ONE
New Book, Who Dis?
A cat slinks by the empty nightclub. It’s past closing and the employees have all gone home. Which is for the best as, he loathes the smell of mermaids. There’s nothing to be done about it. He doesn’t control where the doorways are.
A cat rubs against his leg. He’s in the deepest shadows, under the eaves of the nightclub, away from streetlights. He bends to scratch the cat, hearing the faint thump of feet and paws on the sidewalk.
Lifting his head to the wind, be breathes in the scents: a human woman and a dog. Perfect. He picks up the cat. It stiffens but doesn’t try to shred him. Perhaps, he thinks, the cat understands he’s a fellow hunter, silent and lethal.
When the jogging steps approach, he puts the cat back down on the pavement. It runs forward a few feet, hisses at the panting dog, and then moves back beside the hunter. That couldn’t have gone better if the hunter had planned it himself.
The dog pulls at the leash, half dragging his petite female owner across the empty parking lot. He’s a strong, muscular breed. The hunter can see her straining. He enjoys her predicament.
The dog is stronger, though she is the one in charge. Moments like this call that power dynamic into question. In the dog’s mind, he may have been allowing her to give him commands because she scratches and feeds him. When it comes down to it, though, he knows which of them is the stronger and fiercer.
The woman yanks him back. “Heel.”
Even from here, the hunter can see her embarrassment. She’s lost control. She’ll have to get used to that feeling.
The dog growls, dragging her closer to the building. The cat steps forward again, hissing. The woman’s shoulders droop. Nothing to fear here. Just a cat getting her dog worked up.
Suppressing a grin, the hunter waits until she’s just a bit closer. She doesn’t have his—nor the cat nor dog’s—night vision, so she’s missing some very important context clues.
The hunter waits, like a spider on a web. Just a little closer.
“Buttercup, come on. It’s just a cat. We need to finish our run.” She tries to pull him back, but it’s no use. He has the hunter’s scent and is far too intrigued.
The cat runs around the empty nightclub, but still the dog pulls the woman toward her death.
Brow furrowed, she stares blindly into the dark at the hunter’s shins, trying to make out what her little Buttercup is growling at. The hunter will show her soon, but not yet. He’s a predator, much like the cat, who enjoys playing with his food.
“What is it?” she asks, exasperated. “Is it food?”
She steps closer, and the hunter lets his eyes glow red in the dark. “It’s most definitely food,” he says. “Mine.”
The poor woman is paralyzed with fright when his fangs sink into her neck.
TWO
We Now Return to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming
It was disconcerting, waking to a big, furry head in my face. “I’m not awake yet. Go lie down.”
Fergus wasn’t one to be put off once he’d heard the change in my breathing and knew breakfast and a run were in the offing. I was about to give in when Clive’s arm tightened around me, pulling me flush against him, his mouth on the back of my neck.
Tipping my head forward to give him better access, I said, “You’re supposed to be sleeping now.” My voice was breathier than usual. He had that effect on me.
His hand on my waist slid lower. “I’m not sleepy yet.”
While his fingers explored, I reached behind me, took a hold of him, and squeezed. Clive groaned. My laugh was cut off by my own gasp. Lifting my leg over his, he opened me up, his clever fingers making me mindless.
Fergus blew out a breath, went back to his bed, and flopped down, recognizing he wasn’t going anywhere any time soon.
“I thought you’d be…tired.” I’d lost my train of thought for a moment.
He flipped us over, holding my hips up while pushing my shoulders down. “Not in the least.”
Face in the mattress, I came apart almost at once, but he was just getting started. He worked my body like the Master vampire he was, and it wasn’t long before my whole body felt like a million sensitive nerve endings readying for impact. He sped up, his hands on me, knowing the secrets to my body. Teeth gritted, I rode out the short-circuiting explosions happening everywhere, all at once.
