Smashwords Edition
Copyright © 2010 Kallysten
All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means mechanical, electronic,
photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written
consent of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form
of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and
without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent
purchaser.
The right of Kallysten to be identified as
the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First Published September 2010
First Edition
All characters in this publication are purely
fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is
purely coincidental.
Edited by Mary S.
This ebook is licensed for your personal
enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to
other people. If you would like to share this book with another
person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If
you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not
purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com
and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work
of this author.
His Lover’s Fangs
The gravel crunched beneath Olivia’s boots,
the sound so familiar she had never paid it any mind—not until that
moment. Damn, but it was loud. The sound rose in the night air, a
clear warning to anyone who was listening that she was approaching
the back of the house. She remembered hours of working in the sun
with Logan to create this path, just days after they’d bought the
house. She remembered how hot it had been and how the sun had
played over his golden skin until she had needed to touch him.
Ludicrous. How much time and energy had she devoted to this stupid
path? As for the sun being enjoyable…
A curtain of evergreen trees lined the
back of the property, giving privacy not only to the backyard but
also to the master bedroom. She snickered. Curtains hung on either
side of the French windows, but as usual, Logan had forgotten to
draw them. Perfect. She had lectured him about it dozens of times,
warning him that an intruder might take the open window as an
invitation.
I’m a big boy. I can defend myself
, he always answered, laughing. They would quickly
see how well that worked for him this time.
As soon as she turned the corner of the
house, she knew the window was open. She could hear water running
inside from the master bath as clearly as if she had been in there.
Silly man. Stepping more lightly than ever, she continued to
advance, keeping to the shadows. A gust of wind swept by her, cool,
carrying the scent of the evergreens. She’d never noticed it
before.
In three more steps, she reached the window.
She gave up on the pretense of hiding and stood just beyond the
open glass door, looking in. The bedroom was as she had left it—had
it been only five nights? It felt like much longer. An entire
lifetime. It was crazy how much things could change in five short
nights.
Clothes were strewn across the floor, waiting
to be thrown into the laundry basket. On the wall, the crossbow
seemed as out of place as it ever had, but the sense of comfort and
security it had once given Olivia was gone. She scowled at the
weapon. Had Logan used this one to kill Ann?
Shaking the thought off, she continued to
observe the room. The bed was unmade, heavy cotton sheets rumpled
and askew.
A flash of memory coursed through Olivia like
a bolt of lightning, and for a second, just a second, she was back
to five nights earlier, kneeling on those same sheets, Logan’s
hands tightly clutching her hips as she thrust herself down onto
his cock, over and over and—
Unconsciously, she took a deep breath to
clear her mind. Bad idea. It didn’t help, far from it, and she
could feel her panties growing wet from excitement. Even though
five nights had passed, the scent of sex was still there. She
doubted Logan could have noticed it, but to her, to what she now
was, the scent was there, oh, yes, heavy and musky, the scent of
his sweet come filling her, of their shared pleasure before they
had gone out to hunt. Her Sire had told her she smelled good,
before the bite, before the blood. Olivia hadn’t understood then.
She did now.
Movement caught her eye through the open
bathroom door. Her sudden smile bared her fangs. Jackpot. Logan was
standing in the shower, oblivious to the show he offered her. Her
eyes followed the curve of his neck and slid down along his back to
his firm ass. Silly, silly man. How had she ever—
Another memory seared her mind and senses,
overwhelming her. They’d been sharing a bath, and one thing had led
to another, and she had soon been bent over, her hands flat on the
porcelain edge of the tub, groaning with each slide of Logan’s cock
inside her, so hot and hard—
She squeezed her thighs together, relishing
the pressure. She almost cursed when she realized she had missed
him stepping out of the shower. He was wearing a robe now, and it
remained open, revealing a long strip of his muscled chest, tanned
skin, and the dark curls from which his cock hung, heavy and thick
even at rest. Olivia’s eyes followed him as he walked around the
room, oblivious to her presence—or not that oblivious, after all.
He had just picked up the crossbow from the wall and turned
straight toward her, aiming the wooden arrow in the direction of
the open window. His accuracy with that thing was excellent; she
had trained him herself.
“Logan, my love,” she started, raising a hand
to her still heart. “It’s all so different—”
“Don’t even try.” His voice was sharp as a
knife. “We learned that lesson together, remember?”
She shrugged, grinning, and dropped the
pretense. “What can I say? You look so fuckable, I had to try.”
He didn’t acknowledge that she had spoken,
but for just a second, the crossbow wavered.
“Why are you here?”
Her smile vanished. Ice encased her chest,
making it hard for her to breathe—until she remembered she didn’t
need to. “You know why. You killed my Sire.”
“I did my job. And I avenged the woman I
loved.”
Despite herself, she growled. “You tore a
hole in my chest and mind, that’s what you did! Did you even stop
to think about it? You knew it would happen. They told us at the
Academy about that. Don’t you remember?”
“Go for Childer first,” he quoted, straight
out of the textbook. “Killing their Sire might make them insane
with pain and that much harder to kill.”
She took a step closer to the window and
rested both her hands on the invisible magic barrier that was
stopping her from entering. “Why didn’t you do it, then?” she
asked. “Why not follow protocol?”
He lowered the crossbow and used his free
hand to hold the robe closed. When he met her gaze, she could see
rare tears in his proud eyes. Closing her fists, she pounded on the
barrier, resulting in nothing more than to make him start slightly
in surprise.
“I knew she had killed,” he said softly. “I
didn’t know if you…”
She snorted when he couldn’t even finish. And
to think she’d once believed he was a better Special Enforcer than
she was! To think she had come here believing it would be a fitting
end to their story! She was a fool, that was what she was. And he
was no better.
“Why don’t you come out here, my love?” she
taunted. “You’ll know firsthand—”
Without warning, he raised the crossbow again
and pressed the trigger. Caught by surprise, Olivia barely had time
to move. She felt the arrow graze her shoulder. It didn’t even tear
the fabric of her shirt, but the memory flashed brightly through
her mind anyway, blinding her for an instant. When she could see,
feel, hear, she remembered at once. She’d just come home from the
hospital, with the doctor’s strict orders to take things slow and
easy for a while. And they had slipped into bed and done just that.
Slow and easy. Lying on their sides, kissing and touching and
holding as they rocked against each other, not trying to reach a
climax but merely to reassure each other. It had been a close call.
She could still hear his voice, repeating over and again as she
fell asleep in his arms—
“I love you.”
Blinking back to the present, Olivia looked
at the man in front of her, just beyond her reach.
“I love you,” he repeated. “But if you kill,
I will stake you.”
Pain and anger pulled a growl from her
throat. He shouldn’t have said that. He should have known better.
She had hoped he’d be able to see her for what she was. She still
wasn’t sure he did, but she could help him get there.
“Not if I kill you first, lover,” she
replied, snarling.
For just an instant, she thought she saw him
smile.
“It’s a date, then.”
“A date?” she snorted. Only Logan would come
up with such a silly notion. “I guess you didn’t get the program,
but it’s already started, lover. Why do you think I’m here?”
His eyes never leaving her, he placed the
crossbow on the dresser. “I don’t know. What did you expect to do?”
With a shrug of his shoulders, the robe slid off him, leaving him
nude, just two yards away from Olivia. He might as well have been
on the other side of the world. “It’s not like you can get in,” he
said, mocking, echoing Olivia’s thoughts.
Her hands returned to the barrier that
protected him, and she unconsciously pressed forward. Inside, Logan
had turned away from her. She watched him put on some boxers, then
slide into tight jeans and a white t-shirt. Only when she noticed
the extra wiggle to his ass and a furtive glance from the corner of
his eye did she get it—he was putting on a show for her. And it
worked. Her panties clung to her folds, her hands clenching in thin
air the way she wished she could rip his clothes off his body.
Another growl erupted from her throat. Logan threw her a triumphant
look.
“Problem?” he said in a falsely sweet
voice.
“Only for you when I rip out your
throat.”
All emotions drained from his face. He took a
step back, then another, and left the bedroom, swinging the door
shut behind him. Olivia closed her eyes and, for a moment, rested
her forehead against the barrier. Hunger tore at her guts,
demanding that she feed, but her desire was even stronger. She
didn’t know how she could bear to talk to him when her body yearned
so much for his. She didn’t know how she would get through this
anymore. She just knew she had to.
* * * *
The fridge started buzzing more loudly, a
reminder to Logan that he had been standing in front of it for a
little while already. He finally closed the door without pulling
anything out. He couldn’t think of eating, not when Olivia—no, he
couldn’t think of her as Olivia; that wasn’t who she was
anymore—not when
she
was outside,
throwing threats and glares at him.
If he was honest with himself, he had known
she would come tonight. Neither of them had ever cared much about
holidays, but they had always made this day special. This was the
day when they had graduated from the Academy together and made
their relationship official. It was the closest thing they had to
an anniversary.
He wondered if he should call the agency. His
coworker had been nothing short of supportive for the past five
days. He had understood Logan’s need to take that one assignment
and offered to help him. Logan hadn’t wanted help, though. Not for
this. He had made a promise, long ago, and he would get through
with it. He just needed time. Time to say goodbye, to see her for
who she was, to accept that it was over. Time to see her again,
just a little longer.