returned, she would have no way of knowing until she opened the door. Laney’s hand slid from the knob and fell limply to her side. She knew she would have to go out there eventually and face him, but she needed just a few more seconds. Hell, if she was lucky, maybe she would pass out here in the bathroom, and then she wouldn’t know what was happening when he came back and found her. Fraidy was out there, but she still had no fear that the vampire would hurt him. He’d been kind to the animals, oddly enough. More kind than he was to her. Humans were apparently lower on the food chain than pets, according to vampires.

Unable to take the suspense any longer, she unlocked the door and cautiously pulled it open while her eyes skittered around the small room. The dog’s little brown and white body was sprawled across the mattress, Fraidy curled up against its chest. He meowed softly when he saw her standing in the doorway.

Dante was nowhere to be seen.

Laney stumbled across the room to the bed, what little energy she’d had swiftly leaving her. Forgoing the protein bar, and too tired to walk across the room for water, she pulled back the comforter and crawled into the bed next to the animals. She was beyond caring what would happen when the vampire came back. Well, almost.

Her eyes drifted closed.

When she awoke, she found herself tucked up against the vampire, her nose buried in the soft folds of his shirt. It was dark in the room, but she didn’t need to see to know that it was him. She knew from his scent. It was impossible to describe, but was as enticing as homemade bread to a starving person. A lure. A way to tempt his victims closer to him, she was sure of it. His heavy arms were around her, trapping her to him, her head resting on one large bicep.

Laney closed her eyes again without moving. She knew he wasn’t asleep, and she didn’t want him to know that she had woken up. His large hand roved down her back to her ass, then down the back of her thigh and back up to the curve of her hip. He sighed heavily. “You need to drink from me, little mouse,” he said. “You’re weak.”

Guess she needed to work on her sleeping game.

“I’m fine.” She tried to pull away from him, her heavy limbs making it difficult, but he only gripped her tighter.

“I shouldn’t have fed from you earlier. I took too much, and you can’t handle it yet. You need to drink.”

Yet?

Brushing her hair tenderly out of her face, he cupped the back of her head and brought her mouth up to his neck. “Drink,” he demanded. In the weak light of the alarm clock, she saw something glinting in his other hand as he brought it up to his throat. “Drink,” he said again as he moved his hand out of the way and pulled her mouth in closer.

Laney tried to resist, but she was so tired. So she opened her mouth to tell him no, but he took that opportunity to tilt his head away and press her closer. She felt wetness on her lips as they hit the bleeding wound he’d made on his neck, and Laney automatically licked them clean. His vampire blood coated her tongue, and a moan of pleasure escaped her before she could stop it. Her tongue flicked out again, gathering another taste into her mouth. The flavor was indescribable. She’d never tasted anything so wonderful in her life. Laney swallowed, and it flowed down her throat as easy as warm honey, heating her body from the inside out.

A need she couldn’t explain consumed her. She wiggled closer and propped herself up on her elbow, her eyes zeroing in on the open wound. She was so thirsty. She had to have more. Taking his broad shoulder in one hand and the top of his head in the other, she pushed them apart, arcing his neck up to give her easier access to the life giving blood. Her mouth clamped down over the wound, and she bit down hard to keep it open.

Dante groaned as his hips thrust forward once, before settling into an erotic rolling motion against her own. He fucked her with their clothes on as she drank from him.

Laney threw one leg over both of his, and he slid a powerful thigh forward until it was pressed against her clit. The seam of her jeans hit the exact right spot, and without even realizing what she was doing, Laney started rocking her hips, riding his leg as she took his lifeblood inside of her. She couldn’t stop the little sounds of pleasure from escaping as he squeezed her ass, her breasts, his hands running over her restlessly everywhere he could reach. His scent surrounded her, as did the heat of his body.

“Laney….” Her name was a prayer of wonder on his lips.

The flow of blood was letting up, and Laney bit down again to keep it going. He cried out, his hips jerking forward as he gripped her to him. The sound startled her and she tried to stop, but as soon as he felt her mouth leaving him, he pushed her head back down. With a moan, she latched on again. The pressure built in her womb, waves of pleasure shooting through her as he pushed her down harder against his leg and ground her body against him, squeezing her ass as he encouraged her on.

Laney knew that what she was doing was sick, disgusting, but she couldn’t seem to control herself. Her body demanded release, jolts of pleasure surging through her with every drink she took. She rocked her hips back and forth on his thigh, reaching for that elusive peak of pleasure. Faster and faster until she was beyond reason, beyond rational thought. All she knew were the sensations she was feeling, the strength and virility of the male holding her, the connection between them as he shared his essence with her.

The pressure in her womb escalated, climbing higher and higher until, with a muffled cry, she crashed over the edge. Her body convulsed, her head flying back even though she tried to keep her hold on him. Her cries of pleasure mixed with his deep growls as he held her to him and helped her ride out her orgasm.

When she sagged back into the mattress, breathing hard, her muscles still pulsing from the powerful orgasm she’d just had, he pulled his arm out from underneath her and rolled away. The cool air chilled her body where his heat had been just a moment before, causing goose bumps to break out all over. Shame suffused her cheeks and chest as the reality of what had just happened sunk in to her pleasure-soaked brain.

Horrified at what she had done, she jerked upright with a sob. But then he was back, pulling her down with him into the warm bed, and tucking the blankets up around her.

“Sleep, Laney.”

She felt his strong arms catch her as blackness descended once more.

* * *

When she woke, she again found herself curled up against the front of the vampire. Only this time his breathing was slow and steady. He was sleeping. Laney studied his face. With his eyes shut, the icy remoteness was gone from his features, and in its place was a man like any other man. The small creases around his mouth and eyes made her guess his age to be around thirty or thirty-five years old. Maybe a little older. At least that was about how old he must have been when he’d become a vampire.

That thought led her to wondering how it had happened, and what his life had been like before. Had he been a husband? A father? He must have laughed a lot, before this happened to him, for those lines to be engraved so permanently into his skin.

As if he sensed her rapt attention, his eyes suddenly popped open. Laney was startled to find herself staring into clear brown eyes that were filled with warmth as they gazed upon her, just before they narrowed with suspicion. The light faded as if it had never been there, the color darkened, and they again became cold and bleak. But in that one moment, Laney’s breath had caught in her throat.

Untangling himself from her, Dante pushed the blankets back and rolled away. Getting up from the bed, he strode into the bathroom, shutting the door firmly behind him.

While he was in there, Laney freed herself from the blankets and got up to start getting her things together. It took her all of five seconds; everything was already in her pack. So she pulled her hair back again, put her shoes on, and then gathered Fraidy’s stuff and piled everything up near the door. She stood there undecided, shifting from foot to foot as she thought about making a break for it, but when she pulled back the curtain to peek outside, she saw that it was already past dusk and well on its way to full darkness. Not enough time for her to get far enough away before he would find her.

Laney had just dropped the curtain back into place and turned away from the window when he opened the door and came out.

She glanced at his neck. The cut was washed clean and nearly healed already. Laney dropped her eyes when he walked past her, not wanting him to catch her staring. But he seemed to be paying her no attention at all as he lifted one side of the curtain just enough to see out, just as she had. She heard a satisfied grunt, and then he dropped it again and turned to give her a once over.

“Take it down,” he told her.

“What?” she asked, confused.

He waved a hand in the general direction of her head. “Your hair. Leave it down.”

She scowled at him. “No. I like it up.”

He growled deep in his throat, a feral sound that made the small hairs all over her body rise up in alarm, but she refused to back down. He might hold her life in his hands, but he wasn’t about to start dictating what she did with her hair.

“Are we leaving?” she asked him. “I need to use the bathroom first.”

He cocked his head at her, his face emotionless as he studied her exposed throat then her breasts before he spun on his heel and started pacing the length of the room. But he hadn’t been quick enough. She had seen the flare of heat in his eyes. “Go on.” His voice floated to her as if from everywhere at once.

Laney quickly took care of business, emptying her bladder and brushing her teeth again. When she came out, he was still pacing.

She tried to track him, but the vampire moved so fast that he would only appear for a fraction of a second at each end of the room. He would then turn and disappear, to reappear again twenty feet away less than a second later.

Laney gave up trying to gauge his mood and decided she would do well just to wait, as she was unsure of what else to do. In spite of his earlier eagerness, he seemed to be in no hurry to leave now. But when a few more minutes passed, and he was still wearing out a path in the floor, she spoke up. “Dante?”

The sound of his name snapped him out of whatever deep thoughts he was having and he stopped mid-pace, suddenly appearing directly in front of her.

Laney had to take a step back from his overpowering presence. Clearing her throat to hide her nervousness, she asked again, “Are we leaving?”

His head lifted to look at her, the weight of his stare travelling at a leisurely pace up the length of her body. “Yes,” he finally said. Yet he made no move to do so.

Disconcerted, Laney walked over and picked up her bag and Fraidy’s food, and then waited for him by the door.

He joined her after a moment, and when Laney looked up, she caught a flash of…something…as the emotion flitted across his features just before they closed off to her again. Laney hesitated, torn as to whether to be eager to leave or not. The sooner she got him where he was going, the sooner she’d be rid of him, one way or the other. He wouldn’t want to risk her telling anyone about him. She knew that instinctively. So he would either wash her mind clear of any memory of him, if he could do that, or he would take her out of the equation as he’d threatened. Either way, she would be free.

She reached for the knob, but didn’t open the door. “I feel a lot better tonight. I could probably drive right through the day I think, if need be. And I have a blanket in my car. That would protect you from the sun, wouldn’t it?” She was babbling. She always talked too much when her nerves were shot to hell.

He narrowed his eyes. “It would. If it stayed over me.”

His meaning was clear. He wasn’t stupid, and he didn’t trust her. But she tried to convince him anyway. “I swear, I wouldn’t —”

“So eager to get to our destination? To see the end of your pathetic life, little mouse?” His tone mocked her. “I won’t need you anymore once we get to my home.”

“At least I’ll be rid of you, one way or the other,” she said with a show of bravado she didn’t feel. “This world is going to shit anyway.”

Fraidy chose that moment to jump up onto the bed and meow, demanding attention. Distractedly, the vampire reached over and stroked the orange fur. A flash of irrational jealousy went through her as she watched him being so gentle with her pet. Then she shook her head at herself. It’s not like she wished he would touch her like that. Laney would be thrilled if he never touched her again.

You weren’t thinking that earlier.

Heat made her cheeks burn, and she turned her thoughts back to her cat. But she had to admit, a part of her was fascinated by the way he could contain his power when he wanted to. She’d felt his strength when he dealt with her, and knew it took a lot of effort on his part to control it. Yet, he did it so effortlessly with the animals. It made her wonder which one was the real Dante. The monster that attacked her? Or the man that so naturally soothed creatures so much smaller and weaker than him?

Maybe they both were.

“Well?” she asked, irritated with herself. “Are we leaving, or are we just going to hang out here all night?” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wished she could take them back. She didn’t want to give him any ideas. Her traitorous body, however, was in full agreement with those ideas. Ever aware of the male in the room with her, it released a rush of desire that started in her core and crashed through her body, making her breasts swell and her innermost muscles clench. How could she fear a man and desire him all at the same time? What the hell was wrong with her? Then she reminded herself that he wasn’t an ordinary man. He was a supernatural creature. A predator of the highest order. She needed to keep her wits about her if she had any hope at all of getting out of this.

He inhaled deeply, and as he did so he seemed to grow larger, his muscles harder, as those cold eyes dropped from her face to her tits to her hips, and back to her lips. The air grew heavy between them, and Laney had to force herself not to fall to her knees and beg for his touch.

But then he sighed, as if the weight of the world were on his shoulders. Striding past her without a word, he brushed her fingers aside and held the door open, indicating with a wave of his hand for her to go out to the car.

Laney hadn’t realized until she stepped outside that she had stopped breathing. She gratefully inhaled the cool, fresh air, and headed to the car.

She waited by the driver’s side while he gathered up the rest of their stuff, held the door for the dog and Fraidy, and then followed them out, leaving the room key on the table.