“Take me, Riker,” she whispered.

He intended to, and God help any fool who interrupted.

------------------

The clan was a very strange place on the day of the full moon.

Nicole had spent the day in Grant’s lab after a fitful night in the room she’d been locked inside, and while everyone had been cordial, they’d also been . . . intense. Even Grant, who had been so squirrelly the day before, had been serious, startling her with sudden growls and even the odd purr.

The purring happened when she got close to him.

When they accidentally touched, Grant purred louder, and his gaze would drop to her throat.

She made a conscious effort to keep her distance.

The two male guards she’d started out with in the morning had been replaced by females as the day wore on, including the scary katina chick who had threatened her in the prey room. But there had been no sign of Riker, which disappointed Nicole more than she cared to admit.

He doesn’t want anything from you. You mean nothing to him. Less than nothing. He didn’t even want your blood in the cave when he needed to feed.

Yeah, he’d made his feelings last night perfectly clear. Nicole had no right to be upset, but dammit, she’d laid herself out for him, thinking they at least shared a mutual attraction. And he’d turned her away without a second thought.

“Whatcha doin’?”

Nicole jumped at the sound of the scary katina chick’s voice right behind her. “It would be very helpful if you guys would stomp your feet when you walk,”

Nicole muttered.

“But then we couldn’t scare you.” katina eased next to her. “What’s in that vial?”

Nicole followed katina’s gaze. “The green one? That’s kool-Aid. Lime, I think.”

“Why?”

“You’ll have to ask Dr. Frankenstein.” katina laughed, a deep, melodic sound that was as beautiful as she herself was. “I dare you to call Grant that to his face.”

“I already did.” She sighed.

“What did he do?”

Nicole rolled up the sleeves of the black and blue flannel shirt she’d picked out of the bag of clothes katina had brought her last night. She figured she might as well color-coordinate with the bruise on her face. At least the swelling had gone down.

She was truly grateful for the clothes, though. Even the ones that didn’t fit so well. Like the two-sizes-too— big flannel shirt. Okay, so maybe the yellow granny underwear wasn’t the most awesome thing ever, but the jeans she’d selected were perfect. She even liked the worn hole in the butt. The hole was the only way the yellow granny panties would ever look sexy.

“He called me Dinner à la O-Positive.” katina laughed again. “Pretty cool how he can determine your blood type by smell, huh? Most of us can’t do that.”

“Cool is not the word I’d use,” Nicole said, as she pulled a tray of vials close, “but we’ll go with it.”

katina flipped her thick black braid over her shoulder. The vampire had fabulous hair. “Did you know each type tastes different?”

“No, I didn’t.” Nicole squeezed a dropper full of liquid from one of the vials onto a microscope slide.

“It’s true. You Os are lame. Too metallic-tasting. My favorite is B-positive. There’s a spicy aftertaste I love.” She frowned. “It’s so rare, though.”

“You need to be eating Asian people.” Nicole checked on Grant’s whereabouts—far across the room, thank God. “Asians have the highest percentage of B-positive blood.”

“Really?”

Nicole’s stomach turned when she realized she had just offered up an entire ethnic group of people on a platter. She might as well draw up a menu for all the blood types and people who shared them and distribute the menus to vampires who wanted to know how to find their favorite flavors.

“Um . . . can you pretend I didn’t say that?”

“Nope. I’m so taking a trip to Chinatown tomorrow.” katina playfully slugged Nicole in the shoulder, and it was all Nicole could do to keep from rubbing her arm and crying like a baby. “You know, I’m glad we didn’t eat you that first day. I think I’ll ask Hunter if we can keep you.” keep her. Like a stray dog or a captured wild bird . . . or a vampire slave. With every passing hour, Nicole became more and more ashamed of her race.

“How do you know so much about blood, anyway?” katina asked.

“My specialty is vampire physiology,” she said, happy to talk about something she actually enjoyed.

“To know how vampires work, I need to know how humans work. Vampires are dependent on humans to live, which means I need to know everything I can about blood and how it affects vampires. Blood type can play a huge role in everything from the vampire origins to how vampires breed, mature, get diseases . . . the possibilities are endless, especially when we apply what we’ve learned about vampires to human medicine. It’s fascinating. I even discovered a way to use the vampire racb protein to cure ovarian cancer in humans.”

Silence.

Nicole took a deep breath. “Aaaand . . . I’ve just reminded you of why I’m here and why you hate me, haven’t I?”

“Yup.”

katina stepped back, folded her arms over her br**sts, and scowled. All those knives sheathed all over her curvy body suddenly looked bigger. The other female by the door, Zara, ran her tongue over her fangs.

It occurred to Nicole that female vampires were scarier than males.

Bending her head, Nicole peered into the microscope. What she saw sent a thrill of excitement through her. “Grant? The cell expanded.” She tweaked the magnification and grinned. “It’s three times its normal size! We did it. I think we might have found the cause of bloodlust. I mean, we need more tests, but you were right about that enzyme. Grant?”

She turned, and her heart nearly stopped. Grant was hunched over, gripping a table so hard that cracks were starting to work their way out from his palm. Reddish glints lit up his eyes as they flitted between her and katina and the other female.

“Nicole,” katina murmured, “come here. Walk slowly.” The female snapped her fingers at Grant, drawing his attention. “Take one of us, Grant. Nicole is human.”

Shit. This was the moon fever in action. Nicole slid a fat folder off the desk and inched toward katina.

“Shouldn’t he have planned for this?”

“He did,” katina said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Zara is his usual partner. But sometimes he gets confused. It happens to us all every once in a while. Just happens to him more. Probably on account of him being not right in the head.”

There was a blur of white streaking through the lab, and then Zara was on her back on a table. Grant’s body covered her, his fists tangled in her chestnut hair, his teeth deep in her throat.

Nicole had seen vampires feed before, but in controlled settings, like labs. Once, in Paris, she’d been at a full-moon soiree thrown by some of the wealthiest people in France, and the entertainment had included a chained male vampire feeding from a chainedfemale vampire. The ra w violence and sex set against the backdrop of the luxurious decor and the elegantly dressed crowd had been shocking. Nicole hadn’t been able to tear her eyes away. Much like now.

“Whew,” katina breathed. “I really did not want to be fed on tonight. And I definitely didn’t want to sleepwith him. Mad scientists aren’t my thing.”

Nicole’s voice was as unsteady as her legs. “So you don’t have a regular partner?” katina tugged Nicole toward the door, forcing her to look away from Grant, who had started to claw at Zara’s jeans. “There are almost twice as many females as maleshere, so a lot of us don’t have r egular partners.”

“What happens on the new moon?” Clutching the file against her chest, Nicole glanced back at the couple, who were frantically tearing at their clothes, their bodies writhing against each other. “I’d think that would cause trouble.”

“It does. Some males feed two females, but most of us have to take turns and go a month between feedings. Makes for a lot of grumpy females one day a month.” She nudged Nicole with her elbow as they walked through the cavern of halls. “Talk about your PMS. We call it VMS.”

“VMS?” katina waggled her brow. “Vampire mean streak.”

Well, that sounded less than pleasant. Most likely for everyone around the VMS vampire.

The halls were mostly empty, but a few females appeared here and there, until they reached Nicole’s room, where a new female guard had been stationed. katina took her place on the opposite side of the doorway, and Nicole entered her quarters.

Someone had been here while she was in the lab.

More neatly folded clothes had been left on the couch, and piles of food and bottles of water covered the plain but sturdy coffee table. It had to be Riker’s work.

He might have kicked her out of his place, but he’d remembered to send her the things she needed.

Despite the disaster that was last night and his disappearance today, the clothes and food made her smile as she sank onto the couch and opened the file she’d swiped from the lab.

She nibbled on broccoli spears and ranch dip as she thumbed through the pages of Grant’s notes on the cases of bloodlust he’d seen and the methods he’d used to treat them. The results were discouraging: fully percent of the vampires he’d tended to had succumbed to either the disease or the treatment. Now, with her new knowledge of the VR- enzyme’s role in bloodlust, she could see why the treatments that failed did so. What she didn’t understand was why some of

Grant’s methods had worked at all.

There were too many variables and too many unknowns. Nothing that linked the survivors stood out.

She flipped through more pages, stopping when one particular name caught her eye.

Riker.

Grant’s notes were scribbled on the page in his loopy, thick script as he described Riker being brought into his lab by four warriors, his limbs bound, his mouth gagged.

It was the day Terese had died.

The warriors who’d brought him in had outlined what had happened at the mansion, that at some point during the battle on the grounds, Riker had become uncontrollable, a killing machine who wouldn’t listen to reason. They’d had to subdue him in order to escape the VAST team that had swarmed the property.

Riker had attacked and drained several humans.

One of the warriors, Myne, had noticed the change in Riker after he’d killed an “overweight bald man who reeked of rot.”

Uncle Paul. Nicole had, on occasion, heard the household vampires say that her uncle smelled of de— caying flesh or ripe garbage. Nicole had never smelled anything, and to her knowledge, no human had. Only later, as an adult going through her family medical history, had she learned that Uncle Paul had suffered from lung cancer. He’d have died within a couple of months if he hadn’t been drained to death the day Terese died.

She inhaled sharply. Cancer.

In the lab, she and Grant had injected a human protein associated with cancer development into normal vampire cells, and then they’d introduced the VR- enzyme, resulting in massive, almost instant growth. They’d theorized that the growth inhibited a vampire’s ability to process the enzyme, causing madness and bloodlust.

What if the common denominator was cancer in the humans vampires fed on? And if that was the case, she could develop a serum to counter the protein and force the cells to shrink.

So excited about the possibilities that she was practically hyperventilating, she leaped from the couch. She had to tell Grant. No, he was busy. Riker!

He’d want to know, especially since he’d almost died of bloodlust.  Without thinking, she darted out of the room and was instantly flanked by the two female security goons.

“Where do you think you’re going?” katina called out.

“I have to see Riker.”

The two females didn’t say anything, merely let Nicole jog down the hall to Riker’s quarters. She tapped on the door. A sharp, high-pitched bark came from inside. “Come in.”

She pushed open the door. And came to a shocked halt.

Riker had a sleek, fiery-haired female pinned to the wall, his teeth buried in her throat. Both were fully clothed, but the female was riding him as if she were naked, panting, whimpering in ecstasy. And that was when Nicole realized that the female had been the one

Nicole heard tell her to “Come in.” Except that hadn’t been what she said.

I’m coming. Inexplicable hurt and anger pierced Nicole in the heart, as sharp as one of Riker’s cruel-edged blades. A choked squeak escaped her, and Riker’s head whipped around. His eyes glowed an intense, bright blue, and his fangs, twice their normal size, dripped with blood.

A low, pumping growl bubbled up from deep in his chest as he held her, utterly frozen, with his gaze.

The room shrank. Closed in on her the way the prey room had.

She had to get out of here. Mind overloaded with erotic images of Riker with the sultry female, Nicole stumbled backward through the doorway.

Then she ran like hell to her room.

Chapter 18

The prey was on the run.

His heart pounding like he’d been giving chase for hours, Riker tore himself away from Benet and started for the door.

“Wait.” Benet’s breathy command stopped him, but he didn’t turn around. “I’m here. I’m willing. I’ve been willing for years. But you want the human?”

Riker clenched his teeth as he tried to force out a lie, but the no wouldn’t come. The soft tap of Benet’s feet drew close, and then her satin lips were on his ear.