STORY EXCERPT

“You know more than I do what you’ve changed into and what you’re fighting every minute of every day. Mason may be casting a blind eye to your inner battle, but I certainly won’t. I see your struggle. You can smell our blood and hunger for it. The vampire thirst is strong, isn’t it?”

Vincent’s eyes cast downward. “Yes, I won’t lie to you. The thirst is unquenchable.”

Mason gasped. His head jerked back against the couch’s rest. “Why didn’t you tell me? I’ll give you more blood,” he commented with sad eyes.

“It won’t be enough,” Caleb retorted.

“Why?” Mason asked, his brows crinkled tightly.

Caleb’s heart wrenched. He could see the stress and pain in his brother’s eyes. Mason did love this vampire hybrid with his whole heart. That was a real shame, because they would never be happy. How could they when Vincent was doomed for eternity now?

Caleb rested his head against the armchair’s high cushion, crossing his arms over his massive chest. Addressing Vincent, he asked, “Are you going to tell him or shall I?”

“Tell me what?” Mason’s voice became strained.

“That your shifter blood isn’t enough.”

“But it is enough. Vincent told me so.”

“Yeah, well obviously from his reaction whenever we’re around these past couple of days it isn’t.” Caleb paused before adding, “I believe it’s because of the blood cocktail they fed him before. That’s the reason why your blood isn’t satisfying him as much as it initially did and why the hunger or thirst, whatever he is experiencing, will get worse as time progresses.”

He turned his stare at Vincent. “I’m sure you’ve figured this out by now. You didn’t need me to point it out to you.”

Vincent nodded. “Yeah, I’ve sensed it. But it doesn’t mean I’ll give in to the thirst.”

Vincent was living in denial, trying to fight what was invincible. “Sure, that’s what you say now. But will you be playing the same tune in a week or a month from now as the thirst intensifies?”

Mason growled. “We’ll figure something out.”

“Figure what out? What? You plan on kidnapping a vampire, a demon, and what other monster of Nethermore and then holding them captive so they can supply blood on a regular basis to Vincent?”

Mason curled his hands into tight fists as the anger visibly reddened his neck and face. “Yes, if that’s what it takes, then so be it.”

Caleb growled. “You’re lying to yourself, Mason.” He turned to Vincent. “If I were you, I’d start coming to terms with what you’re becoming. Mason isn’t listening, but you are. I can see it in your eyes, you know I’m right.”

Vincent shut his sunken black eyes and shook his head. “I can’t think of that right now. All I can concentrate on is finding and saving Warren.”

Caleb howled. The wolf in him had become unstable and impatient. “There is no use trying to talk sense into you!”

He turned, ready to storm out of the room when Mason grabbed his arm again. This time, his grip was so tight that it hurt. “Now it’s our turn to talk and yours to listen.”

Caleb’s gaze centered on Mason’s hand on his arm, so intensely he wouldn’t be surprised if Mason’s skin would soon turn to flames. “Take your hand off of me or I’ll rip it off!”

Mason’s sharp blue eyes reflected alarm as he let him go, but then they took on an expression of desperation. “Please, Caleb, just hear us out. You owe me that much.”

Unable to say no to his younger brother when he spoke in that pleading tone, Caleb nodded. “Fine, I’ll sit back down. I’ll listen to what you have to say. Hell, I’ll even watch the stupid home movies you want me to watch. But it won’t change anything.”

He slumped into the deep, cushioned recliner and meshed his fingers together over his lap while he stared at the wall. The solar battery-powered projector Mason turned on began to play a video. In it two toddlers with short, wavy black hair played in the yard while a man with a gruff voice filmed them and a beautiful brunette with deep brown eyes, who looked a hell of a lot like Caleb’s mom, came into focus.

She laughed, kneeling in the wading pool as the boys hugged her tightly singing, “We love you, Mommy!”

The man filming it, who obviously was her husband, added, “Happy Mother’s Day, baby. Warren, why don’t you tell Mommy why you love her.”

The boy with wavy jet-black hair and dark chocolate eyes the same shade as his mother’s said, looking into the camera, “I love you, Mommy, because you make me my favorite food, macaroni and cheese, and you read me my favorite bedtime story. And you tuck me in at night and make sure the bogeyman doesn’t come to get me while I sleep.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “That’s why I love you so much, Mommy.”

Tears misted Caleb’s eyes as he realized that both Warren and Vincent’s parents who loved their sons so very much were now dead. The Draco clan had exsanguinated them and left them to die.

When Warren turned to look straight at the camera, his chocolate brown eyes melted Caleb’s heart. Warren was innocent in all this, so was Vincent. Caleb had no right playing judge, jury, and executioner. They had a right to live just as much as Caleb and his brothers did.

It wasn’t going to be easy. Hell, it was almost impossible, but Warren had to be saved and he and Vincent had a right to continue living. Some way, somehow, they would figure a way around their insatiable thirst and this whole warped, cursed situation.

He bowed his head unable to watch any more of the footage. The ache in his heart had intensified. A lump formed in his throat.

He coughed, trying to clear his windpipe before he responded, “All right, we’ll go to Nethermore and try to save Warren. But we’ll need help. Lots of it. If you thought convincing me was tough, it’ll be damn near impossible to convince these guys.”

ADULT EXCERPT

Caleb’s enchanting lips on Antoine’s had him overcome with a whirlwind of emotions. All of them were good and loving and sexually stimulating. It felt too good to be true. He contemplated pinching himself to see if in fact they were really kissing, reigniting the passion they had once shared. But if he did that and he found out that it was really all a dream and not truly happening, then he’d be crushed.

Instead, all he wanted to do was revel in the moment, in his passions and in his desires and love for this wolf shifter and lose himself forever. Being here with Caleb was the ultimate euphoria. It was all he’d ever want from this day forward. Now that they had found each other again and he’d seen what he’d lost, he never wanted to leave Caleb’s side again.

Caleb’s lips were soft, warm, and sultry, and so damn salacious pressed again Antoine’s.

They ignited Antoine’s wanton fervor. It was like a dam had just broke and all of Antoine’s emotions and desires came gushing out, washing over him and over Caleb.

Moaning, he wrapped his arms around Caleb’s broad shoulders and pulled him in. He had forgotten how amazing kissing Caleb could be or how desirable Caleb made him feel.

Caleb pulled him in, brushing his massive chest against Antoine’s. Antoine let his hand roam over his taut back, over the ridges and curves of his muscles.

Mmm, Antoine was wet with excitement. He was possessed by passion and need. He wanted to fuck Caleb right here, right now.

They hadn’t had sex in years, thanks to his idiocy. Now, he had to undo all that. They had a chance at a new start. Caleb was offering him that. And by God, he’d take it, take Caleb as his and never let him go.

Breaking away from their kiss to vocalize his lewd intentions, he panted, “Fuck me, Caleb.”

“I’d love to, but first I need to get cleaned. I smell like a working horse who hasn’t been washed in weeks.”

Caleb didn’t smell like that. If Antoine were to describe his scent, he’d say it was manly, wild, and intoxicating. It drove Antoine’s yearning to lick his skin and taste him. But if the sexy wolf shifter must bathe, then he’d keep him company.

“Fine, let’s make love in the shower,” he rasped.

Caleb spoke with his body and his eyes rather than with words, when he let his lithe fingers undress Antoine.

Each button on Antoine’s shirt popped open, letting the cool air in the room caress his exposed skin. Goose flesh formed when Caleb’s warm hands trailed over his flesh.

His legs weakened under Caleb’s wayward ministrations. By the time Caleb had him fully naked, Antoine was so aroused his damn cock throbbed and hurt. It needed sexual release and fast or he’d explode.

As if sensing Antoine’s struggle, Caleb picked him up into his burly arms and transported him to the bathroom. He didn’t seem to exert any force or break out into a sweat. It was as if Antoine weighed as light as a feather.

Mmm, Caleb was so damn strong and so damn sexy, Antoine couldn’t think. His sensual desires had taken flight and shut down most of his brain’s activity. The only functions that remained were slightly cognitive and mostly carnal.

Caleb placed Antoine on his feet in the shower right before he shrugged out of his jeans. He wore no underwear, much to Antoine’s delight.

Passing his hands eagerly over his hard, erect cock, Antoine moaned. “I see you still like to ride free.”

“It comes in handy when I shift into my wolf form. Replacing torn boxer briefs gets quite costly you know.”

Cocking his brow, he dipped in to kiss his neck and then whispered against his ear, “You don’t approve?”

“Oh, I approve,” he admitted while he threw his head back to give Caleb’s lips ample room to explore. “You can even walk around naked all the time. Though you’ll have me horny and sex crazed if you do.”

“Horny and sex crazed,” Caleb repeated. “I like the sound of that.”

His lips and tongue traveled from Antoine’s neck to his shoulders while his bracing arms holding Antoine dipped him backward, so he could turn the hot and cold water shower taps.

Warm water dripped over Antoine’s face.

Caleb pulled him back up and kissed him hard. Through his parted lips, he said, smiling, “Sorry.”

Antoine growled. The warm water was making him unbearably hot and impatient. “Stop apologizing and fuck me, wolf shifter, or I’ll turn you around and fuck you instead.”

Caleb pulled his mouth away. He was such a tease.

Antoine’s lips throbbed with longing. A foxy and daring smile overcame Caleb’s eyes and lips. Then he said, “Then do it. Fuck me, Antoine.”

That was it! Caleb’s toying had to stop. First he had complained he was dirty and needed a shower, and then he had taken his sweet time stripping and turning on the water.

Well, enough was enough. Antoine was always a man of action. He didn’t become the leader of the Slayers because he sat idle and let others do his work.

No, he became the vampire hunters’ leader because he knew how to get the job done. He knew how to delegate and direct.

If he and Caleb were going to get pleasurable release, then he had to take over.

Caleb may be an alpha wolf shifter, and the best warrior the Slayer ever had, but when it came to knowing when to shut up and take sexual command, he apparently was lacking.

Depriving oneself of sex for so long would do that to a person.

Grunting, Antoine spun Caleb around. “Bend, dammit!”