Riker’s hand cupped her breast, and even through the fabric of her bra, his heat scorched her. She gasped as his thumb rasped across her nipple, and as if the sound were a trigger, Riker growled and surged against her. He kissed her in a desperate, hard meeting of mouths, and then his lips were on her throat and his fangs were scraping her skin . . . and his growl turned hungry.

For a split second, anxiety turned her lungs to stone. But no, she wasn’t going to let a single, brutal act from her past undo the progress she’d made over the years, not to mention the greater understanding of vampires that she’d gained in just the last few days.

She stopped thinking and clung even tighter to Riker . . . until she realized he had gone taut.

“Riker?”

He extricated himself from the tangle of their bodies, and without looking at her, he said, “You need to go.”

“What?” Baffled, her body practically shaking with unquenched desire, she grabbed his arm to pull him back. “Why?”

“Because this isn’t going to work. Not if you can’t handle what I am.”

“Why don’t you let me decide what I can and can’t handle?”

Very slowly, his lips peeled away from his teeth, exposing those massive fangs. “And this is something you can handle?”

Despite the fact that she was so turned on she was about to burst out of her skin, she met his gaze steadily. “Yes.”

“Yeah?” He inhaled, breathing deep. “Then why can I smell your nervousness? Why can I hear your heart beating like a hummingbird’s?”

“Maybe it’s because I’m all worked up, you dense vampire!” When he snorted, she sighed. “Riker, what’s going on between us?”

“Nothing.”

“That wasn’t nothing.”

He laughed darkly. “Well, it wasn’t something. And hell, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t get much farther, anyway.”

She had no idea what he meant by that, but she still felt like she’d been punched in the gut, just the way she had at Chuck’s inability to get her out of this mess. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t make out with random men for no reason.”

“So what are you saying? That you’re looking for a mate, a white picket fence, and two-point-five kids? I can’t give you that.”

“Of course not. Have I said or done anything that would make you think that?” Feeling suddenly cold, she shoved her arms into the jacket he’d given her. “I just like to know where I stand in a relationship.”

“So you like labels. You want to label what we just did? Because the best I can do is call it a mistake. It’s definitely not a relationship.”

A mistake? Her chest emptied of any warm feelings she’d had toward him and became an icy, hollow void. “I see. I suppose I’ll file it under research, then.”

“Research?”

“I’m a scientist,” she said briskly. “I know the physiology behind vampire mating habits, but I’ve never experienced it. Thank you for giving me some insight into why humans are obsessed with vampire sex slaves. I’m not sure I understand what the big deal is, but then, we didn’t get very far, did we?” Straightening her clothing, she strode to the door. “I think I’ll go to my room now.” Not that she knew where it was, but she was reasonably certain someone would see to it that she found it. “Let me know when I can be of help in getting Neriya released.”

She threw open the door, and immediately, two tall females came out of nowhere to escort her down the hall to her assigned quarters.

• • • • • •

I’m not sure I understand what the big deal is?

Riker wasn’t sure if he should be insulted or angry, but he was definitely a lit fuse. He had to get out of this room. Heck, he needed to get out of headquarters. He didn’t want to be under the same roof as Nicole right now. He’d lied about nothing going on between them, because there was definitely something there.

Something fiery and intense that made him feel more alive than he’d felt in decades.

A pounding at his door startled him. Nicole. Like a kid on Christmas Day, he hurried to the door—and found Myne standing on the other side, dressed in

black from head to toe, his big body laden with weapons. It was probably for the best, but Nicole was much easier on the eyes.

“Can Riker come out to play?” Myne asked.

“Depends.” Riker narrowed his eyes at his friend.

Myne often had a skewed view on what was fun. “What are we playing?”

“Poach the Poachers.”

Cool. Riker liked that game. Loser had to take over the winner’s clan duties for a day, which meant doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen, dressing game . . . whatever the winner was tasked with doing. So far, Riker

was ahead of Myne by one win, and it was driving

Myne crazy.

They’d been engaged in friendly competition almost since the day Riker had found Myne lying on a riverbank, his na**d body riddled with bullets. Myne had been so close to death that Riker had leveled a dagger over his heart with the intention of putting him out of his misery, but that was before Myne moaned, revealing gaping holes in his gums where his fangs used to be.

In a rare moment of compassion, Riker had fed him his own blood right there beside the river. Human blood would have been better, but there was never a scumbag poacher around when you needed one.

Hauling the six-foot-five vampire back to the clan’s headquarters while trying to keep him alive hadn’t been easy, but Riker had been determined to save the guy. No one should go through what he had and not live for revenge. It had taken Myne a week to recover enough to speak, and when he had, his story of escape from human captivity had shaken everyone in the clan. The story about how he’d gotten his name had done more than shake them. It had rocked them all and reinforced every prejudice they’d ever felt about humans.

“What’s your name?” Riker, perched on a stool next to the other male’s bed, drew the cup of human blood away from his lips and waited for him to speak.

“Myne.” It was the first word he’d spoken since arriving at the clan.

“Odd name.” Riker reached for the small pitcher of blood on the bedside table and refilled the cup. “What’s it mean?”

Myne’s lip curled into a silent snarl. “That’s what the man who bought me called me. ‘You’re mine, you f**king cur. That’s your name from now on. Myne.’ ”

Jesus . Riker fumbled the cup, splashing crimson fluid all over the floor. “You don’t have to worry about that anymore. You’re safe here.”

“No one is safe.”

Forcing himself to stay calm, when what he wanted to do was hunt down the f**ker who had so cruelly named Myne, Riker went at it from another angle. “What was your birth name?”

In an explosion of movement, Myne levered himself up and clamped his hand around Riker’s throat. “The humans took everything from me,” he rasped. “My clan. My brother.

My fangs. My name. Until I get all of that back, you’ll call me Myne.”

“You got it, buddy,” Riker choked out. “Now, do you mind letting me get some air?”

As if he’d used every drop of energy he’d had to sit up, Myne collapsed onto the pillow, panting, his eyes glazed over.

“I . . . owe you.”

Myne had passed out, not waking again for two more days. They’d become fast friends after that, but they’d never spoken about his name again. Myne rarely talked about his past at all, and when he did, information came out in bits and pieces, and he never answered questions.

Riker gestured for Myne to enter. “Have poachers been sighted nearby?”

“No, but Baddon and Aiden found what they suspect to be a trap. We’re going to check it out. If we don’t do it tonight, we’ll lose our chance.”

With the full moon tomorrow, all external affairs needed to be handled before every male in the clan got wound up with the feeding frenzy. Riker nudged open his weapons closet with his foot. “What’s the trap?”

“An injured human in a gully.”

Taking homeless humans off the streets and leaving them, bleeding and injured, in the woods was an oldie but a goodie for poachers. Healthy, experienced vampires wouldn’t fall for it, but there were a lot of vampires who either didn’t know any better or were starving and saw an injured human as an easy meal.

This close to the moon phase, vampires were even more careless.

“I’m in.” Riker shrugged into his weapons harness and started loading his pockets with all the fun, sharp toys necessary for this particular game. “Extra points for poachers wearing jewelry?” Poacher jewelry was usually made of vampire body parts.

Myne grinned. “You know it. Ten extra points for nailing the leader.”

“Excellent.” Riker clapped Myne on the back as he strode out of the room. “I need to work off a little steam, anyway.”

Somehow, though, Riker had a feeling that no matter how much steam he worked off, it wouldn’t be enough to get his mind off Nicole.

Chapter 17

The hunt was a success. Overnight, two vampire

poachers had been eliminated and two poachers eaten . . . poachers who had been after different quarry: deer.

Riker and Myne had heard the shot, and they’d found a couple of drunk humans laughing over the body of a dying deer they’d shot out of season. The two bastards didn’t even have the decency to put the poor animal out of its misery.

They’d made a fi ne meal. And the deer, humanely dispatched, would make a fi ne meal for the clan. Riker and Myne had left the deer poachers alive, since it was doubtful they’d report the attack on them, given their illegal activity. The vampire poachers, however, had been drained and left on the forest fl oor for the scavengers.

What hadn’t been successful was Riker’s attempt to get Nicole off his mind. Making matters worse, the pull of the full moon, now nearly upon them, wreaked havoc with his hormones, and whenever he did think about Nicole—which was always—she was naked. kissing him. Licking him. Putting those full lips on every sensitive spot on his body.

Snarling at himself, he started toward his quarters after delivering the deer to the kitchen. But somehow he found himself at the lab.

Might have something to do with the fact that since he’d entered headquarters, three people had toldhim Nicole was with Grant. As if Riker was her keeper or jealous boyfriend or some shit.

And here he was, hand on the doorknob and feeling like a jealous boyfriend.

The second he opened the door, he knew he’d made a huge mistake.

The two females assigned to watch Nicole acknowledged Riker with a nod before going back to propping themselves against the doorframe. He acknowledged them and then zoomed in on the human standing next to Grant, her shoulder brushing his as she reached out to pin a card to the bulletin board on the wall.

A deep, primitive urge to beat Grant to a pulp and drag Nicole off to his quarters made Riker forcibly lock his joints to prevent his body from firing off before he’d even pulled the trigger.

Grant turned to Nicole and smiled, and even from the doorway, Riker felt the male’s moon hunger radiating off him. Normally, humans weren’t the target of a moon-starved vampire. But sometimes when the hunger struck, mistakes happened. Eventually, the vampire would realize his error, but by then, it could be too late.

Riker didn’t want any male taking Nicole by accident.

And that, he realized, included himself.

Clenching his hands into tight fists, he backed out of the room, trusting katina and Zara to get Nicole out of there before Grant fell to the moon hunger. He all but sprinted to his quarters, stopping for a moment at the gym to order one of his newly blooded warriors,

Gaelan, to get a message to Benet immediately.

The knock at the door didn’t come soon enough.

Or maybe it came too soon.

Benet strode into Riker’s place, her long red hair pulled into a high ponytail to expose her neck, the way she always wore it for him. And, as usual, her brightly colored jeans—turquoise today—hugged every curve, and her black V-neck top revealed plenty of throat for him to sink his teeth into.

Not that he ever had, and as she started for the sofa in preparation to sit so he could take her wrist, he grabbed her arm, halting her in mid-stride.

“Riker?” Her husky voice wrapped around him like an embrace. Wrapped around him like Nicole’s arms had when he’d kissed her in this very room.

Benet even sounded like Nicole, and now all he could think about was Nicole’s sweet flavor. Her fresh scent. Her soft skin.

His fangs throbbed, pulsing to the beat of the blood in Benet’s veins.

He pushed her against the wall and covered her body with his as he put his lips against her warm neck.

“I need you,” he said roughly. He needed Nicole so badly.

“This is different,” she whispered, but he barely heard, let alone cared. All he knew was an all-consuming hunger, as if he’d missed several moon feedings in a row and was on the verge of starvation and bloodlust.

The glands behind his fangs tingled as he put his tongue to them, releasing fluid that would ease penetration and provide intense pleasure.

“Now.” Nicole—no, Benet—rolled her h*ps against him and cranked her head to the side in a double invitation. Sex and blood. She’d give him both.

With a growl, he struck, sinking his canines into her tender flesh.

“Yes,” she moaned. “Yes.”

Nicole—had to be Nicole—wrapped one slim leg around his waist and rocked into his erection, her movements growing more frenzied with each pull he took on her vein. Warm, wet blood poured down his throat, firing his need for her even more.