Hunger Embraced (The Hunger Series) (2 page)

As a half-Incubi, I exude sexual energy like an anglerfish in the abyss of the ocean. At least, that’s what I think it is. I’m pretty sure that’s how the Incubi get the food they need. When they’re hungry, they can call food to themselves. But I don’t feed my Hunger. I cut that part of myself out a long time ago.

Instead, I’m the meal, taking nothing for myself.

After the Carrot Top does Dracula incident, I’d been weak, exhausted, and near collapse. But he didn’t want to leave. There’s nothing worse than a crying six-foot-four-inch man in your living room begging for forgiveness when all you want is a private bubble bath and enough take out Chinese for three days. It wasn’t entirely his fault. I’d felt the pull he’d given off and ridden the crest of energy.

It was nothing compared to the maelstrom surrounding the male stalking behind me now. This encounter might not leave me unscathed, but I shoved the worry aside. The control he exhibited spoke of a man harnessing an incredible amount of power. He wouldn’t hurt me—on purpose.

I held the outer door open for him, careful not to make skin-on-skin contact when he clasped the edge of the metal. Other than the single scrape of his shoe sole on the sidewalk, he moved in silence.

He could pursue me, follow me anywhere, and it was likely I’d never know he was there. The space between us shrank at the threshold of the door, and all the hair on the nape of my neck rose. Pinpricks of energy skittered over my skin, and I shuddered. It took everything I had not to run down the hall away from him.

I withheld an eye roll when we reached my apartment. My neighbor Ted shot a look filled with disgust at me. He had three bags from the local fried chicken place on the floor next to his foot. My answering sunny smile brought a snarl to his bushy, bearded face. He stepped over the bags with one foot, like he needed to guard them from me. I almost giggled in response.

Ted’s silver-peppered, dark brown hair trailed down his back in a scraggly ponytail, and the beginning of a potbelly protruded over his dirty blue jeans. Today he wore a ragged Korn concert T-shirt but was barefoot as usual. His eyes shifted to look over my shoulder and widened. The vampire at my back moved in closer, his chest hot and solid behind me. Tall, Tanned, and Blond put one hand on my shoulder, and I shirked away from the touch until he growled. Ted shoved his door open, swept the greasy bags up in one motion, and slammed the door behind him. The snick of his deadbolt snapping into place was loud in the now silent hallway.

Bass thumps began emanating through the thin walls followed by the screaming vocals of death metal. The reckless idiot in my head considered heading over and inviting him to join us just to see the look on his face. It made me snicker. Although, I’d never picked up any thoughts about sex from Ted. I should have gotten something from him in the last few years, but no—nothing. He cooked a lot of beef, played terrible music too loud, and walked around barefoot. Oh, and he hated me.

Tall, Tanned, and Blond continued to crowd my back as I unlocked the door, both hands thumping against the metal panel on either side of my head. Perhaps he feared I’d slip through and lock him out. His hot breath stirred the hair that had freed itself from my up-do. An involuntary shiver chased across my skin. My body had no problem going places my brain objected to. It’s a gift and a curse all in one.

The deadbolt clicked over, the lock in the doorknob
snicked
, and I swung it open. Ancient, tan carpet cushioned my steps. He closed in on me and stood there, studying my face while his hands slipped behind his back to throw the lock. We stared at each other, neither one making the first move. His body sent all the right signals, but he just…waited, watching me and trembling from the top of his head to his boots. My forehead wrinkled, and I frowned, tapping one foot.

What was with this guy?

I knew he wanted me, needed me to take the edge off. The cacophony of the ocean washed over me again. I stepped toward him, and he took one step back, shoulders meeting the door with a thump. His eyes widened and nostrils flared as he breathed in my scent once more. It must be pretty delicious.

“What’s the problem, T.T.B.?” I crossed my arms over my chest and cocked one hip to the side. My wall clock ticked over to 8:00. If I moved things along, I might be able to catch a cab to the office and walk in at nine.

“T.T.B.?” His voice was surprisingly low and husky. Fangs flashed behind sculpted lips.

Oh, yeah, hard up. Most vamps are good at concealing their chompers—it’s a matter of survival. Little old ladies running down the street screaming, “Aack! Vampire!” doesn’t really support the whole hiding in plain sight thing. I’m still not sure how they do it, but they blend in amazingly well.

I waved a hand in annoyance and sidled in close enough that his breath ruffled the hair on the crown of my head. Unable to retreat further, he pulled himself up and craned his head to one side.

“Ya know, this isn’t how things usually work. Generally the minute I get one of you guys alone, it’s right down to business.” I grabbed him, hissing at the shock of contact. It intensified the sound of the ocean, and I swore sand pricked the soles of my feet. My heels were still on, but my body said I stood on a beach, barefoot, listening to the ocean sing.

The sound of the sea receded to background noise, and my shoes pinched my toes again. I felt the heavy weight of a hand on my shoulder, squeezing, coaxing my eyes open.

Tiny white lines showed at the corners of his mouth. “Sorry. My control slipped when you touched me.”

“How old are you?” I asked, retreating to the arm of the couch.

He shook his head at the question, watching every move I made. “This place is permeated with your scent.” The width of his chest expanded with a breath he held and released through his mouth. Lust, hunger, and regret fought for dominion on his face. “You don’t want me. You don’t want…this.” He swallowed convulsively and closed his eyes.

The words chased some of my fear away. “Well, no, but it’s all right. Neither one of us can help it. We are what we are.” I still needed to go to work, time to get this show on the road.

I took a deep breath and walked over to him. We stared at each other for what felt like minutes, until I couldn’t stand the tension any longer and tugged on his hand. I brought his palm up to my breast, turning it over and letting his knuckles graze my hardened nipple through my suit jacket and pretty lace camisole. Like I said, my body is always happy to accommodate.

Blue eyes nearly swallowed by the pupil fixated on his right hand. He cupped me and rubbed the tight peak with a strong, lean thumb.

“I’m sorry.” The words left him in a rush. He picked me up with both hands and crushed my lips under his. His power scalded over my skin, raising the fine hairs on my body, biting with tiny lightning bursts of pain.

The aggression hit all my happy buttons, and I closed off the protesting part of my brain. My focus zeroed in on the man in front of me—the large, gorgeous man who devoured my mouth in a bottomless kiss. I thought I might drown. Brief heat lit across my bottom lip from the brush of his fangs, and he sucked the blood off with a moan. My legs encircled his lean waist, squeezing the hard muscle between my thighs. One hand found its way up the outside of my leg, a crackle of his magic following in its wake. Strong fingers convulsed around the top of my thigh high. He levered my head back with just enough pressure to hurt and growled when our eyes met.

“I like these.” His fingers dug into my leg again, and I released a shuddery breath.

The smell of the sea stung my nostrils, coming from his pores. The searing heat of his power spilled out, and he ran his tongue across my lower lip more slowly this time, lapping at the small cut in the pink flesh. My own tongue darted out to touch his in a quick mingling of silk and fire. The cut closed as we kissed, one of the few perks of my mixed heritage. The dark desire to see him open it again and feed from me in licks and nips flitted through my thoughts. He took command of my mouth and did it again, reminding me of his telepathy. A scary power, but the possibilities for sex with a partner who knew what you wanted and when were delicious.

“Where?”

I tilted my head back in the general direction of the bedroom. He covered the space in a few long-legged strides and set me down on the triple dresser. His magic stroked everywhere, up my calves, inner thighs, abdomen, waist, nipples, even my forearms, as he sucked on my tongue and crushed my torso to his. His tongue slid from my ear, along the curve of my neck to my jaw, and down the middle of my chest to the top of my camisole in a hot, wet line. I arched my back, chasing his mouth, and tried to pull him down, but he resisted me and growled until I let go.

His eyes sparkled like the reflection of summer sun on the waves. I released his hair and dropped my gaze, afraid to contest his dominance. What had I done? His ability would drown me with nothing but a moment of lost control.

He curled my fingers around the edge of the dresser and pressed once on them, firmly. “Put your hands here.”

I looked up, and his blue eyes met mine in silent challenge until I slid my gaze to the side in submission and ducked my head. The growl came again, but this time capped by a purr of reassurance, the sound brushing across my skin. The soft silk of warm water stroked my breasts and inner thighs and reassured me until I relaxed against him.

Our lips connected once more, and he kissed me with so much skill I forgot to breathe until he broke away. I gasped and clenched his shirtfront, resting my forehead on his collarbone. He reclaimed my mouth after I calmed and returned my hands to the dresser’s edge. The warmth of his tongue met mine, parting the seam of my lips, and retreating slowly in pantomime of a good, deep fuck. My fingers curled hard enough into the wood to score it. Before I realized what had happened, my jacket was unbuttoned and sliding off my shoulders. A blaze of heat shot from my stomach to my breasts, his palms cradling their heavy weight. He pulled my camisole over my head, undid the clasp of my bra, and ground against my groin with his aroused cock still sheathed behind his jeans.

I reached for his zipper, ready to take him inside and ride him until he couldn’t come any more.

“No.” One hand encased my two smaller ones, and he frowned at me. A rumbling growl rode his voice. “I said hands here.” He pressed both back to the edge of the dresser and lowered into a crouch, taking one stiff peak then the other into his mouth. Sensation flew from my nipples to my thighs, and the moist heat caged between them. I shifted restlessly and whimpered, trying to ease the wet, aching tissue he continued to tease.

T.T.B. refused to be distracted from my breasts, no matter how I thrashed against his erection. Lips, tongue, sharp teeth, and massive hands continued to tease me with bites, licks, and nimble fingers that alternately pinched and caressed my nipples. He shimmied my skirt down my hips an inch at a time, following the path his hands made with his mouth. Deliberate scrapes of fangs heated my skin and made me even wetter. The dresser acted as my life preserver, and the wood creaked in protest under my grasping fingers.

When I was bare to his gaze in only my thigh highs, thong, and heels, he settled back and stared at my body. The intensity of his perusal brought the prickling blaze of an embarrassed flush to my cheeks. Silly after what we’d been doing, but the scrutiny and heat in his eyes as his gaze roved over me made me feel like he’d memorized every freckle. Like he’d noticed the way my right breast was ever so slightly smaller than my left. I wished I had never cut my hair to the middle of my back so I could swing it over my shoulder and cover myself.

He surged forward, grabbed my hips, and pushed his face against my belly. A surprised squeak exploded from my lips at the rough grasp of his hands on my waist. His tongue snaked out, and he licked a long line from one side to the other, dipping under the edge of my panties.

Guess he liked what he saw.

A lock of his ridiculous surfer hair fell into his eyes as he watched my face, running his thumbs over my hip bones. He hooked the edge of the thong with his fingers, and I lifted my hips at the unspoken command. The underwear ghosted over my legs and feet, and he dropped them to the floor. I relaxed back on to the dresser and focused on his chest, unable to meet his eyes. They glittered so sharply with his power that involuntary tears tracked down my cheeks.

His forefinger slid across my clit with just enough pressure to send a pulse through my entire body. “I’m going to bite you here.” The words brought a gush of wetness to my pussy and clenching in my belly. No one had ever done that before. “Then I’m going to suck on it.” He covered my taught knuckles with his palms. “Don’t move your hands.”

Trembles of anticipation and fear shook me when he began to push my thighs apart. The focus and concentration on his face as he watched me made me think he memorized and catalogued every reaction. I wanted to close my eyes and hide from him.

Nothing about this morning was normal. By now, any other vamp would have thrown me over the nearest piece of furniture and left. No foreplay. It was fast, hard, and impersonal. But this was something different. He was something different. Powerful, beautiful, barely contained, violent magic.

“Come to me.” Strong fingers burrowed into my hips and yanked me to the edge of the dresser. He slid his forefinger down my center once more, circled my hood with the most delicious friction before plunging two large digits deep inside my pussy. The other hand found the back of my head and twisted my hair around his fist, angling for a kiss, leaving me with the taste of blood on my tongue. His or mine? I didn’t care, couldn’t care as his thumb drew small tight circles and his digits stroked in and out with a rhythm on the brink of too rough.

I squirmed, using the leverage I found in the dresser’s edge and my fingertips to try to thrust against him. “Yes. More.”

He held me in place. “Not yet.”

A groan of frustration left my lips and he chuckled, nibbling on my neck in a line of tingling heat. I strained and rocked against his hand in an effort to find relief. The thrusts and teasing touches he provided only flirted with the building orgasm.