Desire Unchained

Lori had rubbed against that chest, had used her face like a cat marking its territory. Her hands had smoothed up and down Wraith’s body in intimate familiarity.

Seemed like yesterday, but it had been a year ago that Kynan had seen Wraith with his fangs buried in Lori’s throat and his hands working her pants’ zipper. Wraith had always denied sleeping with her, but the sight of them together had stuck with Kynan to this day.

“Human? I can smell your aggression. What’s up?”

“Tell me again that you didn’t sleep with Lori.”

“Shit, are we back to that again? I don’t bang humans. Want me to make a tape recording so you can play it over and over?”

“Why don’t you sleep with humans? Most vampires love them.”

“I have a pulse. I’m not like most vampires.” Wraith leaned forward, braced his forearms on his knees. “I’ve got the thing with your wife figured out, though, if you can dig yourself out of the pity well for a second.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“Ouch,” Wraith drawled. “Hurt me.”

“Fine. What do you have figured out?”

“It was Roag. He’s the one who messed with your wife’s head, probably for months.”

“How?”

“He can shapeshift. After he recovered from the fire at Brimstone, he probably used my form for his black market dealings to frame me so I’d take the heat. That’s why that night at the zoo, when you saw me with her, she thought she knew me.” Wraith shoved his hair away from his face. “Thing is, I don’t think he actually had sex with her.”

“You aren’t making any sense.” Kynan eyed the whiskey bottle. “Or maybe that’s because I’m half lit. I saw her rubbing all over you. It was pretty obvious she’d screwed you—or Roag, if that’s who she thought you were.”

“Okay, listen. From what Shade said, Roag got toasted like a burnt marshmallow. He would have been nearly destroyed, right down to his junk. I’m betting he can’t have sex no matter how badly he wants it.” Wraith grinned. “Which is really fucking funny.”

“You’re sick. And how is he still alive if he can’t have sex? You need it to survive, right?”

“If his testicles got barbecued off, he wouldn’t need sex anymore.”

“So why would Lori think she had sex with him?”

“Because he has the same gift I have. He could have made her believe it.”

“Not buying it.” Guardians had defenses against attacks on the mind, and besides, making memories like that would have left some sort of doubt, some sort of lingering feeling that something wasn’t right.

Suddenly, Kynan was flat on his back in his bedroom, hands tangled in the sheets, and Gem was riding him. Her soft skin glistened with perspiration, and her strong thighs held him prisoner in their grip. Pleasure shot through him, sharp and searing. Gem’s moans vibrated all the way to his balls, which tightened, ready to spill.

This was wrong, all wrong. He knew he wasn’t here with her, knew that somehow Wraith was doing this, but he couldn’t escape. Wasn’t sure he wanted to. Especially not when she did that thing with her lip, rolling it between her teeth as she threw back her head.

Light flashed in his eyes, and he was on the couch again, fully clothed, panting, a raging erection straining at his button-fly.

“Believe me now? And I wasn’t that deep into your head. If I’d gone deeper, you wouldn’t be aware that I was doing it. You’d buy it all as if it really happened.”

Jesus. Kynan scrubbed his face with a trembling hand. “That’s what Roag did to Lori?” And why the hell had Wraith used Gem in that fucked-up little fantasy, anyway?

“I’d bet my life on it.”

Kynan shifted to make more room in his jeans. “Then why …”

“Why did I bite her? Try to get into her pants?”

Nausea rolled through him at the memory. “Yeah,” he rasped.

“She was all over me, Ky. I’d been fighting and was half-crazed with bloodlust. I didn’t want to, but I wasn’t thinking straight, and I needed to feed. And unfortunately, since I’m an incubus, feeding and fucking go together when I’m with a female.”

Great. Whatever. He needed a break from all of this, and he had to take a leak. He stumbled to the bathroom, and when he came out, Wraith was standing near the door.

“This was a riot, but I’m outta here, human. I need to get back to hunting Roag, and I need to feed.”

I needed to feed. It was what Wraith had said about Lori. He’d bitten her, sunk his huge-ass fangs into her graceful, creamy throat. Her head had lolled back as though she were in utter ecstasy.