That had to be the longest shift ever! Nadira thought as she jumped in the waiting car. Cyran closed the door, walking around to the driver seat.

“Hi, Cyran,” she said, buckling her seat belt.

“Princess.” Cyran nodded, as he pulled off the curb. “Bad night?”

“Yes, we had a couple more rogue attacks come through. One girl didn’t survive the change. It was so sad,” she murmured, staring off into the night as Cyran drove them home. Her phone vibrated, signaling a text. She glanced down, noticing a message from Cooper. Her heart did a little dance.

I hope I’m not waking you.

She quickly responded. Nope, just got off work. I thought you forgot about me.

I can’t forget about you.

She smiled, feeling bold. Oh, really, why is that?

Who could forget the most beautiful woman in the world?

She laughed aloud at that. Cyran raised his eyebrow in the rearview mirror. She shook her head. A few minutes later, Cyran pulled their vehicle into the garage. She jumped out of the car, not waiting for him to open the door. She hurried to her room, snatching her scrubs off, and threw on a pair of comfortable leggings and a t-shirt.

Feeling brave for some reason, she hit his number, listening to the ringing. He answered on the second ring.

“Hi,” she said shyly. “So, I’m the most beautiful woman in the world? Do you get many girls with that pickup line?”

His husky laugh caused a flutter of butterflies in her stomach. She bit her lip, sighing at the sound of his laugh. Just the sound of his voice had her fighting her incisors from dropping.

“I don’t think I have ever used a pickup line. I was just stating the obvious.” His voice sent a shiver down her spine.

“Oh.” That was all she had. She couldn’t think of a quirky response as she lay back on her bed.

“Would you like to grab coffee or something tomorrow when I get off work?”

“What time do you get off?” she asked.

They made plans to meet for coffee. He wanted to pick her up but she didn’t think that it would be a good idea. She refused to tell him that she didn’t think it would be good for a human to meet her vampire family. She made excuses that she would be in that area anyway. Now she would just have to find a way to get there without an escort.

* * *

He couldn’t believe that he was actually nervous. He peeked at the clock on the wall, seeing that only one minute had passed since the last time he looked at it. He glanced over at the door again, his breath catching in his throat. It felt as if something slammed into his chest as he watched Nadira walk through the door.

Her long brown hair hung in waves down her back while her icy blue eyes searched the coffee shop for him. Her skintight jeans and t-shirt looked like she had been poured into them. Looking at her feet, she wore high heels that had him promising himself if he ever got her alone and naked, the heels would be the only thing he would allow her to wear. Her eyes caught his as she walked towards him. Every male in the coffee shop eyed her as she made her way to him.

“Hi,” she said, smiling up at him while giving him a small hug. He gestured for her to have a seat at the table.

“What will you have?”

She told him her order. He went and ordered their coffees. He turned to glance back at her, catching her ogling him. A blush crept up her neck as he winked at her. He felt his anxiety grow, wanting to get back to her side; he wanted to examine her flushed skin up close.

“Here you go, sir,” the teenage barista said, grabbing his attention from Nadira. He turned, catching the eye of a guy who was staring at Nadira. His glare caused the guy to look away quickly. His possessiveness towards Nadira was something new and shocking to even him since they had only just met. As he walked back towards her, he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. She smiled as he sat down next to her.

She took a sip of her coffee, moaning with her eyes closed. His cock jumped to attention. Down, boy! He shifted, trying to adjust himself, as he watched her lick the whip cream from her top lip. His eyes locked on her tongue licking her bottom lip clean. He had a strong desire to capture her plump bottom lip between his teeth while burying his hands into her thick hair.

“Oh my, that is so good!” she gushed, her blue eyes twinkled. He was at a loss for words. His mouth felt like someone had glued his tongue to the roof of his mouth. “How is yours?”

“Good,” he finally took a sip of his black coffee. He held back a grimace at the burnt taste and the coffee grounds residue in his mouth. His cup must have come from the bottom of the pot. Not the worst coffee he’d ever had, but he wasn’t going to let on that it was horrible. “So tell me about yourself.”

“Well, I’m the youngest of five children. I’m the only girl.” She winced. He laughed at her ‘pain’. “Not funny, you will never know what it is like being the baby of the family and the only girl!” she groaned.

“It can’t be that bad,” he said, laughing. She stared at him for a second with a straight face, before giving into a smile. He chuckled again.

“My brothers are very… protective of me,” she said slowly while shaking her head slightly.

“Rightfully so.”

“Hey!” She playfully punched him slightly in the arm, laughing. He loved the sound of her laugh and the way her eyes twinkled.

They continued to talk, getting to know each other, and learning about each other’s families. Before he knew it, an hour had passed. His attraction to her grew by the minute and he didn’t want their time to end. He has had a constant hard on since she walked into the coffee shop.

“Will you go for a walk with me?” he asked, sending up a prayer that she would say yes.

“Sure.” She smiled and he could have sworn her eyes darkened with need for a second, but it could have been a trick of light.

Near the coffee shop was a small park with a duck pond and a trail for walkers and joggers. Streetlights lined the empty trail, illuminating it for any nighttime runners. They strolled in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before he felt her small hand slide into his. He smiled down at her, lacing their fingers together, pulling her closer to him.

The faint aroma of her perfume drifted up to him, making him want to throw her over his shoulder and carry her away to his apartment. His desire to spend the rest of the night exploring her petite curvy body, licking and kissing every inch of it, increased the longer he was with her.

“So what made you want to be a cop?” she asked, looking up at him, breaking him away from his fantasy.

“Well, I loved playing cops and robbers with my brother and sister when we were kids.” Her smile quickly faded at a sound of a scuffle in the woods. His body stiffened at the sound. She gasped as two figures fell from the woods in the midst of battle. Swords clashed as the two locked in a deadly battle. Cooper pushed Nadira behind him as he pulled his weapon from his holster.

“Freeze! CPD!” he yelled at the two figures in the shadows, as one fighter took advantage of the distraction, swinging his sword swiftly, separating the head from the figure, the body falling to the ground. “Shit!”

Cooper pushed Nadira behind him again as she tried to peek around him.

“Freeze! CPD!” he shouted again, aiming his weapon at the assailant.

“Toma?” Nadira called out, quickly moving from behind him, going to the large male with a sword still in his hand.

“Nadira, honey, move out of my way,” Cooper said, his arm steady as he aimed at the killer.

“Nadira, what the hell are you doing here?” The male towered over her as he stalked toward her.

“I will shoot your ass! Get the fuck away from the female!” Cooper shouted, slowly stepping towards the pair. Nadira stood in front of the towering black-haired man. The closer he moved to them, he could see the attacker had the same blue eyes as Nadira. Menacing icy blue eyes that were now trained on him.

“Cooper, this is my brother, Toma,” she said, pleading with her eyes. “Please put the gun down.”

“Like hell I will. He just killed a guy in front of me,” Cooper said, nodding to the headless corpse lying on the ground a few feet from them. “Throw your weapon down.”

“Nadira, who the fuck is this?” The guy named Toma demanded, grabbing Nadira to turn her to him. Her eyes widened as she looked back and forth between the man she called her brother and Cooper.

“Cooper, please don’t shoot him,” she pleaded as the guy laughed.

“What the fuck is the human’s bullet going to do to me?” Toma asked pointing his hand at Cooper.

What the fuck?

Human?

What the hell is up with this guy?

Two more extremely large men dressed in all black came out of the woods. Both had their swords drawn too!

Swords?

Who the fuck carries a sword?

“Nadira? Ah, hell… what the hell are you doing here?” A brown-haired guy groaned. Cooper recognized him from the club the other night.

“Teague!” Her voice became high pitched. She nodded toward Cooper. The newcomer’s gaze jerked towards Cooper and rolled his eyes.

“Really, Nadira, the cop?” Teague groaned.

“Shut up! We were on a date!” she yelled back at her brother.

“He comes with us,” the first brother said.

“I’m not going anywhere with you!” Cooper said raising his gun again as two of the giants walked toward him. Cooper was tall at six-foot-two, but these guys towered over him. He aimed his gun. “Don’t come any closer!”

“You don’t want to do that, Cooper!” Nadira said while the other male hung back with her. She inched her way back towards Cooper, but the other brother grabbed her arm.

“I’m warning you!” Cooper shouted. The two didn’t stop advancing.

He pulled the trigger.